The term pollinizer is easy to confuse with pollinator, and many people misuse the terms. A pollinizer is a plant, while a pollinator is an animal, usually an insect. Both are important in producing fruit on trees, vegetable plants, and more.
21.08.2023 - 11:59 / theunconventionalgardener.com / guest
Header image: Nematodes play an important role in all biological systems. Shutterstock
Words by Antoinette Malan, Stellenbosch University and Pia Addison, Stellenbosch University
Nematodes are tiny little creatures that could one day be our space pioneers telling us whether or not we can settle on other planets. They are one of the multicellular organisms that can claim to have been into outer space, and then to have successfully returned to earth.
The reason they are chosen for missions into space is that they are model organisms. Their complete genome sequence is known, and the effect of space travel on their DNA can easily be determined. They have travelled on several space missions, mostly in orbit around the earth. In 2003, they managed to be the sole survivors of the Columbia flight that crashed in Texas, when they succeeded in making it back to earth alive.
In future they will be sent on unmanned missions to the moon or Mars to determine the effect on their DNA and to establish whether humans would be able to survive such a flight.
But way before they are considered as explorers, let us examine the role nematodes play here on our own planet.
Nematodes are the subject of many fields of study. They are mostly cylindrical and wormlike. They can vary in size from a few millimetres to 8 metres – that’s the length of 1 000 earthworms laid end-to-end. They can be divided into three groups depending on their habitat – parasites on vertebrates, free living nematodes or plant-parasitic nematodes.
Most people have never heard of nematodes. But they can recall disturbing pictures from the internet of parasites in humans or animals that are mostly from the tropics. They may not even know it, but these are nematodes.
Nematodes can be
The term pollinizer is easy to confuse with pollinator, and many people misuse the terms. A pollinizer is a plant, while a pollinator is an animal, usually an insect. Both are important in producing fruit on trees, vegetable plants, and more.
What would us gardeners do without dahlias? If your garden needs more colour in summer: plant some dahlias. If it needs more colour in autumn: plant some dahlias. If it needs some tall plants to make the back of the garden more colourful: plant some dahlias. If you’re looking for some easy cut flowers to grow that come back year after year: plant some dahlias. If there’s a colour missing in your garden (except blue!): there’s a dahlia for it.
Green is officially the new black, and pistachio green is the latest fresh shade to win over the internet (and our hearts). This playful hue fits right in with the increasing popularity of other pastel shades in home decor including lavender, light pink, light yellow, and more.
If there’s anything better than fall decorating, we’ve yet to find it. While there are technically 27 days (maybe less by the time you read this) left until the official start of the season, we say it’s never too early to be prepared.
Switching up your decor for the seasons is always fun. But this isn’t always practical because not only can it be expensive, but it can also soon become a storage problem. One of the quickest and budget-friendliest way to introduce seasonal decor is with garlands. You can have one, two or even ten for each season and each holiday without much spend or space needed.
Explore a curated List of Man Made Vegetables, crafted through selective breeding and crossbreeding, yielding a diverse range of flavors, textures, and nutritional benefits for your culinary exploration.
Word by Matt de Neef, The Conversation
Move over, Mark Watney, there’s a new space botanist heading for Mars! Ryan and I have just finished watching the new Netflix series Away, which follows (over 10 episodes) the quest of five international astronauts to be the first people to set foot on the red planet.
Header image: The greenhouse at McMurdo Station in Antarctica is the only source of fresh food during winter. Eli Duke/Flickr, CC BY-SA
Header image: Mission specialist Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Header image: Astronaut Cady Coleman harvests one of our plants on Space Shuttle Columbia. NASA, CC BY
The weather is warm and sunny again, and I’m wilting (slightly) faster than the plants. It’s at times like this that I’m grateful for designing the garden with raised beds – they’re nice and deep and hold plenty of moisture, and the plants in them can last days between watering, even in the hottest weather.