Some Very Good Reasons To Put A Bird Bath In Your Backyard

A bird bath is one of the easiest ways to attract birds to your garden. Not only will you attract greater numbers of birds if you install a garden bird bath, you'll also attract a greater variety of species.

A bird feeder in your garden will attract species based on the kind of foods you provide, a bird bath will attract just about every species type.

You can buy commercial bird baths at most gardening and home improvement stores but they are not that difficult to make and can be made from a large variety of materials readily found in the average home. The only essential is that your bird bath is a receptacle that can contain clean water.

The best type of bird baths are shallow ones, maximum depth no greater than three inches. A lot of commercially available bird baths are too deep. If you already have a commercially bought bird bath and you find that it's too deep, you can make it shallower by putting in some stones.

If you really want to go the extra mile in attracting birds into your garden with your bird bath you should consider adding a fountain. The sound of falling or dripping water is a sure attractant for birds.

You should make sure that your bird bath has a non-slip bottom so that the birds that use it aren't in danger of losing their footing. Cement is an ideal surface for the bottom of a bird bath.

It's a good idea to place your bird bath on some kind of stand or hang it from a tree to make it difficult for predators to reach - if birds don't feel safe, they are unlikely to use the bird bath.

It's important that you change the water in the bird bath frequently, every few days or even every day in hot weather.

If you're an ardent bird watcher, it won't just be for the bird's comfort that you install a bird bath in your garden, you'll also be doing it for your own pleasure. With that end in mind, you should ensure that you place the bird bath somewhere that allows you to view it from a place of comfort through your window.

Putting a bird bath in your garden following the guidelines above will ensure that you get hours of enjoyment watching all the many and varied species of bird that will be attracted to your garden.

Mike Batey
http://mjbmarketing.info/gardening

Tropicals brighten Winter

Keeping Soil Healthy

Soil is a composition of weather-beaten rock, minerals, decayed plant materials and other organic ingredients. All this takes a long time to develop, but can be damaged by our action or neglect in a single season.

Plants can obtain nutrients from the soil using their roots and change them to usable materials to grow new roots, leaves and flowers.

All gardeners are to be custodians of the soil, taking the time to replace food and other elements as they are used. Since our soil is so important we need to treat it like we want to be treated, not like dirt.

For soil to be healthy it should contain a balanced mix of air, water, nutrients and organic matter. There are a couple things we can do to protect this mixture.

Adding organic matter on a regular basis is probably one of the most important things we can do. Adding compost, cover crops and animal manure can do many things:
+increases the soil's capability to hold nutrients.
+makes food available to plants over a longer period of time.
+lessen the amount of nutrients lost by erosion or leaching.
+provides micro-nutrients that are needed by plants in small amounts.
+release nutrients already in the soil by increasing the action of beneficial microorganisms.
+increases the water-holding capacity for sandy soils.
+increase the drainage of clay soils.
+saves money.

Do not apply fertilizer to lawns until we get a good soaking rain, and for best, safest, long-lasting results use organic fertilizers. The wet soil puts the nutrients into a solution and helps distribute the nutrients to the plant roots to be absorbed.

The ability of soil to drain water is important. But when you read phrases like "plant in a well-drained soil" or "does not like wet feet", they are talking about the plant's need for air. The roots of plants require oxygen and any soil that is waterlogged will be lacking oxygen.

Many plants will put up with high moisture-conditions during the growing season, but when the plants are dormant the same conditions may kill them. By improving the drainage the plant will have a better growing environment.

Another problem is soil becoming compacted by tractors and other equipment or just by tilling it year after year. You will find soil compaction in most soils, from gardens to farm fields.

Tilling the soil when it is too wet will clump and ruin the composition of the soil. This condition takes a long period of time to bring it back to health. To tell if the soil is too wet take a handful and squeeze it, if it crumbles in your hand then it is ready to till but if it clumps then it is too wet. Some people now believe that tilling at all is not good for the structure of the soil. It exposes the helpful microorganisms to the environment and they are destroyed.

