Summer Garden For All Seasons
One thing that is typically overlooked when
preparing and producing a stunning summer garden for house owners to enjoy is
the fact that the garden exists throughout the year. Sadly in the vast bulk of
summer gardens there is a huge hole in the garden for the vast bulk of the
year.
Thoroughly preparing in order to prevent this
process and planting blooming plants that bloom throughout various seasons of
the year along with plants that provide beautiful foliage and greenery even
when the flowers may not be flowering can prevent this absence of life within
your summer garden from occurring.
Plant constantly and groom your garden consistently
throughout the year. Certainly, the winter months are not excellent months for
planting in the earth however this doesn’t imply that you can not utilize
flowerpots filled with seasonal offerings to fill the gaps of green within your
garden.
There are all type of flowers that prosper in winter
weather condition that would make a beautiful addition to your winter garden
without taking anything far from the charm of your summer garden. In truth, the
capability to incorporate these flowers and plants into your garden without
always planting may be an exceptional reward to keep your garden up to date
even in seasons that aren’t generally considered gardening seasons.
Add features to your garden that aren’t plant
associated to bring splashes of color to your garden throughout cold weather
while preserving the area needed for planting your summer garden when the proper time comes. Flowerpots are a fantastic example of this however so are
yard ornaments and statues that may be either moved to a various place during
summer season or gotten rid of entirely.
Use the winter season to prepare your summer garden.
The spring is typically spent in preparation and the fall months are invested in harvesting. The winter months would be put to exceptional use preparing the
brand-new additions and possible movements that require to occur in the coming
months.
Working on your garden and improving your garden
does not always require operating in your garden. When you have actually those
gaps completed and a little bit of green and color in your garden for the cold
weather you can focus your undivided attention on making the coming summer the garden even much better and more amazing than ever in the past.
Beware not to plant all of your seeds in one garden the spot so to speak while you are making your plans. By this, I suggest you need to
keep a specific desire to make changes and corrections as you go and learn more
about the growing procedure and the specific gardening needs of your backyard.
Every growing season will bring a season of brand-new lessons to find out take the time to
reflect upon the lessons discovered during previous seasons when making plans
for the coming seasons and make the modifications that provide themselves along
the method.
By gaining from the mistakes of the past and always
aiming to and anticipating the needs of the future you are insuring higher
success each year for your summer garden not just throughout the canine days of
summer but throughout all the seasons of the year.
CreateA Backyard Garden Playhouse
Children love
playhouses and creating one in the garden is fun and easy and the children will
enjoy helping you create it. Your children will spend many happy summers
playing in one of these and it will become one of their fondest childhood
memories.
What You’ll Need
A nice-sized section of the garden area. Make sure
there’s room enough for the kids to play inside.
Sunflower Seeds (various types, we like very tall
ones and then smaller ones)
Various herbs (we like chamomile, lavender, mint,
basil, oregano, marigolds, and other similar herbs)
Decide what shape you want your garden playhouse to
be. You may wish to draw it out with string prior to planting your seeds.
Planting Your Playhouse
Plant your giant sunflower seeds as the outer
“walls” of your playhouse. Space them far enough apart that children can go in
between them, but close enough together that they make it appear like a secret
garden.
Plant snow peas near the tallest sunflowers. They
will grow and wind up the tall sunflowers. Children will enjoy nibbling on
these while they’re playing so be sure to show them how delicious they are.
Intersperse the herbs throughout the sunflowers and
plant smaller sunflowers in between as well. You want it to appear as if there
is a quaint little garden fence along the outer “walls” of your playhouse so be
creative and make the herbs appear to be a fence line or add pops of color here
and there.
Plant the carrots along the inside “wall” of the
tallest sunflowers. These make great snacks for hungry children while they’re
in the playhouse.
Help your children water their playhouse every day.
Talk to them about how some plants grow faster than other plants. Talk about
how some plants have edible seeds (sunflowers) and some have edible roots
(carrots) while some have edible flowers and delicious leaves.
Depending upon the age of your children, you may
wish to put some lawn furniture inside the playhouse area. We have a hammock we
like in ours.
You could make the inside like a sandcastle as well
and have a sand bucket or some “earth moving” tools like toy dump trucks etc.
Get creative and make this playhouse as personal as you can for your children.
As the season winds down and the sunflowers begin to
tip over teach your children about how to dry sunflowers. Remove the heads of
the flowers and air dry your seeds. Then toast them with some sea salt and
enjoy eating them.
