Vegetable Gardening

Vegetable Gardening
Vegetable gardening has lately become just as popular as going to the grocery store fore produce.  Vegetable gardening can produce vegetable that are usually cheaper than store bought, and vegetables from a home vegetable garden definitely taste better by far.  Vegetable gardening is no different than growing herbs or flowers and if the proper steps are taken and the plants are give the proper care they will flourish and produce very tasty vegetables.

First you must decide what size of garden you wish to plant and then select a place for it; somewhere that has good drainage, good air flow, and good, deep soil.  It also needs to be able to get as much sunlight as possible.  Because vegetable gardens have such tasty rewards, many animals, such as dogs, rabbits, deer, and many others will try and get to your veggies.  One way to prevent this is to surround your garden with a fence, or put out a trap to catch mice, moles, and other animals.

Before planting, the soil must be properly prepared.  Good soil for vegetable gardening is achieved by cultivation and the application of organic materials.  The soil must be tilled (plowed) to control weeds and mix mulch into the soil.  If you have a small garden, spading could be a better bet than plowing.  Mulching is also a vital part of soil preparation.  Organic matter added to the soil releases nitrogen, minerals, and other nutrients plants need to thrive.  The most popular and best type of mulch you can use is compost.  While the kind and amount of fertilizer used depends on the soil and types of plants, there are some plants that have specific needs; leafy plants, like cabbage, spinach, and lettuce usually grow better with more nitrogen, while root crops like potatoes, beets, turnips, and carrots require more potash.  Tomatoes and beans use less fertilizer, while plants like onions, celery, and potatoes need a larger amount.

One thing that is vitally important in vegetable gardening is the garden arrangement.  There is no single plan that will work for every garden due to varying conditions.  One popular way to arrange a vegetable garden is to plant vegetables needing only limited space together, such as radishes, lettuce, beets, and spinach, and those that require more room together, such as corn, pumpkins, and potatoes.  Try and plant tall growing plants towards the back of the garden and shorter ones in the front so that their sunlight does not get blocked.

When you are finally ready to begin planting your vegetable garden, make sure and plant at the right time of year.  If you are dying to get an early start, you may want begin your garden inside in a hotbed and then transplant when the weather permits.  After you are finished planting, make sure your vegetables receive the appropriate amount of water, which depends on the type of plant.  Most plants will need the equivalent to about an inch of water per week.

Weeds must be controlled in vegetable gardening because they will take up water, light, and nutrients meant for the vegetables and they often bring disease and insects to the garden.  You can get rid of weeds by cultivation or mulching.  To protect against disease and insects you can buy seeds that are disease resistant or use controlled chemicals.

Vegetable gardening is many people’s favorite form of gardening because you can actually taste the fruits of your labor.  Vegetable gardening is not that expensive to start and the taste of home grown veggies definitely beat out that of supermarket vegetables.  Your vegetable gardening days will be full of produce if you take the proper precautions when planting and continue maintenance of your garden.

Gardening Tools – An Overview

Gardening Tools – An Overview

I think you know very well about the rules and regulations to keep your plants to grow healthy in your garden. For getting sustainable growth of your garden plants you do require good soil quality, sunlight and sufficient water. Although these items have been gifted by nature, you ought to require modern gardening tools to upkeep your garden in a good state. Gardening tools help a lot in taking care of your plants as well as the good growing conditions and positive effect on your plant’s health.

Defective gardening tools might have cause injury on your plants or cut your plants or totally plug your plants from the soil. In order to prevent the occurrence of such untoward incident, it is a must to look for the best gardening tools, which will provide your plants loving tender care. Once you called a tool as ‘Best gardening tools”, it refers to a tool, which will permit labor saving methods and that allows energy efficiency.

Here you can see some of the best gardening tools available in the market to provide a better care than ever for your plants in the garden.

Lawnmowers
Luxus Push Reel Mower rated as best by the gardening aficionados provides large top cover that protects overhanging flowers and shrubs. Another special gardening tool called American Lawn Mower Deluxe has also been accredited as best which will be helpful to operate on elbow grease alone and also causing no pollution. But this is not conducive for too tall grasses.

