For designing landscapes it is important to know the basics of plant growth viz soil requirements, air , temperature and water requirement. .

1. Essentials for plant growth
Surashmie Kaalmegh
Faculty in Dept. of Interior Design,
LAD College,
Nagpur

2. Requisites
for softscapes:

3.  A place to grow
Plants grow in many different
places - from plain old dirt to
richly fertilized soil. A branch of
horticulture known as
hydroponics even uses specially
prepared solutions of mineral
salts as a plant's growing space.
Either way, as long as there's
somewhere to put down roots and
a plentiful amount of the right
nutrients, a plant will do its best to
grow.
 The right temperature
After planting a seed, just the right
temperature is needed for it to
germinate and begin to grow.
Some seeds need warmer
temperatures than others to
germinate. By relying on
knowledge of Seasonal
temperature it's easy to know
when to plant what. And, if mother
nature isn't agreeable, one can
always make use of greenhouses
and other artificial systems to get
the temperature just right.

4. Air and light
Plants make their own food
using a process called
photosynthesis. During
photosynthesis, the
chlorophyll-containing green
parts of the plant trap light
energy and use it to perform
a series of chemical
reactions. The process
involves carbon dioxide, and
so plants also need plenty of
air. We usually rely on the
sun to provide
light energy & heat

5. Climate :
India

6.  The plant absorbs
carbon dioxide
from the
atmosphere,
draws water up
through its roots
and uses light to
photosynthesize
sugars, which it
uses as food. It
excretes oxygen
as a by-product of
the process.
Without water,
photosynthesis
cannot take place.

7. Vegetation

9. Irrigation
 Water is essential to plants. It
carries important nutrients from the
soil and is an important trigger for
germination and the process of
photosynthesis. Without water,
plants simply won't grow.
 IRRIGATION SYSTEMS  provide
water. When it comes to watering
plants in gardens using watering
cans or sprinkler systems is
common .
 This is irrigation at its simplest
level. And while this is fine for small
areas, trying to water bigger areas
then these methods become
impractical.

10. Irrigation systems through history
The Qanat’s of Iran :
 The ancient Egyptians made
extensive use of the practice of
flooding their fields . Two thousand
years ago, Herodotus wrote that
Egypt was "the gift of the Nile."
Diverted into large, flat-bottomed
basins, the river Nile provided
excellent irrigation for Egyptian
crops.
 Although the basin method is still
popular, there are more refined
methods of irrigation in use today:

11. In Egypt

13.  The water is directed
into the field by
various channels and
pipelines, or may
even be brought in
manually. Two
extremely old
methods use these
devices:
 A shaduf is an
uncomplicated
apparatus consisting
of a bucket, raised
and lowered by a
simple lever.
 A sakia consists of a
geared wheel of a
circular chain of
buckets turned by an
animal, such as a
horse or mule.

14. The Qanats

17. The methods of
irrigation in Mughal
gardens

18. The methods
of irrigation in
Mughal
gardens

19. Amber fort
Rashtrapati Bhawan

20. THE ROMAN AQUEDUCTS:

21. The bavadi’s / Wav’s Of Gujarat

22. Types of irrigation methods
contemporary
 Five ways to apply water:
 1. Surface irrigation
Running or impounding water over the surface and
allowing it to saturate the soil to some depth.eg.
Border irrigation, furrow irrigation .
 2. Sprinkler irrigation / Overhead irrigation
Spraying water into the air and allowing it to fall on
to plants and soil as simulated rainfall.
 3. Drip irrigation / trickle irrigation
Dripping water on to a fraction of the ground surface
so as to infiltrate it into the root zone.
 4. Subsurface exuder’s
Introducing the water directly into the root zone by
means of porous receptacles.
 5. Subirrigation
Raising the water-table from below (in places where
the groundwater is shallow and controllable) so as
to moisten the root zone by capillary action.

