EZ Gardening For Beginners

For a flower and garden lover, a garden in a bag might sound kind of funny. But have you ever been really busy and not been able to tend to the things you like? Gardening can take up enormous amounts of time. From taking care of the ground, tilling, removing weeds, buying plants and seedlings to actual planting and watering, great amounts of time can be spent in the garden to achieve the perfect look.

A garden in a bag can be the ultimate solution for the herb and flower lover that does not have the time or the space. Gardens in a bag come in a great variety of herbs, flowers and plants and can be used in several different ways. One of the easiest solutions available is the garden in the bag that also grows in a bag. When you buy or receive such a garden in a bag you can just add water to the bag and the plants will grow from the bag. The bag is in this case also a planter. The plants can be kept in the bag on the windowsill, a table or even on your patio.

A garden in a bag can be a great present this way for anybody. Young or old will have a successfully growing garden with gardens in a bag. No more getting your fingers dirty to have a few fresh herbs on your hand for cooking. The seeds are guarantied to sprout and grow if watered properly. These gardens in a bag can give you fragrant herbs, beautiful, stunning flowers or even houseplants in a nice arrangement. Stores offer these gardens in a wide variety of themes, anything from organic herbs, to good luck and congratulation gardens.

If a bag on a windowsill is not quite your cup of tea, gardens in a bag also come in other forms. There are gardens in a bag that can be planted in plain old planters by pouring the bag into a nice size planter or by pouring it over a planter filled with gardening soil. These bags include all the seed and feed you need for the first few weeks or even months. Therefore no more deciding and buying of seed packages, but rather get a kit that includes all your favorite herbs. A garden in a bag is just plain convenient.

A garden in a bag can also come in the form of backyard plants. If you have a big backyard and want to bring some bloom and fragrance to your backyard, but just do not have the time then maybe even the money to buy all the plants necessary to make a beautiful garden, try a garden in a bag. These are big bags full of seed and starter fertilizer and all that you have to do is spread the mixture over flowerbeds or chosen planting areas. If you have ever used or seen the usage of grass patching or the city apply the mixtures to grow new grass on their tree lawns, than you know what this is about. The technique used for the flowers is very similar. The seeds are combined with a fertilizer mixture and therefore the sprouting is almost guarantied. Apply the garden in a bag in spring just after frost has passed and within a couple of months you will have a fragrant and flowering garden that will impress anybody. Your friends will be jealous of your beautiful garden. These bags include, wild flower gardens, annuals and in some cases even bigger grasses.

Whatever the occasion is, there will be a garden in a bag for you. Just go to your local gardening center or look online to find the perfect combination of plants for you, a friend or family member.

Are you looking for a fun and easy way to make your garden stand out? With just a few hours on the weekend, you can transform your garden using one of these quick and simple project ideas. Here are just a few projects that can make your garden sparkle.

Create a Charming Half-Barrel Fountain

This is a quick and simple garden project that can provide years of texture and soothing water sounds to your garden. Visit your local nursery to get the right parts for this project. You will need a half-barrel planter, a fitted plastic liner for the barrel, a re-circulating pump, a decorative water pump and the appropriate tubing. Part of the fun of this project is that you can individualize your half-barrel fountain to blend in with your yard environment. If you enjoy brightly colored pots and yard ornaments, you can coordinate your half-barrel so that it complements your garden environment.

Make Your Own Decorative Garden Wind Chimes with Recycled Items

There are many easy ways to put together your own decorative wind chimes using recycled items that you can find around the house. Easy recycled items include old spoons, keys and CDs that you no longer need. You can use a metal hanger and sturdy cord or wire to hang antique forks and spoons from the hanger so that you can listen to the relaxing sounds of your own handmade wind chime. You can use just about any resonant material. Your imagination is your only limit. You can also use old CDs to create your own dazzling hanging display. These can pull double-duty as they are reflective and are helpful in ridding your garden of pests.

