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15 Jul 2012
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Successful Gardening: How To Have A Healthy And Happy Garden

There is a lot of information you must learn before taking your garden and turning it into a masterpiece. Successful gardening takes some effort. But, it is also a pleasant and rewarding hobby. The advice in this article will help you learn everything you need to know in order to enjoy a successful gardening.

How to start a successful garden

If you are gardening with a cut, make sure that you adequately protect it from dirt and chemicals. Cuts have a much higher likelihood of getting infected if they are in contact with dirt when you garden. The key is to use bandages capable of covering cuts in their entirety.

Start your garden by using mulch. Using mulch around your plants helps retain moisture and prevent the growth of weeds. You can buy mulch, but you can create your own by using grass clippings or leaves. You can even lay down plastic sheeting and plant your plants in holes in the plastic. All these methods help the plants retain the moisture they need for growth. This also help reduce the chances that weeds will grow.

successful gardening

Use plants to get some autumn color. It doesn’t have to be that way! In the fall, the foliage displays every color of the rainbow. There are many variations in leaf color with different varieties. Maple, Beech and Dogwood trees can give you lively yellows and deep crimsons. Barberry, conaneaster and hydrangea are all wonderful choices in shrubs.
Learn the proper way to handle chemicals. Learn also the right way to use garden tools. If you ignore them, you can irritate your skin in most painful ways. Be careful when it comes to your body, and always follow directions.

If you know that you’ll be in the garden for an extended period of time, protect yourself from the sun with proper attire. This includes wide-brimmed hats, sunscreen, and sunglasses. If you cover up from the sun, you are less likely to become burned or get skin cancer.

Helpful tips for a successful gardening

Your garden can be an important part of your life. Just like you, it needs to be properly maintained. You need to research, work hard and be patient to watch your work translate into progress for your own personal garden. These tips below can help you with growing a successful garden.

Try to fill your garden with a variety of plants instead of just a few types. A successful garden with a wide variety is more resistant to garden pests. It attracts more beneficial insects that eat the bad bugs. This will cut down on the need for pesticides. A garden with just a few types of plants will sustain more damage from pest invasions.

A great tip to consider to have a successful gardening is making sure that you won’t damage your plants while dragging your watering hose around. This is important because this is very easy to do with a simple tug of the hose. Consider using guides that prevent your hose form accidentally coming into contact with fragile plants.

Another important advice to having a fantastic garden is to be realistic. When shopping the glossy packages of seeds are very appealing. Yet, many of them only grow in specific climates. Be realistic to what grows in the area. Do not plant items that do not grow well. It is so disappointing to plant a garden and have almost no fruits and vegetables come from it.

successful gardening

Grow shade-loving annuals. Most annuals (and tender perennials) thrive in full sun. Others prefer a little shade. They do well on the north side of a house, or under the canopy of trees and shrubs. Remember to provide good soil and plenty of moisture. For constant bloom in shady areas, plant flowers like impatiens, balsam, clarkia and lobelia. Nicotiana is particularly striking, growing 5 feet tall, and producing beautiful tubular white flowers with a glorious fragrance.

Gardening, if done correctly, can help supplement you or your business. While the plants may not be human, they still have lives and deserve to be well-cared for. So, do yourself a favor and do your research, work hard in the dirt, and have a bunch of patience to help grow and take care of your garden.

With these tips, you’re better equipped to grow the most beautiful garden you can imagine. In learning how to create your dream garden, you’ll also be growing as a person. That’s because learning how to nurture your plants will  help you reach the goal of having a great garden. Additionally, it will also help you learn to nurture yourself.

Looking for more tips and suggestions for successful gardening? For a free consultation, contact us today!

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14 Jun 2012
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Protect Your Garden from Bad Weather

One of the most hazardous stuff that may happen to your plants is weather. Many a garden continues to be demolished overnight because of this phenomenon. And seemingly, there’s nothing we are able to cause by prevent it. Of course, if weather didn’t exist at all only then do we wouldn’t have that nice sunshine that is good for the growth in our plants. Protect your garden with these tips in preparing from cold weather.

