Archive for the “Home and Garden” Category
How to Prepare a Spring Garden on a Budget
from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit
If you’re a keen gardener when spring arrives, you’re probably aware just how easy it is to spend a lot on new plants, possibly way more than what you’d bargained for. Yet, if you do a lot of the work yourself, getting ready for a spring garden can be a wonderful weekly activity from planting to blooming, and is a pleasant way to welcome in the new season without having to spend a fortune.
Steps
- Start with a budget. If you know what your budget allowance for the garden is from the very beginning, you will have something to stick to and if there is anything left over, you can reward yourself with something extra. If you don’t have a budget, you will probably overspend, so don’t skip this essential step.
- Use your own seed. Keep seeds back from the previous season from flowers and vegetables that grew in your garden. Allow the seeds to dry (to prevent mildew over winter) and place in separate bags, well labeled. Store somewhere that is warm and dry over winter. As spring gets closer, plant the seeds in seedling trays and keep indoors near a window that gets a lot of sunshine. Water and tend to them regularly and you will get a head start on the new season’s plantings.
- If you haven’t managed to do this from last season, ask your neighbors or family members who garden for spare seeds that they saved from their gardens.
- Look for discount days at your local garden center or hardware store to get seeds at a very good price.
- Strike cuttings. If you fancy the plants that are growing in someone else’s garden, ask if you can take cuttings from them to strike your own. Many gardeners are very pleased to be asked this and will let you collect a few cuttings.
- Botanical gardens often have mid-winter to early spring pruning clear outs in rose gardens, etc. Phone up to ask when this happening and to see whether members of the public can get cuttings from these tidy-ups (just avoid picking out anything that is diseased or rotten).
- Read How to grow cuttings from established plants for more details.
- Wait until frost season has cleared. Once the likelihood of frost has cleared, take the seedlings outdoors and continue watering them in their trays. Do this for a week or two, to help them transition from the indoor environment to the outdoor one.
- Create a garden plan on paper. In the same way that a shopping list helps you to curtail overspending in the store, a garden plan helps you to avoid over-purchasing of whims when you go to the garden center. Draw in the flowers, the vegetables, the ornamentals, the decorations, etc. that you’d like in your garden this year, in their exact places. This plan will guide you on buying “just enough” and no more. And don’t forget to take account of plants that you’re already growing yourself.
- Keep an eye on garden sales in catalogs. When the sales are on, this is an excellent time to buy the garden sale items in bulk. Naturally, only buy what you will use but have an eye for a good bargain, including for updating/replacing, and so forth of new garden tools, hoses, netting, and other essentials.
- Only buy in bulk if it will be used and is a good price.
- Don’t go overboard on gimmicky things like plastic garden decorations. They clutter the garden and may not be made from very good materials. Put your money toward plants and gardening tools you really need instead.
- Buy plants that have been reduced due to lack of adequate attention or overstocking. In some garden centers, there will be a section of plants that haven’t been adequately cared for, or that have not been selling as well as the store owner would like, going for a song. If you’ve a green thumb and you can identify the likelihood of successfully salvaging any of the poorer plants back to health, these finds can make incredible bargains.
- Be sure to tend to the weaker plants from the moment you arrive home. Give them better soil, keep them away from wind and heat to begin with, give them a tidy up and a nutritious feed. Remember to water them regularly until they start to thrive again.
- Make your own garden decorations. Rather than buying decorative items for the garden, recycle and reuse household items to create new and amazing garden sculptures, feature pieces, water features, etc. Be as imaginative as you’d like and rope the kids in to help too. They can have great fun making a dinosaur garden with their toys, a fairy garden with their fairies, an animal garden for their pets, etc.
- Keep it simple. A budget conscious garden is a simple one that is pretty, effective, useful, and pleasant all at once. If you can’t afford a greenhouse to keep tropical flowers, don’t aim for that. Visit the local gardens instead and see theirs and think about how much extra work is involved anyway! And there is nothing more appealing than a well-weeded, well tended garden, whatever your budget.
Video
This video describes how to make a cheap and easy sprouts greenhouse for someone with a tight budget.
click here for: spring garden on budget – video
Tips
- Note that some plants are best placed direct into the soil that they will grow in; research each plant’s needs first.
Warnings
- Be careful of cheap garden items, from tools to decorations. They may seem like a bargain but if they break they need replacing and they can also become hazards if they break when working with them. Also, cheap decorations may contain hazardous parts for pets and infants, and they might be made from toxic paint or other dangerous components that your family and your garden can do without being exposed to.
- Wait for the soil temperature to be right. If you plant too early, the seeds and/or seedlings won’t succeed and you’ll have wasted your money.
Things You’ll Need
- Budget
- Own seed
- Garden space readied for planting
- Garden tools
- Affordable plants
- Homemade decorative elements
- Springtime
Relateds
Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Prepare a Spring Garden on a Budget. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.
