|
|
One of the most important investments you will make for your yard and for your home is that of a sprinkler system. You will want to make sure and maintain and protect your sprinkler system to prevent your investment from going to waste.
There is a lot of work that goes into maintaining a lawn sprinkler system, including seasonal  check-ups, which you can do yourself. It is important to be careful when mowing your lawn or digging around sprinkler heads.
Maintenance Tips
Make sure to inspect your sprinkler system frequently for broken sprinkler heads. Replacing a head is fairly simple as all you need to do is unscrew the broken sprinkler head and locate a matching head at your local home improvement store.
Continue reading Maintaining Your Sprinkler System
Related Posts:
If you are planting your first garden or just looking for a few ways to spice up your backyard, consider including a few herbs. Herbs are incredibly functional, especially for the home cook. Being able to pick herbs from your garden to use in a recipe will give you a new meaning for “locavore” and will save you a pretty penny at the grocery store. Herbs are also beneficial to other plants’ growth. If you can only choose a few, here are some great options.
Basil
Basil is one of the greatest additions to almost any garden. It tends to grow abundantly in full sunlight, although you can also grow it in pots inside. Basil is also a perennial plant, which adds to its ease. Not only is it one of the most commonly called for fresh herbs in recipes, but also it is one of the most expensive to buy at the store. This is another great reason to plant basil! Need more? Basil is an excellent companion plant because it actually repels many garden pests, like beetles, acts as shade for plants that need humidity and indirect sunlight, and improves the tastes of some vegetables, like tomatoes.
Continue reading 4 Best Herbs to Plant in a Backyard
Related Posts:
Intex and ProSeries soft-sided above ground pools both share many similarities. Both pools are comparable in appearance. They each come in a wide array of sizes to fit any sized yard.
The pools each boast soft sides and easy assembly instructions. Both brands come with a filter,  chlorinator, fitted ladder and pump.
Depending on the model, the consumer can expect there to be a pool cover included in the box. Unlike the Intex pools, the ProSeries soft-sided pools come with two covers: a solar and winter cover. Some models also include a cleaning kit with a skimmer.
The ProSeries soft-sided above ground pool has a floating skimmer that helps keep the pool free of floating bugs, leaves and other debris. It also comes with a ground cover to help protect the pool’s bottom from twigs or other sharp ground objects.
Continue reading Cool Off this Summer with a Cheap ProSeries or Intex Above Ground Pool
Related Posts:
What is a Pergola?
A Pergola is a type of Pagoda commonly found in gardens. Vines and flowers are often grown besides the posts of a Pergola, allowing them to grow upwards in a manner that is aesthetically pleasing. A Pergola can also serve as an extension of a building in order to offer shade and protection from the summer heat. However a Pergola is used, it can be a beautiful addition to your yard or garden. Building a pergola yourself may seem like a daunting task, but if you have access to the right tools and materials, and you plan out your Pergola carefully, you should have no trouble building one yourself.
Building a Pergola
You can find instructions on how to build certain types of pergolas by yourself at most hardware stores. You can also find do-it-yourself type manuals on the building of pergolas online. Both the DIY network and Home Depots website offer such instructions. However, these are for specific Pergolas. The following instructions allow you to use your own creativity and careful planning in order to build your pergola the way you want to.
Tools and Materials
The following are the necessary tools for building your own pergola:
- Safety Glasses
- Hammer
- Pry Bar
- Tape Measure
- Drill
- Ladder
- Level
- Galvanized Deck Screws
- Lag Bolts and Washers
- Circular Saw
- Jig Saw
- Reciprocating Saw
- Miter Saw
- Socket Wrench (with different sizes of sockets)
- Weather-proofed Cedar Posts
- Cedar Lumber (cut to how wide you wish your pergola to be)
- Post-hole Digger and Gravel
- Quick-Dry Cement
Continue reading How to Build Your Own Pergola
Related Posts:
When it comes to gardens, there are those which stand out from the crowd, and then there’s the rest. Some of the best designed gardens are usually the most innovative. They come in all shapes and sizes, but the best ones make the most of their space and use different plants and features well. With that in mind, here are five of the most innovative garden design features around:
- First on the list is the addition of wooden decking. In the past decade or so, the best gardens
 have had decking adorn their patio or porch. This provides a stable and stylish surface which you can place garden furniture on, while modern decking is mostly weather-proof, which means that it won’t get damaged in rain, snow or in heat-wave conditions.
