what type of soil do you have?

It's often difficult for the beginner gardener to work out exactly what type of soild they have in their garden. To the inexperienced eye, most dirt is just that: dirt!

Ideally, you want your soil to be an equal balance of clay, sand and organic matter. You can determine the nature of your soil by performing this simple test: Fill about a third of a clear bottle with some soil, but make sure it comes from at least one foot down as the topsoil may have had compost and other material heaped on it over the years. Pour in another third of water and give the bottle a good shake before leaving it to settle. The heavier sand will sink to the bottom pretty quickly and the organic matter will float atop, while the finer sands and clay will take much longer to settle.

If you check the bottle a few hours later, you will get a good idea of what makes up your garden soil, and you can act accordingly to correct the balance.

pile of wood

Here's some good news for the lazy gardener. If you have a pile of wood and / or branches sitting in a corner of your yard which you have been meaning to burn or clear for the past few weeks but haven't got around to doing it...then don't!
Just leave it where it is because it will be teeming with wildlife, and most of the animals and insects that take refuge there will be doing a great deal of good work in the garden while you are sitting inside on your big bottom watching reruns of American Idol. If the pile is in a relatively shady, damp, sheltered spot then so much the better. Frogs, toads, insect-eating beetles, bumblebees and centipedes will all gratefull make themselves at home in your wood pile.

5 ways to conserve water in your garden

1. Place drought-tolerant plants like rosemary and lavender in positions where they will shelter their thirstier friends from the dehydrating effects of the wind.

2. Place thirstier plants in positions where they will benefit from water running down any slopes you may have.

3. Improve the water-retaining qualities of your earth by digging in lots of organic matter.

4. Mulch your plants with compost, straw, bark chips and dead leaves. You can also encircle the bases of larger plants with stones, which stops them from drying out quickly in hot weather.

5. Put plants with similar moisture requirements close together so that you can water them in one good dousing rather than having to visit various different areas to give them all a good soaking.

Choose Outdoor Deck Lighting to Enhance Your Yard

Author: Martin Applebaum

They say there’s no other place like home. Well that’s true especially when you want to relax in your balcony after a tiring day from work. What if your porch is not well lighted and not that relaxing or comforting at all. Some people just overlook the importance of outdoor deck lighting.

Once they’re done installing a backdoor porch light, they think it’s enough the illuminate the whole house. The truth is, the light really is more than just the lighting needed and sometimes may blind the visitors or you while on your way to parking your car in the garage. It is hardly the best way to welcome your guests or to create an accommodating ambience. It is neither relaxing nor soothing after a tiring day at all.

Outdoor deck lighting helps create a good place to hold alfresco dining or entertainment at night. It will not only create a better ambience but also avoid having tricky areas in your patio steps and walkways. You may hardly notice it but you are already creating your front yard into a magical wonderland that you and your family will enjoy while looking up at the stars. Make sure that the lights must be situated in specific areas that best fit the layout of your deck but does not necessarily disturb your neighborhood. Once it spills over your neighbor’s yard, it will not only spoil your privacy but also whatever ambience or atmosphere you want to create.

What type of outdoor deck lighting do you have to install then? Choose from the many low voltage fixtures to not only save from the energy consumption but also avoid having too much glare on your front yard.

When it comes to installation, you can have a contractor do the job for you or if you’re adventurous enough, you can even do it yourself! Often decks are attached to the house so be sure to match the interior and the outdoor lights. With that being said, the outdoor deck lighting should also be as simple as possible to serve its very purpose of just relaxation and entertainment.

About the Author:

Our site contains information for all your outdoor lighting needs including outdoor LED lighting. Visit our site today for more information. http://www.yardsolarlighting.com
By M. Applebaum

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Choose Outdoor Deck Lighting to Enhance Your Yard

We all know that we should eat more fruits and vegetables for our health. More good news … you can really save a lot of money if you grow it yourself!

How to Save Money by Growing More of Your Own Food
Grow highly productive vegetables – lots of yield for the space allocated - that you enjoy eating and that you can harvest from spring through fall.

Since you’re limited to the surface area that you have on the ground, “go vertical” to get the most production from the space that you have.

Waste nothing. Eat it, share it with someone in the community, or compost it.

Money-saving Vegetables

Pole beans – they’re delicious, good for you, can be harvested over a long period of time, and the seeds are easy to plant. A single 20 foot row of pole beans on a homemade twine trellis will provide dozens of fresh servings and some extra beans to freeze for later.

Growing beans on a trellis also makes them easier to pick than bush beans … there’s little bending or stooping required.

Greens packed with Nutrients – spinach, Swiss chard, and mesclun mixes are more interesting and more nutritious than lettuce. Bright lights Swiss chard is also extremely attractive in the garden.

Tomatoes – are America’s #1 home garden vegetable … and for good reasons. Entire books have been dedicated to the tomato! There are many gardening benefits to growing tomatoes – they’re good for you, they’re tasty, they add delightful color to the garden, and the dollar value of the yield can be very significant.


Peas are another high-yield crop. They’re not as easy, and not quite as productive as pole beans, but, if you have the space, Sugar Snap or Sugar Ann peas are wonderful because you can eat the entire pod.

Leaf lettuce is extremely easy to grow from seed and will yield plenty of produce over a long period of time. Multiple plantings will extend your harvest. You can save a lot of money by growing your own.

Less Obvious Money-Saving Gardening Ideas

Composting – making your own compost is, by far, the best long-term investment you can make for your garden. There’s just nothing better than natural compost for your garden’s soil. It will help your plants defend themselves from diseases, too!

