Easy Gardening For You!

Alkaline Soil = Pink.

Acid Soil = Blue.

No hydrangeas? Then test your soil with a kit available at your local garden centre or maybe your local drug store. This kit enables you to find out the alkalinity or acidity of the soil. Full instructions are normally supplied with the kit.

Easy Gardening - Soil Acidification

Cultivated soil in humid areas will turn more and more acid if steps are not taken to turnaround the process. That's because soil water will dissolve the more alkaline substances like calcium, sodium, magnesium, and potassium quicker than acidulous materials like carbon. In soil management speech, the alkalis "leach away" sooner than the acids.

Why plants will not tolerate extremely acid conditions isn't entirely understood. Slowdown of advantageous microorganism action is a component part of the cause; increased toxicity from certain trace elements like aluminum is another. Lack of calcium and magnesium is a 3rd theory.

The most dependable explanation perhaps is that in acid soils, chemical reaction may lock up major nutrients,particularly phosphorus, causing them to be unavailable to plants.

Extensive use of inorganic, high-analysis fertilisers is known to induce soil to become more acidic. Organic gardeners do not have to worry about that, but the same consequence can stem from employing organic fertilizers that cause an acidifying effect. Cottonseed meal is a premier example. Blending a little bone meal with it helps avert the problem.

The most certain way to ascertain the pH of your soil is to have a dependable soil test executed. An elementary test for pH you are able to do yourself is with blue litmus paper, obtainable from your local garden centre or drug store. Blue litmus turns pink when brought into contact with an acid (even a weak acid like vinegar) and reverses back to blue if dipped in lime water.

Soil essay directions: fetch some soil from the garden. Attempt to take soil below the surface instead of off the top. Get samples from 2 or 3 dissimilar locations. Mix up all the soil you have accumulated in a clean bucket, then pour clean rain water over it.

Place several pieces of litmus paper into the mud you've formed in the bucket, being careful that your hands are clean of any acid substance before you handle the paper. Wait 10 seconds approximately and take out one piece of the paper. Rinse it off with clean rainwater.

If pinkness appears already, the soil is quite acid. The intensity level of the pink color is an additional indication of degree of acidity.

Take out another piece of the paper out in about 5 minutes. If pink, the soil requires lime, but not as much as when the color changes immediately. If after 15 minutes the blue paper shows little or no alteration to pink, your soil in all likelihood doesn't need lime. This process is none too exact. But it will give you an idea of your soil condition.

Curing Acid Soil: Lime is the cheapest and easiest means to cure acid soil troubles. Freshly burned lime is known as quicklime; hydrated lime has been slaked. Don't use quicklime, because it can destroy soil humus. Hydrated lime could too, but it or ground limestone are the favoured materials. Hydrated lime is more powerful than ground limestone and acts faster. Where you would apply 50 pounds of ground limestone to a 1,000-square-foot plot, 35 pounds of hydrated lime would be adequate.

Agricultural-ground limestone is the most usual and safest liming material used. There are 2 kinds, generally: calcic limestone and dolomitic limestone. A lot of gardeners favour the latter because it contains magnesium as well as calcium and so fertilizes a little better while it neutralizes the soil. A general rule of thumb in applying limestone is this: to increase pH by one unit, spread on every 1,000 square feet 30 pounds of limestone, if the soil is very sandy; if a sandy loam, spread 50 pounds; on a loam, 70 pounds; and on a heavy clay, 80 pounds.

Spread the lime on top of the soil in the autumn after you've ploughed or spaded deeply. Lime should not be ploughed under, because it leaches down into the soil too quickly in any event. On lawns and pastures, spread in late summertime if possible, though any time will do. It is best not to put on lime with other fertilizers.

And don't use hydrated lime where plants are already growing in the garden. Hydrated lime can injure plant roots. Furthermore, do not lime areas close to your acid-loving plants, nor any area where run-off water could carry the lime downhill to such plants. Lime is poison to blueberries, azaleas, and the like.

