Posts Tagged ‘garden’

When I first decided to try building a vertical garden, I was wildly enthusiastic. I loved the ingenuity, creativity, and space-saving nature of this funky idea. But as I started, I immediately ran into some hurdles. The process itself is relatively simple: construct a frame out of two-by-fours in the shape and size of your desired home garden, fill with dirt, and cover with a screen on one side and a full back on the other. However, there are a few little tidbits I didn’t find in my instructions that may help someone who is starting a vertical garden project for the first time. Below are the problems I ran into, and how to fix them:

Choosing Wisely

Walking into the nursery, I had no idea which flowers to choose. Many were lovely, but were they hardy? Could they handle life at a 90-degree angle? Ultimately, I found that it was best to use a screwdriver to widen the holes in the screen for big bulbs. I could make a deeper hole and have more striking flowers. Certain flowers definitely work better than others; because of drainage you don’t want to use a very thirsty bulb. You’ll want to consider the hours of sun in your preferred mounting spot too. Some of my favourites were pansies, miniature roses, and daisies.

Packing It In

My first few attempts left me with a mostly empty frame and a huge mound of dirt on my patio. The solution that worked for me was using a bag of pre-fertilized potting soil (who wants to go back in there once the thing is up?) and packing it tightly with the help of leftover wood scraps. Once the screen was attached to the frame, I laid it screen-side down and added the dirt in layers. Then, with a discarded piece of the backing in hand, I pressed it down firmly into the garden. I even stood on it sometimes. The more tightly packed the dirt, the more secure the vertical garden.

Mounting the Garden

Nothing would be more heartbreaking than finishing your garden just to have it come crashing down. Don’t skimp on mounting supplies, or research. If you’re using a brick wall, get masonry screws and drill bits. If you’ve decided to make a smaller garden and hang it indoors as art (trés chic!), invest in a stud finder and strong brackets. The associate at my hardware store suggested mounting nails that actually spread apart and secure themselves in the wall.

Vertical gardens are a spreading trend, and for good reason. They’re a great conversation starter, and for the professional look, not too much work. Even a novice gardener/woodworker can handle this project, as I’ve proven by tackling it with a very not-green thumb. The most important thing is to make it your own and have fun with it. If you’re unsure of your gardening skills, or pressed for time, try a fern or Korean box. Non-flowering climbing plants are a little more forgiving in terms of watering and pruning. Good luck!

About the author: Maire loves to write and walk her Scottish Terrier, Pete.

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The trend today in homes and gardens is simplicity. Many homeowners are downsizing to smaller spaces, which use less energy and require less maintenance.

If you have a small yard, the following tips can help you make the most of it. Transform even a tiny yard into a peaceful backyard oasis with a little careful planning.

1. Rethink The Lawn

Unless you have pets or kids who need some play space, consider ditching the lawn or removing some of it. Americans spend over $ 700 million annually on lawn pesticides and herbicides, according to the Safer Pest Control Project. These chemicals harm birds and wildlife, pollute ground water and are even known to cause cancer.

In the South, high humidity, heat and insects make growing a healthy lawn challenging. Instead, fill your yard with native plants, low-maintenance perennials and herbs suited to your climate and growing conditions.

2. Use Mulches Thoughtfully

Mulches are a wonderful garden resource, but it’s important to choose the right one for the job. Arborist mulch, which is a by-product of commercial landscaping operations, has a natural look and works well for perennial beds, under trees or in casual garden paths.

Wood mulches reduce weed growth, conserve moisture and regulate soil temperatures. Gravel mulches are appropriate for paths and unplanted areas, but they’re not suitable for planted areas. Gravel mulches become very hot during the summer, burning tender plants and trees. Gravel mulches also compact the soil so oxygen can’t reach plant roots. Many gardeners use landscaping fabric underneath garden mulch, but keep in mind that the fabric eventually breaks down and requires replacement.

