Pascale’s Garden

So now you’ve picked out what type of garden you will have, what the location will be, and what kind of fertilizer you need, now is the time to really get started in choosing your garden environment. First you’ll want to choose what your garden barriers will be. What will separate your garden from the rest of the world? Next you’ll want to choose the decorations and support for your plants. Often some kind of metal mesh is necessary to keep your plant standing up. You will also want to choose how much soil and fertilizer to buy, and how to arrange all the plants in your garden.

Choosing a border is actually a fairly important step in getting your garden started. It might not actually affect the well-being of the plants, but having a garden is a fairly aesthetic ordeal for many people anyways. So usually you will want to choose between metal and wood. You can stack up boards around the perimeter of your garden, and give it a rather nice cabin look. If you’re looking for a more modern look, you can obtain some metal lining at your local home improvement store for rather cheap, and installation is medium difficulty. Read more…

You may wonder what the different benefits are between fertilizer purchased from the store and compost humus that you make at home. The aim of both is the same, to improve the quality of your garden, lawn, and soil but there are differences too.

Many fertilizers that you purchase at your garden center contain artificial or toxic elements to make your lawn look nice – not necessarily healthier. The benefit of this type of fertilization is the ability to purchase a mix that meets the needs of your specific lawn. If your lawn is too dry, patchy, or has a lot of weeds – there is a product available that can target each problem (be aware that a pesticide is part of this solution). If you are using a commercial mix in your garden, read all labels carefully to ensure the product is safe to use around vegetation that is going to be consumed. Read more…

Living in Colorado and being a gardener has been rather stressful in the past few years, as this state has been undergoing a rather severe drought. The city is imposing watering restrictions which are not giving enough water to lawns and plants. I’ve had to renovate my garden to make it more water efficient. Now, because of the techniques I’ve employed, I’m the only one in my neighborhood with a garden that isn’t completely brown. So if you live in an area that is going through a drought or if you just want to save water, I suggest you use some of these techniques as well.

First, I took out all my plants. The soil I was using didn’t retain water very well, so I had to water about twice as much as necessary in order to get it to actually absorb into the roots. If you have this same problem, you can fix it by loading the soil up with lots of compost. This not only prevents water from escaping, but encourages the plant’s roots to be healthy and able to survive more. Read more…

Besides a free and nutrient rich fertilizer for your soil and plants there are many other benefits to starting a compost in your yard. A few of the benefits of composting are listed below.

* You can reduce or eliminate weeds in your garden by using compost as it prevents weed seeds from sprouting and prospering. This is a natural alternative to pesticides.
* Mature compost material has been used to stop or prevent erosion in certain areas. The binding capability in the compost can keep the soil in place and prevent
dangerous drop-offs.
* Reducing the amount of organic material that goes to a dump unnecessarily – in turn this reduces the amount of methane gas a dump creates during
decomposition. Read more…