Plant Garden Home

With the world experiencing drought it is important to establish water saving gardens, so we still get to have natures beauty of green plants and beautiful flowers and food.

With out water the world is a dul hot place, the following video gives great information on how to save water around the home.

If you have ever tried to keep a garden alive during a drought… or experienced the shock of receiving a high water bill during a hot dry summer, then you need to know about gray water.

Gray water is not actually gray in color. Instead, this is a term which refers to water that as already been used in the house which is then able to be recycled for use on your lawn and garden. A lot of water used in a standard American home can be reused to water the garden.

Now there are different regulations and laws for gray water usage across the country, so you’ll need to consult with your local city authority before starting to use gray water in your own gardens. It’s also considered best to avoid using it in vegetable and food gardens.

For flowers, trees, grass, and other non-edible lawn and garden areas though, using gray water can mean the difference between a healthy green garden or a dead one.

Most gray water comes from the bath and shower in your home. Some places also allow washing machine and dishwasher run off to be used as gray water too. If you use any of these sources to water your lawn and garden though, it is safest to choose soaps and other cleansers which are non-toxic or biodegradable and not harmful to the environment.

When a house is set up to use gray water for the yard and garden, it is simply rerouting used water to those areas instead of letting it go down the drain into the sewage system. After taking a bath for instance, when the tub is drained of water that water may go out a hose which leads to a tank or garden area. Alternatively, the pipes which connect the bathtub to the sewage system may simply be rerouted to a tank or garden area instead.

The same type of set up is done for showers too, and washing machines or dishwashers. Water from your toilet is not used for watering the lawn or garden areas though, because this is considered hazardous waste material. Human waste materials from the toilet can create diseases and other major health hazards. It may be of interest that grey water from other areas in the house can be used for the toilet.

It is these health hazards which also cause some authorities to be very strict about the usage of gray water. Many areas for instance, will not allow water from the dishwasher to be run into the yard and garden area because there could be hazardous germs and contamination risks.

In some areas, gray water is only allowed to be used with certain other conditions and restrictions too. You may be required for instance, to make sure your gray water run off is a minimum distance away from your neighbor’s yard.

For the best results in your garden, when you use gray water be sure that it has cooled to a luke warm temperature before it is drained into your garden. Sending very hot water to your plants and flowers will shock and kill them. This is easiest to accomplish by rerouting the grey water to a tank first, and the water from the tank is then used to water the garden.

Drought resistant gardening is called xeriscaping, joining the Greek word xeros, which means dry, with “-scape,” as in landscape to describe garden design planned to resist and withstand drought.

Drought resistant plants can reduce the water requirements in any garden, especially important now when a lot of the world is experiencing drought. In fact, many cities and counties are severely limiting the amount of lawn that can be planted in new developments because lawn require so much water to keep it looking green and healthy.

However, regardless of where you live, it would be a good idea to start considering less water greedy alternatives to traditional lawns. Extending patio or deck areas, building terraces, allowing woodland gardens to go natural and landscaping or re-landscaping with drought resistant plant species are all good alternatives.

Drought resistant plants tend to share one or more of the following physical characteristics:

fleshy thick stems and leaves, (succulents such as like cactus, sedums and jade plants)

waxy coated leaves (herbs and flowers like rosemary, wax-leaf begonia)

densely hairy leaves (plants like lamb’s ears or Stacys)

silvery, grayish or bluish foliage (such as Artemisia, Dianthus)

narrow leaves (like ornamental grasses)

prickly leaves (such as globe thistle or Eryngium)

Though the plants in the following lists will require some water, the amount they need is at the low end of the scale.

Drought resistant evergreens and deciduous trees include:

White fir

Box Elder

Gray Birch

Cedars

Hackberry

Spruces

Pines

Oaks

Staghorn

Sumac

Black Locust

White Cedar

and most Elms.

Good shrub choices for low water needs include:

Dutchman’s Pipe

Red Chokeberry

Butterfly Bush

Trumpet creeper

Blue mist Spirea

Flowering Quince

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Carolina Allspice

Cotoneaster

Scotch Broom

Witch Hazel

Virginia Sweetspire

Juniper

Honeysuckle

Russian Arborvitae

Bayberry

Virginia creeper

Cinquefoil Shrub roses

Yew

and Weigela.

