You will obviously need the basic gardening products no matter what you are planting, such as a hoe, spade, and maybe even a shovel. You must have watering supplies, like a water hose and perhaps a sprinkler. Other possibilities include a spade, a pot (if you are pot planting), and a pair of gloves for comfort, some secuturs, or a rake. When first starting a garden you will definitely want some type of mulch or potting soil to get your dirt ready. There are a few types of potting soil to choose from, including organic gardening potting mix, seed starting potting mix, cactus potting mix, and root development potting mix, just to name a few.

Once you have your garden planted, you must have gardening products so that you can add nutrients to the soil to ensure a healthy plant life. Miracle-Gro is one of the most popular growing enhancements for plants. There are many different types of Miracle-Gro to choose from and what kind you choose will depend on what you are trying to grow. You will also want to add fertilize, such as 10-20-10 or triple 13, depending on the needs of your soil.

If you are growing vegetables or herbs, you may need different gardening products than regular flower gardens require. If you are growing tomatoes you will need a tomato cage and ties to protect the plants against the wind. Many plants, mostly vines, are designed to grow on something and you will have to have a fence or trellis of some sort.

Gardening products are not limited to just the gardening necessities; they can also come in the form of decoration. There are decorative flower pots, sundials, plastic figurines, stones or bricks for a pathway or looks, and even lawn furniture. Decoration will add to the charm and uniqueness of your garden and are an excellent way to give it a personal touch.

The winter months will bring a whole new set of gardening products to store shelves. When the frost hits the prime place to put your plants are in a greenhouse. However, if you do not have a greenhouse for whatever reason, a tarp of some sorts can be used to cover plants up at night. You also might need a light source, like a heat lamp, to both keep plants warm and give them extra light.

New and upgraded gardening products are always popping up on the market. It seems like every day there is some gardening product that claims to be bigger and better than the last. While many gardening products are not a necessity, they sure make the job a lot easier and more enjoyable.

Create your own beautiful Japanese garden

Japanese gardens are unique because  it’s gardening based upon culture. It’s designed to  produce a scene that copies nature as much as possible. Using trees, shrubs, rocks, sand, artificial hills, ponds and garden fountains as art-forms, a Japanese garden creates an amazingly serene place to relax and unwind.

A large part of Japanese gardening is based on Zen and Shinto traditions. Because of this, Japanese gardens have a contemplative and reflective state of mind. A Japanese garden is much different than the Western style; and most would agree it’s far more meditational and soul soothing.

A true Japanese garden has three basic methods for scenery.

1. Reduced scale. Reduced scale is the art of taking an actual scene from nature – mountains, rivers, trees, etc. and reproducing it on a small scale.

2. Symbolization. This is a big part of Japanese gardening. An example would be using white sand to suggest the ocean.

3. Borrowed views would use an ocean a forest as a background and would become part of the scene.

There are essentially two types of Japanese gardening: Tsukiyami is a hill garden and mainly composed of hills and ponds. The other is hiraniwa, which is basically the exact opposite of tsukiyami: a flat garden without any hills or ponds.

The basic elements used in Japanese gardening include rocks, gravel, water, moss, stones, fences, and hedges. Rocks are most often used as centerpieces and bring a presence of spirituality to the garden. According to the Shinto tradition rocks embody the spirits of nature. Gravel is used as a sort of defining surface and is used to imitate the flow of water when arranged properly. Stones are used to create a boundary and are sculpted into the form of lanterns. Water, whether it be in the form of a pond, stream, or waterfall, is an essential part of a Japanese garden. It can be in the actual form of water or portrayed by gravel, but no matter what form water is in, it is crucial to a Japanese garden’s balance.

There are several forms and types of plants that are the signature of a Japanese garden.

