If you look at your garden and feel as if it’s lacking in certain areas, there are a few things you can do to perk it up. You want your garden to be a place you can relax and get some fresh air, maybe even play with your kids during summertime. These 10 tips will help you to make your garden even better:

1. Make Sure You Have Appropriate Seating

Depending on what you want to use your garden for, you’ll need appropriate seating. This might be a simple wooden table and chair. You might even go all out and choose comfortable, lounge style seating for your outdoor area. You just need to make sure that they are properly protected from the elements.

2. Get Rid of Weeds and Plant New Things

To make your garden look better, get rid of your weeds and plant new things. Weeds will always come back, but using a weed killer and being consistent should allow you to get rid of most of them. Planting new things will add personality to your garden and give it a new lease of life.

[Photo courtesy of Kampus Production/pexels.com]

3. Install Outdoor Lighting

Having outdoor lighting is not only practical, it’s far safer. You never know when you might arrive home at night and not be able to see what you’re doing. Hinkley outdoor lighting will allow you to stay outside later and make sure you arrive home safely.

4. Make Sure You Have CCTV

Having CCTV is another great way to keep your home and garden safe. The great thing about CCTV is that you don’t even need to have real cameras. Fake CCTV cameras can be just as effective as real ones.

5. Create Educational and Play Areas for Children

If you have young children, creating educational play areas for them can be a lovely way for them to learn more about the outdoors. You can create a fairy garden, for instance, or create their own park area.

6. Invite in Some Wildlife

Inviting in wildlife to the garden will make it way more fun for kids, and can even be more educational for them. You can do this by keeping the grass a little longer, having a body of water, and putting out bird feeders.

7. Have Garden Storage

Having garden storage will help you to keep the garden clean and tidy when it isn’t in use. You can buy storage containers especially made for outdoor use!

8. Consider Artificial Turf

If the grass really does seem greener on the other side, then why not consider artificial turf? Your grass will always look bright green and healthy. You will barely be able to tell the difference, and the maintenance will be minimal.

9. Clean it Up With a Pressure Washer

Hire a pressure washer and clean up your slabs and other elements to make them look like new again.

10. Screen Messy Areas

If you always have a messy area in your garden, such as the bin area, then cover them up by screening them. You can use materials like bamboo for the best effect.

Have fun!

During the last global recession, there was an emerging trend for growing your own food in your garden. I know a few people who started doing this to save money, and discovered a lifelong hobby in the process! If you’ve been cultivating your garden seriously for a while, then you’ll need to protect it all from hungry animals. Here’s some simple and humane ways you can go about this.

Source: Geograph

Let’s start with rabbits. Although timid, these furry little guys can be a total nightmare when you’re not around to guard your plants. Like most vermin, rabbits aren’t exactly fussy about what they’ll munch on. Having said that, they do tend to gravitate towards pea pods, beans, and beets. I assume you’ve already got a fence that’s taller than a rabbit! However, if they’re really determined they’ll burrow under one of these with relative ease. The next best way of keeping rabbits away from your garden is making it smell dangerous. Soaking a few corn cobs in white vinegar and scattering them around works pretty well. Failing that, you could purchase some fox urine and use it to soak cotton balls. For an economical option, ask your local hairdresser’s for some excess hair, and scatter this around your garden.

Birds might be a little more common as a pest in your garden. The best defence against these is getting a cat – but let’s keep it humane. Birds are easily scared by any kind of intimidating shapes and sounds. Be very liberal with how you define “intimidating” here. Remember that these animals can fly, and have probably spent a lot of their lives soaring suddenly away from danger. Scarecrows can be pretty effective, but I’m guessing you don’t have the time or resources to make one convincing enough. A good alternative is to get a replica owl. Almost every smaller bird is fooled by these. That or they don’t want to take chances! Perch one on your fence or greenhouse, and all those pesky birds will stay the heck away!

Source: Dr Tobler

Finally, deer. Don’t worry, I was as traumatized by Bambi as you were. These creatures are truly beautiful in their grace and general aesthetics, but if they see your plants they’re likely to go crazy! So how do you get around this? You could try scent-based deterrents similar to the rabbit ones. While these can be effective, it can often vary from deer to deer. For a fool-proof plan, I recommend getting some high-quality deer fence. Surround your entire garden with this, and you’ll be able to rest easy knowing your beautiful garden isn’t being touched. Although getting tangled in plastic mesh will scare off most deer, it’s always a good idea to check for damages in the fence.

These tips will keep some of the most common critters in the woods and away from your crops. These solutions don’t cover everything, but after setting them up I’m sure you’ll notice far less damage from animals. Keep trying different measures, and your prized garden will be airtight!

