Gardening Toolshed

You want to do something different with your backyard this year. Rather than just doing the standard garden, you would like to do something more unique. Thus, you have given it some thought, and have decided that water gardening might be a unique concept.

Water Gardening: What is it?

When you tell your family and friends about your plan to attempt water gardening, you are met with confusion. Specifically, water gardening is using water and plants in such a way as to give a garden-like effect. One of the most plausible forms of water gardening is creating a small pond in your backyard and adding plants to it.

The first step in creating a backyard pond is to decide how big a pond you would like to have. To start, it is best if you make a pond that is only slightly larger than a moderately-sized birdbath. It is important to note that the size of the pond can always be made larger later.

The next step is finding a liner for your pond. You cannot simply dig out a section of your backyard, because when you attempt to fill it with water it will seep back into the soil. So, you will need to go to your local garden center and find liner, which generally looks like a small version of a swimming pool.

When you have the liner ready, make sure that it easily fits into the hole that you have made in your lawn. Place it in the hole, and fill it with water. Your small pond is now ready for water gardening! For this part, consider using water lilies.

Water lilies are very lovely and make for beautiful water gardening. Perhaps you have seen water lilies on display at your garden center during the summer months. They have a unique root system which supports itself on the surface of the water, and they are available in a variety of different colors. However, it is important to note that water lilies are delicate and only thrive in warm weather.

Water lilies are just one example of water gardening. Other ideas will depend on several factors, including the kind of water you have in your pond, as well as your overall climate. Something else that you should do is make sure that you properly protect your backyard against mosquitoes, since mosquitoes are drawn to water. You are sure to find the right water gardening materials with the proper research.

One outdoor hobby that can be rewarding is vegetable gardening and the type and amount of plants you tend can help with meal planning throughout the year. Different plants have different times to reach maturity and some will require different spacing, but they all require food, water and air. Making sure they receive all of their needs as well as have a means of being pollinated can insure success in your attempts at vegetable gardening.

One of the common crops for vegetable gardening is sweet corn, planted in rows about 18-inches apart. While they will sometimes grow well in small lots, three rows of about two dozen stalks will insure proper pollination allowing them to grow large, succulent kernels. While corn is a difficult crop to weed, vegetable gardening should be more about the productivity of the plants and less about the manual labor needed to get them to grow.

Many different types of tomatoes can be planted when vegetable gardening and they can be used for sandwiches, made into tomato sauce or eaten fresh off the vine. A traditional blend of fertilizer will usually provide all the food tomatoes require but for a juicier crop when vegetable gardening, they must receive sufficient water and sun to grow into large ripe orbs.

First Time Planters Should Follow Directions

Many seed plants, such as beans, peas and cucumbers all have planting directions on the package and regardless of how easy you think they are to grow, successful vegetable gardening is more than shoving a seed in to the soil and hoping for the best. That is why all seed packages offer tips on how far apart to plant the rows and how deep to plant the seeds. Failing to follow these simple instructions may place the plants too far apart for pollination or too close together to give their root the room they need to grow.

Some types of tomatoes, for example can grow plants over eight-feet tall and three to four feet in diameter. If they are planted less than the recommended four-feet apart, they can be difficult to maintain and end up with one plant choking the other. With vegetable gardening, it is important the plants have the room to grow and less competition for the food in the ground.

Beans, peas, carrots and some of the leafy plants can be arranged when vegetable gardening to offer not only prime growing conditions but also a good looking patch of plants. However, taller plants should be placed further from the line of the sun to insure the shorter plants receive an appropriate amount of sunlight for growth.

Raised bed gardening has several advantages. One of which is less erosion of the soil which you need to grow the plants on. There are many ideas of how to build a raised bed garden and how to maintain it. Raised bed gardening may need a frame that will hold together your garden and keep the plants from spreading around too much.

Building A Frame For Raised Bed Gardening

A frame for raised bed gardening usually consists of a wooden frame that is either bolted together or nailed together. All you will need for a raised bed gardening frame are four planks of wood, preferably untreated to avoid the chemicals from getting to your vegetable plants, four smaller posts of wood to act as corners, some bolts or nails that coordinate with the thickness of your planks and some carpentry tools such as a hammer or a wood drill.

Have the planks you have chosen precut to the sizes that are ideal for building a frame for raised bed gardening. If you have the capacity and the inclination to cut the lumber yourself, make sure that you know what you are doing and have the necessary safety equipment to do so. A rectangular raised bed gardening frame is better than a square one. Make sure that the shorter sides will allow you to reach all parts of the raised bed garden when it is finished. A frame four feet wide and five to seven feet in length will be ideal. Make sure the raised bed gardening frame will fit your assigned garden spot.