However, gardeners may wonder if it is best to till the garden in the fall or spring. Tilling the soil in the fall has advantages over springtime. When spring arrives it allows for earlier planting since the basic soil preparation is done. Tilling in the fall allows a large amount of organic matter to be turned into the soil and start decomposing because the microbes are active currently.

An excellent source of organic matter is the fall leaves. Try tilling a thick layer of leaves into the soil this fall and by spring it will have decomposed.

Sowing a cover crop, like winter rye, is very beneficial by adding valuable nutrients and organic matter when tilled into the soil the following spring. Fall tilling will disrupt the bad insects, diseases and weeds, reducing their population.

Fall is a good time to test your soil and should be done every couple of years. In conclusion, doing all the previous steps should be done the organic gardening way. It's back to basic.

Mike Batey
http://www.mjbmarketing.info/gardening/

http://homeincomeportal.com/mikbat673/

How to Create a Simple Kitchen Herb Garden

Herbs can play a key role in even the smallest of gardens. Whilst some are simply there as decoration, most are fragrant, and far from being imposing so the can easily be used to bring life to those odd corners of a garden that will accommodate little else.

Let us not forget, however, that herbs are enormously healthy, and can bring even the blandest of ingredients to life. Once you have experienced home cooking with fresh herbs that you have just snipped from a ripe branch in your kitchen garden, you will never regard the dried, commercial variety in quite the same way again. You will also be pleasantly surprised how economical fresh herbs and vegetables can be.

Apart from the undeniable satisfaction of growing one's own produce, home herb and vegetable gardening allows you to ensure your cultivation methods are as organic as they can be, which, in turn means that you can dine in the knowledge that all your produce is free from chemicals, and is as healthy as it possibly can be for you and your family.

Assuming that you already have some garden area you can use for herbs, or you can even use containers successfully, there are only fours ingredients you need to cook up a thriving herb garden of your own. Those ingredients are:

(1) A high-quality soil, rich in humus
(2) Sunlight
(3) Regular watering
(4) A little of your time

Now, if you find that your existing soil is unsuitable, you can easily remedy the situation by planting in raised beds, or even more easily, in containers. It depends on how much space you have and how ambitious a herb gardener you wish to become. Simply fill your raised beds or containers with good, organic compost and you are ready to begin planting.

If, on the other hand, you are reclaiming an un-cared for or overgrown garden, try tackling smaller areas at a time. Conquer one area, and once your herbs and vegetables are thriving, move on to another area, and reclaim your land in stages, rather than trying to take on the entire task all at once.

The secret is to start small, no matter how you intend to plant your herb garden. Don't be too over-ambitious, especially if you are a beginner, because you will run the risk of making too many mistakes, and ending up with little to show for it.

First, select herbs that you already know will thrive in your environment. You would be better off choosing the more hardy herbs to start with anyway. Consult a gardening book or visit your local garden center to ascertain which herbs are best for your climate and garden's conditions. Remember to check whether your garden catches a lot of sunlight or whether it is shaded, because this will affect how your plants grow if they are not suited to their growing spots.

Keep it simple at first, and then build up your garden as you gain more and more experience, and in no time you will be enjoying the wonderful flavors and health benefits herbs can afford you and your family for years to come.

Mike Batey
http://www.mjbmarketing.info/gardening/

Gardening On A Budget

7 Simple Tips to Mouth-Watering Organic Vegetables

You’re in the produce department of your grocery store. It’s almost as if you’re looking at everything through a sheer curtain or veil. None of the vegetables are bright colored or healthy looking. They appear wilted and drab.

Remember when you were a kid and all the vegetables looked like they were just ready to burst out of their bins? The tomatoes were bright red and plump, the lettuce crisp and perky. When you bit into a tomato, you could practically hear it pop just before the juice ran down your chin or onto your plate. And the taste – when was the last time you had a tomato that tasted like a tomato? It’s probably been a very long time.

