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Spring is just around the corner but there is still plenty to do for your lawn. You want a rich color, a thick carpet, and no crabgrass! You want a lawn that stands out, looks professionally serviced, and adds value to your home. With some simple tips, it’s not so hard to do. Be spring ready with these four lawn care tips.

Clean the Surroundings

Before you tackle your lawn, check the stepping stones, the walkways, anything of concrete or mortar. These items can get slick and nasty looking in a hurry. I find that going over them before spring with a good heavy-duty cleaning machine, like a pressure washer, can really get off the gunk in a hurry and leave behind stones and pavement that look brand new. This can make the colors of the lawn pop when the stones are clean.

Buy Your Seed and Feed

This is the time to go ahead and buy your seed and lawn feed. It is the time of year to get the best selection and get a head start on the season. Get a fertilizer that is a bit nitrogen-light on the label. A reduction in nitrogen will keep your lawn from getting massive top growth while your root system is suffering. A bit of seed on hand can help you start to fill in the dead spots that may have occurred through the winter.

Start Cleaning up the Lawn

When the soil is dry enough, start to rake the yard gently and get rid of all the winter debris that has started to pile up. There are going to be branches or twigs, leaves, and other weather-related lawn debris. Get it all up early so that when the weather starts being warm and sunny, your lawn can benefit from it and won’t still be covered up.

Get Ready to Destroy Crabgrass

By about late April/early May of the year, you can start your war on crab grass by getting a good quality herbicide. Crab grass usually starts its growth in the middle of the month of May, so you can get a head start this way. You should be getting a preemergence herbicide, meaning you’re trying to kill it before its germinating. You definitely want this down before you start to see crab grass in the lawn.

These tips can help you get a good head start to the spring season and have a yard that will make the neighbourhood proud and your neighbours jealous.

Flowers can develop beautifully with plenty of sunshine and the right amounts of water, however if your goal should be to have lush vibrant flowers you will require to also provide them with some fertilizer.

The thing is it can be tough figuring out what use. This can be challenging due to the variety flowers one may have in their yard. Just one type of fertilizer may not be ideal for all your types of flowers.

If you are like myself you will be concerned about the environment which will limit your choices to only the natural fertilizers. Natural fertilizers are produced from all-natural components such as fish emulsion or chicken droppings and can be great to utilize on your flowers.

Pay attention to the instructions on the packages so you get the right type of fertilizer. And once you’ve got it don’t over use it as it can harm your plants even though they are all natural. The sun is all natural but it doesn’t take long to cause damage to your skin if you get too much. So natural still has to be given carefully.

Fertilizers usually include 3 items, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Each of these provides a certain requirement for flowers. This is why you need to read the package so you are getting the right mix for your plant requirements.

1. Potassium assists the plant grow a wholesome root growth.
2. Nitrogen assists in the growth of healthy leaves and stalk and is good for young plants.
3. Phosphorous will promote gorgeous, large blossoms. You can use fertilizer higher in phosphorous just before the plant begins to bloom and all during the blooming season.

Like I have mentions, as it so important, check the labels or tags that come with starter plants to see what their nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium requirements are and you will have much better success as well as beauty in your yard.

Note: If that info is not on the label you should find it in a book or online so that you get the fertilizer right for your flower gardens.

You should be able to get fertilizers in liquid form or granular form depending on your needs or preferences.

The rule of thumb is to use liquid every couple of weeks as the liquid will not last as long as granular types of fertilizer which dissolve over time and you should use once a month. This is as a rule, so you still need to know for sure.

You’re going to find a huge number of products available when looking for plant and flower fertilizer so be prepared to spend a little time getting the right ones for your gardens. Head over to your local nursery or garden centre. Ask questions.

However we are not all close to a nursery and it may be easier to check online for fertilizers and have them shipped right to you. It’s always my second choice when there is nothing locally.

Here are Garden Fertilizers on Amazon that might just be exactly what you need. Even if you don’t buy your fertilizer from Amazon you should be able to find more info about what you need for your flower gardens.

Well it’s finally hit us, we aren’t getting any younger and sometimes it’s tough getting back up from bending over without looking like we’re old.

So, to help us from needing to bend over or crouch down so much when gardening we have started enjoying the benefits of raised bed gardening.

Raised bed gardening is simply a technique for growing plants without digging into your yard, which is great for us because our yard is mostly made from concrete, err I mean clay. There can be many reasons to have a raised bed garden but for me it’s to save my aging back so I can really enjoy gardening.

