Due to the small area available to some homeowners and apartment dwellers, patios and small gardens may seem like a challenge to landscape. What follows are a few simple tips and strategies designed to maximize space, and help you create a lush and vibrant outdoor living area. Container Gardening Examine your patio or small garden, and you will probably see nothing but straight lines and right angles. One trick used by professional landscapers is to ?soften" these...

Drought Tolerant Plants Areas of your garden that face West or South naturally tend to be much hotter and receive much more direct sunlight. Taking a little time to choose the right plants for these demanding growing conditions can help save you time, money, and water, as well as improve your overall results. Most plants will require more water under high heat/sun conditions unless they?re native to one of the desert regions, or when established, tend to be drought t...

Your Guide to Soil Preparation What follows are general rules or guidelines for preparing any garden for planting. Preparing a garden bed before you plant will greatly improve your gardens performance, and promote healthy vigorous growth from any plant you choose. Most often preparing for planting is done in the spring, and involves tilling or turning the ground, and at the same time adding generous amounts of organic material and some type of fertilizer. The goal...

Fertilizers - Pro's and Con's The following is in no way intended to be the last word on the chemical-vs-organic debate, but rather a basic outline describing the pros and cons of each. If you were to ask 100 people for their opinions on this subject, you might well receive a hundred different points of view. In my humble opinion, if used properly, both chemical and organic fertilizers can be safe. However, if used improperly, both can be, without question, unsafe. ...

Compost is formed when garden debris is allowed to decay. It is an organic matter. If you want to succeed as an organic gardener, you must take full advantage of using compost. It is good for increasing the fertility of the soil for planting seeds. It also forms an useful element for greenhouse and potting soil development. The nutrient value of cost depends on the fertilizers and other nutrient-rich materials which are added to it as it goes through the decomposing process. ...

Xeriscaping is a low maintenance form of gardening with drought resistant plants. It is low maintenance as you don?t have to go out everyday and tend to your plants and water them. It is also better for environmental conservation as your garden will not require inordinate amounts of water. This is a great solution if you don?t have the time to maintain a lush garden or if you live in a region which does not receive much rainfall. Leave it to the beautiful state of Colorado to...

Earthworms are of great value when it comes to the health of your garden. The several benefits include : converting organic materials into absorbable nutrients, loosening of the soil enabling healthy root growth as ell as enhancing water and air circulation. They dig out deep-rooted minerals and other nutrients, making it easier for plants to absorb them. Apart from their invaluable contribution to plant life, earthworms are a good source of food for songbirds during early...

Many homeowners would like a garden full of thick green grass that isn?t infested with insects, diseases and weeds. This is not usually what they begin with but with Scott lawn care products, you can make your lawn a healthy one. Scott lawn care has been in operation for many decades. The business can be found all over the United States, North America and Europe. It provides solutions to all your lawn care needs such as pest control, fertilizer and weeders. In fact, Scott ...

There's nothing quite like the pleasure of growing, harvesting and eating your own vegetables. Absolutely nothing can be fresher than vegetables that you grow yourself. My family always had a small garden and we grew tomatoes and peppers, some lettuce and eggplant. This year we added green beans to our list of vegetables. My husband and I love them and I found them a "snap" to grow, freeze and cook. We decided on a pole variety of green beans for our garden. Pole green bea...

Like any thing you can think of, whether it be people, pets or plants, their basic needs must be met to ensure a happy, healthy life. Plants, of course, are alive, and so have both general and specific needs, depending upon the variety of plant in question. In this article, we?ll learn about the different parts of plants ? root, stem, leaf and flower ? and how they work together. Roots Most often overlooked and neglected, the root system of any plant plays a critical...