September 2009

Now that we have started our fall organic lawn care regarding our mowing, watering, and fertilizing, we also need to check the pH level, the depth of the soil and the weeds. It is not quite October and believe it or not the home and garden center already has Christmas decorations on display. So I believe we better finish our fall organic lawn care soon.

pH Levels
The pH levels of our lawn are very important. The level for healthy grass is about 6.5, if your level is below 6.0, you need to reduce the acidity and will probably have to add lime to the soil; if it is above 7.0 you have too much alkaline and will have to add sulfur. Dandelions love the pH levels to be about 7.5, so if your level is that high you grass won't have much of chance against that dandelion. If you can lower it to about 6.5 the grass will have a better chance. It has also been said that if you add a little dusting of lime to the soil surface, you may double the reproduction of the good old earthworm. Something else you might want to do is to fertilize with some organic fertilizer.

We can start thinking about our fall organic lawn care regarding mowing, watering, and fertilizing, now that the heat of a long hot summer is almost gone. Now that autumn has approached and we can start breathing cooler air, Halloween will hit us along with Thanksgiving and then Christmas. So I guess we had better start our fall organic lawn care - mowing, watering, fertilizing as soon as we can.

Mowing High
One thing that is a must is to set your lawn mower to the highest level it can go, probably 3 to 4 inches. This is going to be a competition game between the grass and the weeds. You want to make things easy for the grass and not for the weeds; what you really want is the grass to choke out the weeds. There will be a fight for the sun and if the grass is tall it will shade out the weed, but if it is short the weed will shade the grass. The sun is actually food for strength and life. The shade is for disease, weakness, and death. Therefore, the taller the grass the less sun will get to the weeds and they won't have a chance.

It is that time of year again, the fresh air of autumn is here and time to think about outdoor lights for Halloween. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays just watching all those young children coming to the door all dressed up in costume. Whether they are wearing a scary get-up or a fantasy costume, they are having a good time and we need to put out some lights to help guide their way around. Putting out outdoor lights for Halloween is not only fun but it is also a safety feature.

Outdoor lighting and decorations aren't just for Christmas anymore; there are many outdoor Halloween decorations on the market these days. The lights we can buy for Halloween are basically the same as the ones we use for Christmas except their colors are different and spookier. We can even buy freaky decorations and spooky ornaments to place in our front yard and we can also light them with solar lights. 

This is just about the time of the year when having a garden with an outdoor patio heater comes in very handy. Our outdoor entertaining area is becoming so much more popular and we all want to enjoy those warm evenings in our gardens, patios and decks with our family and friends. But sometimes the weather just won't cooperate. This is when we need to start looking at purchasing a patio heater. After all, a garden with an outdoor patio heater is much more comfy than entertaining your guests in chilly weather.

Electric infrared outdoor heaters make the perfect solution. They use infrared heat waves to heat whatever is in their path, the objects are heated directly instead of the surrounding air. Some infrared patio and outdoor heaters can be installed permanently by mounting them on a wall or under the eaves of the house. This way we won't have to worry about storing them when they are not being used.

An outdoor patio umbrella as your garden shade not only screens you from UV rays and rain protection but it will intensify the look of your garden furniture. You will enjoy your outdoor garden area much better with a little sun screen and the shade from your patio umbrella instead of worrying about unhealthy skin diseases. An outdoor patio umbrella as your garden shade is probably the wisest investment you could make with the economy of today.

Some umbrellas can shade an entire picnic table, others can be adjusted at different angles and some are stand-alone models. Many patio tables and picnic tables are already made with the support holes in the center that will fit your patio umbrella.

Outdoor wall fountains make superb additions to any garden area. Now you are probably saying to yourself that you don't have a place to put a wall fountain. Try being a little creative; a fence, exterior wall of the house, or on a post on your deck, are just the beginning places for outdoor wall fountains.

Wall fountains can be made of many different materials. Fiberglass is an excellent choice for many situations as it is a strong, yet a lightweight waterproof material. Some of the finishes on outdoor wall fountains imitate rock, aged stone, and many other materials. Wall fountains are also made of clay, stone, wood, and different types of metal, such as copper. Copper is a nice choice for metal due to its aged patina. An outdoor wall fountain made from cast stone will be closest to the classic Mediterranean wall fountains, most commonly found in Italy, Spain, and France. These fountains are molded from cast stone and are very durable.

The outdoor yard lighting in your front yard welcomes your guests and guides them safely to the front door. It can also illuminate some of the special features you have in your front garden such as an unusually shaped tree or a flower bed of your favorite flowers. Outdoor yard lighting will do wonders for your backyard also.

There are no two gardens that are alike. Your garden has different plants, trees, hard-scape and garden decor that another garden doesn't. You may want to highlight a tree or a statue and some other gardener wants to highlight a special plant and some hard-scape.

Outdoor patio furniture covers is a must have if you live in an area that gets very cold and wet winters. The time to start thinking about furniture covers is when the air gets that nippy feel to it. There are a number of things to think about before you purchase outdoor patio furniture covers.

You want to get the best furniture covers for the particular type of outdoor furniture you own. There are covers made specifically for umbrella tables with the center hole. Umbrellas have their own separate covers or they can be removed and stored in your garage or tool shed. Some of your furniture may include gliders, loungers, ottomans, tables and cushions. It would be a nice idea if you could get patio furniture covers that fit your furniture perfectly. This may not always be possible but you should be able to find something that comes pretty close to the size you need.

