EZ Gardening For Beginners

You want to enjoy the soothing sound of water in your garden, but you don’t have the time, money or resources to create a pond or purchase a large fountain. Fortunately, there are many fast and easy container water garden options that are open to you. If you don’t want to spend the effort in digging (or paying someone to dig) you a pond for a water garden, here are some easy ways to achieve fast container water gardens that are lovely to see and hear.

A Versatile Container Water Garden

Do you want a water garden without all the fuss? If so, here is one quick and fun project that will have your guests oohing and ahhing. This project takes all of a half hour to set up. A container water garden is essentially a large watertight pot with floating water plants. You can use your creativity to choose the container and the type of floating plant that you would like to put on display.

How to Create Your Own Unique Container Water Garden

Begin by finding a watertight pot that is the right size for your garden space and the plant you would like to feature in your water garden. A good choice is a glazed pot that can be used to grow lotus plants. These types of pots are known for their watertight structure. But if you cannot locate a traditional glazed lotus pot, any large watertight pot will do the trick. For the best effect, make sure that the watertight container you choose is at least 18 inches in height. You will also want a container that is at least 24 inches in diameter. When it comes to a water garden, aim for the size of half barrel. In fact, a half-barrel is the ideal size for your water garden, except that they are not watertight. However, many nurseries now sell plastic liners that are fitted to half barrels, which make it easy to transform a half-barrel into the perfect place to create your own water garden oasis. If you choose to use a half-barrel to create a water garden, make sure that you will be placing it in the right location. Remember that these are difficult to move and quite heavy, so they may not be ideal if you are planning to place your water garden on a deck or balcony patio.

Putting Together Your Water Garden

You will obviously need to work with aquatic plants in order to create your own water garden. You will need to fashion a platform on which your aquatic plant will sit. An easy way to achieve this effect is to use a stack of bricks on the plants can sit. However, this method should only be used if you don’t plant to move your water container garden, or if the weight of the planter does not matter. Once you have created a stable platform for your aquatic plants, you are ready to fill the container with water. Once you have filled your watertight container with water, arrange your aquatic plants on the platform in a way that you find pleasing. Let your imagination run free as you work on the composition of your aquatic plants.

Adding a Decorative Touch to Your Water Garden

If you want to hear the sound of water in your garden, you can add a neat decorative touch to your water garden by installing a re-circulating hand pump. This is an easy way to create a working water garden fountain. Simply install a small pump at the bottom of your water container garden with a short hose attached. This will keep the water circulating, which prevents the water from going stagnant.

Do you love to garden, but simply don’t have the time for tool maintenance? Here are some tips that will help you keep your tools ready for gardening without taking up a lot of your time. These simple tips can help keep your tools viable for years to come.

For Larger Gardens, Keep Two Tools Handy

If you have a large yard or garden space, but not a lot of time to maintain your garden tools, the easiest way to ensure that you always have the tools you need at your disposal is to keep two of every major tool in your garden shed. Rather than relying on one favorite shovel, invest in a second shovel to keep in your tool shed. That way, if one shovel should go dull, you will always have a second one ready for use at a moments notice. Don’t let a dull shovel keep you from gardening when you have time. You may also want to keep several hand tools at your disposal.

Cover the Pipes in Cold Weather

This is an easy maintenance tip that can save your watering hose and pipes during cold weather. Keep thick protective covering on hand that you can use to wrap around your pipes during cold weather. This easy step can save you money and time on damaged pipes.

Schedule a Tool Sharpening Expedition

Many people find tool maintenance time-consuming because it seems like a tool goes dull at just the wrong moment. Sporadic repairs are time-consuming and annoying. Avoid this by scheduling a tool sharpening expedition. Take one afternoon to gather all of your tools and take them to your local tool repair or home repair shop for a thorough sharpening. Simply scheduling a tool sharpening expedition once or twice yearly will keep your tools in fine shape and ready for use at a moments notice. Gather your spade, hoe, shovel, pruning tools, garden scissors, hand tools and other gardening tools and drop them off at your local hardware store for a thorough tool sharpening.