3. Improve Your Garden Soil

Most soils, especially those in urban areas or new subdivisions, are lacking in nutrients and microorganisms. While you’re preparing your garden space, dig at least 4 to 5 inches of compost into the soil. Your plants will look and perform better for years to come. If you plan to grow vegetables and live in an urban area, have the soil tested. Many urban soils are contaminated with lead or other heavy metals that can leach into vegetables.

4. Define Garden Areas

Think of your garden space as an extension of your home and break it into rooms. You’ll probably want a hardscape space near your house for lounging or dining al fresco. Include room for patio furnishings, such as a cast aluminum patio set. Tuck a garden bench in a corner for peaceful contemplation and save space for a play area. If you like to cook, place a few pots of herbs within arms’ reach of the back door to provide fresh flavour to meals.

5. Choose a Garden Theme

When planning a small garden space, make sure the garden’s theme reflects your home. For example, a modern home looks terrific paired with a minimalist or Japanese-style garden, while a simple clapboard cottage begs for a care-free profusion of flowers.

6. Select Plants With Care

The single most important step in developing a home or backyard garden is choosing plants carefully. Consider your climate and the amount of sunlight your garden receives and choose plants that will thrive there with little care from you.

French hydrangeas, for example, thrive in a shady Southern location, but are not hardy north of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6. Agaves and other succulents are an ideal choice for Southern gardeners because they love heat, tolerate drought and require almost no maintenance.

Many herbs, including rosemary and basil, grow almost year-round in warm climates. Consider, also, the mature size of any plant you select, especially if you have a small space. That arborvitae may look charming when it stands only 2 feet high, but it will eventually grow 30 feet high, crowding a small garden. Plant dwarf trees and compact varieties of shrubs and perennials in your small garden.

7. Use Pots And Planters

Pots and planters offer flexibility for the small gardener, we call it container gardening. Tuck herbs and colourful annuals in planters and scatter them around a patio. If you have a hankering for vegetables, but lack the room, try growing them in pots. Plant compact varieties of tomatoes or train cucumbers, beans, and small zucchini on trellises for vertical growing. You can grow almost any vegetable in a pot, providing you give it enough room, moisture and sunlight.

8. Add Accessories

A few simple accessories are all you need to bring your outdoor space to life. Think sculptural elements, chimes, water features or furniture like a weather ready slate top fire pit. Keep the look clean and unified. Accessories should complement your garden look, never overpower or distract from it.

Small yards can seem challenging to deal with at first, but you’ll soon grow to love the intimate cosiness of your small garden. Best of all, the time you spend working in a small garden is minimal, so you can spend more time enjoying it!

Author Bio:

Karen Ho Fatt, an interior designer and nature loves spending time in her home garden at every opportunity. Karen maintains a site at, www.familyfirepit.com with more tips and advice on creating garden rooms.

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Home Vegetable Garden Moncton

As you stand on the porch, surveying the “lower 40”– actually, if you’re a home vegetable gardener, you probably don’t have a “lower 40” and should be glad of it. Agriculture is a hard life, requiring farm equipment, hired labour, chemicals, and probably a government subsidy, just to keep it all going.

We Only Have A Small Vegetable Garden

But, even with a small garden plot, you can get the unparalleled taste of home grown veggies, without ever experiencing the aggravation of full-out farming.

Grow fruit and veggies that works best in your soil and climate. Don’t bother with land intensive plants like corn, leave that to the farmers. However, in many places you can grow ice box melons, cantaloupes, tomatoes, and other truck farm fruits.

Plan Your Vegetable Garden

Start off with a diagram of your garden plot. Account for as many variables in the diagram as possible. The space, the fencing needed to keep out critters, the irrigation, how many and how much of each type of veggie, reduce it all to paper. Figure in your terrain, and access to sunlight as important factors.

For example, due to the rockiness of the area, or the way it’s situated in the backyard, you might be better off thinking about two 5×5 plots, instead of one 10×10. If there’s a boulder back there, you might be better off trying to work around it, rather than face the expense and labour in removing it.