How to protect your garden?

The horrors of hail

When rain begins to fall, usually the first reaction of a gardener is pure joy. After all, this means you don’t need to bother about heading out and watering it manually. Natural rain can’t be anything but great for all your thirsty plants, can it? Well once that same gardener starts to see the beautiful rain drops turn into small globules of ice, usually a complete emotional breakdown is in order. I know this from experience, because when I would be a blooming gardener, I had my garden completely demolished by about 10 minutes of severe hail. When I first learned my lesson around the damage hail can perform, however devised a method of coping. I started to help keep large clay pots within 10 feet of my garden, to ensure that at any sign of hail I possibly could run outside and have the plants sheltered within seconds. This saved me from having to watch my plants be ripped to pieces on multiple occasions. I’ve never dealt with hail a lot more than an inch across, but I’m guessing that if there had been any baseball sized chunks then those pots could have been quickly demolished.

protect your garden

However, because the quantity of fragile plants in my garden grew, it became somewhat unrealistic to have a pot for every plant, and run outside to place each one of these before significant damage had already occurred. After much thought, I ended up creating a horizontal, retractable screen mechanism made out of a powerful but flexible wire mesh. At any sign of rain I possibly could pull the screen out over my entire garden and also have instant protection. Not only made it happen let the rain through, however the collected hail provided a stable drip of water as much as a day afterwards. This project cost me hundreds of dollars, and much more blood, sweat, and tears than could be measured with earth dollars. Therefore I wouldn’t recommend it to everybody.

If it’s too late for you, and you’ve recently lost your precious plants to wicked balls of ice, then you’re probably looking for a way to help the plants recover. Unfortunately there aren’t many choices for you. The best thing you should do is give them the tender care they deserve, and try to nurse them back to health over a long time. The numbers of weeks after seriously being damaged by hail were essential to whether the guarana plant survives or not. Should you expect more rain or wind, you need to keep the plant covered. Within this brittle stage, even raindrops or perhaps a strong breeze could cause more damage. If you live in a place that experiences frequent hail, you should definitely have in place some emergency arrangements for protecting your plants. Sitting by and watching them be ripped to shreds should never be a choice!

Preparing your garden for the winter

protect your garden

Some people believe that once the weather starts getting colder and the leaves start to fall, it’s about time to store the gardening tools and wait until next spring to operate on their garden again. Wrong. Winter is an important time to keep your garden’s health and assure yourself a good crop for next year. You might think that might take too long to prepare your garden, but the fact is that it requires less than 1 day to organize your garden for the upcoming winter. Once the nighttime temperatures drop to less than forty-five degrees Fahrenheit for over four days in a row, or frost is forecasted for your area (usually around late October or November) you know it is time to begin setting up your garden. You need to start by evaluating your garden design, check which plants grew well in the previous season, and which plants didn’t do well. Fall is a good time to choose which plants will stay in your garden next year, and which ones should go. It is also a great time to choose which new plants you wish to grow. For making your garden more colorful and healthy, be sure only to plant the more hardy plants during the fall to enable them to withstand the winter. Some plants that will do fine being planted in fall are: rudbeckia, Aster Novi-belgii, Anemone Japonica, panicle hyandea, endive, escarole, and Brussels sprouts. You could find most of these and more in gardening magazines or your local nursery.

After you have finished this you need to begin cleaning up your garden. Start by taking out weeds that could have cropped up, and raking fallen leaves. Weeds and rotten leaves can carry insects and diseases that could be bad for your garden. You should also rid your garden of spent annual plants, and harvest your vegetables and other plants that can’t tolerate the winter weather. After fall has come and gone, the leaves will likely be off your trees and you could see the rotten branches. Cutting off the unwanted branches from the trees is not needed to your gardens health, but may help later on by not dropping branches on your plants and not blocking too much of the sun.

protect your garden

If you have younger trees you should consider wrapping them and supporting all of them with stakes to help them survive the winter wind and cold. Putting mulch over your plants for the winter can be a helpful way to protect your garden from sudden temperature changes and heavy snow. For mulch you can use about five inches of shredded bark, pine needles, or a variety of other materials. You need to be careful not to mulch too early, because some insects might still be alive and able to take shelter in it for the winter. Once you are finished with your gardening tools, you need to clean them and make sure they’re in a safe place where they will not rust and you know where they’ll be for next year. Before winter comes you should always set out slug repellent, as slugs are one of the worst bugs to have in your garden. If you have a pool or fountain in your garden, make sure to consider out any fish which you have in them and bring them inside. There’s nothing sadder than a fish frozen in a block of ice.

