Archive for May, 2009

New Uses For Home Grown Garden Vegetables

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

The best time of the gardening season is when you first get to harvest some of the vegetables that you have grown. This is the absolute BEST part of having your own garden. Presenting your family with a side dish or meal made from homegrown vegetables feels so satisfying and rewarding. I’ve noticed that the fresh vegetables from my garden tend to taste better than grocery store fare as well plus you can save a lot of money by using your own home grown produce.

I want to talk about another GREAT use of your garden vegetables that a lot of people don’t think about. What do you do if you have a monster tomato plant and you have 30-40 tomatoes all ripen at the same time? How about having 8 giant cucumbers all perfectly ripe but you get sick at the thought of eating another cucumber sandwich? Or flocks of bush beans that you didn’t realize should have been staggered several weeks apart? I have the answer … BUILD UP YOUR FOOD STORAGE!

Garden vegetables are some of the easiest things to bottle, freeze, dry, etc. Last year I bottled whole tomatoes, fresh salsa, and pickles. I froze bags of beans and peas. My mom recently passed on her food dehydrator to me so I’m anxious to learn how to use that method of preservation now as well. If you are working on building any type of long term food storage program, these home-grown items will be invaluable to you. The benefits of preserving homegrown vegetables are: they are organic, they retain nutrients better, they only use natural preservatives, and they are FREE! How can you beat that?

So if you have more vegetables than your family can eat this season, try out some of these preservation methods and add some veggies to your food storage. And maybe, just maybe, next year you will find yourself planting extras of certain items so that you can have enough to stock up your food storage shelves even more!

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Improving Your Garden by Adding a Fountain

Friday, May 29th, 2009

A great way to spice up your garden landscape is to add a water feature. These can be both soothing and aesthetically appealing. I’ve found that there are 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.

Normally, 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 everyone.

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 must 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 space to be, I hope you consider installing a fountain. The whole process is surprisingly cheap, and I think that you will be very happy with the results. Having the 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 space to go when you want to retreat from the outside world and dwell in your own thoughts with no disturbance.

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Herb – Tips You Can Apply to Get the Best Decoration on Your Garden

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Have applied planting herb on your garden? Well, they can be a very exclusive-decoration at your garden. Herb has its own beauty and virtue, so you are able take some that you want most. You are able create the best garden if you could plant them carefully. Hence, you can make your pretty herb garden by take a look at this.

The Ideal Place to Make a Miniature Kitchen Garden

The most common problem related to herb garden is that it tends to spread out when you have planted them. So, it is a good idea to have another way to make a best spot to plant them on. Then, you can control whether they begin to spread out on your lovely garden.

If a terrace or veranda is available at your house, why don’t you just add herb to the plant pots you have?  You can make or purchase a wooden furrow for planting them in, and paint or mark it to match in with your existing decoration. You can even place a selection of gravel or fancy pebbles around each. It can add a level of prettiness to the last result.

creating the Most of the Aromas

It can’t be denied that each herb has its own wonderful fragrance to enjoy. That’s why it’s a good idea to put them beside your seating area. strive to place mint near your back door and you’ll see what influence it can have each time the breeze is blowing. It’s a strong and attractive fragrance that really smells good once you breathe the air.

Rosemary is another good choice if you want to grow them. It gives a amazing smell that you will notice every time you walk by.  If you love lamb, you will absolutely want to plant it, since it brings out the fragrance any time you cook it.

when you have become better of planting them, you will strive another seed and plant them more and more. attempt to surf at the internet to create the best decoration of herb garden. But be sure that your herb lives long and always appears best. You can never definitely stop on planting after you attempted plant them on. Remember that by having them on your garden, you will absolutely get a huge happiness whenever seeing them.

Don’t keep yourself trapped in doubt. Have more knowledge about herb and get yourself updated with it by clicking the links here!

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Compost Heap Converts Waste to Fertilizer

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

compost heap

In many cases, people don’t start backyard composting because they believe it is too much work and hassle. But the truth of the matter is that composting is rather simple and the main thing that a homeowner needs to provide are the basic organic materials for the compost heap and then to step back and allow nature to do its job. There are, however, some simple principles to keep in mind that will help you enjoy good results.

There are a number of different types of compost bins on the market that you can use to help manage and contain your compost. But, a special bin is not a requirement that is needed to accomplish successful composting, but more of a convenience. It is easy enough to build your own bin for your compost pile and simply cover it over with a sheet of polythene or chunk of cardboard.