Grow Your Own Tomato Plants from Seeds - it’s fun and it’s easier than you might think. All you need is a container (egg carton, yogurt cups, etc), a little soil, and a sunny windowsill.


An Apple a Day – well, not immediately. How about planting an apple tree? Apple trees are great dual purpose trees – obviously they provide good fruit; but, they’re also an attractive shade tree.

Garden Grown Gifts – home grown vegetables and flowers make wonderful hostess gifts. All you need is a little basket or vase, and you can create a gift that is inexpensive and attractive at the same time.

How to Deal With Pests in Your Organic Garden

Author: Janet Ashby

Instead of automatically reaching for chemical pesticides when you see evidence of pests in your garden and on your plants think organic! Chemical pesticides will kill all the insects in your garden, even the beneficial ones and will contaminate the ground water. Find other ways to prevent pests from getting out of hand and reducing their number if they do.



Why should you use organic methods to combat pests rather than easily available pesticides? These chemical pesticides have been linked to many health problems and diseases including birth defects, cancer, infertility and many more. One of the problems is that pesticides sold for use at home are not tested as thoroughly as those used by commercial food growers as this is not a requirement of the law. As well as harming humans they also contaminate the soil in your garden and can be harmful to the beneficial visitors to your garden including honey bees, ladybugs, and butterflies which all eat pests.



One of the best defences against pests is to grow healthy plants in the first place. Weak and sickly plants are targeted by pests so make sure the conditions are right for the plants you are growing and keep them healthy by watering and fertilising adequately. Use natural composts and mulches rather than fertilisers high in nitrogen and do not let the plants sit in water or become too dry. Go into the garden regularly and remove weeds with a spade, hoe or your hands. Get close to the plants so you can spot any that are diseased early and can remove the infected parts before the disease spreads. Prune away the infected parts right to the main stem to prevent leaving a stub for the pests to re-enter.



Keep pests from having an easy time finding the plants they prefer by mixing different varieties of flowers, vegetables and other plants together. It is a good idea to plants some flowers among your vegetables to attract beneficial insects which feed on nectar. The larvae of insects such as lacewings and ladybugs feed on pests so it is a good idea to encourage them. Another good idea is to encourage wild birds that eat insects into your garden with a birdbath. A pond can lure toads and lizards to your garden where they may feast on any pests around.



If preventative measures have failed it is time to identify the pest and choose the best natural method to eradicate it. Find out which methods is best and use pepper sprays, soap sprays or Bacillus thuringiensis, which is a bacteria that can deal with leaf eaters such as caterpillars by interfering with their digestion. If possible remove any weak plants as these are the ones that pests will target.



As you can see it is not necessary to resort to chemical means to deal with pests in the garden although it is a little more work! Aim for a healthy garden with visiting wild life that will be able to resist pests and deal with any outbreaks quickly with methods that are safe for your garden, wildlife and your family.

About the Author:
For more information on all aspects of gardening visit Lawns and Gardens or read Planting a Vegetable Garden

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/how-to-deal-with-pests-in-your-organic-garden-857362.html

So Many Gnomes So Little Time

Author: James1984 Thompson

A popular saying for garden gnome enthusiasts is that so many gnomes so little time. The phrase mainly refers to the large collection of garden gnomes available on the market today. The gnome statues that you may view on gift shops, garden accessory shops and designing outlets have a wide variety. You may find different types that would surely suit your preferences such as funny garden gnomes, collectible gnomes, vintage garden gnomes and even gnomes which represent your local sports or festivities.




So many gnomes so little time. A garden ornament collector can experience something like this when it comes to collecting every possible design of garden gnomes available on the market. There are several garden gnome designs that are related to fictional stories written by popular authors such as The Secret Book of Gnomes and The Gnomes. Most garden gnome manufacturers get some ideas from these fiction novels in order to get suitable designs for garden gnomes. Some notable designs for garden gnomes include those which are adopted from the storybooks such as Randell gnome, Morty gnome, George gnome, Mervin gnome and many more gnome characters from Rien Poortvliet's children's book.



There are several gnome designers that insert humor on the gnomes that they create. You may find some funny garden gnomes that stick their bare buttocks to the garden visitors. You may even find some which show their personal body parts as a part of the humor that the designer wants to implement. Some innovative garden gnome designs are incorporated with sensors for additional entertainment purposes. These garden gnomes automatically fart when a person passes near the statue. Some even have recorded speeches to delight the passersby. Thus when collecting garden gnomes you even want to say that there are so many gnomes so little time.



There are even more types of gnomes based on their postures. You may find some garden gnomes that look like they are resting on the shade of the trees. Some creative designs even resemble that they are working on the plants. Other postures of garden gnomes are based on the day to day activities such as mowing the lawn, harvesting fruits, hammering stones and even those which resemble traveling with a lantern on one hand. These types of garden gnomes create a livelier look on your garden. You may notice that so many gnomes so little time thus you may want to consider doing the collection as early as possible. You may want to have a unique theme for you to have a guide on which garden gnomes you are to collect.




As with those people who already collected several types of garden gnomes, they may still say the there are so many gnomes so little time. This is because there are also other types of garden gnomes which are based on their sizes. You may find large sized gnomes which may reach up to 3 feet in height. If you are into collecting miniature gnome models, there are 1 foot high garden gnomes available on the market today. These small types of garden gnomes are much suitable for collection purposes.

About the Author:
We have Antique Gnomes, Baseball Gnomes, Ceramic Gnomes and many more more gnomes available. For a deeper look into the history of garden gnomes please visit.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/so-many-gnomes-so-little-time-857372.html