Gardening Supplies your Garden won’t Thrive Without

Nowadays, gardening has become a popular hobby for many people. With this popularity, the demand for gardening products booms as more people get engaged in gardening. These products are now easily available almost everywhere. You can acquire these products from various stores or nurseries; you can even order products from catalogues or ask for deliveries online.

Gardening products includes equipments; consumable materials, such as the fertilizers and pesticides; and seedlings and plants. To start up your gardening project, you must check first if you already have the basic materials needed. You should have the following: a hoe, a spade, a shovel, and some watering supplies like a water hose and perhaps a sprinkler.

You might also need a pair of working gloves, some shears, and a rake. Moreover, to complete your basics garden needs, you should also have to prepare mulch or potting soil to get your dirt ready. There are varieties of potting soil to choose from; you may opt to use organic potting mix, seed starting potting mix, cactus potting mix, and root development potting mix. The potting mix you will use depends on the needs of your plants.

After planting, you might now consider using some gardening formulations to aid in adding nutrients to the soil to ensure healthy plant growth. Miracle-Gro is one of the most popular brands of plant growth enhancers. The latter has a variety of formulations to meet all of your preferences and your garden requirements. You may also apply fertilizers like 10-20-10 or triple 13 and others depending on the needs of your soil.

Vegetable gardening requires special gardening materials compared with regular flower gardens. If you are growing tomatoes, you will need tomato cages and ties to support your crops against heavy winds and heavy rain falls. Many plants, mostly vines, need something to crawl on. In this case, you may need also to construct fences or trellis to provide support for your plants.

Gardening products are not only confined with gardening necessities, it also includes pieces of decorative materials. To enhance your garden’s aesthetics, you may incorporate decorative flower pots, sundials, plastic figurines, stones or bricks for pathway or for looks, and even lawn furniture to your landscape design. Decorations can also enliven your garden and add charm and personal touch to your botanical masterpiece.

During winter seasons, cold temperature may harm or kill your plants. Greenhouses are built for this purpose. However, if you cannot afford constructing one, you may use tarp to cover your plants at night. You may also use a light source such as heat lamp to give off artificial light and heat for the plants, as an alternative to natural sunlight.

There is a wide array of gardening products available on the market nowadays. These products keep on innovating and improving rapidly to meet all of the consumer’s needs. Some materials are necessary for your plants’ survival, whereas others are simply luxury.


LESSON IN LIFE:
"Knowing which are essentials and which are not will save you a lot of treasure, time, and tears."

The Benefits of Reading Gardening Magazines

Gardening as a hobby can also be a learning process. Seasoned gardeners and beginners alike will always have some questions in mind regarding their gardens. A gardening magazine will help all gardening enthusiasts with their green concerns. It will educate all its readers with the ABC’s of gardening and inform them with the latest buzz in the gardening world.

Gardening magazine is a very useful reference for its subscribers. You can find the latest trends in gardening such as the newest gardening tools, new fertilizers, and pesticides formulations available in the market. These magazines will feed you all the information you need to know about a certain product. They will also tell you where to buy and how much they cost or better yet discounts and sales. You can also find invitations to join a gardener’s club near your area or to attend local gardening classes.

You can also learn some hints and tips while reading a gardening magazine. Expert gardeners usually write columns about almost all of your gardening concerns. They give some pieces of advice on how to get rid of pesky insects, how to recognize and counteract plant diseases, and many more. Eventually you will realize that these tips and hints are beneficial to you and your garden.

Gardening magazines are also equipped with garden maintenance sections with easy to follow instructions on how to do simple task such as how to prune, when to divide, what fertilizer is best for your plants, and how much to water. Sometimes they also include some “do it yourself projects” that readers were encouraged to try on their own garden. It also serves as a powerful reading material for self-learners.

These magazines will also give its readers enough inspirations and ideas when they are considering renovating their garden. You can see some featured landscaped yards and gardens where you might draw some inspiration and concepts for your own landscape project.

Gardening magazine editors also encourage readers to ask questions by writing so a gardening professional may give accurate and reliable answers. Editorial boards also encourage subscribers to submit their articles to be published so they can have an opportunity to share their experiences, tips, opinions, and even secret gardening regimens to the gardening community. Exceptional and outstanding gardens are often featured so others may get motivated to work hard and dream that their gardens will also be featured in the magazine.

Gardening magazines serve as an avenue for continuous learning for both experienced gardeners and beginners. These kinds of magazines will inform you, instruct you, inspire you and most of all unleash all your gardening skills. Make reading a hobby. Don’t hesitate to learn, explore and ask questions. It is part of growing like that of the plants in your garden.


