Backyard Gardening Tips

Image by Belgapixel’s via Flickr Many people may not be aware that gardening can actually harm the environment.  A large amount of carbon dioxide can be released through tilling the soil.  This contributes to global warming.  When you cultivating and compacting the soil, destroys good fungi.  Fertilizers like nitrogen and manure often leach out of the soil and pollute the water you drink.

Global warming

Did you know that the earth’s soil gives out carbon dioxide in the atmosphere 10 times more than all human activity?  This comes from the pill bugs, microbes, fungi and worms when they breathe, digest food and then die. Although in the past plants have been capable of absorbing carbon dioxide caused by small-scale tillages, this isn’t the case nowadays.
The increase of the globe’s average temperature is because of the carbon dioxide the soil emits when tilled. The good news is that tilling can be minimized by mulching or sheet composting.

Good Fungi

In untilled soil, there is beneficial fungi known as the vesicular-arbuscular-mycorrhizae or VAM for short. VAM actually forms a symbiotic relationship with plants.  Their filaments increase root hairs and provide nutrients to the plant.  They give out zinc, copper, potassium and phosphorus.  Plants provide carbohydrates for the fungi in return.  It is possible to grow a garden without tilling the sooiil at all by mulching heavily until the soil is soft and friable.

Surplus Nitrogen

Many gardeners waste nitrogen and manures; farmers do otherwise. Farmers only need a quarter to a third of nitrogen to mix with an inch of compost, horse, or cow manure.  Kate Burroughs of Sebastopol California, uses the same rule for her home-grown lettuce and sweet corns. When it comes to broccoli and pear trees, farmers only need a small amount.  Notice that gardeners apply larger amounts of compost and manure than farmers. Obviously, they are not only wasting their fertilizer but also their money.

The best gardening advice that can be given to those concerned is to do all things with moderation. Keep in mind that too little and too much of something is not healthy. This is the most valuable advice one can have in gardening.

Image via Wikipedia Knowing how to care for your flower garden can make a big difference in the look and over-all health of your plants. Here are some simple hints to make your garden bloom with health

1. The essentials must always be given major consideration.

Your flower garden must have an adequate supply of water, sunlight, and fertile soil. Any lack of these basic necessities will greatly affect the health of plants. Water the flower garden more frequently during dry spells.

When planting bulbs, make sure they go at the correct depth. When planting out shrubs and perennials, make sure that you don’t heap soil or mulch up around the stem. If you do, water will drain off instead of sinking in, and the stem could develop rot through overheating.

2. Mix and match perennials with annuals.

Perennial flower bulbs need not to be replanted since they grow and bloom for several years while annuals grow and bloom for only one season. Mixing a few perennials with annuals ensures that you will always have blooms coming on.

3. Deadhead to encourage more blossoms.

Deadheading is simply snipping off the flower head after it wilts. This will make the plant produce more flowers. Just make sure that you don’t discard the deadhead on the garden or mildew and other plant disease will attack your plants.

4. Know the good from the bad bugs.

Most garden insects do more good than harm. Butterflies, beetles and bees are known pollinators. They fertilize plants through unintentional transfer of pollen from one plant to another. 80% of flowering plants rely on insects for survival.

Sowbugs and dung beetles together with fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms are necessary to help in the decomposition of dead plant material, thus enriching the soil and making more nutrients available to growing plants.

Other insects like lacewings and dragonflies are natural predators of those insects that do the real damage, like aphis.

An occasional application of liquid fertilizer when plants are flowering will keep them blooming for longer.

Always prune any dead or damaged branches. Fuchsias are particularly prone to snapping when you brush against them. The broken branch can be potted up to give you a new plant, so it won’t be wasted.

Growing a great rose garden isn’t always the easiest thing to do so I went for a long time just ignoring the rose but today I came across this great ebook with 101 tips for growing your own rose garden. Now I can have great looking and healthy roses, just like our neighbours.

More than 25 years ago I was an employee of Sears and sold roses through their garden department. I loved that job but then computers became popular and my life changed, but that’s a story for another day.

