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Imagine, a good extent of open lawn space is your canvas. If you cover your lawn space with many trees, with little flower beds here and there, the general effect is choppy and cluttered. It would be the same as taking paintbrushes and just blotting paint on a blank canvas, not a lovely picture. A single tree or a small group is not a bad arrangement on the lawn, but do not center the tree or trees. You should not choose an overpowering tree; the tree should be one of good shape, with something interesting about its bark, leaves, flowers or fruit. Placement makes a huge difference in the selection of a tree. Don’t group trees together which look awkward. A long-looking poplar does not go with a nice rather rounded little tulip tree. The bright berries of the ash, the brilliant foliage of the sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark of the white birch, and the leaves of the copper beech, all these are beauty points to consider.

As trees are chosen because of certain good points, so shrubs should be as well. The red bark of the dogwood makes a bit of color all winter, and the red berries of the barberry cling to the shrub well into the winter. Certain shrubs are good to use for hedge purposes. A hedge is rather prettier usually than a fence. The Californian privet is excellent for this purpose. Osage orange, Japan barberry, buck thorn, Japan quince, and Van Houtte’s spirea are other shrubs which make good hedges. Just make sure you choose something that is interesting to look at and that will compliment your focal point.

You may choose your landscape gardening to follow along very formal lines or along informal lines. The first would have straight paths, straight rows in stiff beds, everything, as the name tells, perfectly formal. The informal is, of course the opposite. You should examine the disadvantages of each. The formal can look very stiff and uninviting; the informal can be fussy or even chaotic looking. As far as paths go, keep this in mind, that a path should always lead somewhere, some little something that is interesting to look at. Garden paths may be of gravel, of dirt, or of grass. One sees grass paths in some very lovely gardens; however, they would not serve as well in your small gardens. If you use a dirt path, try to line underneath the dirt with rock, this forms a natural drainage system.

You may also want to include a building or fencing into your landscape gardening, to make a unified whole of the property. Vines lend themselves well to this work. Close your eyes and picture a house of natural color, that mellow gray of the weathered shingles. Now add to this old house a purple wisteria, a lovely picture indeed. You will want to use a perennial vine, so this becomes a permanent part of your overall landscaping. The Virginia creeper, wisteria, honeysuckle, a climbing rose, the clematis and trumpet vine are all most satisfactory.

Flowers are also an important part of your landscape. Along the side of a building or along a walkway or sidewalk are perfect uses of flowers. In general keep the front lawn space open and unbroken by beds. The place for a flower garden is generally at the side or rear of the house. How disappointing it would be to leave a beautifully landscaped front lawn, round the corner and see an unpleasant view. You can use formal flower beds or a little more informal layout.

Before you start your landscaping you should have an idea of the direction you want to go. Do you want formal or informal? You should choose this before you start and you should not mix them once you have begun. You should also consider the blending of colors in your flower gardens. You should try not to have color combinations that would hurt your eyes when you look at them up close.

With a little planning you could turn almost any little plot of land into a beautifully landscaped garden. Just remember, open, free lawn spaces, a tree or a proper group of trees well placed, flowers which do not clutter up the front yard, groups of shrubbery, these are the points to be remembered when doing your initial planning.

[tag]gardening, gardening tips, landscape gardening, landscaping, flower garden, shrub, trees, flowers, flower[/tag]

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As to getting rid of the weeds, the experienced gardener knows from experience the importance of keeping his crops clean. He has learned the price of letting them get anything resembling a start. He knows that one or two days’ growth, after they are well up, followed perhaps by a day or so of rain, may easily double or triple the work of cleaning a patch of onions or carrots. Where weeds have attained any size they cannot be taken out of growing crops without doing a great deal of harm. You should also realize that every day’s growth means just so much available plant food is going to your legitimate plants.

Frequent cultivation will not only break up the soil, but let in air, moisture and heat all crucial in completing those chemical changes vital in converting unavailable food into food you plants can use. Long before science proved what farmers have always known by observation, the necessity of keeping the soil nicely loosened about their growing crops. Plants need to breathe. Their roots need air. You can’t expect to see the luxuriant dark green of healthy plant life in a suffocated garden.

Just as important as the question of air is, that of water ranks beside it. You may not realize at first what frequent cultivation has to do with water, but let us stop a moment and do a little experiment. Take a strip of blotting paper, dip one end in water, and watch the moisture run up hill, and soak up through the blotter. The scientists have labeled that “capillary attraction”. The water crawls up little invisible tubes formed by the texture of the blotter. Now take a similar piece, cut it across, hold the two cut edges firmly together, and try it again. The moisture refuses to cross the line: the connection has been severed.

As you already know, water is soaked up by the soil after a rainfall. The water on the surface will start to evaporate almost immediately. There isn’t much you can do about that. The water that is below the surface is leaving just as fast if you are not cultivating the soil. Just like the blotter paper in our experiment, the soil has these tubes as well, and they are funneling the water away just as fast as if you had a pump hooked to them. Fortunately there is something you can do about this. Frequent cultivation of the soil, about one or two inches deep will keep these soil tubes broken up, just like when we cut the blotter in two. You should go over every part of your garden every week or two, especially in areas that are not shaded.

Keeping your garden free of weeds, especially when they are small and easier to remove, and the soil cultivated, to allow in air and water, give your garden the things necessary for it to thrive.

