Your Garden Grows

One of the most hazardous things that can happen to your plants is extreme weather. Lots of garden have been ruined overnight because of this phenomenon. And seemingly, there is nothing we can do to stop it. Naturally, if weather didn’t exist at all then we wouldn’t have those wonderful sunny days that are beneficial to the growth of our plants. But then again, we wouldn’t have the tragic hailstorms that tear down everything we’ve worked for so many hours to grow.

When rain starts to fall, normally the first reaction in a gardener is purejoy. After all, this means you don’t have to worry about going out and watering it manually. The natural rain fall can’t be anything but good forall your thirsty plants, can it? Well, once that same gardener starts to see the gorgeous rain drops turn into small globules of ice, usually a complete emotional breakdown is in order. I know this from experience, because when I was a blooming gardener I had my garden completely demolished by about 10 minutes of severe hail.

When I first learned my lesson on the damage hail can do, I quickly came up with a method of coping. I started to keep large clay pots within 10 feet of my garden, so that at any sign of hail I could run outside and have the plants sheltered in a matter of seconds. This saved me from being forced to watch my plants be ripped to pieces on multiple occasions. I’ve never dealt with hail more than an inch in diameter, but I’m guessing that if there had been any baseball sized chunks then those pots would have been quickly demolished.

However, as the number of fragile plants in my garden grew, it became slightly impractical to have a pot for each plant, and run outside to place each one before significant damage had already occurred. After much thought, I ended up building a horizontal, retractable screen mechanism made out of a strong but flexible wire mesh. At any sign of rain I could pull the screen out over my entire garden and have instant protection. Not only did it let the rain through, but the collected hail provided a steady drip of water for as much as a day afterwards. This project cost me several hundred dollars, and more blood, sweat, and tears than can be measured with earth dollars. Therefore I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone.

If it’s too late for you, and you’ve recently lost your precious plants to those wicked balls of ice, then you’re probably looking for some way to help the plants recover. Unfortunately there aren’t many choices for you. The best thing you can do is give them the tender care they deserve, and attempt to nurse them back to health over a long period of time. The several weeks after being severely damaged by hail are vital to whether the plant survives or not. If you expect more rain or wind, you should keep the plant covered. In this brittle stage, even raindrops or a strong breeze could inflict more damage.

So if you live in an area that experiences frequent hail, you should definitely have some emergency plan for protecting your plants. Sitting by and watching them be ripped to shreds should never be an option!

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Having a pergola in the backyard creates not only a focal point but it is a great place to relax or entertain friends and family. And they don’t have to cost thousands of even many hundreds of dollars. And of course you are adding value to your home.

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So you have a big lawn and you want to hire professional lawn care help. You have the money, the resources, but not the information you need on who is who in the lawn care service industry.

Lawn Care Services Offer Different Menus

I’m sure you know this, but not all lawn services are created )or managed) equally. What looks good on the side of a new work truck may not translate into that golf course turf you are trying to get. Lawn care services are varied. Most colorful publicity by lawn care companies can quickly attract customers but will be as quickly disappointed by the quality they get.

Most of the time, these colorful ads hide the poor quality, and vice versa, dull publicity masks the great company it carries. Publicity is just publicity; it never answers the question on who is the best at lawn care service. The best advice still is to seek advice, referral and even opinions from friends and people who have used lawn care services you are considering.

Referrals Of Lawn Care Services

Referrals from happy customers are always a nice way to find the best lawn care company for your dollar. They are the right path in discovering a good lawn service provider. Asking for referrals from friends and family may give you useful and reliable information about the services and products that the company actually provides.

Through referrals, you will be able to know as well if there are some extra costs and hidden charges.

Referrals help you save time and effort in looking for quality lawn care companies. We all know manually searching for lawn care companies in the yellow pages is tiresome, and sometimes even ends up with no luck.

On a final note, it is always best to start in the very early spring searching for a lawn service. The reason is because a lot of them book up fast! Believe it or not, most regional or local lawn operators are only able to bring on 50-60 new customers each year. You don’t want to be caught out in the cold with no lawn provider when March arrives! Start now so you can choose the best provider for your lawn needs.
More info on lawn fungus treatment and dog urine lawns here.

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The original square foot unit is 4x4ft, 16 sq ft, which can supply one person with vegetables and salads.

When I made mine I made raised beds and made them 36 “wide and since there were 6 of us I had to make two 3 ft. wide by 24 ft. long with a 20” path between them. Now if I had to do it over again I would make them 24” wide and do the math for the length. At this writing we are down to only two of us and one of them is not a gardener. However, he has made me some waist 3 high planters that are 2 ft x 5 ft and that gives us what we need in our old age.