Currently we have raised bed gardens that are made from wood. They are very old and ready to fall apart. One actually did fall apart last year but I kept it together and will have to build a new one come spring.

We are thinking hard about using materials that will out last both of us so we may go with plastic as there are many that look just like wood but without the problems of wood.

I have also been running a raised bed garden made from flat rocks. That could be a fair bit of work but with my son’s help I think we could do it and make it look great. I have seen a few while walking around Moncton and they look beautiful.

To Me Raised Bed Gardening Means…

… no more digging in dense clay that’s like breaking through concrete and wears me out in just minutes. Instead I can just build a raised bed garden frame and fill it with nice clean healthy top soil.

I can do all this in an afternoon but to dig that into our backyard, well I’ve done it too many times and it’s a back breaker and takes me days.

Raised Bed Gardening Benefits

1. I already mentioned how it saves me digging or mining into the earth in our backyard due to the dense clay. The digging is just the first step as we then had to amend the soil so much just to get it to grow more than weeds.

2. I like this benefit a whole bunch. I  get so much more produce from my raised bed vegetable gardens. We grow so much produce that we can share with friends and neighbours, although in 2012 we won’t be doing so much sharing as we are learning how to can our vegetable garden for winter use, just like when I was kid growing up on the farm.

How can raised bed gardens double or triple your harvest in less space? By square foot gardening. With raised bed gardening I don’t have to walk through my gardens. Each one is about two feet across so can easily reach everything without leaving empty spaces to walk through.

3. Amending the soil in your raised bed garden is a breeze. Now we have raised bed gardens in areas of our yard that aren’t too hospitable at all. No digging in the ground. We just fill the raised bed with top soil we purchase locally and it’s ready to go.

4. Weeding is no longer a pain either. I can still remember all the weeding I had to do as a kid. We lived on a farm and were pretty much self sufficient but it wasn’t square foot gardening back then. Dad would leave rows big enough for the tractor wheels to move through.

That meant a lot of crawling around on my knees weeding. I did however enjoy the results of my weeding and certainly ate my share of everything, and more.

We don’t have our patio built yet but when we do it will have a few raised bed flower gardens. For these we will of course need to put bottoms in our raised beds, but everything else is the same as those we put directly on the lawn.

Square Foot Gardening

SFG was popularized by Mel Bartholomew and goes perfectly with raised bed gardening. is the perfect way to save money today by having your own raised bed gardens and enjoying square foot gardening while doing it in less than half the space normally required.

Rather than just planting your raised beds in rows like we commonly see it’s divided into sections each about a square foot in size. Depending of course what it is you plan to grow you could be putting multiple plants in each grid section or perhaps just one bigger plant.

When using raised bed gardening along with square foot gardening it’s so easy to lay things out for best planting without wasting an inch of space. It takes less watering and produces less weeds as well. The weeds it does produce are easily removed as the soil in your raised bed should be quality top soil and not hard dense clay like what’s under our raised bed gardens.

Related articles

• I Found Some Great Raised Garden Bed Plans (hbb2obm.com)
• Home Gardening Tips: Using Peat Moss (hbb2obm.com)
• 10 Tips for Wintertime Gardening (hbb2obm.com)

It makes me happy to see and hear so many becoming aware about environmental issues and have turned to organic gardening like Jenny and I do. But we have found so many people that don’t know what organic gardening is so let’s go over a few things to help those people understand.

In it’s simplest form organic gardening is about using natural products in gardening meaning poisons in either fertilizing or pest control so as to help rather than hinder Mother Nature.

When we bought the home we so enjoy today we found all kinds of poisons around the property and even in the basement. Three weeks after moving in our dog Shadow became deathly sick and we actually lost her and broke my heart.

We are so much more fortunate these days as there are many alternatives to using harmful fertilizers and pest control formulas. Our family has no fear of our new dog Honey getting poisoned as we only use environmental friendly products.

Environmentally Friendly Fertilizer

When you think about it fertilizer is to your garden plants what food is to us. Every garden needs some fertilizer if you want to have healthy, lush plants and produce. All fertilizers should contain:

1. Nitrogen
2. Phosphorus
3. Potassium

These three ingredients are what your plants need to grow healthy and strong. Not all organic fertilizers, like farm manure, come with all three so you may need to mix different things together to get the exact combination you desire.