LESSON IN LIFE:
“Everyone gets disappointed from time to time; resources will come handy if you have them ready.”

More on Essential Gardening Tools

Almost every gardener owns a little piece of gardening equipment. In practice, it is quite hard to put up a simple garden without even using at least a single piece of equipment. But, there are important factors to consider when buying gardening tools. First you must know the size and extent of your garden so you know what appropriate size of equipments to use. Next, pick equipments that you will be able to work with easily. Consider also the equipments’ capability of doing works quickly; after all, equipments were made to make our tasks easier. And most important, it must be within your budget.

As I have indicated in my first post on gardening tools, you do not need to own expensive or sophisticated gardening tools to be successful with your hobby. But you must own at least a piece of gardening tools for cultivation. Tools for breaking the soil can be as simple as a hand held trowel or a more high-tech power tools. Basic hand tools include shovels, spading forks, rakes, trowels, and diggers. Beginners and veteran alike must have these tools because they are relatively easy to use and do not require much strength. Other hand held tools also include a wheel cultivator, a pickaxe, and a mattock.

Compared with simple hand held tools, power tools are quite more expensive, but the results are better and faster. Power tools usually require gasoline or electricity to run. The most essential and versatile piece of gardening equipment is the tiller. Tillers will help you to easily break up the ground and get it ready for planting, chop up any debris, and help mix in fertilizer and compost. For amateur gardeners, it is impractical to invest in such equipments. You can hire someone or rent a tiller from time to time. Other examples of power tools are chippers, garden shredders, and chain saws.

You may also need pruning tools to cut off unwanted branches, and to shape up your shrubs, hedges, and small trees. Pruning shears are advisable for cutting small branches of about ¾ inch in diameter, whereas a lopping shear is used for cutting bigger branches. For hard to reach areas, say on top of a tree 15-feet high, pole pruners will make your life easier. And for more serious gardening works you may consider using heavy-duty pruning tools like a hedge shears and a pruning saw.

Plants can’t definitely live without water. Most probably, one of your daily routine is watering your plants, unless you own a cactus garden. It is a must to have a water hose so you won’t have hard times of coming back and forth while carrying heavy buckets of water. You also have an option to purchase watering accessories like sprinklers and drip irrigation hoses but that is if you are willing to shed off some of your savings.

Gardening without proper gardening tools is like a soldier without his rifle. Gone are the days when people use their bare hands in planting. It is advisable to use the appropriate tools that suit your gardening needs. Gardening equipments are good investments, it is as important as the dirt and the seeds in your garden.


LESSON IN LIFE:
“Life offers a lot of challenges, thereby you must equip yourself to withstand them, and make your life as beautiful as a garden in the process.”

More Gardening Advice for Beginners

Advice on this stress-relieving hobby may come from a fellow gardener, from a catalogue dedicated to giving information on taking care of plants, from books on gardening, and of course from the Internet as you are doing right now. The advice may cover a wide range of topic, as wide as the types of garden one can start and keep. One sure thing, though, there are general tips for whatever type of garden you are maintaining.

One such advice is to place plants where they will have enough room to grow and not to overcrowd each other. You must also give them enough air, or breathing space, and enough sunlight so they can produce their own food. It will also help your plants if you will add some types of nutrients to your soil, such as mulch and compost.

Every type of plant requires different amounts of water. Of course you will not water a cactus with as much water as you will give to your tomato plant or orchids. You must also consider the climate in your area to see how much rain your plants can get from nature. Then you must adjust the amount of water you give your plants.

You must know the pH level of your soil to know which fertilizer formula to use. You must remember that plants must be fertilized not only when they were planted, but all through their lives. You may also make your own compost pit to get your organic fertilizer whenever you want. Composting does not only help your plants, it is also a good way of recycling biodegradable materials.

Care must be observed in using insecticides. Insecticides usually contain chemicals that may be harmful to both humans and plants. However, pests will always be there to invade and harm your plants. Pesticides have then become a necessity, not an option. You must therefore choose insecticides that are water-based, if there is any, and those that are easier to administer.

Even gardening experts like me still look for advice from other fellow gardeners, from catalogues, from books, and from the web, because this hobby is evolving at a very fast rate, and the plants as well as their needs are constantly changing, together with our climate. Do not be afraid to ask, for the sake of your plants.


LESSON IN LIFE:
"A humble person who seeks advise will be the wisest person in the crowd."