There is a way to recapture those sights, sounds, and flavors from your past. And you can get it right from your own back yard.

But it requires time, work, and some research. If you’re up for the challenge, there is nothing more rewarding than eating food right out or your own garden. Food you know is grown with care and love, and is free of chemicals. Organic gardening.

Right up front, you should realize that organic gardening takes a level of commitment in time and labor many people are not prepared to invest. If you like the idea of putting safe, wholesome, homegrown food on the table for you and your family, then read on. You’ll find some facts, suggestions, and tips for creating your own organic vegetable garden.

What makes a garden organic?

Most gardeners describe organic gardening as simply rejecting the use of anything chemical or artificial to control insects or to fertilize plants. Instead, they apply natural materials and methods in order to retain the health of the soil, the food, and themselves.

Why is organic gardening such a good thing?

Organic gardeners will tell you that the quality of the vegetable is nutritionally superior to anything you can get in the supermarket because the soils are kept nutrient-rich with natural materials. Not depleted and artificially fertilized. And the flavor is amazing.

Additionally, organic gardening can create a great sense of safety and relief in knowing your food is free of potentially unhealthy chemical toxins. Along with that comes the satisfaction of digging your own dirt and producing your own food. Not to mention the physical benefits of fresh air and exercise.

So, you have a yard with plenty of room for a garden. You’re committed to the investment of time and labor. Where do you begin?

1. Pick your location and make a plan

Every good project starts with a good plan. Gardening is no different. James Stephens from the University of Florida suggests you first figure out the amount of produce you want. Do you want just enough for you to eat through the summer? Do you plan to can it, freeze it or sell it?

Then find a sunny location in your yard with well-drained soil, close to a water supply.

2. Get your soil ready

Add organic fertilizer and soil conditioning material at least three weeks before you plant seeds or seedlings. It takes that long for organic material to start working in the soil. Get it worked in and mixed well to prevent interference with seed growth and development.

3. Organic materials are the foundation of organic gardening
Professor Stephens at the University of Florida suggests the following list of organic materials: animal or plant manures, compost, cover crops, or mixed organic fertilizers.

They benefit the soil in many ways, including adding major and minor nutrients, making the soil more water retentive, and improving the structure and condition of the soil -- allowing plants to grow more easily.

4. How and when to use natural and organic fertilizers

Animal manures such as cow, horse, hog, poultry, sheep, rabbit, and goat are considered to be the best forms of organic matter and fertilizer for an organic garden, says Professor Stephens. It’s best if they are worked into the topsoil two to three weeks before planting.

Natural deposits such as phosphorus, potash, micro-nutrients, and lime are also recommended and applied in the same way as animal manures. Natural deposits are found in rocks, shells, and sands. They add valuable nutrients as well as aid in soil conditioning.

5. Less is more when it comes to watering

Your little plants are starting to sprout, so you proudly go out everyday to water and look over your crop. Watering every day is good, right? Wrong.

Seasoned organic gardeners recommend a good and thorough early morning soak once a week only, preferably on a windless day. This allows water to reach and encourage deep root growth. Shallow daily watering only reaches the surface inhibiting strong development.

6. Controlling damaging insects and diseases the natural way

This is no easy task once a problem takes hold. But there are non-chemical ways to control diseases and insects. Here are just a few suggestions:

*Make sure plants and seeds are disease and pest free before you ever put them in the ground.

*Inspect your plants regularly, checking for pests and diseases before they get a chance to take over.

*Keep your garden clean and refuse-free.

*Remove weeds (because they attract pesky insects).

*Handpick insects off your plants.

*Remove diseased plants before they infect others.

There are plenty of additional control methods such as insecticide soaps, insect traps, and other preparations containing naturally occurring materials you can try.

7. Don’t let weeds steal your plant’s thunder (or their nutrients)

Keeping your garden’s soil cultivated will keep weeds small, making them easier to control. If left to take over, weeds will steal the nutrients from your vegetable plants, leaving them more prone to diseases. Their ability to produce vegetables will be reduced too.

