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Tips for good garden design and landscaping

Good creative skills are essential for the specialised fields of garden design and landscaping. Consequently, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of the industry and be able to apply acquired skills in a theoretical and practical manner. Lifestyle Learning Direct, one of the Gold Coast’s premier online learning and correspondence course providers, suggests that in order to be a good garden designer or landscaper you need to be able to:

Evaluate a design project, have a clear understanding of a designer’s role, and be able to conduct a meeting with a client.

Be knowledgeable about the historical influences on modern garden design.

Be able to identify the various ‘hard’ components of landscaping and design, such as garden structures and walls, fences and gates.

Have a good general knowledge about soils and plants, and other landscaping products such as compost, gravel, sleepers, pavers, cement, sand, rock and slate, and so on.

Be familiar with the pricing structure of various landscaping supplies.

Have had practical experience in several areas of landscape design and its allied industries, such as nurseries and landscaping supply yards.

Have an awareness of different styles of gardens, as well as lighting and water features and the various types of surfacing materials available for use in garden design.

Be knowledgeable about earthworks involved in landscaping and design.

Have a broad knowledge on the basics of starting a business, business plans, market analysis and ongoing management.

How can you become a better Garden Designer and Landscaper?

To gain professional garden design and landscaping proficiency, it is best to undertake a specialised course that teaches you the essential skills. Lifestyle Learning Direct. is a leader in the provision of writing distance education courses that aim to give students a broad understanding of the industry competency regarding both the theoretical and practical application of this knowledge.

Apart from understanding the application of good garden design ideas and landscaping elements and principles, you need to be conversant with other necessary components such as earthworks, marking out and job costing, as well as basic drawing skills and client/designer communication. As a result, you should develop the ability to apply this knowledge in a broad variety of situations, as well as recognise and correct all manner of design errors.

If you dream of being your own boss, as well as the theory of garden design and landscaping you also need to know the practical aspects of how to set up in business.

For more information in relation to fashion design and dressmaking, please contact Lifestyle Learning Direct.

Robyn Lee Burrows
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/lifestyle-learning-directs-garden-design-and-landscaping-tips-and-tricks-95459.html

In what should be one of the most simple acts of our complicated and overstretched lives, putting the rubbish out continues to add to the stress with ever more complicated rules by the day. In days gone by, people would collect their food scraps to put on the compost heap and the rest of the rubbish would be thrown into a litter bin and never given another thought.

However, in this area of so-called global warming as much as possible needs to be re-cycled. The trouble is no-one wants to pay to have the re-cycling sorted so we get different coloured bins and different areas to take all our rubbish to. So, what we save in pollution by re-cycling, we make up for in fuel emissions by driving around the various re-cycling centres!

On top of this, we have the health and safety police who now say that bins that are too heavy should not be lifted by bin men or how they shouldn’t have to walk too far to retrieve a litter bin. I thought these were big, burly, strong men? Apparently not, as a pensioner was recently told that if she wanted her rubbish taken away, she had to drag her own wheelie bin half a mile down a hill because the council were stopping the bin lorry driving that far!

This woman also has a neighbour who has to share his wheelie bin with their other neighbours who live two miles away and they have to make the 25 minute round trip down to the main road for the bin men. The bin men are no longer allowed to drive the 0.6 miles to collect it but the pensioners are allowed to wheel the 360 litre communal litter bins down the hill, negotiate a 45 degree bend which becomes treacherous in the bad weather and across a cattle grid. A true case of bureaucracy gone mad!

The residents have lodged a complaint with the council who suggest they leave the bins by the road and take their rubbish down in smaller quantities more frequently. This isn’t much help to them and they also run the risk of being fined for overfilling bins when fly tippers realise this is an easy spot to dispose of rubbish.

More crazy news from the world of rubbish comes the news that some households are having their rubbish inspected and all their food waste retrieved, weighed and analysed. Without informing those who own the wheelie bins, spot checks are being made through a supposed fact-finding mission to see how much food is being wasted.

They can find the 1,700 pounds to pay people for a totally worthless task but not to collect the rubbish from pensioners? Not worthless according to some because this could well lead to people being charged for ‘improper use of litter bins’. Concerns have been voiced that we don’t know who these people are, we are never informed when the inspections are going to take place and on top of that, some people still put confidential paperwork in their bins. Although shredding is recommended, should we assume that some council official is going to come rummaging through our bins on a day when he has nothing better to do? Is the amount of food we throw away the only thing they are looking for?

Catherine Harvey
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/what-a-load-of-rubbish-457375.html

How can this be achieved, what do we need to do? Is there a need to change really or is it just governments screwing up again and political buzz words? Is climate change a myth or accurate predictions of the future of planet earth? Consider also the impacts of our actions on the other living creatures that exist on Earth, do birds want to breathe in fumes from fuel?

