How to involve the children in gardening
Photo of My Little Garden Girl;Destini. She was so very proud of her garden!
With the days getting longer, you may very well feel the need to go gardening. Certainly, it’s a great option to pass the time engaging oneself in some type of creativity. But infrequently, you miss somebody there. Yes, it’s your youngsters who are sometimes deprived of the joy of gardening. Essentially, they generally find it entrancing. So, if they can be concerned in it, it’s going to be a great joy for them.
And it’s possible with a little bit of planning. Gardens have thousands of things that will naturally hold the childrenandrsquo;s attention. Often the children have the disposition to play with the peculiar things. So, a tiny tomato, or a large sunflower can be a giant source of fun for him. Gardening for children will offer them thousands of colors and shapes to play with. Apart from the fruits and flowers, there are plants that may dazzle the children with there textures.
The petals of the strawflowers can fascinate a kid with it wonderful array. Sunflowers are amazing as seen in the photo. They grow so fast love sun and plenty of water and are easily grown from seeds.
Another massive, and maybe the most important, advantage of garden is its smell. It is proved that smell is the nearest thing to memory. So, when a kid enjoys in the garden, he’ll definitely come back there in the approaching years for more. To increase this robust bond in the childrenandrsquo;s gardening, perfumed herbs and flowers are the clear answers. This could give them such a charm that may last for the lifetime. So planting marjoram, roses, lavender, lilacs etc will make a robust bond. The presence of hummingbirds and butterflies will add additional charm to the garden. Dill, thistles or milkweed will attract the butterflies, while the hummingbirds like to visit gardens that have morning glories, bleeding hearts and petunias. Other plants like the moonflowers, 4 o’clocks and evening primrose are good to add beauty to the garden and engage the children in it. However, the joy of gardening with children increases if they have the possibility to choose.
So, it is nice to have coleus, cosmos, salvia and snapdragon as they produce masses of flowers. They can be planted in a certain area where the youngsters can be permitted to choose them whenever they like. Some of the specimens may also be brought to the table as well. Aside from entertainment, garden also has an educative price. One can teach a kid about the best way to cultivate the food of one’s own. Short and simple projects like the no dig garden, may also be launched to involve the youngsters.
Make A Stunning Dried Hydrangea Wreath
Dried hydrangea wreaths are so beautiful and versatile in a home, and a lot of fun to make as well.
You can either purchase already dried hydrangea flowers from your local craft store, or you can dry your own.
The biggest trick when drying your own is the timing of when you pick the flowers. It is best to pick them
right before you anticipate your first fall frost. If you pick them mid-summer, they just will not dry
correctly.
You can either hang them upside down in a darkened room to dry, or you can set them in a vase upright, even adding a tiny bit of water in the bottom of the vase, although even that is optional. As long as they are picked at the correct time, it’s difficult to fail with them. It’s fun if you can, to pick several blooms from different bushes, as it will provide a nice
variety of colors to the wreath. After they are dried, pick off any dead / discolored brown blooms.
Now, pick the type of base you want to use for a wreath. My personal favorites are either Styrofoam or
grapevine type wreath bases. Take some floral wire and wrap it around the wreath, then form a loop of the
wire to hang from the wall, and then wrap the wreath again. You might try hanging it from the wall at this
point to make sure it lies correctly, and then make any needed adjustments while the wreath is bare.
To do a Styrofoam wreath, use a low melt point hot glue gun. Separate each bloom into smaller florets. Hot
glue each floret into the wreath base, actually poking the stem down into the Styrofoam base. With each bloom, space it out over the surface of the wreath, for example; a floret at the top, next left side, bottom,
then right side, then inside the circle of the wreath, and outside of the wreath. Continue to do this with
each bloom until you fill it.
Balance is what you are looking for. Balance in shape, you don’t want any sticking out way above the others, you don’t want one side of the wreath to be
fuller than the other. Try stepping back and looking at a distance and just think “balance of shape”.
The second area to look for is balance of color. This is the purpose of doing each bloom all over, then
filling in, so you achieve that balance of color. Give another once over to check on that.
Now, this wreath is either finished, or you can add perhaps add small sprigs of dried baby’s breath to it. Really depends on the look you want. Sometimes the simplicity of only the hydrangeas is stunning.
For a grapevine wreath, it’s the same principal but a different look. You can tie a bow on the wreath if
you want (if you do, do so before adding flowers), or ribbon. I like to leave bare spaces on these to be
able to see the grapevine portion as well. Again, look for balance. You can also add dried roses to it
or any other type of dried flowers or grasses too. You can get really creative with these and come up with
very different looks. Experiment to your heart’s content.