The primary one being Bonsai. Bonsai is the art of training everyday, average plants, such as Pine, Cypress, Holly, Cedar, Cherry, Maple, and Beech, to look like large, old trees just in miniature form. These trees range from five centimeters to one meter and are kept small by pruning, re-potting, pinching of growth, and wiring the branches.

Japanese gardening is a tradition that has crossed the Muso Soseki, poet, said “Gardens are a root of transformation”.

A Japanese garden is sure to bring about many different feelings and is definitely a transforming experience.

Start 'em young!

Ah, to this day I still remember my first gardening experience. It was such a disaster that I didn’t think I would ever want to garden again. I almost decided to turn my casual hobby into the most rage-inducing topic you could possibly bring up to me.

It all started a few weeks after I moved in to my first house. I was excited just to have my own grass to mow, since I had been living in apartments and condos for quite a while. In between plans to paint walls and renovate the inside to exactly how I like, I thought it would be a good idea to start a fruit garden so that I could have some fresh produce and put my yard to use.

At that point I didn’t really know anything at all about gardening. But still in my naive youthful years, I decided I didn’t need help. How hard could it be to start a garden and grow stuff? After all, it happens in nature all the time and nobody even has to do anything!

I already had a grassless patch in my yard where it looked like the previous owner had attempted a garden. But obviously their attempt were disasters. The area was full of rocks and weeds, with no signs of any agreeable plants. I spent several hours of work spread over several days to clear out the entire area, leaving nothing but dirt. At that point, however, I didn’t realize the difference between “dirt” and “soil”. I was dealing with barren, hard, and unforgiving land.
I made some attempt at making my garden look nice; although I think even Martha Stewart would have had difficulties. I took some stained boards that were sitting in my basement (quite convenient, no?) and used them as a border for my garden, to keep out all the garden pests that couldn’t jump more than a foot.

I went to the store that very day, and picked out whatever looked tasty. Strawberries? Sure! Watermelon? Why not! I hacked away a hole in the rock-hard ground and poked the seed in. After that, I think I watered it faithfully every day for several weeks. It eventually dawned on me that nothing was growing. But, undaunted… the watering persisted.

Eventually… I knew there was no hope, and I was heartbroken. After all those hours of pulling up weeds and tossing rocks into a pile, I had no fruit to show for my labor.

So, feeling very sad (and betrayed), I logged onto the internet and searched for a guide to gardening. I quickly ran across a site that led me to realize the true skill required for gardening. It was then I learned about soil consistency, nutrients, ideal watering conditions, seasons, and so on.

After I read up on my area and how to grow fruits, I learned exactly what to do. I learned how to get the ideal soil, when to plant the seeds, how much to water, etc. Just a night of browsing the internet and printing off sources, and I was totally ready for the next planting season.

If you’re in the position I was, and you’re just itching to start a new garden… I urge you to learn from my mistake. Make sure you do plenty of proper research on the types of plants you’re trying to grow, along with the climate. Spend money on good soil, good fertilizer, and good garden tools.

Hopefully you avoid the gardening disaster that I went through.

OK... they aren't this big. But it can seem that way!