Let’s consider the current reliance of our planet on oil, it produces our fuel for all travel and has many side uses, like producing plastic. Oil is formed by the degradation of dead organisms over thousand’s of years and exists in pockets underneath the Earth’s crust. So what happens when oil is pumped out of the earth? Well the holes appear to be filled by water, a technique used by drilling companies to recover all the oil in that particular well.

Then we come to how much is left, where there are estimates ranging from 10 years through to 30 years, but no-body can be entirely sure of this, due to demand increasing with the likes of China & India becoming more westernised. And what happens when Africa is then exploited by large corporate companies for cheap labour? Improved standard of living equals higher oil demand.

Then consider the environmentally impacts of burning oil, which releases carbon dioxide, making the greenhouse effect worse, warming the planet and causing freak weather conditions. This all seems like doom and gloom but with the advances in technology that have been made over the past 20 years then surely we can devise sustainable renewable energy, harnessing the weather?

Another big problem in our society is waste, just think how much is generated and goes to landfill! We have hundreds of sites with thousands of tonnes of waste that will degrade very slowly, would you do this in your back garden? Think about all those used disposable nappies and consider the methane that gets released as some items degrade, another greenhouse gas that is affecting our climate.

Something else to consider that has been around for many years is the reduction in forests that has been happening, cutting it down for timber and to provide more farm land. The impact of this is to also reduce the CO2 absorbed by our fossil fuel usage as well as changing the shape of our landscape. There have been big steps forward in this area by moving towards sustainable wood, where for every tree chopped down; one is planted, ensuring we maintain our planets’ forests. Another recent development is the use of bamboo as a fabric which has great eco friendly properties as it’s a renewable resource and uses less water than cotton in the process.

A final element of our daily impacts on planet earth is the high use of chemicals which get pumped into the ground everyday through our household drains and that of industry. These are all man made, but where do they go? Back into our water stream? Into our food chain? With the advances in medicine, everyone is living a longer life than say 100 years ago, but there are still big killer diseases around, cancer for example. Why? Surely we would have eradicated all of these, but don’t you think chemicals and fuel fumes have played a part in this? So why do we use chemical laden cleaners or eat food that has been sprayed & washed in chemicals? Taste the difference between home grown food and cheap supermarket food, but how do we balance that with our hectic lifestyles? Eating organic food and using natural cleaners, which appears to be more expensive?

This then seems quite daunting if you sit and consider all the information and basically our futures are in the hands of governments & scientists. However, as individuals we can make our own small impacts within our lives, helping towards keeping our lovely planet healthy and a great place for the human race to live.

So let’s start with fossil fuel usage, we all use it in our cars and homes, either as petrol/diesel and gas or indirectly as electricity. As a householder we want our running costs to be as low as possible so with vehicles it’s a balance between lower CO2 emissions and slightly lower running costs with diesel, and considering the other harmful gases emitted from diesel engines. Whatever the choice, the cost effective way is to accelerate smoothly, keeping your speed to the road limit and reduce the urge to overtake. Consider the purchase of a hybrid car if you do a lot of town driving, this becomes very economical and is so much better for the environment. We still have a long way to go on developing the vehicles for the future that run on renewable energy based around the sun, wind & rain.

In our homes we need to do all the normal things that have been said many times over the years by governments, like loft insulation, door draught excluders and turning the heating down 1 degree. Then every time you purchase a new electrical item, look at the efficiency rating, and ensure you pick a low energy rated one (normally A+). Purchase a low cost energy metering unit and find out what each of your electrical appliances consumes and then switch off those that are the highest users. Don’t get caught by thinking that these standby busters save you loads of money, they don’t! Gradually switch light bulbs to either low energy ones or even better to LED bulbs, these last up to 20 times longer and use about 1/50th of the energy consumed by normal bulbs. Further to this there are good developments in the use of wind turbines & solar panels but at the moment they are not proving to be economically viable, but given time this will be the way forward for our source of energy in our eco homes.

Think about all the waste you generate, does it all go into bin bags for landfill or can you segregate it into items for recycling & composting? Try collating items for recycling in separate bins and having a kitchen compost bin to collect vegetable & fruit waste, tea bags, egg shells etc. This can then be used in your garden to help grow your own products which not only taste better but give you great satisfaction. Aligned to this is the consideration of purchasing items that have less packaging, not using plastic bags and shopping for recycled gifts and stationery. For anything that uses wood, try to buy Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) approved items, this indicates that the timber comes from a sustainable forest.

Finally, try and move away from using chemical laden cleaning products to natural or organic cleaning products but always check the contents as not all products are as eco friendly as they claim. If you are unconvinced, just check out the ingredients list of a well known retailers own dishwashing liquid which contains formaldehyde! Most good natural cleaning products are actually concentrates, meaning the cost per use is the same or better than high street brands that are packed full of bulking agents & chemicals. Consider eating organic food as it hasn’t been treated with fertilisers or chemicals and look at organic pet foods for your furry loved ones. Another thing to consider are the products that you use on your baby & children, there are some decent organic and natural items, ranging from shampoo to nappies.