Good low-watering flower and ornamental grass choices include:

Yarrow,

Blue Stars,

Wormwood,

Butterfly Flower,

False Indigo Feather Reed Grass,

Heather,

Sedge,

Goldenstar

Coreopsis

Hardy Ice Plant

Dianthus

Coneflower

Plume Grass

Blue Fescue

Blanket Flower

Geranium

Baby’s Breath

Hellebore

Daylily

Plantain Lily

Dead Nettle

Lavender

Lupine

Catmint

Evening Primrose

Switch Grass

Poppy

Foxtail Grass

Peony 

Phlox

Russian Sage

Hens and chicks

Thyme

Black-eyed daisy

periwinkle

and yucca.

Picking plants with low water requirements will help ensure that the demands you make on our water supplies are low while still maintaining a healthy and green garden.

It’s important that beginning gardeners with less established gardening skills have the gardening tools for the multitude of gardening tasks they need to perform.

Here’s a list of gardening tools most garden centers and nursery experts recommend when you are starting to garden:

1. Two shovels:  One should have a pointed tip and the other a flat-headed model. Both should have wooden handles at least four feet long.

2. Pruning shears or secateurs: A good pair of sharp shears or secateurs is a vital part of any gardener’s tool collection to keep roses and shrubs looking nice.

3. Loppers: A long-handled cutting tool that can cut through heavier rose canes and through tree branches up to about an inch in diameter.

4. Two Rakes: A wide bamboo or plastic rake for light raking that involves collecting relatively lightweight garden debris and a heavier straight metal model for serious soil leveling and preparation.

5. Hedge shears: Long-handled, flat-bladed hedge shears are designed to cut evenly across both horizontal and vertical planes.

6. Tank sprayers: Because it’s difficult to completely clean tank sprayers, separate sprayers should be purchased for herbicides, fertilizer and insecticides.

7. Garden hose: Don’t buy one that’s too long or too short for you to comfortably use; a 200 foot long hose in a 25 foot wide garden makes no sense at all, nor does a 50 foot hose for a half acre lot.  More expensive hoses withstand the temperature extremes of summer and winter much better, and spending the extra money for a kink-free hose is well worth the frustration it will save you. Don’t forget to buy a rack or hose reel to keep your hose in out of the way when not in use.

8. Wheelbarrow or lawn cart: A wheelbarrow is the more versatile choice, heavy duty, usable for moving dirt for a new plant bed to mixing concrete for a patio fix. If all you need to do is move leaves, carts are cheaper and are lighter.

9. Spreader: Spreading fertilizer by hand causes some areas to get too much fertilizer while other areas get too little or none at all. Spreaders help spread the fertilizer evenly.

10. Broom: For keeping walks, driveways and patios free of lawn clippings or dirt from your gardening adventures.

Other tools that you may wish to consider owning to make gardening easier and more fun: A hand-held hoe, heavy cotton gloves, whipper snipper or line trimmer, pruning saw, mower, hand trowel, big floppy gardening hat, watering can and sunscreen.

Every Gardener needs gardening tools; they allow you to potter round in your garden and complete chores with ease. Keep your eye out for sales! This is the best time to purchase excellent quality gardening tools at a great price.

Gardening is considered work, but it’s also fun, and can also be a way for the entire family to enjoy an activity together and get the kids involved in gardening. Gardening is also a great way to teach kids about responsibly, while caring for other living things and increase their appreciation for our fragile environment.

Here are 10 ways to get kids interested in participating in gardening, getting them active and outside.

1. Buy the kids their own gardening tools. The more colorful, smaller tools make it easier for kids to spend quality time gardening with parents, grandparents or older siblings. Be sure to buy a small wheelbarrow and a good pair of gardening gloves for little hands as well.

2. Take them shopping for seeds and plants at nurseries and garden centers. Explain the different kinds of plants and involve them in making the final selections for your garden.

