Best Gardening TipsBest gardening tips and guides to get the garden of your dreams

Today I want to write a little text about saving money in gardening, because I think a lot of people are paying to much money what they could easily spend on other useful things.

Here ist the text:

It’s an easy task to spend lots of cash each year building a beautiful garden. Todays tips will help you to save some costs in this and in upcoming gardening periods.

1. Use more perennials than annuals in your flowerbeds. When they multiply every year, cut them like they look beautiful and give them to your neighbours and friends (you could also trade) so both of you are going to have fantastic gardens and  lower the costs.
2. Plant in your vegetable garden some vegetables, which your friends neighbors aren’t planting. So you can share  the vegetables with them when they’re ready to eat. Many times I have had too many of one sort I could hardly share because all my friend’s and neighbour’s had them as well.
3. Try to use small stones (pebbles) or even some rocks in your bed on the ground. Doing this will save you a bunch of moneybecause you do not have to buy mulch two times every year.This even can look very beautiful if you like the way of japanese gardening.
4. Put your organically scraps (out of the kitchen; don’t forget the coffee grounds) in your compost. Later, the soil will be much better than any potting soil you could ever buy from any store out there. The cost is correct (don’t you like free?), and this also is certainly recycling. The environment will thank you! In Fall you could also mix it in the ground to get perfect soil next year.
5. Buy high quality gardening tools and you’ll save money in the long term. After a few years, you will have paid less dollars for tools, because you do not have to replace them every early spring.  Same is true for your gloves. Make sure to buy high quality (But don’t spend a fortune ) so they last not only a few days. I like to use gardening tools from Fiskars (ther is a picture in my last post) and some good quality gloves from my local hardware store.

I would like to herade some “saving money gardening tips” from you. I think there are much more.

Today I want to share one of my favorites gardening books with you. I have read them over and over again. And I think without them I would not get the great results I get today…

[amazon_link id="160342475X" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible

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This is absolutely the best vegetable gardening book I’ve ever hold my hands. The word “Bible” does not promises to much. I think if you read the customer reviews on Amazon you know what I mean.

[amazon_link id="1591862027" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]All New Square Foot Gardening
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[amazon_link id="1580170277" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening
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[amazon_link id="1580177026" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]The Complete Compost Gardening Guide: Banner batches, grow heaps, comforter compost, and other amazing techniques for saving time and money, and … most flavorful, nutritous vegetables ever.
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[amazon_link id="B000DZH3XO" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]Fiskars Softouch Garden Tool Set

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Okay, I only wanted to show you some books but I have to show you this great tools. Since I bought them, I really love Fiskars I know, it does not seem that they make that much difference, but when you work with them…

I’ll try to write an individual review for each of them later in this week. Actually you can just check them out by just clicking on the pictures)

What is your favorite gardening book? It would be nice if you leave a comment.

For lots of people plants are as famous as tables, chairs, sofas and so on. So, today I’m writing a few indoor gardening tips for you:

Besides the visual value plants are giving your home,  there will be also health improvements to you. Every grade school science course could inform us that indoor plants clean the air by using the co2 and making more oxygen in the air. Here are some information and facts regarding how to take care of your plants inside your house to get the best health and visual benefits:

How much  light do they need?
Lots of indoor plants need to be lighted well. You can present them the natural lighting in the room (near the window) or you give them electric lights. Dark leaved plants generally do not need just as much light as the others.

The types of plants that are recommend for indoor gardening typically need medium to low light. Here are some of them  (ask in your garden center for them):

• Philodendrons (usually  large and imposing leaves)
• Boston ferns (also known as Sword Fern)
• African violets (also known as Saintpaulia; beautiful violet flower)
• Cyclamens (very beautiful flower; you should search photos)
• Creeping Fig

How much water should I give them?
A popular mistake a lot of indoor gardeners make is that they often over-water the plants, which could make the roots rotting. Each type of plant has their own watering needs, so make sure to get the right information for every type of plant you have in your home.

What is the correct container?
Choose a good looking container (for you) with top quality for your indoor plants. Be sure that the pot is clean up before putting your new plant into it. By doing this you won’t get an infection and the plant will grow healthy.

How much humidity is correct?
Another important fact in indoor gardening  is humidity . The amount of water in the air has direct influence on the growth of your plants. In the morning,  spray normal water on your plants. They will love it. Make sure the leaves aren’t covered in dust.

How much fertilization my plants need?
Just like watering, the kind of fertilization will depend on the type of plant you are growing. If you give your indoor garden the correct amount of water, light and humidity, perhaps you do not need to give fertilization much attention. An effective fertilizer for indoor gardening is available in most home depots or hardware stores. Orchids require a special fertilizer, which is available there, too.

Today I have a few more soil tips for you, because I had so many more thoughts in my head.