A Few Organic Fertilizers Are:

Fish Emulsion – decomposed mashed up fish – this is kind of smelly but the smell goes away after a few days.  High in nitrogen, this can help with early growth in spring.

Blood Meal – this powdered fertilizer is made from dried blood from cattle slaughterhouses – it is also high in nitrogen.

Chicken Droppings – Relax, I am talking about the NON stinky kind of pellets that are created from chicken droppings. It’s great and has all the nutrients your plants need for healthy growth. I lived on a farm, we had chickens, so I thought these pellets would take my breath away. So glad they weren’t smelly.

Organic Pest Control

There may be some extra work involved when one goes green or organic with pest control options but your grandchildren will thank you.

To make pest control work why net invite some help from garden friendly bugs and birds such as lady bugs, birds and lacewings. They can really help and save you some of that work.

Usually you can grow native plants as they tend to be more resistant to native pests and disease. However you still need to keep a close eye on your garden so you can manually pick unwanted pests out of your garden along with any diseased leaves or plants.

I spent the first 40 years of my life suffering horrible migraines where I would have to go into a room that I could make pitch black and just throw up for 12 hours.

It all started when I moved from Toronto to a farm to live. We didn’t know it at the time but it was pesticides on our food that poisoned every day of my life.

So I find organic gardening to be the perfect way to connect with nature and to give our children an earth that’s still able to support us for many more generations.

ikoni

First we had a great Christmas. Jenny sang in the Living Christmas tree again. Plus we had a very fun Christmas and thanks to Steve and Alyssa we even dressed up.

Well Home Gardening Tips had it’s best year both in produce and profits as I promote products and some services through our blog and earn some extra income.

I started our gardening blog in 2007 when we started gardening in more than pots. We’ve been having a lot of fun and are learning new things all the time. 

It’s also great plus exciting being able to purchase a few new garden tools each year. We’ve even thought about a little greenhouse like my dad made.

Should We Be Building An Ark

I was starting to wonder as 2011 was the wettest year in my 58 years however I don’t remember the first few years of my life and then there was the 70s.

Our poor little garden is already in the lowest area of our yard but it’s also the area that gets the most sunlight so this year the veggie garden sat in water way too much. I did try to help the plants as much as possible so  I put a straw in the ground for each root system so they could breathe.

Okay, I may have made that last part up but I thought it was funny.

Even though it was the wettest I can remember we had so much fun with the vegetable garden that we were sorry to see the season end. We now want to grow more so we can try preserving or canning some things. That brings back great memories of our vegetable garden on the farm in the 60s.

Join A Seed of the Month Club We Did

One very cool thing I did, although it was in Nov. 2010, was to join a seed club.  Mike The Gardener’s Seed of the Month Club. Now I receive an envelope with 4 packages of seeds each and every month. I don’t mind checking the mail now.

Checkout my article I wrote that show the seed of the month club seeds I had for our 2011 vegetable garden.

Since then I have received a whole lot more seeds. Now Jenny and I are excited about trying a number of new things to grow.  Pumpkins are one that I have always wanted to grow.

Feeling Blessed To Be Feeling Better in 2011

Not to end on a sad note or anything because it’s not, not for me anyways.

In Feb. 2004, Friday the 13th actually I had a heart attack. Scary day of my life but I was alive and that was more than I can say about 2 of my other brothers.

There was damage that couldn’t be repair and a bi-pass was out of the question. That left lots of drugs and walking. That was more than depressing. To make it even more depressing I was not allowed to go fishing again until I could pass a stress test.

I even stopped cutting my hair as you can see in the image above. I wasn’t going to cut my hair until I could pass a stress test. Maybe like Samson getting strength or something. I went four of the longest years of my life before finally passing the test. I had a huge lump in my throat and no it wasn’t my heart.

The image on the right is me with the biggest smallmouth bass I have landed in many years. I gave her a big kiss and released her back for your kids to catch some day.

Each year I gain more strength and 2011 was my strongest year since 2004 and dreaming of gardening in 2012. Oh yeah. Now I buzz my hair right to the scalp and it’s so refreshing, easy to manage too.

Well as soon as my heart doctor gave me the okay to go fishing again I pretty much shaved my head. Mann that felt good. Even now I keep my hair buzzed close for the freedom. Well that should give you a good laugh for the new year.

So from where I sit, here in my home office of Mann & Mann we had a great 2011 and wish you the best in 2012.

