Garden Tips

If you’re looking for a garden tool for the gardener who has everything then look no further. The new Bosch Keo Cordless Garden Saw is one power tool that any gardener will find useful.

While its main usage is designed for pruning trees and shrubs this dynamo pocket-rocket can handle a myriad of tasks. Powered by a 10.8V Li-Ion battery and weighing just over 1 kilogram, finding applications for this nifty gadget will be a source of pleasure.

Using the Bosch Keo Cordless Garden Saw

So, let’s start with its primary function – pruning.

Pruning with the Bosch Keo

One of the Keo’s many helpful functions is the fact that this cordless garden saw is just that – cordless. It allows you to drift around the garden without having to ensure you’re within reach of an external power point or that you’re not extending the limits of your electrical cord.

While that may be reason enough for any gardener to contemplate rushing out and buying one the “icing on the cake” is the helpful “A-grip” that attaches/detaches from the main body as desired. This device aids the saw from vibrating off a branch while you’re in the process of cutting its limb. Its teeth-like grip holds onto the branch ensuring your safety and making sure that the unsupported limb doesn’t bounce the saw away from the initial cut. If you’ve ever had trouble with this while using a hand-held pruning saw you can imagine how difficult the task might be with a power tool – hence the “A-grip”.

Here are some gardening tips on when is the best time to prune your trees and shrubs.

Safety Issues With This Cordless Garden Saw

Another advantage of this cordless saw is its ease to add and adjust the blade. Its SDS System ensures that you don’t need to play around with spanners, screwdrivers or any other tool to adjust a blade. It’s as easy as “plug and play” – maybe even easier. The blade just slots into the rotating mechanism and once in place allows the saw to operate as expected.

Now you may be forgiven for considering that surely safety hasn’t been considered if it’s as easy to attach/detach a blade from a cordless garden saw like this. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The Keo doesn’t engage until both the trigger and a safety switch are pressed synchronously – hats off to anyone (including a child) who can do that accidentally!

Other Uses for the Keo Garden Saw

The benefit of the detachable “A-grip” and blade means that the Keo can be used for a raft of other projects. Replacing the standard wood blade with a metal blade allows you to cut through metal sheet, tubing and other metal products. With another quick change the plaster blade allows you to slice through Gyprock™, plasterboard and even thin wall sheeting.

It truly is the multi-purpose tool for any garden that will make many of your current power tools, and even a few hand tools, superfluous from now on.

Is the Bosch Keo Worth a Place In The Garden Shed?

First, it’s a Bosch so you know it’s a quality tool.

Second, because it runs on a Li-Ion battery (no need for discharging meaning its life is increased) it offers unparalleled benefits for using in the garden.

And finally, because it has the ability to replace many of those fading tools in your shed this has got to be one multi-purpose garden saw that demands further inspection – at least.

This post came from Gardening Tips ‘n Ideas - Gardening tips, gardening info and heaps of ideas to help gardeners of all experience get more out of their hobby and out of their gardens.

Hydroponic gardening can be a great way to grow vegetables, flowers, and other types of plants. It allows gardeners to control every aspect of their plant’s growth, allows higher plant yields, and helps prevent the spread of fungus and other plant diseases.

Hydroponic gardening is an efficient way to grow vegetables

Instead of using soil, hydroponic gardening uses a liquid to provide nutrients and minerals to plants. Most hydroponic gardening rooms use a combination of water pumps, nutrient release timers, and artificial lights to provide optimal growing conditions.

Equipment Needed for Hydroponic Gardening

A hydroponic garden requires several types of equipment: a water pump, liquid reservoir, runoff plumbing, irrigation plumbing, a timer system, and specialized plant holders.

Place plants in a container that allows a steady flow of nutrient-rich water. These containers can be designed for a single plant, or for several plants. A long trough will allow many plants to run off the same plumbing line, while individual hydroponic plant pots will require specialized plumbing.

Each plant container requires an intake and drainage pipe. The intake pipe will provide fresh nutrients and oxygen to a plants roots, while the drainage pipe will allow excessive runoff to return to a central reservoir. The central reservoir serves as a storage tank for liquid nutrients, allowing them to be refiltered before being pumped back to plants.

Each drainage line should flow back to the central tank. A drainage line can be made of any type of piping, preferably PVC or plastic. Pipes that can bend are often easier to work with, as many gardens will require equipment to be relocated.

All excess runoff should drain back to the central reservoir tank. In the central tank, a filter cleans the water of any debris or organic material. Many gardeners use an aquarium filter with a charcoal cleaner pump to filter nutrient water in a reservoir tank.

The reservoir tank also contains a pumping apparatus for supplying fresh water and nutrients to plants. The intake line from this pump runs to each plant container, allowing constant water circulation around each plant’s roots. As the plant container fills with nutrient water, excess liquid flows through the overflow, and into the drainage line.

Important Tips for Keeping Plants Healthy

A hydroponic garden does offer many benefits over traditional solid-matter gardening, but it does require more work. A plant’s roots are delicate, and require constant exposure to moisture. If the roots of a plant dry out, it can result in the death of a plant. In addition, minerals can crystallize on a root as it dries, preventing the plant from absorbing water in the future.

Plant roots must always be exposed to water. It’s important to keep a hydroponic pump running at all times: if water in a plant container stagnates, it can lead to the growth of fungus and mildew. In addition, fresh water provides oxygen to a plant’s roots, helping it grow bigger and stronger.

It’s also a good idea to use large-diameter piping when building a hydroponic garden. Small diameter pipes can clog, leading the death of any plants that rely on it’s water. Try to use at least a 3 cm pipe to ensure adequate water circulation. Drainage pipes should be at least 5 cm in diameter.

It’s also important to check the pH, hardness, and alkalinity of any water used in a hydroponic garden. While hydroponics can yield faster crop cycles and larger yields, they are sensitive to small differences in water quality. A pool testing kit can be used to help ensure water is in the optimal range for plant growth. Many plants have different optimal requirements, so it’s important to research a plant species to determine what type of water works best.

Choosing a Plant Food

Always use a liquid fertilizer designed for hydroponic gardens. Since a plant has to receive all it’s nutrients from water, it’s essential to use a comprehensive fertilizer. This will provide trace elements and minerals, many of which aren’t found in traditional fertilizers.

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Creating a flagstone patio is a relatively easy do-it-yourself project that can usually be tackled and completed in a weekend. While some patios call for tricky, involved concrete pours, this patio uses only water and sand to create. There is very little maintenance for flagstones, as it does not shift or crack and damaged stones are easily replaces.