We have talked about adding  leaves mixed with grass clippings. This is ideal to do in the fall when you have lots of leaves. Just run the lawn mower over those leaves and get a few grass clippings mixed in. And then if you till or plow it in, there will be quite a bit of soil mixed in. The dirt will innoculate it with microbes that will help break it all down. During the Winter, hopefully you will get a little snow and rain, and the soil will cook.

In the Spring, sometimes it will seem that there are too many leaves. If that is the case, just give the soil a little more time. When you water it good, the leaves will continue to break down. With a second tilling in the spring when the weather has warmed, the soil will be in ideal conditions for planting. It will be full of organic life. If your soil is very alkaline (in most places in the west U.S.), you may like more pine needles, which are more acidic. If you get soil with a lot of pine needles, it may take a little longer to break down, but it will help the soil maintain a more balanced pH value.

Weeds can also help making good soil.
We can till this into the soil and we call it “green manure.” They add a lot of organic matter, especially if you get them when they are eight or ten inches tall, before they begin to go to seed. If you wait a week or two, the soil will break down much of the green and it will be very good to plant in (or even seed in). If you are transplanting established plants such as tomatoes or peppers, you could plant immediately. If you intend to plant small seeds, you probably should wait to give it a chance to break down.

You should add manure in the Fall.
Manure is pretty good for soil as well, but, if you want to add it, you should do it in the Fall. Don’t do it in the Spring. Sometimes, however, if the manure has had time to break down for one year, you can add in the Spring without too much concern. This is especially true for root plants, which first produce large foliage and then follow with the tubers. They will take advantage of the nitrogen. Then the potatoes will build stronger root systems and then tubors.

Spreading first year manure will also work well for corn, squash, and tomatoes. All of these need a strong nitrogen component early in the year. Generally speaking, use whatever you can get and get organic material into the soil whenever it is possible for you. In the Spring, in the Summer, and in the Fall. Let the Winter have plenty of organic material in the soil so that the micro-organisms can re-build the soil each year.

For a truly sensational garden,  soil should be really important to you. It is full of life, flora and fauna. It is your whole foundation. Most backyard gardeners don’t pay nearly enough attention to the soil. The more the soil is built, the fewer disease, the healthier the plants, and the more bountiful the harvest. The soil is truly the foundation of your garden. Double or triple your attention to the soil and you will be rewarded.

In the Spring, we are often anxious to get a new garden in the ground that will come out healthy and bounteous. However, the Fall garden tasks are most times the most important to get those wonderful and bounteous crops.

Garden is a Living Ecosystem

Remember, a garden is a living ecosystem. It is full of important microbes and life that generates fertile soil and bounteous harvests. The work you do in the fall can either improve or hurt the ecosystem.

The most important fall garden task for you should be to build the soil with organic materials and compost and let nature do the hard work during the winter. While we are staying in our warm homes during the winter, nature continues naturally breaking down the organic material throughout the winter. The most important thing that we can do in the fall is to provide a rich layer of organic material soil. The smaller the particles the better. I have found a mixture of leaves and grass to be my best ratio of carbon to nitrogen. It is much better if it can be chopped, but even if it is put directly onto the soil, the winter will take a 8-12 inch layer of leaves and grass and break it down.

So the four steps to preparing your soil are these:

1. Gather your leaves.
   You may have enough trees in your own yard, but if not, ask the neighbors for all the leaves they want to get rid of. Or, if you do not want this, maybe do a service project for the local church or civic center. Generally they have trees and the leaves need  to be gathered in the fall. Usually it’s not that hard to find sources of a variety of leaves.
2. Chop and mix the leaves.
   If you can use a lawn mower to pick up the leaves, it will chop the leaves and mix it with the grass. (A note of caution. You should not include grass that has been chemically treated! That will pull those chemicals right into your garden and in your plants next year. Just don’t do it.) Put the leaves and grass into sturdy lawn bags. If you purchase quality lawn bags, you can use them for two or three or more years. If you buy cheap bags, many will tear the first year. Buy thick bags.
3. Spread the Leaves.
   Haul the leaves and grass into the garden. I try to spread 6-8 inches (or more) of unchopped leaves or about 3-6 inches of chopped leaves and grass.
4. Till lightly.
   The final step is to take the tiller and till the leaves into the soil. If you have to rent a tiller, you can also wait until spring, but it works much better if you can till in the fall when the soil is perfect for working. The tilling will further break down the leaves, but more importantly it mixes the leaves and grass into the soil where the micro-organisms are heavy at work. You have just given the “good guys” the food supply they need. Along with the moisture of the fall and winter, the micro-organism will do what they do best. They will eat the food and break it down into nutrient-rich soil. You will be surprised how all of those leaves and grass will disappear during the winter.

Of course, in spring you could also use this “good” soil for indoor or container gardening. If you have enough you can for example also fill your raised beds.