Backyard Gardening Tips

Have you even gone to your local garden supply center only to be completely overwhelmed by all the selections? We certainly have, especially the summer of 2008.

We were ready to start planting and had all these plans to have a great flower garden and vegetable garden in our backyard this year but when we got to the garden center there was so much to choose from it was just too hard to decide.

We ended up just getting a few things and coming back another day. Being less prepared that we thought we were cost us money and time because we had to return to do it right and on our first trip we bought things that we really didn’t need.

We are already planning our backyard garden for next year so we know what we want and why we want it. We have also added eBay into the mix. We can buy certain garden supplies on eBay and get great prices.

I think the biggest part of our confusion was due to poor planning on our part. We didn’t take into consideration the height of plants and where they would need to be located for the best lighting conditions.

We have two grape vines growing on our backyard garden fence and it became very clear how important the lighting conditions are. One vine gets the early morning sun while the other gets the afternoon sun. Totally suprising to me was the fact the one getting early morning sun and shade all afternoon has grown twice as large as the one getting the sun all afternoon and evening.

Poor planning just makes for a so-so backyard garden and that’s what we have so far this years, a so-so very ordinary flower garden.

Our plan for next year’s flower and vegetable garden includes a drawing of our front yard and back yard along with the location of trees, shrubs and bushes and buildings that cast shadows on our property.

We now have a gardening book that shows us tons of trees, shrubs, bushes and flowers. They are all displayed so that we can see their height, color, lighting requirements and more. This is giving us a much better idea of what we want for each garden area.

I am sure we will save a bunch of money over the winter by finding and buying affordable garden supplies on eBay . When there is no rush to get the job done. That is where we spend more money that we should, on those last minute purchases we didn’t plan for.

Instead of being limited due to financial commitments we can buy for less and then buy more and that makes my wife and myself extremely happy gardeners.

Living on the east coast of Canada we don’t have have to deal with poisonous snakes or spiders but if you looked at my wife when she is in the garden you would think we have something she is protecting herself from. Well really she has very sensitive skin and burns easily but I love to tease her. Here is an article I thought you would like.

My sister is one of the most overcautious, over prepared people I have ever met. She won’t even step out into her garden without gardening gloves, a hat, extra sunscreen, overalls, heavy boots, and a host of other protective gear! She says that she is scared of poisonous spiders that live in the area, but in reality the spiders are so rare that there is almost no chance of getting bitten. On the other hand, up until recently, I had never put on a gardening glove in my life. Spending time in my garden was a great way to just enjoy the weather, feeling the texture of the different plants against my hands and the dirt beneath my feet. I figured that garden gloves would ruin the experience for me, so I put up with the occasional sting from a thistle. It seemed like a small price to pay for communing with nature.

Then one day, I found a new weed in my garden. It had fine, hair like spines on it’s stem, but they looked so thin that I figured they would not do anything to me. I didn’t bother to put on a gardening glove, but instead just grabbed for the thistle. At first, nothing happened. I pulled it out, threw it on the weed pile, and kept on working. Soon, however, I started to notice an itchy feeling in my hand. I ignored it for a while, but it got worse and worse. When I looked at it, my hand was all swollen up. Whatever I had pulled out had stung me bad! I was getting an allergic reaction to it, and it was so bad that I considered going to the hospital.

Since then, you can bet that I was keep a gardening glove nearby! I don’t wear them every day, but when I am doing serious weeding, I put my gloves on. The gardening gloves are just another tool that is available to you, and like all tools, it has its uses. I still firmly believe that some gardening should be done without a gardening glove. You can learn a lot from the texture of the dirt, the feel of your plants, and other sensations you get while gardening. But sometimes, garden gloves are completely indispensable. After all, weeds have some good adaptations to stop you from pulling them out. The only way to beat their stingers and strong roots is with a trowel and a gardening glove.

If you have a gardener on your gift list, you might want to get them gardening tools for Christmas or whatever holiday it is that you celebrate. Though you may think it an odd gift to give in the middle of the winter, you will find that they will love that you thought to get them something they might need. A gardener is always in need of new stuff, and there are always new things on the market that they may enjoy getting as a gift on any special occasion.

Gardening tools can range in price from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars. Since you probably aren’t going to buy something for a few thousand dollars, you might want to stick to the lower end of the totem pole. Those lower priced gardening tools are the ones they need to replace the most often, however, so they really are the way to go. Tools break, rust, or just plain bend sometimes, and they are things that get replaced often. These are items that are also easily lost, or may have been borrowed by neighbors and never returned.

An example of some of the most popular gardening tools might be hose. Though you may think they must surely have a hose already, do you know if they have one that they like? Are they having problems with it? Do you know that there are new kinds of hoses on the market? There are, and these gardening tools seem to be improving as they years go by. You can get flat hoses, and even accessories that make using and storing a hose much easier. Some help with storing the hose by rolling it up, and there are also guides that stop a hose from running over the flowers and veggies as you pull it through the garden.

Other gardening tools you may want to consider are kneeling pads or perhaps a storage unit. When someone has a lot of gardening tools, they need somewhere to hang them. You can find organizers rather easily, and they can work in almost any shed or garden. You may already know if they have one of these, and if they don’t, you have just thought of the perfect gift. Just make sure it fits into their storage space. If you aren’t sure, just look around and see what is going on. If you see a mess of tools and supplies scattered about, they need the gift of organization.