Here is how to create the perfect patio:

Clear and Outline the Area

You’re going to rake out the desired patio site, so try to pick a mainly level, smooth area and rake until the soil is evenly distributed. Get rid of any grass or other debris so you can lay the patio on dirt alone — there shouldn’t be any plants or weeds because they tend to peek through the stones. Outline the desired shape of the patio with spray paint to define your area. You can also mark the outline string or rubber tubing. Since flagstones come in all different shapes and sizes, a site with curved edges is a better place to lay a patio than one with straight lines.

Rake and Excavate the Site

You’re going to dig out 2 or 3 inches of soil from the patio site by using a level and then using a piece of wood (2 x 4) to smooth out the surface. This will ensure your patio will be even with the rest of your yard once it is finished. Putting the flagstones down 2 or 3 inches lets it be even with your yard once it’s put in, so be sure to grade the site as evenly as you can.

Put in a Base Layer of Sand

The flagstones will sit atop sand, so you’re going to pour sand into the excavated hole, about an inch from the highest edge. Rake this area until it is smoothed out using the 2 x 4 once again. It’s recommended that you use “washed sand” for the patio, as it won’t retain as much water — it’s available for purchase at most soil yards.
Then water the sand with a garden hose until it is moistened and pack the sand using a wooden board or hand tamper if you have one.

Position the Flagstone

Place the flagstones on your patio site, beginning at the outer edges and working your way towards the middle. You can pick the color of flagstone you want to use, as it comes in brown, tan, blue and red. Position the bigger pieces first, and then fill in the spaces with the smaller flagstone pieces. Double check with the level of your yard when placing the stones to make sure it is even. You should position the stones one to two inches apart on every side, making sure you keep the gaps between consistent throughout the patio. As you place a stone, manipulate it to ensure the sand totally covers the bottom of the stone on every side.

Fill in the Cracks

You can pulverize bigger pieces of flagstone to fill in any leftover gaps by crushing it with a mallet or chisel. Place the pieces in a bucket and pour the crushed flagstones into any gaps you wish to fill. Experts also recommend using decomposed granite, which is crushed rock and can be purchased in a tan shade, as a gap filler. Decomposed granite locks the flagstone pieces together, which in turn creates a solidified patio area. When you pour, make sure to force the decomposed granite into each gap, eliminating any air gaps. Afterwards, sweep the excess decomposed granite into any remaining gaps.

Hose Down the Patio and Fill Again

Using a hose, gently water down the whole patio. This will make the decaying granite sink in and stay firmly in place. Repeat these two steps until the decayed granite is even with the flagstone.

And now you have a beautiful flagstone patio that is easy to maintain and looks great.

Photo source: mattbuck4950

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Once established, blackberry plants can grow like weeds. The best varieties require a bit of planning and preparation to get started, but avid gardeners will find the effort worthwhile at harvest time. Nothing quite matches the sweet, juicy taste of fresh blackberries.

The Juicy Blackberry Plant

Blackberries are best grown in areas with cool or cold winters. Planting them from seed is possible, but for a quicker harvest, most people plant bare-root plants. In the coldest areas, upright, stiff-caned varieties can be grown. In areas with warmer winters, trailing types do best. Follow these simple tips to grow blackberries successfully.

Soil Preparation

All blackberries require a deep, well-drained soil, full sun and ample water throughout the growing season. Avoid sites where the soil remains wet late into the fall. Compost should be worked deeply into the soil before planting, as the plants grow best in a soil rich with organic matter. Several days before planting, a balanced fertilizer should be worked into the soil as well.

Blackberries prefer a neutral or slightly acidic soil, with a pH of 7.0 or below. A soil’s pH can be easily determined with an inexpensive test kit, available at most garden centres. If the soil is alkaline, above 7.0 on the pH scale, common sulfur, ferrous sulfate or aluminum sulfate can be used to raise the acidity, although regularly-applied organic soil amendments, such as manure and compost, will lower the pH over time. If the soil is too acidic, ground limestone will raise the pH.

Plant blackberry plants at the first sign of spring, when the soil has warmed and temperatures are mild. Since the plants grow from the base of the crown, some type of physical support is needed to keep them from sprawling. Trailing types are best grown on trellis. Upright varieties benefit from support as well. Set plants 1 to 2 metres apart with a 1½-metre trellis or post next to each plant. For upright varieties, run a wire along the top of the posts and train the branches along the wire. Bare-root plants will take 2 to 4 weeks for the roots to become established.

Pruning

While the roots of blackberries are perennial, the canes are biennial, appearing and growing one year, flowering and bearing fruit the next. Only 1-year-old canes should be trained on the trellis or wire. All the canes that fruited the previous season should be pruned back to the crown of the plant.

Prune canes of the current season growing on the trellis to 1 to 2½ metres. Thin out all but 12 to 16 sturdy canes. These canes will produces side branches, called laterals, during the remainder of the growing season. Cut the side branches back to 30 centimetres, or about 12 buds, in the early spring. With new spring growth, small branches will grow from the side branches. These will be the branches that bear fruit.

Care of Blackberry Plants

Covering the soil around the crown of the plants with a rich, organic mulch will help keep the plants free of diseases and pests, as well as help control weeds. Blackberries can quickly become invasive if left unattended. Remove suckers whenever they appear.

Plants should be fertilized with a commercial fertilizer several times each year. In the coldest areas, plants should be fed when the plant blossoms. In warmer regions, the plants will do better with periodic feeding. Feed once when new growth begins, again in mid-spring and a third time in the middle of the summer.

Blackberry Pests

Red-berry mites, spider mites and whitefly are sometimes a problem with blackberry plants. To control mites, apply a dormant spray containing lime sulfur in winter and again as buds are about to bloom.

Plants started from bare root can be expected to produce fruit the third year after planting. While the canes bloom biennially, by properly pruning older canes each season, plants will produce a bountiful harvest each year.

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Testing the soil on a yearly basis is important for productive gardening. Poor soils, or soils that are not appropriate for a particular species of plant will always bring a lower than expected yield to next year’s harvest. There are many different ways to analyze soil. Hiring a professional is certainly one way to do it. In today’s ‘do-it-yourself’ world, more people are testing their own garden soils.

Soil Testing Is As Easy As Probing The Soil

When to Test

The best time to check the nutrients, the porosity and the acidity-alkalinity (pH) of any soil is once the growing season is over and the harvest is complete. Before sowing your seeds in the spring is another good time to check certain soil factors.

Turning the soil over increases its porosity and allows for water to permeate the ground more readily. This permits plants to receive needed water without over-saturating the ground and also allows the plants the space necessary to fully grow. Turning the soil and adding some fresh soil is important and needs to be done just before planting season. Test the new soil before adding it to the ground.