Many times people expect dried floral arrangements to last forever, and are disappointed when they start looking bad after a few years. This is a
misconception. Expect them to look good for about a year, that’s really about all they were meant to last.
If they are in direct sunlight it will be a much shorter time. However, the next year, feel free to strip the old flowers off, and make another with the
same base for another year’s worth of a gorgeous hand made wreath!
By Valerie Garner-Mother, grandmother and candlemaker / owner of Joyful Designs in Soy. She loves to write on
a variety of topics with a warm, and engaging style.
Landscape Gardening – 8 Tips to Wow Your Neighbors
1. Planning your landscape is like painting a picture on canvas. Just like your art teacher in high school told you – have a main point of interest and add several sub points to make your beautiful landscape more interesting. You imagine it in your mind, draw sketches and fill in all the details that you’ve dreamed of. Keep revising your sketch until it looks like the picture you have in mind.
2. Not feeling very artistic? If you’re a more ‘concrete’ person, try laying out garden hoses or heavy string in your yard to get a feel for how and where you want to divide up your space. Remember to think balance, not symmetry. Some people think that they have to plant trees and flowers in straight, boring rows. Tip: pick an odd number when planting trees or flowers. With flowers, plant several of the same plant in groups to make a large color splash. Better to have a few, well chosen, bold splashes of color than to have tiny spots of color spread all over a large area.
3. If you’re having a hard time thinking of what your chief point of interest can be, close your eyes and think about what you like most about your yard. Is there a tall, solo pine tree, a grouping of birch trees, a rocky ledge, an old weathered fence or something else that catches your eye? If you can’t find something of interest that’s already in place, think about adding something that you admire from a picture in a magazine or something that caught your eye when you were driving through a beautiful neighborhood. Tip: do NOT copy something that your next door neighbor is doing. They won’t appreciate it and it won’t look nearly as special if both of you are going for the same effect.
4. Still can’t think of a chief point of interest? What about creating a spot for a water fall? Not a pond – that’s old news! With a re-cycling water fall, you don’t have to worry about standing pond water or algae. Just pick some interesting rocks or boulders of varying sizes, arrange them to cascade down a slope, add plants and water. Viola! Or, how about a rock path winding through your yard? Or a rock wall of native stone to create interest?
5. If you choose a tree or group of trees to be your main point of interest, don’t center them in your yard. It’s far more interesting to place them a bit off center. Don’t choose a huge, overpowering tree; the tree should have a good shape, with something interesting about its bark, leaves, seed pods, flowers or fruit. Tip: while the poplar is a striking tree and a rapid grower, it sheds its leaves early and so is left standing with bare branches in early fall. The poplar makes a better choice for a backyard tree or when creating a dividing space between your yard and your neighbors. Good choices for trees are the mountain ash with bright berries, the brilliant leaves of the sugar maple or the bark of the white birch, which all add interest to your total landscape.
6. It is always best to choose trees and shrubs that thrive in your local climate. It’s tempting to choose something exotic out of a catalog but you’ll be unhappy if the tree you choose is not right for your climate. Trees are a big investment, choose wisely.
7. Flowering vines can also be used to create interest. Whether you choose an ivy to climb the bricks on your house or a trumpet vine to wind around an old weathered fence along side your house, both can be used as sub points to accent your main point of interest. Tip: perennial vines can be used to form a permanent addition to your landscape scheme. The Virginia creeper, wisteria, honeysuckle, a climbing rose or clematis all make excellent choices for creating interest and can be used to minimize minor imperfections in walls.
8. And for a final flair, add a colorful flag to your landscape design. Whether you choose a whimsical, garden flag or a majestic, patriotic American Flag, both will create interest and add color to your landscape. Tip: choose polyester for greatest durability of a flag that is flown daily. Choose nylon flags for flying in the lightest breeze. There are several new, flag hanger styles available if you don’t already have a flag pole in your yard. The spinning flagpole mounts on your house, deck or mailbox post, and is designed to keep your flag from wrapping. And the telescoping flagpole easily extends up to 20 feet in seconds or down to 7 feet for portability.
Planting Seeds The Easy Way!
Planting Seeds The Easy Way!
Planting Seeds – The Easy Way!
I use flats to plant all my seeds. The hard shelled seeds I use the baggie method. Morning Glories are so very easy I just soak over night.
I barely cover my seeds with good potting soil and keep moist with lots of light. It is very important to keep your soil moist at all times for quick germination.
These seeds were planted only 2 days but as you see they are already coming up!
Look how these grown in one week from seed to plant.