Essential Gardening Tools to Keep Your Plants Healthy

Basically, plants need sunlight, water and soil to grow and survive, but these essential elements are not enough to ensure the health of your plants. Fertilizers, insecticides and greenhouses greatly affect the health and color of your plants. Furthermore, gardening tools can also spell your success in gardening, although not directly. It is thereby imperative that you choose the right tools for your garden.

Low-quality gardening tools may hurt your plants or even destroy them completely. Standard tools may cost you more than substandard one, but the small additional amount of money may be the life and death of your plants. Here are the important tools you must purchase to help you take care of your garden.

Lawnmower. As I want to give you brand names, let me reserve that for future posts. For now, let me give you the qualities of a good lawnmower. Your lawnmower must give a large top cover to avoid damaging overhanging plants and shrubs. You must also look for a lawnmower that does not emit pollutants.

Garden Shredders. Garden shredders are tools you may use when trimming tree branches up to 40mm thick. Look for one with high power motor and with a silent crushing system. Look also for shredder that is easy to assemble and with wheels for portability. With this tool, you can do shredding with ease.

Cultivators. Cultivator have integrated tines to smoothen compacted soil. Normally, this tool comes with a border edger. Aside from softening the soil, cultivators can also be used to clean off moss, aerating and thatching. This tools is very effective in preparing the soil before planting.

Leaf Sweepers. Sweepers are ideal for small- to medium sized lawns. With its height adjustment and collector that can hold up to 200 liters of leaves and other litters from your garden, cleaning your plots will never be as difficult as before.

Edge Trimmers. This tool is very useful in trimming the hedges to make your garden neat and clean. You can also use this tool to prune plants and small trees.

Spading Forks. When it comes to aerating and transplanting, spading forks are the best tools to use. You can also use this tool to separate perennials from grasses. Furthermore, you can also use this as manure fork, mulch, and sorting hay for smaller gardens.

Mattock. To break sticky clay soil, you will need a mattock. You can also use this to dig around medium to big trees. You can also use this as substitute for hoes and picks. There are also some models that combine pick and mattock.


LESSON IN LIFE:
“Remember that only non-living things can be used as tools; never use a person as tool to your goals.”

Gardening Gloves that Fit

It is nice to feel the warmth and moist of the soil with your bare hands while gardening. However, with this hobby your hands may end up blistered, chapped, or worse scraped. It is thereby advisable to use gardening gloves. If you are a veteran gardening enthusiast you may already know how important these hand protections are. Gardening gloves can protect your hands from hazards you may encounter along the way. Don’t let the pain spoil the fun of growing plants for your garden.

There are different kinds of gloves available in the market nowadays. When purchasing, it is important to consider the nature of work you are doing so you can decide what type of gloves is best to use. Some gloves are specially designed to protect your hands from chemicals, heat, and other corrosive substances. One good example is the leather gloves, which is not practical when you are dealing with chemicals or liquids. There are also a bunch of specialized gloves intended for gardening such as for pruning thorns, whereas some gloves can be used for general tasks such as raking, digging, and weeding.

Once you know what to wear, you must choose gloves that perfectly fit your hands. Just like when you’re buying a pair of shoes, you must buy the size that will fit to you and make your feet comfortable. Remember, too big or too small gloves will only burden you while you work and it will defeat the purpose of wearing gloves. When fitting, try to wear the gloves on your both hands, make a fist, and imitate the movements you make when gardening.

Gardening gloves are available almost everywhere. Different manufacturers offer their consumers a wide array of gardening gloves to choose from. Commercial gardening gloves can be pricy depending on the material it is made. Wash and wear gloves can be washed with cold water, air dried, and used again. Cotton and cotton-polyester are for general purposes. The latter is commonly used for light chores in cool and dry weather.

Leather gloves can be used for chores that require greater protection, such as pruning and pulling out weeds. Protect your hands from oils, acids, herbicides, pesticides, and other substances with a chemical resistant gloves. Some gloves are designed to provide the user with extra gripping power. Others are designed to protect the users against sharp edges.

Gardening gloves are created to protect your hands from accidents. Use gloves, it is better safe than sorry.


LESSON IN LIFE:
“Doing something you enjoy does not necessarily mean you must expose yourself to danger, without any protection.”

Different Types of Gardening Plants

There are thousands of gardening plants available for everyone who will engage in this stress-relieving hobby. However, not all of these plants can be chosen to make your garden beautiful. You must know if the plant will survive your climate and your soil type. Remember that some plants thrive in spring and summer, whereas other types of plants flourish during fall and winter.