The best manner to lime soil is with non-leached hardwood ashes. You can not get them in quantity or if you could, they'd be too expensive, but use them whenever you are able to. If you have an open fireplace or are heating and cooking with a wood stove, salvage the ashes as if they were gold. If you can't put them immediately on the soil, store in a dry place, since rain speedily leaches out the lime and potash in them.

The hardwood ashes gives a better liming effect than lime. Part of the better response that you get from wood ashes on sweet corn is due to the potash in the ashes, but the lime must also be in a more available form, too, than in limestone. Coal ashes are of trivial or no value.

When using ground limestone, don't expect an enormous response the first year you use it. The year afterwards will be better. About every 4 years liming will generally need to be repeated. However, where it is really required, liming gives tremendous results. Because of that, the temptation is to over-lime, a error easy to make on a little garden plot. Over-liming is as bad as not liming at all. A pH of 7.5 is a sign you've overdone it.

Some garden styles lend themselves especially well to easy gardening. They frequently rely on a visually aesthetic use of hard landscaping elements blended with a minimum of well selected planting.

A minimalist garden

It is achievable to create an impressive garden using very little at all. The garden components can be paired down to the absolute lower limit and anything fussy, distracting or unnecessary can be omitted from the scheme. This will contribute to our easy gardening philosophy.

A garden which relies on minimum planting will be the most labour saving of all, but you need to select cautiously. The fewer plants employed must work hard to earn their place there.

Using Space in Easy Gardening

Form and space are what count in a minimal design. Anybody venturing on such a totally labour saving design will require an eye for shape and contrast, in order that the garden is pleasing to the eye, yet uncluttered.

The design will rely on the ingenious use of space, defined by a couple of strategically placed features, such as flowerpots, rocks, statues or plants, or a bold architectural feature such as a wall.

Elementary spectacular juxtapositions can produce adequate interest. For example, a paved or gravelled expanse can become a visually pleasing space with the addition of just a couple of carefully located big flowerpots containing a few architectural plants, or maybe a raised bed or pool. Pebbles or boulders could be used to add additional texture, and possibly some flowering annuals will bring a splash of summer colour.Remember, however, that easy gardening is our aim.

Adding Colour

Colour in the form of painted surfaces can also be employed for impact in a minimalist garden, Maybe on a big wall or the borders of a raised bed. It could be used to compliment planted gravel or an area of paving.

Aligning Plants And Pebbles

A couple of good plants can go a long way if they are carefully placed to produce form in an open space. They require to be striking in shape or colour in order that they create an impact on the design. Architectural plants such as phormiun, Yucca, bamboo clumps or even little trees all work well, particularly when used in isolation. Pebbles are also a good means to bring out supplemental texture. They work especially well in areas of pavement or with potted plants.

Gravel And Paved Gardens

Gardens that rely to a great extent on paving or gravel rather than lawn are a must in our easy gardening plan. They need to be well designed, however, to avert them appearing oppressive and harsh. The answer is to include a variety of materials to make contrasting shapes and textures, and to compliment this with the planting. Even the barest of designs can be metamorphosed into a garden full of appeal and character without spoiling the easy gardening idea.

Planning with hard materials

Different materials can be applied effectively to separate a large expanse into smaller sections, creating interest through shifts of texture, and even height if you introduce features such as raised beds. Conventional structures generally work better for paving, particularly for space bordered by walls. Bricks can be laid in attractive patterns, contributing colour and warmth to a design. The small dimensions of bricks will make a satisfying contrast when juxtaposed with big paving slabs. Granite setts, cobbles and brick or clay pavers could also be laid in interesting patterns.

Gravel, which has a softer texture than hard pavement, adds a different type of contrast. It works with both conventional lines and informal patterns as it lends itself to curves. There are many different gravels obtainable in numerous colours and grades. Select one, or several, that will suit your design.

Supplemental Features

Including additional features in paving or gravel gardens brings yet more interest. Ponds or fountains introduce the elements of water. Statues, large containers and even benches all make first-class focal points in our easy gardening scheme.