Garden Shredders
In general all the garden shredders have a high power motor and come with a silent crushing system. This kind of gardening tool used to accelerate your shredding activity.
Garden shredders with electric shredder is an easy to assemble gardening tool, which aids in tree pruning with maximum of 40 mm and making healthy hedges. This gardening tool is considered to be a best among all the garden shredders since it is available with a plunger for increased portability and built-in wheels.

Cultivators
These modern gardening tools are available with patented tines to help in cutting the hard compacted soil smoothly. Cultivators are available with a free border edger. It is perfect to use in cleaning the moss, aerating and in thatching. This garden tool helps extensively in preparing vegetable plots, flowerbeds, etc.,

Leaf sweeper
These gardening tools are extensively used for smaller lawns. It is having an infinite height adjustment with 200-liter collector.

Edge Trimmer
This gardening tool has also been accredited as important equipment by the gardening equipment reviewers. This aids in trimming the hedges and also aids in plant pruning.

Spading fork
This is a wonderful gardening tool used for aerating and transplanting.  By using this gardening tool it is possible to perform splitting grasses and perennials. In addition to this these gardening tools helps a lot as the job of a manure fork, mulch, sorting hay, for tiny gardens.

Mattock
Mattock is an important gardening tool for breaking up the clay soils and also working around established trees with the roots. There is no need to have a pick and a hoe and handles in your garden, if you are having mattock with you.

Before you leave the garden center, it is highly advisable to have a look at these check list of gardening tools and confirm if you’ve got all the gardening tools you’ll need to make your garden just like that of spring to life.

Gardening tips to avoid fungus during summer

Gardening tips to avoid fungus during summer
 
Most of us are ready to invest huge amount for landscaping and gardening to give face lift for our home. But we failed to prune when the plants needed it, and then your highly invested landscape looks terrible than ever. So this is a high time to know about the gardening tips for better maintenance of your lawn. Do follow the following gardening tips for better life of your garden: -
 
Gardening tips for pruning
As we discussed in the introduction, pruning plays an important role in the garden maintenance. If you commit any mistake while pruning, don’t lose your heart because it’s like a bad haircut, it is going to grow again.
 
Avoid watering in the evening
During summer, you may experience high humidity, which might result in lot of problems in your garden. To get your plants nice and dry, tuck them in for night. In addition to this watering in the evening may be avoided to prevent damage to the plants.
 
Get rid of Powdery mildew
Powdery mildew is the common fungus mostly affects your ornamental plants. This will create white film on the leaves of the plants in your garden. Even other ornamental plants such as Sand cherry and Dogwoods are also getting affected with this fungus. Efficient gardening is necessary to curtail the growth of this fungus. You can easily prevent this by spraying general fungicide in the garden centre.
 
Prevention of Pythium Blight
If you’re in the north and also having perennial Rye grass, then you ought to be very careful not to leave your grass wet at night. A dreadful fungus called Pythium Blight may take its upper hand, if you leave your lawn wet in the night because this fungus love to grow in high humid condition mostly, in the night.
 
Pythium blight can easily be seen in the early morning. You can easily appreciate the fungus on the top of the lawn as white cotton candy. You can easily notice this fungus mainly along driveways and walks, where the soil is moist. Pythium blight can easily be controlled by watering in the day at the earliest possible time.
 
Fire Blight
Fire Blight, yet another culprit prefers to grow well during summer than any other season. This fungus prefers to attack Pyracantha, cotoneasters, crabapple trees, and Apple trees. The presence of Fire Blight can easily be visualized once the any one of the branches of the plant turns red and dies. This Fire Blight can be prevented little by pruning the affected branch and removing it from the main plant as far as possible.
 
It is also important that the cut branches should be burnt since Fire Blight is contagious and also wash or dip the projected shears by using alcohol in order to prevent the spread of the deadly fungus to other parts of the branch.

Shotgun fungus
A little gem like fungus, which prefers to grow in mulch and tends to swell, has been termed as “Short gun Fungus”. This fungus can fly up to 8 feet in the air and will spatter your house with tiny brown specks and once they stick to your house or windows, they stick like glue. Most of us suspect the spiders and aliens for this tiny brown speck. You can’t prevent this fungus, but can do something by keeping the mulch loose so air can circulate inside to keep this fungus out. Although mulch is great, don’t allow them to get packed, try to remove it at least once in a year and also rake it flat as if it will look like you’ve just mulched.