[ Tagged In ] Backyard Gardening, Garden, Gardening, Keeping Animals Out of the Garden, Protect your Garden from Animals

Landscaping is a great way to increase the appeal and beauty of your home. Many homeowners are taking advantage of opportunities to boost the value of their homes by using smart designs to recreate their property.  But is a beautiful yard a fair exchange for the toll it can take on the environment? By choosing Outdoor Lighting Perspectives, you can use green landscaping ideas that give you great results without the negative impact.

Cost-Effective Materials

When you are looking to conserve, choosing the right materials can be a big step in the right direction. Especially if you live in places where high temperature and a dry climate make water conservation a priority, choosing landscaping materials that cut back on your summer demand can help you go green. Stone, sand, and wood chips can be a great alternative to grass that requires frequent watering. In addition to the financial savings, these materials can help create a unique look that really makes an impression.

Plants and Irrigation

Although opting “no” on grass has already been mentioned, you can take additional steps to reduce water consumption. Selecting plants that require less water can make maintaining your flower garden or nature path less of a burden on you and the environment. Incorporating effective irrigation as a part of the scenery can be a great way to achieve two goals at the same time.

Lighting

When you think about going green, you might not know how to accomplish your goal when you need outdoor lighting. It may come as a surprise to you that LEDs can help you keep energy consumption low while providing great results. Choosing LED landscape lighting from Outdoor Lighting Perspectives can actually add to the appeal of your property by making it accessible both day and night. Once the deck is installed, the pool has been filled, or the serenity garden has been completed, you cannot fully enjoy the benefits if you can’t see the results. Outdoor lighting Perspectives can offer professional lighting results for your deck, pathway, and more by offering options that don’t cause harm or stress to the environment.

Planning Ahead

As you create the design for your landscaping project, you should take a moment to consider ways to reduce unnecessary waste. Investing in the help of professionals to install plumbing, wiring, or other features that will contribute to the final results before you get close to the end can help you avoid having to go over the same areas twice.

Your landscaping project doesn’t have to hit the environment hard. With materials that help you conserve water, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives to reduce energy required for outdoor lighting, and an effective strategy to make it all come together you can expect to get the results that you want without the excess environmental costs that you don’t.

Sources:

• “Green Landscaping: Eco-Friendly Ideas”, Lecia Monsen, www.landscaping-software-review.toptenreviews.com
• “Landscaping Lighting Lets You Linger Longer”, www.outdoorlightingperspectives.com

Methods of Protecting Crops from Birds

Vineyards are very susceptible to birds. Millions of dollars’ worth of crops is destroyed each year because of bird infestation alone. Protecting crops from birds and other pests is a priority for farmers as animals can cause a lot of serious damage. Since the beginning of farming, farmers have used all sorts of methods to get rid of pests such as birds and other animals. The most common method still used today is the use of scare crows. However, with the advancements in technology, people can now also use chemicals and pesticides that deter birds from eating the crops. Electric fences are also used to keep the birds from getting too close to the crops.

Bird Netting for Vineyards

However, the use of such methods can be very harmful to birds as well. After all, birds are only animals searching for food. It is never their intention to destroy farms and gardens. One of the safest ways to guard the farms from pests, but also protect the lives of birds, is through the use of bird nets. Bird netting is used by a growing number of farms simply because it is very effective, not to mention that it is a very humane way of keeping birds off vineyards.

Bird nets are made of high quality material that is safe to both the vegetation and the animals. The holes of the nets are small enough to keep the birds from the crops, but big enough to allow the plants to receive sunlight and water.

Methods of Bird netting:

Bird netting for vineyards is relatively easy to do. Hard ware stores, gardening and farming supply stores offer bird nets. There are bird nets that are ready-made for certain plants. All the owner has to do is to fit them over the vegetation. While other bird nets are custom-made for specific crops, there are particular crops have specific shapes and grow to a certain size. These crops require special nets that would fit perfectly.  There cannot be any spaces where birds can enter, so having well-fitting nets is a must. Below are several methods of bird netting for different types of plants:

• For small crops, the method is very straightforward. All the farmer has to do is to drape the net over the crop and make sure that there is no space on the ground where birds could fly through.

• For bigger crops, a ladder or a platform would be needed. A bigger net is also required for this process to ensure that every surface is covered. Some ready-made nets are big enough for some trees, but bigger trees would require custom-made nets as they are higher and have more surface area.

• For row crops, a series of nets can be stitched together to cover the vegetation. This is a relatively easy task, but it can be tedious. As mentioned above, it is extremely important to make sure that there are no spaces between the nets as these spaces would be an invitation for birds to eat the crop.

About the author:

This article was provided by Cyril Rask, a freelance writer who’s fond of writing articles about gardening/farming and other related topics. He has done an in-depth research for Jims Supply while writing this post.