Image by starjewel via Flickr

Whether you live in a urbanized area with a small terrace or porch or you live out in the country, container gardening has often been well-liked. There is nothing like walking out on to your porch that is alive with colour. Particularly lately with more and more folk anxious about food additives and pesticides in foods we all would like to grow our own food so we all know what we are eating. Container gardening is far easier than having a “traditional garden” and can offer you a good quantity of food for you and your family.

Tips For Choosing The Best Containers

Beginning a container garden can be great fun for everyone. When starting, selecting the correct sort of container is of similar importance as what you put in the container. Terracotta pots dry out quickly, plastic pots won’t face up to the harsh sun very well and will deteriorate over time. The best kind of containers to use are ceramic glazed pots. Wooden boxes have a propensity to rot and if they’ve been treated with chemicals this isn’t good for your or your plants. You will need a pot that may hold up to 15 to 20 quarts, otherwise the roots will become cramped and can not entirely grow out.

Recommended Plants To Begin With

Onions and Radishes

Onions and radishes grow under the soil so only the stems and leaves will be seen in the pot. They grow fast and don’t need a very large container either.

Herbs

Herbs are tiny and also make stunning decorative plants to have in the kitchen, or outside near to the kitchen door. They are handy to chop off just what you need for cooking!

Peppers and tomatoes

Plants like tomatoes and peppers will have a high yield of food and are straightforward to grow. Some of these plants grow over 2 feet tall and will need a big enough container so they will not be top heavy. You can put chicken wire round the container if you do not want the vegetables growing outside the pot, but it’s not obligatory.

Tomatoes and peppers continue to bloom even after you start picking and this will give you a continual supply for a bit.

Lettuce

There’s little like making a salad from fresh lettuce and growing it is straightforward to do. Lettuce can be grown in a tiny pot but the drawback is that once it’s gone, no more reappears like on the tomato plant. However you can plant a new container of lettuce about every fortnight and they are going to become prepared nicely timed for you to have a continuing supply.

There are more straightforward plants to grow as well , such as squash eggplant, garlic, chives, spinach and beets. However , the vegetables noted above will make you a great salad and growing them yourself will make all your food taste far better. Don’t wait any longer, start your own container garden today.

Other Resources

You’ll find many container gardening resources and concepts on the Internet, as well as videos of how to line up your work area. If you or somebody you love has been needing to have a garden, but failed to think they had enough room, think again. Container gardening is the only possible way to go and you will find it very fulfilling.

Mark van Berkel is a enthusiastic gardener, specializing in small organic and container gardens, who is always keen to share his passion & knowledge with anyone who also loves gardening. Give us a visit if you would like to discover a lot more about the great benefits of container gardening.

Related articles

• Container Gardening – Cut Watering Time In Half (hbb2obm.com)
• Planting Tomatoes Home Gardening Tips (hbb2obm.com)

As a gardener, I dream about soil the way some people dream about food, cars or clothing. I long for the perfect loam, often described as resembling chocolate cake. Loam has a crumbly, but moist, texture that holds water well without drowning plants. It is usually dark brown and has a rich, earthy smell. Earthworms, plants, microorganisms and gardeners adore loam, myself included.

I’ve gardened in several locations, and never found naturally occurring loam. My first garden had clay soil. This soil was dark gray, sticky and thick. When I worked it, it turned rock hard or developed clumps. It was fertile and held water, but it was so heavy that it deprived plants of oxygen.

My current garden has sandy soil. It’s light in color and has a rough texture when I hold it in my hand. It’s easy to work, but water drains out of it at lightning speed. The rapid draining action also leaches nutrients from the soil.

Perhaps you’ve encountered similar frustrations in your quest for the perfect loam soil. Not to worry. Even if you don’t have ideal soil, you can make it better through the addition of soil amendments. Fall is the ideal time to start amending your soil so it’s ready for spring planting. Here’s how:

• Get a soil test. University extension offices or commercial labs offer soil test analysis. The process usually costs less than $20 and takes two or three weeks. Send a sample of soil from several areas of your garden to the extension office or lab. You’ll receive a detailed analysis that tells you what kind of soil you have, what nutrients are missing and the pH level of the soil. The analysis may even make recommendations for soil amendments and fertilizer. Fall is the best time to conduct a soil test. Extension offices are less busy and some amendments, such as sulfur or lime, take several months to be effective.