What to Test

• Checking the Texture and Structure of Soil: The structure of the soil is determined by a combination of sand, silt and clay which all refer to particle size that make up soil texture. The proper mixture will provide you with a soil that easily crumbles, yet holds together when squeezed. Clay sticks together and has a low permeability and porosity that tends to deter drainage. The appropriate mix will contain enough large sand and moderate size silt particles. Select a handful in your test area. See how it crumbles and responds when wet. Common sense is your best test. A good soil allows for good drainage, enough pores to contain oxygen and microbial activity. If the soil does not hold together, there is too much sand or too many silt size particles. If there is too much compaction, then there is too much clay in the mix.

• Check Color: Dark soils are usually rich in nutrients, while light brown soils are indicative of heavily leached soil and clay content.

• Check pH of soil at different spots according to what you intend to plant: pH is the measure of hydrogen ion activity of any substance, with this being a measure of acidity or alkalinity. Home test kits will provide a color chart that shows a scale of 1-14. Number 7 on the test scale reads neutral, while the lower the number, the more acidic the soil and the higher the more alkaline. Different plants require a different degree of acidity or alkalinity; that is why it is vital to test each area of your garden. If soil is too acidic, add lime. If it is too alkaline then add sulfur.

Where to Get Soil Testing Kits

Most hardware, lawn and garden shops and stores that sell products for the home have a variety of soil testing kits available for the home gardener. It is good to do the test yourself as you can ‘see’ what the tests are showing for your garden. When you receive results from a professional service, you obtain your information from an outside source. Professional testing does not allow for ‘hands-on’ experience and overall learning about something that is important to you.

When your garden is vital to you, it is best to know exactly what it needs to grow and thrive. When your various types of gardens are tested and cared-for appropriately, they will produce more flowers and food supplies, in addition to having a more colorful and healthy appearance. A garden requires a lot of work in the establishment phase as well as the various maintenance stages, so you really want it to be as grand as possible. Soil testing will allow you to stand back and view your garden with both pride and pleasure.

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Admit it: You’ve had at least one landscaping project go terribly wrong, haven’t you? It happens to every gardener eventually.

What’s important is having a good sense of humour about it. Like the hair on your head that you cut too short or dyed an unflattering colour, even the most complicated landscaping projects can be undone, redone or seeded over.

Landscaping Disasters Can Happen To Any Garden

Whether the plants all died because you put too much of something in the soil, they fell over because you didn’t secure them in the ground or they simply looked much less appealing than you were expecting, making mistakes is part of the Australian gardening experience.

Have you ever planted garlic bulbs thinking they were flower bulbs? That’s what Arianne, one of the members of the Gardening Channel forum did. Another person in the forum mentions being surprised that her bulbs never came up until she found that her son had planted them all upside down.

Really, though, a few misplaced bulbs is nothing compared to some of the landscaping mistakes people make.

Associated Content writer Philip Theibert suggests that landscaping with old cars and not mowing your grass so you can establish a natural prairie are two of the biggest landscaping mistakes. He doesn’t like pet cemeteries or old political campaigns signs in otherwise perfectly nice gardens either. Who does?

Big mistakes give you big credentials, however, perhaps proving you’re a fully qualified experimental garden or maybe even a modern artist if things turn out just right.

Landscaping, after all, is a creative process. Like with science and baking, though, too much creativity dramatically lessens the chances of a successful outcome.

Still, even making mistakes is fun, isn’t it? As long as you don’t have to call the fire brigade or a psychotherapist, you’re well within the bounds of reasonable behaviour.

Photo source: Renaud Camus

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Even for environmentally conscious consumers, composting may seem like a step too far. Most people have learned to recycle, but the added complexity of a kitchen compost bin seems like too much of a hassle. Fortunately, composting is actually quite easy to do; many people find composting food scraps to be simpler than adding decomposing waste to an ordinary kitchen trash can. With the proper equipment, a compost bin should not smell bad or make a mess in a kitchen. Composting can reduce a household’s waste and save money.

What is Compostable?

The Humble Kitchen Compost Bin Gives Your More Options To Compost

Many people who are considering keeping a kitchen compost bin are dissuaded by the fact that they don’t know what can go into a compost bin. Most vegetable products can be composted with no problems; some animal products are also compostable. Ideally, anyone should be able to compost the following items:

• Flour and grain products like bread, cookies, rice and pasta
• Vegetable scraps such as rinds, trimmings, cores and pulp
• Coffee grounds and tea bags
• Crushed egg shells
• Expired spices

Food scraps can be composted even when they are moldy or partially eaten.

Some composting experts will also suggest composting meat, fish, oils and cheese. Others recommend against putting these products in a compost bin. Since these foods smell particularly unpleasant when they decay at room temperature, they may attract maggots or other vermin. Meat and cheese products may also alter the chemical composition of compost. Since some plants are finicky about the soil in which they grow, it is best to leave these products out of a compost bin. These items can be thrown in the kitchen trashcan.

For those who want to invest in a larger outdoor bin, certain paper products are compostable. Yard waste is also ideal for creating compost. Fallen leaves, cut grass and plant trimmings can all go into a compost bin.

What are the Benefits of Composting?

Avid gardeners may already be using a product similar to homemade compost to fertilize their yards. Although plants get their energy from the sun, they soak up the majority of the nutrients they need through their roots. Many popular household plants will fail to thrive in soil that is nutrient-poor. Compost can be mixed with ordinary soil to produce a nutrient-rich growing medium. While compost is not an ideal growing medium on its own, it can be mixed with nearly any type of soil.

Some gardeners prefer to make a concentrated liquid extract from their compost. After steeping kitchen compost or yard waste in water for several days, gardeners will drain off the liquid and use it to spray plants. This surface spray can dissuade harmful fungi from feeding on garden plants.

These homemade products are a cheap alternative for gardeners. Fungus sprays and organic potting soils with added nutrients can be costly and need to be bought each growing season. Compost can add nutrients to soil and keep plants safe at no cost to gardeners.

Composting food scraps will keep this waste material out of landfills. When food products break down in a sealed trash bag, they create potent greenhouse gasses like methane. Eco-conscious composters who live in apartments or houses without gardens can donate their compost to small farms. Some municipalities will take compost directly to farmers if the scraps are kept in an appropriate bin.

What Should an Ideal Kitchen Compost Bin Look Like?

In a kitchen composting situation, odor control is vital. A kitchen compost bin should come with a well-fitted lid that can prevent the smell of food scraps from permeating the entire room. Since most people have their hands full while cooking, this bin should have a foot pedal lid opener or a hinged lid that slides open easily. A detached lid will prove difficult to use while cooking. Outdoor compost bins usually come with detached lids so their contents can pour out easily.

