Monthly Archives: November 2009

Garden Fountains

Garden Fountain Maintenance

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We all love to make our garden unique and eye catching.

What could be better than a well-structured fountain amidst the greenery around the garden? It would simply look stylish and classy.

You can choose any one of the attractive models or you could create your own designed fountain. The newly installed fountains always look stunning and luxurious. However, as days pass by, one simply fails to maintain it.

Your fountain faces extreme effects of climate and harsh rains. Cleaning it regularly will help you to keep the fountain sparkling and clean.

A damaged or unmaintained fountain will always spoil the beauty of your garden. Hence, you must always have a well-constructed and solid fountain. To keep your fountain clean, you need to change the waters frequently.

The unchanged waters can give birth to algae that would make the fountain waters impure and stinking. You can spray some anti algae liquid to curb their growth and avoid this problem of dirtying the waters.

However, if you love the birds that visit your fountain daily to quench their thirst, you could proceed to call for treatment that is safe for these birds.

Keep a check on the water flow. A bit of a hole or damage to the fountain could create a leak of water. If the water keeps flowing through the garden continuously, it may damage the plants and other saplings. Make sure that the fountain is not leaning on the other plants, as it may damage them.

If you have set up an artificial fountain, it may tend to get weakened after couple of months. Inspecting the fountain regularly will help you to determine any problems instantly.

Keep the fountain free of debris and fallen leaves. These can block the water flow and choke the pump. To take precautions on a daily basis will hardly take any time and will also help to maintain properly the water flow.

Always clean the fountain pump by unplugging it. Doing this once in a fortnight will help you to keep the fountain fine-tuned. To dismantle and clean the fountain, you may need to read the manufacturer’s instructions. Make sure you follow them, so that you do not invite any problems later on.

If your garden fountain is made of copper or any other metal, it will require regular dusting and care. You can get a solution that can clean the fountain and make it shine like before. For marble fountains, use clean cloth to wipe the dust particles. Use good products and solutions to clean the fountains, so that it is left with no patches on it.

Maintaining the garden fountain is not difficult. You can also hire a professional, who can visit your home and clean it for you. However, with a daily care, you would not really require any professional. Keep changing the water and free it from debris and dirt.

Garden fountain enhances the look of your home. Keeping it sparkling will beautify your garden. Choose the right place to locate it and inspect it on a timely basis to detect any problem at any stage. A bit of care devoted regularly will help you keep your garden charming with a sparkling fountain.

Vegetable Gardens

Creating And Maintaining A Vegetable Bed

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Your reason for creating a vegetable garden can be varied. It might be the extra spending on herbs you had to make during the year gone by, a need for home–grown tomatoes, or the absence of preferred vegetables at the grocer’s. Regardless of reasons you need to follow the same strategy to grow anything you desire in your kitchen garden.

The first thing you need to do is prepare a plan otherwise you may just be digging up a lot of ground uselessly and end up growing much more that you can really look after or actually be preparing extra ground for weeds to thrive. The location for your vegetable garden site is also very important. A good spot that remains in full sunlight near the house is usually the best and most convenient location. However, you need to consider other factors like shade from buildings or trees, soil quality, drainage, etc before you make a final decision. If these factors were not favorable it would mean that you might have to ignore convenience and select some other spot farther from the house. A vegetable garden needs at least six hours of sunlight everyday for food crops to mature properly and provide good produce. Fertilizer, water and caring are equally important but in no case can substitute the need for adequate amount of sunlight.

Air movement is also very important, however, windy areas need to be avoided, as excessive winds tend to dry out plants and also cause plant breakage. It is best if you can find a suitable place for your garden near a water source, which will prevent using long hose lengths for watering. The garden area should also not be very far from the house. This will let you monitor the health of your plants conveniently, check pest problems and provide other plant care as needed.

The types of vegetables you would like to plant would largely depend on the likes and dislikes of your family. If there is a particular type of vegetable preferred by your family, you will love to grow larger quantities of it. In such a case it is advisable to start an indoor garden with plants grown from seeds. There are plants that resent transplanting. These need to be sown directly at the place they are expected to grow.

As your garden grows you need to keep constant vigil over your plants to ensure proper maintenance at all times. Watering is a prime issue especially during dry periods when some extra watering may be required. In such situations mostly an inch or more of water every week is beneficial for the plants especially during fruiting.

Protection from weeds is also necessary. Mulching between the rows provides effective weed control. It is also good for conserving moisture and provides a pathway for access to the plants as well. You can use straw, grass clippings, wood chips or garden debris as mulch. Be watchful against insects, pests and take timely action as the plants grow. After a plant has fruited avoid using pesticide unless absolutely necessary.