Raised Bed Gardening - How to Grow Well in Small Spaces

What is raised bed gardening and why should you be interested? It is -- usually -- done in some kind of raised bed gardening in containers. There are square raised beds, rectangular raised beds, and round raised beds. You can make a raised bed just about any shape you want and, yes, container planters are a form of raised bed.

Raised Bed Gardening and the New Homeowner

I asked the lumber yard to cut these pieces 4 feet long for two 4x4 square raised beds.

After that, I went over to the garden center and picked up eight bags of garden soil.
I learned about raised bed gardening from watching garden shows on TV including Mel Bartholomew's TV show on PBS, "Square Foot Gardening".

Hey, how hard can it be to nail four boards together to form a four foot by four foot raised bed garden box?

The pressure of the garden soil also helped keep the shape of the raised bed garden box together.

It's astonishing how much could grow in a small raised bed garden. One of the greatest advantages to raised bed gardening is that you control the soil content.

Build some raised beds and filled them with a mix of garden soil, compost and something to lighten it up -- vermiculite, perlite, peat moss, or even some sand. One of the things you want to avoid in raised bed or container gardening is heavy soil density. If you have a bad back or you have avoided gardening because you don't want to look like one of those pieces of bent over garden art -- you know the ones, women with fat butts in bloomers -- build your garden beds higher.

You can stack your raised beds on top of each other. You can grow just about anything in a raised bed. From potatoes to tomatoes to a cutting garden full of zinnias, you can do it in a raised bed.

Garden Versatility with Raised Bed Gardening

Cultivating soil in a traditional row garden takes time. Using raised beds allows you to garden instantly.

May - Northern Planting and Garden Making Month

May is the main planting and garden making month of the year for those in the North. Although planting of dormant trees and shrubs can be started in April, most of the planting is done in May. A late spring, or unfavorable weather in April, often delays the planting or transplanting of woody ornamentals until May. This of course, is the time to plant dormant fruit trees and floweringcrabapples. Fall planting is too risky for them, but it is safe for all other woody, deciduous plants when properly handled and given winter protection.

The rosy blossomed varieties of ornamental crabapples are the most colorful of the small trees that will grow in the North. Planted along the borderline of the property, they also provide cover and protection so essential in attracting birds.

Attention also should be directed to the planting of the sugar maple as an ornamental and shade tree. Few trees can rival it for autumn color, good growth habit and hardiness. If not done in April, all small fruits such as plums, cherries, cherryplums, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, grapes and strawberries should be planted as early in May as possible. Plants should be purchased from reliable local sources. Plants are handled with greater care and given protection against sun and winds that might be hard on the tender, new growth. VV hen spruce, pine and fir are in an advanced stage of new growth, they are not planted.

Home Depot Gardening - Your One Stop Shop For Gardening Tools

A gardening enthusiast can get all the equipment and paraphernalia that they would need for their garden at the Home Depot store in the gardening section. One can also get seeds, plants and plant products, fertilisers, pest control products and any other fancy stuff for your garden. Gardening tips and books on gardening are also available here.

Tips on planting According to the expert tips of the Home Depot, it is better to plant flowers on a day when the sky is overcast and it may rain instead of on a warm sunny day. The rain will do the plants a lot of good. So it is better to plant the new plants for the year and the perennial plants before the last frost date for he season. How to choose your new plants It will help to be careful while choosing your new plants. How to prepare a flower bed Mix at least one inch of organic matter into a flower bed that has been prepared with a spade. For plants that have to be planted annually you should loosen the soil up to a depth of 12 inches and for perennials to a depth of 18 inches. After you have planted the potted plants in the soil, add between one to three inches of organic mulch like pine needles, bark, grass clippings or wood chip mulch. The volume of textures colors, sizes, and forms, has placed annuals a favorite with gardeners and plant lovers.

When choosing this type of plant, if at all possible, make your life easier and choose a disease and insect resistant variety. Understanding the needs of different annual varieties and the typical climate where you, you'll likely be successful growing annual plants. The local gardening center or plant nursery can point you in the direction of the best annuals for your needs.

While out in the garden, look closely at your plants for the presence of insects or infestation. Watering is a necessity for annuals however, avoid overhead watering of whenever you can. That's because excessive water on the foliage encourages different types of diseases. Plant diseases thrive in moisture, therefore standing water on annuals is a surefire way to blanket your garden with present disease, or encourage a new one to develop and spread

To water your gardens use soaker hose or drip irrigation if at all possible. If you find any insects on your plant, place them in a plastic bag and drive down to a garden center for identification. Remember, you must identify the pests first, before your can effectively rid them from your garden plants.