In summary, even though times are hard with costs rising, investments and property dropping, there are many ways in which you can save money by taking a “lets go eco” view. You will also feel like you are doing your bit to help towards the environmental cause even though we are in the wake of the credit crunch. We can all do our little bit by making our lifestyle a little bit more eco friendly and buying eco products for our homes.

Nigel Plant
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/go-eco-in-the-wake-of-the-credit-crunch-by-changing-to-an-eco-lifestyle-672247.html

Imagine biting into a perfect ripe strawberry, still warm from the summer sun without having to worry about chemical or pesticide residues. More people are turning to organic gardening for the peace of mind it provides, knowing that their home-grown food is free of potentially dangerous chemicals. By following a few simple guidelines and with little cost, you can have your own organic piece of gardening paradise.

At it’s most basic, organic vegetable gardening is a way to grow plants without the use of chemicals. In practice, what makes organic gardening different is that it uses a variety of natural methods to support the growing needs of plants.

What’s wrong with using chemicals?

Most pesticides that are used to kill insects also kill many beneficial insects and bacteria. Continued use of chemical fertilizers actually reduces soil quality, requiring the use of larger and larger amounts of fertilizer to provide the nutrients that are normally present in the soil. A vicious cycle begins, with more chemicals being added to a soil that is increasingly void of life.

Fertilize Organically

Every garden soil is different, so before you start to fertilize, it’s important to know the nature of your soil. The best way to find out what your soil needs is to have it tested by your local cooperative extension office. Be sure to ask that recommendations be in the form of organic amendments rather than for agricultural chemicals.

The most important nutrients a plant needs are nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Nitrogen can be obtained by adding manure, alfalfa meal or fish emulsion. Bonemeal, a by-product of animal slaughterhouses, is rich in both phosphorous and calcium. Potassium can be supplied by kelp meal, made from dried seaweed. There are also many natural fertilizer products available that supply the right balance of the nutrients, all in one package.

Start with the Soil

There is a saying among organic gardeners, “take care of the soil and the plants will take care of themselves”. Soil is the foundation for plants which is why so much of organic gardening focuses on improving soil. A sure-fire way to improve your soil is by adding lots of organic matter such as compost. This improves the soil’s ability to store nutrients and helps retain moisture during droughts. Add as much compost as you can and you will be amazed by the results.

Putting Weeds and Insects in their Place

There are a number of ways to control insects without having to resort to pesticides. One way is to encourage beneficial insects, like common ladybugs, that feed on problem insects such as aphids. You can attract beneficial insects by planting marigolds, yarrow, fennel, parsley or Black-eyed Susan. Use physical barriers to keep problem insects from your most susceptible plants by using row covers and netting. If necessary, use natural pest control products such as insecticidal soap to let them know who’s boss.

What is the best way to control weeds organically? Mulch, mulch and more mulch! Mulch is a thick blanket of material such as leaves, grass clippings, straw or bark chips spread over the soil. It’s benefits include retaining moisture, moderating soil temperature and blocking sunlight from reaching the soil, which helps to reduce weeds. Any weeds that do grow through the mulch will be weaker from lack of sunlight and should be easy to pull out by hand. Besides, pulling weeds is good exercise and gives you an excuse to skip the gym! If weeds do start popping up in unwanted places such as between paving stones or interlocking brick there are many natural weed killers available at your local garden center.

You are now on your way to enjoying the fruits of your labor. Organic gardening doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Anyone with a patch of soil and some inspiration can grow healthy chemical free vegetables. Start this Spring and enjoy a healthy bounty by Summer.

Andrew Delroy
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/organic-vegetable-gardening-getting-started-139142.html

If you’re the type of traveler who truly likes to get away from people – who puts a high premium on quiet, uninterrupted peace, and who will not go into withdrawal if you have to go a night without television – then have we got the place. The Morton Peak Fire Lookout is now booking overnight stays for people just like you.

You could hardly find a more unique getaway than staying in a working fire lookout. During daytime, the lookout is staffed by volunteer lookout hosts who have attended classes to learn just how to spot forest fires. Most likely you, too, will gain a little insight into this valuable Forest Service activity, as well as learn about the animals, plants and features of this particular part of the forest.

The U.S. Forest Service views the lookout rental program as a way to generate a little good PR at a time when they have to keep telling people that services may be more limited or more expensive due to tight budgets. For just $75 a night ($85 on a weekend) you get your own “cabin on stilts” with a zillion dollar view and solitude to match.

We called the Big Bear Lake Resort Association to reserve our night and found out this is the only lodging of its kind in Southern California. The lookout actually is just at the edge of the San Bernardino Forest and, if you’re coming from the Los Angeles area, it will save you about 45 minutes off the normal two-hour drive to Big Bear.