It’s so frustrating  to a gardener. You walk outside to check on your plants. (It’s just a routine walk to make sure that your garden is thriving) and you end up finding holes in all of your plants that looked fine the day before. The cause? Plant-destroying garden pests. Some of the main garden pests are slugs, worms, caterpillars, birds, snails and the occasional gopher or mole. Although you can never wipe out these pests entirely, after all your hard work in the garden you have to do something. Insects are one of the worst things to have in your garden. To help keep these garden pests away, always try and eliminate places in your garden and near your garden that these insects and other plant diseases could be living. Remove old leaves, weeds, or any other decaying matter that insects and diseases could be living in from your yard. Also, regularly turn over your garden soil and break apart any clumps of dirt so that you can eliminate the living spaces any garden insects that might be hiding underground. Another way to rid your garden of the pests is to use dormant oil spray, which is used to keep destructive garden insects and diseases under control. It is best that you use dormant oil spray when your plants are dormant, usually around February or early March. I have used dormant spray many times on my garden and it has worked wonders on keeping these garden pests out. Be sure to follow directions! When I first decided to use some on my garden, I just dumped it everywhere… the goal, of course, to kill every harmful garden insect in sight. Unfortunately I wiped out my entire garden… and my neighbors, too. Check here for some more highly rated ways on how to deal with Garden Pests Control. Some insects can be beneficial to your garden though, so identifying garden pests is critical for a successful garden. Another garden pest problem has been birds. Chasing them away doesn’t work – they come right back. The solution that I’ve come up is to actually put a bird feeder AWAY from the garden in my yard. It’s helps, but it’s not fool-proof. Getting a dog has also helped keep the birds away, too. If you start seeing mounds of dirt around your yard, and your plants keep inexplicably dieing, you can assume that you have a bigger garden pests problem -  it’s a mole or gopher problem. Gophers are rodents that are five to fourteen inches long.  While moles are smaller, they can just as damaging. One method of getting rid of these root-eating pests is to set traps. The key is to place a trap in the gopher’s or mole’s tunnel. Smoke bombs placed in the tunnel also have been used… although I personally haven’t tried this method. The idea is to have the smoke spread through out the tunnel and hopefully reach the gopher, forcing him out. If you have any of these garden pests I’ve mentioned, you must take action because they WILL NOT go away by themselves. Plus, the longer you let them stay around, the more established these garden pests will become.

Organic Gardening Made Easy

By definition, organic gardening is gardening without the use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Controlling disease, garden pests  and weeds will be more more challenging. Also, organic gardening will require closer attention to the soil and the many needs of your plants.

Organic gardening starts with the soil. Gardeners must add organic matter to the soil regularly in order to keep the soil productive. In fact, compost is essential to the healthiness and well being of plants grown organically.

At its most essential, the process of making compost requires simply piling up waste outdoors and waiting a year or more. Modern, methodical composting is a multi-step, closely monitored process with measured inputs of water, air and carbon- and nitrogen-rich materials. The decomposition process is aided by shredding the plant matter, adding water and ensuring proper aeration by regularly turning the mixture. Compost can also  be made from leaves, dead flowers, vegetable scraps, fruit rinds, grass clippings, manure, and many other things.

The ideal soil has a dark color, sweet smell, and is full of earthworms. Some soil may need more natural additives than regular compost can give, such as bonemeal, rock phosphates, or greensand. A simple soil test will tell you the pH balance and which nutrients you will need to use.

If there’s  one thing that makes even serious organic gardening lovers want to reach for pesticides is insects on their plants. Preventative measures are the best way to defend your plants against insects. Make sure your plants are healthy and not too wet or dry – insects usually attack unhealthy plants… whereas healthy plants can often outgrow minor insect damage.

Having a variety of plant types is a good idea. It will prevent the pests of a particular plant type from taking out the entire garden.

Attracting insect predators, such as ladybugs,  certain birds, frogs, and lizards is a good idea. You can do this by keeping a water source nearby or by growing plants that attract insects who feed on nectar. Other ideas are sticky traps, barriers, and plant collars. There are some household items that prevent against insects too, like insecticidal soaps, garlic, and hot pepper.

To avoid plant diseases in organic gardening, choose plants that are naturally resistant plant diseases. Planting them in their prime condition will make a difference, too. Many diseases will spread because of too much moisture and bad air circulation, so the site of your garden and the way it is watered can help prevent diseases.

Weeds can be an annoying and frustrating part of organic gardening. Organic mulch can act as a weed barrier, but for even better protection put a layer of newspaper, construction paper, or cardboard under the mulch. Corn meal gluten will slow the growth of weeds if spread early in the season before planting, as does solarization.

Of course… there’s also the tried-and-true old-fashioned art of hoeing and hand pulling that always works.