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Spring is right around the corner for most of us. The very long and hard winter has past and it’s time to get ready for a beautiful and magical spring…
 Bryanna-Rose-smelling-a-rose Here’s a brief primer on creating a flower garden design that’s absolutely fabulous!
Whether you’ve just moved into a house with no landscaping whatsoever, or if you just want to do a remake on your existing garden, the secret to success in a good flower garden design is in careful planning. Depending on the amount of space you have to work with, it may take a few seasons to get the garden filled out, but it’s certainly doable.
It’s well worth your time to think long and hard before you forge ahead and start breaking ground. Here’s how to make the most of your flower garden design, a design you’ll be happy with for many years to come.
First you must decide what style of flower garden pleases you most.  For example, you might like a neat and orderly garden, with what real estate agents refer to as ‘curb appeal’.
Maybe what suits your personality best is the cottage style flower garden, with blooms in a variety of heights dotting your landscape. If your passion is cut flower arrangements, a cutting garden may be the answer.
 If you have a large garden area, your dream flower garden design may consist of large drifts of flowers, with winding pathways and secret gardens to be discovered along the way.
Once you’ve settled on the style you find most pleasing, you’re ready to begin the flower garden design process.
Online, at your favorite bookstore or even your local library, you will find books which offer comprehensive pictorial depictions of various flower garden styles.
You’ll learn how and why particular placement of plants and various elements of garden design make that style work. You’ll also get plenty of ideas on which plants lend drama, seasonal color, as well as factors such as drought tolerance that might influence your choices.
It’s been said that variety is the spice of life and this is also true in a good flower garden design. You want to integrate an assortment of garden features to lend variety to the landscape.
 For example, flowering trees, such as the flowering cherry and magnolia can add grandeur and elegance as a backdrop to your flower garden. Placement of shrubs along garden pathways can serve as a privacy screen in certain sections of the garden. If your land is basically flat, you can add interest by making a berm, a raised and rounded area which tapers off at each end. Planted with a few perennials, you can have a really eye-catching display.
Pathways, with stepping stones planted with a small ground cover, might wind through even a small stretch of garden, ending at a garden bench surrounded with fragrant flowers for a quiet, relaxing reprieve from the world.
Ornamental grasses are other elements of a flower garden design, which evoke a serene feeling when planted alongside a drift of Russian sage, with its beautiful, graceful purple flowers.
Daylilies, Alstromeria and Agapanthus are longtime favorites in the summer flower garden, with good reason. The displays are bountiful and little maintenance is required. If you live in an area with acid soil, consider integrating azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons into your flower garden design for a spectacular showing in spring. Daffodils which naturalize, multiply on their own, dividing and spreading over the landscape. If you can, shoot for four season color. It all depends on how cold your winters are.
Today’s garden software makes creating a flower garden design a snap. You can also preview how your garden will look over time, as it fills out and matures.
We are in the process of evaluating some very interesting garden design software products. We plan to make a decision and recommend our favorite one soon so be on the look out for the live link soon!
Remember, a great garden is all about careful thought and planning. That’s the secrets to having and enjoying the ultimate flower garden at home.
Related and highly recommended:
The Complete Gardening System.
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A Massive Gardening Course That Will Transform Your Garden And Home And Help To Increase The Value Of Your Home. Downloadable Course Materials Including Audio.
Top Rose Gardening EBook.
Very Good Rose Gardening EBook, Lots Of Excellent Tips, Secrets And Competetively Priced
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Landscaping front yards have special planning considerations.
No matter the size of your front yard or the reasons behind wanting or in some cases NEEDING to landscape, front yards usually have different planning requirements than other, more private areas of your garden.
First, the front yard is typically more open, making it easier for visitors to find their way to your front door. You must also consider that landscaping front yard designs should incorporate certain safety factors, guarding against intruders.
The style you choose may be a factor as well. For example, if you have a large front yard in the cottage garden style, this may affect access adversely, both for guests and intruders. A more open plan may be a better choice, but this doesn’t preclude using privacy screens or shrubbery to achieve both objectives of privacy, safety and good looks.
Let’s take a look at some design techniques you can use to create your ideal front yard landscaping.
If you might be selling your home in just a few years, you’re wise to heed that old real estate adage on ‘curb appeal’. When selling a home, the front yard landscaping is what prospective buyers see first.
This truly can make or break the sale. A well manicured front yard makes that buyer more enthusiastic about your home before they ever enter. In this case, you might want to give this factor some weight.
When you’re landscaping front yards, you want to scale your garden design to the size of the front yard. For example, a small front yard is overwhelmed with a single large tree as the main focus, causing the front yard to appear smaller, as well as awkward. Consult plant catalogs and gardening encyclopedias to find plants which are suited to the size of your front yard.
Before you settle on a specific style, browse the home and garden magazines to pick out plants and design features which you find appealing. Compile a portfolio of these various features, including lighting, trellises, pathway materials, edgings and statuary – whatever catches your eye.
Ultimately, you probably won’t use all of these, but this technique helps you focus and directs you to a style that suits all of your objectives.
