Gardening is not just a past-time but an exercise and a way of being one with nature. Not everyone has the passion for this craft, and not everyone has the gift of a green-thumb. Being a green-thumb they say that everything you plant yields, grow many and become abundant, a wonderful gift indeed. This craft of growing and cultivating plants either for decorative purposes or for consumption is an art that has dated back for centuries now. Centuries where planting and harvesting have even become human’s way of survival.

While at your garden doing the planting or watering of your plants, wouldn’t it be nice if you had your feathered friends enjoying your garden with you? Yes, this can be possible. It would be breathtaking to be at your yard, with the fresh air, the sound of the leaves from the trees and the birds comfortably prancing near you. Its natures gift indeed that you can enjoy and take pleasure in.

Give your feathered-friends the feel of comfort and security that indeed they are safe at your yard, have your bird feeders ready for them to enjoy feeds from. Make your garden a zone of comfort for these gentle creatures and enjoy their company for a long time.

Indulge in the pleasure of gardening, in the feel of being one with nature. Make the most out of your backyard, your open space, create a special place for you and your loved ones to share and share this haven with your feathered-friends too.

Share/Bookmark

When planting your first garden, the first thing that you have to do is to decide on what plant to grow. You can either have a vegetable garden or a flower garden. When decided, you need to complete all your garden tools and gather the needed seeds. Once you have everything, remember to start planting early in the morning before the sun completely rises and water them every afternoon.

Gardening is not that hard as you think. In fact, harvesting beautiful flowers and healthy vegetables is the finest reward you can get out of your perseverance. When your plants have bloomed, do not forget to put up some garden decorations and make to make it even more beautiful.

You can actually put some attractive rain gauges and let it do the watering. Placing some decorative garden ornaments on the corners of your garden will keep some nocturnal animals from going near the plants. Also add some stepping stones along the dirt path so you can freely tour around in your garden and bring some friends over. You can even place some garden sculptures and bird baths to make it more attractive and inviting.

At the end your gardening efforts are never wasted. Having a beautiful garden is actually something to boast about. In fact, looking at your own creation can be so much flattering to yourself.

Share/Bookmark

To compost is a very easy process to learn. All you need to do is to throw anything in the pile of compost with dog, cat and other acceptable waste. The compost pile usually consists of green and brown wastes and nothing more. The brown wastes consists of ingredients that are rich in carbon namely hay, branches, leaves, twigs and shredded papers. The green ones consist of ingredients that are nitrogen-rich that extract the organisms making the compost. These include eggshells, fruits and vegetable wastes which includes rinds and peels, coffee grounds, tea bags, grass clippings and any other yard wastes that do not contain chemicals. Understanding composting also means you learn how to exclude wastes that should not be included.

Compost is not a process that can completely re-establish today’s troubled soil, but it does not mean that it cannot supplement gardens and aid the gardeners in bringing back and cultivate the soil in the right balance.

Share/Bookmark

This Juvenile European Starling has landed on our Miniature English Garden Collage

This looks like a nice house to move into. Landscaped front yard, with a nice view. Even the outdoor furniture comes with it! Now if I could just find the entrance hole.

Where is the entrance hole? It is not in front and it is not on the side, where is it?

Sure beats me! Nice house and not way to enter it to move in. What where they thinking when they built it!

Share/Bookmark

While trees and flowers can make a garden stand-out of its own, using garden decors can take your gardens to the next level. Making use of structures such as pillars, gazebos, and arbors can make your small area seem larger than it really is. They can be also used for climbing plants wherein it can hang on these platforms, giving the effect of classic garden. Sculptures can integrate a look of visibility and reinforce your landscapes. And most gardens won’t be complete without animals in it, such as pollinating bees and chirping birds. So finding ways of enticing them will definitely improve the atmosphere of your garden.

Gardening is beneficial for the environment. Therefore, you should choose decors that are environment friendly. Avoid materials which may harm nature. Instead, you should invest on ornaments that may retain the beauty of nature and even attract plants to grow. Most gardeners find ways to catch the attention of natural pollinators such as birds and bees since they help in enhancing a garden. And that is how they really function, so it would require less time and money to maintain.

If you are passionate about gardening, you make sure that the decors you choose will fit well in your garden. One shop which boosts of quality decors is the Garden Accent Heaven which is a family owned business in Maryville, Washington. Since the owners have long been into gardening, you are guaranteed of finding the perfect decor you need for your garden, may it be for a traditional, modern, country, rustic or whimsical themed garden. They have a wide awareness on gardening since they have been to a lot of garden tours and attended a number of garden workshops.

This shop has everything a gardener may need, from garden decor, bird and squirrel feeders, bat, bee and bug houses to wildlife cameras. They are aware that birds make natural and pleasant visual additions to a garden, may it be the real thing or just images. That’s why they have a Bird Decor section which creatively designs bird ornaments, garden stakes, bird wind chimes and more decors that can help brighten up your gardens. Having such decors won’t only enhance your gardens but may even entice more birds to stay. So if you are one who wants to change the look of your garden or someone who still wants to start one, then making a visit to the Garden Accent Heaven can be a smart move.