Hope these tips help you protect your garden during cold weather. If you still don’t know what to do, protect your garden

or Call 805-773-5395 to schedule an appointment.

 

02 Jun 2012
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Pool Landscaping Tips for Your Backyard


It is a plan of action to get your pool looking its best by making use of around the pool landscaping. This sort of pool landscaping can turn your boring old backyard into the backyard of the stars. You could have a Hollywood looking backyard in no time if you play your cards right.

Pool Landscaping Design

A good pool landscaping design can make your pool the focal attraction and convey out so much more in your yard. Should your yard be large, you can think about adding gorgeous brick walkways around the pool. This sort of pool landscaping can result in other areas of the yard as well. You can have a larger grouping of brick on which you could place your patio furniture, a table and chairs can look fantastic. Breaking up the brick in the pool landscaping will some sections of greenery is a good touch. These bits of green will take in life to the whole picture and remove the hard stone look. Brick is a good choice of stone since it is a softer looking stone. The red brick color is attractive and warm it won’t leave your yard looking cold and unwelcoming. The green plants will simply enhance the attractiveness of the brick as a pool landscaping tool. You can throw in some landscaping stones round the plants and also the edges of the patio. Light colored Stones will add a lot to the entire pool landscaping design. Choose small and sharp stones and you have just added a whole other layer of texture to the landscape and this on its own can make your yard look fantastic.

Can I Have Plants Around My Pool?

You may also consider putting in some colorful flowers. If you spend a lot of time by the pool during the night, then add night blooming flowers as well. By doing this you will be surrounded by some fantastic blooms and scents all day. While there is nothing inherently wrong with placing a few plants around your swimming pool, you still need to make sure that you are making the correct pool landscaping decisions. You don’t want to put too many plants near the pool because it will make it much harder to keep your pool clean on a regular basis, and you should also make sure that your plants fit well with the rest of your backyard pool theme. Most people just think about adding something tropical more than anything else, but in reality, there are quite a few different things to think about before you add plants around your swimming pool.

Avoid Big, Bountiful Plants

The first thing you should try to avoid when adding plants around your pool is to stick to options that don’t come with a lot of extra fruit and flowers. It’s one thing to add plants for a bit of extra greenery to your pool, you don’t want to overdo it by adding extra materials into the mix.

Think Twice Before Planting

It’s usually a good idea to stick with potted plants rather than large bushes or trees around your pool because the roots of those larger plants can actually affect the structure of your pool in the long run. Any oak, ficus, or elm trees are out of the question because you don’t want to deal with the long list of problems that occur when you have roots invading your pool’s plumbing system.

Low Maintenance Options

One last thing to remember is that your pool is supposed to be the area of your home where you are able to relax and enjoy time with family and friends. You don’t want to add an extra stress to your life by creating a situation where you have to maintain your new plants around the pool on a regular basis. Stick with options that won’t force you to spend most of your time around the pool trimming leaves and fertilizing the plants. It’s always a good idea to just keep things simple in this department.

Mixed most of these ideas will make your pool gardening the best ever seen. Begin looking to the way to go about this kind of pool landscaping today. Some of it you could be able to perform by yourself while the other aspects might need some professional help with. Your pool landscaping is likely to impress your entire friends when you are done so get started today and it will be done in no time.

Need help with your pool landscaping? The professional landscapers at Evergreen Landscaping are here for you. Contact us today to get started!