On the longer lengths of wood, you can measure where you wish to drill holes for the bolts on the planks and posts. Place a post on both ends and either nail or bolt these on the pieces of lumber with longer length. Attach the shorter pieces of wood pretty much the same way as the longer pieces to make a frame. The posts will act as a support for the nails or bolts to make the frame more stable and sturdy.

It is actually better to use bolts for your raised bed gardening frame. You can loosely screw them when you are still in the process of forming the frame. These can be tightened accordingly when you are satisfied with your frame.

A raised bed gardening frame will help you organize your gardening and help to reduce the pests that may crawl up to your garden.

Indoor gardening is a popular hobby, and one that can actually improve your décor and your health. Glossy green living plants are an unbeatable decorating accessory, whether you favor the bold statement a snake plant makes or the ethereal lightness of an asparagus fern. By surrounding yourself with healthy green plants, you oxygenate your living environment and gain more energy.

Grow Houseplants Organically

You can do some organic indoor gardening with houseplants. Growing organically means you don’t use chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers in your gardening routine. Organic indoor gardening also means not using genetically modified seeds, cuttings, or other elements.

Indoor Gardening The Organic Way

If you’re serious about indoor organic gardening, you might want to purchase Indoor Gardening the Organic Way: How to Create a Natural and Sustaining Environment for Your Houseplants, by Julie Bawden Davis.

The beginning of the book explains how houseplants are grown and shipped to your local garden center. Young house plants are fed the equivalent of a fast food diet to pump them up so they’ll look good in the garden center. When you bring your new house plants home, they may have a bit of a chemical fertilizer hangover at first. Be patient with them, and soon they will become accustomed to an organic lifestyle.

Organic Fertilizers

The best organic fertilizer is homemade compost. Even if you live in an apartment, you can make organic compost for gardening indoors.

Use a coffee can or another metallic container with a tight fitting lid. Make a few ventilation holes around the side of the coffee can with a nail or a drill. Fill the can with alternating layers of crisp, dry ingredients and wet ingredients.

For the crisp, dry ingredients, use dry leaves if you have access to them. Otherwise, you can use shredded newspaper or crumpled up paper bags.

For the wet ingredients, you can use raw vegetable scraps – nothing with oil or butter on it – and coffee grounds.

Keeping the compost can indoors will heat the compost up fast and help process it quickly. You can get the compost to make itself more quickly by stirring it periodically.

When one coffee can is full, start another. Turn the first can upside down every day to mix the ingredients and keep the compost cooking. Soon the first can will be full of rich, crumbly compost – the key to indoor organic gardening.

Mix a little bit of compost in with your plants’ soil to provide long-lasting nutrients. You can grow almost any houseplant with this indoor organic gardening trick.

Do you want to start an organic garden, but you’re not sure what you need? You are not alone. Many consumers today are concerned about the prevalence these days of food-borne bacteria.

Recent news stories tell us that nutritious vegetables like spinach are contaminated with bacteria from factory farm animal waste, and that the average American child is exposed to cancer-causing pesticides four times as much as an average adult. Pesticides are also associated with birth defects, genetic mutations, and nerve damage.

It’s time to start thinking about buying produce grown locally, from small organic farmers, or about starting your own organic garden. Before we get into the organic gardening supplies you’re going to need, let’s be sure we’re on the same page about what the term “organic” means.

What Is Organic Produce?

Organic produce is food that is not grown in sewage sludge or raw manure. Organic food has not been exposed to synthetic fertilizers, weed killers (herbicides) or bug killers (pesticides). Organic food is not genetically engineered or irradiated. It contains no antibiotics, no growth hormones, and no synthetic preservatives.

Organic Gardening Supplies

The kind of gardening you plan to do will determine the kind of organic gardening supplies you need. If you are going to be taking care of an organic lawn, you need a push reel mower, organic lawn fertilizers, and organic weed control products.

If you want to grow herbs, flowers, and vegetables, the organic gardening supplies you will need include organic dry and liquid fertilizers, and sprayers or pumps to apply them with; soil pH and test kits; soil amendments; heirloom flower, herb, and vegetable seeds; organic seeds; compost bins; and plant propagation supplies.

Organic Gardening Supply Gadgets

There are plenty of optional supplies to make organic gardening more fun, or to expand your organic gardening practices.