Aside from flowering plants, which is the most common plants found in the garden (please see related post); you may also consider planting vegetables, herbs, and fruit-bearing shrubs and trees. Whatever type of garden you are planning to setup, there are a lot of plants to meet your requirements.

Vegetables, herbs, and fruit-bearing plants give an added excitement to gardening. When you know that aside from looking at your garden for stress relief, you will get something after a few months, your motivation to take care of your garden doubles. This type of plants includes spinach, lettuce, peas, squash, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes, beets, onions, and carrots.

You may also consider planting some herbs and medicinal plants. As you may well know, some herbs have medicinal properties aside from enhancing the tastes of your foods. They also give exotic fragrances to your garden. Oregano is one such herbs that enhances the taste of your food and can cure coughs and colds. Moreover, you may also consider the following herbs, namely dill, basil, chives, thyme, lavender, and dill. Another advantage of planting herbs is that you can do it indoors.

Flowering plants are divided into two main categories: perennial and annual. You may choose from flowers that bloom many times in a year or flowers that give flowers only once a year. You may also look for their colors. Combining the colors and varieties of different flowering plants can make your hobby more exciting. If you want a flower garden, you may consider planting Christmas rose, Japanese anemone, rudbeckia, and cosmos.

Another option is to plant decorative grasses and shrubs. Monkey grass stands out for sidewalks. Grasses and bushes give layout to your garden especially if you want to make pathways on your gardens.

The best part is you may combine these plants to highlight one portion of your garden. Consider flowers for the main part of your garden, shrubs for sidewalks, herbs to provide nice aroma in your garden, and fruits and vegetables on the side. I know you can come out with better combination as your creativity matches your tastes and needs.


LESSON IN LIFE:
"Variety is a nice option as long as you are open to change."

Gardening Supplies to Make and to Buy

I would like to thank one of my followers, XeanAvery, for a wonderful comment, and to do as she asks, I will post at least five discussions on gardening and cover some important materials on this topic. To my visitors, please feel free to leave comments and tell me what you want to see on this blog on hobbies and fitness.

This article will discuss gardening supplies. The next posts will cover gardening plants, gardening products, gardening equipments, and gardening magazines. I am also considering discussing gardening gloves and gardening catalogues.

Now, let’s get back to the topic at hand – gardening supplies. What supplies will you need to setup your garden, whether it is indoor or outdoor? Where can you look for them? Which supplies can you make yourself?

Plants have specific need that the gardener must provide. It is like patting the head of your pets and taking them for a walk. It is similar to cleaning the pond for your fish and giving them nutritious foods to help them grow healthy. Your plants need a convenient place to grow and minerals to boost their growth.

Most supplies come in package and for particular kind of garden. You can purchase these packages from garden supplies stores. There are also packages for newly planted, currently growing, and maturing plants. Let’s take a flower garden as an example. Upon transplant, you must give them minerals for root growth. After two three weeks, you may change your fertilizers to growth boosters. When the leaves of your plants are turning darker green, it indicates that they are ready for flowering. Use flowering fertilizers.

There are supplies that you can make in your yard. You can bury biodegradable materials to make compost to enhance the minerals in your soil. You can also improvise for some equipment such as rakes and hoes. You do not need to buy rocks and stones; you can find them in your backyard. With some washing and smoothing, you can decorate your garden without spending any cent.


LESSON IN LIFE:
“The treasures you may be looking is already in your yard.”

Natural Inclinations of Japanese Gardening

The uniqueness of Japanese gardens is its attempt to mimic the nature. This is why those who are engaged in this hobby use trees, shrubs, rocks, sand, ponds, and flowing water to design something that resembles nature.

Japanese gardening exists in different form, Zen and Shinto being its largest part. This kind of hobby meets the contemplative and reflective state of mind. It can be said that this type of gardening is far more meditational and soul soothing than western types of gardening. No wonder this Japanese form of arranging their gardens is gaining popularity all over the world.

If you are planning to delve into this type of gardening, you must remember and understand the three basic approaches to this hobby, namely reduced scale, symbolization, and borrowed views. Reduced scale is the reproduction of nature on a smaller version. This involves actual scenes from nature including mountains, rivers, trees, and landscapes.

Symbolization is the reproduction of nature using representation. One good example of this approach is using white sands to stand for the ocean, or using green moss to represent tall grass. The key to this approach is the gardener’s saturation of nature. This does not necessarily require representing the scene in smaller scale although it can be done.