But, if you want your compost heap to look a bit neater and want it to be somewhat easier to manage, then buying compost bins might be the right step for you. You can look at local garden centers, shop online at sites that carry organic gardening supplies or even get in touch with your local recycling department. Some communities actually have composting bins that you can purchase very inexpensively as a way of encouraging this form of recycling.

Making a compost is as simple as adding your organic items that are compostable on a regular basis. Any waste product that was at one time a living thing will compost, or decompose, but some items are not recommended to be thrown into your compost pile. Meats, dairy foods and cooked foods will end up attracting pests and vermin so these should not be used in your home composting efforts.

Dead and decaying leaves, lawn clippings, manure, and kitchen waste such as rinds, peelings, coffee grounds and even eggshells can be added to the compost. Older, thicker and tougher plant materials are slower to decompose but they benefit the compost by providing more substance, or body, to the finished compost product. These heavier materials usually comprise most of a compost pile.

Wood items take a long time to decompose. Whenever possible it is best to shred, chip or chop wood materials to help accelerate the rotting process. However, as long as they are mixed in with other materials that decompose faster they will still provide some benefit to the process overall.

In general it is best to have fairly equal amounts of what is called brown material and green material in your compost. Brown materials are the manures, dead leaves, small twigs and cardboard and newspapers. Green materials include hedge and grass clippings, coffee grounds, fruit rinds and uncooked vegetables.

You only need to have about one foot of organic material to get your compost heap started. In most instances, just mowing the yard and weeding your flowerbeds and vegetable garden will give you enough to begin. If needed, then you can also add organic kitchen waste and newspaper, and even a little straw if you are coming up short of the one foot level. Once things get piled up, nature will take over and the decomposition process will start. It is good to turn the heap about every two weeks and within four to six months you will have a nice compost of waste materials that will give a boost to your soil.

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Start Growing Your Indoor Herb Garden - It is very Easily Done

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Herb Garden

If you are thinking of planting a extensive outdoor herb garden you should rethink it and consider putting one inside the house and grow an indoor herb garden instead. You will find that smaller varieties such as dwarf collections of herbs do seem to grow very well in small pots and are easily placed on a sill such as in a kitchen or any other lighted window. It will be very nice to not need to run to your outside garden to pick a few herbs to add to your cooking. You can just simply turn around and grab a few leaves!

Once you get the hang of it you will find that growing an indoor herb garden is a lot easier than you thought. You will not believe how easy it is to get started growing your own herb garden, there are several different kits you can purchase to get you started that will have everything you will need. Look for the chia herb garden which is a fun way to get the kids involved too. You do know that you can enjoy the same benefits growing an indoor her garden as if you would outside but with a few distinct advantages.

You can easily monitor your herb garden that is the Advantages Of An Indoor Herb Garden. When they need maintenance you will know right away that they need something. If you are looking for something will minimal effort try misting your plants that can be accomplished with very little effort. If you are the type to grow the outdoor herb garden, be careful not to overlook the frequency and maintenance that an herb garden needs to flourish.

While deciding where to grow your herb garden if you decide to grow your herbs indoors that will eliminate the issue of bugs eating the leaves of your herbs. One good thing about growing an indoor herb garden you will not have to keep up on the safe chemicals that are to be used to treat your herbs to keep bugs away. When it is time to harvest all of your fresh herbs you can do it within the comfort of your own home. If you don’t like mosquitoes that is another benefit to growing indoors, you do not have bugs or mosquitoes in the house because of the plants.

Whoever plants an indoor herb garden will get to enjoy the wonderful fragrance that fresh gardens give off. Delicious smells like fresh basil or rosemary that is how your kitchen will now smell. If you like to be surrounded by the aroma of fresh herbs for inspiration, you are the type of cook that would grow an indoor herb garden. if you choose to grow a fresh herb garden you will notice that any meal you do cook will taste even better and you will be able to add fresh herbs anytime you want instead of dried herbs that have been sitting on a cabinet for who knows how long.

When planting a garden, you may want to plant herbs in your indoor garden as well, it has been known to protect other plants. Some species of herbs are known to be extremely invasive. I know from experience that when you start growing an herb garden be careful not to let the plants grow too large because before you know it they will take over. By planting your herbs in small individual pots inside you can control its spreading.

Herb plants can make your home smell good and can make those empty open spaces feel more useful when choosing your area to grow an indoor herb garden. I like to add a few plants that are practical to the kitchen area to achieve the same result. It is a really good idea to generate an inviting atmosphere while you are growing herbs to use when you are cooking.

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