We picked up our keys and signed our waivers at the Mill Creek Ranger Station in Mentone, only about five miles from the tower. The forms tell you that a trip to the tower is “inherently dangerous” – although if you can climb a steep set of stairs, you’ve eliminated about the only real danger we could see.

The last three miles up to the lookout were on a steep, rutted road – perfect to at least get some use out of your SUV’s 4-wheel drive – you know, the 4-wheel drive you paid thousands extra for just because it seemed cool. We should admit, though, it probably wasn’t even necessary to kick it into 4-wheel; 2-wheel drive will get you there, too.

At the end of our journey was a small clearing on a mountain top with, as advertised, a 30-foot tower and a 14X14 “cabin” on the top. Maybe a more apt description would be an aircraft control tower on stilts, as the cabin had windows running the length of every wall, looking in every direction.

We climbed the short two flights of stairs – they’re steep, but not especially challenging – and were greeted by Jeff Palmquist, the Morton Peak Lookout Leader. It’s Jeff’s job to recruit and help train an all-volunteer force that operates this lookout in addition to six other towers in the San Bernardino Forest. We learned from Jeff that this particular tower, elevation 4624 feet, was built in the 1930’s, then burned down and rebuilt in 1960. It eventually went out of service and into disrepair as the Forest Service cut back on its paid lookout program, but was rebuilt in 2001 with a $5,000 government grant and a volunteer work force.

On our visit, Palmquist was part lookout host, part activities director as he prepared us for our night in the wilderness. He talked about the animal sightings in the area – ground squirrels, mountain lions, bobcats, road-runners and “a bear that we think lives right over that knoll” – many of which have migrated to this area because of fires in nearby parts of the forest. He showed our six-year-old the fine art of chasing tarantula spiders from their ground holes. He demonstrated the use of the Osborne Fire Finder, a device used to plot on a map where you are seeing smoke or a fire. He showed off a compost outhouse that he calls “the best toilet in the national forest.” Oh, and he showed us how to secure the lookout so no person or animal could ever visit us in the middle of the night.

Soon we were ready for our night at the edge of the world. About 5 p.m. – the end of his shift — Palmquist drove down the windy road, locked the heavy tubular gate behind him, and we were on our own in the forest. There was an awesome silence, then a slight breeze rustling the two pine trees next to our tower. As the sun dipped slowly, the nearby mountains darkened while, at the same time, the city lights below us came alive. The juxtaposition seemed unusual – here we were perched on a mountainside all by ourselves, yet below us were the lights of nearly the entire Los Angeles basin.

The lookout is small, but comfortable for a couple or perhaps a couple with one or two small children. There are just two twin beds, but space enough to roll some blankets out onto the floor if you need to. There’s no running water in the cabin, no refrigeration, no power. Cooking is restricted to the picnic table outside and you must haul in your own gas stove because fires and charcoal briquettes are not allowed.

As the sun set, we found ourselves playing a family game, a rewarding alternative to the usual time spent in front of a television. Soon it was dark – or as dark as it was going to get with nearly a full moon – and we spent some time studying a sky where constellations and planets were as clear as we could ever remember. A satellite moved slowly overhead. Soon it felt like time for bed, even though it was just 9 p.m. We drifted into a restful sleep as the cool summer air flowed through our screened windows.

Morning came early to a lookout with shade-less windows on all sides. We were up and hiking by 6 a.m., enjoying the 70-degree temperatures that on this August day were sure to reach the mid-90’s later in the day. Soon it was time to pack up and head down the long, winding dirt road to the bottom of the hill just as the next day’s volunteers were headed up to the lookout to act as sentinels for yet another day in the forest.

In a half-hour we were back in busy city traffic – we had felt like we were so far away, yet we never really left civilization.

AT A GLANCE

WHERE: The Morton Peak Lookout is located off Highway 38, overlooking the cities of Yucaipa and Mentone. It has views of Mill Creek, Forest Falls, Mt. Palomar, Keller Meadows, Keller Cliffs and the San Bernardino Valley.

WHAT: A fire lookout station that is still used to watch for forest fires in the San Bernardino Mountains.

WHEN: Year-round, weather and fire-permitting.

WHY: If you’re looking for a totally remote location, an unusual getaway experience and spectacular 360-degree views, you’ll understand why as soon as you arrive.

HOW: For more information on reservations at Morton Peak Lookout, call the Big Bear Resort Association at 1-800-4-BIG-BEAR or visit www.bigbear.com. If you are interested in volunteering for the lookouts, contact Jeff Palmquist at 323-567-1479. Lookout volunteers take 16 hours of instruction and sign up for two four-hour shifts each month during fire season.