Understanding Container Gardening

Understanding Container Gardening

If you are a garden lover, but have no space for your gardening appetite, don’t worry gardening is not necessarily out of your reach. In the available space of your house say balcony, patio, deck, or sunny window, you can create a container gardening, which will not only bring you joy but also vegetables. So, are you ready to start container gardening yourself…

In the past, gardening is an exclusive realm of the landowner. Nowadays even the flat dweller can grow his dream garden without having any fuss. One’s dream can be fulfilled by container gardening, which means the gardening in a special container. Container gardening gives delights of landscape without weekly mowing. In the container, you can raise some perennials, annuals, and even shrubs and small trees.

Don’t think container gardening can be achieved very easily. Container gardening also requires proper planning just like that of traditional gardening. Planning consists of finding your USDA zone (this will help to identify the suitable plant variety of your zone), amount of daylight you are receiving in your apartment, and finally choose your beloved plant variety.

It is always advisable to buy the plants from nearest nursery unless you have right conditions to go for indoor seedlings. You should not keep the tender plants of container gardening outside below 45ฐ F temperature or in soaring winds. Moreover you should not leave the new plants through out the night in the outside to get frost it out.

There is a false notion that all the plants grow in the ground won’t grow in the container gardening. It’s not so. If you have any doubt, please do experiment on it.  Moreover, any container with holes for drainage can be used for your container gardening. 

Container gardening requires little budget in the initial stage. But it is having low maintenance with good satisfaction. Container gardening requires little fertilizer and water according to the specific needs of the plants.   

There is numerous pot growing vegetable varieties as container gardening. In this type, the vegetable plant requires only sunlight and water. Providing these two things can easily help you get fresh vegetables for your ratatouille or salad. You can get more satisfaction by serving these varieties nurtured by your own hands to your beloved pals.

Don’t despair-if you’re not having balcony or deck? Get nod from your landlord for window boxes, a modern container gardening. It is highly possible to grow many bloomy annuals year-round and indoor vegetables in your sunny window. There is another type of garden called community gardens, which will satisfy the city dwellers.

There is no need to end your container gardening since you have entered autumn. But you can continue your container gardening by selecting the plants that are withholding the frost. The common plant varieties that stand up to the frost are Eulalia grasses, Mexican feather grass, Cornflowers, Lavender cottons, Jasmine, Million bells, Stonecrops, etc.,
 
In order to extend the life of your garden from early spring to fall, you can replant to match the conditions. Even you can contact some of the America’s best gardeners through online to get design for your container gardening. They offer suggestions such as caring and choosing for pots, how to grow tips for succulents, roses, and bulbs, in containers.

Indoor Gardening

Indoor Gardening

A lot of people stick a fake tree in a corner, dust the leaves off every week, and call it indoor gardening, but indoor gardening has grown into much more than that lately.  There are also a lot of people that thinks plants belong and should stay inside, but there are many reasons for starting an indoor garden.  For instance, plants don’t only remove carbon dioxide from the air, they also remove many poisonous toxins and pollutants as well.  Indoor gardening will result in beautiful decoration in your house as well as cleaner air. 

When picking out plants for indoor gardening, make sure the plants are adaptable and will be able to thrive in the conditions and setting in your house.  Consider how much time you will be able to spend caring for the plants, how much light your house offers, and also how much money you want to spend on your indoor garden.  If you are on a low budget, start with seeds or cuttings.  If you have a little more money to dish out you can buy a plant that is already grown.  Another thing to consider is if you want a plant that can be displayed all year or just for a season.  Herb gardens are a good thing for indoor gardening; they are both attractive and edible.  They will grow pretty quick and you won’t have to wait a long time to see results.  Some popular herbs, especially for cooking, are chives, dill, sage, thyme, and oregano.

When indoor gardening, consider the amount of experience you have before choosing a plant.  There are some plants that are stronger and harder to kill and therefore better for a novice gardener.  Examples are Fatsia, Cyperus, Scandens, Popular Succulents, Coleus, and Bromeliads.

Some things, such as the basic rules of maintaining plants, are different in indoor gardening that in a regular outdoor setting.  Since plants won’t get the sunlight they do outdoors, lighting is essential.  You need to know exactly how much light your plants need and pick plants that only need medium to low light, such as ferns or Philodendrons, unless you plan to supply artificial lighting.  If you buy a plant already grown, wherever you get it probably has better lighting than your house so you will need to “condition” your plant and gradually reduce the light it receives.  Once you get the plant inside, make sure and rotate the plant to encourage upright growth.