23. Surface Irrigation
 Water source needs
to be constant &
abundant
 Its simple & easy
 Used for vast / large
areas.
Basin irrigation : a dyke or
raised bank surrounds the
field & contains water brought
manually
Hunan – China
By whatever method, the water
is transported to the channels
it floods the field, causing a
deep layer of mud to form in
the bottom of the basin.

24. Furrow & border irrigation
 Border irrigation is similar,
but in this case the field is
not entirely enclosed by a
dike. Instead, it is watered
from one end and allowed to
drain from the other. Border
irrigation works well with
sloping land, as does furrow
irrigation, in which the water
is further controlled by the
use of channels within the
field itself. Water is directed
along these channels, and by
controlling the flow of water
into each channel, one can
control the amount of water
in different portions of the
field surface.
Special furrow systems like
these enhance water
management. Wide-spaced
furrows work like alternative-row
irrigation, except that every row
is irrigated and the rows are
further apart.

25. Overhead Irrigation
 An overhead irrigation system is a
lot like a lawn sprinkler -- the basic
principle is the same. Water is
pumped in under pressure and
sprayed down onto the plants from
flat spray nozzles.

Variable-flow irrigation sprinkler
head
 These may be mounted on an
overhead network of aluminum
pipes or even simply mounted
on the top of a stake.

26.  Because it can be difficult to produce an
even coverage, some more expensive
systems may feature a moving overhead
boom. This mechanism, which moves
across the length of the whole crop, can
then disperse the water in a much more
even manner. Another overhead
irrigation device is the water gun, which,
as its name suggests, shoots water into
the air and out over a field. A large water
gun can cover several acres of land
without needing to be moved.
 Overhead systems are particularly
useful when covering large areas of
land, and some can even be dismantled
and moved from field to field with little
trouble.
 Because overhead irrigation
systems need a plentiful supply of
water at a relatively high pressure,
they vary greatly in complexity and
cost depending on the acreage
covered.
 With overhead irrigation, the foliage
of a crop does get wet. If the leaves
remain wet for an extended period
of time, anywhere from as little as
10 and up to 24 hours, this can
cause problems with fungi and
bacterial disease.

28. Trickle or Drip
Irrigation
 While surface irrigation
methods rely on watering the
whole surface of the field
and overhead irrigation
leaves the plants wet and
produces runoff, drip
irrigation is far more
controlled. Water is slowly
provided to a very specific
area, close to the roots of the
plant, by a network of drip
emitters.
 Despite their name, these
tiny nozzles - about the size
of a quarter - don't hang
above the plants and drip but
are actually laid along the
ground. Linked to an
appropriate water source by
a main feeder hose, they
provide a slow and steady
flow of water. An alternative
to drip irrigation is trickle
tape - essentially a length of
hose with built in drip
emitters.


29.  Drip irrigation provides water
near the base of the plant,
leaving the upper foliage dry
and less susceptible to fungi.
 The advantage to using trickle
or drip irrigation is, simply,
control. This method of
irrigation is precise and
economical. A standard lawn
sprinkler . for example, might
measure the water flow in
gallons per minute -- somewhere
between one and five is normal.
A drip emitter, on the other
hand, is rated in gallons per
hour. The flow of water is so
slow that it is easily absorbed
into the ground. In a well-tuned
system there is little opportunity
for excess water running off and
being wasted.
 And this approach can be even
more fine-tuned by going
underground.

30. QATAR : landscaping
Golden Nails Company

31. Qatar : example

32.  Though initially expensive –per acre --
and not suitable for many areas, the
economical advantages of drip irrigation
can be further enhanced by placing the
irrigation tubing about 5 inches (about
12.7 centimeters) below the surface.
Down there, the water really does get
straight to where it's needed - the roots
of the plant. Evaporation is greatly
reduced, and there is no opportunity for
surface runoff.
More recently, plastic mulch
has become an integral part of
many drip irrigation systems.
By laying sheets of plastic
across the fields, the
horticulturalist can further
improve conditions for their
plants. However, there are
concerns that extensive use of
plastic mulch may have long-
term detrimental effects on the
environment, perhaps
increasing the amount of rain
and pesticides that runs off
into nearby water.
Advantages of Mulches:
reduce evaporation
prevent the growth of weeds
help protect the roots from
frost damage It can also help
keep fruit off the ground.