Share/Bookmark

While this may come as a shock to many, having a bat house in your area has numerous benefits. This is especially true if you happen to live close to a pond and are constantly plagued by mosquitoes. It is a well known fact that mosquitoes tend to breed in standing water and ponds are no exceptions. Instead of moving from that area, you can have the brilliant idea of keeping bats. Now, while the bats will take some time to get accustomed to the area and the bat house, they will certainly make a great contribution to a healthier environment.

Scientifically speaking, a bat has been known to eat up to a thousand mosquitoes per night. And that’s just one bat. Now try and imagine what ten bats can do. If it came down to the choice between tonnes of pesticides and a few bats, I suggest you lean towards the bats.

Here are a few things you should know about bats and bat houses. One; bats are quite harmless. In fact, the presence of a bat is an indicator of a very healthy environment since they are sensitive to high pesticide levels in the environment. Two; if you do decide to keep a bat house, ensure that you mount it at least twenty feet off the ground. This can be on top of a building or a tree. Three; about the bat design, ensure that the landing surface and the interior surface are rough to enable the bats to cling easily when landing and roosting.

Finally, have a certified bug house made. A certified bug house is a bat house that is constructed with the best materials and dimensions. We have lots of certified bug houses which are tailor made to handle all sorts of bats and other insects as well. For more information feel free to check us out. We look forward to serving you.

Share/Bookmark

Garden Accent Heaven hosted residents from Fairwinds  Brighton Court retirement community who came to visit Linda’s Serenity Garden on Monday July 25th. The ladies had a enjoyable time walking through the garden and asking about the various flowers and other plants.

Share/Bookmark

Photo one shows my favorite netting ordered from Abundant Life catalog.  It lets me easily reach through the large spaces to pick my successes!

Want to know how I secured the row cover to the netting?  I used a needle and thread and did a simple long basting stitch across the top!  And the clothes pins keep the sides in place on those sunny days!

If these sewing terms are new to you, check in with your Gramma!  You need to call her any way!

This photo shows one side of the row cover rolled up. Notice the large square pattern of the netting. The netting extends between the two poles and is seven feet high and six feet long. The netting extends below and above the gathered up row cover.

Both sides of the netting rolled up.

Both sides of the row cover dropped down for the night to keep my tomatoes about 5 to 10 degrees warmer.

The other side of my row cover tent.

Share/Bookmark

Cold weather protection.

When you live in the Pacific Northwest and this spring has been as cold and wet as last year, what is a gardener to do?

My winter reading of all those garden supply catalogs has paid off!  Under that cover are egg plants, Sweet Basil,  cucumbers, and zucchini squash, all plants that like hot weather.  The row cover raises the temperature 5 to 10 degrees during the day and keeps the plants warmer at night as well.  One more tactical move was to lay “green mulch”  down before planting which also keeps the ground warmer at night and during the day.

Bob cut PVC pipe the right height, stuck them in the ground, and the tension against the sides of the raised bed is perfect.   All I did was cover the hoops with row cover material.  When the plants bloom, I will need to remove the cover so the bees can do their thing!

I do not have to deal with too many insects so I was not concerned

Another variation of cold weather protection.

about a really snug fitting cover without holes.  I used medium pieces of wood to weight down the edges.  Did you see the old fashioned cloths pin hooks to keep the wind from blowing off the cover?  Pretty clever, huh!

Both the green mulch and the row cover were purchased from Growers Supply catalog.

Share/Bookmark

Clivia Lillie from Africa, bring inside for winter.

I absolutely love flowers!  I have them everywhere.  Which translates in to “I have to have a way to say no” to all the beauty available in catalogs and at nurseries.  I had to set some parameters for myself.

I have a fairly small yard so only the smallest dwarf versions of shrubs can be considered. Being more diligent in purchasing plants that fit my light conditions was another given.  I needed to control my successes and failures better.  When buying perennials in season, most plants are $10.00 to $25.00 and that is for the more common ones. Some budget controls are in order.

No matter how much I might long for all the flowers in the catalog, I narrowed my selection of plants to blooms and seeds that attract birds, especially hummers, bees and butterflies.  I have selected plants that bloom at different periods during the summer to keep a food supply for the hummers. If the bloom has a fragrance it is more likely to find residency in my yard.

I try to reserve some space for winter interest with texture variations, height, or being an evergreen plant.

My mother had many iris so I have to have them, violating all my parameters.  And then there are the lilies with so many colors, blooming periods and varied heights.  Needless to say, I have several Oriental Lillies for their heady fragrance and long lasting blooms.  I planted a couple more this spring.  After all, they were on sale!

When I garden, I make my own rules and then bend them just a bit here and there when my resistance is low.  Mostly, every gardener needs to enjoy each and every plant.

Row of Day Lillies along front walk way, continuous blooms all summer.

Asiatic Lillies.

Asiatic lillies.

Asiatic lillies.

Tiger Lillies

Tiger Lillies.

Fragrant Nicotiana placed by the back door, started from seed.

Highly fragant Star Gazer Oriental Lillie.

Tall pink blooms are Bee Balm, simply loved by bees and hummers.

Asiatic Lillie

Iris

Share/Bookmark