Your garden should be your sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of day to day life. You can make your outdoor living space more of a getaway. By knowing what to do, you can come up with a beautiful garden that won’t require a lot of time to maintain. This article will provide you with seven ways to add style to your garden.

Tip 1: Use organic products. Don’t get something that distracts from the beauty of your garden. Everything you get should fit within your landscape.

Tip 2: Create a flow. This is especially true if you have a large landscape. A good example of this is having a pathway which leads through the garden. It provides a way for visitors to move through the area and enjoy the greenery. Your visitors won’t have to worry about stepping on a plant.

Tip 3: Provide space. Don’t put too many things in one place in your garden. There should be some empty space between your decorations and between plants. If you have too much décor, your garden could end up looking like a junk yard. If you have too many plants in one place, they will end up stealing each other’s light and water. Or, you could end up with a type of plant that takes over the garden.

Tip 4: Use lines. Line up the roof of your house to the garden. You can also line up your edging to the garden. When you use lines, the eye automatically wants to see what’s at the end of the line. If you have something beautiful at the end of your line, your visitors will appreciate it.

Tip 5: Make things match. When you decorate your garden, look for things that go well together. If you use a table, make sure the chairs match. You can also add a white picket fence to your garden to increase its appeal. When you are looking for new accessories for your garden, be sure to think about what you already use.

Tip 6: Maintain it. Your garden is going to require some care. Be sure to pull the weeds and wash the furniture. Keep an eye open for things which have broken and need to be repaired. If you expect bad weather, be sure to put breakable items from your garden into a safe storage area.

Tip 7: Decorate your patio. Make sure your patio fits well with your garden. You want to make sure the furniture you get looks like it belongs outdoors instead of in your dining room.

Using the tips provided you can make your garden look beautiful. The result will be a sanctuary that is easy to manage as well as being a place you can be proud to call your own.

The awesome garden photo at the top of this article comes from Balaji.B’s photostream.

7 Tips to Having the Best Garden on the Block is a post from: Cape Cod House Remodeling

Gardening is one of the favorite past times of home owners everywhere. Whether you are trying to build a beautiful flowerbed, or a garden full of fresh succulent veggies, you are going to need to get some basic gardening tools. Fortunately, you can buy these tools for a fairly small amount of money, and getting started will not cost you a fortune. Here are some basic gardening tools that every gardner will need:

Wheelbarrow – Gardening suddenly becomes much easier when you have a wheelbarrow to haul all those weeds, sticks, and gardening tools from place to place. A wheelbarrow is especially important if you have a larger yard with various gardening spots throughout the property. A wheelbarrow is also invaluable when you need to spread mulch.

Shovels – Once again, you will need to turn soil, and make holes to plant various gardening plants and seeds. Shovels can make a job much easier, and is a gardening tool that you must have to do certain jobs efficiently.

Watering Can – All those beautiful flowers and plants will someday need water. A flowering can allows you to ensure that the plants get the proper amount of water intended and offer more control than a water hose. A water hose is also a nice thing for a gardener to have around the garden.

Rake – When your garden is full of leaves and rocks, a metal rake can quickly and effectively remove them from your garden. It is a good idea to get a couple of metal rakes in different sizes to get to areas of all types.

Hoe – A gardening hoe is a must for any gardner as it allows to churn up the ground and dig short distance holes for various plants. This gardening implement makes many jobs much easier and is well worth the investment.

Gloves and Kneepads – Keeping your hands protected and your knees softened while you garden makes the gardening experience all that more satisfying. These two items are the basics, and a good high quality pair of gloves and knee pads will make your gardening more comfortable each day.

Gardening Clippers – You will need something to trim your plants as they grow, and these shears are ideal. A nice pair of gardening clippers are not expensive in the least, and will make pruning your garden a breeze.

Finally, if you are planning to plant a lot of veggies and have a large garden, then you will want to look into getting a tiller. This will dig up the ground and cultivate the soil so that it is ready to produce top notch vegetables and fruits. Tillers are wonderful, though they can be quite expensive. Look into the various sizes and pick one that will fit the size of garden that you want.

Rototiller photo courtesy of dedrawolff.

Tools You Need To Get Started Gardening is a post from: Cape Cod House Remodeling

Of the many ways to relax after a long day at the office, a surprisingly easy way is to sit on your backyard patio and take in the scenes from a relaxing bird bath. Whether you have a shady or sun-soaked backyard, wild birds and even a persnickety cat can just take your day down a notch and give you a sense of inner peace. Setting up a bird bath takes virtually no effort. If however you are a big time gardener, and you are looking to create a serene santuary, you can continuously improve upon your bird bath area until if becomes a destination you have to visit daily.

Consider these awesome looking bird baths that I found pictures of on Flickr:

I love the wild, somewhat uncontrolled look of this birdbath, with plants surrounding it, and in someways overtaking it. I would bet the birds in my backyard would almost view this birdbath as a hideaway. The birdbath itself looks like the kind you can find at your local hardware store. If not the hardware store, then a local lawn ornament shop would surely carry this. The photo comes from ChristaJoy42′s photostream.

How about just putting a birdbath on top of a stump? It sure looks like the approach the owner’s of the next birdbath did.The bath portion of this birdbath resembles a flower top, but if I am not mistaken the base is a nice wide tree stump, or just a cut piece of a tree.This is a very natural way to enhance your viewing pleasure. The benefit of a wide base like this is that your cat surely can’t tip this birdbath over. On occasion a cat in our neighborhood has actually knocked over our birdbath (big cat). Thanks goes to madaise for this cool photo.

