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29 Jan 2014
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Best Mulch for your Garden


Gardening is an incredible method of relaxing. There are a variety of ways to find peace and relaxation on a personal level. Gardening is a great way to do so. You will not need to spend a lot of money to grow your garden, and it provides many benefits. The best return on your investment is the feeling of happiness and tranquility from growing your own greenery. Many people have enjoyed the hobby of gardening for many years. It can be done for sheer pleasure or it can be done to feed a family. This article brings more of the joy of gardening to your life, especially if you nurture your plants with the best mulch for your garden.

There are many different types of mulch to choose from these days, but you don’t need to narrow down the different options if you are just looking for something that will work for everything. There are some mulches made from compost, while others are made from hay, but you will usually get a combination of a few different options when you’re looking for an all-purpose solution. Let’s take a look at some of the main features that you should be looking to get the best mulch that you can use for any new project.

Best Mulch for you Garden

Organic Mulches

The first thing you should look at when it comes to mulch is whether or not the mulch comes from organic materials. Organic mulches tend to improve the soil in the surrounding area because they don’t come with all of the inorganic materials, such as stones and plastic, that are found in many of the mulches sold in stores today. By going with a natural option, you can make sure that you are improving the health of your yard rather than destroying it.

Bark

Bark is usually the materials that you will want to make up most of your mulch. It can be shredded, chipped, or put together in chunks, and you also have to make a decision between pine, hardwood, and other types of trees. The best thing about bark mulch is that it will last a long time and it looks very attractive in any setting.

Dark Mulches

One last thing to remember is that you will want to stick with dark mulches more often than not. Dark mulches tend to absorb heat much more efficiently than their lighter counterparts, and the good news is that dark mulch and bark-based mulch are usually one in the same. You may find that the plants in the surrounding area become overheated if you go with lighter mulch. The plants will have to pick up the slack for absorbing the heat during the hot summer months. You should definitely try to avoid over-decorative mulches, such as white stones.

More gardening tips

Make use of root cuttings to create many new plants. Wait until winter when the roots are dormant before cutting them. The roots that should be cut are the biggest and thickest ones, use some hedge clippers or a sharp knife. Each root should be cut into lengths of about two inches. Fill seed trays with grit and moist peat, and gently lay the cut roots on the surface. Cover up the roots with a thinner layer of the peat mixture. Place your seed tray in a cool location and new seedlings will appear in about a month’s time. Plant each seedling in its own small pot until they grow big enough for outdoor planting.

Certain houseplants need to be re-potted; while others hate it when you disturb their roots. You can easily find out which plants need to be re-potted by turning each plant upside down, then tapping the pot until the plant frees itself from the pot and drops out. If the root structure is pushing out against the edges of the soil, you should transfer the plant to a larger pot. On the other hand, if only a minuscule amount of roots are showing or none at all, then your plant will be all right in the pot it was already in.

As previously mentioned, gardening is something that has been enjoyed by many throughout the centuries. At one time, most people saw gardening as the sole means of providing food for their family. Today it could be used for profit, need or pleasure. Whatever reason pulls you in to gardening, the information you have read in this article should help you to enjoy the process just that much more. Appreciate the pleasures of your gardening habit.

Need to learn how to choose the best mulch for your garden? Call 805-773-5395 

 

16 Aug 2012
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Home Gardening and Landscaping Ideas

During the last couple of years home gardening has become an increasingly popular past-time and hobby. Actually, research has shown that home gardening is at an all-time high in America at this time. In the USA 8 from 10 households take part in some form of home gardening activity. Obviously from the number of individuals which are doing the work, home gardening is one of the most widely used outdoor recreation in nation.

No time is better than the present. You probably have a lot of inquiries on how to start and what to do, but no worries, this article has you covered. It contains some great information about home gardening. And before you know it you will be on your way to growing an amazing garden.

Home Gardening and Landscaping Ideas

Many people that try their hand at home gardening plant flowers; at least they begin out planting flowers anyway. Roses will probably be the very first thought into any gardeners mind, but roses will require extra time and work, and really should probably be left to people who’ve gardened before. When planting flowers many choices can be found, for example bulbs, perennials, and annuals.

Edible vegetation is another big thing in home gardening. Perhaps the best thing about edibles is the reward of eating them. The list of edible plants that gardeners can grow at home is endless. Some of the most common edible plants in the vegetable arena are potatoes, peas, corn, carrots, squash, and cucumber. Many gardeners go for fruits, such as, watermelons, tomatoes, peaches, plums, apples, pears, and apricots. Small fruits, such as strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries often require less work and less space. These are making them much more feasible for home gardening.

Herbs, most often used as spices in cooking, are growing in popularity every single day. The most grown include basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, and cilantro. Probably the most essential things to watch whenever planting edibles is insects and disease. In the end, you don’t want to lose out on the feast you’re going to get to savor from healthy plants.

Many people don’t realize it, but landscaping is a form of home gardening. Landscaping covers many different areas and types of gardening. You may also classify mowing your lawn as landscaping! Keeping in the line of grasses, landscaping usually involves decorative grasses, and the great thing about them is they don’t take much work for upkeep. Kinds of grass include monkey grass, pampas, buffalo grass, flame grass, and ornamental millet. Landscaping is not just limited to plant life. Additionally, it includes anything completed to a yard for decoration, for example adding rocks or stones, placing a small pond, statutes, or a waterfall.

Learning More about Home Gardening and Landscaping

Humidity might be needed by some houseplants. You can create humidity in any environment by grouping different plants together in one pot, or replanting the specimen into a larger pot and filling the gap in with compost or stones. You can also provide the requisite humidity for your houseplants by using a spray bottle to mist it one or two times per day.

Clay is difficult to dig through with a shovel, as it is sticky and compact. To make working in clay easier, rub the shovel with floor or car wax and then buff it with a cloth. This will both make the clay fall off of the surface, and prevent the surface from rusting.

Collect rainwater for your plants to become more ecologically friendly. Using a barrel or any sort of container to collect any amount of rainwater can not only save you money on your water bill every month, but you are using a natural resource as well. Bear in mind this tip to have a chemical-free garden while saving money.

When deciding on which plants to include in your home gardening projects, consider evergreens which produce colorful berries. These types of trees can offer your garden a splash of color, especially during the winter when all other plants and trees have lost their hues. Some evergreens that will add life to your yard in the wintertime are the American Cranberrybush, Common Snowberry, Winterberry, and American holly.

There isn’t much difference between home gardening and gardening anywhere else. Plants still have to be planted inside a good location. The plants still need water plus they still require the same nutrients. Home gardening shouldn’t cause anyone to get nervous. Should you choose decide to use homing gardening and finding out that you simply don’t possess a green thumb, don’t get discouraged.

After reading this article, you should be well on your way to growing a fantastic garden. If you think that you were ready before, you should see yourself now. Acquire some information, read up on home gardening, and try it again the next planting season. Hopefully, the tips that were provided gave you some pointers that will help you get started with your gardening adventures so that you can begin growing like a pro.

Need a jump start with your home gardening? Call 805-773-5395 for a Free Consultation or 

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.