Don’t waste money on the black anti-weed mats! Use newspaper instead. It’s free, seems to work better, and is totally biodegradable. Lessen your footprint by reusing household items like this!
Chelsea Garden Show
If you are looking for design inspiration stop by the Chelsea Flower Show site. There are some wonderful gardens on view and intriguing ideas.
The Chidren’s Society’s Garden is called Lust for Life.
This Iggy Pop song influenced the designer who has created a place for urban office workers.
The garden is for urban office workers to rest in and rejuvenate during
their breaks. The combination of clean-cut spaces, pure use of
materials, and the invigorating character of the water and colour
scheme aim to create gentle cross-sensory stimulation for weary office
staff.
Father’s Day
Father’s Day is not far away. The Garden Supermart has a great gift for that do-it-yourself Dad.
Algreen’s folding preformed pond kits give your yard that value-added water feature, make a great gift and allow Dad to do-it-himself. The preformed pond kits come complete with a pond shell,
watercourse, pump and all necessary accessories and instructions to
create a quick and easy backyard pond!
What’s more, the preformed ponds
have been redesigned to be extremely easy to unfold. Because of the
flexibility offered by the rubber component, and the rigidity offered
by the plastic component, the ponds are also much more resistant to
breakage and wear.
The preformed pond kits start as low as $119.99! And for a limited time, they will even throw in a FREE SuperGlo underwater light with a transformer.
An Orange Tree Grows In Tennessee
No, that picture isn’t to show off the sexy tires on my car. See that little green ball? Someday that’ll be an orange. Yep, I bought an orange tree. And yep, I live in Tennessee.
I originally set out to buy a lime tree. I wanted to make a key lime pie here in a few months. Or have tequila shots with my very own limes. Something like that.
No, the truth is, I used to clean houses, and one of my clients had a lime tree in her sun room. There was something incredibly cool about that to me, so I filed it away in the back of my brain. I happened to be by a local nursery the other day, so I stopped in to see if they had lime trees.
And they did! They also had orange trees. I told them I’d take the one that already had fruit growing on it and had them load it up in my car. I looked like Birnam Wood rolling down the road with a tree in my tiny little Honda.
When I got it home, I looked closely at the tag on it. It said "Valencia". Odd, I thought, I bought a Key Lime tree. It was then that I looked closely at the fruit that was on it. They were round, not lime-shaped. Yep, I had bought an orange tree.
So now I have an orange tree, which is just fine with me. Dwarf Valencia trees apparently do well inside during the winter. It’ll live outside in the summer, and in the winter, it’ll come inside and live with me. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.
Yardbird Recycles
The birds, critters, dogs and cats are made from recycled materials; scrap and rejected garden tools, farm machinery, bicycle and auto parts. Buying a Yardbird reduces solid waste destined for a landfill. If everyone bought two or three, we could save the earth!
Seriously, so far over 2 million pounds of scrap has been recycled into these lovable critters.
Now this is a sound idea. You can add a little fun indoors and out with the critter creations from Yardbird and help reduce the amount of waste that goes to the landfill as well. This is a real win-win situation. A father and son team started making critter creations over a decade ago.
Today, a group of U.S. artisans still handcrafts the critters. I have a passion for frogs and this little guy would look great in our backyard.
Ornamental Fish Ponds
I always wanted an ornamental fish pond, but after having read a couple of posts about them, I’m not so sure. First, from the Nashville Knucklehead (photo is also shamelessly ripped off from the Knucklehead):
Here’s a great Sunday project for you. Build a Koi pond. Then come to
my house. And get the fish. I have way too many fish. Probably about 30
mature fish. And every year, they keep making more. There are dozens
and dozens of baby fish who will be mature next year. I don’t even like
having the fish. They came with the house.
And then, a handy list from CeeElCee at the Dry Spot:
1. If you remove all the rocks from a Home Depot 100 gallon pond
liner to clean and dry them, frogs will be unable to climb out of the
bottom of the pond.2. Even if you wet vacuumed the pond completely dry, it will
eventually refill with rainwater over the course of a couple weeks.3. Frogs cannot tread water indefinitely.
