Winter is time of rest from gardening works. Plants are resting under the snow blanket but you can already start preparations for the spring season.

It is worth to spend this time on shopping plans, servicing and conservation of gardening equipment and the first caring endeavours.

 

In January you should go through plants’ winter coats. If there is a snow fall, you should definetely shake it off of the more brittle and fragile trees – magnolias, poplars, maple, fruit trees and dense hedges and conifers, so it doesn't deform the branches.

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When the summer ends and autumn passes away, that does not mean you have to kiss your herb garden goodbye until next year. You don't have to buy dried, bottled herbs from the grocery store all winter. You can move your herbs indoors and continue to enjoy herbs that you have grown yourself. Often, growing herbs in pots is a fun way to continue gardening indoors. But there are definitely some things to remember when doing so.

It is important when you are growing herbs in pots that you ensure the pots drain properly. A good tip is to use one third each top quality potting soil, sand and humus. During the winter, you may find that the soil may be compacted. Just grab a fork and gently rake to top layer to loosen it up. Although it is obviously important to water, during the winter herbs don't grow as fast so they won't need quite as much. A really good tip to remember is the time to water is when the surface of the soil is nearly dry, but still very slightly damp. Of course you don't want to completely dry out the soil.

During the winter, growing herbs in pots is going to take more care. Often the air in our homes is stuffy during the winter, so gently mist the plants regularly. Also, a little fan near the pots will help to circulate the air, but will most likely mean more frequent watering since it may dry out the soil faster. It is also a very good idea to use fertilizer once a month.

Although growing herbs in pots means that the herbs are obviously indoors it does not necessarily mean they are safe from pests. In the instance that you do have a problem, it is not as hard as dealing with them outside. Simply get a hold of a insecticidal soap and spray the leaves of the plants on top and bottom. They will still be safe to consume if you were to add them to a favorite dish to spice it up. So by doing a little research and with a bit of determination, your indoor herb garden will be a success even in the winter.

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Autumn is the time for tidying your garden – removing unneeded plants from the flowerbeds, cutting the too-long branches of the trees, mowing and raking for the last time before the wintertime, gathering leaves, digging the flowerbeds, planting and re-planting, tools conservation and the overall preparations before chill of winter.

The composter

Surely, it is good to have one in your garden – your own, natural fertilizer is a big money saver and an excellent way of disposing of organic scraps. You can either build it yourself or – if you don’t feel very manually talented – buy a cheap, ready one. Autumn is the perfect moment to start your composting adventure, since this is the time when most of the recyclable waste is produced.

The woodshed

Winter is coming, for garden and house owners this is the time for a break from work around the grounds and a heating season. Storing wood is a common issue – it would be best if the woodshed was esthetic, not marring for the garden, not too big, solid and able to endure years of usage. It needs to protect the wood from rain and humidity as well, since wet wood does not burn well. Instead of stacking the wood next to a wall it is good to decide on a special wood rack. A wooden construction fits every garden!

Equipment and tools

Autumn is also the time to take care of your tools of daily garden-care. It might be worth it to clean, sharpen and oil all your metal tools and storage them somewhere hidden from the rain, it might carport. The same goes for the mower, hedge cutter and other electrical equipment helpful in the garden. Thanks to the special care, they will be in great condition when spring arrives!

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If you love growing great tasting vegetables in your home vegetable garden then by now you should know that in order to maintain that yearly success your soil needs to be rich in nutrients. There are a number of ways you can add these nutrients to your soil, from decayed organic material, to your food scraps to a variety of chemicals. One of the best ways is to add manure.

Certain manures are nothing more than organic matter rich in nutrients waiting for them to be released. When you work manure into your soil you provide a food source for your soil’s ecosystem to feed on. In turn that ecosystem releases the nutrients from the manure that your plants need to grow and thrive. Here is how you can add manure to your home vegetable garden.

It goes without saying that the first step in this process is to actually obtain the manure. There are a number of varieties of manure to choose from such as chicken, cow, horse and green mangroures such as alfalfa, winter rye and buckwheat. Never use human, dog or cat manure in your garden. The first place to look for manure is the free website Craigslist. Go to the farm and garden section in your area and search on manure. You’ll be surprised how many farmers, horse breeders and so on will just give it to you for free. If you are unable to find free manure you can always buy it at your local home or garden center.

Now that you have your manure you need to understand that the fresher the manure the longer you need to let it sit in your home vegetable garden’s soil before you plant your seeds. A good rule of thumb is to use the manure in the autumn months giving the soil’s underlying ecosystem plenty of time to feed on it so the nutrients can be released.

With your manure added to your soil, now is the time that you work it in. You can use a pitchfork, garen tiller, garden ho, you name it. The tool you choose is completely up to you. I use a pitchfork since my garden is a size I can handle within reasonable physical limits. If you have a very large garden, you may want to consider buying or renting a tiller.

Now that the manure is worked into the soil, wait until a week or two prior to the following season’s planting dates for this next step. Using your tool of choice, work the soil again so that you are mixing in the broken down manure. This helps spread the nutrients around. Your seeds are now ready to plant.

In some cases spreading manure can be a messy (and smelly) job, but the benefits for a home vegetable garden can be tremendous. Follow this every year and you will have great soil for your fruits and vegetables in no time.