Paint a Few Pots and Watch Your Garden Sparkle

Want to add a little color to your garden? Here is a very fast and simple way to brighten up any patio or deck. Buy three planters of varying shapes and sizes and paint them with bright colors that coordinate with your home. Use stencils to create your own dazzling designs on your pots. Protect your handiwork with paint sealant. Choose flowers that coordinate well with the flowerpot. For instance, for a bright yellow pot, plant blue-blooming flowers with long stems. This will create an eye-catching display that will be sure to please.

Install Window Boxes with Bright Showy Annuals

This is a classic touch that has been overlooked in recent years. Installing window boxes below your windows adds a classic and charming touch that is not easily missed. Coordinate the window boxes to complement your homes exterior. You can choose from a variety of materials, including wood, metal and plastic. Plant showy annuals that complement the window box and your home’s exterior, providing warmth and vibrancy. This is a classic way to add color and texture to an otherwise drab exterior, and you can complete this project in one short afternoon.

Add Stepping Stones to Your Garden

What could be more charming than steppingstones that lead right up to your garden gate? This project is a fast and easy way to enhance the overall appearance of your garden. You can use natural stones that are available throughout your yard and plant them firmly in a well designed garden path, or you can purchase readymade steppingstones in a variety of designs from your local nursery or home improvement garden store.

Decorative Lighting Adds Security and Sophistication to Your Night Garden

Decorative lighting has never been as affordable as it is today. Install a row of solar lights along your garden path, and enjoy the subtle yet moving glow that it imparts across your night garden when the sun goes down.

Do you wish you could come home after a long day to your own private garden? But maybe, like most of us, you simply don’t have enough time to plant and care for a proper garden. Even if you don’t think you have enough time to spruce up your garden, there are a lot of things you can do to make your garden bloom, even when you don’t have the kind of time you would like. Here are a few quick and easy fixes that can spruce up your garden.

Don’t Have Time to Water? Drip Irrigation Can Work Wonders

Drip irrigation is a type of watering system that drips water directly into the soil at a very slow rate. This allows for minimal evaporation loss to wind and sun. If you have a garden or a garden bed in which all the plants require more or less the same amount of watering, installing a drip irrigation system is a good and efficient way to make sure that your garden thrives without any need for traditional hose watering.

Assorted Planters Add Color and Texture

Do you have a garden that needs color and texture? Even the greenest garden needs a splash of seasonal color. An easy way to fix a drab garden is to add a few well-placed planters. Choose seasonal annuals for the brightest blooms. For year-round color, create a handful of planters that feature perennial flowers and plants. The number of planters will depend on your specific garden. For a small garden, one or two planters may be all that you need. For larger gardens, you may want to invest in larger or more planters.

A Few Well-Chosen Hardy Perennials Can Transform Your Entire Garden

Think year-round color is difficult to achieve? Not with a few well-chosen perennials. Pick a handful of hardy perennials that thrive in your area and plant them in visible, well-chosen locations in your garden. The hardiest perennials are known to thrive in extreme temperatures with minimal care.

Start Your Own Compost Pile

This is easier than you think, and it can add invaluable benefits to your garden with minimal effort. Creating your very own compost pile can help add to your garden’s vigor while significantly reducing the amount of yard and food waste that you produce. Compost simply refers to organic matter that has decomposed to create dark brown soil-like crumbly substance, called humus. This is organic-rich matter that can be used to enrich all of your plants. The simplest way to create your own compost is to set aside a space in your yard where your can start your pile. Ideally, you would want to use a bin, but if this is not possible, simply choose a spot that is relatively clear. Use this space to pile food waste and yard scraps, including carbon-rich material such as sawdust, branches, twigs, stems, straw, corn stalks, dry hay and dry leaves. Include plenty of green nitrogen-rich materials as well, including kitchen scraps (no meat products or bones), grass clippings, coffee grounds, used tea bags, hair, feathers, fur, manures and other nitrogen material. Moisten the pile and turn it with a pitchfork periodically. After a few months, you will have ready-made compost that will enrich your soil. All that from food and lawn scraps!

Add Colorful Hanging Planters

Boring garden got you down? Here’s an easy solution: add a few planters. Hanging planters often come pre-planted – all you have to do is find the right space to place them. If you have a deck, patio or front porch, a hanging patio can add an easy new dimension to your garden.