Cary Ordway
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/fire-lookout-is-the-ultimate-california-getaway-744972.html

Do you have a problem with weeds but dislike the thought of spraying toxic chemicals all over your garden? Luckily, there are eco-friendly ways to battle weeds and stop the problem plants from taking over your garden. The simplest way to avoid having weeds in your garden is just not to let them develop in the first place. If you’re starting your landscaping from scratch, consider installing weed cloth to choke off unwanted growth. (Note: there are plastic versions of this available, but they are less kind to the environment.) You can cut holes in your weed cloth to let your plants through and you can cover the surface of it with a layer of soil too shallow to let weeds take root. Using this method, you may still get weeds popping up around the roots of your plants, but there’ll be far fewer of them and regular checks will make it easy for you to pull them all out of your soil.

Just as weed cloth can suffocate weeds, a thick, well-maintained lawn can also keep them out of your plants. You may think you’re reducing the amount of maintenance you need by switching to paving stones or gravel, but weeds can be a big problem in both those cases. A sufficiently mowed and irrigated lawn will largely take care of itself.

There are numerous easy methods to kill or pluck out weeds. You should regularly mow to prevent weeds such as dandelions from maturing into seeds. Pouring hot water over plants for three to four days will also manage certain types of weeds. Another method is to spray a mix of 20 parts water to vinegar on weeds. Dandelions, velvetleaf, thistle and smooth pigweed are highly susceptible to this environmentally friendly cocktail. In order to control weeds from emerging in an expansive area such as your lawn, try sprinkling corn gluten meal, which you can find at your nursery. This step works best during the growing season.

Buying a garden flamer is another possible tool against pesky weeds. Torching weeds should be done cautiously, however, as to not kill surrounding plants. One of the best ways to prevent weeds from growing is laying down sheet mulch. Sheet mulch can be made of newspaper, cardboard, banana peels and other natural materials. Simply cover the ground around the plants you want to grow. Be sure to leave room for air circulation and the mulch will act as a natural barrier against photosynthesis from going on in the soil. Spread weed seed-free compost, consisting of such as seaweed, conditioned compost, leaves, wood chips or branches, on top of the weed barrier.

If you tell people they can suppress unwanted weeds and nourish their garden at the same time, most of them will suppose you’re selling something! But the secret is in corn gluten meal, which is cheap and can be purchased from any garden center or home improvement store. Activates by water (make sure you irrigate your yard after spreading it), it blocks the emergence of new plants but won’t damage those that already have good roots. It also free nitrogen into the soil, acting as fertilizer for your established plants. Why isn’t everybody using this? Because it’s a non brand-name good and it doesn’t get broadcasted, but it is great for your garden.

Looking after your yard the eco-friendly way takes a little more patience than simply pouring on weed killer, but it’ll keep all your plants in better shape and it’ll let you enjoy your garden without polluting the environment at large. You’ll also have the good feeling of knowing that the lovely landscaping you’ve created hasn’t involved any artificial short-cuts but is in fact all your own work.

Anita
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/gardening-without-chemicals-618210.html

Not a lot of people would take up cultivating roses as a hobby. This is because they are concerned about time constrains as well as other environmental factors. But you should not worry because although growing roses is a bit hard, it isn’t entirely unmanageable. There are a lot of ways to learn, from reading through published materials or taking workshops. But if you really want to learn, then the best teacher, like they always say, is experience.

One of the foremost things that you should know when purchasing roses is their living conditions. Knowing where and when to place rose bushes in your garden is crucial when it comes to rose cultivation. To be able to flourish, roses need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. And it is also inadvisable to expose them to direct sunlight after noon as it is bad for them. So if you have a spot that receives regular morning sunlight and a little less during the afternoons, then this is the best place to grow your roses.

Another crucial thing to remember is that your soil type is essential to rose growth. pH levels should be around 6.5 to 6.8. Also, adding compost and peat moss regularly ill help condition your soil. Be sure to take these preparations before planting our roses.

After conditioning you soil, you must then be versed in choosing good quality roses. One thing that you must keep in mind is why you want to have them. Do you plant them for the flowers? Or do you just want to add a little color to your background. There are different types of roses that will help you achieve different purposes so choose carefully.

Once you know what kind of roses to pick, you have to know how to determine if they are healthy or not. A good way to do this is to examine the surfaces of the leaf. Things like powdery mildews, rust and black spots should be kept an eye out for. Mildews resemble powder white materials found on the leaves. Rust on the other hand, could usually be seen at the bottom of the leaf and possesses a brownish-color. Relatively easy to see are, of course, black spots, that should be readily visible on a leaf’s surface. You should also watch out for aphids or white bugs that could be found on the underside of a rose’s leaf. Do not buy plants with these problems.