Mulching is also a good way to keep weeds down while holding in moisture.

These 7 points are just a small sampling of the amount of information, suggestions, and tips available to starting and maintaining your organic vegetable garden. If you’re up to the work, challenge, and occasional setbacks, it is definitely a worthwhile and rewarding endeavor.

Keep the joy of the end result in sight – those succulent, flavorful, and nutrient-rich vegetables of days gone by.

Mike Batey
http://homeincomeportal.com/mikbat673/
http://www.mjbmarketing.info/gardening/

Practicle Aspects of Herb Gardening

Herbs have been around since time immemorial and served different kinds of purposes. They have been used to treat illness and flavour cooking; they were even believed to have magical powers. Do you want to have your own herb garden? Here are a few ideas on how to establish an herb garden.

Plan your garden.

Consider the herbs you want to plant. Think about their types. Would you like annuals, biennials or perennials?

How much space will they occupy in your garden? If you want, you can purchase a book that can give you the right information on what specific plants you are planning to grow.

List or draw your garden on paper first. Separate the annuals from the perennials so when the time comes that you have to pull out the annuals, you won't be disturbing the perennials. Perennials can be planted on the edge of your garden so when it is time to till your garden they won't be in danger of getting dug up.

Another thing to remember is that you have to place the tall plants at the back and the shorter ones in front. Also, provide your plants with enough space to grow. Proper position will help you in this area.

If you would rather keep herbs out of your garden (and some are quite invasive) you could have herb pots. These are large containers with three or more outlets for the herbs. Fill the pot up to the first outlet and plant it before continuing on with the filling and planting process. Usually, the herb that requires the most water is planted in the bottom hole, while the variety that requires the least, goes in the highest hole.

Some Design Ideas

You can consider having a square herb bed. You can have your square bed divided into four by two paths crossing at mid point measuring 3 feet. You can border it with stone or brick. A wooden ladder may also do the trick. You can lay it down on your garden and plant your herbs between its rungs. You can also choose to have a wagon wheel bed. Planting here is like planting with the wooden ladders. Plant your herbs in between the wagon wheel's wedges.

Get Your Plants Growing

Of course, different plants have different needs, but many of them require alkaline soil. This is the reason why you have to determine the herbs you want to plant in the planning stage. This can more or less help you find out how you should care for your plants. If you germinate your herbs from seeds, remember to follow the directions on the packet for soil, watering and temperature.

Herbs are some of the easiest plants to grow. You just have to provide them with an effective drainage, sunlight, enough humidity or moisture and fertile soil. Even with just minimally meeting these requirements they will be bound produce a good harvest.

Mike Batey
http://www.mjbmarketing.info/gardening/

click here for The Most Trusted Name in Home Income

Butterfly Gardening Basics

What is butterfly gardening? Simply put butterfly gardening is the art of growing flowers and plants that will attract these colorful and magnificent creatures to our own gardens. A properly planned butterfly garden offers great joy to visitors of the garden by attracting these lovely flitting creatures for our amusement and delight. It also ensures a safe habitat for the butterflies.

Deciding upon how to design your butterfly garden is just a matter of personal preference on your part. In reality, butterflies simply do not care about the style of your garden, only the plants that attract them. Typical points to consider for choosing your butterfly gardening plan are the size of your garden and the types of flowers and plants you want to grow. Pick a style of garden that appeals to you and ensure it contains the plants and flowers that appeal to the butterflies you wish to attract.

It is important to do thorough research on exactly which plants and flowers will attract certain species of butterflies. Speaking of butterfly species, do you have an idea of what kinds you want to attract to your garden? Do you know which ones live in your area? Once you work out this decision and decide which types of butterflies you want flying around and visiting your home, then simply create your butterfly gardening plan around those species.

When building your butterfly garden be careful how you coordinate the colors you choose for your flower beds. Although butterflies do not care about your choice of color, it's better to plan ahead. You want to avoid having your butterfly garden looking like a hodgepodge of unrelated colors and textures that could create confusion to you and maybe even the butterflies.