Tips and Techniques For Watering Your Container Garden Plants

The importance of proper watering cannot be stressed enough for your container garden plants. Container Gardens are exposed to wind and sun so they dry out quicker than plants in the ground. There are no exact rules about watering your container garden plants. You have to become acquainted with the needs of various garden plants. The best tip is to examine them daily and water the plant when the surface of the soil begins to look dry. Feeling the soil will also help you determine the moisture needs of your container garden. How much and when to water will depend on the kind of plant and soil, the type and size of container, and the amount of exposure to sun and wind. During hot spells most plants in your container garden need daily water, except those in small clay pots, which may require it twice. Groups of plants in large containers keep moist longer than single specimens. This allows the container plants to shade one another to keep cool and stop moisture evaporation.

There are several methods of watering the plants. If you have many containers in your container garden, depend on the hose, allowing water to flow through slowly and gently. Water small pots with a watering can that has a long spout or buy one of the self watering containers now available. One thing is certain; you must not depend on rain to keep your container garden plants hydrated. Over-watering also prevents aeration of the soil, and will cause the plant to drown.

One good method is to set your container garden, if the containers are not too large, in a basin or pail of water for several hours, or until the surface of the soil feels moist (this is the theory behind self watering containers). The best general rule is to soak soil thoroughly when you water and then allow it to go just a bit dry before you water your container garden again. The best safeguard is to entrust your container garden to a responsible friend. As mentioned above, in many of the garden centers self watering containers are offered for sale. Happy Container Gardening!

Working with a Landscape Gardener

Working with a Landscape Gardener

A Landscape Gardener designs, develops, maintains, remodels gardens and landscape. A landscape gardener's work is synonymous to that of an architect. Keeping the client's vision in mind a landscape gardener produces designs and drawings for the prospective projects.

A landscape gardener also work on trellises, pergolas, ponds, ferneries, barbecues, play structures While on a project, a landscape gardener has to take care of the minuscule details of the project. However, the work of a landscape gardener just does not end with the assembly of the garden. Even after the landscape garden is prepared a landscape gardener has to care of providing advice on garden maintenance and upkeep.

Alandscape gardener works on the installation of lighting, choosing garden ornaments and even detailing the furniture suitable for the landscape garden. While providing advice on the garden maintenance and upkeep, a landscape gardener has to work on selecting seeds, plants, trees and bulbs and planting them at the accurate place for a fruitful growth.

A landscape gardener is requires to direct and supervise the working of other members of the landscaping and the gardening team. Besides physical strength a landscape gardener should be creative as well as artistic. A landscape gardener is not limited to designing and constructing new garden landscape but also renovating existing gardens. Landscape gardeners work at sites which include private gardens, public parks and reserves, indoor facilities and newly developed housing estates and industrial complexes.

Flower Gardening Basics

Flower Gardening Basics

A flower garden is a place of creative beauty, relaxation, contemplation, rest and play. No matter how constrained you are about space, money or time, designing a flower garden can be done effectively and beautifully. This simple overview of flower garden basics will help you to start on this enriching endeavour, express your creativity, get closer to nature and enjoy a truly flowering experience.

Here are some practical tips on how to start your fascinating and exciting adventure of setting up a colourful and lively flower garden; from selecting a spot, preparing the soil, selecting your flowers, designing your garden, and planting your flowers.

To begin planting your flower garden, choose a sunny spot that gets direct sunlight the whole day or at least for half a day till noontime. A slight slop is okay too, but avoid a steep hill for your first time planting a flower garden, as it can be cumbersome and challenging.

Soil Preparation

The next step would be preparing the soil. Loosen the soil and mix organic matter into it. Organic matter consists of decomposed materials such as compost, old rotten leaves, well-aged stable manure, spent mushroom soil, or whatever materials you have available locally at reasonable cost or in your daily trash. Additional an abundance of soil organisms, from earthworms to fungi, provide needed nutrients to plant roots and keep your flowers healthy.

Try Something Different With A Japanese Garden

Try Something Different With A Japanese Garden

Japanese Gardens are an interesting amalgamation of nature, spirituality and art. These gardens are meant to suggest harmony and create tranquility in your surroundings. Originally, Japanese Gardens represented a utopian land for the Japanese. Philosophies influencing creation of Japanese Gardens bring a sense of spirituality to the gardens. The presence of a few elements is mandatory for a Japanese garden, and water is the most important amongst them. Water, in Japanese culture, symbolizes purity. This has led to the presence of water in most Japanese gardens. The other essential elements in a Japanese garden are stones, garden plants, waterfalls, trees, and bridges. Some gardens owners also construct water features like waterfalls, streams, or ponds. There are five different styles of Japanese gardens, namely, Strolling Gardens, Natural Gardens, Sand and Stone Gardens, Tea Gardens and Flat Gardens.