Uproot the remainder of the sunflower stalks and put
them in a compost pile. Save the herbs and dry them for eating with dinner in
the winter months. Remind the children how the herbs grew in their own
playhouse.
Oregano, lavender, chamomile, and marigolds will come
back year after year so there is no need to remove these. Basil will need to be
replanted each year.
Just because you don’t have huge, elaborate gardens
do not mean you cant accentuate what you do have with l garden bridges.
Garden bridges could be just what you need to turn those mediocre garden areas
into something quite splendid.
Garden bridges can add a touch of country or formal
design to a garden. Small garden bridges are easy to find. There are many
garden bridges that you can find in garden centers or home improvement centers.
One of the best places to find small garden bridges may be online. There are
lots of sites that have many ideas for small garden bridges.
Make Your Own Garden Bridge
If you are good with a hammer and nails you may even
be able to make your own garden bridge. Plans are available at building stores
and at online sites. You will find many choices for garden bridges at these
online sites and you can also see photos of many different bridge styles.
A garden bridge can be a big benefit for your garden
space. A small garden bridge will look attractive in a smaller garden and draw
attention to a specific area.
You can choose the right small garden bridge if you
do a little planning ahead of time. If you have a smaller garden you will want
a smaller garden bridge. Look at the space you have and decide where a bridge
would fit in. Consider more than one area and then choose your favorite.
There are some lovely gardens that are small in size
but large in beauty because garden bridges have been added in just the right
places.
Vegetable
Backyard Garden for Beginners
There are
just so many benefits to growing your own fresh organic vegetables, first of
all it’s great fun, second of all it can save you money and third of all your
vegetables will taste fresh and delicious just like they did in the good old
days.
More and more people are coming around to the idea
of growing their own vegetables but don’t know where to start so here’s where
you can start – by reading this guide to vegetable backyard gardening for
beginners. Growing vegetables just might be easier than you thought; after all,
it’s really not rocket science.
Vegetable Gardening – What to Grow
Don’t get over-excited and plant lots of different
vegetables, start off small and learn as you go along. If you grow too many
vegetables (or too many of the same type of vegetables) the chances are that a
lot of them will go to waste which would be a crying shame. Think about your family
and what they will actually eat – alternatively it doesn’t harm to hand over a
few tomatoes to the neighbor every now and then, it can give you a real sense
of pride.
Remember that vegetables like tomatoes and peppers
will keep on supplying you with food for the whole season so you don’t need too
many plants. On the other hand carrots, corn and radishes are a “one supply
only” so you may need to plant more of them.
Vegetable Gardening – What about Space
You don’t actually need masses of space to grow your
own vegetables, you can even grow many vegetables quite successfully in
containers. A well-tended garden will provide you with plenty of vegetables – a 10-foot square well-tended plot will provide tons more delicious veggies than a 20-foot square plot that has veggies fighting against the weeds.
The Basic Needs of a Vegetable Gardening
Whatever size of vegetable plot you decide upon you
must remember that all veggie gardens have three basic requirements.
” Full sun – the majority of veggies are sun-loving
and will need around six or eight hours of sunlight every day for best results
– if they don’t get plenty of sunlight not only will you not get as good a crop
but they are also likely to suffer from diseases and insect attacks. Leafy
vegetables like spinach and lettuce don’t need to be grown in full sunlight and
things like peas prefer a little shade if you live in a particularly hot summer
climate.
” Water – Water, water, and more water. Vegetables
need plenty of water in order to grow so when you plan the location of your
vegetable plot remember that it will be much easier for you if it is close to a
water source – or if you have a very long hose!
” Soil – just like any other plants vegetables do
best if they have good soil. The majority of vegetables will do better in well-drained, moist soil which has plenty of peat moss or compost in it.
Follow those few basic guidelines and you will be
able to look forward to eating delicious homegrown vegetables for the whole
summer.
Add Flowering Herbs To Your Backyard Garden For
Color
Herbs are an important addition to the fruits and vegetables that we grow in our gardens.
However, they do not have to be just plain old green plants. Most flowering
herbs can more than hold their own when put up against any flower garden.
They have beautiful foliage and bright blooms. The
herbs give you a double bonus by not only looking beautiful but also being
practical as well because they can be used for your crafts or cooking needs.