Since food scraps are not the majority of a household’s trash, many people prefer to use a small metal or plastic bin that can fit in a kitchen corner or under a sink. In a kitchen where a large amount of waste is produced, a larger trashcan may also work as a composting bin. Restaurant kitchens and cafeterias will need bigger bins. Since waste at a large restaurant is emptied nightly, these bins may not need to have lids that seal perfectly.

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It’s a sign of a real gardener, isn’t it? That shed crammed to the rafters with black plastic pots and never-opened seed catalogues is surely a requirement to be taken seriously as a gardener.

Hoarding, after all, is the Australian way, isn’t it? At least it seems that way.

A Little Too Much Stuff In Your Shed?

Television programs from as far away as America and the UK take us into the homes of people whose hoarding addictions seriously impact their lives, but here in Australia, we pack everything away in our garden sheds along with the onions we forgot to bring in the house to eat.

A writer for the Timaru Herald over in New Zealand wrote a piece in January about a shed that would make any hoarder proud. Like most garden sheds, it contained a nearly endless supply of plastic seedling containers as well as pieces of outdoor games that are too badly damaged to use again.

The writer suggested, however, that if the United States ever plans to use Agent Orange again to strip the leaves from an entire country, this shed had the hardware necessary to do the job. That’s a well-stocked shed.

May Dreams Gardens blogger, Carol recently wrote about an article she read in a newspaper concerning bulb hoarding. As it turns out, the article was about people collecting old-fashioned light bulbs before they stop making them, but it set her mind racing. It seems she planned to start hoarding flower bulbs if everyone else was doing it.

Even for the tidiest among us, is there such a thing as an uncluttered garden shed? It takes a lot of equipment to garden properly and to live grandly, and there are always going to be things left over. They have to go somewhere, don’t they? Throwing things away just seems wrong.

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Anyone who has a garden knows that some plants only thrive when they are properly supported. Many garden centers carry metal and wire cages to use for this purpose, but a better alternative is using bamboo canes.

Stake Your Plants with Bamboo Canes

Why Bamboo?

Bamboo is a green material and is also a fully renewable resource. In addition to that it looks gorgeous in the garden as an accent and is sturdy enough to hold up tomato plants with plenty of ripening fruit. Bamboo is easy to adapt to a variety of uses and situations. It can easily be sawed in order to adjust its length and it comes in many different diameters. With the proper equipment it is possible for gardeners to bend and shape bamboo into curved shapes to make a border or other decorative accent in their garden. Bamboo is also a durable resource. It can withstand winter weather for several seasons and will not need to be replaced very often. All of these features make bamboo a very environmentally friendly material.

How to Use Bamboo Canes in the Garden

Many people use bamboo canes to help stake up the stem of a plant. These plants are top heavy and they can spoil the view in the garden by flopping onto the ground. To solve this a bamboo cane can be driven into the soil next to the plant. The stem can be gently tied to the bamboo cane with a piece of cloth or a length of rope. Hemp rope is an excellent and green option for fastening the stem to the cane.

When fastening a plant to a bamboo cane it’s important not to tie the plant to the stake too tightly. The plant still needs room to grow while it is staked. Also, a plant tied too tightly to the bamboo may break off in a strong breeze. Use a light touch and top heavy plants will be healthy and look spectacular.

Bamboo Tripods & Teepees

It’s even possible to fashion a tripod with bamboo canes. Doing so is very easy and quickly provides a strong support system for climbing plants. A bamboo teepee can be fashioned by driving three different bamboo stakes into the ground around the plant. Fasten the tops of all three stakes together using rope or twine. Anyone growing pole beans in their vegetable garden or clematis in their flower garden can make excellent use of this simple technique. As the plants grow they will naturally climb the canes and receive adequate support.

People who have grown tomatoes in the past know they can be a somewhat tricky topic. Wire cages are the traditional answer to helping to hold up the plants as they bear their fruit, but sometimes they are not entirely successful. For real security for tomato plants use a wire cage, but surround it with bamboo poles. Tie the poles and the wire cage together to make the sturdiest tomato plant support ever.

Gardeners who favor dinner plate dahlias have long recognized the superiority of bamboo in the garden. Even people who love hollyhocks have made use of this versatile material. When dealing with a clump of plants it is possible to create a growing grid of bamboo poles. The clump of plants can be surrounded by several bamboo stakes. Using twine, hemp rope or a similar material create a grid by tying the stakes together. Use the twine to criss-cross the plants and circle them. This will make a creative and thriving display of blooms.

Gardeners who appreciate organic practices will love the versatility and utility of bamboo in the garden. It’s another green addition to the garden that includes a compost heap, organic fish fertilizer and an absence of chemicals. Bamboo’s many uses and its natural beauty make it a sensible choice for gardeners all over the globe. Using it in the garden is also an Earth friendly practice that is easily and quickly renewable.

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While everyone may not have room for full-sized vegetable gardening, many can find a spot in a patio, balcony or rooftop for container vegetable gardening. Even a single container planted with vegetables can provide a bountiful harvest, enough to feed a family of six or host a dinner for six friends.

Growing Food For Your Family Is One Reason Gardeners Are Turning To Container Vegetable Gardening

What You’ll Need To Start Container Vegetable Gardening Sunlight

Most vegetables need at least six hours of full sunlight every day to grow properly. Cool season plants like lettuce, celery and broccoli can get by on a bit less. Setting containers on caddies allows them to be easily moved towards the sun.

Containers

Most vegetables require a pot that is at least 45 centimetres deep and 60 centimetres wide. If you don’t have space for large containers, you can still grow shallow root plants, such as lettuce, radishes and peppers, in smaller containers or window boxes. Remember to consider total weight when choosing a container. A pot filled with wet soil can be heavy.

Soil

Using a soilless potting soil with time-released fertilizer is the easiest way to ensure that your vegetables get the water and nutrients they need. Soilless potting mixes contain a mix of ingredients like compost, perlite, vermiculite and sphagnum peat that help soil absorb and retain water and nutrients. A soilless mix also helps protect vegetables from bacteria and insects.

Fertilizer

Choosing a soil mix with time-released fertilizer helps vegetables to get a head start, but you’ll want to supplement it with application of fish emulsion every few weeks.

Water

Drip irrigation systems set on automatic timers can make container gardening a breeze, and ensure that plants get all the water they need. If you’re going to hand water vegetables, you need to make sure that the soil never completely dries out. Check the soil each morning by sticking your finger into the dirt. If the soil is dry past your first knuckle, it’s time to water.

