A beautiful garden is a work of heart

Summary: There is immense satisfaction in creating your own garden plan -- the satisfaction derived from relaxing or entertaining in the garden as well as the satisfaction that comes from a job well done. There is immense satisfaction in creating your own garden plan -- the satisfaction derived from relaxing or entertaining in the garden as well as the satisfaction that comes from a job well done. The effort that you expend in planning and executing a design unique to you will add to the enjoyment your garden provides for years to come. How do you begin to create a garden space that is unique to you? Here are ten simple steps that will help you move effortlessly through the process. 1. Identify WHY you want a garden. How will you use it? Who else will enjoy the garden? Remember that you may not be the sole inhabitant, so get input from all family members on how your outdoor space will be used. 2. Do a little dreaming. Now that you know why you want a garden and how you intend to use it, let your imagination play with all the possible features in your special space. A little dreaming will uncover those attributes that will put your personal imprint on the garden. Also decide whether you want a formal or an informal garden. Formal gardens are highly structured, divided by a strong central axis and cross axes. Informal gardens have a more natural look with strong, flowing curves. 3. Make a list of "must haves". What items are essential? Listing your needs up front ensures that your final plan won't be missing anything important. Do you need a retaining wall? A privacy fence? A path to the garage? More parking space? Do children need a place to play? What about pets? Walk around your property and make note of everything that is essential. Your final design should balance dream features and "must haves" to create a satisfying and functional space. 4. Evaluate what you already have. To get where you are going, it helps to know your starting point. Is your space large or small? Is the site flat or sloping? What is the climate? What type of soil do you have? How much water is available and from what sources? What are the predominate views? 5. Ballpark your budget. Once you know what you want and what you need, it's time to consider what you are willing to spend. This dollar figure will influence what features you include in the final garden plan -- trees, plants, hardscape materials and architectural elements such as arbors, fountains, ponds and benches. Remember that your "budget" comprises two elements: money and TIME. In terms of time, does the garden need to be finished by a certain date or can you create it over time? (Speed costs!) Also, how much time are you willing to budget to maintain your dream garden? Can you spare several hours a week or are you lucky enough to afford a caretaker? As you develop and refine your plan, you may need to balance time and cash costs. Be flexible. You may need to spend more time if you can't spend more money and vice versa. 6. Identify your garden's focal points. Every garden needs an eye-catching spot that causes you to pause a moment. When you choose a focal point, you are choosing the direction you want visitors to look when they enter your garden. Did your list of "wants" include a waterfall or fountain? An arbor retreat? A blossoming apple tree? If so, you are well on your way to identifying a focal point -- or points -- for your garden.

7. Create a rough design. Take all the information that you've gathered and incorporate it into a workable design that balances the "wants" with the "must haves". Your goal is to create a space that is both satisfying and functional. Buy a pad of graph paper that contains 8 or 10 squares per inch and let each square equal one foot. (In other words, every inch on the paper will equate to 8 or 10 feet on your property.) Create a basic map with your property lines and house drawn to scale. You will also need tracing paper, markers, a tape measure, a ruler, a pencil and a good eraser. Lay the tracing paper over your basic scaled map. Then refer back to your list of "must haves" and "wants" as you sketch the various areas of your garden. Show the approximate position of focal points, activity areas ("rooms") and pathways. Use as many sheets of tracing paper as necessary until you find a layout that pleases you and meets the goal that you identified in Step 1. 8. Choose your plants and hardscape. The colors and materials that you choose will create the character of your garden, adding interest, movement and visual appeal. Do you want harmonious colors or strong contrast? Warm hues or cool tones? Bold colors or soft hues? Mixing different colors and materials and textures will give your garden a strong sense of space. Plants comprise a significant part of your garden. In addition to plants, hardscape materials contribute variety and texture -- wood arbors, brick borders, gravel paths, bronze statuary, and wrought-iron benches. As you review your preliminary layout, consider the best material for each of the hardscape elements. Keep in mind that each element needs to fit with and compliment the whole. For example, a terrace constructed of the same material as the house unifies while railroad ties around a formal garden create discord. 9. Make a scale drawing. Thus far, you have created a basic map of property lines and your house as well as an overlay sheet that shows focal points, "rooms" and pathways. You also have a list of the trees, shrubs and plants for each area of your garden. Now you need to create a scale drawing that shows EXACTLY where each feature will go. You will use this blueprint to lay the walkways, set the arbors and trellises, and plant the trees, shrubs and flowers. It is important that you have enough information to help you create in reality the garden that you just designed on paper. As long as your scale drawing or blueprint is in sufficient scale to accomplish that purpose, you will be successful.

