Gardening and Home Improvement

Archive for the ‘Lawn and Garden’ Category

Patio gardens provide a healthy atmosphere to grow a variety of herbs. Flowerpots and other containers come in many sizes, making it convenient to grow an herb garden on your patio.

Types
1. Patio herb gardens can range from a few small pots of herbs on a windowsill to an entire patio space filled with herb containers. Containers provide a portable method of growing herbs, allowing you to move them as needed.

Containers used for patio herb gardening must have drainage holes in the bottom or side, which allow for proper drainage of excess water.

Considerations
2. If you’re planting multiple herbs in one pot, consider their moisture preferences. Parsley, basil, cilantro and tarragon require moisture-rich soil, according to the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society. However, herbs such as oregano, rosemary, bay and thyme can tolerate drier soil.

Prevention/Solution
3. Patio herb gardens require at least six hours of sunlight each day. Sweet cicely, angelica and woodruff tolerate partial shade.

Theories/Speculation
4. Fennel and dill require a 10-inch soil depth. However, most herbs require a soil depth of 6 to 8 inches. This allows plenty of room for the roots to develop. Water thoroughly after planting, and don’t let the soil dry out completely between waterings.

Herbs are essential components of any cook’s kitchen. An overwhelming variety of herbs is available to choose from when planning a garden, but a successful herb garden can easily be started with just a few of the basics.

Basil
1. Basil is an annual that’s widely grown for use in many dishes, such as tomato-based soups and sauces, or on meat, poultry, and fish.

Chives
2. Chives are similar in looks and taste to onions. Add them to egg and cheese dishes, potatoes or sauces for a subtle flavor.

Dill

3. The leaves and seeds of dill are used to flavor many foods, including pickles, beets and sauerkraut. They can also be used on fish, eggs and poultry. Read the rest of this entry »

A home herb garden gives you access to the freshest herbs for use in your kitchen. Herbs are either annual or perennial, with the annual varieties requiring replanting each year and the perennials returning each spring with new growth.

Master the essentials of growing herbs to ensure your plants remain productive and healthy regardless of the type of herbs you choose to grow.

Site and Soil
1. Most herbs grow best in soils that drain well and aren’t prone to standing water. Mediterranean and desert herbs, such as sage, often tolerate poor, sandy soils as they require minimal water and soil nutrition.

Sunlight requirements vary by variety, though most do well with morning sunlight and some afternoon shade. A few herbs, such as fennel, require more sunlight — usually six hours or more a day is sufficient.

Water
2. Herbs are either drought-tolerant or they are not. Desert and Mediterranean herbs usually tolerate drought and rarely require watering unless they are grown in pots.

Most other herbs grow best in soils that are kept moist but not allowed to become soggy.

Water herb gardens when the top inch of soil begins to feel dry. Once-weekly watering is sufficient in most cases unless the weather is extremely hot or dry. Provide enough water at each irrigation to thoroughly moisten the top 6 inches of soil in the herb garden. Read the rest of this entry »

Planning an herb garden is the first step to successfully growing your own herbs. Herb gardens can be large or small, from a plot in the garden to a window box, mixed with other plants outside or in a few pots on a windowsill.

In addition to deciding where your herb garden will be, you must also consider what types of herbs to grow. After you’ve spent the time to plan your herb garden, growing the plants is easy and you will soon be able to enjoy fresh or dried herbs all year long.

1. Decide where you will have your garden. If you have a yard, the best place for an herb garden is near the kitchen door so you will have easy access to fresh herbs as you cook.

If you have a patio or balcony, you can start an herb garden in a few large pots or hanging baskets. For a window box garden, choose the side of the house that gets the most sun. An indoor herb garden should be set up near the sunniest window possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Soil is not actually necessary for growing plants. Plants need the nutrients in the soil, not the soil itself. Hydroponic growing replaces the soil with water mixed with the nutrients they need. This mixture needs careful handling, to prevent nutrient problems.