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25 May 2012
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Picking the Right Gardening Tools

If you’re thinking about taking your gardening seriously and going out there each day to increase the appearance of your garden, then you will need to find the right gardening tools to help you in this. You may be tempted to look out to the shop and simply pick the closest items you see, but you’ll be much happier when you put a great deal of thought into the styles and types of tools you’re getting. There are styles designed only for gardening, and you’ll be better off getting those.

 

You will find most of the tools you should have in your nearby gardening or home improvement shop. Most of the employees will be thrilled to assist you in finding the proper tools. If you go to a shop that specializes in gardening, you can typically get some ideas in addition to service. Gardening store staff are commonly an untapped wealth of wisdom, and they’re how I learned almost all that I know about gardening now. In case you are having a hard time choosing the right gardening tools, or if you wish to save some money, you could try browsing online for the items you need. You’ll need to pay the delivery costs and wait an extra week or two, but typically if you buy several tools, the total savings will likely be worth it. It is best to purchase from a respected seller, though, and check around in advance for anything negative that people had to say about their buying experience.

The Right Gardening Tools

What are the Right Gardening Tools? I’m glad you asked.

What kind of gardening tools you need depends on what type of garden you are trying to grow. Basic garden tools can be found at your local hardware store, while high quality and specialty tools can be found in shops that cater specifically to gardeners. Here are a few tips on gardening tools to help you get started:

The first thing to take into consideration is the size of your garden. Obviously, large, heavy duty equipment may not be necessary for a smaller garden. There’s no need to purchase a ride-on lawn mower for a small patch of grass. Speaking of larger equipment, make sure that you have enough space to maneuver around your garden while using bigger tools. Also make sure that you are physically capable of using the equipment before you make your purchase.

right gardening tools

So far as basic searching for tools go, you might currently have all you’ll need. There are numerous types that you should have though, for a variety of specific tasks. A round point shovel is perfect for digging holes for plants. A spade is necessary for all the intricate work. A garden fork you might not use as much, but I have one in my tool shed and I’ve been grateful for it on multiple occasions. Obtaining these different types of digging tools can help you to minimize the work you need to do. For example, if you try digging a huge hole with a little spade then you’ll end up rather exhausted. The same goes if you are trying to do more detailed work with a big clumsy shovel.

A rake is an overall basic need. You probably already have one, but I’m guessing it’s a lawn rake rather than a garden rake. There is definitely a difference, and if you try to use a lawn rake in a garden then you will not be happy with the results. Same if you buy a grading or a contractor’s rake. You’ll wish to get a bow-head rake. I’ve found these are the ideal for gardening purposes. They will provide you the highest control and accuracy, so you don’t accidentally tear up your precious plants.

As far as hoes go, I don’t believe any gardener needs to have less than 3. There are so many useful varieties out there which i have a hard time recommending only one, and that’s why I’ll let you know all the ones I usually use. The one I use the most is the onion hoe, which is really lightweight and ideal for small cultivation and weeding. The Warren hoe is a bigger model, with a pointed end. If you want to make a hole or dig out a pesky weed, this is the one for you. There are many other types, but I recommend beginning with the ones I mentioned. As you progress in your gardening savvy, you will find the need for more types.

Here is a list for the right gardening tools:

• Keep the blades of your secateurs sharp, so that you don’t damage your plants unnecessarily. Look for models with tension control that fit your grip. Secateurs typically cost about $50 – $130.

• When trimming your plants, remember that a pruning saw is for trees and larger shrubs, while secateurs are for smaller plants, such as roses. Pruning saws are usually $27- $55.

• Shovels are best for moving around dirt and soil, while spades have a flat blade that is best for digging, cutting edges and dividing plants. Like secateurs, make sure the edges of your spades stay sharp. These are basic garden tools that everyone needs and usually cost from $30 – $50.

• When buying a Fork for turning compost and breaking clumps of soil, look at quality, not price. If you skimp on price, then your fork will most likely not be strong enough and will break in areas of heavy soil. Expect to spend between $30 – $100.

• A chipping hoe is a fantastic for tearing out little weeds. A Dutch or push-hoe is a bit easier to use because the action required to use it doesn’t strain the shoulder and neck as much.