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We are adding another 10 elements to the previous list of most often mistakes made by gardening amateurs. The following article is a set of examples that might help the beginner gardeners in avoiding some serious problems. It is worth to know what to be careful with when gardening.

1. Hedges not cuted properly

Not cutting the hedge enough is a common occurrence amongst young gardeners – they feel bad for the pretty, small plants so they allow it to grow high. In the beginning the mistake is unnoticeable but after a few years, when it grows a bit, the bottom parts of the hedges become bald. It is far more difficult to make the plants cover these spots then cutting it a bit annually – the more regularly you cut the young sprouts, the more it prompts the plant to grow and propagate.

2. Taking plants for weeds

For an amateur all young plants look alike and in the beginning it is difficult to tell what will become, for example, a beautiful flower. That is why often in the spring those future flowers are brutally removed, mistaken for weeds.

3. Too much or not enough watering (especially for pot plants)

Pot plants are far more delicate than the flowerbed ones. It is caused by their environment being highly limited and artificial, the water evaporates faster, dooming the plant to wither and roots rot easily when soaked for too long a time. Not fertilized potted plants grow slower than the flowerbed ones, as the soil loses its nutritious value.

 

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Choosing the right garden toys for children will get them outside and soaking up the warm weather, and beginning the practice of staying active while enjoying nature. Garden

Toys for Boys:

One of the kinds of garden toys that children enjoy is toy wheelbarrows. These toys are great for children to help their parents in the garden, in addition to teaching them valuable skills in manoeuvring when they push the wheelbarrow. This toy functions like a real wheelbarrow. In order to find a good toy wheelbarrow, look for one that is sturdy and easy to assemble. This toy is best for children older than 3 years of age.

A kids’ hedge trimmer will help children get started in learning a valuable skill that is useful for home care and yard maintenance. Children can watch what their parents do and emulate them so they learn how to keep hedges looking cleaned up and trimmed. Look for a realistic-looking hedge trimmer that is light enough for the child to handle.

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Below we present ten mistakes often made in gardening that can cause trouble with our further gardening tasks. Mostly they concern the beginner-gardeners, passionate about nature but having no professional knowledge of how to organize the green spaces. It is worth to learn on others’ mistakes as to not duplicate them.

1. No project of the garden

No project and a chaotic approach to garden arranging is one of the most often made mistakes of the amateur-gardeners. Furthermore, it is very harmful for the plants, as the lack of a plan can cause plants with different needs being planted next to each other and later – their often replanting. It causes mess, the garden is untidy, creates the need for extra work and expenditure, as plants treated this way are not always able to survive.

2. Lack of usefulness planning

Leaving the planning of useful parts of the garden to luck or, worse, a bad specialist is a true tragedy. As far as the first solution might have some good outcomes in the end, the other – surely not. Uncomfortable pathways leading to no where, even if beautiful on plans, only cause the grass to be stepped on and are completely useless. While planning a garden, it's good to think of things like a playground, even if the children are still very small, and a grill. Designating a spot for the children to play will help you remember not to plant delicate, expensive or poisonous plants there.

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Some first time gardeners might wonder why they should bother growing their vegetables organically. They wonder if it even makes any difference in the long run. Before that question can be answered a person must first understand what organic gardening really is. Organic gardening is gardening without using any chemically created fertilizers, weed killers, or pesticides. In most gardens store bought fertilizers that are crammed with chemicals are used to treat the soil the vegetables are planted in. Later, more store bought pesticides and weed killers are sprayed among the vegetables while they are growing to kill the insects and weeds that are part of any garden.

For many using store bought fertilizers, weed killers, and pesticides seems like the best choice. It is often considered easier to run to the market, purchase a bottle of “weed killer” and spray your garden whenever you notice weeds growing. The process is later repeated when any pests appear or the vegetables do not seem to be growing well. The problem with using these store bought, chemically enhanced items is that you rarely know exactly what you are exposing your vegetables to.

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Make your garden butterfly-friendly to draw color and development for the landscape while aiding the pollination of flowers, fruit, and vegetable plants. Sorry to say that urbanization and other development are shrinking butterflies' natural habitat, leaving fewer places to feed, mate, and lay eggs. Here are some tips to overturn this pattern. Butterfly gardens don’t need to be large. You can develop plants in containers on a patio or even in hanging pots and window containers.

 

Butterflies require the sun to keep the body temperature up, so locate your garden in the sunniest locality achievable. The important thing to attracting butterflies is to provide them with plenty of nectar sources; in addition they prefer to feed on open, tube-shape flowers.

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Are you one of those people that feel they are completely unable to keep a plant alive? All your flowers wither after a month since you brought them home? Maybe it is time to think of it that way: It is not you who is wrong for the plants, maybe you simply had the wrong plants?

There are many house flowers that actually require very little attention.

 

One of them is the Red Edged Dracena, which is an outstandingly resistant plant. It likes sunny places but without the light shinning directly on it. The best temperature for it is 20 C, 15-18 C during the winter. It can be watered moderately once a week, again, during the winter even less often. It likes moist air.

Another one can be bamboo. It should be kept directly in the water (it should reach about an inch above the roots) and out of direct sunlight. If you change the water every two weeks, it shouldn’t require much more, perhaps some fertilizer every now and then.

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