Since the Japanese are highly individualistic, the look of the Japanese garden mostly depends on the person who plants and tends the garden. Japanese gardens are different from Western gardens in terms of their religious and philosophical elements. Japanese gardens are an expression of art, and a symbolic representation of the gardeners view of the universe. Traditional Japanese gardens emphasize natural, abstract beauty and minimize signage on plants.

Random Acts of Planting - Day One at the Gardening Centre

Random Acts of Planting - Day One at the Gardening Centre

I don't mean the hormonal one - I mean the passionate interest in gardening that wells up in a woman when she hits the big 5-0 or so.

I needed some hand-holding so I asked a popular garden centre - Holla's in Blezzard Valley - if I could volunteer there one day a week. "Sure, no problem," was Carole's response.

I arrived decked out in what I thought was gardening gear - bug jacket and hat, plaid shirt, light coloured paints, running shoes that were practically steel-toed, bug dope, and sunscreen. This accounts for why, last year, the sunflowers planted at the side of our home never showed up, and my begonias be-goned when I planted them in the full sun.

And I also learned the joy of hanging baskets. Carole picked me out a mini Garden of Eden in a 10 inch basket.

How to Find the Right Gardening Ideas For Your Garden

How to Find the Right Gardening Ideas For Your Garden

1. General interest as well as dedicated gardening magazines can give you plenty of ideas. Perhaps there's a fashion shoot outside, or an interview with a celeb in their garden, or perhaps there's a gardening magazine that appeals to you because they're transforming a garden similar to yours. You'll get lots of good ideas from magazines.

2. TV programmes and gardening TV programmes in particular will give you a lot of inspiration and allow you to see flowers and plants, as well as gardening techniques in more detail. Perhaps you're favourite show has a house with a garden, or maybe you'll see someone else's garden on the news, or perhaps you religiously watch a gardening programme and will design your garden based on what you've learned.

3. Gardening books can prove to be useful too. 8. Gardening websites, like gardening magazines and books will be able to give you lots of ideas and inspiration, and it's easy to get carried away. Now you know where to look, you'll find inspiration and garden ideas everywhere you look.

The natural instinct keeps the garden ideas flowing in. Here are some garden ideas that will definitely help you find what you want:

President Obama's Green Thumb - The Details on the White House Garden

President Obama's Green Thumb - The Details on the White House Garden

The white house garden, at 1,100 square feet, will provide fresh fruits and vegetables for the Obama family, the white house staff and even visitors to the white house. The amount of food produced at even such a "small" scale garden is surprising to say the least. It has been said that for every $100 spent on producing food at home over $1700 worth of food is produced. Some benefits that the Obama family will experience from having their own whitehouse vegetable garden include the following:

Ideas On How To Use Container Gardening To Decorate Your House And Garden

Ideas On How To Use Container Gardening To Decorate Your House And Garden

Nearly every house and garden presents numerous attractive settings for container plants. Suburban gardens, estates, small city backyards, and summer cottages--all can be enhanced by this type of gardening. A simple arrangement consists of similar container plants at each side of the doorway. If the house is informal, painted tubs will make a cheerful note, while urns or ornamental pots are more appropriate if the architecture is formal. Sometimes, the front entranceway can qualify as an outdoor place for house plants, but be sure they are not exposed to strong sun and wind.

Choosing The Right Garden Center For Your Garden

Choosing The Right Garden Center For Your Garden

Choosing a garden center for your gardening needs can sometimes be a difficult process. There are many garden centers attached to large box stores and hardware stores and even the grocery stores carry garden center type areas for everything from tomatoes to potted plants. There are a number of ways to choose the correct garden center for your needs. Make sure that the garden center you choose has fresh, hardy, good looking plants in all sections, not just the flowers or the vegetables. If only one area has good looking plants, move on to another garden center. There are several independent garden centers that are also willing to give you advice or help with a problem garden or flower garden when you ask them.

Design Water Gardens - $350 Per Hour

Design Water Gardens - $350 Per Hour

If you have read any of my articles before, you know I specialize in sharing my knowledge and experience in the water garden business over the past 26 years. I have shared with you before about the incredible financial benefits of offering clients digital designs. It is the most important first step of any water garden project.

Googling "digital design ponds" or "digital design water gardens" will result in seven cad cam or 3D-type design programs. These types of software produce stilted, unnatural, unrealistic results. In the past 26 years I have designed and constructed well over 1,900 water gardens for commercial and residential clients. Until recently, most of these designs were produced the "old fashioned" way, by hand drawing them.