3. Give the kids their own small garden patch to care for. Help them get started in cultivating it and oversee planting.  Explain how often their gardens will need to be weeded, watered, fertilized and so on and schedule regular times when you be around to help them out if you are needed.

5. Buy them an age-appropriate illustrated book about gardening so that they can learn about plants when they need something to do indoors.

6. Set specific days and times for family gardening —perhaps early evening and a weekend morning—and adhere to this schedule as much as possible. Children will enjoy gardening more when it becomes part of their routines, and having specific times gives them something to look forward to on a regular basis.

7. Let the kids make picture stakes to place beside each row of vegetable or flowering plants so they’ll know what to expect as plants mature.

8. Make a calendar and have children decorate it with pictures of plants in their gardens. Add notes about when their plants were planted, when they need to be watered, fertilized and weeded and when they should mature on the appropriate days.

9. Suggest ways that children can turn plant harvests into gifts for friends and other family members, such as drying fruits and vegetables for winter use.

10. Invent games you can play while gardening such as who can pull the most weeds in the least amount of time, and give small prizes for winning.

When you get the kids involved in gardening make certain to give plenty of praise and encouragement to young gardeners. Gardening should be an activity that is fun and enjoyed, not one to dread!

For every pest, theirs is at least one natural pest control solution, that doesn’t require covering your garden with poisonous pesticides, weedicides or fungicides. Natural pest control costs less than pesticides and is much safer for your garden, pets, children, wildlife and the environment.

Here are some natural pest control measures you can use to avoid adding nasty chemicals to the soil:

1. Making sure your garden is healthy to begin with; well-prepared garden soil is the key to good natural pest control. So, check that the pH balance is suitable for what you wish to grow, the soil is well drained, not compacted and contains plenty of organic matter by adding compost.

2. Remove any weak plants and dispose of them well away from the garden area. Keeping your weeds, discarded plants and compost well away from your main gardening areas will keep the pests away also.

3. Keep garden beds well mulched and top-dressed with compost to encourage healthy plant growth, and to help reduce evaporation.

4. Use seaweed fertilizer spray, which contains minerals and trace elements such as iron, zinc, barium, calcium, sulfur and magnesium that strengthen soil and promote plant health. This is a friendly and natural solution to assist in vigorous plant growth.

5. Keep your garden clear of debris which can become a breeding ground for insects.

8. Always use clean mulch, either cultivated on site or purchased from a supplier. Mulch helps maintain moisture in the soil and keeps the weeds down.

9. Companion plant and rotate crops to defeat plant specific insects. Mixing plants up in your garden patches makes it more difficult for insects to spread, and annual crop rotation goes along way to stopping re-infestation.

10. If your garden needs watering do it early in the day to give the plant foliage a chance to dry out. Wet foliage encourages insect and fungi to move in as night falls and the temperature drops.

11. Disinfect your gardening tools before using them near healthy plants. Dirty tools spread disease

12. Attract beneficial insects to your garden or buy them from catalogs. Insects such as Brachonids, Chalcids and Ichneumon Wasps, Ladybugs, Lacewings, praying Mantises and Hover flies. Both soil nematodes and hover flies can be powerful weapons and allies in your fight against garden pests!

Although the goal is always to keep your garden healthy and productive all season long, it is not difficult to keep fungi, pests and insects at bay using natural pesticide solutions. There is a wide range of information available on the internet or by asking your organic gardening store. Essentially, there are different options for different plant species so once you determine which plant is being harmed, you can conduct your research accordingly.

If you’re a gardening enthusiast, then you might have heard of the term, ‘raised garden bed’.
So, to begin with, a raised bed garden is exactly what is sounds like. A garden upon a ‘raised bed’. People tend to raise sections of there gardens, rather than the whole garden. To raise the garden beds people tend to utilize things like large containers, or pots. Troughs are also a favorite, as they provide a longer length for the gardener to work with. Raised gardens can be made out of wood, bricks, metal or any other material you have laying round.

There are generally three reasons why you would go in for raised bed gardening,
1. Purely to do with aesthetics, in that you like how a raised garden bed would look in your garden.