• A rake is a common necessity for the garden. Use a strong rake with a flat head and sharp metal prongs for leveling a garden bed and keeping it smooth. Only use a plastic rake is used to collect loose, light debris.

Most people believe that gardening just consists of a simple spade. But there are many, many tools with many variations that you will use in your gardening career. Typically you can start with just a few different tools, but you’ll always find that you may use more varieties for special situations. It’s only a matter of recognizing when one tool could be more efficient than another.

Need more gardening tools suggestions? Talk to an expert! Call 805-773-5395.

18 May 2012
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Healthy Soil Preparation

healthy soil

In the event that you’re getting ready to continue a new garden venture, you have to ready your healthy soil to ideally house your plants. A good thing you can do within the soil planning process is to reach the ideal mixture of sand, silt, as well as clay. Preferably there’d be 40 % sand, 40 percent silt, and 20 % clay. There are several assessments used by expert gardeners to tell whether the soil has a good composition. First you may compress it in your hand. Whether it doesn’t hold its shape and crumbles without any outside pressure, your sand ratio is most likely a bit high. If you poke the compressed ball with your finger plus it doesn’t break apart quickly, your soil consists of an excessive amount of clay.

Assessing a healthy soil

If you’re still unsure concerning the content of the dirt, you are able to separate every component by using this easy technique. Place just one cup or even two of dirt right into a container of water. Shake the water until the soil is suspended, after that allow it to set before you see it separate into three individual layers. The highest coating is clay-based, the next is actually silt, as well as on the bottom is sand. You should be able to assess the presence of every component in your dirt, as well as act appropriately. Right after you’ve examined this content of the soil, should you choose that it is low on a particular component then you definitely should really make a move to correct this. In the event that coping with an excessive amount of silt or sand, it’s better to add some peat moss or compost. If you’ve obtained too much clay, add a combination of peat moss as well as sand. The peat moss, when moistens, assists in the new component in order to infiltrate a combination much better. If you can’t appear to have the ability to achieve a suitable combination, simply mind down to the local gardening shop. You ought to be capable of finding some type of item to help you.

The water content from the soil is an additional essential thing to think about while preparing for the garden. In case your garden is at the bottom of a good incline, it is most likely going to soak up too much water as well as drown out the plant life. If this sounds like the case, you’ll want to raise your backyard several inches (4 or 5) within the remaining floor. This can permit more drainage and less saturation.

Adding nutrition for your dirt is another essential area of the procedure, as most city soils have virtually no nutrients already inside them normally. One to two weeks just before growing, you need to give a great deal of fertilizer for your garden. Mix this within very well as well as allow it to take a while. Once you have done this, your dirt will be completely ready with regard to whatever seeds you may grow inside it. When your seed products are grown, you’ll still want to pay attention to the dirt. The initial few days, the seeds are anxiously using up all the nutrition about these to sprout into a real grow. When they run out of meals, exactly how could they be designed to grow? About a week following planting, you need to include the same amount of eco-friendly fertilizer that you simply additional before. After this you ought to continue using eco-friendly fertilizer, although not as frequently. If you give a tiny bit every few days, that needs to be plenty to keep your backyard flourishing.

Basically, the entire process of healthy soil care could be compressed into simply a number of steps… make sure the make-up from the dirt is acceptable, be sure you possess correct water flow inside your backyard, add eco-friendly fertilizer pre and post growing, then add eco-friendly fertilizer frequently next. Adhere to these types of simple steps, as well as you’ll have a variety associated with healthy plants very quickly. And if you’ll need any more details on an individual action, go to your nearby gardening center and enquire. The majority of the employees will be more than pleased to provide you with advice

Need more assistance in your landscaping needs? Contact us at 805-773-5395 or fill out our form.

11 May 2012
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Gardening Advice for Eco-Friendly Backyard


Psychology Behind Gardening

I don’t know what it is about a garden that has usually drawn humans to them. But they have usually been very popular, as well as an essential part of peoples’ way of life. Most beliefs feature gardens as their locations for several of the biggest events. According to Christianity, humanity has begun in a garden and the son of God was resurrected in a garden. The Buddhist builds gardens to let nature to permeate their surroundings. Pretty much every major structure and government building has a garden. But what’s so wonderful about these? They’re just a bunch of plants, after all.