Salt and Residue Accumulation
1. As hydroponic plants grow, they draw some of the nutrients out of the water. This can build up salts and nutrient residue, and otherwise change the chemical makeup of the water in ways that can harm the plants. Frequent testing and alterations to the nutrient mixture are needed to prevent this.

Imbalance in pH
2. The proper mixture of nutrients in the water might be naturally harmful to the plants. Many plants need a very specific level of acidity in the water they drink. The nutrients may make the water too alkaline or too acidic.

Special Nutrient Needs
3. Commercial nutrient mixtures are often meant for general purposes. They may not be the best mixture for every plant.

A garden arbor is a structure that serves as an entrance and an exit to a garden. Over time, plants grow on this arbor and eventually cover it in foliage.

One way to accent garden arbors is to use lights. These lights can be decorated for different holidays or simply used to accent and decorate the arbor.

Holidays
Decorate your arbor to reflect different holidays. If it is Halloween, hang strings of lights that have pumpkins or jack-o-lanterns on them.

Most craft stores will have lights in their holiday sections that will allow you to decorate for any occasion. Lightly intertwine them with the plants on the arbor so that they will be illuminated.

Colors
You can choose to decorate your arbor in lights that are your favorite color. Get strings of small lights and hang them around it. Or choose colors to reflect moods. Blue lights can create a relaxing mood, whereas white lights can create more of a romantic mood.

You can hang them just across the top or wind them around the whole thing depending on how you want your arbor to look. Read the rest of this entry »

An arbor is a functional structure that can be used as an arching trellis for climbing vines and flowering bushes like clematis and roses.

When done thoughtfully, however, an arbor can also be an architectural feature, a focal point, and a transitional structure to a new space.

The pathway arbor
1. The most traditional arbor is the one that curves over the stairway or pathway at the entrance of a garden or path to a home.

Made of wood, metal, or even composite, these arbors create a visual distinction from one space to the next.

As you walk under these vine encumbered, arched trellises, there is a distinct mark of passage from the formal exterior of a space to the more informal, welcoming interior of an intimate gathering place.

In gardens, arbors can welcome guests to come in and take part in the sweetness of the flora and foliage it has to offer.

The focal point arbor
2. In a Victorian garden make-over, HGTV.com gardening experts recently created an elegant arbor that acts as a focal point, drawing attention to the impressive water fountain feature beyond.

When you walk down steps to reach the garden, you are drawn through the delicate, simple, vine covered arbor to the sumptuous and restful image of flowing water.

By placing the arbor in this strategic spot, it functions as a vertical garden element adding height and a sense of seclusion, as well as framing the water feature. Any kind of statue, topiary or water accent could be enhanced by framing it with a cleverly placed arbor.

The transitional arbor
3. When editors of This Old House magazine named their favorite outdoor spaces, a charming lakeside garden with a picket fence and gate style arbor made the list. What is clever about the arbor pictured is its use of the traditional, narrow arbor with a lovely old climbing rose for the fence gate as well.

The gate mimics the round archway of the arbor with a scooping shape so when closed, the gate and arbor create a circlet view of the lake beyond. When framed with blooming flowers, the gate is almost a symbol of the beckoning beyond, inviting guests to an adventure just outside the garden fence. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are looking to add a distinctive touch to your home garden, add an arch or an arbor to your landscape. Not only are they aesthetically pleasing, but they can also prove useful for supporting climbing plants.

Benefits
1. Although most people buy an arbor or arch for decorative purpose, the structures also serve useful functions in the garden. They can act as entranceways to gardens, provide shade for plants and obscure parts of gardens that are not as attractive as the rest.

Size
2. Large arbors and arches can be used to cover walkways in your garden, providing shade and cover. Some vines such as bougainvillea, clematis and grapes can reach 20 feet high and can be trained to grow along the arbor or arch.

Types
3. Arches and arbors can be made from a wide variety of materials including plastic, wood, steel and aluminum. An arbor can be designed to look like an extension of the main house.