- Another way to make your garden look innovative and contemporary is the use of graphite garden furniture. In the past, most garden furniture was made from plastic, wicker or wood, and on the odd occasion, steel. Today, different materials are being used for tables, chairs, stools and garden sofas, and one of those is graphite. Graphite is a light yet strong material, and its dark gray tones work well when combined with glass. Continue reading 5 Simple and Innovative Garden Design Tips
Related Posts:
 With spring well on its way and planting season just around the corner, now is the time to implement great ways to improve your garden design for the coming year. Even the most basic of tips will help transform your garden from a desolate, wintry patch or soil to a fruitful and verdant garden. Here are five top tips that will help you accomplish just that.
Raking It In
First, you will want to rake and thatch your garden. This means that you will rake up all the dead leaves, trash, branches, and the like that are littering your garden. It is important to remember that while you do want to allow these items to decompose in the winter months, once spring arrives you will need to clear all the debris so that you can easily plant your favorite flowers, veggies, and more.
Continue reading Five Top Tips To Get Your Garden Ready For Spring
Related Posts:
For those of us who are trying to do what we can to live in as sustainable a manner as possible, limiting the amount of waste we generate is one of the biggest challenges. This is especially true as, so often we are able to generate huge amounts of waste without even thinking about it. To try and combat this tendency, I took one small step that ended up being incredibly effective. I wrote ‘landfill’ on my bin.
Obviously, this doesn’t sound like a particularly drastic measure, but it really brought it home to me just what it meant to throw things away that could be put to better use. I was already recycling as much as I could, but I soon became keen to find ways I could cut down on waste that I couldn’t put in the recycling, left over scraps of food being one of them. Every time my plate scrapings went into the bin and felt a little guilty and a little annoyed. So I decided to do something about it.
Those of us with a garden, can of course put a lot of our food waste to use in a compost heap, but, living in an inner city apartment I need a tidier, less smelly solution that would use less space. After a little research, I settled on a mini wormery as the ideal solution. (It is essentially like a small plastic bin, with a tap at the bottom to allow you to drain the nutrient rich liquid which collects in the bottom.)
After a weeks, I was putting almost no food in the bin and found my kitchen was actually smelling better as a result. I was also having to put less bin bags out for collection, where they might be got at by pesky urban foxes (and it also saved me some leg work!).
I spent a while experimenting to see what sorts of material the worms were reacting to best, when one day, after having a few friends round for breakfast in my flat, I was left with four or five coffee filters full of used grounds, all of which I tipped into my worm farm. The worms seemed to love it! In fact they loved it so much that in time I found that, if I applied coffee grounds to the top of the pile, they’d actually eat through the rest of the refuse quicker just to get to it, which was a very useful trick.
Since this revelation the farm has been going strong and I’ve been able to supply my friends and family, who are all a bit more green fingered than me, with some quality fertiliser. Furthermore, a friend of mine works in coffee shop near my home called Monmouth Coffee, and he keeps plenty of used grounds by for me to come and collect, meaning I have access to as much used grounds as I can use.
I’d encourage everyone, with and interest in either gardening or reducing their landfill waste to both buy a worm farm and be sure to tap the potential of coffee grounds to make it a success!
Photo Source: Skugg
Steve Waller writes on a number of environmental issues on his blog GreenSteve from facts about food miles to the ills of monocropping.
Related Posts:
Leaving home means leaving behind some of the things that you love to do and checking your healthy eating habits at the door. If you’re lucky enough to have an apartment with a deck or even a patio off or even just a balcony then you can create a lovely container garden just outside your door. Here’s how to create a deck or patio garden in five easy steps:
1. Location
To grow a proper garden, you’ll need enough sunlight. Spend a few days studying the way the sun falls onto your deck or patio. Are there areas of the patio that receive sunlight for the better part of the day? Are there areas of the patio that spend the majority of time in the shade? By knowing where the light falls, you’ll know the best places to set your pots and other containers.
2. Containers
Continue reading Tips for Growing a Patio Garden
Related Posts:
OK – so they won’t grow in the deep shade. But I can’t think of many other places where a clematis won’t grow and make the garden a lovelier place. They grow in sun, and they grow in shade.
They can act like a ground cover, tumbling down walls and slopes, grow up a trellis or decorate the mailbox, or twine through non-flowering shrubs to make them look as though they’ve suddenly burst into bloom. And if you’ve ever seen a vigorous clematis growing up and spilling out of a tall tree – now that is a sight to remember!
 For confirmed plantaholics, clematis is a godsend
Even in the most crowded garden you can always find a place to tuck “Just one more” – because it will simply twine its delicate tendrils around whatever is close and send up a beautiful flowering display.
I have two growing through a climbing ‘New Dawn‘ rose on an arbor – the beautiful double white ‘Duchess of Edinburgh‘ – which also has spectacular seedpods like winged silk – and Clematis viticellata ‘Etoile Violette‘ whose violet purple flowers lend panache to the pale pink of the roses and cover the top of the arbor in blossoms. In fact, while the big show for the roses is June, the arbor is a mass of flowers from June through September. And I’m growing three plants the space of one.