Integrating Plants

Beds and borders can easily be integrated into gravel and paved gardens. If you don't want t o be inconvenienced with maintaining large planted areas, you can make small filled spaces within the gravel or pavement.

Beds can be filled with some low upkeep ground cover plants, but focal plants may also be desirable to attract the eye, especially during the winter. Architectural plants, such as Cordyline Australis (for warmer winters), or yucca Gloriosa (for cooler areas), work well as focal plants. Clipped box (buxus sempervirens) is of value for conventional aims. 2 or 3 clips during the growing season are adequate to keep it in shape. Containers are another option, but they'll need day-to-day watering in summer unless you install an automatic irrigating system.

Easy Gardening Continued

However,making and sustaining an attractive garden doesn't have to be time-consuming. There are lots of methods in which the assorted elements of the garden and the planting processes can be adjusted to make maintenance easier.

Gardens should bring about delight and be places to enjoy. If yours takes up so much of your time in mundane maintenance that you have little time left to truly appreciate it, you need to think about how to cut down the labour, without losing out on its beauty.

What comprises Easy Gardening?

Easy gardening doesn't merely mean cutting back on the number of plants that you grow. The choice of specimens and how you employ them is more crucial as a lot of plants require scarcely any attention from one year to the next. You'll be able to also greatly bring down your workload with creative design and landscaping.

The Benefits

A modestly sized, low-maintenance garden may call for only a half hour a week to keep it looking good. But a genuinely, low-maintenance garden, in which numerous labour-intensive components such as the lawn or difficult plants have been relinquished, could require so little work that even if you took several weeks holiday, it would have little consequence on the appearance.

Evaluating Your Garden

You need to assess which jobs you relish and which you disfavour, then attempt changing your garden in the order of your priorities and how much time you would like to save.

If you enjoy propagating but detest weeding, for example, you need to do away with the weeds, and if you don't care for mowing the lawn you need to establish other surfaces, which command less maintenance.

Take into account the style of your house and the present shape and design of the garden itself to make certain that any fresh feature will match and not appear out of place.

Ascertain that new plants will develop happily in the soil and position. A few low-maintenance plants like heathers and conifer have distinct soil preferences for you to consider.

Easy Garden Maintenance - Tools

Irrespective of how well planned a garden is, a little amount of everyday maintenance will always be essential, but there are varied means of making a lot of the daily tasks a great deal less time-consuming and easier to do.

Labour-saving garden tools

Utilising the correct tools can save time and sweat, and will create the difference between a chore being a joy or a chore.Good tools, particularly power tools, can be costly and require space, so determine which ones will truly cut back the time you spend gardening.

Nylon Line Trimmers

These effective tools will cut down long grass close to trees, against fences and along boundary lines in no time at all. Many can also create a clean-cut edge for the lawn a great deal more quickly than conventional shears.

Lawnmowers

If you would like to retain a lawn but want to reduce mowing time, consider buying a lawn mower with a wide cutting width. Rotary mowers are light and effortless to use, but unless you are content to leave the clippings on the lawn, or rake them up, purchase one with a cuttings collector. The same goes for wheeled rotaries, which many people prefer.

For a striped effect a cylinder lawn mower with a rear roller is the best choice, although some other types now have rollers equipped to make a similar effect.

Hedge Trimmers

A power-driven hedge trimmer will save a lot of time on what is a dusty and obnoxious job if your garden has got a lot of hedge. A mains electrical trimmer is the best choice for most small gardens wherever the hedge is within easy reach of a power supply, but for a big garden a petrol model may possibly be more practical. Battery-powered trimmers are effective for small hedges.

Compression Sprayers

A large-capacity compression spray with a long lance is a great deal better for common garden use than a small hand-trigger spray if you grow plants that are inclined to pests, such as roses and dahlias. In addition to pest and disease control, you can employ one to provide foliar feeds, and to spray growth inhibitors to reduce the frequency with which you have to cut your hedge because this can be time-consuming. Keep a separate watering can equipped with a dribble bar and shield for weedkiller.

