Tips on How To Plan A Harmonious Family Garden

Introduction:
Keeping your garden looking good whilst using it for a variety of needs is not as hard as you might think with a bit of garden planning. This article looks at a few solutions that will enable the whole family to enjoy a perfect outdoor living.

Ideally you want your garden to work for you and at the same time look good. You want to use it to relax in and also use the space as an extension to the house, for other members of the family to enjoy as well. Initially this might seem a problem; kids want to play, adults want to entertain and everyone wants to relax.

1. Identify exactly what you want from your garden

Do you want to entertain a lot; barbecues etc?
Do you need somewhere for children to play?
Do you want a vegetable patch to grow your own produce?
Will there be a greenhouse?
Are you planning on having garden furniture?

Come up with your ownlist.

2. Design your garden accordingly

Remember there are no rules here. You have a blank canvas. Most problems arise between children playing and adults wanting to garden or relax.
a) Consider hardy shrubs and grasses that will take the odd bashing from a football.

b) If your garden is small and space is at a premium, why not grow upwards? Put climbers on a pergola. Until the plants have established themselves you can cover the sides temporarilry with sheets for shelter from the wind. Use the space inside for relaxing or eating.

c) Take advantage of plants in containers. That way you can move them at will to accodomodate various situations or when you just feel like a change.
d) Situate your garden furniture and dining area away from the potential play areas and use wind breaks as barriers. Buy weatherproof and rustproof products.

e) Try to locate your barbecue in a safe area. Consider a mobile barbecue so you can adapt to any situation and weather conditions. And get a gas controlled one. Don't spend all day trying to light one!

f) Consider games that both adults and children can enjoy. Croquet is ideal, although ,make sure the kids don't take chunks out of your lawn! Show them how to play.

The best solutions are those that allow you the greatest flexibility. Try to establish the different activity elements of the garden so that in theory they can be moved around with the minimum of effort. With some pre-thought you can plan a garden that will suit all members of your family and accomodate visitors when you are entertaining. Work, rest and play all at the same time..honest!

Gardening Tips for Avoiding Fungal Diseases

Summertime is a time of great joy for the gardening enthusiast. He gets to gaze on his garden in it’s full glory and show off the fruits of her efforts. Unfortunately, it is no time to rest on your laurels, as it were, because this is one of the times of year that funguses can take hold and destroy your plants. These type of plant diseases thrive on moisture and humidity, so they can quickly get out of hand.

Avoid Evening Watering

During summer, many climate zones are subjected to high humidity, which might result in lots of problems in your garden. To get your plants nice and dry, tuck them in for night nice and dry. In other words, watering in the evening should be avoided to prevent damage to the plants.

Plan for Powdery Mildew

Powdery mildew is a common fungus mostly affecting ornamental plants. This fungal growth creates a white film on the leaves of the plants in your garden. It can be partially removed by rubbing the leaves, but unless you only have a few plants this isn’t a very effective remedy. You should begin by applying a fungicide product containing Bacillus subtilis, jojoba oil, sulfur or lime sulfur when the initial white patches are observed. This fungus also favors closely spaced plants, densely growing plants, and shady areas. So take this into account when planning your garden layout if your summer climate has high humidity.

Prevention of Pythium Blight

If you’re in the north, and have perennial Rye grass, then you need to be careful not to leave your grass wet at night. A fungus called Pythium Blight may take hold, because this fungus love to grow in high humid conditions, especially at night. If uncontrolled, this disease can cause large areas of turf to wilt, turn brown and die.

Pythium blight can be readily seen in the early morning on the top of the lawn as a white cotton candy-like growth. Pythium blight can easily be controlled by watering in the day at the earliest possible time. Other preventative measures include removing thatch periodically, avoiding overly thick growth by moderating use of fertilizers and improving soil drainage through aeration.

Fire Blight

Fire Blight, yet another culprit that likes to grow during summer months. This fungus attacks Pear, crabapple and Apple trees. Fire Blight can be seen as a blossom blight a week or two after the blooming, which turns black on pear and brown on apple trees, causing the whole blossom cluster to wilt and die. Antibiotic sprays are quite successful in countering the blossom blight phase of Fire Blight.

Fire Blight can also be controlled by overwinter pruning of affected branches from the main plant. Cuts should be made at least four inches below the affected areas, which can be detected by dead bark. Don’t forget the Fire Blight is contagious, so any prunings should be burnt, and pruning shears should be washed or dipped in alcohol.

Garden Shed - Using It as a Workshop or Craft Room

There are many ways to use your garden shed other than for gardening. You could use it as a workshop for building small pieces of furniture. Or, you could use it as a craft room for creating all of those wonderful things that are fun to make, but make too big a mess in the house.

Some of the garden sheds are come very simple and basic. They have a door a few windows for light and little else. You get to fill up the walls and floor however you like. Some come in fancier designs with tables, shelves and cabinets, so there is plenty of workspace and storage space.