Borrowed view approach involves using the ocean or the forest as background but in the end will play a very important part of the garden. The background is actually an important part of the garden.

Normally, the basic elements of Japanese garden include rocks, representing spirituality; gravel, representing the course of water and to define the surface; stone, setting the boundaries; and water, representing balance. Water can be in the form of a pond, stream, or a waterfall

Plants in a Japanese garden usually include bonsai plants, which are large trees in miniature form. Their size ranges from five centimeters to one meter. They are kept small by pruning, re-potting, and wiring the branches and even the trunk.


LESSON IN LIFE:
“Just like Japanese gardens, good things in life may come in little packages.”

Flower Gardening Tips

One kind of gardening that is getting more popular nowadays is flower gardening. Easily, flowers can melt the hardest hearts, weaken the strongest resolve, and brighten the gloomiest mood. Who would not love to smell a beautiful flower? Mind you, this hobby is not for women only, but for men as well.

What makes flower gardening famous is that it is very simple, economical, and fun. Moreover, this can be a hobby as well as an occupation or both. You may enjoy your flowers and earn an extra income in the process. This past time also has therapeutic effects on the body and in the mind.

But wait! Sit back first and finish reading this post for a few additional information and tips you must consider before buying your first plant. A little additional knowledge may do no harm and may save you a lot of tears and sweat.

Annuals or Perennials?

The first thing you must consider is whether you will plant annual or perennial flowers. Annuals are those flowers that live for one season and must be replanted every year; perennials are those that can survive winter and grow back in summer? To help you decide, you must ask your seeds provider which flower thrives in your climate.

Wild or organized?

You must also consider how you want your garden look like. If you want it to look like wild plants, you may mix plants with different heights, colors, and varieties. Your garden may look like meadow and it can be very charming to some people. On the other hand, you may also consider arranging your plants orderly. You may plant them according to heights, colors, and varieties.

Sprinkled or planted?

For some seeds, sprinkling them over the garden plot is enough, but for some you will need to plant them first in a nursery before transplanting them in their proper places. Usually, when the seeds are too small to plant separately, they are sprinkled. When seedlings sprout, they can be ready for transplanting. Just do not forget to water your plants right after transplanting.

Remember, maintaining a flower garden depends more on how you understand their needs and less on the color of your thumb.


LESSON IN LIFE:
"You do not need to be special to do something great; most of the time, all it takes is right information and hard work."

Don’t Ruin Your Own Garden

The hands that dreams to make your garden beautiful are the same hands that, if not used right, will ruin your garden. The time and effort you devoted to that special spot in your front and back yards will go to waste. Worse is when repeated failures to grow beautiful plants grow weeds of disappointments in your heart. When these negative thoughts grow, you will begin to have doubts, and it is so sad to give up building something that could help your health and being.

We may not be aware but there are common mistakes that beginning gardeners commit leading to frustrations. However, this must not be the case with you. These common mistakes are very easy to detect and avoid. Being aware of these blunders solves half of your problem.

Here are the blunders:

1. Assuming that the plant is the problem. This is especially true with lawns. Some parts of your lawn may not be as green as the rest of your lawn. Every gardener experienced this at least once in their gardening lives. When this happens, try considering having your soil assessed by a professional. Another remedies include changing your watering, fertilizing, and mowing schedules. Last but not the least, consider using different ground covers like periwinkle and thyme.

2. Leaving tools around and litters unattended. You will definitely need tools to grow a beautiful garden, but these tools can also kill your plants. Make sure that your tools are properly stored in your shed after using them. Unattended tools will kill our plants and lawns as clutters do. They may block the sun that could have helped the plants grow healthier.

3. Being too proud of your garden. There is nothing wrong with considering your beautiful gardens to be our pride, joy, and therapy. However, over exposing our garden to too many people may cause disaster to our plants. Some incidents, such as children throwing pebbles to our plants and strong winds buffeting them, can be avoided by constructing a protective wall. Limit showcasing your plants to your friends who will only admire them and never do harm.

4. Thinking that one day of neglect will not affect your garden. Nothing is further from the truth. Weeds and insects may ruin your garden in a day. Because our plants are immobile, they cannot get away from harsh elements that may attack them. If you will need to get away for a few days, ask someone to look after your plants and garden.

Wrong assumptions may be fatal to your plants so you must understand their needs and take care of them.

LESSON IN LIFE:
"Weeds of discouragement and bitterness may kill your dreams, do not ever let them take root in your life, not even for a day."