2. If you find it difficult to bend down, or stand for long periods when gardening, then the raised garden bed is also ideal for you.

3. You may wish to consider a raised garden bed if you have soil and drainage problems that you just can’t overcome easily, in your normal, ground level garden.

Raised bed gardens are attractive, and easy to maintain, with the added benefit of being able control exactly what goes into your soil mixture, and how much water you use when watering your plants.

You also have the ability to control burrowing rodents, weeds, and unwanted feet trekking through your beds.

When building raised garden beds remember to allow a path between each bed for a wheelchair, stool to sit on or the wheel barrow.

Raised garden beds are used to get get beds of the ground to a more convenient height for either aesthetic or practical reasons.

Some of the advantages of building or have raised garden beds are:

1. To allow you to enjoy gardening when you have a disability. Raised garden beds allow you to work at a height that best suites you, there would be no need to bend down to plant, pull out or prune plants.

2. Raised garden beds allow you to garden in areas that have poor soil or drainage, because the gardens are raised the soil in the garden beds drains freely and beds can be filled with rich compost that will grow amazing healthy plants.

3. To allow a variation in garden design by having some raised garden beds amongst other ground level beds.

4. Raised garden beds allow you to easily practice no dig gardening, making easier to control weeds and soil fertility.

For what ever reason you choose to have a raised garden bed, I hope it adds to your overall gardening pleasure.

The concept of do-dig gardening was developed by an Australian woman named Esther Deans. It was originally developed both as a labor saving idea, and a way to rejuvenate badly structured soil in a vegetable garden.
No dig gardening involves starting with layers of newspaper on the ground, and by adding lucerne hay, straw and compost in succeeding layers on top, you can create a living soil without having to any heavy digging,  rich in nutrients and which will simplify weeding and encourage  plants to grow vigorously. All the layers compost together, and greatly encourage earthworms. The gardens are maintained by adding manure, compost, etc., and should not be dug up, as this will undo the good work. I have used this approach to creating vegetable and herb gardens, and guarantee  it certainly does work.

The principle of a no dig garden has sound foundations. Excessive cultivation of the soil, especially when very wet or very dry, will damage the structure of the soil, and lead to soil compaction. Such excessive cultivation can also discourage the earthworms, and they are the best free labor a gardener has.

The fertile layer you have built up will encourage the earthworms, but we do know that the worms need to shelter from excessively hot, dry, cold or wet conditions. They have been found to seek shelter from extreme conditions by burrowing more deeply into the soil, sometime many feet down. If they cannot shelter in this way, it is my contention that they will die out or move out.

Give the no-dig approach a try – you will be pleased and maybe a little suprised with the result.

Teak Outdoor Garden Furniture is made from the teak tree found in the tropical region of Java.  Most companies that build teak outdoor garden furniture purchase their teakwood from companies that practice environmental harvesting.  The harvested trees are replaced by newly planted trees, so that the chance of teak trees becoming endangered will not be a possibility in the future. 

Teakwood has a beautiful golden hue to its natural finish.  It has a natural resistance to the elements of the weather.  Teakwood is the perfect material to be used in the making of teak outdoor garden furniture.  Teak wood is known for is durability and strength, and its timeless beauty even after being exposed to the weather is unequaled to that of any other material.  After being exposed to the rain and the sunshine, the wood will turn a lovely silver-gray color. 

Teak outdoor garden furniture is available in the same notable pieces comparable to that of other wooden outdoor garden furniture designs.  The conversation sets are cushioned for comfort and the colors will be an asset to any garden’s décor. Teak outdoor garden furniture is extremely lightweight so it can be easily rearranged to accommodate any additional seating needed for a special occasion.  Bench seating is also available in the teak outdoor garden furniture for you to choose from ranging from the straight-line bench seats to the tree base bench seating.  Intimate porch swings are available as well as single chairs, small tables, sofas and love seats. 

Teak outdoor garden furniture is a immense investment into your future and the future of your home.  You will want to contemplate your decision of the style and design of the teak outdoor furniture wisely. Because of teak outdoor garden furniture’s strength and durability, it will be a part of your home for many years to come.