• Add 2 to 3 inches of aged manure to the soil and till it under. Aged manure is a great resource if you live in an agricultural area. It’s usually free for the taking, but there are a few things you should know. First, fresh manure is very “hot,” meaning that it gives off ammonia that can burn plants. Seek out manure that has been composted, or at least allowed to sit around for several months. Manure may contain pathogens that can cause disease. That’s why it is best applied in the fall to allow it time to decompose completely before spring planting. Some manure, such as horse manure, may contain weed seeds that can crop up in your garden. The use of mulches reduces the amount of weeds that will sprout.

• Use compost if you have it. Compost is an ideal soil amendment, but most home gardeners must supplement their home compost pile with commercial compost to amend the soil in sufficient quantities. If you buy compost, look for organic compost that doesn’t contain sludge or municipal waste.

• Leave grass clippings. Grass clippings make an excellent soil amendment. Use a mulching lawn mower and leave them on the lawn to break down into nitrogen, or add them to the vegetable garden, where they’ll add nitrogen, improve soil texture and keep down weed growth. Add 1 inch or less of grass clippings each week, and don’t use clippings treated with herbicide.

• Store extra bagged compost in a shed or storage garden benches. Use the compost as a mulch or side dressing in addition to a soil amendment.

About the Author

Stan Horst lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with his wife, two teenagers and dog, Toby Jax. A former cabinet and furniture maker, he maintains the website, BetterBenches.com, which highlights fine outdoor furniture and benches, such as furniture by Kingsley Bate. Horst enjoys nature, and loves hiking, camping and fishing with his family.

While Jenny and I were waiting until we could own our own home we had container gardens as we had a strong desire to have a garden, just no place to grow one, other than in containers.

I enjoyed container gardening and since we bought our home and now have lots of space I have cut back a bit on the container gardens. Although we still have a few and this year I am planning to use my son’s worn out work boots he just replace. They are a size 13 and will make great containers for many some pansies or Jenny’s favourites petunias.

The thing is I have always had a problem with keep enough water in the containers so that our plants don’t dry out, yet enough drainage to keep the roots from drowning. We couldn’t go to work without returning home to sick droopy looking plants.

Well I found this helpful article this morning and thought I would it with you. Let me know what you thing.

How To Water Your Container Garden

Watering garden window boxes is an ongoing process and yet they can dry out so fast if you haven’t planned for water while you’re working or away for a day or two. The rest of this article is focused on how to save time watering your container gardens.

If you’re planting a hanging basket, line it with supamoss rather than sphagnum moss. This is a product made from dyed recycled cotton fibres. This lining is pre-punched with needle holes to permit water to drain from it while still preserving almost all of the water for the plants. It is simple to make holes in this material for easy planting and is not unsightly.

If you are using sphagnum moss or a coconut fibre liner, place a plastic liner made from a green trash bag within the pot. Cut slits to allow for drainage and plant your pot as normal. Using this technique, you will find your basket holds moisture for a longer period of time.

An alternative way of saving water in your hanging baskets is to place a saucer in the base of your planter before adding the soil. This will collect water and keep it available for the roots of your plants.

Self-watering pots will be available at garden and nursery centres. These containers have a water reservoir that may hold up to 1 or 2 quarts of water which is continuously wicked up into the soil. These are a great solution if you like container gardening but also need to be away from home a couple of days at a time. Check this page for more hints on watering container plants while on holiday .

Many gardeners depend on moisture absorbing crystals, while others swear at them. The first group feel that the timed release action of the crystals keeps the pot soil damp longer, thereby extending the time between watering’s. The latter feel the crystals absorb all of the water and keeps it from the plant roots. This is a debate I am not going to win no matter what side I take, so you’ll need to test this on your own and see how this product works for you.

Gloria Daniels has been gardening for over 40 years. Her site, Container Gardening Guide contains tips and videos for gardeners of all levels. Check out More About Hanging Baskets for information about planting and watering hanging garden container baskets.

I see a few container gardens on my daily walk. The one I wanted to show you I could find but this little container garden is a great idea and looked pretty cool when it was full of tomatoes.

If I can find the other picture I wanted I will add it. It was a long row of containers with tomatoes on either side of a sidewalk to a home. I think there was about 20 of them. It looked amazing but I can’t remember what street it was on.

That’s mom and dad on the left. Dad was a real handyman who was always helping his neighbours. When he retired he became even more active I think.

I went to visit him one summer and saw that he had a greenhouse out back. I asked him about it and as we walked out to see it he told me he built it.

