If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

There are no hard and fast rules towards developing a perfect garden. However, a little bit of planning and programming can always increase the range of its beauty.
photo credit: Thou Talor

The reason you need to plan is because you cannot just plant any vegetable. You need to analyze the area you are planting in to determine if your crops can thrive there. Thankfully, there are tons of plants out there, so no matter what kind of environment you have, you will have a lot of options.

To start it off, the category we’ll go with is sunroom crops. These plants are especially popular among new gardeners. They are fairly easy to grow and you only need to follow a few simple tips to be successful.

For those who are focused on growing inside, then ferns are the best choice. They can live for a very long time, even with minimal care. That is why this category is also favored by new gardeners.
photo credit: Thou Talor

Next are the regular vegetables and fruits. This includes celery, lettuce, peas, and squash, as well as pumpkins and a variety of peppers.

It takes a fair amount of work to get such a well varied garden. You need all the essential tools, as well as knowledge about growing techniques. With a lot of work and investment, both with time and money, you can grow a high quality garden that all can enjoy.

In order to effectively tend a garden, you have to be careful with all your plants. In addition to regular tasks, you must also do activities such as trimming in order to keep the appearance of your plants at its peak.

If you need further help in deciding what to grow or need help on growing related tasks, you can consult many resources. First and foremost, you must start off by reviewing the plants you want to grow most, because there is a very good chance you will be able to.

Technorati Tags: choosing plants, container gardening, gardening, planting

There are times when you need new compost as soon as possible. This may be in the spring or fall when you are replanting plants or laying out new gardens. In my case it’s redoing several gardens after flooding.

photo credit: vinzcha
I need to redo my perennial garden, which was totally washed out and I am planning a new garden in the front yard to help redirect water, just in case I have this problem again.

Compost usually takes anywhere from a few months to a year, depending on how you set your compost pile up.

How to make compost in two weeks.

To make compost in two weeks you need to encourage the pile to work quickly. This is done by using several composting materials; and cheating. Yes, I am encouraging garden cheating!!

Compost materials needed.

Hay or straw (preferably straw)
Grass clippings
Table scraps:  fruit, vegetables, coffee grounds but no grease, fish or meat products.
Any compostable material you can get for free. Leaves, old sawdust, old dirt, manure

Layer your compostable items in a pile. I usually use old bales for sides and create a U shape and pile my material in the U.

Now this is how you cheat. To make you pile compost faster you need your compostable items to be as small as possible. I mow the leaves and straw and blend any table scraps. Layer the compostable items and lightly stir. Dig a hole and put in your table scraps.

Stir the pile every day.

Other items that will help your compost pile break down faster:
Yarrow
Comfrey
And coke… yes, coke will help a pile compost in no time at all.

I have six large pile of compost working now. They should be ready next week. I have used this process for years and it works every time.

Here is a link for more ideas for materials to compost.

And if you are like me, you find free materail to compost with. the money you save can be spent on seeds or new plants.

Technorati Tags: compost, Creative Organic Gardening, how to make compost

This summer has been difficult in NW PA. Between cold nights, too much rain and flooding the gardens and yards have suffered. The most you can do is make the best of it. Or ignore it for a bit
photo credit: >>>WonderMike<<<

It’s also made me plan more for the future. I have switched most of my gardens to container gardens where I can move the containers indoors on cold nights. I have made raised beds that can be covered in colder weather and are protected from floods and can also be covered when we have too much rain.

The raised beds are being moved near a pond for easy watering and piping has been has been planned into the design for easy watering in case of drought. The uses of rain barrels for collecting excess rain are also in the plans.

And I have also switched to move “gardening under glass. I will be able to extend my gardening season, try new plants and hopefully be able to handle any climate problems that come my way.

I don’t know if it was global warming that lead to our horrendous summer or lack of summer but gardens and trees have really suffered this year.

I also suffered heavy loss due to flooding and property damage.

For this reason The Gardener’s Rake and its sister site, Backyard Oasis will have a week of topics covering how to deal and plan your backyard, front yard and garden areas for weather that is less than perfect.

Join us next week (August 24th, 2009) for topics on:

• Raised Bed Gardening
• Gardening under Glass
• Dry Creeks
• The Moveable Garden
• Climate problems
• Surviving drought
• landscape ideas
  
• and more.

My front yard backyard and garden areas are also being totally redone due to property damage.

The projects will probably last into next year but will be covered online. Ideas for healthy plants and trees will also be covered. I hope that these ideas will help you if you end up in a situation like I have.

Technorati Tags: backyard oasis, eCourses, gardening events, landscaping