Steps To Keeping The Green In Your Garden

When we set out to create and plant our summer gardens, we no doubt consider splashes of bright colors with additions of vivid, bright greens. We look forward to enjoying our beautiful gardens for a long time. However, what we sometimes fail to do is to spend the time needed to extend the life of our summer garden so that we can enjoy it a little bit longer.

As you begin to notice that goldish hue in your garden, you start to feel sad knowing that summer is coming to an end and fall is not far behind. You realize that your summer garden is starting to look like a dim reminder of the once abundantly producing and lush flower or vegetable garden it once show cased. In this article, we focus on steps you can take to keep your garden looking green and lush for a few more weeks into the fall.

Restore Health and Vitality: Trim all the dying flowers or yellowing leaves that are present. Dead flowers and leaves tend to take away the beauty from the rest of the garden. Once you do that you will immediately see that your garden appears to look neater, cleaner, and beautiful.

Weed Your Garden: Weeds are a major cause of gardens losing their charm and beauty. Applying mulch after you weed your garden, will help keep the weeds from coming back and help retain moisture which in turn adds life to your garden. Mulch also helps your garden look cleaner and neater.

Fill In Empty Spaces: As you trim and weed, you no doubt will leave some vacant areas in your garden. This is a great time to fill in those spaces with some greenery like small shrubs or colorful lawn decorations. Either one will add vitality to your garden. Also check with your local nursery for end of the season markdowns on flowers or greenery. The end result will be almost like having a new garden.

Focus On Local Plants: By choosing plants that do well in your climate, you can prolong the life of your garden. Local plants adjust much better to their environment than those that are imported from other parts of the country. Plants that are grown for your climate will keep your garden looking greener and healthier well into the early part of the fall.

Following these extra steps in maintaining your summer garden will definitely prolong the life of your summer garden and add to your enjoyment of knowing that you have put off the end of summer for just a little bit longer.

To Learn More Tips Click Here

How Composting Helps Our Environment

If you compost regularly, you know the true benefits and rewards of composting. Besides the fertilizer it produces to enrich your garden soil, the greatest benefit is that it helps save our environment. This should be reason enough for anyone to start a compost pile. Sometimes the benefits of composting are not obvious, but it can be a powerful ally in our fight to preserve our environment. Here is a list of some less thought about benefits of composting.

1. Use it as a natural alternative to pesticides. It eliminates weeds in your garden.
2. Use it to stop erosion in cerain areas. Binding properties in the compost help keep the soil intact.
3. Decreases the tons of organic waste end up in landfills. This reduces the unhealthy methane gas that landfills produce.
4. Revitalizes wetlands that are in danger. Preserves the soil and plant life.
5. Limits or prevents the spread of disease among garden plants. some of the properties in the compost work like natural pesticides to help produce healthier plants.
6. Can stabilize and create a natural "ph" balance in your garden soil.
7. Can help retain moisture in areas that are subject to drought.
8. Adding mature compost to clay like soil can revitalize it by making it lighter and easier to work.
9. Enriches the soil and plants by providing essential nutrients and micro-nutrients
10.Creates a thriving environment for healthier plant growth by raising the soil temperature.

As you can see, the benefits of composting are far reaching and can make a big difference, not only in our gardens, but on our environment. It is hoped that these will encourage you to start a compost pile. The time and effort it takes to create and maintain it is so little compared to the huge impact it can have on our planet.

Click Here For More

How To Create A Low Cost Summer Garden

Many of us look forward to the summer months for a variety of different reasons. Perhaps it's the time you take a good, long vacation or the kids look ahead to lazy days playing in the sun and, still, others look forward to digging in the dirt and starting a summer garden. Whatever the reason, it is a time to enjoy and have fun.
Maybe this summer you are thinking about starting a vegetable or flower garden. Gardening, in many respects, can be very rewarding. However, it can also become an expensive hobby without proper planning and preparation. When you get your garden plan together, it should also include a budget. Decide on the type of garden you want, the kinds of vegetables or flowers you want to plant, what type of products you'll use to enhance your soil, any other garden products, and how much you will spend on these items.
Without understanding and planning for these things, you might find yourself spending more money than you anticipated. This, sometimes may take out the joy and fun of creating the beautiful garden you envisioned. There are, however, things you can do to cut back on the cost of a garden without sacrificing the beauty and design of your garden.
1. Check out local native plants. Buy plants that are cultivated for your area and your climate. These will cut costs to your overall budget. Non-native plants can incur extra costs due to specialized maintenance and care. Of course, if you absolutely must have one or two non-native plants, by all means add them to your garden. Just remember the more native plants you incorporate into your garden, the more lush, green, and dense your garden will look for a longer period of time.
2. Try out second hand garden tools. Classified ads are a good source for locating garden tools that are in good condition. Many people wanting to replace their tools and wanting to upgrade find it convenient to dispose of them through the classifieds. Whatever the reason, a bargain allways makes good sense. Afterall, you'll use them to play in the dirt, so why not save yourself some money.
3. Mulching is a time and money saver. Mulch holds moisture in better than soil alone. Your need for watering is less. Using mulch also eliminates bothersome weeds, therefore, less time spent pulling weeds. The exception might be that there are some people who enjoy pulling weeds!
4. Search the classifieds for free plants. Classified ads can sometimes be a good source for finding free plants. Families moving out of town or out of state may not have the space for extras like plants and will place an ad give away these plants. Another good source is your neighborhood news boards. Families in neighborhoods that are may be moving will utilize this method to find good homes for their plants.