Choose A Combination of Vegetables

Just about any vegetable can be grown in a container, from favorites like tomatoes and peppers, to root vegetables like potatoes and carrots. When it comes to selecting plants for container vegetable gardening, choosing vegetables with a meal in mind can help narrow down the list. While herbs don’t fall into the vegetable family, including one or two in your planting can help flavor the final dish. Some plants do best on their own in containers, such as potatoes that need space for their tubers to develop.

Several factors need to be considered when growing a number of vegetables in one large container. While many vegetables grow well together, avoid growing those in the same plant family that will compete for the same nutrients. All plants should share the same basic watering and fertilizing schedule. Choosing plants that vary in height and habit helps each plant get its share of sunlight, and provides a more decorative display. Including a trellis for climbers can help extend growing space.

Italian Cooking

Tomatoes, green peppers, chives and basil are a perfect combination for vegetable gardening in containers. Not only will this combination provide ingredients for aromatic Italian sauces, the plants group together beautifully. Providing a wire cage for the tomato plant helps keep the plant’s growth compact.

Salad Gardening

Lettuce prefers moist, well-draining soil. Herbs like mint and parsley do, too. Grow them together with spinach and chives to provide a variety of choices for salads.

Soups and Side Dishes

Beans, carrots and butternut or acorn squash provide a visual punch in containers, and provide the main ingredients for hearty soups or colorful side dishes, too. Bean plants need to climb. They do well with a trellis, although they will happily wind up a couple of stakes laced with string as well.

Harvest vegetables right before you begin cooking your meal for six. Your friends and family will be delighted by the flavor of fresh-picked vegetables from your container garden.

Photo source: Sheryl Westleigh

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The Bonsai is more than a small tree in a pot. It is a work of art. It is an elegant labor of love. It is the centerpiece of any room. Provided, of course, the pot was chosen with the same care that is taken in sculpting the Bonsai. Here are some tips to help you choose the right bonsai pots for your prized small trees.

The Age of the Tree

How recently your Bonsai was transplanted into a pot will impact the size pot that can be used. An old Bonsai, fully trained, is well adapted to living in a small container. After being repotted and root-pruned over the course of several years, these trees will survive nicely in small pots.

Bonsai Pots Frame Your Ornamental Bonsais

Younger trees, however, have not yet adapted to the compact living quarters they are being trained for. They still want to spread their roots and demand more space. Putting a young, untrained tree into a small pot will result in the tree withering and even dying. Allow them the space they need at first, gradually working your way to smaller pots as the tree ages and adjusts to its new surroundings.

Bonsai Pots Progression

Bonsai trees will start out in larger pots to allow the tree time to grow accustomed to life in a pot. With each root pruning, the tree can be transferred to a smaller vessel. In the early stages of the process, you will want to choose inexpensive pots. Look at the price and the size without worry too much about the actual aesthetics. Think of these as training pots. They are not the end goal, but rather they are temporary vessels that will soon lose their usefulness for that tree.

As the root prunings encourage a more compact root system, the pot used can become smaller. Now is the time to begin choosing pots based on their beauty and individual elegance. This is the moment when you can begin investing in more expensive pots that will truly showcase your magnificent Bonsai.

General Bonsai Guidelines

Which pot is right for your tree will depend largely on your personal tastes. However, there are some general guidelines that you can follow. Many people choose to put conifers and pine trees into unglazed pots. Deciduous trees can be placed in pots that are glazed or unglazed. However, it is recommended that you save pots with bright colors and a beautiful glaze for trees that will bear fruit or flowers and provide balance to the pot.

Bonsai Pot Sizing

Many people wonder what size pot they should use for each Bonsai tree. Keep in mind that you are encouraging the root system to grow more compact and live in smaller quarters. For this reason, try to choose pots that are smaller than the tree seems to need. A general rule of thumb is that the pot should be 2/3 of the tree’s height. The depth should be only one to two times the diameter of the tree’s trunk at the base.

Consider The Shape Of Your Bonsai Pots

A pot with sharp angles and solid lines will create a masculine look. Choosing a pot with rounded edges and graceful curves will create a more feminine feel to the Bonsai tree.

Balance

Bonsai is all about balance and the tree. The careful trimming is meant to create a tree that flows and moves in a controlled manner. The pruning that is done with such patience and care sculpts an artistic design that lives, breathes and changes over time. The pot is secondary to the tree, always. While you want to choose something attractive to compliment the tree, Bonsai pots themselves should never be the focus.

Bonsai is a relaxing and enjoyable hobby. An excellent stress-reliever, the tiny trees and graceful shapes add elegance and refinement to any environment. Choose your new bonsai pots carefully, always keeping the tree in mind. Choose pots that you love and that your tree will be able to thrive in.

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A beautiful garden is a joy, but it requires continual maintenance. And maintenance requires tools and other supplies. Which requires storage, ideally a cheap garden shed. Since most of us don’t have rolls of spare cash lying about, the foremost question becomes which are the cheapest garden sheds available? A difficult question to answer, as a cheap garden shed for one person’s needs may be an extravagant luxury for another’s requirements.

Are The Cheapest Garden Sheds DIY?

Choosing the Cheapest Garden Sheds

The items stored in the shed, as well as the size of the site, determine how large a shed you may need. Sheds come in all sizes from small units that fit against the side of a building, to structures large enough to serve as garages or workshops.

Regardless of size, the cheapest garden sheds are those made from PVC plastic. They have some additional advantages, such as being very easy to assemble and requiring little site preparation. Most plastic sheds are made with floor panels, so a foundation or other flooring isn’t necessary. Assembly is very easy for most plastic sheds, and the parts are light enough for one person to handle.

Another reason to choose plastic for your cheap garden shed is maintenance. For plastic, there isn’t any! Plastic can be molded and colored to add architectural flourishes that would be very expensive in wood and impossible in metals, so a plastic shed may blend in with your home’s design more easily.

There are some trade-offs for choosing PVC plastic, however. Even ultraviolet-stabilized PVC will eventually degrade and become faded or brittle under harsh environmental conditions. Plastic sheds won’t stand up to heavy storms, so if you are in an area that is threatened by high winds or powerful storms, you may want to make a different choice.

A plastic shed is also more difficult to secure than those of metal or wood, so if you have expensive items to store, plastic may not be the best shed material.

The Cheap Garden Shed of Choice

For most people, the idea of an inexpensive garden shed brings to mind a small metal building with a low, peaked roof. While not the cheapest garden sheds, metal is an excellent, economical choice for most garden owners.

A quality metal garden shed is almost as maintenance-free as a plastic building. Most manufacturers now use electrostatic coating or other method to apply a colored finish much stronger than normal exterior paint.