We Include A Vegetable Container Garden

I like to figure some part of my veggie plot is going to be in containers. Take tomatoes, everybody wants them, they are part of the salad duet of lettuce and tomatoes, they’re versatile for sandwiches, and some folks eat them alone.

But they may need more sun than the garden plot part of your property receives, and they might need to start in containers anyway to keep them going. So what’s going to be in containers should be part of your diagram, too.

Figure out what you want and how much of it you can devote to your home vegetable garden plot. Half a row of carrots or a whole row? Will all the plants in my veggie plot handle water the same? Because what I really want to do is lay the garden hose in one end of the plot and have it water everything equally.

Melons and zucchini throw runners to bear fruit, and these take up a little extra space. You also don’t want these runners to wrap themselves around more delicate plants and strangle them. Maybe a separate area would be better for them if available?

Consider Using Trees As Shade

Fruit or root plants–tomatoes, and peppers, for example, thrive in full sun. But there are plenty of leafy plants including broccoli, beans, and cauliflower, that do well with a few hours of sun, and mostly shade. So, if you already have trees in the yard that will form a natural shade canopy, and still let in the required amount of sun rays, consider planting those by the tree.

But don’t expect your veggies to grow in total shade.

As with the containers, think outside the plot. Can I make use of the porch for an herb garden that grows in a box or two?

Taking the time to diagram the garden before planting, and to figure out which parts of the yard or porch are best for which purpose, will save time and money compared to trial and error methods.

Once you have a diagram, you can refine it, or take it with you to the local nursery where the experts can help provide the seeds, tools and other equipment best suited to your veggie garden.

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Vertical gardens are beautiful, catchy, modern, and trendy. They also have the capacity of giving you a feel of being surrounded with greenery.

The best things about these gardens are that they require very less space. If you have a small back yard and cannot accommodate a garden in it, you don’t have to be upset you can try the option of a vertical garden.

Some simple formulas can help your vertical garden flourish making your walls look amazingly trendy and beautiful.

These beautiful gardens grow vertically with the support of a wall or a fence, whatever may be the support they grow vertically and not horizontally. You can use some beautiful veining plants, creepers, hanging plats too add to the beauty of your garden. To add color to your garden you can add flowering plants and plants baring fruits to your garden.

1. Support Your Garden

Before you start planting your vertical garden you must make sure that the support you offer to your plants is strong enough to bare their weight. Your woolly pocket that will incorporate the plants must have a strong frame to support it. This frame can be a strong fence or a wall inside or outside your house. Just make sure the support you offer your plants is strong enough to take their weight.

2. Be Sure of What to Plant in Advance

Now before you do anything make sure you have decided what you would want to plant in your vertical garden. To enjoy the growth of your plants you will have to arrange them properly. A number of plants can be grown in a vertical garden and hence you can decide from the variety available for vertical plants. Just make sure you choose the right size of the plant before planting them.

3. Choose Soil for Your Garden Correctly

The support and the woolly pocket is not all you need to choose a soil that helps your plants grow well. The soil has to be nutritious, should be able to retain water and drain water in order to keep your plants healthy. Healthy plats grow well adding beauty to your garden.

4. Watering The Garden

The trick of a healthy garden is watering it well. The water that you give your plants has to be adequate neither less nor more. Adequacy is not enough you have to water your plats on time making sure that their soil remains wet. You can opt for drip irrigation to make sure that you vertical garden is healthy and well watered. Drip irrigation is not necessarily used for very big vertical gardens; they can also be used for smaller ones.

5. Add Colours to Your Garden

Plant some plants that bare eye catching and colourful flowers and fruits. Check where you place them. You can either use plants with contrasting colors or match them up. Lines of contrasting colors on your walls will make your vertical garden and your walls look stunning. It is very important to look what you plat and how you plat them in a vertical garden.