[tag]gardening, gardening tips, cultivating, landscaping[/tag]

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Most of the tools listed here have been around for many years with very little design change. The reason for this is, it usually works just fine the way it is. Some tools you may need for your garden:

1. A Spade - A spade is a lot like a shovel with a few differences. The head is usually thinner and are sometimes rounded or pointed. It is used to loosen up the soil or break up clumps. You can also get a spade in a smaller version to use in close proximity of your plants.

2. Gardening Fork - A gardening fork is shaped much like a pitchfork. It is usually much smaller with shorter, thicker tines. Where a pitchfork is used to lift things the gardening fork is used to dig and loosen the soil. It is usually used in conjunction with the spade.

3. Gardening Hoe - A hoe usually has a long wooden handle and a sharp metal blade. The shape of the blade depends on what the hoe is used for. Most hoes are used to break up the soil around your plant, to remove weeds, piling soil around the plants (hilling), creating shallow trenches for planting seeds, and just generally dig.

4. Gardening Rake - A gardening rake, not to be confused with the kind used for raking grass and leaves, usually has large heavy tines and a long wooden handle. This gardening hand tool is used primarily for loosening and leveling the soil. They can also be used to loosen and remove small rocks.

5. Cultivator - A cultivator usually has tines in a rotary position. It is used to aerate and loosen the soil either before planting or after planting to get rid of weeds and get oxygen into the soil. Cultivating the soil brings nutrients into the soil to keep plants healthy. A tiller is a motorized version of the cultivator. Although this is considered a garden power tool, it is being included here because if you have a large plot you do not want to do this by hand.

These are some of the most common gardening hand tools that you will need.

[tag] gardening, gardening tools, gardening hand tools[/tag]

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So what can you do to stay within budget? A few suggestions to get you started:

*eBay - You can find some good bargains on new or barely used gardening tools.

*Estate sales - They usually sale personal items for next to nothing. Gardening tools are usually taken care of by the previous gardener.

*Going out of business sales - Unfortunately, smaller businesses can not compete with the large chain stores.

*Government sales - Watch your local papers for these.

*Local landscaping businesses - When they upgrade their tools, they may be willing to sale at a very good price their older tools. If this is a reputable business, you will know that the gardening tools will have been taken care of.

*Rent the tools you need - If it is large or expensive tools, go to your local Home Depot or Lowe’s and rent what you need.

*Create a co-op with friends - This could be accomplished two different ways: 1. Pool your money together to buy a tool or 2. Each purchase a tool and swap when the need arises.

Now that you are thinking about other ways than to just go out and purchase your gardening tool needs, you can probably think of a few more ways to get the tools you need and stay within budget.

[tag]garden, gardening, garding tools, gardening tip[/tag]

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If you are saving your seeds from your own plants you have a little more control over what plants the seeds come from. Choose your seeds from plants that:

*Are hardy

*Have a good number of blooms (or yield for vegetables)

*Are of good size

Even if a little puny plant has a few good looking blooms, this is not the one to choose seeds from. Seeds will usually produce plants like the parent plant. Make sure when you choose the plant your seed will come from, tie a string on it so you remember which one it is.

If you are buying your seeds, look for these qualities:

*Size - the larger the better

*Plumpness of seeds

Each part of the seed, called a cotyledon, stores the food that the little plant will need until its roots grow enough to do their job. So the larger and plumper the seed the more likely it is to have enough food to sustain the tiny plant.

The viability of your seeds will determine how wonderful your garden is. Some things to keep in mind when picking your seed:

*Age - seeds are only viable for a few years.

*If using your own seeds, label them with the date.

*Make sure they are picked when they are mature.

*Do not freeze them.

*If buying, use a reputable seed house.

With careful consideration of your seeds you should have a beautiful garden full of blooms or with a plentiful bounty.

For more on getting your garden started or to make your garden better check out this ebook called “The Gardener’s Handbook” not only can you download and read this ebook at any time but it also comes with the audio files. You can use these on any MP3 player, listen on your computer, or burn to CD.

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[tag]garden, gardening, garden tip[/tag]

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After attining maturity, the care of orchids is not much different than any other houseplant. There are a few things to keep in mind when planting your orchids. The first thing to think about is the growing medium. Some of the more recommended growing mediums are: bark, gravel, and charcoal.

Orchids take their nutrients from the air. You must ensure that your plant gets plenty of air. Placing your orchid on a windowsill of an open window will allow plenty of airflow and sunlight.

Different varieties of orchids have different requirements. Orchid care will become much easier if you carefully study resources specifically for orchids.

One such resource is The Magic of Orchids.

[tag]gardening, orchids, caring for orchids[/tag]

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Check out this article for more ideas.

[tag]gardening, gardening tip[/tag]

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Just as we are spending more time than ever at home outside, we are enjoying a rash of new products that make free time there as convenient and comfortable as our indoor kitchens or family rooms.

One of the greatest innovations in all of our lives (after microwave popcorn) is the microchip. It runs our lives in every way imaginable and it’s making headway into our gardens and landscapes as well.

To read more click here.

[tag]gardening, gardening tools[/tag]

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The Master Gardeners provide many ways of outreach to the gardening public. You can walk in, phone, or email them. For more information on the Master Gardeners click here.

[tag]gardening, plant problem[/tag]

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