The last birdbath photo I found that I liked was this kind of hidden garden basic birdbath. The birdbath itself is very simple. It is the setting that makes it stick out to me. I have to believe that sitting in this area with a cool glass of lemonade would nearly put me to sleep it looks so sirene. A special thanks to hoyasmeg for this birdbath picture.

While creating a bird sanctuary like the bird bath areas pictured above offers a great way to de-stress, there is a practical benefit as well. Adding an area like these will definitely add to the resale value of your house. Potential buyers will surely fall in love with your sanctuary should you ever sell your house.

De-Stress With a Bird Bath in Your Yard is a post from: Cape Cod House Remodeling

Just like trees, shrubs, when they are properly planted, will not only look nice in your yard, but they can actually increase your home’s value if you ever decide to sell. The problem many people have when it comes time to incorporate shrubs into their landscape is trying to decide what type of shrub they should choose. Since there are literally thousands of different kinds of shrubs in the world, the confusion is perfectly understandable.

Deciduous or Evergreen

The first thing you should decide when you are choosing a shrub is whether you should use evergreen or deciduous shrubs. Like conifer trees keep their needles year round. Evergreen shrubs are nice because they don’t create as much mess as deciduous shrubs and they also make a really nice windbreak in the winter. Deciduous shrubs on the other hand are lovely when they bloom and most change colors in the autumn.

Lilac Bushes

One of the most popular lawn shrubs is the lilacs. This shrubs dark foliage always looks nice and in the winter the skeletal shape of its branches can make for some truly spectacular photographs, but the time of year when the lilac is truly spectacular is in the middle of the spring when it is in full bloom. There is very little more pleasurable than sitting outside on a warm spring nigh breathing in air that has been perfumed with the scent of lilac. The most common type of lilac is the one with purple blooms but you can choose from over a hundred different varieties, including reddish-lilac, white, bluish-lilac, and pinkish-lilac.

The Boxwood

Just like the lilac is one of the most popular deciduous shrubs, the boxwood is a favorite evergreen. If you aren’t vigilant about pruning your boxwood shrubs they can grow to be twenty feet tall. The boxwood shrub looks best when it is kept pruned into a nice round shape. Most people like to use boxwood shrubs to lay paths and driveways.

Rhododendrons and Azaleas

If you have a yard that gets a great deal of shade, you should consider getting azaleas or rhododendrons. Both of these shrubs do best when they don’t get large amounts of direct sunlight. Both of these shrubs are very hardy and have stunning blossoms.

The type of soil you have will influence your choice of shrub as much as your landscaping. If you have soil that has a high content of lime you should stay away from Rhododendrons, Everestianum, Abraham Lincoln and Lady Armstrong, Caractacus, and the Boule de neige. If you absolutely have your heart set on one of these plants than you are going to have to treat your yard with a generous dose of hummus in order to keep them safe from winter burn.

The rhododendron shrub photo is from daphneann’s photostream.

Selecting a Type of Shrub for Your Landscape is a post from: Cape Cod House Remodeling

There is something about a vegetable garden that is good for the soul. At the end of a long day at work there is something therapeutic about going into the garden and tending the plants. All the stress just seems to melt away as you are pulling weeds and watering. Besides, food that you have grown yourself just seems to taste better than food you purchase at the grocery store. Plus growing your own vegetable is an excellent way to cut expenses.

The problem though… what are you supposed to do if you live in an apartment complex and don’t have a yard where you can plant your garden or a house with limited yard space? The lack of land does not have to mean that you need to give up your vegetable garden; it just means that you have to turn your house or apartment patio space into your gardening space.

There are several things that you can do to makes sure that your patio vegetable garden is a success.

Don’t try to start you vegetable garden from seeds on your patio. Either go to your local nursery and purchase plants that are already well started or you can start your own plants inside your apartment with the help of a growing light. The best way to start your patio garden is with plants that are at least four inches tall.

When you are setting up your patio garden make sure that you are using containers that are going to be large enough to accommodate the plant when it reaches its full size. Although it is possible to re-pot growing plants this puts a great deal of stress on the plant. Stressed plants seldom produce the best vegetables.

Before you fill your planting pots with soil, you should cover the bottom of the pot with a thin layer of rocks. Not only will the rocks prevent any soil from falling out of the pot through the drainage holes every time you pick up the pot, the rocks will also make it possible for the soil to drain properly.

Mix compost in with your potting soil. The compost will provide your plants with the nutrients it needs while it grows. Using compost means that you won’t have to use commercially made fertilizers.

Before you move your young vegetable plants to their new containers, you should water them. Allow them to sit for a few hours until the soil has had a chance to drain before you transplant them.

When you are arranging your pots on your patio make sure that you provide your tomatoes, cucumbers and any other vegetables that have vines with trellises or cages for support.

The time spent caring for your patio garden will be rewarding both spiritually and physically. Fresh vegetables grown with no pesticides will offer great taste and excellent nutrition. Plant, grow, eat, enjoy!

The patio garden photo in this post is from alburn.binkley’s photostream.

Starting a Vegetable Garden on Your Patio is a post from: Cape Cod House Remodeling