Really… your best bet in weed prevention is persistence. Mulch well and pull and hoe what you can; after a few seasons you can beat the weeds for good.

Organic gardening is an excellent way to assure that your plants will be free and clear of all pesticides. If taken care of properly, they will stay healthy and avoid plant diseases. Organic gardening may take a little more time and care than regular gardening, but after gardeners figure out all the little quirks… it will definitely be worth the extra time and trouble.

Add flowers to your herb garden to make it even prettier.

Herb garden plants are becoming more and more popular every day, and for a good reason.

If you’re not the type of person that wants to spend their time managing an elaborate fruit or vegetable garden, you might consider planting and maintaining an herb garden.

When you’re ready to begin planting herbs, you might be tempted to buy the plants from the store. However, with herbs it is much easier to grow them from seed than it is with other plants.

Go here for some great ideas on which herb garden plants to choose.

Herbs have practical value, serve a purpose, and with herb gardening you can actually use your plants. And herb garden plants are not just for cooking. Many gardeners have an herb garden for their pleasant aroma and their beauty.

By the way, when it comes time to harvest the herbs, be careful not to take off too much. If your herb garden plants aren’t well established, it isn’t healthy to take any leaves at all. You should wait until your plant has been well established for at least several months before taking off any leaves.

One important part of herb gardening is drying the herbs properly.  The process begins with drying them out. Place them on a cookie sheet and baking them at 170 degrees Fahrenheit for two to four hours. After they’re sufficiently dried to be used in cooking, you can consult the nearest cookbook for instructions on using them to effectively flavor a dish.

If you want to store your herbs for later usage, keep them in a plastic or glass container. Paper or cardboard will not work, because it absorbs the taste of the herbs. Also, during the first few days of storage, check the container to see if any moisture has accumulated. If it has, you must remove all the herbs and re-dry them to prevent mildew.

Basil: This one of the most popular herb garden plants. ‘Dark Opal’ and regular green basil are beautiful (and tasty) additions to any herb garden. Dark Opal has light pink flowers and dark red leaves.

Chives: Very petite looking and resemble a blade of grass. But they’re much stronger than they look. They will do well in a drought. Their toughness and sturdiness makes chives a perfect herb garden plant. Chives are good used in salads, egg dishes, and many different sauces.

Mint: This also very simple to grow. It’s used in mint jelly, mint juleps, lemonade, and any other kind of fruity drink. Mint is also good herb garden plant because of its unique minty smell.

Thyme and sage: These two herbs that appear in nearly everyone’s herb garden. Both of these favorites are used for flavoring soups, chicken, turkey, pork, and other sausages. Sage is also grown sometimes just because of its beautiful blue spiked flowers.

Lavender: This probably the best smelling herb in anyone’s herb garden. It’s often used in candles, as a perfume scent, and to improve the smell in linen chests. The light purple flowers smell absolutely lovely.

Other types of herb garden plants: They can include borage (used in salads), chervil (used in egg dishes), sweet marjoram (flavors lamb, fish, salad, and soup), sesame (flavors crackers, cookies, and bread), and dill (flavors meats and used in pickles).

As you can see, an herb garden lets gardeners use herbs from their own garden for cooking, looks, and even for a great smell.

Flower Gardens Are Beautiful

Flower gardening is simple, inexpensive and loads of fun. Flower gardens can be used for as yard decoration, just as a hobby as a hobby, or even professionally.

There are some decisions that have to be made before you get started. You must decide if you want annuals that live for one season (and must be replanted every year), or perennials (that return again every year).

Also, when buying and planting your flowers, you need to know what kind of flowers thrive in your climate as well as the amount of sunlight they need.

Other decisions…

You must decide what type of look you want before planting. For example, mixing different heights, colors, and varieties of flowers together in a ‘wild-plant style’ will give your garden a meadow look and can be very charming.

If short flowers are planted in the front of your garden and work up to the tallest flowers in the back you will what is called a ‘stepping stone style’.