The entire greenhouse was constructed from windows he collected from homes that had windows replaced or which had been torn down.

Now you might think that looked like a mess but it didn’t he did a great job. Before he started he stripped and cleaned each window frame. Then once he had everything aligned and matched he fastened it all together with strips of wood as a frame and painted it. Wish I had a picture.

Finding A Small Affordable Greenhouse

Image by azmichelle via Flickr

Now that we have had a vegetable garden and learned a little about growing flowers as well as veggies I’d like to have a little greenhouse. I have tried growing starter plants from seed and we just don’t have enough direct light.

What I really need is to either redo the windows in the house, which isn’t in the budget, or a greenhouse. I vote for the greenhouse and I don’t have the construction skills or energy required to construct my own like dad did, so I’ve been looking at greenhouses on eBay.

I’ve seen a couple of greenhouses that were small, about 5×4 but one of those would go great attached right to the south side of our shed/garage, right along side of the clematis trellis.

Lots of people today are going green so their children will have a better place to live than where we’re heading at the moment if more of us don’t make the change. It’s scary to think about what my kids children will have to endure because we didn’t get back to nature soon enough.

It’s Sunday  morning and I couldn’t sleep so I got up early, grabbed a cup of coffee and started scanning the net for interesting garden related stories and found Compass Green and I couldn’t stop reading and looking at pictures.

I landed on a page on the Warren Wilson Echo, with a video explaining what the Compass Green Project is which led me to their home page with lot of great images. Well worth visiting Compass Green to learn more about going green and sustainable living.

The Compass Green Mobile Greenhouse

Yeah these guys travel around in a mobile greenhouse teach kids and anyone who will listen about sustainable living in our world today.

Image via Wikipedia

Only a few people are aware that the origin of watermelon is from Africa, however, growing watermelon is popular almost everywhere, as it is one of the favorite fruits for both old and young. It is well liked for its added advantage to grow during the entire year. Watermelon has a large water content and is rich in nutrients which are very useful to the human body. This fruit is liked by huge numbers of people for its unique feature of possessing several vitamins and nutrients which act as a good source in providing essential elements to the human body.

Watermelon is one of the many healthy fruits which can be grown right in your home garden. It requires plentiful of sunlight, a good amount of water and some space. As it originates from Africa, it requires a very hot climate for its growth. It grows for only 3 months. The soil for growing water melon should be fertile and rich in manure; it also requires lot of sunlight in addition to water and fertilizers. As the saying goes, all great things require proper fruit and vegetable garden planning plus plenty of time; even growing water melon needs a lot of time.

For growing water melons, just like for instance for growing broccoli, soil is considered as one of the important elements which, should be rich in fertile and manure. Firstly to grow watermelons seeds are to be sown in the soil. The temperature must be around 25 degree Celsius. The seeds should be planted deep about one inch into the soil and five feet away from one plant to another. It provides enough space for the plants to grow. The soil used for growing should be rich in fertile with manure which makes the process easy to grow watermelons. The plant gets enough nutrition if the soil is rich in manure and fertile which helps to get rid of bugs which usually affect the plant. Some of the experts suggest using nitrogen and phosphorus which is beneficial in the growth of the plants in addition to plenty of water. Make use of plastic mulch to cover the plants in order not to get spoiled.

When is it time to reap the fruit? The time to reap is calculated by tapping the fruit. It’s ready if the sound is hollow. Watermelons turn yellowish if they are ready. The stem of the water melon dies once the fruit becomes ripe. When you see these signs, it’s time to reap the tasty fruit.

Growing watermelon can test your patience as it takes a considerable amount of time to grow, but the rewards are well worth while.

Good news for gardeners: The arrival of winter does not mean you have to stop gardening. On the contrary, many vegetables can be grown during the colder season. You simply need to start planning and prepare before it’s time to bundle up against the seasonal chill. Here are some tips for managing a wintertime garden that will keep you eating fresh year-round.

1. Plant your winter garden when it is still summertime, such as at the end of July or in early August. Foods’ sugar levels rise when temperatures fall, so your crops will naturally offer a sweeter taste. You can plant crops like lettuce, kale, carrots, and turnips and select from them for meals throughout the winter.

2. Know where your plants are going to grow best, whether that’s indoors or in a protected space outdoors. Sheds can be used for tending to gardening or for storing supplies like tools and bags of mulch. Potting sheds are excellent for your gardening needs, given that they’re designed for the light and ventilation that your plants and/or vegetables will need. A shed is great for protecting potted plants against the high winds they would face outdoors.