Designing Japanese Gardens

Designing Japanese Gardens

A frequently asked question that readers of my blog ask is 'What type of Japanese garden can I design?'.
Japanese garden snobs may frown upon it, but don't let it cloud your desires or vision. Perhaps, the best way forward if you are interested or about to start designing Japanese gardens is to visit a good example near where you live (there are excellent designs of Japanese gardens in most countries in the world) OR have a good rummage around on the internet for photographs of gardens that catch the eye and are great examples of this form of 'garden art'. The oriental garden in Portland Oregon in the United states is a good place to start. There are many styles to choose from when planning and designing. Average sized yards or gardens are ideal for a Japanese garden. For a realistic and true to the 'rules' design you have numerous choices with many historical and design facets. There are for example 5 types of Japanese gardens and depending on which type you prefer will dictate it's location and make up. If you have a smaller area a 'Zen' garden may be more in keeping with the aesthetics of your space. Zen gardens were designed and used by Buddhist monks and in general comprise of boulders and rocks and gravel/ or sand. Zen gardens are supposed to be places of tranquility and help 'clear' the mind. Meditation is common and effective in a Zen garden which should be viewed from one place. Meditation is a common feature of both varieties of these gardens.

Introduction to Herb Garden Designs

Introduction to Herb Garden Designs

Designing your very own herb garden does not have to be a difficult task. Designing an herb garden can be lots of fun and you can customize it to your particular needs. Butterfly Garden Design

If you love butterflies and want to attract them to your garden then you want to design your garden with this theme so that you can attract them. Zen Garden Design

A zen garden would be a great garden to design for those who love meditating. The monks used and cultivated a zen garden for this purpose. Zen gardens should bring oneness and harmony to the individual that is using it. Rocks are a very essential element for a zen garden as it represents energy and time and adds depth to your garden. Cottage Garden Design

A cottage garden can be cultivated around just about anything. This type of garden can bring beauty, serenity, comfort and romance to ones mind. A cottage garden is very unorthodox and requires more planning and maintenance than the aforementioned garden designs that we have discussed so thus far.

National Home Gardening Club - Connect With Like-Minded People

National Home Gardening Club - Connect With Like-Minded People

Would you be interested in knowing which plant has been crowned as the plant of the month? How about clicking a prize-winning photograph of the plant you think could beat all in a contest. You also might want to receive regular newsletters updating you about the developments in the domain of home gardening and offering you some useful tips as well. If all this grabbed your attention significantly, you will be delighted to join the National Home Gardening Club.

It entails testing many gardening products from time to time. Having membership of the National Home Gardening Club also qualifies you to participate in member forums as well. There is also the provision for you and other members to exchange photographs with the help of a built in application called the National Home Gardening Clubs Member Photo Page.

The Basics of Japanese Gardening

The Basics of Japanese Gardening

Things to keep in mind for a beautiful garden

Main principles on the garden's design

Bring the Japanese feeling into your garden with these basic steps. Because one of Japanese gardening design main purposes is to recreate large landscapes even in the smallest place. As a miniaturized landscape, the rocks in the garden would represent mountains and the ponds would represent lakes. A space filled with sand would represent an ocean. The elements of time and space

A Garden Centre Christmas Is A Great Day Out!

A Garden Centre Christmas Is A Great Day Out!

Christmas is a magical time of year with people brightening up their homes and gardens to make the most of the festive season, so it makes sense that centres across the UK are turning themselves into spell-binding places for a garden centre Christmas. People can combine their shopping trips for festive decorations and Christmas trees with delicious Christmas meals for the whole family and even visits to Father Christmas!

Chinese Gardens and Fountains Are Clues to the Mind

Chinese Gardens and Fountains Are Clues to the Mind

garden centreountains are more than collections of beautiful plants, trees and water. The principles of classical Chinese gardening can be useful and insightful to garden lovers living anywhere in the world. Chinese design objectives can inspire American home gardeners to try something new such as a garden fountain and encourage the expression of culture and philosophy through gardening.

Vegetable Gardening - A Hobby for Everyone

Vegetable Gardening - A Hobby for Everyone

The Rewards of Vegetable Gardening

If you love to have fresh produces in the spring and summer, you should consider creating a home vegetable garden. Growing a vegetable garden is a fun and healthy hobby that anyone can excel at.

Home vegetable gardening relieves stress and allows you to be out in the sun. Vegetable gardening is proven to lower blood pressure and clear the mind. The Pros of Organic Gardening

One great aspect of home vegetable gardening is that it does not require a bunch of chemicals. Therefore, home vegetable gardening allows you to have more natural, juicy, and healthier vegetables that are also better for the environment. Growing your own vegetable garden and using less chemicals yields natural food.