6. Use Shades For Your Plants

Some plants need ample of sunlight, you need to make sure that these plats receive good amount of sunlight to flourish well. If these plants do not get proper sunlight they will get ruined. A few plants need semi shade or semi sunlight, you can arrange a shade for such plants, direct sunlight can harm such plants. Whereas some plants are indoor and do not need sunlight at all, these plants can be planted inside your house to add beauty to your house.

7. Maintain Your Plants

Maintained vertical gardens look beautiful and also make your house look amazing, whereas gardens not maintained look shabby. What you have to look for is that your plants are well watered, have enough soil, the soil is well nourished and your plants get adequate sunlight. If these aspects are in place your vertical garden will definitely grow well. Along with maintaining the soil, water and sunlight of the plant you have to make sure that the support for your garden is strong enough, don’t forget your vertical garden is based on its support.

Besides being stylish and trendy these vertical gardens maintain your privacy. They make your house look absolutely amazing. Place these plants well to get the best view of them. These gardens will add charm to your house only if you maintain them well. Look after their maintenance and they can make you live amid greenery.

About the author: Alia Haley is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology and autos. Beside this she is fond of cars and fancy dresses. Recently an article on Toshiba Satellite c670 attracted her attention. These days she is busy in writing an article on BlackBerry Curve 8520 price.

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Not everyone was born with a green thumb. In fact, for some of us, our gardening thumb more resembles a sickly shade of brown that dying plants take on rather than a lovely shade of green.

However that doesn’t stop many of us from wanting to have a home garden, and why should it? If you’re a beginner gardener whose better at killing off plants rather than cultivating them into something beautiful then you might want to try your hand at these five plants, which are known for being particular hardy when it comes to weathering even the brownest of thumbs:

1. Philodendron – These leafy green plants can be grown either indoors or outdoors and flourish either way. They typically thrive in shady spots with moist soil, and can survive on as little as one watering every week or week and a half.

The end result will be a huge plant with large leaves that brings a nice pop of life to either a room or garden.

2. Bluebeard – The Bluebeard plant is a type of shrub that flowers with beautiful blue flowers that can trick anyone into thinking you put a lot of work into nurturing and developing such a unique looking shrub. Each year they will spread their seeds so new plants will continue to pop up with little to no effort on your part.

3. Jade Plant – To keep color around your house or garden year-round the Jade plant is a good one to include. It produces its unique pink flowers during the winter months adding in color when other plants have stopped growing.

And because it needs little sunlight or attention it’s perfect for those of us who are less than equipped to handle more intensive plants.

4. Cacti – Not all cacti look like the type seen in deserts and western movies, and some bloom extremely beautiful flowers or have exceptional aesthetics. They require little in the way of the gardener and their unique appearance makes them an interesting focal point of any room or garden.

5. English Ivy – You’ve probably seen houses covered in greenery that is likely the English Ivy. It does well with little sun or water and will naturally spread out over the ground and walls, fences, etc. with little effort on your part.

Just because you weren’t blessed with a green thumb doesn’t mean you need to swear off home gardening entirely. Instead start with plants that thrive under minimal care and then work your way up to plants that require a little more attention from their owners. With enough practice you’ll be a gardening guru in no time.

Author Bio:

This is a guest post from Laura Backes, she enjoys writing about all kinds of subjects and also topics related to internet service providers in my area. You can reach her at: laurabackes8 @ gmail.com.

Note: Jenny and I also grow an indoor home herb garden to keep fresh herbs through the winter.

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There’s no doubt that growing an herb garden can be a great way to add some pizazz to your home cooked meals. The thing is not everyone has the space for a full backyard home garden so there are times your living space confines your dreams of the perfect herb garden. This was the case for me.

As a single 20-something, I never thought that I could grow herbs using the available space on my apartment balcony or inside my apartment. After reading a few home gardening blogs, I got the urge to try my hand at gardening and set out to begin a little herb “garden” of my own.

