Archive for the ‘Planting A Beautiful Garden’ Category

A Summer Garden for All Seasons

One thing that is often overlooked when planning and creating a beautiful summer garden for homeowners to enjoy is the fact that the garden exists throughout the year. Unfortunately in the vast majority of summer gardens there is a huge hole in the garden for the vast majority of the year. Carefully planning in order to avoid this process and planting flowering plants that bloom during various seasons of the year as well as plants that provide beautiful foliage and greenery even when the flowers may not be blooming can prevent this absence of life within your summer garden from occurring.

Plant continuously and groom your garden consistently throughout the year. Obviously the winter months are not great months for planting in the earth but this doesn’t mean that you cannot use flowerpots filled with seasonal offerings to fill the gaps of green within your garden. There are all kinds of flowers that thrive in winter weather that would make a beautiful addition to your winter garden without taking anything away from the beauty of your summer garden. In fact, the ability to incorporate these flowers and plants into your garden without necessarily planting may be an excellent incentive to keep your garden up to date even in seasons that aren’t traditionally thought of as gardening seasons.

Add features to your garden that aren’t plant related to bring splashes of color to your garden during winter months while preserving the space needed for planting your summer garden when the appropriate time comes. Flowerpots are a great example of this but so are lawn ornaments and statues that may be either moved to a different location during summer months or removed all together. Keep the earth warm for the summer garden to come during those long cold winter months.

Use the winter months to plan your summer garden. The spring is often spent in preparation and the fall months are spent harvesting. The winter months would be put to excellent use planning the new additions and possible movements that need to occur in the coming months. Working on your garden and improving your garden does not necessarily require working in your garden. Once you have those gaps filled in and a little bit of green and color in your garden for the winter months you can focus your undivided attention on making the coming summer garden even better and more spectacular than ever before.

Be careful not to plant all of your seeds in one garden spot so to speak while you are making your plans. By this I mean you need to keep a certain willingness to make adjustments and corrections as you go and learn more about the growing process and the specific gardening needs of your yard. Every growing season will bring a season of new lessons to learn take the time to reflect upon the lessons learned during previous seasons when making plans for the coming seasons and make the adjustments that present themselves along the way.

By learning from the mistakes of the past and always looking to and anticipating the needs of the future you are insuring greater success each year for your summer garden not only during the dog days of summer but throughout all the seasons of the year.

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A Summer Garden for the Birds

There are many reasons to create a summer garden the best however, as most gardeners are well aware is for your personal enjoyment. For bird lovers everywhere it is quite possible to have a fabulous summer garden that appeals to the bird lover in them as much as a lover of beauty that exists within us all (there are of course a few disagreements along the way as to what beauty is and is not). If you are a bird lover you should seriously consider making efforts to make your summer garden more attractive to your fine feathered friends.

There are several ways this goal may be accomplished. First of all birds like water. They need to drink water and they actually enjoy playing in the water. With this in mind make sure there is some sort of water source available for the birds to enjoy in your summer garden. Some excellent choices would be a water fountain, a goldfish pond, or a waterfall. The key in this is to make sure that the water source is not a stagnate water source as you want to attract birds and not mosquitoes. Other than that, have fun creating a neat place for your bird pals to frolic and play.

As far as attracting specific birds, you will need to research the specific birds you are interested in attracting to your summer garden and plant accordingly. The variations are virtually limitless and far too numerous to include in this brief overview. Be sure to invest some degree of time when planning your garden to check into favorite birds and the flowers or trees they prefer. You should also take the time to study their predators and avoid creating a friendly atmosphere for the predators to hang out in your summer garden while you are doing your research.

Another way to attract birds to your summer garden is by creating an environment in which they feel safe and at home. Plant trees that these birds favor for building nests or place birdhouses in your garden that will provide a great potential home for these birds to make their own.

In addition to planting flowers and trees that will attract various birds to your summer garden you should also take care to attract food to your summer garden for these desirable birds as well. If you aren’t sure about attracting food for the birds you might want to consider providing food for these birds you are hoping to draw into your summer garden. You can accomplish this by filling bird feeders (make sure you use feeders that are designed to prevent squirrels from stealing the food intended for your birds) with foods that attract the birds you are most interested in attracting to your lawn.

There is no right or wrong way to create a peaceful and relaxing summer garden. If you wish to add to your enjoyment of your garden it is quite possible to do this by taking a few extra steps and landscaping with the birds you enjoy watching in mind. The steps above will help make your garden an attractive place to favorite birds to play and build their homes. Incorporate them all into your summer garden for best results and the opportunity to live in harmony with the birds you enjoy watching.

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Building a Summer Garden with Kids

We love our children and we want to teach them to value the things that are important to us. These things include morals, integrity, ingenuity, and an appreciation for the things in life that we consider beautiful and worth expending our energy, time, and effort in order to create. One of those things that many of us love sharing with our children is our love of gardening. Whether you are creating a spectacular garden worthy of acclaim, fame, and blue ribbons everywhere or a simple garden that will hold pretty flowers and a few favorite vegetables there are many lessons that your children can learn from working the earth by your side.

The first, and perhaps best, lesson that most children learn when working in the garden is that life works in cycles. This is an important lesson for children, as it is a lesson that will be repeated often throughout the course of their lives. Of course this is only one of the many lessons that gardening will teach but gardening is one of the kindest ways I’ve ever seen this particular lesson learned and it helps ease children into those times when lessons about the cycle of life are not so kindly or gently presented.

The next lesson that gardening teaches children is that persistent effort often pays out with delightful results. Whether their gardening efforts yielded sweet peppers or pretty flowers, there is often a desired result that is achieved through gardening. If you really want to capture your children’s attention when it comes to gardening choose a fast growing plant for their first gardening experience. The ability to see the fruits of their labor quickly appear is often one of the greatest gifts we can give our children.

If you want to guide your children towards the path of creating a summer garden without quite the fanfare or responsibility you may want to begin simply-perhaps with a potted plant or a hanging tomato plant or something similar that will yield visible and tasty results with much less effort, time, or attention being required in order to achieve quick and enthusiastic results.

Be sure to point out interesting facts about the different plants in your garden that may be exciting to children to learn. Remember your first gardening experiences and share them with your children. You may be surprised to find how much you have in common with your children when it comes to ideas and enthusiasm concerning summer gardens.

When planning a summer garden with kids you need to consider all of the things you would consider when planning other summer gardens but relate those things to pint sized hands and sponge-like minds. Kids soak up every ounce of information we provide them at an alarming rate. Be careful that you aren’t teaching them incorrect logic when it comes to gardening and growing beautiful summer plants.

More importantly, you should make a concerted effort to insure that you are teaching your children the positive aspects of gardening so that this becomes an activity they look to for enjoyment and pleasure rather than approaching with dread. You should also take great pains to insure that you allow your children to grow the things they will like in your summer garden too. Strawberries and watermelon are popular favorites for younger hands to grow because little mouths enjoy eating these delicious fruits that can be grown in most gardens. They also like to grow flowers that they can tend and watch throughout the summer if flowers are your summer garden calling rather than food.

When gardening with children there are many lessons that you can teach your children along the way. Science, math, and meteorology all have roles in gardening but you should also be on the lookout for the valuable lessons that your children can teach you about gardening and life in general when you take them out to work with you in your summer garden.

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