When I put the first square foot gardens in we removed the lawn and tilled the ground which is mostly red clay where we live so we had to modify that with top soil that we had hauled in and organic matter.

Then I read that about putting down old carpet between the beds. We did and I wish we did not because it looks like heck then and still does not because it was not biodegradable in my life time.

I suggest plain mulch. Even today’s cardboards and especially newspapers have a lot of chemicals in them and on them. We could get wood chip mulch for free from out local lumber mill at that time.

If you are starting from scratch you will need a good layer of top soil and organic compost and we put about 10-12 inches in our raised beds. Here again we used the “double digging” method for our beds.

At this point our beds became pretty high and with the sloping down of the sides we were reducing our growing area, so we made wooden sides for our beds and that allowed us to put up trellises or growing hoops where needed.

Do not use pressure treated lumber. We were able to get some good boards from our local Amish lumber mill. Plus because we were also building a house and stuff was being delivered on pallets we were able to salvage the wood from the pallets.

We had a good crop that summer. However, in the following spring we noticed our raised beds had settled and we had to add another 5-6 inches of dirt to them. We also used seaweed emulsion as an additive.

The years have flown by and it is now almost 9 years later. We no longer need all those beds as I said there are just 2 of us now.

The container method is good for the urban gardener who wants to do square foot gardening.

For the info about heirloom organic seeds and organic gardening tip – read the heirloom organic seeds blog.

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The gardener in me really appreciates urban gardening because this is the area that I feel urban gardening began.

For centuries the inhabitants of Mediterranian have used the art of window box planting, hanging clay planters as they managed to garden and add beauty to their small personal spaces.

These people even knew how to compost in a small space by using containers in their homes where they added organic scrapes from their daily foods such as peelings, leftover vegetables and fruits and then adding a few worms. When the compost was ready, they drew out the worms, set them aside and added the fresh composts to their pots and flowerboxes.

Many gardeners in our cities are starting to have this European mindset. We are now seeing roof top gardens. Though most cities will not allow hanging planters and window boxes we are seeing these things on condo patios. These containers will easily create focal points on your patio. Plus they will give you a sense of beauty and charm when you sit amongst them.

Community gardens are now becoming part of the urban gardening scene.

We are seeing more and more self watering containers for use on patios and hanging planters. This is a great boon for the urban gardener. In these you can plant flowers that will feed the soul and you can also plant vegetables to feed your body.

A good self watering container cuts down on the attention you need to give it. However, basically any container that has about 5 holes drilled into the bottom of it will create a good reservoir for your plantings. These types of containers will need a water catching dish or container base under them. For large, heavy containers you will do well to put some roller bases under them for easy moving around because most things you plant will need about 4 hours of sun a day.

Remember to use good organic soil. Get help and advice from your local organic nursery. The easiest plant to start with is the old stand by, the tomato! It is usually easier to buy a plant or two then to buy a pack of seeds. Cherry and grape tomatoes are wonderful in containers, especially hanging ones. Whatever kind you buy will probably need to be staked if you do not use a hanging pot. Staking is easy and one does it as the plant grows. You can use gardening wire or loops or basically an organic piece of hemp or string.

Lettuce is always an easy urban gardening vegetable to grown. A few large pots filled with good organic soil will give you basically all you need for salads. I like to mix the salad greens or you can even buy packets of mixed greens today. Just sprinkle a few on the top of your soil and gently cover with another light layer of soil, then gently water and keep it watered.

Believe it our not, one can even do cucumbers in hanging pots or basically any kind of pot. I like to grow the small pickling cucumber because they grow quickly and are delicious without peeling. Just make sure you wash them well because even though, as an organic gardener, you will not use pesticides, there are a lot of “things” in the urban air from soot to acid rain and you need to wash all you veggies before you eat them.

For the resources with heirloom organic seeds and organic gardening tip into please visit heirloom organic seeds web site.

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Making a right choice of irrigation system plays a very important role in maintaining garden healthy and green. Both over water supply and insufficient water supply can hamper the development of vegetation you attempt to water.

The size of your garden and what sorts of your garden plants you have usually determine the irrigation supplies you will require to prepare your own irrigation system. If you feel difficulty in realizing choice of apt watering system, you can consult a skilled gardener. You can even visit websites on internet for getting suitable information.

