MyGarden

'Neighbors envy Owners pride' aptly describes a well-tended rose garden. Growing roses is not as difficult as it is portrayed; contrary to popular opinion rose plants do not need much attention. All they need are the '4 essentials': Soil, Space, Water, Sun, and of course tender loving care, so grab a shovel and get started! The first thing you need to do is to check with your nursery on the best disease-resistant variety for your climate zone. Also, depending on the type of pests / diseases that could attack your rose plant, you should intersperse your garden with other plants which will bring down the incidence of insects. When you bring your rose plants home from the nursery, you should place them...

Like most people, your home is probably the biggest investment you have made in your life. A great way to enhance this investment is to landscape your yard or garden. Again, if you are like most people, you may have only a small knowledge about the principles of landscaping so it may be a better idea to hire a landscaping design company rather than attempt to create a design yourself. Whether it is your first time to landscape your garden or you are looking into changing the look of your existing garden landscape, hiring a landscaping design company is the easiest way to get the job done. Designing a garden or yard landscape can be an overwhelming task. Fortunately, there are many competent and...

Pruning your rose bushes is good for the bushes. While it will take you some time to master the art of pruning your roses, it is quite difficult to kill roses with bad or poor pruning. So, it is better that you make an effort to prune your roses rather than letting them grow wild. If you prune your rose bushes, you will encourage growth of new blooms and branches, it will aid in the removal of dead branches, enhance air circulation and improve the shape of the bushes. Make sure you invest in proper pruning equipment like long gloves, loppers with long handles and by-pass pruning shears. Keep the equipment clean and sharp. Always make sure that you start pruning the bush from the base and then work...

I think the majority of us love a beautiful garden but some of use don't or won't put the efforts into having a flower garden due to the work that it can be. Some of the most beautiful plants with aromatic blooms would be roses. When it comes to maintaining the plants, Rose Bush Pruning can be a sticky situation. When beginning your garden or simply adding plants to your yard, it does take some thought, even if not planned, to choose what type of plants will be planted. Are we looking for lots of color, shade or ease of maintenance? Depending upon the area in which you live will also be a factor in which plants are chosen; of course, your local home improvement or nursery will only carry what will...

The very first thing you have to know is that climbing roses don not climb like regular vines do. They do not twist close to or attach to whatever they come in contact with like ivy or grape vines do. Instead, they put out lengthy, longer, and longer, vigorous, arching canes. Should you just leave them alone, they form a massive, sprawling shrub. Consequently, to actually get them to climb, you have to help them along by tying them up to some type of structure. The green plastic tape sold in any nursery is a good choice of material to use to tie them with. A good structure to tie them to might be a fence, arbor, or trellis. The more typical kind of climbers are the climbing offshoots, or sports, of...

ody"> Why do people seem to be terrified when it comes to orchid pruning? It's not that scary, be brave and follow me as this article uncovers the three main reasons you need to prune your orchids. Remember fortune favours the brave! If you should choose not to do some orchid pruning, your plants will not suddenly die or be struck down with some terrible disease. That being said, proper orchid care will require a little pruning from time to time. If your orchids are to thrive and flower properly you will need to do a little orchid pruning. Three Reasons Why....We Prune Orchids. To Remove Any Dead or Diseased Material. It is very important to remove any dead material from your orchid, including dead...

Seasonal flowering plants can be brought out when they are at their utmost beauty and then removed to be replaced with other plants. Imagine how attractive you can make your patio with a selection of spring bulbs and azaleas followed by summer annuals such as salvia and marigolds. In the fall you can replace them with poinsettias and mums. This is just a sample of what can be done with container gardening. Evergreens are another good choice for container gardening. Evergreens are plants that retain their leaves all year round. This differs with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage for part of the year, becoming bare and leafless. Once they have established themselves, most evergreen shrubs...

Pruning your orchids is an effective way to clean off the worn-out, unnecessary growth from the previous season. By removing the excess growth, you can refocus your orchid's energies on growing new, healthy blooms in the future instead of wasting it trying to maintain growth that has already been spent.   Fall is undoubtedly the best time of year to take care of any orchid pruning that needs to be done. I usually aim for October, depending on how my orchids are fairing. Usually by then the flowers are dead or dying. The important thing to remember is not to wait too long. Pruning in December or January is generally too late. If you delay pruning for too long then you risk damaging the new growth...