A settled wildflower garden requires a great deal less maintenance than a traditional one, and can truly be called easy gardening. Establishing one, nevertheless, can initially be quite exacting as there's some basic preparation of the soil necessary and the garden takes time to become settled. Creating a big meadow will calls for a good deal more endeavour, therefore it's judicious for the time pressed gardener and easy gardening fan to focus on a modest wildlife swathe.

Establishing a Border

The easiest way to grow wildflowers is in an existing border, either on their own or with some other herbaceous plants and bushes. This can work particularly well if you blend wildflowers with the numerous garden plants that are types of wildflowers, such as carpeting ajuga reptans and self seeding poppies and forget-me-knots.

Wildflowers can be sown or planted in the same manner as other plants, but they will not flourish in earth that is fertilized. On cultivated ground the grosser weeds incline to take over and asphyxiate the plants you prefer to encourage, so it's worth clearing the area of weeds first of all. Then you are able to sow the wildflower assortment or plant out perennials in the spring.

Colonizing a Lawn

You can disperse the wildflower seed directly across the area, but the competition for the grass will be acute. For best results, sow the seed in trays, prick out and develop the plants in flowerpots first. Plant them out in spring, when the perennials are powerful enough to compete with the existing grass.

Once the perennials are established, they will self-sow, which is always more successful than simply dispersing seed yourself, and what's more is in keeping with easy gardening rules!

Converting a Field

If you are fortunate enough to have a field and would like to turn it into a wildflower meadow, your project is a lot harder. Before you will be able to begin sowing or planting wildflowers you will need to spend a whole twelvemonth mowing the grass at regular intervals to maintain it short. This will exterminate most of the encroaching grasses, and leave only the better ones. When the grass is under control, you will be able to continue as for a lawn.

Clearing up New Ground

For those with a smaller area to convert, a different efficient process for building a wildflower area is to clear it altogether, getting rid of all traces of perennial weeds. Then sow a wildflower and grass mixture developed for your field, as for a border. There are numerous providers for this type of seed.

Conserving Wildflowers in Grass

Wildflowers in grass should be cut back once or twice a year. The best time is in summertime once the primary flush of plants have seeded. Get rid of the clippings to prevent feeding the soil.

Now only buy plants which will grow in your particular type of soil. Don't try to change the composition of the soil - it's too much like hard work, digging in this and digging in that... Easy gardening - remember!

Try to plant as many perennials as you can because they can flourish for years - not like annuals and bi-annuals which are very time consuming and need lots of attention.Easy gardening - remember!

Which direction does your garden face? Do you know? Do you get the sun all day? Where is the shade? Which parts are exposed to the wind? Do you have any walls or fences to protect your plants?

Carefully decide where any sheds and compost heaps etc should be situated. Make sure items like these are in the correct place from the beginning if you want to capitalise on easy gardening principles.

When planting remember to dig a hole that's wide enough for the roots to spread out BUT not too deep.

Weeds are a real threat to easy gardening and a gardener's nightmare, and you have several methods of dealing with them. You can get down on your hands and knees and pull them out individually - not recommended! Especially by your aching limbs...

Remember it's easy gardening we're talking about here!

Another way is to spray but that can be very expensive although easier on your back.

An inexpensive way is to hoe regularly. An established flower bed can be kept free from weeds by doing this. If you daily disturb the small weeds as they appear they will not be able to set down their roots and grow.

Elements For Creating A Low Maintenance Garden

With a little designing and groundwork you will be able to make the perfect easy garden which will also be alow-maintenance garden. Here are some important tips:

Ant time spent preparing soil ahead of planting will always bear dividends in the long term in creating an easy garden

Soil that is in healthy condition supplies the best conceivable start for the fresh plants, which will then develop well and be better furnished to resist attack from pests and diseases. Healthy plants in the final analysis require less care than unhealthy ones.And that is what's required when you take up easy gardening.