Prevent Tool Damage By Taking a Few Easy Precautions

There are many small precautions that you can take that will prevent tool damage. These precautions should only take a few minutes out of your gardening schedule. First, protect garden tools from extreme temperature. Although this may not occur to you, exposure to excessive sunlight, rain or cold temperatures can drastically reduce the efficacy of your tools. This is where storage comes into play. If you have a tool shed, garden shed or other protective outdoor area, make sure that you gather your tools after a gardening session and store them away. This simple act can dramatically increase the longevity and efficacy of your tools. Get in the habit of putting things away, and your tools will suffer much less wear.

Keep Your Lawn Mower Properly Stored

If you are like most people who keep a green lawn, you probably have some kind of lawn mower stored away. Lawn mowers often represent the most expensive yard maintenance tools that you have. Avoid damaging your lawn mower by keeping it stored improperly. Improper storage can cut years off the life of your lawn mover. Protect your investment by keeping your lawn mower properly covered at all times. Invest in a strong, plastic lawn mower cover. Better yet, store the lawn mower in a shed or other covered location, whenever possible. Also, keeping your lawn mower cutters properly sharpened can also help increase its longevity and efficiency. Set a schedule for having the cutters sharpened at least once a year, depending on the size of your lawn and use.

Many of us desire a lush green garden with fragrant colorful flowers to enhance or complement the look of our houses. But as so often, dreams are limited by money in our society. Landscaping can be expensive and hiring a landscape designer is with a regular budget the most unlikely thing that you would do. But do not give up yet. You can achieve a stunning garden with less money with these cheap and easy gardening tips.

First of all, one of the biggest budget breakers in landscaping is labor. If you want to save money big time while getting the most beautiful garden on the street, do the work your self. Just as plumbing, car repair, house remodeling takes huge amounts in labor, so does landscaping, but landscaping does not require a skilled person. Landscaping can be done by anyone. Of course the design might be rather difficult to achieve, but you can always get great ideas and looks from garden magazines, at your local garden center and online. Many garden projects are easy to do. Some hard work and so-called sweat equity is all that you need.

Next on the list, which is also a budget breaker, not quite as bad as the labor, is the material itself. Rather than choosing expensive flagstone or similar, go ahead and choose a cheaper alternative, maybe even a fake alternative that is a look alike. This way you can save big time and still achieve the look you were going for. Instead of the expensive special plant from china, buy a nice plant or shrub that looks similar and is indigenous to your area, which often means cheaper in price. Also, if you plan ahead you can be rewarded. If you are taking your time to get your garden done, you can plant your shrubs, trees and perennials in fall. Many garden centers reduce their prices drastically at the end of fall. People do not want to buy the plants anymore because the plants have started to change into their fall/winter outfit and are loosing their leaves or changing color. This means nothing bad in perennials, trees and shrubs. In spring these plants will get back to their beautiful spring/summer look just like all the other plants that might have been in your garden for years or the ones you would buy new, but you saved a ton of money by planting them in fall. As many garden stores quite right say, fall is for planting.

Another cheap and easy way to get color in your garden in spring and summer is by planting different perennials that grow from bulbs. Tulips, crocus and daffodils for spring, gladiolas and lilies for summer can give you a great flowering look all spring and summer for a fraction of the cost. Planting bulbs in fall in a strategic order can save you from buying overprized annuals in spring.

A great look for very little money can be achieved by using mulch throughout your garden. But when buying mulch and mulch is needed for more than one small flower bed or two, do not buy the bags at your local garden center. Buying mulch buy the bag is o expensive. Rather have it delivered in a big amount form your local landscape material supplier and save. Mulch comes in many colors and can make your garden look topnotch.

As you can see, you can achieve a attractive and stunning garden for a lot less than you might have thought and those garden dreams can actually come true. Any garden can live up to its potential if you get creative with budget friendly materials.