Continue reading Clematis – A Plant for All Places and Seasons
Related Posts:
As you start to create your own garden, you will need to think about the design as well as the plants you would like to grow. Quality design and attention to detail are essential elements for a garden.
 It’s a good idea to consider the sun’s angle during the day, specifically finding what spots get a lot of sun and for how long it generally lasts. The light will guide you to determine the garden’s main focal points and what will work best in these particular spots.
You will most likely need a range of full-sun tolerant plants together with full-shade specimens. These plants love plenty of sun exposure and offer you lots of color with a variety of great scents.
Continue reading What are the Essentials for a Great Garden?
Related Posts:
Following a relatively mild winter, the UK has experienced a cold snap in the last few weeks, with many areas suffering a fair amount of snow. As such councils have sent out their trucks to spread grit on the roads and homeowners have been busy clearing their pathways.
 With the weather set to remain cold for a little while longer and more snow likely; many are buying in de-icing salt to provide safety around their property. However, not everyone is clear on how to best use de-icing salt. Below are a few tips that should help you get the most from your application, whichever country you live in.
Best time to spread
The first thing you need to consider is when the best time you spread your de-icing salt is. Many are unsure as to whether they should spread prior to snow or frost arriving, or wait until the cold weather has arrived.
In order to achieve the best results it is advisable to use both approaches. First, spread quite liberally the evening before cold weather is forecast. This allows the de-icing salt to mix with the moisture and form a saline solution, which freezes at a much lower temperature than water. The optimum time to spread is usually around 5.00pm, although this can vary depending on your location. You can then add some more the following day as and when required.
Continue reading Maximising De-icing Salt Usage During Cold Snaps
Related Posts:
Traditional gardens are made of rows of plants with room to walk in between the rows. This has two effects on your garden. First, walking on the soil in between the rows compresses it, making it unsuitable for use in future seasons without considerable work. Second, traditional row gardening wastes at least half the growing space you have in your garden plot.
The Solution
Square-foot gardening cures those ills to your garden soil and creates a healthier, more productive and less labor-intensive garden on your property. You never walk on the garden soil, so it stays aerated and easy for the roots to move through. All the soil is filled with plants, so there is no wasted space set aside as garden sidewalks. You will grow many times the amount of food in the same amount of space, for a lot less work after the initial planting.
Phot Credit:mrmole
Continue reading Square Foot Gardening – A Popular Strategy
Related Posts:
New potatoes, freshly dug from the garden, are one of the pleasures of gardening.
 I always struggle to decide which variety to grow. My favorite spud of all time is the Jersey Royal, but the price of them in the shops makes them a luxury food. You also cannot buy them in Ireland anyway.
This year I found a site on eBay that sells the same seed potatoes that they use in Jersey. Potato growers in Jersey market theirs as Jersey Royals, but the seed potatoes they use are called International Kidney.
I could not believe my luck and ordered 2.5Kg (5lbs). They arrived last week and are currently on a window ledge in my unheated porch, chitting. I should have enough for 40ft of potato rows.
Continue reading Grow Your Own Jersey Royal New Potatoes
Related Posts:
 When the weather turns colder and winter approaches many homeowners abandon their gardens to the elements. Flowerbeds are untended and people forget about their lawn until spring comes around.
However, ignoring your completely through the winter months can be a mistake and mean that it isn’t in the best shape when weather starts to turn more clement.
Below are a few tips that can keep your turf in great shape during the snowy season.
Making the cut
Getting your last cut in before the bad weather hits can prove problematic as you never know when you will get a nice day when the turf is reasonably dry. The best approach is to cut the lawn around the time when the weather usually turns a little worse.
Continue reading Maintaining Your Turf During The Snowy Season
Related Posts:
Origin of the Hibiscus
The hibiscus is as beautiful as it is diverse. Although it is believed to have originated in southern China, it was also spotted in the South Pacific and Hawaii early on. It was then introduced into Europe in the 1700′s in a burst of different colors bred by the Chinese, and made its way into the  United Sates in 1842 at a flower show in Philadelphia. It then spread widely across the country as a popular catalog order item. Today the striking blossom graces nearly every corner of the earth in one form of variation or the other.
Nature of the Hibiscus
Some of the more delicate forms of the hibiscus live for one single day, blossoming in the early morning and then drawing in their petals again by the late afternoon. Other variations of the hibiscus remain open for two days. Yet the overall nature of this flower is still fragile and its blossom does not tend to live long.
Continue reading Gardening: Hibiscus Has Tremendous Flower Variations
Related Posts:
|
|