Drip Irrigation System and Supplies

One can not afford to overuse the supply of water aimlessly as it is precious to all living creatures. Drip irrigation can help you in supplying water to the very roots of your vegetation sufficiently if your have various types of plantation in your garden. This system of irrigation gives water drips uniformly with emitters and gives little chance to water wastage.

The benefits of this irrigation method are many. This watering method prevents water getting evaporated and facilitates a reduced level of water usage. This is how you have water conservation. Drip irrigation supplies and systems are effective that can save your time wasted after your manual watering process by using water hose.

Sprinklers Systems for Garden Lawns

Methods of drip irrigation are not effective to cover the whole range of lawns in your garden. Therefore, you can use sprinklers to water your lawn. Both overhead and lawn sprinklers are most popular irrigation options these days. Their installation and maintenance are easy to do.

Through pipes, sprinklers throw water in haphazard way over the lawn area. Water gets sprayed in small drops irrigating the whole targeted area. For water conservation, install the best sprinkler system in your garden.

For you, advanced type of automatic lawn sprinklers are available which are easy to operate. There also offer adjustment features by which you can make adjustments according to level of moisture in the soil. Moreover, based on your requirements, lawn & irrigation sprinklers can be adjusted to customize your application.

Designing and Installing A Lawn Sprinkler System

You can build a sprinkler system by following certain steps that are required. Initially, you will need Spray Pop-ups if you wish to regulate the spray direction. They also involve an inlet that is clog free.

You can make use of Swing Joints and simplify your pop-up installation. They are flexible having leak tight swivel joints. This will facilitate you install pop-up easily in different areas by bracing it from outer impact.

In order to maintain your garden lawn, Floppy Sprinklers are utilized. They are light weighted. Therefore, you can set them on an aluminum stand for water distribution application.

At last, you can use couplers for quick assembling and replacement of a floppy sprinkler. Couplers are of plastic that can support chemical resistance.

The complete process required for irrigation system installation apt to your watering needs and its proper application will get you huge advantages.

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Shopping for a chainsaw will see most people gravitate towards the more popular brands such as Stihl and Husqvarna. That’s only natural. But when you are conducting reviews of chainsaws don’t forget brands such as Poulan and Echo and definitely consider electric chainsaw brands.

Poulan and Echo cater to the homeowner crowd and if you are thinking it’s time to add a chainsaw to the tool shed then consider both these brands first.

One of the ideal situations for someone purchasing their first machine is to consider going electric if all they require is the machine to do light work around the home. Many don’t give electric machines much thought when doing chainsaw reviews but from the point of saving money, they are a good choice today as they have improved in performance significantly over the past few years.

Electric Chainsaw Models

They are perfectly suited to homeowners, especially those looking for their first saw. In time, many have the best of both worlds and will also purchase a small gas model chainsaw. But for now, consider the electric chainsaw as a legitimate purchase option.

One of the drawbacks with the electric models is the fact they cannot and should not be used in wet weather – that is just commonsense but for light jobs around the home they are perfect and will save you money as well. Reviews Of Chainsaws

Get A Feel For Your Chainsaw Purchase

After you have narrowed down your choice of a chainsaw to a couple different brands and models, the next step should be handling one in a store. While reviews are wonderful to get an understanding of a particular chainsaw, nothing beats picking one up and holding it in your own hands.

Get a sense of the center of gravity of the machine and whether its weight may be a detriment to your purposes. While the looks or features of a more expensive model may tempt you, keep your own needs in mind. If you aren’t a professional landscaper, you probably won’t need a chainsaw that is made for heavy-duty jobs.

Chainsaws can be a wonderful way to cut your chores in half, but first spend some time in reading reviews for chainsaws so you can get the most machine for your money. Just remember the pitfall associated with over-capitalizing – if the machine is directed at semi or professional loggers then it’s probably too big and powerful for small chores around the home.

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If you own livestock, especially horses, then you should be aware of the perils of ragwort. This dangerous plant is specially toxic to horses, and also other livestock, and once this virulent weed has been spread and starts to grow, it can be incredibly hard to get rid of. In fact, just one ragwort plant can produce up to 150 thousand seeds, threequarters of them likely to germinate if the seeds find appropriate soil. The worst part is that you may not know you have ragwort growing on your property because the seeds can lay dormant for upwards of 20 years.

Another weed that is specially dangerous is japanese knotweed, a weed which is able to spread surprisingly fast and has roots that are able to break through masonry. The unusual, and ironic, thing about this dangerous weed, is that it is edible – apparently having a taste not unlike rhubarb. All The Same, it is a problematic weed that needs handling extremely carefully, as even the smallest section of the tuberous root can grow into a whole new plant.