Pruning Tomato Plants IF you want the most fruit from your tomatoes, they should be pruned to remove unnecessary shoots and leaves. Pruning will give you the best yield from the plants and better tasting fruit. Pruning is not a difficult task but is a necessary one that most backyard gardeners enjoy. It takes no special tools to prune tomatoes. You simply pinch the unwanted growth (shoots and leaves) away with your fingers. Shoots that you want to remove is the growth that has no buds or flowers. Essentially they are nothing more than suckers that take nutrients from the plant. Before you start to prune you have to know whether your tomato plants are determinate or indeterminate plants. Determinate...

You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information at the end. Website URLs must be active links. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link, What do the terms grafting and budding mean? Budding is a form of grafting. Grafting is the art of attaching a piece of one plant to another plant, creating a new plant. Grafting is usually done because the desired plant is extremely difficult if not impossible to propagate through other means. Dogwoods, for example, are easily grown from seed, however, it is next to impossible to grow a Pink Dogwood from seed. The seeds from a Pink Dogwood will produce...

You ordered your grape stocks about 6, maybe 12, months ago. It is now spring and they've just been delivered. Or maybe you've grown your own plants the previous spring and have taken them out of storage. The holes are dug and you are now ready to plant out your vineyard - at last! Let me give you my first secret grapevines pruning tip. Here's something I would recommend you do before actually planting your grapevines. Pruning them back to retain only the strongest cane is much easier when done before planting. Sometimes, two canes can be retained depending on whether the plant will be trained to a single- or a double-trunk system or as insurance against one cane failing. For the canes remaining on...

In order to have thriving, healthy orchids, pruning your plant is essential. You should prune your orchid when the stem (stalk) becomes discolored and turns to either a brown or yellowish hue. The part of the plant where the flower used to be is called the blossom stalk. The easiest way to prune your orchid so that it will bloom again is to cut the blossom stalk about 1 inch down from the top. Unless the stalk is severely damaged, there should be no need to trim it down a significant amount, one to two inches should suffice. It's best to use small gardening shears or a sharp single-edged razor so that the cut will be clean and safe from possible infection. Sterilize your scissors or razor with a...

p>The care and maintenance of your grape vineyard is vital to the long term health of your vines, and ensures that they will continue to produce quality grapes for your winemaking. Pruning grapes is the process that will ensure the best quality grapes and subsequently the best tasting wine possible. Pruning is simply the process of removing unwanted parts of the plant to ensure that the goals we established for our vineyard are met. By pruning we can control of the size and form of the vines, control the size and quality of grape production, and maintain a balance between vegetation and fruit. Only new growth will produce grapes, so it is important that healthy new canes are produced each year. New...

Pruning your orchids is an effective way to clean off the worn-out, unnecessary growth from the previous season. By removing the excess growth, you can refocus your orchid's energies on growing new, healthy blooms in the future instead of wasting it trying to maintain growth that has already been spent. Fall is undoubtedly the best time of year to take care of any orchid pruning that needs to be done. I usually aim for October, depending on how my orchids are fairing. Usually by then the flowers are dead or dying. The important thing to remember is not to wait too long. Pruning in December or January is generally too late. If you delay pruning for too long then you risk damaging the new growth for...

In my last article on front yard landscaping I discussed laying out driveways and sidewalks as your starting point and how it could possibly help create the entire framework for your front yard design. So assuming that you're to that point, we'll move on to a few considerations of a major secondary element. Plants. When choosing and setting out plants in the front yard or any landscaping for that matter, you need to consider more than just how things will look. You should also consider other factors such as sun or shade, duration of sun or shade, soil type, purpose, the elements, and what specific plants will require or do in the future. There are also a few other considerations such as how close to...

Tuscany is a romantic place that appeals to many different people. Unfortunately most people cannot afford to live in the Tuscan region of Italy. However, that does not mean that you cannot incorporate the Tuscan style into your own home. In fact, one of the best ways to do so is with the implementation of a Tuscan style landscaping design. A Tuscan style landscaping design has a sort of old world quality about it. As a style it pairs the elegant styles of the Renaissance with the beautiful natural qualities of gardens. The Tuscan style is instantly recognizable, but it is also very versatile so you can use it as an extension of your homes style as opposed to being simply a free standing landscape...