3. Know your gardening zone so you can plan and plant according to what will grow best in your area of the country.

4. Consider building—or having built—a raised bed, which can save plants that would otherwise die if kept damp too long. A raised bed allows for drainage that your crops will need.

5. Ground covers like mulch or straw will give you access to crops while unprotected areas of your garden are frozen. You can use leaves as mulch but they can become tamped down by winter rains. You might cover the leaves with a layer of plastic to help prevent the mulch from compacting too much and choking off air your plants will need.

6. Protect your potted plants. You can pack them in mulch to protect against frost or wrap them in layers of cloth, such as burlap.

7. Take advantage of winter’s bareness and prune any vines that may be harming nearby plants. Waiting until spring will only make this task more difficult.

8. Consider scooping up fallen leaves and adding them to your compost bin to prepare nutrient-rich food for your garden in the spring.

9. Tending to wintertime flowers like begonias, African violets, and jasmine can help make spring seem right around the corner, as they add beauty and color to your home during a gray and cold season.

10. Use the bareness of your yard to plan landscaping activities you can pursue in the summertime. This can help you decide what you’re going to plant in the late fall for a springtime harvest.

Though the weather gets colder and the sun might not come out as often, you don’t have to let go of your love of gardening during the winter. Simply plan ahead for the changing season and protect or plant anew a selection of vegetables that will keep you well-nourished while you’re snuggled up indoors.

Maire blogs on behalf of Sears and other quality brands and loves to travel. She also enjoys baking Christmas cookies and walking her dachshund puppy.

I think raised garden beds look pretty cool. We have a couple in our back yard which I get to enjoy from my office window.

Our raised bed gardens are so much easier to work in than our backyard vegetable garden. The soil in our yard is very heavy dense clay that’s full of old tree roots. We’ve even found flower pots buried all over the yard.

Well the raised beds we have were here when we bought our home and they have seen better days. It’s time we tried our hand at building our own raised garden bed. I’ll have to learn how first.

We will have to replace the two existing raised beds but I would also like to add two more on the south side of the garage where they will get 3 or 4 extra hours of summer sun.

How To Build A Raised Bed Garden

The reason I know the old raised beds need replacing was because I decided to dig up on of the existing beds and amend the soil for a new strawberry patch.

As soon as I dug that round mouth shovel into the dirt and lifted it the sides fell off the raised bed. That wasn’t suppose to happen but I didn’t have the skill to replace, yet, so I patched it enough to keep it together for the summer.

The repair took me about an hour and then I headed into my office to see if I could find how to build raised bed gardens plans. I’m not much of a builder so I needed plans that were easy to follow and build.

The task of building new raised beds had to be easier than digging up our backyard as we don’t own a jack-hammer.

If that goes as planned we would like to add a couple more raised beds at the front of the property to replace the sprawling pines in the front of the house, which are way out of control.

A Good Raised Bed Garden Will Save My Back

The raised beds I see on my daily walks through town show me just how much beauty they can add to a home. Plus it would mean we don’t have to crawl around on our hands and knees because it’s not so easy to get back up when you’re pushing sixty.

Raised bed gardens also save my back when it comes to creation. Digging my little in-ground vegetable garden  took me weeks to do because it was so exhausting. I don’t think my back will ever forgive me for putting it through that.

Last year we had the wettest year I remember. It just never stopped raining long enough for our yard to drain so our little veggie garden sat with roots in water for most of the spring and summer. On the other hand I never saw our raised bed gardens having that problem, no matter how hard it rained.

A raised bed garden just seems like it’s the answer to our backyard problems with clay and poor drainage. Checkout How To Build Raised Bed Gardens.

Forget me not are wonderful flowers with elegant beauty. These flowers really represent a sense of love and affection. The name “Forget me not” is an interesting name for flowers. And there are a few histories behind the name of these natural beauties.

According to past history it is claimed that God made the earth and did not glance at the little flowers that he had created. It seemed that God neglected them, the tiny flowers though. That is the reason why they cried out to God not to forget them. And God granted their wish making them more beautiful than most other flowers that were bigger. This was one of the stories that came from traditional times and therefore naming the small blue flowers “Forget Me Not”.

Another historical event shows that Christ seeing the wonderful thing about mum Mary’s touched her eyes and then touched the grass. From the miracle of the touch of Christ new flowers were born which were Forget me not flowers. They were made to designate the fantastic thing about mother Mary and her memories. It wasn’t to be forgotten so that the name of the flower became “Forget me not”.