Be sure to go read both posts in their entirety, you’ll get a good chuckle.
Landscaping Improves Your Property’s Value
Add a shrub and improve your property, not just in
appearance but in value. However, if you plan on adding a single shrub or tree, pick one that is mature enough to look like it has been there for sometime. New shrubs and trees may not give you the value you seek. Invest a little more and get back more. Landscaping is a value added activity.
Before you start your landscaping project consider this; how long do you plan to
live in this home? If this is a starter home, one you plan on inhabiting for
only a few years, then you may want to keep your design simple, A shrub or two
and a few perennials can do the trick.
Or are you putting down roots and plan to remain in this house from now on? The
answer to these questions, plus, your interest in gardening, and how much
leisure time you have will help determine the final design.
Another important question is how do you use the front yard?
The front yard is frequently for display. It is the face you show the
neighbours and others who drive and walk by. Friend and family gatherings, such
as BBQs, usually take place out back. The back yard is where the children play.
Are you planning to sell, then remember this, the front yard is what a
prospective buyer sees first. First impressions are lasting impressions. What
the buyers see as they drive up will influence how they view the interior. You
must create a strong and positive first impression.
Gardening Planning Questions:
How much sun and shade does the yard receive? The answer will determine your
plant choices. The right plant, right place philosophy is a good guide to successful
landscaping.
How much time do you have for maintenance? If your free time is at a premium
then low maintenance perennials may be the answer.
Do you enjoy cutting
the lawn? If not consider reducing the amount of space that you devote to lawn.
Replace grass with a rock garden, shrub or tree.
Do you want to have a different effect each spring and summer? Annuals allow
you to change the look each year and provide colour throughout the seasons.
Are you interested in a naturalized look? Then native plants are what you need.
What grows where you live? Visit a local nursery and talk with the experts.
Is fragrance an element you wish to include? Many herbs add beauty and
fragrance to your garden. A rose bush or two may be just what you need. Buy
quality.Take some time and create a plan that suits you; this effort
is an investment in your home and your future.
Feng Shui And Your Garden
Gardening is another important aesthetic consideration for Feng Shui. Chinese gardens developed from the art of Shan Shui, which literally means “mountain water.” Shan is yang, hard, still, sublime, vertically developed, close to heaven. Shui is yin, soft, movable, horizontally developed, close to earth. Shui embraces Shan, Shan surrounds Shui.
Gardens, like all landscape, reveal an attitude that needs to be gently restrained and understated. This enables a more intimate experience and sense of fitting into the environment. Land is not considered a source of profit but rather that which encompasses humility and respect for the forces of nature and heaven.
Throughout Chinese history, geometric forms have rarely been placed on holy land, which is often seen in Western countries. Only in the Chinese Emperor’s gardens were such shapes acceptable because they symbolized respect for the natural forces of heaven and earth. Life and landscape are inextricably linked. Things on earth depend and rely on each other. A landscape is a living thing, a process of communication, a matrix of feeling. The philosophical conclusion in understanding the world is what the great thinker, Laozi called Naturally So.
Feng Shui inextricably links life and landscape as all things in life depend upon each other. To the oriental way of thinking, a landscape is a living, breathing thing. And so it would seem that there is much about heaven and earth and humanity that we in the western world can learn from those in the east.
As an Englishman named Shakespeare succinctly put it in Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth, my dear Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
What does Feng Shui mean to YOU?
Brocade Shovels
Great Trees For Small Yards
I don’t know about your yard, but my yard is tiny! Builders are building on smaller and smaller lots, and often they are putting in the wrong trees for such small yards. A common tree that builders plant in my zone is the Bradford pear or other ornamental pears, which are horrible for small lawns. They grow very quickly, have problems with root spread, and have short lifespans (about 25 years).
If you live in zones 5-8, a much better choice is the Japanese Maple. They are slow growers and only get to be about 20 feet tall. They are not hardy in more northern climates, however. An alternative to Japanese Maples in the northern climates is a Korean Maple.
If you live in an arid zone, my sources say a good tree to plant is the Shoestring Acacia. Because it grows in a colum shape, it works well in tight, narrow spaces.
Share your knowledge! What are some other great trees for small yards?