The basic metal garden shed ships with a door and perhaps a small window or translucent roof panel to allow for natural lighting. Shelves, sliding doors, screened windows and a range of other options are available from many manufacturers. Of course, all these extras add to the price tag.

It’s a safe bet that many metal garden sheds sit directly on the ground, but for the best results, some sort of foundation should be used. A concrete slab, with its edge rebated about 15-20 mm, is ideal but of course, hardly cheap.

A metal garden shed can be secured to protect expensive items. Some manufacturers also offer systems that allow the shed to be anchored against powerful weather such as cyclones. It’s wise to check with your home insurer about this; such a system may be required in your area.

Wooden Sheds, Cheap or Expensive?

Wood is appealing for many reasons, but unless the gardener has access to free lumber and has good carpentry skills, or can relocate and repurpose an existing shed, there is no way wood sheds can be considered cheap. Maintenance is an issue with wood. It must be painted and placed on a solid foundation to prevent rot, water damage and insect infestation.

No matter the cost or material, make sure you have all the proper permits before installing your shed. Even the cheapest garden sheds can become horribly expensive if legal fines and neighborhood ill are part of the installation price.

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Whether preparing a raised bed, container plants, or a lush flower garden, choosing quality organic manure for your soil can mean the difference between success and failure. Regardless of where the garden lives, different soils have different compositions and it is rare to find a perfectly balanced blend that will give your plants or vegetables all the nutrients they require.

Buying The Best Manure Doesn't Have To Be Expensive

Fortunately, what is one creature’s waste is a gardener’s treasure – organic manure is one of the finest additives to include in any planting or gardening situation. One of the great things about manure is the many different kinds that can be used, making it easier to use what is locally available to you. Organic manure is also an important consideration when growing fruits and vegetables because you want to eliminate any potential cross contamination of chemicals or pesticides that can sometimes be found in regular sources of manure.

Buying Manure Locally

Buying manure is often dictated by what is locally available. Most gardeners can find steer manure at any gardening department but it is rarely organic and can have unwanted salts and weed seeds.

Often, an easy and convenient way to obtain manure (sometimes for free) is to determine where manure is produced locally. This can be as simple as seeking out local farmers or people who raise rabbits or chickens in their backyard. Often times, people are looking to get rid of excessive waste and cows are an animal that often produce high quantities of droppings. When driving by neighbors who have cows, asking whether they have a use for their excess waste is often a great way to score free manure – but you might have to scoop it up yourself! Whether you have a free source or have found a place to buy it, manure from small scale producers is the best way to ensure higher quality manure, especially if looking for organic manure.

Types of Manure

Just as there are many kinds of creatures, there are different kinds of excrement to consider when buying manure. Though it may be tempting to use manure or droppings from household pets, keep in mind carnivore animals do not generally produce desirable manure and some animals, such as cats, can actually transmit diseases such as toxoplasmosis. Fortunately, you don’t have to be limited to these undesirable options when buying manure. There are many different kinds of animals that produce a variety of nutrients plants love and need.

Rabbit droppings – sometimes referred to as “black gold,” rabbit manure is desirable for a variety of reasons, one being its ability to be applied directly to the soil or around plants. They are essentially beads of nitrogen and phosphorous and have the added benefit of acting as slow-release capsules when added to the soil.

Chicken droppings – one of the richest manures and very high in nitrogen. Chicken droppings are considered “hot” meaning they must be composted before being added to soil.

Steer droppings – a common stand-by, steer manure is not the most ideal choice for buying manure. It often contains unwanted salts and weed seeds but is readily available in most places.

Cow droppings – cow pies make great cow manure. Low in nutrients, it is also safe to use in high quantities. Can be used for topdressing or for soil improvement.

Horse & Sheep droppings – both are “hot” manures and need to be composted before using directly around plants. Both are more potent when derived from animals fed hay and grain rather than just pastured.

Manure in the Garden

After the introduction of synthetic fertilizers, manure lost its popular appeal for some time. Today, manure is experiencing a revival, especially among gardeners who are looking for a natural way to improve soil condition and amend nutrient levels. Don’t let good waste go to waste. Start up a compost pile and begin cooking up the best batch of manure for your plants.

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In a general sense, soilless potting soil is any type of planting medium product that does not contain the type of dirt you normally find in your garden. Most gardening experts, however, define soilless potting soil as planting mediums that do not contain conventional soil at all, but rather consist of a mix of ingredients, primarily sphagnum peat, compost, perlite and vermiculite.

What Is Soilless Potting Soil?

Soilless mixtures tend to be looser than regular potting soils, making them a good choice for planting situations that require good drainage, such as container gardening. Also known as sterile mixes, soilless potting soil is ideal for starting seedlings, as it eliminates the risk of diseases that prey on young plants, as well as the risk of an imbalanced soil that may adversely affect a young plant’s growth.

A Careful Mix of Ingredients

Each ingredient in soilless potting soil serves a specific purpose. The ratio of each ingredient can be adjusted to meet specific gardening needs. While the ingredients of soilless potting mixes can vary, and can include fertilizers, as well as materials like bark or the coconut by-product, coir, four substances are typically included in soilless potting soil.

Sphagnum Peat

Sphagnum peat is decayed sphagnum moss, just one of a genus of hundreds of mosses commonly called peat moss. As a soil conditioner, sphagnum peat increases the soil’s capacity to retain water and nutrients, making peat a useful addition for areas with sandy soils.

Perlite

Produced by heating volcanic rock, perlite is a sterile substance that both increases water absorption and drainage. Perlite also improves the aeration of the soil, helping roots grow. Perlite can have a white, graveled appearance that resembles shredded Styrofoam.

Vermiculite

A naturally occurring mineral, vermiculite serves the same function as perlite, but retains more water. It appears as silver grey flecks. Until the 1990s, some vermiculite contained harmful asbestos. Vermiculite that is exposed to the mineral diopside over long periods of time can turn into asbestos. Vermiculite mines worldwide are now regularly tested for asbestos.

Compost

Compost is a mix of decaying organic matter like dead leaves and manure. Compost adds nutrients gradually to the soil as the substance further decays. Compost also improves the overall structure of the soil. When purchasing soilless potting mixes, it is important to read the list of ingredients carefully. Low-quality compost can contain sewage sludge. Looking for a mix with a description that includes “aged forest products” can ensure you’re getting a quality compost. Quality compost will be even in texture, absent of large chunks of wood or bark.

When to Use A Soilless Potting Soil

Soilless potting mixes are the premium choice for nearly every planting application. Using a quality soilless mix the best way to ensure that your planting will be free of contaminates like bacteria, insects and seeds. It is also the best way to ensure a proper mix of drainage, water and nutrient retention, aeration and soil structure. The wide variety of soilless mixes available makes it possible to adjust formulas for every planting situation.