After buying the perfect plant, the only thing left to do is plant it. Just take the bushes out of the container and check the roots for any sign of damage, cutting some off if necessary. Your garden hole should be wide enough to give enough room for the rose’s roots to grow. To allow the plant’s roots to spread around, make a cone at the bottom of the hole you made. Then place your bush in the hole and fill it with just enough soil, an inch-thick layer that covers the knot below the plant. After this, just clean up and remember to water your rose bush.

Once you have waters the plant, do not forget to make a soil mound around it. Each rose plant has different requirements regarding these spaces. It is important to follow them to ensure that air can properly circulate around your rose plants.

These tips could greatly help you in starting you own bush garden. But remember that those plants won’t grow by themselves, so hurry up and put these tips to the test!

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/rose-gardening-some-quick-ways-to-learn-it-753796.html

Not a lot of people would take up cultivating roses as a hobby. This is because they are concerned about time constrains as well as other environmental factors. But you should not worry because although growing roses is a bit hard, it isn’t entirely unmanageable. There are a lot of ways to learn, from reading through published materials or taking workshops. But if you really want to learn, then the best teacher, like they always say, is experience.

One of the foremost things that you should know when purchasing roses is their living conditions. Knowing where and when to place rose bushes in your garden is crucial when it comes to rose cultivation. To be able to flourish, roses need at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. And it is also inadvisable to expose them to direct sunlight after noon as it is bad for them. So if you have a spot that receives regular morning sunlight and a little less during the afternoons, then this is the best place to grow your roses.

Another crucial thing to remember is that your soil type is essential to rose growth. pH levels should be around 6.5 to 6.8. Also, adding compost and peat moss regularly ill help condition your soil. Be sure to take these preparations before planting our roses.

After conditioning you soil, you must then be versed in choosing good quality roses. One thing that you must keep in mind is why you want to have them. Do you plant them for the flowers? Or do you just want to add a little color to your background. There are different types of roses that will help you achieve different purposes so choose carefully.

Once you know what kind of roses to pick, you have to know how to determine if they are healthy or not. A good way to do this is to examine the surfaces of the leaf. Things like powdery mildews, rust and black spots should be kept an eye out for. Mildews resemble powder white materials found on the leaves. Rust on the other hand, could usually be seen at the bottom of the leaf and possesses a brownish-color. Relatively easy to see are, of course, black spots, that should be readily visible on a leaf’s surface. You should also watch out for aphids or white bugs that could be found on the underside of a rose’s leaf. Do not buy plants with these problems.

After buying the perfect plant, the only thing left to do is plant it. Just take the bushes out of the container and check the roots for any sign of damage, cutting some off if necessary. Your garden hole should be wide enough to give enough room for the rose’s roots to grow. To allow the plant’s roots to spread around, make a cone at the bottom of the hole you made. Then place your bush in the hole and fill it with just enough soil, an inch-thick layer that covers the knot below the plant. After this, just clean up and remember to water your rose bush.

Once you have waters the plant, do not forget to make a soil mound around it. Each rose plant has different requirements regarding these spaces. It is important to follow them to ensure that air can properly circulate around your rose plants.

These tips could greatly help you in starting you own bush garden. But remember that those plants won’t grow by themselves, so hurry up and put these tips to the test!

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/rose-gardening-some-quick-ways-to-learn-it-753796.html

Do you go through the leftover dilemma several times a year? You’ve been cooking some big meals lately and now have a refrigerator full of leftovers. I know the look you’ll get from your family if you attempt to put another plate of the same food in front of them for a third day. I suspect you’ll end up scraping the leftovers into the compost bin if you don’t think up something unique real soon.

You want to invent new dishes from the same old leftovers, but how? When you look at your leftover dish, make a mental list of what you used in that recipe and think about what other recipes you might have or can find that use similar ingredients.

1) Turkey And Gravy Barbeque Style

Break up some leftover turkey either with a fork or dice with a knife. You can use both white and dark meat. Take out a big skillet and cook a couple slices of bacon, diced up. In the same pan, add diced onion and garlic. Add the turkey pieces and put leftover gravy over until the turkey is covered. Add a little of your favorite barbeque sauce or grilling flavor, but just enough to give the gravy its barbeque flavor. Simmer slowly and serve over buns or crusty bread.

2) Turkey Curry Cauliflower Soup

Take your leftover cooked cauliflower and put it in your food processor. Pulse until smooth and creamy, adding a little milk as you go to make it soup-like. Sprinkle in about 2 teaspoons of curry, a little more or less depending on how strong you like it. Then, in a soup pot, cook some chopped carrots and onion, in a little oil, until soft . Pour the blended cauliflower into the pot and add some chopped leftover turkey. Simmer the soup until it’s nice and creamy and hot.

3) Stuffing with Egg Muffin Cups

Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray or brush with butter or oil. Spoon enough stuffing in each muffin cup to form a little cup with room for one egg. Break one egg into each cup and top with enough shredded cheese to cover egg. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the egg is done and cheese is melted. Let stand a few minutes before removing egg and stuffing from muffin tin.