Container gardens on patios and balconies are a great way of displaying lush greens and great colors. Container gardens also add fragrance and style to your patio. To achieve a great container garden there are a few important tips that can make for a gorgeous container garden on your patio or balcony.

First of all, you should know that there are not many things that you can screw up with a container garden. You can actually be more adventurous than with a regular garden for several reasons. The area to cover and amount of flowers needed is much less than in a big front or backyard garden and therefore a lot cheaper to change when something should go wrong. Therefore you can try one thing and if it does not work, then you just change it to something else.

Containers in a container garden can also be used to enhance the look. There are many materials that containers are made from. Clay, Plastic, Stone and ceramics are all options for planters that you can use on your balcony. You can also build a wooden stand or decorate the outside of the planter to achieve just the look you are looking for. But make sure to keep in mind that containers need to have adequate drainage through holes in the bottom of the container. Also, planting containers need to be fairly large in size to offer most plants a nice growing space.

An important tip for container gardening is to make sure that the plants you choose are right for the light available on your balcony or patio. If your balcony is more in the shade than the sun, choose plants that are shade tolerant such as hosta, ivy and begonia.

When planting, a few bigger pots look nicer than many small ones. Preferably arrange plants in odd numbers that makes for a harmonic arrangement. When planting a few big plants per big pot you can always fill the bottom with smaller filler plants to complete the “potscaping.”

Fresh salsa, something many of us love to see on the party table, but how to get fresh salsa is another topic. Most salsas have such ingredients as tomatoes, bell and hot peppers of different kind, onions and garlic. Besides these vegetables, spices, salt and sometimes vinegar are added for flavor. Any of these vegetables can be grown in your back yard and even on your patio, if that is all that you have available.

Tomatoes are actually very easy to grow as long as you know a few basic rules. First of all, Tomatoes need to grow in a sunny spot. If you choose a spot that is half the day or more in the shade, you will receive your tomatoes a lot later and you will also harvest a lot less. Tomatoes can either be grown from seeds or the plants can be bought at your local supply store in spring. The plants need to be planted after the end of frost. In general, plants need to be spaced at least two feet apart. While tomatoes plants are growing at a steady rate when watered properly it is necessary to support the plants. Support can be provided with plant stakes, tomato cages or trellises to which the tomato plants can be attached. Towards the middle/ end of summer (depending on your region) Small yellow flowers will appear from which your tomatoes will grow. Tomato plants grow tomatoes for several weeks, if not months. So try to keep up with the harvesting and you will be rewarded with more tomatoes. Tomato plants can also be grown in planters and containers on patios and balconies. Of course to get a crop big enough for a salsa batch you need about three to four plants, but if you have the space, this would be a good and healthy use for it.

Hot peppers as well as bell peppers are just as easy to grow as tomatoes. The plants need a similar kind of spacing, only a few of the hot peppers are smaller plants and therefore the spacing can be less. Even though the plants do not need as much support as tomatoes plants, it is still recommended to have some kind of support such as a planting stake.

If you want to grow everything but the spices in your garden, you can even plant your own onions. But onions are generally harder to grow and if the garden is not completely in the sun all day long you will end up with tiny onions. Besides the fact that buying the onion starter plants is fairly expensive, you might not end up with the crop you expected.

Also needed for a fresh batch of salsa is garlic. Garlic can be grown in the garden, but similar to onions they are harder to grow in gardens that are in the shade for some small part of the day. Garlic and onions need lots of sun to grow properly. Most often it is recommended to buy the full grown versions at the supermarket. If you buy them from a local farmers market or as an organic version, they will be almost as good as homegrown.

There are many Salsa recipes on the market. From freshly chopped and mixed, ready to serve and eat to preserved versions that can add to your dinners and parties year round. If you have a bigger garden and are able to plant 5-10 tomatoes plants and several pepper and hot pepper plants you should be able to harvest enough vegetable to make 10-20 glasses of salsa and still have fresh vegetables for dinner in harvesting season.