These forget me not flowers are a really fantastic creation of nature. It can be discovered in assorted colors which can attract any person. They appear to be Tulip flowers. They’re even better than other little flowers which exist on our planet earth. They look so superb that their beauty can’t be described in just simple words. The composition of the flowers is tiny. They bloom in a group which is composed of smaller groups in the group. Their petals are soft and colourful. Blue yellow and white are the 3 most crucial colours found in these flowers. Their beauty is enhanced by the tiny roots and phenomenal leaves.

Forget me not flowers nowadays are utilized for various purposes. People who shop for them use them to enhance their own house and decorate it pleasantly. It is also used as a particular gift for the special persons. On different occasions it is given to one another because of the appraise it represents.

All flowers have different meanings. These Forget me not flowers are also not different. These flowers represent the immortal beauty and exceptional capability of attracting folks. It also symbolizes that loved folk should not be forgotten.

In this fast pace of life in the leading edge technology everyone wants massive homes, large autos and big success. But these delightful flowers show that large isn’t necessarily a thing of beauty. Small things may also be beautiful without the need of being massive. It is the truth of nature and a successful procedure through which these superb looking flowers were made.

Forget me not are not only flowers. They’re more than that. They are flowers with the capacity of showing one’s emotion through its chic mesmerizing beauty.

These are the most important things that makes these forget me not flowers better in contrast to other giant flowers. It’s actually an amazing beauty of nature. For more info: forgetmenotflowers.org

Our real estate guy Rick is a great guy. I worked with Rick when I first moved to Moncton, New Brunswick. He was always friendly, such a real person and a big part of why we called on Rick when we wanted a new home.

Well we got the home of our dreams and ever since Rick has sent us happy little reminders and thank you letters. With each letter or card he sends us there is a package of Forget-Me-Not seeds. Thanks Rick our yard is borders with them and they always remind us of good friends.

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Jenny and I enjoy growing tomatoes and do our best to remain green when preparing our flower and vegetable gardens.

We started gardening even before we had a plot to plant in. We just went the container gardening route and we started by growing tomatoes in containers.

Grow Green, Get Healthier

My understanding of the term going green, when in reference to home gardening would be to avoid anything that would be harmful to nature, animals and people.

There are green or natural ways of controlling those weeds and garden pests, without making your family sick in the process.

Growing Starter Tomatoes Plants Indoors

By starting our tomatoes indoors we can gain more than a month on our gardening. This way our tomatoes are already strong and healthy when planting time arrives.

I start them from seed in little peat pods and when the days are nice I put them out side for a bit to strengthen their stalks and roots.

Of course I bring them back indoors or at least put them in the garage at night.

Protect Tomato Stalks From Bugs

To protect our transplanted tomatoes from cutworms I wrap tinfoil around the stalk. I also make sure it’s all the way down the stalk to the roots so they can’t eat through the stalk.

Prune Your Tomato Plants For Better Fruit

Tomato plants will grow little suckers at the base of branches. These suckers do nothing more than drain energy that could be going to the branches that produce fruit.

I can remember watching my dad pinch suckers off tomatoes when I was just a kid.

Give Your Tomatoes Lots of Sunlight

Without light we couldn’t be able to grow much and it’s never been more true than when talking about growing tomatoes. They need a lot of sunlight, as much as 10 hours a day to make them really happy.

My first vegetable garden wasn’t the best looking garden but it taught me a lot of things that made our second year garden so much better.

One thing I realized is that a few trees will have to come down this winter to make room for the sunlight we need to have a good garden.

Secondly I will plant my tomatoes further apart so they have space to grow and get lots of sunlight.

Maintain Moisture Levels

If you have followed my blog for long you likely know our yard is heavy dense clay. I did a lot to loosen the soil using top soil, compost and peat moss but it still wasn’t enough to drain off all the water we got in 2011.

For spring 2012 I plan to re-dig the entire vegetable garden to about a foot deeper and make it drain better.

Tomatoes want water but they don’t want to sit in it for extended periods of time like our poor tomatoes did this past summer.

I think gardening was about the best hobby I’ve started, well next to fishing anyways. I double the garden size from this past year and plan to grow enough tomatoes that we will be able to do some canning. That’ll be a great new experience for us.

Learn more about growing tomatoes: How To Grow Better Tomatoes