Archive for Landscaping
Creating the Perfect Garden Using Feng Shui
Posted by: | Commentswritten by Rebecca Rambal
Photo by Leonard John Matthews
When you think of Feng Shui, you mainly associate it with the home or the office, rearranging the furniture and surrounding yourself with objects that attract good luck. However it is not only indoors that can be designed using Feng Shui. You can also use it to create the perfect garden environment.
If a garden is part of your property, Feng Shui should be incorporated into it. That will really help to bring you the best results. We all like our gardens to look impressive and beautiful. It allows us to appreciate our environment a lot more and it helps to release positive energy that helps us flourish. Feng Shui gives us the tools needed to create the most positive outside environment and the best part is that you don’t need a huge garden to use Feng Shui arrangements.
Incorporating Feng Shui into the Garden
One of the main factors that you have to take into account when it comes to Feng Shui is that clutter is always a bad thing. This also applies to the garden. If you have a lot of clutter outside of your doorway you won’t attract good energy. Make sure that the entrance to your home looks welcoming and tidy. Also make sure you clean up once Winter is gone. The cold weather and the snow will cause leaves to stick to your lawn and in your flower beds. Once you have tidied everything away, you can truly start to incorporate Feng Shui into the garden.
If you want to plant trees in your garden, aim to plant them at the sides and around the back of your garden. Don’t plant them too close to your home as, although they are fantastic producers of positive energy, they can overshadow the home and look a little too imposing if placed too close. There should always be plenty of natural light shining into your home, so don’t place anything in the garden that will block out the light. Read More→
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Garden Note to Self:
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Well, it’s that time of year again and fall is upon us. Everyone keeps asking me if I’m done gardening yet and I reply that no in fact things are getting pretty busy in the garden business right now. Believe it or not, I’m so busy right now that I threw out my back yesterday and spent the evening eating ibuprofen…ugh. And spent the morning with my chiropractor! And yes, I’m back in action!
Originally posted 2009-10-27 13:25:28. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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Garden Room Boundaries…
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Garden Room Boundaries…
By Gordon Goh
The areas of your landscape can be divided into several sections and areas, which are also known as garden rooms. Garden rooms are spaces where you plant, grow, and display different ideas in gardening in various creative methods. One garden room could be a rose garden, while another could include the use of a water garden, while still another garden room in your landscape could include the use of just purple flowers. Garden rooms are your creation, and only limited to your imagination.
To create the rooms in your landscape where you can be both different and creative you need to actually create some type of walls in your gardens. The walls in your gardens are going to be grown from other larger types of plants. Living fences are one ‘way’ that you can create garden rooms.
Originally posted 2009-07-31 08:49:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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The Right Plant in the Right Place
Posted by: | CommentsI always hear people say they don’t have a green thumb. This is of course very silly thinking. When you are building and planning a garden you simply need to do a tiny bit of research. A successful garden is about 80 percent choosing the right plant for the right spot. Frankly some spots are like the surface of the moon, nothing will grow there. Find an alternative: try a rock garden. But research first.
If you have a giant Maple and nothing grows under it. You may need to create a raised bed. But some research would tell you not deeper than two inches, as anything more may kill the tree.
Don’t plant Rododendrums in a sunny spot that is solid clay. They just won’t really grow well. They would be happier under some pine trees in some nice acidic and loamy soil.
Got a spot that is smoking hot and dry? Don’t try to plant a rose garden there…unless you want it to look terrible. Try some Sedum, Cone Flower, Oriental Lillies, Butterfly Weed, Ornamental Grass and maybe a double knock-out rose might be O.K. if you get it some water a few times a week. They kind of thrive on neglect.
A little research goes a long ways to creating a successful and thriving garden.
Visit my other blog GartenGrl for some other ideas I have about gardening.
Originally posted 2009-03-29 17:13:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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Options For Building Inexpensive Garden Paths
Posted by: | CommentsBy Scott M. Free and Nickolie Allen Greer
Photo by UGArdener
Creating a walkway or path for your garden, flowerbed or lawn is a superb way of adding a glorious touch to the outdoor environment. There are innumerable options from where you can make a choice. Quite a few options have been mentioned below; let’s take a look at them:
• Basic Brick Pathway: The first thing that comes into our mind before creating walkways or paths is bricks. Using bricks you can give any desired shape to your path. In simple words, using bricks you can create several paths such as winding, meandering as well as narrow.
What’s more interesting is that bricks are available in various patterns and designs. You may even choose whether you desire to set the path in concrete or sand. Almost all people prefer opting for a concrete base!
Read More→
Originally posted 2010-03-03 14:51:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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Think First: Pest Control In The Garden
Posted by: | CommentsLet’s take a moment to think about garden pests and how we want to tackle them next year. Winter is a good time to think about this because you have time to do some research and plan your strategy. If you have a bit of wisdom in your pocket you can avoid spraying toxic chemicals which are bad for you, your family, your pets and the wildlife which visit your lovely flower decorated garden.
We often attack pests when we first spot them in our flowers and this knee-jerk approach usually involves harsh chemicals. Let’s take a moment to contemplate the unwanted insects that we know will be visiting our garden and the sensible and safe ways we can make them go away so we can spend time this summer feeding the birds and picking the flowers instead of stressing over chemicals and insect damage.