Selling roses is how I met Patricia, who would later become our lawyer. She and her father would come in all the time and buy roses and more roses.

Now we have a home with a property big enough to enjoy some rose gardening so I am learning what I need to know so that we can have some beautiful roses as part of our flower garden.

Not everyone is comfortable growing their own roses so they don’t but this little ebook has the answers and tips that will give you the confidence to plant your own roses, care for them correctly, pruning included and even how to cut them for your own bouquet and arrangements.

Knowing how to fertilize, water and prevent diseases will give you the confidence you have lacked in the past. If this sounds like I am talking to myself well I am. We didn’t have any confidence even though I work in a garden center. They never taught me how to grow them, just to sell them.

If you have an interest in growing your own rose garden then you need to read 101 Tips for Growing and Enjoying Your Own Great Rose Garden.

Image via Wikipedia Getting ready to put in a garden can be an exciting time in the spring and determining the vegetable garden design can be part of the process of planning what vegetables to plant where in the garden. Some folks who are really dedicated to having a good crop of vegetables include raised beds in their vegetable garden design as it allows the ground to warm quicker, stay warmer longer and provide better drainage, slightly extending the growing season, no matter which part of the country in which they live.

The major factor in determining vegetable garden design is the space available for the garden. Not everyone will have a large enough plot of land to devote a major portion of it to a garden. However, it may be surprising the amount of produce that can be harvested from even a small garden. People living in apartments have been successful in raising some of the best vegetables in small patio gardens and in containers, provided they establish a vegetable garden design to make the most use of the limited space.

Other than rich soil, about the only other requirement to growing a successful garden is an abundance of sunshine. Making sure the plants receive sufficient water is also part of the equation, but with the right vegetable garden design and the right soil mixture, watering can be kept to a minimum while still providing all of the plants with the amount of water they require.

Most Sunshine Available To The South

The majority of areas above the equator receive the most sunshine from the south and a good vegetable garden design will be planted with rows running north to south. This provides sunshine to all of the plants in the garden, instead of those that are planted with rows running west to east, where the first row will have plenty of sun and the subsequent rows will be shaded from the previous rows. Planting some of the plants in small hills in the garden can have the same affect on the plants.

Many plants can be started indoors from seed, instead of having to buy starter plants, but some plants are not conducive to being transplanted and will have to be planted directly into the soil. When considering the vegetable garden design, it is important to consider how much space some plants will need compared to others, and if planting from seed, insuring the design leaves sufficient room for those growing from seed in the basement or garage.

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Image via Wikipedia I am extremely proud to be Canadian and would like to enjoy Canada for another 50 years as my first 50 some years here have been quite satisfying.

My wife and I have just recently become Canadian gardeners and are loving it so far. Things haven’t grown quite as fast as we had hoped but it’s all a new learning experience for us so we aren’t worried that much.

As Canadian gardeners we love to share what we learn with our readers and friends as well as learn from them, so don’t be shy to leave a comment when you read something that helps you or you think of something that will help us grow as gardeners.

I was raised in Ontario for the first half of my life and as a kid we had a huge garden that supplied us with goodies through out the entire year. Now that I am living in New Brunswick with a family of my own I want to learn to be a Canadian gardener just like back on the farm.

Canadian gardening has quickly become one of my favorite hobbies. I love hobbies that taste good. I guess that is why I am so nuts about fly fishing in New Brunswick as well.

I have a lot to learn about gardening in Canada but I am willing to learn and each year we learn more and do a better job.

Unfortunately this year didn’t turn out so great as far as gardening goes. We have had nothing but rain, which destroyed most of what we started in our garden before it had a chance to become strong enough to survive.

Next year we will start our plants inside and put them out each day for a bit to climatize them and strengthen they stems and roots.

Canadian Gardening Tip

I guess what we have learned this year is to plant earlier and to have better drainage. The amount of rain we have had this year showed us pretty quick what happens to flowers and vegetable gardens when the water just keeps getting deeper. Maybe we should have planted rice this year.

In the plans, already, for next year are raised beds.