Obviously, the reasoning is fairly obvious behind why people cultivate food in gardens. It is to consume! If you settle off the fat of the land and really survive on goods from the garden, it is simple to comprehend the thought. But I’m wondering about those people that grow flower gardens just for the benefit of looking nice. There is no immediate benefit that I can realize; you simply possess a bunch of flowers in your yard! However, after pondering thoroughly about the inspiration behind growing decorative gardens, I’ve formulated quite a few probable theories.

I believe a primary reason people love gardens so much is the fact that while we have a natural desire to advance and industrialize, deep within all of us is a primal passion for nature. Although this drive might not be as solid as the desire for modernism, it remains powerful enough to persuade us to build gardens, small outlets of nature, in the midst of all our commotion.

gardening advice

Considering that being in nature is a lot like regressing to an earlier stage of humanity, we too can regress to a time of comfort and complete happiness. This is the reason why gardens are so soothing and relaxing to stay in. This is the reason why gardens make the perfect spot to reflect and do tai chi routines. A garden is a way to swiftly get away from the busy world.

I have assumed at times that perhaps we as people feel a kind of guilt driving us to restore nature and care for it. This guilt can stem from your knowledge that we, not in person but as a race, have destroyed so much of nature to get exactly where we are today. It is the least we can try to create a small garden in remembrance of all the trees we kill each day. It’s my theory that this is the main basis for most people to consider gardening as a pastime.

Gardening Advice

Many people are probably not aware that gardening can actually hurt the environment. A significant amount of carbon dioxide can be released through tilling the soil. This contributes to global warming. Cultivating and compacting the soil, destroys good fungi. Fertilizers like nitrogen and manure will many times come out of the soil and pollute the water you drink.

Global warming

You may not know that the earth’s soil gives out carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ten times more than all human activity? This comes from the pill bugs, microbes, fungi and worms when they breathe, digest food and then die. Previously plants have been capable of absorbing carbon dioxide caused by small-scale tillages, this isn’t the case nowadays.

The rise of the globe’s average temperature is because of the carbon dioxide the soil emits when tilled. There is good news in that tilling can be minimized by mulching or sheet composting.

Good Fungi

In untilled soil, there is a good fungus, the vesicular-arbuscular-mycorrhizae or VAM for short. VAM actually forms a symbiotic relationship with plants. Their filaments increase root hairs and provide nutrients to the plant. They give out zinc, copper, potassium and phosphorus. Plants provide carbohydrates for the fungi in return. It is entirely possible to grow gardens without tilling the soil at all by mulching heavily until the soil is soft.

Surplus Nitrogen

Many gardeners waste nitrogen and manures; farmers do otherwise. Farmers only need a quarter to a third of nitrogen to mix with an inch of compost, horse, or cow manure. Notice that gardeners apply larger amounts of compost and manure than farmers. Obviously, they are not only wasting their fertilizer but also their money.

gardening advice

The best gardening advice that can be given to those concerned is to do all things in moderation. Remember that too little and too much of something is not healthy. This is the most valuable advice one can heed.

Gardening is definitely a wholesome habit though, don’t get me wrong. Any hobby that provides physical exercise, helps the earth, and enhances your diet can’t be a negative thing. So no matter what the root psychological cause for gardening is, I think that everybody must continue doing so. In the USA especially, which is dealing with obesity and pollution as the two main issues, I think gardening advice can only serve to improve the state of the world.

Of course I’m no psychologist; I am just a curious gardener. I often stay up for hours wondering what makes me garden. What is it that makes me leave the house for a few hours every day with my gardening tools, and facilitate the small-time growth of plants that will grow naturally on their own? I may not know, but in this situation ignorance truly is bliss.

Looking for more eco-friendly gardening advice? Contact us For a Free Consultation or call 805-773-5395.