The key to getting the right garden shed is to figure out what you will be using it for. Are you an artist who needs a place to draw, paint or sculpt? Are you a woodworker making small furniture and birdhouses? Are you a craftsperson who makes jewelry or small knickknacks? The answers to these questions will help you figure just what you want and need as far as size and design of your garden shed.

Do you already have a garden shed that you want to convert into a small workshop or craft room? With a little bit of creativity and hard work you can do that. Just clean it out and scrub it down. Put in any tables or shelves might you want and maybe a few chairs and you are ready to start using your new room.

You want the appearance your shed to reflect something of your personality and what you are all about but, you should always check with your local government offices to make sure your garden shed will be in compliance with the building and zoning laws of your community.

Small Leaf Shredder - The New Must Own Gardening Tool

With the current and ever growing pressure on landfill sites in the United States it has become every gardeners responsibility to make best use of the garden waste they produce. Critical to this effort is finding a way to turn common garden refuse such as grass leaves and twigs into usable compost material, and in recent years this has become a much simpler task with the development of the small leaf shredder.

A small leaf shredder is a relatively new innovation, evolving from the larger industrial power tools used to chop and chip large wood material such as branches and logs. A leaf shredder does not require the cutting and shredding power of a wood chipper, but takes the same principles and basic design and incorporates it into a much smaller portable vacuum unit, very similar in look to a lawnmower with a chute attachment. In addition many shredders will include an entry point for manually inserting small branches which would not be picked up by the vacuum. Some of the larger units also incorporate a funnel which allows leaves to be raked directly into the machine rather than requiring the vacuum.

The unit is pushed around the garden sucking up all the leaves and small timber debris and chops and shreds into an attacked disposal bag, perfect for adding to your compost heap. The leaves which are chopped and shredded break down into compost much easier and quicker than whole leaves and so in addition to reducing their volume by more than 10 times the composting breakdown occurs much faster.

A small leaf shredder is different from the larger chipper units in that it needs smaller rotating blades to shred the leaves. The power required to shred this delicate material is also very low compared to the larger machines which need large blades and significant horsepower for chopping branches and larger pieces of wood. Most small leaf shredders will be electrically powered, the blades spinning from the moment the power is switched on, and only stopping when the power is switched off. This is in contrast to the larger units which will generally be gasoline powered and will have motors and a clutch keeping the cutting and chipping action isolated from the motor power.

Internally a small leaf shredder contains a screen which only lets material that has been shredded to a small enough size to pass through. Screens can often be replaced with various sizes to control how fine the shredding action is. Naturally the screens will occasionally clog, especially if the leaves are wet, but in general the shredders operate smoothly and efficiently.

With growing environmental concerns the small leaf shredder has become a must buy tool for many modern gardeners, no longer just the preserve of those with very large gardens.

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 45° 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.

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.

Garden Ponds - they are not to difficult to install

If you’ve got a big garden, then it can be difficult to decide what to put in it. A shed? A swing? A hammock? A little vegetable patch, maybe? What you might not have considered, though, is that you could make part of your garden into a pond.

A garden pond is not too difficult to install – in its simplest form, it’s just a big hole that you’ve dug out and then filled with water. One you’ve got a pond, though, you can put all sorts of things in it, such as all kinds of aquatic plants and ornamental rocks.

If you put in a simple filtration system to keep the water clean and oxygenated, you can even keep some kinds of fish in your pond. Goldfish are a popular choice, but any fish will do as long as it is nice-looking and can survive in a wide variety of climates – most fish that can survive in a non-temperature-controlled tank will be just fine, but do check. You may also find that other wildlife starts to turn up on its own after a while, especially frogs and small turtles, although this is much more likely to happen if there are already ponds nearby.

One thing to beware of, though, is larger wildlife that might turn up uninvited and spoil your fun. Fish in garden ponds can attract all sorts of animals, especially fish-eating birds like herons. Even domestic cats can sometimes be a danger to your pond fish!

Apart from animals, you can lots of other interesting features to your pond, particularly if it is a large one – waterfalls are very popular, as are fountains. You should consider, however, what effect these features could potentially have on your pond wildlife, and check that they are safe before you install them.

Selecting The Perfect Garden Tools For Your Yard

As winter days grow longer, the gardener in all of us longs to be out digging in the dirt. After many cold months of sitting in warm kitchens and happily dreaming of flower and vegetable gardens, it is a wonderful feeling to finally get outside in the sun and feel the earth beneath your fingertips. If you have never before known the satisfaction of working the soil and nurturing plants, there is no time like the present to start enjoying everything that gardening has to offer. You will need a few simple tools to start on your way. Many of the tools available are extraneous and easily done without, but there are a few basics that no gardener should be without. Use this handy checklist to take stock of the tools in your garden shed.