You can order flower seeds from catalogues or buy them from a nursery. However, most people choose to buy actual flowers and then transplant them.

Flower gardening advice: After you have prepared your garden area and bought flowers, it’s a good idea to lay the flowers out in the bed to make sure you like the arrangement and that they will be spaced properly.

One of the easiest processes in flower gardening is the planting. If you have seeds, just sprinkle them around in the flower bed. For planting transplants dig a hole just bigger than the flower, pull the container off, and set the flower in the hole right (green side up J). Perhaps add some fertilizer and then cover it with the loose soil. Press down firmly, then water.

Maintaining a flower garden is even easier than planting one.

Although they generally do well on their own, a bag of fertilizer applied in the early spring is a good idea.

Be sure to pinch back any blooms after they start to fade… and just keep them watered.

To save yourself work for the next season of flower gardening, remember this flower gardening advice:

1.  Rid your garden of all debris and spread out organic nutrients like peat moss or compost.

2. Don’t forget to turn over the soil to properly mix in the fertilizer and rake smooth when finished.

3. If you have perennials planted be careful not to disturb their roots in this process.

Flower gardening is simple. Just decide what to plant; plant it, and be sure to water, water, water!

There's NOTHING like fresh vegetables!

Here are 6 vegetable gardening tips to grow a healthy and successful vegetable garden easily and… have a bunch of fun doing it!

Vegetable gardening has always been popular because homegrown produce is usually cheaper than store bought and they definitely taste better. Vegetable gardening is no different than growing an herb garden or flower gardening.

Simply follow these 6 vegetable gardening tips will assure you’ll have a vegetable garden your neighbors will be jealous over… not to mention you’ll have some pretty tasty vegetables.

1. Decide how big you want your garden to be. Also, choosing the right place for is important. It needs to be somewhere that has good drainage, good air flow, and good, deep soil. It also needs to be able to get as much sunlight as possible.

2. You’re not the only one looking forward to seeing vegetables start growing. Dogs, rabbits, deer, and many others will try and get your veggies. Surrounding your garden with a fence or putting out a trap will keep them out.

3. Before planting, the soil must be properly prepared with cultivation and adding organic materials. The soil must be tilled (plowed) to control weeds and mix mulch into the soil. If you have a small garden, spading might be a better bet than tilling. Mulching is also a vital part of soil preparation.

Organic matter added to the soil releases nitrogen, minerals, and other nutrients plants need to thrive. The best type of mulch is compost. Leafy plants, like cabbage, spinach, and lettuce usually grow better with more nitrogen, while root crops like potatoes, beets, turnips, and carrots require more potash. Tomatoes and beans use less fertilizer, while plants like onions, celery, and potatoes need a larger amount.

4. Garden arrangement is very important in vegetable gardening. One popular way to arrange a vegetable garden is to plant vegetables needing only limited space together, such as radishes, lettuce, beets, and spinach, and those that require more room together, such as corn, pumpkins, and potatoes. Plant tall growing plants towards the back of the garden; place the shorter ones in the front so that their sunlight does not get blocked.

5. Water, water, water. After you are finished planting, make sure your vegetables receive the appropriate amount of water, which depends on the type of plant. Most plants will need the equivalent of an inch of water per week.

6. Weeds must be controlled in vegetable gardening. Weeds take up water, light and nutrients meant for the vegetables. Also, they often bring disease and insects to the garden. You can get rid of weeds by cultivation or mulching. To protect against disease and garden pests, you can buy seeds that are disease resistant or use controlled chemicals.

Vegetable gardening is not expensive to start and the taste of home grown veggies definitely beats what you get in the supermarket.

Apply these 6 vegetable gardening tips and your vegetable gardening days will be full of wonderfully tasting produce.

Just be sure to take the proper precautions when planting and continue maintenance of your garden.