Slugs are certainly an unwanted visitor in the garden. They leave holes in our hostas making them look like a ragged mess and they also leave slimy trails all over the garden. Yuck. Before you break out the most deadly of slug pellets which will also kill all the snakes, toads and bird feeding creatures you can try some other things. Try slug traps using terra cotta pots turned upside down which flip over in the morning and pick off the slugs. You can throw old newspaper bundles around the garden and pick them up in the morning and throw them in the garbage. You can partially fill soda cans with a solution of beer, water and yeast and then let the slugs crawl in and drown. Coffee grinds around your hostas may keep them at bay as well. These are better than the nerve damaging slug killer you buy at the hardware store. Read More→
Originally posted 2010-02-13 11:25:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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Hydrangeas Can Be A Garden Challenge
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Photo by greenhem
One must have some gardening knowledge when it comes to having abundant blooms with hydrangeas. They can be tricky to prune so they bloom abundantly. They are particular about what kind of soil and fertilizer they receive for bloom color. Hydrangeas are also choosy about what kind of light conditions they will do best in-partial shade is just the beginning.The following notes are meant to help guide you with your different Hydrangea plants so you will get the most out of them.
Hydrangeas come in a few different varieties. One type is called Hydrangea Arborescence which usually have big white snow balls on them-these hydrangeas bloom on “new” wood. Because Hydrangea Arborescence varieties bloom on “new” wood they can be pruned in the fall. They will produce new stalks in the spring which will bloom. The tree form hydrangeas you see which are also usually white are called Paniculata hydrangeas and they too should be pruned in the late Fall. Seems simple: white flowers, prune in fall.
It gets more complicated when you realize that there are other kinds of hydrangeas called Hydrangea Macrophyllas-these are the kind of hydrangeas that have pink or blue flowers. These bloom on “old” wood and can ONLY be pruned before July the year before…did I say this was tricky or what?There is also Oakleaf hydrangea which is also an “old” wood bloomer. So when would you prune it??That’s right-summer before….tell me about it…so confusing. Read More→
Originally posted 2010-02-19 09:42:12. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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Friendly Neighbors-Gardening in Style
Posted by: | Commentsby:
COOPER HILL
Gardeners growing vegetables find that companion planting provides many benefits, one of which is protection from garden pests. A major enemy of the carrot is the carrot fly, whereas the leek suffers from the onion fly and leek moth. Yet when leek and carrot live together in companionship, the strong and strangely different smell of the partner plant repels the insects so much that they do not even attempt to lay their eggs on the neighbor plant. They take off speedily to get away from the smell. This is why mixed plantings give better insect control than mono-culture, where many plants of the same type are planted together in row after row.
Read More→
Originally posted 2009-09-30 14:53:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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Three Northern Natives For Your Garden
Posted by: | CommentsIt is winter. The ground is frozen. What should a gardener do? The only thing left for an obsessed gardener to do is make a wish list of things to plant in the summer. Some plants that should be on any northern gardeners wish list are these three midwest natives: Coneflower, Black-eyed Susans, and False Indigo. Why should you care that they are natives? Any gardener worth their dirt knows that choosing native plants for your garden saves water, time, money and helps the environment by providing food for local wildlife.
Photo by melolouConeflower or echinacea is a native plant that is a wonderful contribution to any garden. As a flower it is quite simply pretty in pink and as a native it provides food for the wild life that visits your garden. It makes a great companion plant with many grasses and roses and sedum. It also has roots that can survive in drought weather and clay soil. It will reseed itself and spread in a friendly and non aggressive manner. It should certainly be at the top of any gardeners to plant list. Read More→
Originally posted 2010-01-13 14:42:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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Japanese Beetles in the Rose Garden
Posted by: | Commentsby: Doug Green
Adult Japanese beetles are one quarter to one half inch long with copper colored wing covers and a shiny metallic green head. Between the green head and tiny tufts of white hair along their side you’ll recognize them easily as they happily munch on your roses.
While they generally don’t eat dogwood, forsythia, holly, lilac, evergreens and Hosta, they’ll eat darn near everything else. These beetles feed on flowers and fruits making a skeleton of the leaves by eating the green parts and leaving the veins. Adults are most active from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. on warm summer days. These voracious pests prefer plants in direct sun, so shady areas are usually less damaged.
The bacterial spore, sold as ‘Doom’ or ‘Grub Attack’ is generally used to control these pests. Using a hormone lure in your yard simply attracts more beetles to your yard. Put the lure somewhere else a hundred yards away encouraging the beetles to go elsewhere. Unfortunately, reducing the beetles in your yard will not reduce their attacks in succeeding years. These beetles are great fliers and can travel upwards of ten miles from where they hatched.
Handpicking is also effective on your prized plants – drop the beetles into a bucket of soapy water to kill them. There is some data that suggests hand picking is as effective as spraying noxious chemicals and you know you have killed the beetle when it drowns in your soapy bucket. One trick is to hold the bucket of soapy water under the plant and then shake the plant. Beetles will fall off the plant right into the bucket and you’ll get more beetles if you do this in the early morning before they start feeding and flying. Several birds (grackles, cardinals, meadowlarks) feed on the adult beetles so encourage birds in your yard.
If you decide to use a lure, place it at least 100 feet away from your garden. Lures attract beetles and if you place one in your garden, you’ll have all the neighbors beetles visiting as well. Find a neighbor who doesn’t garden to host the lures and traps.
Source: articlecity.com
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About The Author Doug Green, an award winning garden author with 7 books published answers gardening questions in his free gardening newsletter at http://www.learn-rose-gardening.com. |
Originally posted 2009-08-15 15:34:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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