Just because you are indoor gardening, don’t think the plants don’t have to have water; they still do.  How often you water, once again, depends on what type of plant you have.  Make sure the water can drain out of the bottom of the pot and try to use water that is about the same as the temperature of the room.  Also pay attention to temperature in your house in order to ensure healthy plants.  A 10-15 degree range won’t hurt any plants, but rapid changes could cause damage.

Indoor gardening is not all that difficult; in fact, it is pretty much the same as outdoor.  There are even some advantages to indoor gardening.  For example, you won’t have to worry as much about bugs and insects bothering your plants.  You also won’t have to worry about wind or frost reeking havoc on your garden.

Organic Gardening

Organic Gardening

Organic gardening is the exact same as regular gardening except that no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides are used.  This can make certain aspects difficult, such as controlling disease, insects, and weeds.  Organic gardening also requires more attention to the soil and the many needs of plants.
 
 Organic gardening starts with the soil.  Gardeners must add organic matter to the soil regularly in order to keep the soil productive.  In fact, compost is essential to the healthiness and well being of plants grown organically.  Compost can be made from leaves, dead flowers, vegetable scraps, fruit rinds, grass clippings, manure, and many other things.  The ideal soil has a dark color, sweet smell, and is full of earthworms.  Some soil may need more natural additives than regular compost can give, such as bonemeal, rock phosphates, or greensand.  A simple soil test will tell you the pH balance and which nutrients you will need to use.

One thing that makes even gardeners that are very serious about organic gardening reach for pesticides is insects on their plants.  The best way to defend plants against insects is to take preventative measures.  One thing that can be done is to make sure plants are healthy and not too wet or dry because insects usually attack unhealthy plants and if healthy, they can often outgrow minor insect damage.  A variety of plant types is a good idea to keep pests of a particular plant type from taking out the entire garden.

Perhaps the best way to defend against insects is to make your garden enticing to insect predators, such as ladybugs, birds, frogs, and lizards.  You can do this by keeping a water source nearby or by growing plants that attract insects who feed on nectar.  Other ideas are sticky traps, barriers, and plant collars.  There are some household items that prevent against insects too, like insecticidal soaps, garlic, and hot pepper.

To avoid plant disease in organic gardening, choose disease resistant plants and plant them in their prime conditions.  Many diseases will spread because of constant moisture and bad air circulation, so the site of your garden and the way it is watered can help ensure against diseases.

Weeds can be an annoying and frustrating part of organic gardening.  Organic mulch can act as a weed barrier, but for even better protection put a layer of newspaper, construction paper, or cardboard under the mulch.  Corn meal gluten will slow the growth of weeds if spread early in the season before planting, as does solarization.  There’s also the old-fashioned art of hoeing and hand pulling that always works.  Your best bet in weed prevention is persistence.  Mulch well and pull and hoe what you can; after a few seasons you can beat the weeds for good.

Organic gardening is an excellent way to assure that your plants will be free and clear of all pesticides and, if taken care of properly, will be as healthy as possible.  Organic gardening may take a little more time and care than regular gardening, but after gardeners get the hang of it and figure out all the quirks of their garden, it is definitely worth the extra time.

Gardening Gift

Gardening Gift

Gardening has become one of the most popular hobbies, and you probably know a gardener or two that would love a gardening gift for their upcoming special occasion.  There are hundreds of gardening gifts to buy for both the beginner and expert gardener, and the great thing about gardening gifts is they can be bought just about anywhere: online, nursery, feed store, farmer’s market, even your local Wal-Mart or grocery store.

If buying a gardening gift for a beginner, an instructional or informational book is always a good idea.  Books like this will give tips on how to eliminate gardening nightmares like disease, insects, and weeds.  They will tell gardeners which kind of plants thrive in different climates, as well as how much sun, water, and nutrients various types of plants require.  Books like this can be purchased at nurseries, online, or at your local bookstore.  If your gardening friend is a “computer nerd”, a gardening information CD might be a better gardening gift for them than a book.