Flowering Herbs In Your Backyard Garden For Color
Having a border made of flowering herbs is a great
compromise for those that have limited space because the plants serve double
duty as a perennial border as well as an herb garden. There are many easy to plant
beautiful herbs that you can use for foliage and flowers. Most of them bloom
with colors ranging from silver, pink, lavender, and bronze, as well as white
and yellow.
One of the first perennial herbs that you can use is
anise hyssop. This perennial will grow bushy clumps, having stems that branch
upright and are topped with lavender-blue flowers. These flowers will bloom
somewhere between mid to late summer.
The flowers are very attractive to beneficial
insects and pollinating bees, which in turn will benefit your entire garden.
Both the flowers and leaves of this plant are very fragrant when they are dried
or fresh and are great to use for a potpourri mix.
Bee balm is
another great flowering herb. This usually blooms in the summer with red
flowers, however, some may also come with purple, pink, or white blooms. This
herb will also spread on its own.
A delicate looking but very sturdy and easy to grow
plant is feverfew. This herb will bloom from early in the summer to early fall.
The flowers are white pedaled with yellow centers and look like mini daisies.
These plants will grow up to 2 feet tall.
The very distinctive fragrance and look of lavender
are also a great addition to your garden. The tall spikes of purple-blue flowers
sitting on very slender stalks over narrow leaves that have a silvery color
give lavender a distinctive look.
It will bloom around midsummer and makes a great
border. The only consideration for lavender is to be sure it has very good
drainage.
Meadowsweet is a great perennial herb that blooms
with white clusters of flowers during mid to late summer. Dark green large
leaves will grow in clumps and spread by creeping. You will need to divide
these plants around every 2 to 3 years to help control their spreading.
The purple
coneflower otherwise known as echinacea will produce sturdy stems in clumps
that are topped with large daisy-like rosy pink flowers that contain raised
centers that are brown and orange in color.
Using flowering herbs in your garden as a border, or
just in general, can make a great addition to the look of your garden as well
as providing great herbs for your cooking and craft needs.
A Few Handy Summer Backyard Garden Tips
The summer is
a busy time for gardeners – some plants will grow like wildfire and others will
be liable to perish under the hot summer sun. With a little TLC and plenty of water, there is no reason why every plant shouldn’t flourish and bloom in the
summer months – extra water and fertilizer is really the key to having a
beautiful backyard summer garden.
Here are a few more backyard garden tips to help you
get the most from your garden this summer.
LawnCare
” It can be a little tempting to over water lawns
during the summer months, I know, you wouldn’t think it possible but a lawn
only really needs two-three inches of water per week.
” Watering your lawn (and the rest of your garden)
early in the morning will reduce the amount of water that is lost because of
evaporation.
” You need to treat your lawn every 4 or 6 weeks
with some lawn food – the slow-release food is the best choice.
” Don’t forget to mow your lawn quite regularly. You
should mow the grass every time it has grown around half an inch to an inch
for the best results.
Flower Care
” Flower beds need to have plenty of organic mulch
to help them retain as much moisture as possible.
” Give your flower beds plenty of water – the soil
should be always moist but never soggy.
” Your flower beds will also need to be fertilized
quite regularly through the summer – at least every three or four weeks.
” Deadhead flowers to promote more bloom and new
growth – pinch back any stems which are becoming leggy.
” You may need to water newly planted flowers more
than once per day until they become established and settled in the flower bed.
Tree Care
” Trees also need lots of fertilizer to encourage
rapid growth during the summer, especially citrus fruit trees, deciduous fruit
trees, and desert trees.
” When you water these trees make sure that they
have plenty of water to around 3 inches of depth.
” If you want to plant any citrus, fruit, or desert
trees now is a good time to do it.
Summer Gardening Pests
The plants may be glad to see the summer but it is
also, the time when you have to be most vigilant against diseases and insects.
” Keep an eye on your trees and shrubs for foliage
which suddenly begins to wilt
” Branches which begin to die at the end (around 6 –
8 inches at the end) may be victims of the female cicada – she may have
selected to lay her eggs. If you can see slash marks measuring around ¼” that’s
probably the culprit – you can’t do anything to control it but the damage is
usually pretty limited.
” Prickly pear cactus is extremely susceptible to
cochineal scale – white fluffy globs – blasting them off with water jets is
usually sufficient to sort them out.
Summer is the time when most people can really enjoy
their garden and following a few of these summer gardening tips will ensure
that you have a beautiful garden to enjoy.
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