Click Here For More Tips

Landscaping Your Summer Garden

As you plan your summer vegetable or flower garden, it is important to keep in mind to work with the natural flow of your landscape or terrain rather than against it. Many a novice gardener will painstakingly try to change the natural landscape of their lawn or planting area only to be dissapointed. Plan your vegetable, flower, or fruit gardens to flow with the natural landscape.

To find the natural flow of your garden area or lawn, it will take a few steps to accomplish this. First thing to do is to survey your lawn, not just visually, but to walk the enire terrain. Study the slopes and inclines, measure the area, and make notes of your findings. Be sure to makes notes on the condition of the soil, any drainage problems, direct or indirect sunlight, and any other information that will help youdecide which area of your lawn would be best for your summer garden. If you find areas that may not be hospitable to plants or a vegetable or flower garden, you might consider turning this area into a water feature or any other creative, decorative addition to your lawn.

When you have decided on the area for your summer garden, determine whether it gets direct or indirect sunlight. For direct sunlight, you may need to create shade for those plants. Try planting these in the shade of shrubs, taller growing vegetables, or even using rocks to create some shade. Using artificial shade works well too such as climbing vines on trellises or planting in the shade provided by your privacy fence.

Once you become familiar with the flow of your lawn, you can begin to plan for the type of vegetables, flowers, fruits, or other greenery you desire in your garden. Vegetables are probably the easiest to landscape, because they're planted for their harvest rather than their beauty. Flower gardens, on the other hand, are planted to achieve beauty and add color to your landscape. During this planning stage, it is a good idea to decide if you want a certain color scheme, certain types of flowers, or a combination. This is a personal decision, but it will have a huge impact on the overall appearance of your garden and lawn.
Another point to consider in landscaping your summer garden, is how much time and effort you're willing to spend on taking care of your garden. Some plants require more maintenance and care than others, sodo your homework on the types of plants you want to use in your garden.Vegetable gardens require more constant attention than the flower or plant garden. They will not flourish or survive long without regular care.

If you feel that you don't have the time needed to maintain your gardens or lawn or you simply don't know how to landscape your summer gardens, consider hiring a professional landscaping company. They can provide almost any service you need for your lawn. Before you hire outside help, check into their maintenance program and find out the details of their maintenance services. You could also ask to see if they provide a low maintenance landscaping service that you could duplicate on your own.

Landscaping, for many gardeners, is what they most look forward to when the planning stage of their summer gardens begin. But for others, it may be the step they would rather skip and move on to the planting phase of the growing season. Which ever the case, the hope is that the tips and recommendations provided here will be useful and help you get started landscaping your summer gardens.

Check Out My Blog

Avoiding Pitfalls of the Summer Garden

Here is a common pitfall some gardeners make when planning and designing their summer garden. It is failure to consider the long-term impact of the plants and flowers you choose for your garden. If you don't want to spend all your time tending to your garden, then it makes little sense to buy plants and flowers that, by nature, require lots of time and effort. Choose plants according to your summer garden needs and not just because you think they will look beautiful adorning your lawn.It's time well spent when you make the effort towards creating a solid plan for your summer garden based on personal tastes and how much time you want to spend on maintaining your garden to keep it looking great.When you take the time to plan your garden, you will discover that you will enjoy it much more than if you just throw some plants in the ground and hope they will survive. One thing to remember is that you can create a summer garden that requires less maintenance, than others, but understand that there is no such thing as a no maintenance garden. Expect to spend some time and effort keeping your garden looking beautiful and healthy. Once you have planned your summer garden, then you can focus on the things you want to plant, where you want to plant them, and the needs of your plants. Next, it is time to really dig in and get your hands dirty!

For more on summer gardens, Click Here.

Pitfalls of The Summer Garden

We all love to create a summer garden that's a show stopper. However, what we don't consider are the things to avoid when planting our summer garden.If you avoid those pitfalls from others mistakes, then the results for you will be much more successful in the long run.

Landscaping for the benefit of the neighbors is something we are all guilty of at one time or another. If you spend alot of time indoors, then plant your garden where you can easily view it from within the comfort of your home. In other words, garden for self enjoyment and place your garden where you can enjoy the fruits of your labor everyday!

Keep your garden on scale with your lawn to avoid too much clutter or so it doesn't look like its under maintained. Try keeping everything in your garden in perspective and appropriate to the size of you lawn and the climate of the area in which you are planting that summer garden.

Another point to consider is avoiding the lack of planning when planting that summer garden. Thinking through what you want and where you want that summer garden is very important. Without a good plan from which to build on will result in the failure of your garden. Invest the biggest portion of your energy and time to the planning stage of your summer garden. You will be rewarded with not just a beautiful summer garden, but a unique design too!

Welcome To My Blog

Thanks for stopping by. This blog is dedicated to gardening throughout the different seasons of the year. I will be posting tips and information about this subject in the near future.