Gardening Tips & More

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What's Up With Gardening?

With the economy in such dire straits, more and more people are turning to home gardening to try to cut back on their expenses. Over the last few years home gardening has become an increasingly popular past-time and hobby, if not a necessity. In fact, studies show that home gardening is at an all time high in America right now. In the United States 8 out of 10 households take part in some type of home gardening activity.

For a plethora of articles, tips and information on gardening, please visit: GardeningStuff.info and Gardening Videos

Gardening Tips & Info 

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What is Gardening? 

Category: File - :Parterre2.jpg|thumb|Part of a parterre in an English garden

Gardening is the practice of growing ornamental or useful plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance. Useful plants may be grown for consumption (vegetables, fruits, herbs, or leaf vegetables) or for a variety of other purposes, such as medicines or dyes. A gardener is someone who practices gardening.

Gardening ranges in scale from fruit orchards, to long boulevard plantings with one or more different types of shrubs, trees and herbaceous plants, to residential yards including lawns and foundation plantings, to large or small containers grown inside or outside. Gardening may be very specialized, with only one type of plant grown, or involve a large number of different plants in mixed plantings. It involves an active participation in the growing of plants, and tends to be labor intensive, which differentiates it from farming or forestry.

Cool Gardening Sites 

Water Gardening Video Site
Water Gardening Video Site - watch the latest and enjoy. Water Gardening Video Site
Gardening Tips
Articles, Information, Links & Products About Gardening.
Japanese Gardening Video Site
Japanese Gardening Video Site - watch the latest and enjoy. Japanese Gardening Video Site
Indoor Gardening Video Site
Indoor Gardening Video Site - watch the latest and enjoy. Indoor Gardening Video Site
Rose Gardening Video Site
Rose Gardening Video Site - watch the latest and enjoy. Rose Gardening Video Site
Gardening for beginners and Seasond Pro's -*- Let's Get Out into the Garden and Lets Get Our Hands Really Dirty!
Free Report: Tips and Tricks to Create the Garden You Always Wanted. Everything a gardener (beginner or seasoned) needs and wants to know about gardening, flowers and landscaping.

Gardening - Getting Started 

The thing to remember while gardening is to start small. A small plant bed, about 25 or 30 feet square is perfect, is just enough room for about 30 plants. This will give you a chance to try out your green thumb and if you find that you enjoy your garden you can always expand and increase your plantings.

The next thing you will want to do is choose a site. Gardening must be done in an area that gets at least six hours of sunlight. Try and stay away from large trees that will take your plants water and nutrients, and at least three feet from any fences or buildings. In hot climates it is a good idea to choose a place that will have shade from a part of the intense afternoon sun. It is possible to have a healthy garden with even ten to twelve hours of sunlight, but the type of plants must be adaptable. While soil can always be improved, a site with good soil is a plus. Avoid areas that have rocky soil, steep slopes, or areas where water stands.

Now comes the fun part: start digging. Gardening is not a clean hobby; you're going to have to get some dirt under your nails. First remove the rocks, debris, and any grass and weeds then dig the spot up about one foot deep. Level up the dirt and add compost or minerals if the needed. If your soil is too acidic, add lime; if it is too sandy, add peat moss. Plants will thrive in neutral to acidic soil with a little added fertilizer.

If you buy seeds then plant them according to the directions. If picking plants, choose ones with green, healthy looking leaves and stems and healthy roots. Put the smaller plants towards the front of the bed and larger ones in the back. The key to a successful beginning in gardening is planting at the right time. Make sure and wait until the frosts are over before planting. If you are planting seeds the package will usually tell you exactly when you can plant them to achieve maximum growth.

Once you have started and gotten into gardening, making sure your plants receive enough water is essential to their growth. Hand watering works well if you only have a few plants. Other options include sprinklers or sprinkler hoses. Watering is more effective during the cooler parts of the day. The type of plant will depend on how much water is needed, but most require about an inch per week. During the hottest periods plants will be need watering about three times per week.

One of the most helpful things to add to a garden is mulch or compost. Just a few inches of organic mulch will improve fertility and help the soil hold moisture. Wood chips, grass clippings, leaves, manure, and pine needles are all things that can be used as mulch.

Great Gardening Lenses 

Gardening Books & More 

All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space!

Amazon Price: $13.59 (as of 11/12/2009) Buy Now

Fiskars 9424 Garden Bucket Caddy

Amazon Price: $13.14 (as of 11/12/2009) Buy Now

Gardening Video Tips 

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Share Your Thoughts... 

Swisstoons wrote...

Nice to meet you, Denise! I have rated, Favorites and lensrolled you to my funny gardening gifts lens. Hope you'll stop by to see what's new.

ReplyPosted March 18, 2009

Ecolicious wrote...

thanks for the tips

ReplyPosted February 26, 2009

windowbox wrote...

Great info abt gardening we an also add container gardening to the house using various type of the container like Flower Window Boxes , custom boxes, etc and can bring natural and beautiful exterior for the house.....
http://www.squidoo.com/flowerwindowboxes

ReplyPosted October 11, 2008

nycelady13 wrote...

great lense! your posts are helpful..i guess we share the same interests..

ReplyPosted June 27, 2008

ABBEYMILL wrote...

hi i found your lens wile surfing, great content and things look good and plenty of information im going to open my own lens on gardening soon i hope you will drop in and take a look thanks
http://www.squidoo.com/buildersinnottingham

ReplyPosted February 14, 2008

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by DeniseN

Hello.  My name is Denise, but most people call me Dee.  I'm interested in lots of things and I have a variety of lenses to prove it.

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