Whether giving to a novice or expert professional, a plant is always a great gardening gift.  Whether buying the traditional gift, like a poinsettia at Christmas, or just some random plant random, like moss, a plant is sure to be greatly appreciated and enjoyed.  Another idea is to buy seeds or just a bulb for someone to transplant.  Giving a perennial would be a gift that keeps on giving. 

Theme gardening gifts using plants can also be loads of fun.  An herb can come with an attached card including a recipe using that herb.  A plant that produces nectar and will attract butterflies can be coupled with a book on butterflies.

Possibly the best and most common, gardening gift is gardening tools.  This can be anything as simple as a hoe or rake to something more high-tech like an electric blower or vacuum.  These are good for removing debris, leaves, or grass from driveways and side walks.  Other favorites are gloves, hedge trimmers, and sprinklers.

An excellent gardening gift that is rarely though of is a calendar.  Calendar’s can serve dual purposes; it can be decorative with beautiful gardening themes, or can be used to keep up with the moon phase that affects most all plants.  A farmer’s almanac is also a good idea, it is full of information regarding the weather, moon phase, when to plant, when to prune; it is the best guidebook to gardening there is.

The ultimate gardening gift is for any gardener is a gift certificate to a nursery or store where gardening tools or plants are available.  This way, your friend can get any tool they do not have in their collection, or any kind of plant their heart desires.

Gift giving is a difficult task at best, but if you have gardeners for friends, a gardening gift is an easy way out and makes your gift buying simple.  Gardening gifts can range anywhere from tools to actual plants and with gardening gifts you have a wide range of costs to choose from.  You can give a cheap pair of gloves or an expensive power tiller.  So the next time you go gift shopping, thing about a gardening gift for your friends with green thumbs!

Rose Gardening

Rose Gardening   
 

Roses have gotten a bad wrap over the years for being difficult to grow and maintain.  If you are thinking of rose gardening don’t let this rumor stop you.  While rose gardening can prove to be challenging, once you get the hang of it, it really isn’t that bad. 

When you first start rose gardening, you will have to choose what type of rose you wish to plant, and no, I’m not talking about the color.  You will have to choose between bare-root, pre-packaged, and container-grown roses.  Bare-root roses are sold in the winter and early spring.  They should be planted as soon as frosts are over and the ground is warm and workable.  Pre-packaged roses are bare-root plants that are sold in a bad or box with something around the roots to retain moisture, such as sawdust.  Container-grown roses are grown; you guessed it, in containers.  They will be either budding or already in bloom when they become available in the early spring.

Planting in rose gardening is not that much different than any other type of plant.  The most important thing, as always, is good, healthy soil and a prime planting area.  It doesn’t matter whether your roses are bare-root or container-grown, the planting methods are the same as any other shrub.  Make sure the spot you choose has good drainage, gets plenty of sunlight, and will not overcrowd your roses.  Before planting, any dead leaves and thin or decayed shoots need to be cut off.  Any damaged or very long roots also need to be trimmed.  Soak bare-root roses in water about 10-12 hours to restore moisture in the roots before planting and water the soil before planting as well.  Make sure the hole you have dug is large enough for the root growth of the rose.  Also it is a good idea to use compost or mulch.  After all, roses like extra nutrients just like any other plant.

Roses need the same things as other plants; they are just a bit needier.  One of the most important things to remember in rose gardening is that roses are heavy feeders and will need several fertilizer applications.  Fertilizing should be started in early spring and discontinued in early fall.  Make sure not to over-fertilize (fertilize should come with instructions) and water after each feeding.  Roses require large amounts of water; a thorough watering twice a week should be enough.

Pruning is an essential part to flower gardening.  It increases blooms and encourages healthy plant growth.  Different varieties of roses have different instructions for pruning, so you might want to read up on your rose types and see what is suggested.

The main thing to remember in rose gardening is to water, water, and water some more.  One other thing about rose gardening is the amount of fertilizer and nutrients you will need to use, and the pruning that needs to be done to keep your roses under control and healthy.  Even though rose gardening takes a little more time and roses are more work, they are one of the most unique and beautiful plants, and definitely worth the extra work.

Fall Gardening

Fall Gardening

Many gardeners do not even consider fall gardening because of the winter frosts that might make an early appearance.  On the contrary, fall gardening will result in excellent vegetables and will extend crops long after spring planted plants are finished.  Vegetables produced from fall gardening are sometimes sweeter and milder than those grow in the summer and offer a brand new taste to the same old veggies.