Week 2 wow look at My New Babies! Ready to transplant in bigger pots.
When To Plant Veggie Seeds
When planting vegetable seeds outside, called direct sowing, it is important to plant at the appropriate times. If planted too early, seeds can die or rot. If planted too late the plants do not have time to grow and produce mature, ripe vegetables. The backs of seed packets all give estimated times of how long the seeds need to develop. Use this as a guide when planting seeds outdoors.
Check the U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone map to see what the frost dates are for your area. For most zones, you can plant vegetables that thrive in the cooler weather outside in late February to early March. These vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, onions, sprouts, cabbage, carrots and peas. Prepare the soil as early in the spring as you can. Turn it and add in a fertilizer that is appropriate for your soil type and lack of nutrients. Covering the newly planted seeds with a 2- to 3-inch layer of hay helps to protect them from the elements if cold nights are still a possibility.
Wait until after all danger of frost is past and then plant the remainder of your vegetable seeds outside. The soil must be completely warmed up before planting beans, cucumbers, squash, corn and other warm-weather vegetables.
Plan an additional harvest of cool-weather vegetables by planting a fall crop. As you harvest vegetables in the garden and remove spent plants, turn the soil once again and add another round of seeds of broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and peas. Planting a fall crop allows you to get more out of the garden, especially if you only have a small space in which to plant. When planting seeds outside for a fall crop, count backwards from the first frost date for your area to the number of days required for growing the vegetables.
Early Spring Crops-
Plan to harvest some vegetables very early in the spring before you prepare the soil for that first spring planting. Plant garlic and onion seeds in well-fertilized soil after removing all other vegetables from the garden. This should be sometime in November, depending on your zone. Water the seeds well, then cover them with a 5- to 8-inch thick layer of hay or straw. The straw will protect the seeds until they begin growing towards the end of winter, giving you a very early spring harvest.
Fantastic Seed Germination Tips
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This is a fantastic way to make Seeds Germinate Quickly.. I call it the coffee filter/Baggie tip. Here’s what I do:
1) With masking tape and a Sharpie waterproof marker, mark a zip lock baggie with seed type,
Date, and any info about germ temps/stratifying/light required.
2) Wet a coffee filter, then squeeze out excess moisture so it is just damp, not wet.
3) Imagining it as a pie, sow your seeds on 1/4 of the pie, then fold filter in half, then in half
Again. Your seeds should have one layer of filter on one side, three layers on the other.
4) Place the folded filter into the zip lock back, blow a little air in the baggie, then seal, leaving
It just slightly puffed, not completely flat.
5) Place in warm place to germinate or in a covered container in the fridge for cold start, and
Wait….
Check baggies every few days, and re moisten as needed. Even if one doesn’t appear to need
Re moistening, don’t let them go over a week without opening them up for some fresh air. For
Seeds that need light, keep them with the single layer of filter up, and in bright light, though
Not direct sunlight. If they need dark, put in a drawer or cupboard Below are other good tips
But I prefer this one. On hard shelled seeds such as Morning Glory, Pride Of Bar. And other
Hard seeds wait for a few days so roots can form then plant. I get almost 100% germination
On all my seeds with this method! See Photos below of this method. The seeds are Pride
Of Barbados.
LOOKING FOR SEEDS ? The Garden Express Seed Store
Other Germination Tips
Soak: Some seeds take a long time to absorb all The water they need to germinate. This
Process can be speeded up by soaking Them in water overnight. Do not soak seeds for more Than 24 hours, unless it is specifically recommended on the packet.
Nick, chip, or scarify: Seeds like sweet peas and morning glory have hard seed coats that
Block the uptake of water into the embryo. To speed germination, you need make a tiny hole In the seed coat. This is done either by nicking the surface of the seed with fingernail clippers
(much safer than using a knife), or by rubbing the seed against a piece of sandpaper. Be Careful not to damage the embryo by removing too much of the seed coat. It’s best to nick or
Scarify the seed on a side away from the growing point. For example, the growing point on Morning glory seed is the pointed tip, so scarify it on the rounded side.
Even without nicking, some seeds will still sprout. So if you don’t want to nick all the seeds, Just soak them overnight, plant the ones that swell, then nick the remaining seeds and soak Them again.
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USA Shipping is Only $2 no matter how many packs of seeds you buy! Shipped Quickly many times same day. We are adding new seeds everyday so check back often. Thank you! Tricia
Picking the Right Gardening Tools
Modern Gardening Equipment
The types and quality of equipment you use to take care of your plants not only have an effect on your plants’ health, but your own as well.