Rain Barrels

Use a downspout diverter to save the rain water that flows into your roof gutters in 60 gallon rain barrels. These attractive, food-grade barrels automatically store water every time it rains.

Lawn Aerator Sandals

Strap on a pair of these lawn aerator sandals and drive 1-1/2″ steel spikes into your lawn. Aerating your lawn literally breathes new life into it, as you form new channels for water, air, sun, and nutrients to reach the roots of your grass.

Butterfly House

Attract and retain butterflies with a handsome, hand-shingled cypress butterfly house with a solid copper roof. Enjoy watching the copper change color naturally. This is one of those organic gardening supplies that looks more like a work of art.

In the world today, there is a big push to make sure that you are doing things organically. This can often mean the difference between being kind to the environment and healthy at the same time, or being in a place where you are harming the environment and also harming yourself. When it comes right down to it, there are many places that are pushing to do things much more organically, and if you are into gardening you might be looking for organic gardening information. With the organic gardening information you can find ways to make sure that your garden is the best it can be.

What Is In It

When you are looking for organic gardening information you are going to find lots of different things. You will find organic gardening information about which soils you should use, which plants you should plant, and how to take care of things like watering and weeds without using chemicals. You will also be able to get information on organic gardening in different places and what types of things work best in those areas. The organic gardening information is going to tell you how you can keep doing your gardening without using any chemicals and without harming the Earth or yourself in any way.

Where To Find It

When you are on the lookout for organic gardening information you should first try the library or bookstore. You will find plenty of good books on organic gardening, and these are great to have because you can take them with you to your garden and be sure that you are following all of the instructions. You can also find lots of organic gardening information on the internet, so this is another place where you might want to look for it. All in all, there is plenty of organic gardening information that you can find, so you simply have to look for it.

Another thing that you can do to find organic gardening information is to look for groups that have discussions relating to that topic. You might be able to find out even more organic gardening information from the other people who are at these places, and you will be able to find people who you can talk to that really know what you are doing and what you are going through. The responsible thing to do is to try organic gardening, and there is plenty of organic gardening information to get you started.

What kind of compost should you use for an organic garden? “Organic” means you don’t use artificial chemicals or fertilizers to make your compost. It also means that you don’t use lawn clippings, plant cuttings, or other material that has been exposed to chemical pesticides or herbicides.

Recipe For Quick Organic Gardening Compost

Visit your garden center and get some straw, because you’ll need plenty of straw to make this organic gardening compost. Start your quick compost pile with a layer of straw. Don’t mistake hay for straw; they are two different things. Hay contains many grass and weed seeds that you don’t want to include in your compost.

For your second layer, use kitchen scraps or clippings from garden plants, or annual plants that are past their prime – remember, nothing that has been exposed to chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Sprinkle the pile with plenty of blood meal or bone meal..

For the third layer, add dry brown material like shredded leaves, shredded corn stalks, or small, ground-up twigs.

Keep repeating these three layers. The straw will keep the pile aerated. All you need to do is water it enough to keep it barely moist.

Amazing Additions To Your Organic Gardening Compost Pile

Certain ingredients will give your compost pile a big boost and help it cook faster and be ready to use sooner. Plants, algae, and water from a freshwater aquarium contain nitrogen and other micronutrients that speed up the decomposition process.

Dead houseplants aren’t so good for your home décor, but they make outstanding additions to the organic compost pile. Gardening outdoors is more fun, anyway. Make sure the plant is not showing signs of pest contamination or disease. Then just plop the entire plant, including the soil and root ball, onto the compost pile.

Weeds can be composted, too. Just be careful not to include any weeds that have set seed heads, or your compost pile will turn into a weed bed.

Coffee grounds add moisture and texture to the compost pile. You can compost the coffee filter, but it is very fibrous and will break down slowly. Cut it into smaller pieces so it can decompose faster.

Worst Compost Ingredients Ever

Whatever you do, do not add these ingredients to your organic gardening compost pile: Diseased plants; raw manure; sawdust from pressure-treated lumber; gypsum board scraps; vacuum cleaner bags and their contents; and meats, dairy products, bones, and fish.

There is a shift in buying habits among some families, seeking a healthier, more natural lifestyle, that has moved them to become involved with organic gardening. While some of the major players in the industry have moved into offering all organic gardening as part of their business strategy, some buyers believe that not everything on the market claiming to come from organic gardening fits the bill.

To qualify for the designation of organic, food items must be planted in soil where artificial pesticides and fertilizers have been used for a minimum of three years and the farm must offer sustainability for organic gardening beyond one or two years. For individuals, it is easier to produce their own vegetables from their small plots of land, but is does leave open the need to buy products if they cannot grow enough to meet their annual needs.