Some people find it helpful to draw and color a layout of their butterfly gardening plan to see what the finished product would look like. Keep in mind that warm colors like red and orange are flashy and showy. These colors have a greater impact against a strong green background. Cool colors such as blue and purple are soothing and toned down and would work better with a white contrast to create the look of freshness and brightness.

Lastly, here is a brief list of plants and flowers that you can look into when designing your butterfly gardening plan. They are the honeysuckle, sunflower, milkweed, summer lilac, Valerian, daisies, Purple Coneflower, Yellow Sage, day lilies and lavender.

Mike Batey
http://mjbmarketing.info/gardening/
http://universalwebserver.com/mikbat673/

Organic Vegetable Gardening. A Labor Of Love

Successful organic vegetable gardening can require a lot of work and careful planning. This includes the preparation of the soil by enriching it and protecting the soil from the infestation of harmful insects.

Organic vegetable gardening is different from conventional gardening in two major ways. They differ from the usage of fertilizers and pest control. The fertility of the soil depends upon three components: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Nitrogen increases the growth of lush foliage. Phosphorus helps with strong roots and sterns. Potassium protects the plants from disease and cold. These nutrients are needed for every plant that stays alkaline for more than a year. In conventional methods, synthetic fertilizers are used to enrich the soil. Commercial fertilizers are available as a mixture of the three main ingredients mentioned. However, in organic vegetable gardening, these nutrients are added in a different manner.

Composting is a very good organic way of enriching the soil. Compost can be made easily in pots from your backyard with garden and kitchen refuse. Materials like leaves, lawn cutting, pine needles, weeds, carrot tops, spoiled fruit and vegetable, animal manure and the like, can be used to make good compost. The decomposition of the organic material forms bacteria and fungi in the soil. This helps in converting unavailable nutrients like nitrogen to ammonia and nitrates making it usable for the plants. This process is called nitrification. Rock phosphates, natural occurring deposits of phosphorus in combination with calcium, can be mixed with the compost. Natural potassium occurs in substances like wood ashes, tobacco stems, seaweed, potash salts and ground rock potash. They can be also mixed for organic vegetable gardening.

The organic material takes longer to decompose and affect the soil. Hence it should be added at least a fortnight before planting the vegetables.

The pH scale runs from 0 to 14. 0 indicates extreme acidic conditions. 14 is extreme alkaline and 7 indicates a neutral soil. The most inexpensive and efficient material for raising the pH is ground limestone. Dolomite limestone has an additional ingredient, magnesium, which many soils lack. If the pH of the soil is alkaline, finely ground sulphur is used to lower it.

Pest control in organic gardens is also done in a different manner. Organic vegetable gardening relies in the theory of manageable pest levels. This model theory, suggests that the pests are not to be completely eradicated, but kept at an easily manageable level maintaining the balance and harmony.

When pest resistant varieties are planted, natural predators and parasites are used to eat up the harmful insects. Mulching the soil helps to avoid direct contact with sunlight, as the harmful organisms require bright sunlight to grow. These methods using organic vegetable gardening techniques will help in raising a healthy and abundant crop.

Mike Batey
http://mjbmarketing.info/gardening

click here for The Most Trusted Name in Home Income

Gardening Keeps You Fit and Sexy

Wave goodbye to treadmills, weights and regimented exercise programs and get in shape in your own backyard. You don't need a gym to keep you fit and sexy if you have a garden.

The fitness gospel has long preached the virtues of exercising in sweaty gyms and ugly Lycra, but there is another option. Experts agree that a regular dose of gardening promotes a sense of well-being, raises your fitness levels and makes you look sexy.

According to Dr. Steven Palmer, Director of the Center for Stress Management and a professor at City University, gardening is an excellent form of stress management and therapy. Dr. Alison Joy, a physician, agrees. She says, "People love gardening and there's very little injury involved".