Spading Fork: This tool is usually the first tool that you will use when spring rolls around. A spading fork is an important tool for breaking up hard, winter packed soil and combing additives such as compost or manure into your dirt. A spading tool looks like a smaller version of the pitchfork farmers have used for years. Unlike the pitchfork, a spading fork has wider tines and a smaller handle.

Hoe: This tool is very helpful for tearing weeds out of your soil. A hoe is also a great device for cultivating the surface of the soil so that water and feed can penetrate to your plants roots. If your hoe is dull, get a new one or have the blade sharpened, because there is nothing worse that slaving over weeds with a dull hoe that is ineffective.

Shovel: A sturdy round ended shovel will come in very handy for all sorts of gardening projects. You can use it to break up soil, dig up grass or weeds, and dig deep holes form planting your vegetable and flower plants, shrubs, and even trees. Choose a shovel with a smooth and sturdy handle that fits well in your hand. You should also make sure that the height of the handle is comfortable for you.

Rake: When you go shopping for a rake for your garden it is important to bypass the rakes that you are used to using to rake leaves off your lawn every fall. In the garden, you use a bow rake which is much different than the fan rakes that sweep up debris. A bow rake has short tines on one side attached to a metal frame, traditionally called a bow, and where the name bow rake originates from. A bow rake is used for removing large clots or rocks from the soil. The sturdy tines are great for sinking down beneath the surface of your soil and pulling out the things you don’t want in your garden. A bow rake is also a great tool for leveling your garden after you have hoed and dug it up, to prepare it for planting. The flat side of a hoe rake can be run along the soil (tines up) to flatten and pack your dirt into a smooth pattern. The tines can also be traced lightly against the flattened soil to prepare planting trenches for seeds such as radishes, carrots or onions.

Shears: Having a good pair of garden shears or clippers is essential for the care of your plants. Make sure that you get a sturdy pair that feels comfortable in your hand. This tool is used for pruning, shaping, and clipping away old foliage so new growth can flourish. Shears come in all price ranges and the cost usually reflects the quality. If you invest in a good pair of shears, they will pay for themselves many times over with years of solid, dependable use. If you skimp when it comes to buying this tool, chances are you will be frustrated by the low quality of the work they do, and it is very possible that you will have to replace them before the season is even over.

If you arm yourself with the tools on this simple garden tool checklist, you should find yourself ready to meet the spring. There are a lot more garden tools available, and many of them are innovative and useful, but if you have all of the tools mentioned above, you will find you have everything you need to do some spring gardening!

Using Popular Rose Varieties In Your Garden

When many people think of gardening, their thoughts turn first to roses, and there is no wonder. Roses are among the most popular, and certainly most beautiful, types of flowers there are. In addition, roses are a huge part of both the gardening hobby and the professional flower business. There are even rose and flowers shows were master gardeners proudly show off their lovely creations to an awestruck crowd.

Whether your ultimate goal is to take the big prize at the next rose show or just enjoy a few roses in your garden, it is important to get a feel for the many varieties of roses on the market. Roses are among the most varied flowers on the market; they come in virtually every color of the rainbow and in blooms ranging in size from a fraction of an inch to almost a foot in width. This article focuses on a few of the most commonly seen rose varieties.

impinellifolia Roses
Pimpinellifolia roses are renowned for their hardiness, and their attractive foliage and lovely blooms make them a great choice for the beginning rose enthusiast or the experienced gardener. These roses come in pink, red, yellow and white blossoms, and they grow on attractive and very compact bushes.

Boursault Roses
Boursault roses are of the climbing variety, and they are said to be the result of a cross between an early variety of China rose and the R. Pendulina rose. This cross is thought to have occurred during the reign of Napoleon, who was a well known rose enthusiast. The blossoms of this rose are somewhat large, and they grow in either small or large clusters depending on the variety. The blooms come in various shades of pink and red. Many varieties can reblossom later in the season.

Sempervirens Roses
The Sempevirens is similar to the Boursault, in that it is also a climbing rose. The Sempervirens originated in the Mediterranean region of the world, and it has large leaves accented by small white flowers which grow in large clusters. This variety of rose was studied extensively by rose enthusiasts as far back as 1820, and it continues to be one of the most popular varieties of climbing rose on the market today. This variety of rose is seen in various shades of pink and white.

Setigera Roses
The Setigera variety of rose, known to the scientific community as R. setigera, has a reputation for being a hardy and tough plant. That hardiness may be due to the fact that R. setigera comes from the prairie region of the United States, a difficult environment to say the least. The setigera rose has been used in breeding programs to create many very hardy varieties of climbing roses, most notably the crosses with the Noisettes and Gallicas varieties.

Wichuraiana Roses
The Wichuraiana rose, also known as R. wichuraiana, is a frequently seen wide spreading cluster rose. It is used both as a climbing rose and as an attractive ground cover.