While some stores sell only organic gardening produce, many grocery stores offer their customers a choice of organic and traditionally grown merchandise, attempting to slice off a piece of the natural market. It is also not only the fresh produce section that is touting the presence of organic gardening as many other food items are being labeled and sold as containing only organic ingredients.

Questions Arise About What Is In The Name

It are these other products that causes some confusion with consumers as the ingredients from organic gardening resources may contain some that are not truly organic. There are different labeling requirement for products that contain only organically grown ingredients and those that contain mostly organically grown items. To carry the designation of 100 percent organic, obviously that has to be the case, however those products that claim they contain organic ingredients need only contain 80 percent organically gown ingredients.

It is this disparity in labeling laws that has some people moving to organic gardening to grow their own food, making their own compost fertilizer and natural products to keep the insects away from their plants. The belief of organic gardening is to put everything back in nature that has been removed and not to add anything that will harm the environment or the person consuming the food.

Many folks who grow produce and vegetables with organic gardening firmly believe there is a cleaner taste to their products and will recycle the organic waste from their garden to use as compost fertilizer for the following year. They will make sure that nothing other than organic materials are used in the growing stages, keeping their organic gardening sustained for years to come.

You would like to change the look of your yard, and as such you want to add your favorite flowers, roses, to the overall look. While roses are very beautiful, they can also be very difficult to grow. Thus, you need some advice on how to incorporate roses into your landscape gardening.

Roses: A Classic Look

Roses have been used for hundreds of years in various examples of landscape gardening. Perhaps you have seen examples of lavish rose gardens in movies or in books. Roses come in many different varieties and many different price ranges, so be sure that you choose the kind that will fit best with your yard and with your budget.

Landscape gardening in itself can be quite a task, especially if you have a large yard. Thus, when starting the landscape gardening process, it is important to take your yard one section at a time, and this is certainly not exception when it comes to using roses.

Roses can be used as decoration or as a form of fence. For example, if you want a fence, then you line your yard with rose bushes. However, if you choose to implement rose bushes in your landscape gardening, there are some care instructions you should know.

The first thing that you should know is in reference to the pruning of the rose bushes. Rose bushes tend to grow rather quickly after the first year, and as such it is important for you to prune them when necessary. However, it is important to note that if you prune the rose bushes too much, they could die. Thus, when deciding how much you want to prune the rose bush, you should enlist the help of a professional landscaper.

Another thing that you need to think about when it comes to incorporating roses into your landscape gardening is your climate. For example, if you live in a perpetually cold climate, you will have to choose a kind of rose that is especially adapted to such weather. There are many websites that sell many different kinds of roses, but at the same time pay attention to the directions they should include as far as the proper care instructions.

If you would like more information on landscape gardening in general, all you have to do is visit your local garden center. There should be a variety of examples available to you that should be helpful in thinking up some beautiful landscape gardening ideas.

There are many ways that you can create gardens even when you don’t feel that you have the right amount of space to do so. Doing things like kitchen gardening can be a great way of allowing yourself to have the fun of having a small garden, without worrying about needing a large outdoor space to put it in. When you are looking at kitchen gardening you are looking at a way to create your own garden in your own space.

How Does It Work?

Have you ever wanted to have a garden but you just don’t have the room outside – or your climate is such that there isn’t the right kind of growing season anyway? You should know that you can have a kitchen gardening where you will be able to have plants and grow food, but where you won’t need to worry about having the hassle of making room outdoors or going outside to weed your garden.

You can buy several pots and grow just the things that you would like to grow. Of course, you will have to do this indoors, so you are going to need enough space for your kitchen gardening and enough places to have your pots and your soil. You will be able to grow food almost year round in your kitchen garden, because it will be just the space that you need and it will also be easily accessible for you.

There are plenty of benefits to doing your own kitchen gardening. First of all, you can do it as you would like to do it. You can grow food all year round and you don’t have to worry about going anywhere other than your own kitchen. This can be a great way for you to be able to get the most out of your garden, without having to worry about doing much during the summer outside.

There are also benefits to kitchen gardening that you might not have even thought of. Since you will be doing your kitchen gardening inside, you will not have to worry about the types of bugs and other pests that will come into your regular garden. You can also cut down on the amount of weeds because there will be no pollen in the air and you won’t have to worry about them. All in all, kitchen gardening can be a great way for you to grow plants and to enjoy the feeling of growing plants, without having to worry about it.