A large front lawn, with green stretching from the street to your front door, edged with a curving flower bed next to a brick pathway, is perhaps the most open of landscaping front yard designs, but not the most interesting.
Consider breaking up the space with some well placed patio trees, which still allow easy access, but don’t give a direct line of sight to your front door. Back lighting and down lighting around these trees serves two purposes: safety against intruders and an element of drama.
A good compromise on landscaping front yard designs is to begin with an open look – on paper or with software – and address privacy and interest concerns as your design develops. Let’s say you love that big expanse of green lawn. Why not divide it in two, with flower beds at the perimeters which are broken up with a grouping of ornamental grasses close to the entryway?
When choosing candidates for the flower beds, think about seasonal color. Interplanting spring bulbs with later blooming annuals and perennials can provide three seasons of color. Look for winter color in ornamental grasses and plants like Cottoneaster, with bright red berries in the dead of winter.
Lighting is an essential consideration when landscaping front yards, particularly along pathways, steps, porches and decks. You want these areas to be well lighted. Solar lighting is an inexpensive and attractive way to accomplish this.
Landscaping front yards requires careful planning. Follow these guidelines, and settle on all of your design components before you start digging. You’ll have a lovely front yard!
For more information on landscaping, check out these great links from our friends over at Our Backyard Oasis!
How To Redo A Front Yard After A Severe Water Disaster
How To Create A Moveable Garden
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In a couple of previous post we talked about:
Amazing Mosquito Repellent
How To Get Rid Of Slugs And Snails…
 …Well we couldn’t think of a better way to follow up on those two posts than to bring to you a great idea on how to make a “natural” repellent to rid your home and garden from those pesky little flies!
from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
Tired of fly sprays and the unwanted chemicals they contain? There is a very easy solution to keeping flies away from the outdoor dining area and you can do it yourself.
Steps
- Clean out a small tin with a lid.
- Take a clean piece of cloth or a small piece of dish sponge able to fit into the container. Saturate it with one of the following oils (after it has been diluted appropriately, see Tips):
- Lavender oil - lavender is considered to be particularly effective against flies
- Citronella oil (dilute with water first)
- Eucalyptus oil (dilute with water first)
- Pennyroyal oil (dilute with water first)
- Peppermint oil (dilute with water first; likely more effective against mosquitoes but also considered to work against horse-flies
- Lemongrass oil (dilute with water first)
- Place the cloth in the tin and shut the lid. Allow to sit for 24 hours.
- Use. Whenever you need to use the tin, remove the lid and place on the entertaining table. Make as many as you wish to put around the entertaining area to deter flies.
- Replenish the oil after each use; once open to the air, the strength weakens and needs to be topped up.
Tips
- Wear gloves when handling the saturated cloth, especially if you are handling food and/or have skin sensitivities.
- You can amplify the effect of the essential oils by using candles. Simply add a few drops of the chosen essential oil (or use different ones at different ends of the table) into the melted wax area of a burning candle. The odour will waft out as the candle burns.
- If you are familiar with combining essential oils to produce scents, try a combination of the above suggested essential oils for a pleasant odour and possibly a more powerful fly dissuader.
- Note that lavender oil can be used freely without needing to dilute with water. Water dilution should follow the instructions accompanying the essential oil. Providing you do not wear the oil, dilution at a ratio of 1 part oil to 3 parts water will likely prove sufficient for most oils but know the properties of your oils before making assumptions. If you intend to wear any of these oils as a repellent, the advice here does not apply and you should seek information from the appropriate source.
Warnings
- Always read the warnings accompanying essential oil products and do not use if you are pregnant, have a poor immune system or allergies unless you know the oil to be safe.
- Always keep essential oils out of the reach of children. Many are toxic if ingested, especially pennyroyal. Containers should be kept out of reach.
- As with any herbal remedy, you are the best judge of whether or not the herbal solutions are doing what you seek from them. If not, experiment with different types until something meets your needs. Sometimes the effectiveness of oils is dependent on local conditions.
Things You'll Need
- Small tin with lid; ideal tins include confectionery tins, cough drop tins, candle tins etc.
- Small piece of cloth, for example, calico, cotton, handkerchief etc.; or cut a piece of dish sponge down to size
Related wikiHows
Sources and Citations
- ↑ Annie's Remedy, Natural herbal homemade insect repellent, mosquitoes, flies and The Frugal Life, Getting Rid of House Flies
- ↑ Gerald F McCarthy, Better Living with Essential Oils
- ↑ Care2 Green Living, Easily Custom Make Your Own Insect Repellent - How-to
- ↑ Care2 Green Living, Easily Custom Make Your Own Insect Repellent - How-to
- ↑ Maria Schasteen, 10 Steps to Health - The Ultimate Peppermint Guide
- ↑ Natural Health Crafters, Lemongrass Essential Oil
Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Make Natural Outdoor Fly Repellent with Essential Oils. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.
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