Starting Seedlings

Soilless potting mixes are especially suited for certain types of plantings, such as starting seedlings. A plant is at its most vulnerable during the first few days and weeks of its life, and a sterile soil mix offers seedling the best chances for success.

Container Gardening

In a garden, gravity pulls water and nutrients through the soil. In container gardening, gravity needs a bit of help. Plants grown in pots need soil that is neither too soggy nor too dry. Soilless potting mixes are provide the best way to achieve this balance.

Plant Specific Needs

Certain types of plants in the garden also require a careful balance between too wet and too dry. Soilless mixes are a good choice succulents and cacti, which are tolerant of dry conditions, but flourish best when good drainage includes valuable nutrients.

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Tree ferns tend to grow in tropical and subtropical environments, however luckily for gardeners across the world there are several cold-hardy species of the plants. Dicksonia antarctica is the most popular when it comes to gardening, landscaping, and decorating, as it is heartier than most types and fairly easy to grow even in temperate climates. Dicksonia, with its elegant fronds, is perfect for spicing up landscaping and providing much-needed shade to smaller, more delicate plants. Growing and caring for a tree fern takes some dedication because they will die if neglected.

Growing a Tree Fern Makes A Great Garden Statement

Getting Started

Most tree ferns are sold with growing fronds. These lend themselves to much easier maintenance than bare trunks. Expect to pay by the metre of the trunk. Be sure to look for a healthy crown of new fronds, a disease-free plant that doesn’t exhibit spots or blotches on the fronds, a robust root system that is not loose in the container, and a desirable shape. The fronds tend to grow in a symmetrical pattern making them the perfect accompaniment to a garden or even to be displayed as a potted plant. That’s why it is crucial to find a tree fern with healthy fronds.

In some cases, Dicksonia is grown from tree cuttings and is sold sans fronds. The trunks are cut off and re-rooted. When faced with a frond-less trunk, take a look at the specialized roots that hold the croziers, the curled up structures at the top of the fern that turn into fronds. These roots, known as rhizomes, support the fronds. To ensure proper growth make sure the rhizomes are healthy and strong.

Planting Tree Ferns

Find a spot that is relatively shady, preferably one that features dappled sunlight and is out of the path of the wind. The fronds can get sun burnt and therefore need protection from the elements. Plant Dicksonia in crumbly soil that is well-drained. Mulching can help keep the soil drained and nutrient rich. If the soil is light and well-drained, dig a hole slightly larger than the the trunk of the Dicksonia and line it with compost. Put the plant in the hole and fill it with soil.

If the soil is full of clay or very heavy, dig a hole that is twice the size of the tree fond container, line with compost, and plant. Be sure the crown is free and not covered in soil or rot will develop. The plant should be standing upright with a stable base. Sprinkle the soil with fertilizer.

Caring for A Tree Fern

Constant moisture is the most important factor in caring for a tree fern. The trunk and the crown need to be kept moist, especially in the heat. Wet the trunk and crown each time you water the tree fern. Don’t over-water the roots. If the fronds develop brown or black spots this indicates that you should should water it less. Water the tree fern at root level once per week during the spring, summer, and fall.

Dicksonia tends to be dormant during the winter and therefore does not need to be watered as often. During the growing season, occasionally add fertilizer. If pests become a problem, be sure to use a half-strength spray, as tree ferns are sensitive to chemicals.

To help tree ferns survive the winter they need protection. At the start of the cold months, or if there is a forecast for frost, place a layer of straw down the center of the plant, being sure to stuff the crown. Wrap the plant with protective material, such as bubble wrap to keep it warm.

With care and attention a tree fern can serve as a living work of art for your landscaping. Some types can grow to be over seven metres tall. Following guidelines for care can ensure that your plants flourish in any climate.

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Mulching to Prevent Weeds Is A Great Way To Maintain The Garden

Mulching weeds works to effectively control the weeds while providing optimal conditions for the plants to grow. Mulch makes the garden look nice, helps the soil to retain moisture and, as it decomposes, generally adds nutrients to the soil. When mulching weeds knowing what type of mulch works the best will provide the most benefit. With a little effort you can enjoy a weed free, environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing garden.

Organic Mulch

When mulching weeds, careful consideration remains of utmost importance when choosing organic mulch. Certain types, such as recycled grass clippings and straw or hay, can carry weed seeds and are not recommended for use in a flower garden. These products do enrich the soil as they break down and provide valuable nutrients useful when used in a vegetable garden.

Pine bark, attractive dark colored mulch, works effectively in weed control. Available in an assortment of sizes, pine bark nuggets may float away in a heavy rain. This may cause concern, especially in areas where the ground slopes. Pine nuggets may attract insects including termites. When placed around shrubs and trees, pine needles make outstanding and attractive mulch. Like pine nuggets, pine needles retain moisture and improve the soil as they decompose while working to block the sun from the weeds.

Wood chips make attractive mulch. When placed at a depth of two to three inches they will provide optimal weed control. The smaller chips decompose rapidly. Although they will pull nitrogen from the soil as they decompose, most gardeners simply replace it with a nitrogen rich fertilizer.

Mulch made of shredded hardwood makes an ideal choice for mulching weeds. This product does not easily wash away and will not decompose as quickly as other types of mulch. Many users find this mulch attractive and find it works well for weed control.

Inorganic Mulch

For gardeners that seek a more permanent solution, inorganic mulch will also provide excellent weed control. In areas where permanent plants live, a one inch layer of gravel, crushed stone, or pebbles make an ideal selection. Small rocks will attract heat to the landscaped area during the hottest summer months and will require extra watering.

Black plastic or polyethylene film works effectively to prevent the growth of weeds. This type of weed control will also hold in moisture. For this reason use of black plastic should be avoided in areas of poor drainage. If the soil remains too wet underneath the plastic, this may result in damage to the roots. To prevent this from happening either cut holes into the plastic or purchase plastic specially made for garden use.

Cover the black plastic with pine needles, wood chips, or other mulch to reduce the amount of heat absorbed and to make the landscaping look more attractive. If the plastic is buried underground a few inches, it will last several years before replacement will become necessary. Avoid clear plastic because the sunlight can penetrate through it and can increase the growth of the weeds.

Mulch comprised of ground rubber tires is new and increasing in popularity. This type of mulch will not decompose so it will never require replacement. Another advantage to rubber mulch includes its ability to insulate the soil and keep the ground a few degrees warmer. It reduces fungus growth and works to effectively dehydrate the weed seeds. This mulch has quickly become one of the top eco-friendly mulch choices since it keeps used tires out of landfills.