Proper pruning of your backyard grapevines is essential to maintain vine size, shape, and yield of the grapes. If you don't prune your vines, they will become unruly, tangled messes. Fruit ripeness will suffer. Overproduction of the vine may lead to premature death. It is also one of the harder things to visualize but one of the easier things to accomplish for the home gardener. Pruning is performed in the early spring while the vine is still dormant. This is done in February, March, or early April depending upon when the grapevines generally come out of dormancy and bud out. Pruning the grapevine and training the vine go hand-in-hand. You must decide the way you want to train the vine in order...

Feeding your roses, just like watering, is a very important aspect of rose gardening.  Seek out relevant and practical rose gardening advice on fertilizing your roses even before you start planting. Your roses need three essential natural elements, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, to grow to their full potential. Nitrogen encourages vigorous growth of foliage and canes. Phosphorus provides increased immunity to diseases. Potassium provides assistance in reproduction and development of sturdy roots.  A good fertilizer contains these three natural elements along with calcium, magnesium, in small quantities, and trace elements of manganese, iron, and boron. While synthetic fertilizers are manmade...

Some plants naturally respond well to pruning, regardless of how intense, whilst other plants can find it hard to recover, especially when pruned at the wrong time of the year. When should I Prune? To prune correctly you must find out the type of plant your bonsai is and research when the best times are to prune old and new season growth. Generally, new growth is pruned during the growing season to maintain the shape of the bonsai, whilst pruning of hard wood (old season growth) is done in mid-autumn. Forms of Pruning Finger Pruning One of the main forms of pruning for bonsai, especially evergreen coniferous bonsai such as junipers and cedars is 'finger pruning'. This involves pinching back new...

Pruning rose bushes is about more than just cutting some branches away. It is an art and when done properly not only makes your garden more beautiful to view, but also makes the plant stronger and healthier. Many people do not know anything about it and so either neglect to do it at all, or prune the plants improperly. When pruning your roses, there are different tools and techniques that should be employed. There are several reasons for pruning. First, you want your bushes to be as gorgeous as possible. Pruning away old dead branches and excess will give you a more beautiful plant. You also want to make sure the roses get plenty of room to grow and breathe and that the sunlight is able to...

The prerequisite for getting the best performance from your landscaping shrubs and bushes is to be clear about their precise design role they are to play in the garden. Are they to serve as a screen, a backdrop to some special feature, are they to be grown to provide color and fruit, or is a particular specimen to be given a special role such as being limbed up into a small tree, or perhaps grown horizontally on a wall, in the espalier fashion? Following that, successfully achieving the desired shape or form of the shrubs is a matter of choosing the appropriate form of pruning. Pruning is the most important of the various horticultural tasks, because of all the different plant types that make up the...

The garden centers are a little better than retails stores and do not put their tomato plants out for sale in the middle of winter. Seed packs, and other tomato gardening supplies however are out as soon as Valentine's Day is over! The question for newcomers, and even experienced tomato gardeners is, "When should I plant tomatoes?" When reading tomato gardening tips in gardening books and online you find all sorts of advice, but it really boils down to 4 basic things. When should I plant tomatoes? Look at these 4 questions for growing tomato gardening tips: Where do you live? If you live in a climate where the growing season is year round, it doesn't matter! You have the luxury of being able to...

Once you have your vineyard planted in the most favorable location, the next most important consideration in growing the best grapes is proper pruning. Pruning is an ongoing task throughout the life of your vineyard and is critical to maximize the production and quality of your grapes. Reasons for Pruning Grapes Grapevines need pruning in order to maintain the size, shape, and productivity of the vine. Young vines are pruned to establish the proper shape along the trellis. Once your vines are in production, they need to be pruned to optimize grape quality. Grapevines will produce fruit clusters only on the last year's growth. Older growth will not produce grapes so must be removed if it is not part...

Pruning your vines is not something that should be neglected and needs to be done every year. Grape pruning is essential for healthy and productive vines. Vines only produce their grapes from old shoots which have grown from the canes that were planted a year before. It stands to reason, then, that one year after planting you need to do your first pruning. Before you begin grape pruning however, it is necessary that you take some time to become familiar with the basic structure of the vines so that you will be able to prune them properly and correctly. First of all, the main stem is called the trunk. If the vines are two years and older you will be able to see what many would call stems extending...

