Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The Principles of Organic Gardening

 There are many reasons why you should learn organic gardening principles. Maybe you want to start a garden, but you don’t want to make a big impact on the environment. Maybe you want to change your current garden for the better. You can even put some delicious, organic fruits and vegetables on your table. No matter what your motivations are, you should always consider certain things when building a garden.

The goal of your organic garden should be to put out as much produce while using as little outside resources as possible. According to organic principles, this means that you should not buy any nutrients, fertilizers, or pesticides from the store. It’s even better to avoid using water from your hose, and instead gather rain water. Instead, you should try to use your resources as best you can to create a healthy crop. It’s a bigger challenge, but it’s worth it in the end.

Instead of throwing away vegetables and other food waste, you should start a compost heap. This is, by far, the best way to manufacture your own nutrients for your garden. You will find that there is no shortage of material to add to your compost heap. When you mow the lawn, put all of the clipped grass into the heap. Put all of your food waste into the pile. Once it’s hot and ready, you can spread it on your garden and watch the plants flourish.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

The Basics of Landscape Gardening

 Landscape gardening is the process of creating a complete scene through the growing of bushes, trees, shrubs, flowers, and other plants in strategic locations. In essence, you grow an entire yard.
Before you get started on landscape gardening, you need to envision what you want your yard to look like when you are several years into the landscape gardening process. If you’re low on ideas, you can look in a gardening magazine to see the layouts that are most popular with professional landscapers. You don’t have to copy them exactly, but you can at least get some inspiration. The first element of your landscape will be the things that you don’t have to grow. So if you plan to have a rock patch, or an area with mulch, you should take care of that first. After that, you can start looking at the longer term project.

If you can plan long enough in the future to place a tree well, it can add a lot to the overall aesthetic of your yard. You can choose between a single tree, or a small cluster of trees. There are many different options when it comes to the type of tree. You will want to choose a tree with an attractive shape, with bark and leaves and flowers that you won’t mind seeing in your yard indefinitely. If you want to get several things done, you could install a fruit tree that thrives in your local climate. Not only do you get the beautiful tree in your landscape, but you also get some delicious fruits every season.

Shrubs are another important part of your landscape. There is a huge amount of shrub varieties in any given region, so you should definitely do your research so that you can choose the ones that you want the most. Consider the seasons in which they bloom. If you can plan it correctly, you can have the right varieties of shrubs so that at least one group is in bloom almost all year. You can use shrubs to provide focal points across the yard, or you can line them up in a row to create a hedge.

So plan all of your trees, shrubs, and flowers beforehand, and you will gradually grow a beautiful landscape in your yard. Think about the technical aspects, such as what you will use to build your flowerbeds and what you will use as drainage. Incorporate everything into your master plan.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Getting Started with Indoor Gardening

 In many climates, it is extremely difficult to maintain an outdoor garden. If the temperatures are below freezing for a good portion of the year, it might be wise to bring your plants inside and start indoor gardening. Alternatively, you can do indoor gardening just to give your house a more natural feel, along with some nice decorations. Flowers blooming in your house add a lot to the décor, especially if you have the pride of having grown them yourself. If you are interested in starting to garden indoors, read on and find out some of the basics.

Some plants are simply not suited for growing in an indoor environment. If they take a large amount of water, then you will probably want to keep it outside. Watering a plant a lot, you can easily end up drowning it with too much water, or not giving it what it needs out of caution. So try to pick a plant that doesn’t require too much water. Another bad aspect of indoor gardening comes when a plant drops leaves or flowers all over your floors. Make sure you’re familiar with what the plant does during all seasons, so that you don’t end up with a huge mess on your floor.