The first job is to clear all the weeds. If your soil is comparatively light and crumbly, these can be physically removed by hand as you turn over the soil. On heavier ground it may be easier to obliterate the weeds, which you will be able to do by either covering the earth for several months with impermeable mulch, such as a black polythene sheet, or by putting on a weedkiller.

Digging over the soil opens it up, making it easier for freshly planted roots to establish themselves and absorb nutrients. Applications of organic matter such as garden compost or well-rotted farmyard manure will benefit all types of soil, improving drainage in dense soils and water and nutrient retention in light ones.

For an existing bed, a top-dressing of well-rotted organic matter will bit by bit break down and be taken into the earth by worms.Never underestimate the importance of works in our easy gardening plan.

1) Commencing at one end of the bed, excavate a trench across it to a spades depth. Transport the soil in a wheelbarrow to the boundary of the other end of the plot.

Now I know this doesn't sound at all like easy gardening but time spent here will more than repay you...

The next important element in our easy gardening plan is how to water.and a system that automatically delivers water when it is necessary will save hours of time annually, and it is more beneficial for plants, because they are less likely to suffer from water stress.

There are numerous systems available, so you need to view several to ascertain which one will be best for your position. Just about all automatic watering systems are equipped with an appropriate control system to cut back the pressure, and act as a filter.

A few systems are controlled by the moisture level in the soil, but most operate on a uninterrupted drip basis. Drip free systems are flexible enough to be employed in plants in beds, borders or in containers. Utilize a T-joint to carry branches or pipes for individual drip heads. A timing device will turn your irrigating system off and on mechanically, yet could easily be deactivated if the weather is wet.

Unless your garden is small, it is better to put in a pipeline buried just beneath the ground's surface, and then you will be able to 'plug in' assorted watering devises as required.

Leaking pipe and perforated hose arrangements are appropriate for bed and borders or the vegetable garden. You can sink them beneath the surface or lay them on top of the soil.

This genuinely does pay dividends and is another key element in our easy gardening scheme.If you notice really attractive looking plants, the chances are they have been well-nourished.

If you employ modern slow or controlled release fertilisers, you will be able to feed your plants simply a couple of times a year. Both permit the nutrients to seep out into the soil over a time period of months but controlled release fertilisers are impacted by soil temperature. Nutrients are only released once the soil is warm enough for development. Use a hose end diluter for applying a soluble fertiliser.

Almost all established plants, but particularly demanding ones like roses, benefit from an a nnual feeding. Utilise a slow or controlled release fertiliser in spring or early summer, dispersing it round the bushes. Keep it away from the stem, sprinkling it further out where most of the active root growth happens. Hoe it into the surface the water it in, unless rain is anticipated, to make the fertiliser active more rapidly.

Plants that call for little attention through the year and are broadly speaking disease and pest resistant are the ones to include in an easy gardening prohramme. There is sufficient choice to ensure interest and plenty of colour at all times.

Perennial grasses are easy plants to grow and have their place in our easy gardening plan. When planted, they need very little care, except infrequent removal of dead foliage and old blossom heads if they offend. Clipping the dead foliage to ground level in early spring will boost lots of fresh growth.

There are numerous types to grow, from compact dwarfs to large plants that achieve 2.4m (8 feet) or more. They may be employed in beds, either on their own or in assorted plantings, to sensational effect.

Be conservative about blending grasses amongst other plants, all the same, as some are difficult to control, and rampant species will soon take over a bed and become inextricably intertwined with other plants, so clump-forming types are best.

The more spreading grasses are better developed in an isolated situation, but the smaller ones will work in a border if you plant them in a big container sunk into the earth, with the rim flush with the bordering soil. Please note that annual grasses will self-seed unless you deadhead them after they have flowered.

The intricate leafage of ferns makes these entrancing plants indispensable for damp, shady nooks of any low-maintenance garden, where they will beyond question flourish without any interference. For these reasons they deserve a place in our easy gardening schedule. Many die back in winter, but there are also plenty of evergreen species, and they are varied enough in shape and size to create a fascinating planting in spite of the lack of flowers.