10. Execute your plan. Before you begin actual construction of the garden, check all local building codes and regulations to make sure that you will be in compliance. Structures such as decks, patios and retaining walls may require a permit from the local city government. Once all permits are in place, you can start to lay out the garden. With your scale drawing as a blueprint, use a tape measure to position all structures, walkways and plants. Be sure to measure accurately so each element in your design fits its assigned space. If designing a garden space sounds a bit intimidating, don't panic. Just follow these steps one by one and let a space unfold that feels right to you. You CAN do it. After all, a successful garden is just another room of your house, which you've already successfully decorated! The only thing better than good advertising, is getting it for a great price! Enjoy a 25 percent discount when you sign up for dailyplanet.biz now!

3 Easy Tips for Successful Container Gardening

Here are several tips for creating a wonderful hanging basket or container this summer. The first is to use an artificial soil composed mostly of peat moss. Good soils such as Fafard or Pro-Mix use perlite, peat, and other ingredients to produce a soil that will not compact over the summer. Real garden soil compacts and turns into concrete under the pressure of regular watering. And when it does, plant roots stop growing because they require good open spaces to move into and absorb nutrients. Hard, compacted soils do not grow good plants so do not use real soil in your containers. I re-use my artificial potting soil from year to year. I dump it out of the pot. Chew it up with a shovel to cut up all last year’s roots and add approximately 10 % by volume of compost. The compost increases air spaces and gives plants a boost in healthy nutrition.

Feed your plants weekly. Nitrogen, the engine of plant growth, is water soluble and as you water your containers from the top the dissolved nitrogen is leaving from the bottom. I use a fish-emulsion liquid feed with seaweed to provide all the trace nutrients my plants require and recommend it highly. You can use any liquid plant food (like Miracle Grow or Shultz) to promote growth. Compost tea is the Cadillac of liquid plant food and if you make your own compost tea, your plants will respond with bigger and better blooms as well as increased vigour.

And finally, no matter the size of the container, it is important to soak it all the way to the bottom at each watering. Continue watering until water emerges from the pot bottom. This ensures the roots can reach all parts of the container and grow properly.

Bird- table or bird feeder is a platform on which food for birds is placed, usually in a garden. Bird feeders offer the best way to turn your own backyard into a mini oasis for the wild birds in your area. They are usually filled with a variety of grains to suit the different species of our feathered friends. The most popular varieties of seeds include millet, safflower, sunflower and thistle. Apart from satisfying the hunger of birds, bird feeders also provide an excellent ornithological treat. To everyone’s surprise the conglomeration of the rarest species of birds are often witnessed in our very own backyards rather than go miles in search of a bird sanctuary. To capture the essence of bird behavior, modern bird feeders are fitted with web cams. Bird feeders come in different varieties and design depending upon the species of bird they cater to. The most common types are ground feeder, seed tube feeder, humming bird feeder, suet feeder, oriole feeder etc.

Seed feeders are very much popular; they come either with tubes or hoppers. Mainly these feeders are laden with sunflower seeds to attract birds like chickadees, nuthatches, siskins and finches. They usually have a partition to segregate the different types of seeds. A suet feeder comprises of a cage like structure made of metal, coated with plastic. It is this plastic that contains a cake or suet. Suet is basically a bird feed containing animal fat, which prevent the feed from turning rancid and protect it from the adverse effects of moisture. Also they could be hung from windows or any tree tops thus giving us a clear view of the birds in action. These bird feeders attract birds like woodpeckers and flickers.

To attract the bird, the solution is painted in bright color. But care should be taken while choosing the coloring material, for often birds fall ill to harmful coloring agents.

Oriole feeders are orange in color. They too supply a liquid form of nourishment. They specially cater to new world orioles, a species of birds having a uniquely pointed beak and tongue. Apart from the quality of the feed provided in a feeder, the success of a feeder largely depends on the strategic location on which it is placed, its remote proximity from intruders like squirrels and cats. Squirrels pose a persistent problem for the birds as they tend to carry away the feed to their home, distorting our entire objective of feeding the birds. The best way to deal with them is to build feeders that can withstand the weight of a bird and collapse under any further weight.