Defective tools could cause damage to your plants, but it is worse if they are so uncomfortable to use that they give you blisters or a bad back. To avoid this, look for the gardening equipment that will do the best job for your type of gardening. It must have the right amount of power to be energy efficient while also being able to do the job without causing you any more strain than necessary.
Here is a review of gardening equipment from the gardening experts themselves.
1. Garden Shredders
JCB SS2400 received five stars out of five from the gardening equipment reviewers from recommendedbuys.co.uk. It has a 2400 watt motor and comes with a silent gear crushing system. It is one promising tool to improve and hasten your shredding activity.
Ryobi ESR – 2240 Electric Shredder is an easy to assemble garden shredder suitable for prunings up to 40mm. It comes with built-in wheels and a plunger for increased portability.
2. Hedge Trimmer
Bosch AHS42-16 Electric Hedge Trimmer also received five stars out of five rating from the gardening equipment reviewers from recommendedbuys.co.uk. It has 420 watt output.
3. Cultivators
Mantis Tiller Cultivator comes with patented tines to aid in cutting smoothly through hard, compacted soil. It is perfect for preparing vegetable plots, flower beds, etc. It also helps in thatching, aerating and cleaning moss. It also comes with a free border edger.
4. Lawnmowers
Brill 78370 Luxus Push Reel Mower rated 4.5 out of 5 stars Tools-hills.com customers. It has a large top cover that protects shrubs and overhanging flowers.
American Lawnmower Deluxe Light Reel Mower 1815-16 received 4.5 stars out of 5 from Epinions.com buyers. A push-mower, it does not cause pollution, but is not suitable for tall grass.
5. Leaf Sweeper
Agri-fab 26 Push Leaf Sweeper is for smaller lawns and is available with 200 litre collector. It also comes with an infinite height adjustment feature.
Choosing a Garden that is Perfect for You
If you’re thinking about starting a garden, the first thing you need to consider is what type of garden you will have. There are many different choices and often it can be hard to pick just one, but hopefully you can narrow it down. But by narrowing it down, you’ll make the gardening experience easier on yourself and the plants. If all your plants are similar, then it shouldn’t be very hard to care for them all. So here are some of the main garden ideas for you to choose from.
If you’re just looking for something to look nice in your yard, you’ll want a flower garden. These are usually filled with perennial flower. Perennial flowers are flowers which stay healthy year-round. They’re basically weeds because of their hardiness, only nice looking. Different areas and climates have different flowers which are considered perennials. If you do a quick internet search for your area, you can probably find a list of flowers that will bring your flower garden to life. These usually only require work in the planting stage – after that, the flower take care of themselves. The only downside to this is that you don’t have any product to show for it.
Another choice for your garden is to have a vegetable garden. These usually require a little more work and research than a flower garden, but can be much more rewarding. No matter what time of the year it is, you can usually find one vegetable that is still prospering. That way you can have your garden be giving you produce almost every day of the year! When starting a vegetable garden, you should build it with the thought in mind that you will be adding more types of veggies in later. This will helpyour expandability. Once all your current crops are out of season, you won’t be stuck with almost nowhere to put the new crops. A vegetable garden is ideal for someone who wants some produce, but doesn’t want to devote every waking hour to perfecting their garden (see below.)
One of the more difficult types of gardens to manage is a fruit garden. It’s definitely the most high-maintenance. When growing fruits, many more pests will be attracted due to the sweetness. You not only have to deal with having just the right dirt and fertilizer, you have to deal with choosing a pesticide that won’t kill whoever eats the fruits. Your fruit garden will probably not produce year-round. The soil needs to be just right for the plants to grow, and putting in another crop during its off-season could be disastrous to its growth process. If you’re willing to put lots of work into maintaining a garden, then a fruit garden could be a good choice for you.
So now that I’ve outlined some of the main garden types that people choose, I hope you can make a good decision. Basically, the garden type comes down to what kind of product you want, and how much work you want to put into it. If you’re looking for no product with no work, go with a flower garden. If you want lots of delicious product, but you are willing to spend hours in your garden each day, then go for a fruit garden. Just make sure you don’t get into something you can’t handle!
Growing Your Own Herbs
If you’re not the type of person that wants to spend their time managing an elaborate fruit or vegetable garden, you might consider planting and maintaining an herb garden. While the product might not seem as significant, you’ll still enjoy the constant availability of fresh, delicious herbs to flavor your meals with.
First you’ll want to choose the herbs that you’ll plant. You might have a hard time doing this because of the huge scope of herbs available. But the best way to choose is to do what I did; just look at what you have in your kitchen. By planting your own collection of these herbs, you can save money on buying them from the grocery store while having the added benefit of freshness. Some of the herbs you might start with include rosemary, sage, basil, dill, mint, chives, and parsley among others.