Gardening is rarely promoted as a form of exercise but regular, energetic and varied sessions in the open air offer the perfect workout for men and women. In fact, according to the latest research, digging burns about double the calories per minute of a more commonly endorsed form of exercise, such as biking. Even more startling, is the discovery that aerobics is less of a calorie-burner than a vigorous session of digging. Other gardening tasks are also good sources of weight loss - hedge trimming burns more calories than cycling, and mowing outstrips biking and aerobics. Believe it or not, a job as banal as raking leaves can actually qualify as a cardiovascular activity - but it has to do with heavy raking.

Yet no-one talks about the huge health benefits that gardening brings. It is definitely a calorie-burner and the beauty of it is that it's a bit like a game of golf, whether you're gardening at 18 or 90, the health and psychological benefits are the same.

Research also shows that more people prefer to spend time in their garden than go to the pub or play golf. For some, the garden holds more appeal than even the bedroom - an astonishing one in four women prefers her garden than sex.

The beauty of gardening is that anybody can do it. Unlike the bleak, goal challenging rigors of the gym, gardening is great fun. For some, gardening is more productive than going to the gym. It is less sweaty and it makes you feel on the top of the world. Even so, it's vital not to overdo things by approaching your garden in a frenzied manner, hell-bent on transforming it from a rubbish dump to a metropolitan Eden in a matter of hours.

Like any sports, gardening can cause injury. "It's all boils down to techniques", explains Nigel Wallace of the Fitness Industry Association. "Most people don't bend their knees but their backs." "The worst thing in lifting pots or logs is to bend forward in a standing position", say osteopath Leo Meyer. "It puts enormous strain on the spine. Bend your knees, keep the pots as close to your body as possible and avoid lifting with your back bent."

Variety - mowing for a few minutes and raking the leaves the next - is the best way to avoid injury. It's also great for all-around body conditioning.

Mike Batey
http://maximumheavytraffic.com/mikbat673/
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Gardening Equipment - Do You Need It?

Ok, you're knee deep in your garden, all engrossed and blissed out, so are you going to break the spell, get up and search around for exactly the right tool to finish what you're trying to accomplish?

Well, if that tool isn't conveniently to hand, then chances are, you're going to improvise and make do with what you can lay your hands on in the immediate area.

That shiny new gardening tool might look really cool, and well it's the latest thing so you've just got to have it, right? Before you part with your hard-earned cash, I suggest you think long and hard about whether you'll actually use it. Or, whether you'll use it often enough to actually justify the expense.

It's certainly tempting to buy all of the new-fangled gardening gadgets that you see advertised in the catalogues or at the garden center, and the advertisers will certainly do their best to convince you that you really can't possibly do without their super-deluxe widget. But, just hold it. You've been managing perfectly well without this watchamacallit device for a long time, haven't you? You've probably already developed your very own tested way of doing whatever this thing promises to do.

Now, that's not to say that this wonder gardening device wouldn't make your life easier or shorten the time it takes to carry out that essential gardening task. But, hey, this gardening lark isn't exactly a race is it? You're doing it because you love it, aren't you? It relaxes you and enables you to forget the other stressful aspects of your life for a few hours, so who cares if this particular task done your very own patented way takes ten minutes longer to accomplish than it would with wonder-widget?

Be honest with yourself, if you spend all that cash on this ultra-modern gardening device, aren't you just going to go back to doing that task your own old way in double-quick time? And that expensive gardening device will just end up as the star item in your next garage sale.

With all that said, it's certainly true that some gardening jobs are definitely easier with the right tool. If you have some disability it is also sensible to get hold of some specially-adapted gardening equipment to ensure that your gardening hobby doesn't aggravate your disability.

Just be sensible and spend some time thinking about what you really need rather than emptying your wallet on something that some clever advertiser has convinced you that you need. That way your garden shed won't end up being some kind of garden implement museum, full to bursting with shiny equipment that never get to justify their existence with some honest work.

Mike Batey
http://mjbmarketing.info/gardening/

click here for The Most Trusted Name in Home Income