Japanese Knotweed also has other uses, for example, it is a very good source of resveratrol, (which is a standard nutritional supplement, which is alleged to increase lifespan), and an first-class source of emodin (also commonly in use as a nutritional supplement to help regulate bowel movements).

If you spot either of these dangerous wild plants on your land, you should act quickly, and should confer with weed control specialists before the situation starts to become dangerous.

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It’s not too late to get that final lawn treatment down before old man winter pours on the snow. In fact, now is an ideal time to start thinking about next year.
A winterizer lawn treatment is important for the overall health of your turf. The reason for this is that snow melts in spring (obviously) and soaks the winterizing fertilizer right down into the soil where the grass can use it to recover. A solid winterizing lawn treatment will ensure your lawn is the first to green up when warmer temperatures prevail in early March.

The key to winterizing is to use a granular fertilizer that is lower nitrogen and higher in potassium and phosphorus. These elements serve to strengthen the grass root structure, creating density and thickness. A thicker lawn will resist other problems that can invade through the season.

The only thing you need to be concerned with this time of year is frost. You never want to walk on frozen grass as this can crack the crowns and kill sections of the lawn. If you are going to lay down that final fall treatment as recommended, be sure to do it on a sunny afternoon when there is no frost present on the lawn.

This post was short and sweet, but oh so important. Get out this weekend and winterize your lawn before it is covered in snow!

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For my whole life I’ve loved being in the garden. When I was young it would be impossible to get me out of the garden, where I spent most of my days with my grandmother. Every summer I would spend all my days on my grandparents farm. I was really given two choices, work in the garden or study my spelling. Of course it was an easy choice since I loved gardening and hated school.

So that leads me to where I am today, still spending all summer in the garden, just now it is my backyard instead of the farm. This year I decided that I’d mix up the vegetables I planted. I began with tomatoes, then moved onto beans and broccoli. It was simple to do. The plants needed water almost every day because the sun was shining and it was always hot and dry. I needed to get my man to chop down an intruding tree that was depriving my garden of the sun. Really it was a lot of work for a small amount of veggies.

Weeding is my least favorite part of gardening. This year I didn’t have as many problems because I chose to go out and buy garden shovels. Being down on my knees all summer is just unpleasant. In the coming years I think I might get someone to come to my house and weed my garden once a week. Now all I have left to do is convince the hubby, he’s cheap.

Gardening tools make a big difference so I don’t know why people aren’t keener to buy garden tools. If it were up to me there would be no room left in my garage because I’d have a tool for every little thing. I love gardening and having the right tools makes it so much more enjoyable. If next summer you are thinking to take a roll in the dirt, go at it with the right tools!

These are my favorite vegetables:

• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Potatoes

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I was thinking about concrete this past weekend because it is time to get snow and ice melter before the first big winter storm. When you think about concrete, you usually think about the sidewalk, your driveway and maybe your porch, but waht about your landscape? After all, concrete landscaping is extremely versatile, low maintenance, and is all the rage these days. On top of that, it is an eco-friendly product because it is easily recycled.

You can use concrete landscaping for many different parts of your yard. Most people use concrete designs for the walkways and paths that wind through their gardens. This is more for those with larger yards but even if your yard is small it could do well with a little concrete added in. You could put down a lively patio that you and your friends could it at to have drinks or tea. There is nothing more fun than a little party out on the patio on a nice day. These days you can buy stamps to give the concrete a more natural look and you can also stain it to appear like any stone you can think of.

Stone walls are another form of concrete landscaping that has really caught on like wildfire. Walls are what will frame the whole home. They are the gorgeous and steely frame to the glorious painting that is your front and back yard. There are many other reasons to have concrete landscaping such as walls as well. They make great retaining walls for raised planting beds, and can double as extra seating during your next party. If you want a textured look, concrete walls take well to stucco finishes or even tile to complement the overall theme of your landscape and garden.

Finally, even small concrete stepping stones can add punch to a landscape and function as way to keep you from stomping down your plants as you walk through the beds. The best thing about concrete landscaping is that while it can be functional you can make it look as if it is just there for looks. There is so much that you can do with concrete landscaping because it is so easy to form and work with. You can use concrete landscaping bricks or you can use whole solid slabs. You can even get custom made concrete landscaping stones that are in unique and creative shapes and patters. The best part is that concrete projects are do it yourself friendly. Not all DIY lawn tips are as easy to understand and follow as concrete projects. Take some time and see what all is out there in terms of concrete landscaping, you might just be surprised. Visit the Eco Friendly Blog.

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