Posted by admin on January 23, 2010
If you’re itching to get your green thumb on, but want to do more than grow flowers, you should consider your own vegetable and fruit gardens. You may be thinking your backyard doesn’t have good enough soil to grow great vegetables and fruits. That may be true, but you still don’t have to give up. Instead, create a better yard, through garden planters.
You don’t want to pay a fortune to add layers of right topsoil to your whole yard when you really only need the richer soil in the specific places where the plants are going to be growing. You may not have done the research before, but it could be hundreds to thousands of dollars to have a complete layer of topsoil placed on your yard. So, why not just create smaller rich planting venues with garden planters?
Instead of trying to prepare a whole yard, you can decide where you want your garden to grow and put garden planters in the right formation. Then fill them with potting soil or topsoil that the plants will thrive in, and plant away.
If you really want to dress up your garden area, you can choose some of the more decorative garden planters out there. Some can go with the theme of your yard, being made to look like a number of animals outdoor scenery pieces that blend in with your natural backyard look. Others will look like they are finely sculpted pieces of stone that were meant to be in a statuary.
Not everyone wants that look through. Some want it to look like they planted their back yard with a very traditional and simple garden. Even if you don’t want to see the garden planters, you can still have them in the yard; you just need to make sure they are not visible. In this case you will want to get the simple and economical garden planters and bury them in the backyard, with the top right at the surface of the ground. Then you still have the same rich ground to plant in, but no evidence.
Another beneficial part of using garden planters is that you can be the envy of the neighborhood by having the first harvestable garden on the block. While they will think you put out a lot of money to have full grown plants imported, so you could drop them in the ground as soon as it was ready, you will know that you really started some of those garden planters early on in the pantry or another room in the house. It’s also nice to know that when you have a desire to do a little gardening that even Mother Nature and her freezing fury can’t stop you, you just need to relocate the already growing plants when the outside temperature is ready for them.
With the help of garden planters you’ll be able to enjoy gardening all year round and also reap the rewards of fresh fruits and vegetables on your dinner table.
Jesse Akre, owner of many nice sites, offers insight to online consumers when purchasing luxurious teak planters, planter boxes, and teak garden planters.
Article Source: ArticleSpan
Posted by admin on January 19, 2010
Maybe you’ve always lived in a home with a backyard garden and enjoyed home grown fruit and vegetables, but circumstances have changed. Maybe your career options have now ruled you live in an apartment or high rise building but you wish you could relax and enjoy the benefits gardening would offer you.
Though you have no garden do you wish you could grow flowers, vegetables, herbs, and what about an apple tree? Well, let me help you realize that dream; you do not have to miss out on the pleasures of growing your own plants. You can still eat those organic fruit and vegetables that have that unmistakable home grown taste about them and which are free of any toxic residue. This is achieved by growing your plants in pots or containers on your balcony.
First you need to consider what space is available. It is useful to start with a diagram and mark down the position of the pots and any outdoor furniture, making sure there is enough room for people to move around in the space. If floor space is limited then consider vertical gardening. This can include growing upwards with trellis or using hanging baskets. Balcony gardening offers very flexible alternatives, because you can swap and change the containers to your heart’s desire to get the look you want.
Now sit out on the balcony and decide how much sunshine, wind, and shade your plants would receive in any given 24 hours; this will help you decide what plants would be suitable. Even if shade is a problem you still have a huge choice of plants that like those particular conditions.
When planning a balcony garden, don’t let your mind be prohibitive, you can grow dwarf trees, vegetables, flowers, herbs, and it’s easy to have a combination of these. Wouldn’t it be an achievement to walk on to a balcony realizing you are self sufficient in fruit and vegetables, wow, lets live the dream, it’s not so hard.
You are now able to select containers of any given size, shape or material to suit anyone’s needs or pocket. Pots can be made of clay, metal, wood, or plastic, but other items which can be used are only limited by your imagination. Experiment with such things as old wheelbarrows, pots and pans, shoes and boots, old tires in fact anything which has adequate drainage. You may need to check your lease or agreement to see if there are any restrictions on the types of containers due to visual, safety and weight concerns.
A window box or a hanging basket can give a fantastic flowering display and can also be used for vegetables or herbs.
Before using any containers you need to make sure they are free from pests and diseases so make sure they are thoroughly clean; scrubbing them with a weak solution of bleach will do the trick. Whatever containers you decide on, be sure you have adequate drainage holes in the base; to prevent soil falling out, form a layer of broken terra cotta or gravel over the base. To allow drainage and prevent rotting, place containers on bricks or pot feet. Now position the containers and move them around till you get a pleasing effect.
Do not use garden soil in the containers as its too dense, and will probably harbor insects or contaminants; it is not suitable for balcony gardening so instead use potting soil, much safer. Add a slow release fertiliser at the time of planting, or use a water soluble fertilizer every fortnight.
A very important criteria with container gardening is watering. Pots dry out fairly quickly in the summer and will probably need watering twice a day. You need to take this into careful consideration when planning your balcony garden. Installing a tap on the balcony is an ideal solution however this may not be an alternative. If you are out at work all day, you can use self watering pots, attach a coil hose to the nearest tap or just make trips with a watering can. Plant saucers will be useful or the excess water may drip down onto the balcony below.
So, however small your outdoor area, you can still enjoy you own flowers, fruit and vegetables with balcony gardening.
Colin Price has been very successful in all types of gardening over many years. Find out how you can take advantage of his knowledge and success and create your own beautiful and productive garden at => http://www.EquipYourGarden.com
Article Source: ArticleSpan