In spite of the various advantages it offers to the birds, feeders still do have their own negative impacts on the bird community. The water and feed if not maintained clean would lead to spread of diseases among birds as they come in contact with one another. It also leads to the growth of certain dominant species leading to an ecological imbalance. So go get yourself a bird feeder and experience the vicarious thrill experienced by our avian fellow mates.

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The Importance of Soil In Container Gardening

I just have three 5 gallon buckets for my worms. I keep them in the kitchen and since I have not got a large apartment they are in the way but they are worth it. 500 worms to a bucket and they make all my container potting soil and they are the best, healthiest environment for plants. I never have wet garbage around. My plants have an advantage of high nutrient soil. I live where there is nothing but shade so I bought two shop lights with the six foot tubes and I replaced the tube lights with grow lights. That is the only way I can grow anything in the hole in the ground the management calls a patio. But it works and whatever works right? One of the main problems of container gardening is soil, drainage and keeping things web. But with worm droppings that is not a problem they hold water so the plants do not need as much watering. 1.

Worm castings are the top environment for growing container gardens.

The humus in the worm castings extracts toxins and harmful fungi and bacteria from the soil. Worm Castings therefore have the ability to fight off plant diseases.

2.

The worm castings have the ability to fix heavy metals in organic waste. This prevents plants from absorbing more of these chemical compounds than they need. These compounds can then be released later when the plants need them.

3.

Worm Castings act as a barrier to help plants grow in soil where the pH levels are too high or too low. They prevent extreme pH levels from making it impossible for plants to absorb nutrients from the soil.

4.

The humic acid in Worm Castings stimulate plant growth, even in very low concentrations. The humic acid is in an ionically distributed state in which it can easily be absorbed by the plant, over and above any normal mineral nutrients. Humic acid also stimulates the development of micro flora populations in the soil.

5.

Worm Castings increase the ability of soil to retain water. The worm castings form aggregates, which are mineral clusters that combine in such a way that they can withstand water erosion and compaction, and also increase water retention.

6.

Worm Castings reduce the acid-forming carbon in the soil, and increase the nitrogen levels in a state that the plant can easily use. Organic plant wastes usually have a carbon-nitrogen ratio of more than 20 to 1. Because of this ratio, the nitrogen is unavailable to plants, and the soil around the organic waste becomes acidic.

Wash three 5-gallon buckets with soapy water and rinse. Treat with a weak solution of bleach and water, rinse again and let stand for two or three days in the fresh air. Drill holes in the buckets, preferably from the inside out. Improve air flow using a one-eighth-inch drill bit to make eight holes along the sides of the bucket's top three inches and in the lids. Drill another set of eight holes in the bottoms of only two buckets, using a three-sixteenth-inch bit, to allow drainage and worm migration. Assembling the Bin 1.Wash three 5-gallon buckets with soapy water and rinse. Treat with a weak solution of bleach and water, rinse again and let stand for two or three days in the fresh air. 4 Drill holes in the buckets, preferably from the inside out. Improve air flow using a one-eighth-inch drill bit to make eight holes along the sides of the bucket's top three inches and in the lids. Drill another set of eight holes in the bottoms of only two buckets, using a three-sixteenth-inch bit, to allow drainage and worm migration. Assembling the Bin 1.

Shred enough newspaper or corrugated cardboard into thin strips to fill the bottom half of one of the buckets with holes in the bottom. Moisten with dechlorinated water, but don’t soak the shredded bedding. Locate a space in your house that will allow room to stack the three buckets.

2.

Capture liquids from the bucket with bedding in it by stacking it on top of the bucket without holes. This will become the source of compost tea, the organically-rich liquid that drains from the compost.

3.

Introduce the worms to the bedding. Add food scraps; red wigglers don't like onions, acidic fruits or potatoes. Red wigglers will eat half their weight in food each day.

4.

Add alternating layers of bedding and food scraps, keeping the worm habitat moist. Avoid overwatering the bin and letting it get too wet. When the bucket fills with decomposed soil-like material, add the third bucket. Remove the lid and place the lid and new bucket with bedding and food scraps on top. The worms will wander up through the holes, leaving behind dark compost. This process takes three or four weeks.

5.

Worms cost around $20. for 1000 or a pound on the internet. If you want a fun excursion and want to bring back free worms go to a horse stable and ride or just watch the horses. Then ask the owner if you can take a black garbage bag of rotting manure home it is full of red wigglers, cost the cost of gas to go to the country. Might be almost as much as the internet but more fun.

Judi Singleton is a free-lance writer who writes 20+ blogs a week. You can advertise in her blog for just $5. a week per blog, mix and match

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