33.  It would seem that, with the right amount of money
and time, a system that delivers exactly the right
amount of water to plants at exactly the right
moment, can be devised .
 In developed countries we have a ready supply of
fresh, clean water. It merely needs filtering before it
can be used for irrigation; the finely-tuned systems
used in drip irrigation are easily clogged by dirt or
deposits from unfiltered water.
 Developing countries, however, may have to rely on
rivers or seasonal rainfall for their supplies of water.
While this may not always be reliable, the alternative
is to create dams or canals, each of which may
cause unwanted changes to the local environment.
 Even though no one wants to wash away the fertile
soil from their field, soil erosion does occur.
This is an unwanted and unfortunate side-effect of
surface irrigation. In addition to this, the constant
evaporation of water may also lead to a build up of salt in
the upper layers of soil, particularly if the soil has a high
saline content to begin with, rendering it unsuitable for
farming.

So, while methods of irrigation vary in complexity
and efficiency, they are all just ways in which
farmers or gardeners attempt to simplify the task of
watering their crops. Each method has its own
advantages and disadvantages, which is why there
is still such a wide range of methods in use.

34.  Subsurface irrigation or
sub irrigation allows the
precise application of
water, nutrients and other
agro- chemicals directly to
the root zone of plants.
 Irrigating underground is
one of the most efficient
ways to water plants.
Subsurface irrigation
reduces evaporation, wind
drift, over spray, vandalism
and as such can save
substantial amounts of
water.
 The depth and placement
of the drip-line depends on
the soil and need of the
plant being irrigated. Water
moves by capillary action
through the soil, 150-
750mm beneath the soil
surface, forming a
continuous wetted layer at
the root zone.
Sub-Surface Irrigation

38. Pattern of wetting
Flood irrigation
Furrow irrigation Sprinkler irrigation
Sprinkler irrigation
Drip irrigation

40. Components of
a drip irrigation
system:

44. Watering heads:

50. Aquatraps using 5-6 rubber linings per plant
Grey water generated per day
Aquatraps &
usage of grey water

51. Water conserving landscape :
Xeriscape

53. Soil

58. Soil Horizon Names and Descriptions:
O: Decaying plants on or near surface
A: Top Soil, Organic Rich
B: Subsoil, Most Diverse Horizon and the Horizon with the most sub classifications
C: Weathered/aged parent material
E: Horizon leached of organic or mineral content (light in color)

59. Nutrients & their sources
Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Phosphorous
Magnesium
Sodium
…
…
…..
Etc.

61. For lawns

62. Types of Soil Conservation
Strategies
 Planting trees
 Terracing
 No-till farming
 Contour ploughing
 Crop rotation
 Soil pH
 Soil organisms

64. Soil containment methods

66. Plant propagation methods &
transplantation
 What is plant propagation?
 Sexual reproduction and asexual
(vegetative) propagation
 Growing from seed
 Seed structure
 Obtaining seed
 Storing seed
 Germination and viability
 Starter mixes
 seed sowing
 Propagating from spores
 Propagation by cuttings
 Stem cuttings
 Leaf cuttings
 Aftercare
 Propagation by Division
 Rosettes, runners and offsets
 Herbaceous perennials
 Natural layering and aerial roots
 Suckers
 Rhizomes, tubers, corms and
bulbs
 Less common techniques
 Layering
 Grafting
 Budding
 Root cuttings
 Tissue culture

67. From seeds:

68. Bare root plants

74. Dividing method:

76. Pests & diseases

78. Remedies