Mulching weeds provides many benefits. Along with the obvious benefits of providing nutrients and holding moisture in the ground, mulch also maintains the temperature of the ground. It also effectively keeps soil-borne diseases from splashing up onto the foliage during periods of heavy rain.

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The Bottlebrush Plant Is Beautiful

The Bottlebrush plant, which has the Latin name Myrtaceae Callistemon, gets its common name from the long, bright-red flower-spikes that is sets in abundance every spring and summer. These flowers look amazingly like the bottle brush you use when you’re washing your dishes. An appealing plant for gardeners, the Bottlebrush will not only contribute its own bright splash of color to your landscaping, but will attract hummingbirds and butterflies as well.

Native to Australia, the Bottlebrush is now a popular garden plant worldwide. In temperate areas, it can be grown outside. Where harsh winters make that impossible, it can be grown indoors as a houseplant. It can tolerate wet conditions, but it is also somewhat drought tolerant, making it a versatile addition to flower gardens as well as a good choice for xeriscaping.

A little know fact about the Bottlebrush is that, since the plant makes a natural herbicide, it is now being used as the main ingredient in a commercial herbicide called Callisto. This natural herbicide effect can be useful in a garden as well, since it cuts down on weed growth near the plant. Keep in mind, however, that under-planting the Bottlebrush with flowers or grasses will be difficult since this plant will try to kill any competitors that grow too close to it.

Planting a Bottlebrush

The Bottlebrush plant is easy to propagate at home. It can be grown from seeds and also from cuttings taken from an established plant.

If you want to start with seeds, gather the unopened fruits and allow them to ripen fully in a paper bag kept in a warm place until the fine seeds are released. The seeds can be sown directly into a prepared garden-bed, though you may have better luck with starting them indoors. Either way, sprinkle the seeds over soil that is part growing-mix and part sand, and then cover them with a fine layer of earth. Keep them moist but not over-wet. Germination usually takes about two weeks.

If you started your plants indoors, move them outside when they are about 10 cm tall. Give each plant plenty of space as they can grow, depending on the species, from .5 m to 4 m tall.

Another way to start growing the Bottlebrush plant is to use a cutting from an established plant. Cut a 10 cm to 15 cm length from a semi-mature branch, being careful to preserve the growing tip. Sink the branch about half its length into moist soil and prop it up so that it won’t move while the new roots are starting. Keep the soil moist until your cutting is well established.

Bottlebrush Plant Maintenance

Once established, the Bottlebrush plant is relatively carefree. All that it will require is direct sunlight, a moderate amount of water and an occasional light application of fertilizer. In areas that experience little or no winter rain or snowfall, one or two mid-winter waterings may be needed.

Since these plants are relatively slow-growing, they will need little pruning. Usually, dead-heading the spent flowers is all that is required. If you are trying to develop its shape, the plant will tolerate some heavier pruning. Just be sure not to take too much of the older, interior wood as this will stress the plant.

Remember, too, that the Bottlebrush plant will take care of some of its own weeding. The natural herbicide it produces will do that one chore for you.

Enjoy

Now that you have incorporated the Bottlebrush into your garden or landscaping, there is nothing more you need to do but sit back and enjoy it. With a lifespan of over 20 years, it will be with you for a long, long time. With little more effort on your part, every spring and summer the flowers will grace your yard with their bright tones of red and pink, and their interesting and exotic shape.

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Create A Garden For The Artist In You

A growing sense that the beauty and freedom of nature could be brought into private gardens began to dominate gardening trends in the early 1800’s. Painters were beginning to feel this same pull towards the intimate, towards art that reflected personal tastes and sensibilities. By the late 1800’s, the two had combined. Impressionist painters like Monet created an artist garden as their own personal palette, arranging and designing gardens with their paintings in mind.

When it comes to creating an artist garden, it is this sensibility that most often prevails, this sense that a garden should be composed as a beautiful painting. More often than not, it is the gardens depicted in impressionistic paintings in particular that we wish to emulate. To effectively reproduce an impressionistic garden, it is helpful to understand some of the basic concepts the artists used in their paintings.

Impressionist Gardens

Impressionists placed less emphasis on precise depictions of form than they did on the feelings those forms conveyed. In their efforts to capture the sense and sensation of a garden scene, they developed new painting techniques, discovering ways to make brush strokes, perspective and color express personal sensibilities. In doing so, distinctions between surface and depth, between near and far, dissolved. As these lines blurred, gardens were no longer mere collections of plants, flowers and trees, but became scenes of nature, affected by the natural elements of wind, water, light and shade.

Unless your goal is to recreate an artist’s specific garden or painting – Monet’s water lilies, Van Gogh’s irises, Renoir’s wildflowers – creating an artist garden is more about creating an overall effect than it is about selecting individual plants. The goal is to create a garden where the garden itself is the star, where setting, plantings and arrangements play supporting roles.

Use Perspective

Achieving this goal isn’t as abstract as it may sound. Begin by establishing viewpoints, places where you are most likely to enjoy views of your garden as a whole. Just as impressionistic painters did, emphasize the foreground with color. Forego rigid, formal or symmetrical plantings for loose beds with long-stemmed flowers, like cosmos, day lilies and coreopsis.

Impressionists often depicted paths that disappeared from view. When viewing these paintings, the eye initially follows the path, then is brought back to the foreground again. The lesson for home gardeners here is that paths do not necessarily need to lead anywhere. You can duplicate this effect with a garden path that disappears behind a planting of large shrubs or flowers.

To achieve impressionism’s feeling of massed groups of flowers and plantings, avoid strong contrasts of height, texture and color in the garden. While background plantings should be higher than those in the foreground to create a sense of proportion and composition, in an artist garden, these distinctions need not be as defined. Borders need not be as well-defined either. Use discreet borders in your artist garden, like bender board or gravel, or avoid them altogether. Allow plants and flowers to spill over onto lawns or paths.

Plantings

Different artists prefer different flowers and styles, so your choice of blooms can reflect those of your favorite artist. Van Gogh is known for his sunflower paintings, but often painted irises as well. Plant different types of bulbs in random clumps throughout the garden for pops of color throughout the year. If you admire Monet, who was fascinated by the way the water interacts with light, include a water feature in your garden that can accommodate water lily plantings.

Renoir loved wildflower gardens. A Renoir still life of ragwort, chamomile and wild parsley can inspire one type of artist garden. Delacroix’s vibrant tulips may inspire another type of garden. Klimt most admired gardens entirely filled with flowerings plants. Whatever artist that you choose to emulate, see your garden as a blank canvas, and use your trowel to paint a masterpiece of living art.

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