Weed It and Reap

• the edible parts of most fruits and vegetables consist largely of parenchyma tissue


• parenchyma tissue is composed of parenchyma cells which are the most abundant of the cell types; they are found in almost all major parts of higher plants. They are more or less spherical in shape when they are first produced, but when all the parenchyma cells push up against one another, their thin pliable walls are flattened at the points of contact. As a result, parenchyma cells assume various shapes and sizes, with the majority having 14 sides. They tend to have large vacuoles and may contain starch grains, oils, tannins (tanning or dyeing substances), crystals and various other secretions.

Why am I telling you this, you are probably wondering,- well I was thinking of vascular bundles and celery just the other day and what did I see on pigdump but vascular bundles and celery! what excitement! I thought maybe you would like to further your knowledge about the wonderful world of botany!

• parenchyma cells containing numerous chloroplasts (as found in leaves) form chlorenchyma tissue, whose chief function is photosynthesis


• collenchyma cells, like parenchyma cells, have living protoplasm and mat remain alive a long time. they are distinguished form parenchyma cells primarily by the thicker walls, the thickness usually varying enough that in a cross section (under the hated microscope) the walls appear uneven. Collenchyma cells occur just beneath the epidermis and are usually longer than they are wide, and they're walls are pliable as well as strong. They provide flexible support for both growing organs and mature organs, such as leaves and floral parts. The "strings" of celery that get stuck in our teeth are composed of collenchyma cells


• the gritty texture of pears is due to the presence of groups of sclereids, or stone cells as they are sometimes called.

Inquiring gardeners want to know! But maybe not this much. After taking these courses I can never look at a plant quite the same way!

Posted by trish at 11:59 AM | Permalink

I have so many things I want to share with my soon to have weeditandreap fans. I have such earth shattering hot gardening tips to pass on to my future loyal fans, and future paying customers (those lacking a green thumb or those that don't want to spend the time but want to spend the green for a glorious, green and original garden) that I must share them with somebody, anybody, and you are the chosen recipient of the day!!

One hot tip, fresh from my "Soil" class (not to be mistaken with the "laser" gun, thankyou Andrew) at lowly Algonquin College, is that although peat is a very good thing to have in your garden and it is a "renewable resource" it takes a hell of a long time to produce. We have to dig up bogs which have been" bogging" for many, many years, therefore destroying a one hundred year old or more bog and ecosystem. Not too good for anybody, including the thousands of bog organisims which die or take years and years to recuperate from such human imposed violence (only to be violated again and again in the distant future.) We at weeditandreap.com have a simple solution - buy alfalfa pellets, it does the same thing that peat does for your garden, it is natural, organic, it helps Canadian Farmers, for half the cost. Eight bucks for a HUGE BAG, and don't forget that the pellets, when wet, swell up to four times the size of the original wee pellet.

My other hot tip for today is that at the turn of the last century, not the y2k one, the one before, we didn't need to add Nitrogen (N), Phosphate (P) or Potasium (K.) North America still had plenty in its soil. Today we have to add these elements to the soil to grow our crops, even a tomato plant in a balcony planter. Interestingly enough, N went first, followed by P and finally K... and that is also the order in
which they are listed on a bag of fertilizer. Cool or what?! Inquiring gardeners want to know!

Posted by trish at 11:55 AM | Permalink