4) Green Bean Tomato Cheese Soup

If you have leftover green bean casserole, you’re in luck. It makes the perfect start for a cheese soup. Adding some diced tomatoes gives this soup a fresh flavor. Get out your big soup pot and saute up some bite size pieces of celery until just soft. Add several big chunks of onion, cooking until transparent, and then add a little minced garlic. Pour in a can of diced tomatoes. You may want a little extra seasoning, like a grill seasoning or dry rub. Put in your green bean casserole, slowly mixing in all the ingredients. If it seems a little thick, add a bit of chicken broth. Now just heat, stirring often, until the soup is all creamy and hot.

5) Old Fashioned Potato Soup

Leftover mashed potatoes make good thick and creamy soups because the basic creamy soup ingredients are already there. In a soup pot, put three or four diced slices of bacon and cook until just crispy and remove. In the bacon drippings, saute diced celery and carrots until soft, add some diced onion and saute until transparent. In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon butter or oil, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1 1/2 cups milk, simmering until just starting to thicken. Then add your leftover potatoes a little bit at a time until it looks like potato soup. Stir in the bacon and let simmer together slowly. You now have a nice, flavorful and creamy Potato Soup.

These are just a few of the ways to recycle your leftovers so that your family isn’t staring at the same plate repeated for days. Give some thought to what ingredients went into each dish, and where you’ve seen those ingredients together before. Chances are you’ll come up with a few surprises of your own.

Nicole Dean
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/5-unique-meal-ideas-from-holiday-leftovers-714882.html

You’ve spent quite a bit time and effort to make sure your garden is laid out in the most promising way and considering how best to grow that garden organically. Now you need to take care of your plot. 

Plants need light and water to grow. The light is already taken care of by Mother Nature; you have to take care of the water!

Watering the garden every evening after dinner can be good therapy for the gardener, but it’s not good for the plants. When the soil is often sprinkled on top but never deeply soaked, plant roots tend to remain in the damp, upper few inches of soil where they are vulnerable to searing mid-summer heat and drought. Vegetable plants need an average of 2-inches of water a week. Be sure to water thoroughly so the soil is soaked to a depth of 4 to 6-inches. This will encourage roots to grow deep.

Germinating seeds and seedlings need to be kept uniformly moist without being washed away, so water them with a gentle spray every day or two. Developing plants need to be watered deeply, but less often, to encourage deep root growth. Water to a depth of at least 6 inches and then let the surface inch or two completely dry out before watering again.

As a general guideline, garden plants that have been watered properly, and therefore have developed deep roots, need a thorough watering every 5 to 7 days in hot weather.

Hand watering delivers water directly to the plants, thus eliminating waste, but it takes time. Spot check to make sure you are delivering enough water, and be careful to give all areas of the garden adequate coverage.

Sprinklers have the disadvantage of wasting water by watering paths and other open spots in the garden. They also lose water to evaporation and wind drift. Because they wet the foliage, sprinklers also can promote the development of leaf diseases.

However, sprinklers are easier and eliminate the need to stand outside holding a hose for 20 minutes – especially if you have a large garden. If you use oscillating sprinklers, elevate them above the tallest plants so the water streams are not blocked. To make sure all of your plants are watered, place sprinklers so their patterns overlap. Runoff indicates you need to water at a slower rate.

You can also consider taking a simple garden hose and making your own irrigation system by poking holes in the top of it at uniform angles. Simply place this hose between the rows of plants and move when the watering is done in that particular section.

You should generally water your garden in the early evening when it is cooler. This will reduce the chance of evaporation from the hot sun and heat. Early morning watering is fine, but less effective.

Be wary of over-watering your garden. This can cause your plants to be less successful and produce disappointing yields. Generally, the first few weeks after planting and transplanting and during the development of fruit or storage organs are times when plants may be adversely affected by shortages of water, so water plentifully during these times.

Obviously, Mother Nature will provide you with some of her water as well. 

Monitor your rain levels and check to be sure that your garden has enough moisture if it has rained to see if you need to add to it.

Healthy plants that produce a wealth of healthy food can get a well needed boost from some type of fertilizer. Composting can provide this, but there are other ways to fertilize. 

One of the best sources of organic fertilizer is animal manure. Cow, chicken, rabbit, horse and mink are among the most readily available in many parts of the world. It is best to use them after they have had a chance to rot for a few years. They provide some plant nutrients, favorable bacteria, humus, better aeration and they help retain more moisture when they are mixed with your garden soil.

Manures are available from dairy farms, riding stables, and poultry farms. Usually you will have to pick them up from these sources, using your own truck. Sometimes firms that deliver soils or mulches will also stock and deliver one or two types of fresh or well-rotted animal manures. A check of the want-ad section of the newspaper will often reveal additional sources of supply. If you use fresh manures, they are best applied in the fall, as they are apt to burn or retard plants if they are applied during the spring, growing season. Well-rotted manures can be used in the spring. You should apply the fertilizer around the base of the plant.

