Helpful Hints: Planting a Garden

Helpful Information If You've Decided To Plant A Garden by chickie maxwell

Having decided to plant a garden, there are a few things to take into consideration. How much garden space is available? Is the soil prepared and ready to plant? How long is the growing season? What types of plants are desired to be grown? Is a garden hard to maintain?

Gardens come in many different shapes and sizes. The amount of space available to plant a garden will dictate the quantity and type of items to be planted. A garden could range in size from several acres of land to a planter located on the balcony of an apartment. Whatever space is available should be sufficient to plant a garden.

Soil preparation is very important before planting a garden. It is best to disc or till the garden spot in the fall, and then in the early spring add fertilizer and disc or till it again. For small areas a small garden shovel or hoe will be sufficient for working the soil. In very large areas a small tractor with a plow and disc may be more suitable. Eliminate any dirt clods after tilling by harrowing or raking the area to leave a smooth finish that is ready for planting.

Location helps decide what types of items to plant in the garden. The length of the growing season will make a difference in the successful outcome of growing some types of items. Research the average temperatures for the area, and decide how long the growing season will be. Some plants do better when the temperatures are cool and others when it is hot. One widely used technique is to start the seeds in containers indoors before temperatures are warm enough to plant outdoors. Although this procedure works very well in a greenhouse, it is not necessary to own one. A seed in a small cup of soil kept moist with water, and placed in a window sill, will sprout and begin to grow. Once the outside temperatures are sufficiently warm to not freeze the plant it can be transferred to the outdoor garden area.

Knowledge of the various types of plants desired will help in the decision of what to plant and when to plant it. Become familiar with the specific types of vegetables and/or flowers to be grown. Learn how long it takes to go from planting the seed, to how long it takes vegetables to reach harvest, or for flowers to bloom. This is as easy as reading the information found on the back of most seed packets.

Maintaining a garden requires continual weeding and watering of the plants. Too many weeds, or the incorrect amount of water, and the plants will suffer. Keep the soil soft to prevent weeds, and watch for wilting or yellowing leaves which indicate the incorrect amount of water.

To plant a garden takes some effort and thought, but will be very rewarding. With sufficient space, soil that is prepared for planting, an acceptable growing season, an understanding of what plants are desired, and appropriate maintenance, a beautiful garden can be obtained.

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Article Source: Helpful Information If You've Decided To Plant A Garden

The Benefits of GrassCycling

Save Time, Save Money, Save The Environment – The Benefits of GrassCyling by Robomow

There's no doubt about it – lawns can be hard work. Wrestling with a lawnmower is just the start and, for a truly stunning garden, there's a raft of other issues to consider. How do you keep your lawn properly irrigated? What kind of fertilisation do you introduce? Even with the best of intentions and the best lawn mowers, keeping your grass fresh and vibrant can be a back-breaking, time consuming affair – hours of pushing a mower make it easy to forget that a great garden should be a place for relaxation!

Fortunately, there's a solution – a cost effective, environmentally-friendly system which reduces the need for masses of lawn equipment and hours of hard work. GrassCycling, developed by the garden care experts at Robomow, is a revolution in lawn management that's catching on fast.

First and foremost, GrassCycling is sure to save you time. It's not unusual for most gardeners to rake loose grass after a run with the mower, a process which can be quite a task depending on the size of your garden. Of course, these cuttings then need to be disposed of, which means bagging them securely to be taken to landfill. When you consider that the average home generates around sixty bags of loose grass clippings over the summer season, it's frightening to consider the hours that you may have spent tidying your freshly cut lawn! GrassCycling – in essence a 'mulching' process of leaving small clippings on the lawn after lawnmower use – immediately removes the need for you to do this manually, ensuring that you have time to enjoy your garden as it was meant to be.

Of course there's natural concern that leaving grass clippings on your lawn will leave it looking untidy, but in practice, lawn equipment like Robomow is carefully designed to automate the mowing, as well as reducing all clippings to an small size. With these clippings evenly distributed across the garden, there's also a sound scientific reasoning that comes into play. As important as cutting the lawn obviously is, a great garden also benefits from healthy fertilisation. The cuttings left behind by GrassCycling lawnmowers are the most ideal fertiliser of all – providing about a quarter of everything your lawn needs in a year. As the loose grass begins to decompose, key nutrients are released back into the lawn, including nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, all of which are vital ingredients usually found in most store-bought fertilisers. Whilst additional products may be required, they won't be required so regularly – saving you money simply by reusing the grass that you'd usually throw away.

Another key quality of loose clippings is the fact that they contain an abundance of the most important nutrient of all – water. Often, as the decomposition process begins, as much as 85 per cent of the water in the clipping is fed directly back into the soil, stimulating growth and reducing the need for hosepipe watering. It's another fantastic way to save money, all the while providing your garden with everything it needs to keep it looking it's best.

Above all else, though, the practice of GrassCycling is an easy – almost effortless – way to contribute to the well-being of the environment. Between the months of March and September, grass clippings can increase landfill use by as much as 50 per cent and, whilst it's true that these clippings will naturally decompose, the damage to the environment is already created by the simple fact that the waste needs to be transported. Imagine, with the dramatic increase in lawnmower over the summer season, the number of atmosphere-polluting waste disposal trucks that prowl up and down our streets. Simply by leaving the clippings where they are – which, scientifically, is the best place for them – you can fulfil your own responsibility to reduce surplus pollution. What's more, since GrassCycling reintroduces water into the soil and covers the growing lawn from excess water loss through evaporation, the reduction of your dependency on one of our most threatened commodities is a fantastic way to show your commitment to an environmentally-friendly future.

In a nutshell, then, GrassCycling has it all. Simply by leaving your loose clippings on the ground, you can reduce your impact on the environment, the time it takes to maintain your garden, and even reduce your annual expenditure. It's a simple, elegant solution which regulates itself – leaving you free to enjoy your garden as a place for relaxation, exactly as it was meant to be.

Robomow is a fully-automated lawnmower which employs the latest technology to not only cut your lawn to an optimum height, but also to charge its own inbuilt battery pack as required. The mower makes use of an advanced area coverage algorithm, enabling it to cut the entire lawn evenly by moving across each section in a number of different directions. More information can be found at: http://robomow.ie .

Article Source: Save Time, Save Money, Save The Environment – The Benefits of GrassCyling