Garden Fountains Are Great Improvements

Garden fountains are a great way to spice up your garden. They can be both soothing and aesthetically pleasing. I’ve discovered there is nothing more relaxing than sitting on a bench next to my garden and listening to my garden fountain… while reading a good book or doing some studying.

If you are into flower gardening, then you realize there is much more to gardening than growing vegetables and fruit.

Putting in a garden fountain is fairly easy and relatively inexpensive… and it will enormously add to the pleasantness of your garden. Plus, the maintenance required is minimal.

There’s just something soothing about the sound of water. For some reason, being around the gorgeous resonance of water gives you a positive energy. The constant droning of water is focuses our concentration on whatever you’re doing. I recommend it to anyone.

When you finally decide to put in a garden fountain, choose one that will go well with the rest of your garden. If you have other decorations, you want to consider if it goes well with your design.

Does the fountain you’re considering look like it was meant to be there? Try this: Bring a picture of your garden to the store. Also, don’t be afraid to ask others for their opinion, too. By doing this, you can determine which of the garden fountains will go fabulously with the rest of your garden.

Supplying your fountain with power can sometimes be challenging. Perhaps your garden isn’t close to the house. Running an extension cord across the yard may appear a bit… tacky. Home Depot to the rescue! I discussed my situation with an employee and he quickly found me the exact solution: An extension cord meant to be buried! After an hour of digging a small trench across my yard, and I had power to my garden fountain.

If you’re looking for a way to make your garden even more beautiful, I hope you consider installing a fountain. The whole process is surprisingly inexpensive, and I think that you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Having a garden fountain adds a lot of character to an otherwise ordinary garden. Remember, gardens are not just for giving us vegetables! A garden is a place to go when you want to retreat from the outside world and dwell in your own thoughts with no disturbance.

Garden fountains can make that experience even more enjoyable.

When you first start rose gardening, you will have to choose what type of rose you wish to plant, and no, I’m not talking about the color. You will have to choose between bare-root, pre-packaged, and container-grown roses. Bare-root roses are sold in the winter and early spring. They should be planted as soon as frosts are over and the ground is warm and workable. Pre-packaged roses are bare-root plants that are sold in a bad or box with something around the roots to retain moisture, such as sawdust. Container-grown roses are grown; you guessed it, in containers. They will be either budding or already in bloom when they become available in the early spring.

Planting in rose gardening is not that much different than any other type of plant. The most important thing, as always, is good, healthy soil and a prime planting area. It doesn’t matter whether your roses are bare-root or container-grown, the planting methods are the same as any other shrub. Make sure the spot you choose has good drainage, gets plenty of sunlight, and will not overcrowd your roses. Before planting, any dead leaves and thin or decayed shoots need to be cut off. Any damaged or very long roots also need to be trimmed. Soak bare-root roses in water about 10-12 hours to restore moisture in the roots before planting and water the soil before planting as well. Make sure the hole you have dug is large enough for the root growth of the rose. Also it is a good idea to use compost or mulch. After all, roses like extra nutrients just like any other plant.

Roses need the same things as other plants; they are just a bit needier. One of the most important things to remember in rose gardening is that roses are heavy feeders and will need several fertilizer applications. Fertilizing should be started in early spring and discontinued in early fall. Make sure not to over-fertilize (fertilize should come with instructions) and water after each feeding. Roses require large amounts of water; a thorough watering twice a week should be enough.

Pruning is an essential part to flower gardening. It increases blooms and encourages healthy plant growth. Different varieties of roses have different instructions for pruning, so you might want to read up on your rose types and see what is suggested.

The main thing to remember in rose gardening is to water, water, and water some more. One other thing about rose gardening is the amount of fertilizer and nutrients you will need to use, and the pruning that needs to be done to keep your roses under control and healthy. Even though rose gardening takes a little more time and roses are more work, they are one of the most unique and beautiful plants, and definitely worth the extra work.