What you choose to grow during you fall gardening will depend on your available space and what you like to eat, just like spring plants.  Even the crops that enjoy the heat, such as tomatoes, sweet potatoes, okra, and peppers, will produce until frosts hit, which can be pretty late in the year in southern areas.  However, there are some plants that will quit towards the end of summer like snap-beans, summer squash, and cucumbers.  If these vegetables are planted around the middle of the summer they can be harvested until the first frosts as well.  Hardy, tough vegetables will grow until the temperature is as low as 20 degrees, but those that aren’t as strong will only be able to grow through light frosts.  Remember that if you have root and tuber plants and the tops are killed by a freeze the edible part can be saved if a large amount of mulch is used.

When fall gardening, make sure and pick the vegetables with the shortest growing season so they can be full grown and harvested before the frost arrives.  Most seed packages will be labeled “early season”, or you can find the seeds boasting the fewest days to maturity.  You may want to go after your seeds for fall gardening in spring or early summer; they are usually not kept in stock towards the end of summer.  If they are stored in a cool and dry location they will keep until you are ready to plant.

In order to know exactly when the best time to start fall gardening, you must know about when the first hard frost will hit your area.  One of the best ways to tell this is by a Farmer’s Almanac.  They will give you exact dates and are rarely wrong.  You will also need to know exactly how long it is going to take your plants to mature.

To get your soil ready for fall gardening you must first remove any leftover spring/summer crops and weeds.  Crops leftover from the last season can end up spreading bacteria and disease if left in the garden.  Spread a couple of inches of compost or mulch over the garden area to increase the nutrients, however, if spring plants were fertilized heavily it may not need much, if any.  Till the top layer of soil, wet it down, and let it set for about 12-24 hours.  Once this has been done, you are ready to start planting.

Many gardeners will run from fall gardening so they don’t have to deal with frosts, but if tough, sturdy vegetables are planted they can withstand a few frosts and give you some wonderful tasting produce.  Fall gardening gives you the chance to enjoy your vegetable garden for at least a little bit more time.

Identification of good quality gardening supplies

Identification of good quality gardening supplies

Congratulations! At last you have decided to have a nice garden for your biggest house. Now the big question is how to choose gardening supplies, which are useful for your garden at nominal price but with good quality. Identifying proper gardening supplies is an important thing for a garden lover like you.

Do you know gardening is an art, which requires tender care and deep passion for growing plants? But the part of the art knows how to choose gardening supplies. Just like that of pet care, you pat them on the head, you take them for walks and you talk to them. Your plant also requires same care from you. You should clearly know how to choose gardening supplies- the gardening trade tools.

As you care your plants, you can visually see how they grow? It can be both fulfilling and gratifying and also teach how to choose gardening supplies is a step towards that goal. You should also know that different kinds of garden require different kinds of garden supplies.

In general most of the garden supplies are available in packages, which deals with a particular type of garden. Hence the first and foremost tip on how to select your garden supplies depends mainly on the type of garden you own or envisioned. Some garden requires specialized watering system and not a water sprinkler, and some garden may require held shovel instead of ditch digger. It is also advisable that you don’t spend more money on the garden supplies.

In case if you are going to make a nice garden, you can contact the nearby garden supply store and may ask them to stock your requirement or in some instances gardening supplies can be made by yourself.  But it is necessary to know how to choose your required gardening supplies won’t pinch out much from your budget.

Another important indispensable matter to consider is knowing the garden supply stores that can accommodate your type of garden. There are multi various garden supply stores, which are specialized in rooftop gardens, indoor gardens, and all the other kinds of gardens. Even you can easily identify the garden supplies stores, which offer alternative garden supplies such as ergonomic garden tools, pest control methods, and organic fertilizers.

If you find no time to visit mortar and stone shops of shopping malls to get your required garden supplies, you can browse and get your preferred garden supplies through online. Online shopping helps a lot to the gardeners by the way of comparing the prices of an individual garden supplies for better tools. In addition to this, online shopping helps to order your garden supplies without leaving your homes, and also get to know the latest trends in gardening supplies. It is noted that some online shops offer discounts for your supply of garden supplies in their shops. So go visit the online garden supplies to get a product at nominal price with esteemed quality.