landscaping tips Archives - Evergreen Landscaping

29 Jan 2014

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

10 Aug 2012

2 Comments By Evergreen Landscaping Archive apartment gardening, Container gardening, desert landscaping, hanging plants, landscaping ideas, landscaping in pismo beach, landscaping tips, pismo beach landscaper, pismo beach landscaping

Container Gardening for City Dweller

Sometimes, the urge to garden might be stopped by other circumstances, such as living arrangements or space constrictions, but container gardening can help you. If you live in an apartment, you obviously can’t grow a garden, as you don’t have a back or front yard! One of the best solutions for this problem is to start container gardening. You can try sitting them near the window or on your balcony, or even hanging them. Just a few containers and your whole living area will look much more beautiful and serene. Even though you miss out on the full garden experience, there are benefits to container gardening.

Getting Started in Container Gardening

One benefit of growing in small containers is the fact that you can move them around to suit your needs. If you rearrange your furniture and feel that it would look nice better if it were in the other area, you can just move it over. No transplanting or labor required! As long as the lighting is about the same, your plant won’t mind moving at all. Another benefit of container gardening is the fact that you can adapt it to any environment. Depending on the type of soil you fill it with and where you place it.

One way to give container gardening an interesting look is to hang them at different heights. Hanging plants is a great use of space and clears up your counters and windowsills. This is called “vertical gardening”. If you pull it off right, you can make a beautiful arrangement of plants while conserving your valuable space. If you live in an apartment, you know how important it is to conserve space! One method of vertical gardening is the use of a wooden stepladder. If painted correctly, you can arrange all the plants on it in a stylish cascade of color.

A downside to container plants is that you can’t use an irrigation system. Thus, have to go around and water your plants one at a time. However, the square footage for container plants is much less than that of an actual garden, so the time spent on maintenance and watering is more balanced. You won’t have to worry about weeds or pests. It is important that you don’t over-water your container plants. This can be just as fatal to their health as under-watering.

When choosing containers for your plants, buy some extra containers in case it breaks or other unforeseeable circumstances. Change things up by buying different sizes, shapes, and colors. Try to make sure that they complement each other. Plastic containers are the best and require the least amount of watering. But if you want clay or earthen pots then you should line the inside with plastic. This helps it retain water more, as the clay will soak up water.

Another thing to remember when buying pots is the fact that the size of the pot will ultimately constrict the size of the plant. In other words, the smaller the pot, the smaller the plant. Make a careful choice of pots according to what you wish to grow in each one. If you search for the plant you chose on the internet, you should be able to find specifications as to how much root space it should be given. This can even be an advantage for you if you choose a plant that can grow very large. If you have a limited amount of space for it, you can constrict it by choosing a pot that isn’t large enough to support huge amounts of growth.

Tools for your Container Gardening

A lot of gardeners find the hobby to be both relaxing and therapeutic. Without the right information, though, it can be confusing. Gardeners have to know not only how to do the actual gardening, but what tools and equipment are most useful. Spend some time relaxing in the sun, tending your garden.

If you’re growing veggies in the garden, they need to be in a spot that lets them get about six hours of sun daily. Many veggies require this amount to properly grow at a faster pace. This is true of some flowers.

Two items you need to invest in when working in a garden are a wheelbarrow, and a kneeling stool. Using a large portion of your time near or on the ground working on your garden puts a huge strain on your knees. Therefore, having a portable, lightweight garden stool will greatly assist you in making gardening easier on them. A wheelbarrow will help you move heavy items without hurting your back so ensure that you invest in one promptly.

In a dark area, pre-soak your seeds overnight. Put a few seeds in a small container and fill it near to the top with water. This lets water soak into the seeds, giving them an extra boost of hydration when they start growing. The seeds will most likely have a greater chance of maturing and surviving.

As you have learned from this article, container gardening can seem like quite the task. Yet, it is manageable if you know what you’re doing. If the benefits of container gardening sound appealing to you, then you should start planning out your container garden today. If you write a list of all the plants you desire to have, you can do the necessary research. Find out what size and shape of pots you should get. After that, it’s just a matter of arranging them in a way that makes your home look the nicest.

If you have children, then container gardening can be a great hobby for your family to bond with each other. Most children enjoy choosing the plants and flowers that will go in the garden. Not only do most kids enjoy getting dirty, they will also take extra pride in everything you grow together.

Your garden will start giving you enjoyment after you realize you have the abilities to make it happen. A beautiful garden requires the right tools, soil, water and sunlight. If you need more container gardening assistance, contact us today! Or call 805-773-5395.

15 Jul 2012

0 Comments By Evergreen Landscaping Archive evergreen landscaping, front yard landscaping, Front yard landscaping tips, Gardening, happy garden, healthy and happy garden, Healthy Garden, landscaping ideas, landscaping tips, successful gardening

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.

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.

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!

14 Jun 2012

1 Comments By Evergreen Landscaping Archive diy landscaping, evergreen landscaping, home landscaping ideas, landscaping ideas, landscaping tips, Preparing your garden, protect your garden, The Horrors of Hail

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.

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

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.

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,

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

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Tag: landscaping tips