FarmVille trees can be just as important as crops. Planting certain trees can certainly be profitable and definitely beneficial to your farm. Some of the best trees to plant will be covered here. What's missing? As you sit back and look at your farm, you've got houses, barns, animals, acres of land filled with plants but no trees. That's it, that's what's missing! It won't be complete without a picture frame of trees surrounding the property. Now the question is, which trees are the best trees to plant? Some can only be given as gifts, so you will have to rely on your wonderful neighbors to help you out with that. You can just hope that they may send you one, or you can just come right out and ask...

Nature is at the brink of disaster. We have abused this planet so badly that some believe it is at the point of no return. We helped make the mess and now it's time to stop and fix things, if at all possible. How can we help heal the pain our planet is feeling? (And yes the planet feels, as does every living thing). One answer is by growing an organic vegetable garden - it's as simple as that.It may not be as grand as trying to fix our ozone layer, but rest assured that it will help in saving nature, today. If everyone chips in a little it will go a long way. It may not be an overnight fix, but it will help in the long run. So, if you're a person who is thinking about organic gardening, then you're...

Small garden design can be as complicated, or as simple as you want to make it. If you are really into following directions, buy some landscape design books and immerse yourself in all the details. I can almost guarantee that you will rethink your idea to get involved before you are half way through the first book. But it does not have to be that complicated at all. Remember that all the plants, foliage, trees, and ground cover you are going to use in your small garden design have been used by nature for a few million years or more and have managed to do just fine without having to refer to any type of instruction manual. Creating a garden is supposed to be fun, not an exercise in architecture, so...

Of all the components, parts, pieces, and plants that go into making up your small garden design the most important, by far, is the soil itself. Soil rich in nutrients, with good drainage, is the best insurance you can get to enhance your new garden. On the other hand, if your soil is not healthy, or if your site does not have good drainage, there is almost no chance of successfully growing a healthy, vibrant garden. Obviously, all plants need water, and some need more than others but most plants used in landscaping will not do well if they are over watered. So, when planning your small garden design, you must include planning on how your planting beds are going to drain. Because many areas of the...

It is very understandable for someone to walk by a home and wonder why some have rain gutters and others do not. Well, it is a homeowner choice on whether or not to have them installed and to incur the expense. Sounds obvious right? For that matter, it is also an option that because of the additional expense involved that most new home builders do not include it as a standard item included with the purchase of the home. Having spent close to 10 years in the real estate industry, including the new home segment, I can confirm for you that most new home builders in fact do not install them. It is so unexpected to find a new home with rain gutters, that when I worked for a builder who included them...

Symmetry and harmony go hand in hand and are a basic tenet of all major art forms including design. The principles of landscape design also include the use of balance in everything. While it may be a bit deeper than this, this concept is simpler to interpret for newcomers to comprehend and fully grasp the idea. Perfection is often synonym to symmetry in the western world. However, some Asian traditions do not enjoy the use of even number of objects as it is too perfect to really represent what life is and the imperfection one could face during its life time. Imperfection will give a more natural and rugged feel and will even introduce character while perfection seems monotonous. If a garden or...

Once you have finished your small garden design and started the installation you will certainly be quickly faced with every gardener's nemesis: weeds. Just like the plants you have so carefully selected for your new garden weeds are living, breathing plants that will thrive in the same conditions you are so carefully creating with your new small garden design. In other words, the very nutritious soil you are providing for the ornamental plants will feed and nurture the weeds as well. The bottom line is the same things that make your garden so lovely, nutrition, sunlight, and water will also help weeds to thrive as well. So how to get rid of the weeds, or at least keep them under control, without...

Landscaping is an extremely important aspect of outdoor home improvement. Landscaping if done with careful planning can add tremendous value to your home. However landscaping is not just about planting plants and creating greenery around your home yard. Lighting, water supply and other accessories are equally important in home landscaping Outdoor lighting plays a vital role in outdoor home improvement. There are two basic purposes why lighting in landscaping areas is extremely important. 1) Security of the home surroundings 2) Enhancing the existing landscaping with special purpose lighting. Outdoor lighting makes your home yard safe and also makes it easier to use it during night hours. A well-lit...