Almost all ferns favour a moist, shady or partly shaded situation, and will do particularly well if you invest the time to prepare the ground by incorporating plenty of organic material. This is really crucial in an area shaded aside a tree or wall, where soil is generally dry. If the soil is impoverished, rake a balanced fertilizer into the surface of the soil when you plant. If planting in late summer, fall or winter don't use a quick-acting fertilizer.

1) Water the fern soundly roughly half an hour before planting. It is very crucial that ferns do not dry out, particularly when newly planted.

2) Make a hole big enough to accept the root ball. Firm the fern in carefully. Then water soundly so that the bordering soil is moist down to the depth of the rootball.

3) To help conserve moisture and sustain a high level of organic material in the soil, mulch thickly. Top up the mulch each spring.

The fastest method to fertilise your lawn is with a wheeled spreader. Individual models vary, but you can generally adjust the delivery rate. Try out the rate on a measured out area of path first, then sweep up the fertiliser, and weigh it to ascertain that the application rate is correct.

Plants matured in containers necessitate additional nutrients to keep them healthy. You can mix controlled or slow-release fertiliser granules into the potting soil as you plant, or slip sachets or pellets beneath individual plants as you plant them.

It is completely possible to have a beautiful garden where weeds are rarely a problem. The trick is not to allow any space where they could acquire a major hold. Reducing the amount of spare earth in your garden and bringing in harder landscaping will bring down the area where weeds can grow .

In beds and borders concentrated planting and ground cover will all encompass the earth so well that weeds are unlikely to acquire a foothold. Where young plants have not yet accomplished their maximum spread, applying a mulch to pieces of bare soil will ensure that weeds cannot grow.

Drawing out perennial weeds by hand is time-consuming and often ineffectual as they generally grow again unless you get rid of every piece of root. Digging them up may not be achievable in an established bed or border, and you may have to resort to a contact weedkiller.

Beware, as most weedkillers will kill or damage whatever they come into contact with.

Ingrained perennial weeds, such as bindweed, can be very difficult to eliminate and are best handled by painting on a translocated weedkiller, such as one based on glyphosate. Other contact weedkillers might not kill all of the roots, but this chemical moves to all parts of the plant.

Mulch is a layer of material that will blanket the ground completely to hold back weeds and conserve moisture in the soil by forestalling loss of water through evaporation. It can be purely functional or it can be ornamental, and it could be organic or not. Always prepare the ground soundly before applying mulch, taking care to eradicate perennial weeds and work in plenty of organic material such as well-rotted manure or garden compost. Make sure that the ground is wet before applying mulch; soak it first if needed.

Most loose mulches, such as chipped bark, cocoa shells, gravel, garden compost and rotted manure, are a lot more visually attractive than sheets, and the organic ones rot down to improve the soils structure and fertility. They need to be applied about 5cm (2 inches) thick.

Woven plastic mulching sheets are effective and economical, but unappealing. However, they could be applied in combination with ornamental loose mulch, which could then be applied more lightly than the advocated depth. Sheet mulches are of value for low-maintenance shrub beds and freshly planted trees, both of which can be left undisturbed for several years, and are better used when the bed or border is to be newly planted.

1) Make a incision round the boundary of the bed with a spade, and push the sheet into this.

2) At each planting situation make a cross-shaped slit in the sheet. Fold the flaps open to plant, and then fold back into place. Small plants can be planted employing a trowel, but for bushes you will require a spade.

By applying a few or all of these hints you will be able to delight in an attractive, low maintenance garden for a long time to come.

There are SO many excellent books written about easy gardening. Take a trip to your local library - you'll be amazed at the quantity and quality of books there.

This is just a reminder that it doesn't have to be all work and no enjoyment. Easy gardening can help you to enjoy the pleasure that comes with beautiful plants, without the back-breaking toil that usually accompanies it.