When choosing an area to put your herb garden, you should remember that the soil should have extremely good drainage. If the dirt gets watered and stays completely saturated, you have no chance of ever growing a healthy plant. One of the best ways to fix the drainage problem is to dig a foot deep in the soil, and put a layer of crushed rocks down before replacing all the soil. This will allow all that water to escape, thus saving your plants.
When you are ready to begin planting herbs, you might be tempted to buy the more expensive plants from the store. However, with herbs it is much easier to grow them from seed than it is with other plants. Therefore you can save a bundle of money by sticking with seed packets. Some herbs grow at a dangerously fast rate. For example, if you plant a mint plant in an open space then it will take over your entire garden in a matter of days. The best way to prevent this problem is to plant the more aggressive plants in pots (with holes in the bottom to allow drainage, of course).
When it comes time to harvest the herbs you have labored so hard over, it can be fatal to your plant to take off too much. If your plant isn’t well established, it isn’t healthy to take any leaves at all, even if it looks like its not using them. You should wait until your plant has been well established for at least several months before taking off any leaves. This wait will definitely be worth it, because by growing unabated your plant will produce healthily for years to come.
Once you’ve harvested your delicious home grown herbs, you’ll want to use them in cooking. Why else would you have grown them? Well first the
process begins with drying them out. This is easily achieved by placing them on a cookie sheet and baking them 170 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 to 4 hours. After they’re sufficiently dried to be used in cooking, you can consult the nearest cookbook for instructions on using them to effectively flavor a dish.
If you want to store your herbs for later usage, you should keep them in a plastic or glass container. Paper or cardboard will not work, because it will absorb the taste of the herbs. During the first few days of storage, you should regularly check the container and see if any moisture has accumulated. If it has, you must remove all the herbs and re-dry them. If moisture is left from the first drying process, it will encourage mildew while you store your herbs. Nobody likes mildew.
So if you enjoy herbs or gardening, or both, then you should probably consider setting up an herb garden. It might require a little bit of work at first to set it up for optimal drainage, and pick what herbs you want to grow. But after the initial hassle, it’s just a matter of harvesting and drying all your favorite herbs.
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Improving Your Garden by Adding a Fountain
A great way to spice up your garden is to add a water feature. These can be both soothing and aesthetically appealing. I’ve found that there’s nothing more relaxing than sitting on a bench next to my garden and listening to my fountain while I read a good book or do some studying. Putting in a water feature is fairly easy and relatively inexpensive, and will add immensely to the pleasantness of your garden. Also, the maintenance level is minimal.
Usually, people install fountains for the benefit of the natural ambience it provides. For some reason, being around a gorgeous scene of water gives you a positive energy. This is also good if you practice Tai Chi or some form of yoga or meditation. The constant drone of the water is exactly what most people need to concentrate on what they are doing. Even if you’re not into that kind of stuff, just being in a garden with a fountain has a sort of meditative quality to it, even if you’re not trying to do so. I recommend it to anyone.
When you first decide to put in a fountain, you need to put great care into picking out one that will go well with the rest of your garden. If you have any other decorations, you want to consider if it goes well with your motif. Does the fountain you’re considering stand out in your garden like a sore thumb, or does it look like it was meant to be there? If you’re like me, you can’t naturally tell whether the fountain will be a good addition to your garden just by looking at it. So my solution was to bring my sister (a natural at fashion design and that kind of stuff) along with a picture of my garden to the store. I was able to get her expert opinion, as well as see for myself what it would look like. By doing this I was able to pick a beautiful rock fountain that goes marvelously with
the rest of my garden.
However, I still had a slight problem with supplying my fountain with power. You see, my garden isn’t very close to my house. I thought it would look pretty tacky to run an extension cord across my yard, so I had to come up with another solution. I discussed my situation with a Home Depot employee, and he quickly found me the exact solution I needed: an extension cord meant for being buried! All it took was a few hours of digging a small trench across my yard, and I had power to my fountain without an unsightly cord running across my yard. After I got over this little hitch, my fountain plan went beautifully.
So if you’re looking for a way to make your garden a more classy and beautiful place to be, I hope you consider installing a fountain. The whole process is surprisingly inexpensive, and I think that you will be very happy with the results. Having a fountain in your garden is not only soothing, but it also adds a lot of character to an otherwise bland garden. Remember, gardens are not just for giving us vegetables! A garden is a place to go when you want to retreat from the outside world and dwell in your own thoughts with no disturbance.