You can use either fresh or rotted manure to make a liquid-tea to feed plants. The tea is usually made of one part of manure and ten parts of water. Let it set for several days before you use it then spray directly on the plant. The process-dried manures are often available at garden shops and can be used for top-dressing or they may be mixed into the planting soil. Fish meal, blood meal, bone meal, animal manures, cottonseed meal and processed sewage sludge are organic sources for nitrogen fertilizer. Phosphate rock and bone meal are the two organic fertilizers used to supply phosphorus. Wood ashes and rock potash are the two main sources of organic potassium.

Your local garden department will generally stock any of the above organic fertilizers. You can also make your own fertilizer. Look in our recipe section! When it comes to fertilizers, Seed meals and various kinds of lime are the most important ingredients. These alone will grow a great garden. Seed meals are byproducts of making vegetable oil. They are made from soybeans, flaxseed, sunflowers, cotton seeds, canola and other plants. Different regions of the country have different kinds more readily available. Seed meals are stable and will store for years if kept dry and protected from pests in a metal container with a tight lid.

Lime is ground, natural rock containing large amounts of calcium, and there are three types. Agricultural lime is relatively pure calcium carbonate. Gypsum is calcium sulfate and is included because sulfur is a vital plant nutrient. Dolomite, or dolomitic lime, contains both calcium and magnesium carbonates, usually in more or less equal amounts. If you have to choose one kind, it probably should be dolomite, but you’ll get a better result using all three types. These substances are not expensive if bought in large sacks from agricultural suppliers.

Organic fertilizers are much more conducive to the environment and the health value of our foods than the traditional chemical fertilizers. Why?

Organic fertilizers, manures and composts release their nutrient content only as they decompose — as they are slowly broken down by the complex ecology of living creatures in the soil. Complete decomposition of most organic fertilizers takes around two months in warm soil. During that time, they steadily release nutrients.

With non-organic fertilizers, overdosing can be a real problem. They are so strong that it’s easy for inexperienced gardeners to cross the line between just enough and too much.

Yet, despite their strength, inexpensive blends are incomplete. They supply only nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Unless the manufacturer intentionally adds other essential minerals, the chemical mix won’t supply them. Chemical fertilizers rarely contain calcium or magnesium, which plants need in large amounts along with tiny traces of several other minerals.

Inexpensive chemical fertilizers dissolve quickly in soil. This usually results in a rapid burst of plant growth, followed five or six weeks later by a big sag requiring yet another application. Should it rain hard, the chemicals dissolved in the soil water will be transported as deeply into the earth as the water penetrates (this is called “leaching”), so deep that the plant’s roots can’t reach them. With one heavy rain or one too-heavy watering, your fertile topsoil becomes infertile. The chemicals also can pollute groundwater. The risk of leaching is especially great in soils that contain little or no clay.

Chemical fertilizers can be made to be “slow-release,” but these sorts cost several times as much as those that dissolve rapidly in water. The seed meals in an organic fertilizer mix are natural slow-release fertilizers, and they usually are less expensive than slow-release chemical products.

You should fertilize your plants once every three to four weeks. You will want to pay attention to how your plants are doing and fertilize accordingly. Some plants need more fertilization attention than others.

Beans, peas, and carrots are among the low demand vegetables for fertilizing. They need fewer requirements for additional nutrients than the medium demand plants.

Most garden plants are medium demand plants. These would include tomatoes, corn, squash, zucchini, cabbage and peppers. Be careful not to over-fertilize these plants. A good rule of thumb is 4-6 quarts of fertilizer per 100 square feet with a 1/4 inch layer of compost.

Some high demand vegetables are artichokes, cauliflower, turnips, and spinach. These will require the same 4-6 quarts of fertilizer per 100 square feet, but you need to increase the compost layer to 1/2″.

High-demand vegetables are sensitive, delicate species and usually will not thrive unless grown in light, loose and always-moist soil that provides the highest level of nutrition.

Of course, you need to stay on top of the weeding to insure your plants have enough room to grow and that those weeds don’t steal away their food!

We suggest tending the garden at the same time every day. Morning would be best since it is cooler during the summer and you won’t have to bear the oppressive heat. Don’t let the weeds take control. This is why we recommend doing so every day so that you won’t have a huge job if you neglect it for a week or so.

Taking care of a garden might require you to get on your hands and knees to pull weeds from the middle of your bean plants or cabbage rows, so do this. It’ll save stress on your back and, of course, bring you closer to the natural environment that is your organic garden!

Then just sit back and wait for the benefits of your garden – fresh produce! Of course, the successful gardener knows that once cold weather arrives, their job isn’t quite done.

Jaden Santon
http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/how-to-tend-to-your-organic-garden-736532.html