Resin wicker furniture for the garden is much better than regular wicker. When most of us think of wicker furniture we remember the wicker furniture of years gone by. The furniture our grandparents used in their enclosed sun porches or on their covered porches away from the elements. It was very nice furniture but it had a tendency to start pulling apart or to become weak. The products of today are resin wicker furniture for the garden because it is made out of a synthetic material and lasts much longer.

Wicker furniture is now a classic staple of all outdoor furniture mainly because of the way it looks and feels. Lucky for us, resin wicker furniture has started to dominate the furniture for outdoor living, it is also easy to look at and it still resembles wicker. Now it has added benefits that regular wicker doesn't possess and they are strength, ability to last outdoors, and design and color.

Solar lights for garden are the friendliest environmental concept for garden lighting. We have come a long way with the advancement of solar technology. Solar lights make a beautiful setting in any garden; the lights burn as brightly as regular landscape lighting without the use of wire power. This can save you money and at the same time reduce carbon emissions. These lights are ideal for the larger garden where it is almost impossible for the cable power supply. Solar lights for garden - a beautiful setting for any outdoor patio room, flower garden, deck or just about anywhere in your garden. 

Solar garden lights are very easy to install; you don't need an electrician or a landscape designer, with a specialty in lighting, to help you out. You also don't have to bury any wires and you won't have a transformer using any of your valuable power outlets that are outdoors. You will find that garden solar lights come in a variety of styles and will produce several different lighting effects. What seems to be happening in new construction is the installation of cord free and hassle free solar path lights, spotlights, and sometimes flood lights.

We should all be aware of how to hire a tree service company for removing a tree or just trimming some trees that are too tall for your reach. My husband and I purchased our brand new home over 20 years ago and had several plants, trees, and bushes planted. Over the years we have removed several of the trees on our own due them dying or leaning too far over. We have also removed some bushes due to the fact that they were becoming far too tall. We have also had to hire a tree service to cut down and remove a few other trees because they grew too fast and were leaning toward the house.

Fortunately, we have never had a tree limb come crashing through a window or land on the roof. The tree removal company came as a recommendation from a good friend but unfortunately they have left the area, so we need to start looking again. We have four trees in our backyard that need to be trimmed or removed. We certainly don't want to do this chore by ourselves.

Gardeners can be somewhat particular when it comes to their garden tools and especially the types of garden pruners. A good pair of garden pruners is very essential to flower gardening.  Good quality hand garden pruners make the work go a lot easier and will take less time. This gardening tool is so much like a large pair of scissors that you could probably use that scissors to cut soft stems from bushes or flowers. The large woody stems and small tree branches will need a quality garden pruner. It is used to trim and prune woody stems, especially on roses. The one you choose should depend on its use and your own personal preference. The types of garden pruners are generally available in three different categories - the anvil, bypass, and ratchet.

Anvil pruners have but one blade and it closes down on a flat edge. This pruner is similar to chopping or slicing on your kitchen cutting board. They are probably the best type for removing any dead wood that is in your garden. They are somewhat bulky and hard to get into some tight spaces.

Making a simple landscape design sounds easy but it can overwhelm most do-it-yourself gardeners. One of the basic fundamentals of landscape design is simplicity, which most of us overlook. To start out with we need to be making a simple landscape design; once that is all figured out we can add more at a later time.

By making our landscape design simple doesn't mean we are going to leave out life or form. It just means staying within other elements, such as balance, form, proportion and repetition. An easy mistake that most of us gardeners display is mixing too many different elements in their primary landscape design. This could end up looking very unprofessional. We can change things around later if we want but it is better to keep our plans simple in the beginning stages.

Should we be using a garden tool organizer or garden tool rack? Some of our tools, such as our shovels, rakes, hoes, or anything with a long handle, would be better in a garden tool rack that is free standing or even better on wheels. Our smaller tools, such as trowels, hand forks, and pruners, could use a garden tool organizer. So answering the question of garden tool organizer or garden tool rack could be very easy, we probably need one of each.

Garden tool organizers come in many different sizes and shapes; some of course are mobile and easy to move from one spot to another. Organizers can be a life saver if your space is limited and you need some organization. Having a lot of garden tools isn't necessarily a bad idea; it is just the fact that we need to know where to find them when needed. For the long handled tools that get don't get used very often we can get by with garden tool rack that is mounted to the wall. Those that get the most use should probably be in a garden tool rack that is free standing and on wheels. This way we can roll it around the garden to the spot where we will be working.

Garden tool supplies for the home gardener are vast. Those that last a lifetime are the tools that are versatile. Newer materials have made garden tool supplies for the home gardener lighter, longer-lasting, and stronger, and gardening has been made easier with ergonomic tools.

There are so many tool supplies available that the new gardener has to choose wisely, which is a tricky business. Everything looks useful and seems necessary that a gardener could get carried away. Basically most garden tool supplies are versatile, but only a few can be indispensable. Let's take the garden hoe for an example. It was specifically made to cultivate the soil and remove the weeds, but it can form rows, dig furrows and holes, and create ditches and many other things. You can also use its handle as a measuring stick.