Top 4 Gardening Tips For This Summer 2010

Chances are, if you own a house then you would definitely have a garden of some sort. Maintaining a garden can be a pain the back, especially if you want more than just grass and weed. This article shows some tips and hints to help you design and maintain a beautiful garden for this coming summer. The first thing you have to decide is to choose the plants. Certain flowers and plants complement with other ones.

You will want to choose one which grows well in the summer. Before you choose the plants, you have to assess the garden environment. What is the PH of the soil? What does the ground material mainly consist of? How much sunlight can the plants receive? Do you have any pets or animals which may disrupt your garden environment? There are many elements you have to consider when you design a garden.

Useful Gardening Tips

The second tip is to remove all forms of debris and weed from your garden. These elements are undesirable and they can also affect the growth of the plants and flowers. Debris can also include existing rocks. Certain rocks work well with specific garden designs. For example, if you want an ornamental garden then flat rocks complement well with this kind of design. The third tip is to make sure that you only choose healthy plants, only if you are purchasing a pre-grown plant from a store.

Avoiding these plants will ensure that your gardening efforts are maximized. If you are going to buy seeds then you should make sure that they are coming from a reputable company. Lastly, I would recommend you purchase a compost bin. If you produce your own natural compost from food and organic waste then you can save up a lot of money. These compost also contains a lot of nutrition so it will maximize the growth of the plants.

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Garden Design Tips - Top 3 Lighting Suggestions

Nothing beats the enjoyment you receive from the hours of work you put into your garden. Nothing can be easier to extend that enjoyment into the evening hours then by using these garden design tips.

Tip Number 1 - Solar Lights. Solar lights these days come in every shape and size imaginable. From small color changing globes to post lamps that look like they come right from the cobble stoned streets of merry olde England. The latest development in solar lights is the use of LEDs (light emitting diodes.)

The LED uses a lot less power resulting in smaller panels that absorb the sunlight and they rarely if ever burn out. The average cost is very low so you're able to change them out as your style changes.

Tip Number 2 - Low Voltage Lighting. I know this one seems obvious but I can't tell you the number of times I've had to tell guests the lights around the pool are safe and they won't get electrocuted by them. I took a lot of time shopping around for the best valued low voltage adaptor. This adaptor changes the normal house hold electrical current into a much more garden friendly low voltage.

The unit I finally chose had two 300 watt 'legs.' That meant I could put up to 10, 30 watt lamps on each leg or circuit. The adaptor unit also came with a light sensor to turn on the lights at dusk and a motion sensor if I wanted to save on my electrical bill.

Tip Number 3 - Lighting Placement. Yes you need to illuminate the pathway to your front and back door but when designing your garden lighting layout, you can also think of it as if you were planning an adventure.

You want to draw your visitor into your garden to explore your carefully crafted and beautiful landscaping. You want them to feel as if they are discovering a strange new land in some far off country. Use your imagination!

Safety Tip - This is extreamly important and must be respected. Any electrical devise including any fountains, transformers for low voltage lighting, wireless speakers plugged into an AC outlet must have a GFCI breaker installed.

This Ground Fault Circuit Interupt device can be installed in your electrical panel or right at the electrical outlet that the device is plugged into. This is a very important saftey device and should be installed by a professional electrician.

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