Below is the step by step process I used for creating the perfect apartment friendly herb container garden. While my process is nothing ground breaking, I hope it’s the motivation and push you need to start your own little home garden!

Step 1: Buy Your Supplies

I shopped around to find my supplies. I ended up purchasing 2 full grown herb plants (Cilantro and Mint), and 2 packets of seeds (Parsley and Dill). I chose to purchase two full grown plants because I tend to be a little impatient, and this seemed a great way to gain some instant gratification.

I also made sure that the herbs I chose to grow would fare well on my apartment balcony. This is an important step. Be sure to check the back of the seed bags to make sure your small space is sufficient for the herbs you want to grow.

Next I purchased a few pots or containers for my herb seeds. I got them at a discount pottery store in my hometown. I always prefer to buy local when I can.

I picked a cute color scheme, as you can see in the picture top left of this section. If you prefer a more uniform look or are an online shopping connoisseur, then I highly recommend shopping online for bulk pottery. It tends to be cheaper, and you can find some really cool pieces.

After purchasing some potting soil, I was good to go and ready to plant!

Step 2: Get to Planting!

Re-potting the already grown plants was fairly easy, but I learned an important lesson. Be sure that you buy pots that are deep enough for the roots of the plants to stretch out.

When I went to re-pot my Cilantro, I realized that the pot I bought was too shallow for the long roots of the plant. I had to use half of the cilantro that night for dinner, and replant the other half.

I decided to plant my Parsley and Dill together, because they both need moderate water and partial to full sunlight. I put the seeds about a half an inch under the soil, and watered it immediately.

Step 3: Enjoy The Fruits of Your Labour!

Thus far, I must say that having my own little herb garden has been very rewarding. The Mexican dinner I made with my fresh Cilantro was delicious, and I can’t wait to make some fresh Mojitos with my Mint.

I truly enjoy going out on my balcony every day to admire my plants, water them, and care for them. I never thought that my dream of having a little herb garden would come to fruition, and while it’s not a big beautiful garden, it is definitely fulfilling the dream for now.

I hope this post inspires you to turn your small space into a budding herb garden. No space is too small for a few planters and a little green thumb love will bring so much sunshine (and delicious food) into your life.

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When it comes to home gardening and not just in New Brunswick, pest control becomes a real time sucker. One of your worst pests are garden bugs. These critters get into the garden, reproduce and wreak havoc all season long. However, it doesn’t have to be like that this year.

Dealing with garden bugs is something even the gardening beginner can handle. A basic knowledge of the garden bugs to keep or to get rid of allows for prevention strategies to keep your bug problem at bay.

Know Your Garden Bugs

Contrary to popular belief, not all bugs are created equal. Many insect professionals will tell you that there are good garden bugs and bad ones, and you want to keep the good ones around. In order to keep your garden sustainably bug free, it’s important that you allow the good ones to live and aim to destroy only the bad ones early on in the life cycle to avoid reproduction.

The Good Garden Bugs

• Spiders: They might not be pretty, but they trap your pests for breakfast.
• Lady Beetle Nymphs (ladybugs): Their baby larvae alone eat close to 400 aphids before they pupate.

The Bad Garden Bugs

• Scale bugs: With over 7,000 species, these ones are hard to catch. They attach themselves to your plants and suck its sap and water out.
• Japanese Beetle: Alone they aren’t too dangerous, but in a group –which they usually are – the beetles are able to defoliate your plants in an afternoon’s time.

Garden Bug Prevention

You know you’ll be dealing with garden bugs, it’s inevitable. Unless, of course, you plan for the visitors and address any potential problem before it gets out of control. There are a variety of tactics you can use to take care of an insect problem before it happens. These methods can be done in an afternoon, and will cost minimal, while saving you time and energy in the end.

• Insectary plants: These plants, such as a dessert marigold or trailing lantana, produce nectar and pollen which attracts your good insects. Once there, they can feast while waiting for the bad insects.
• Companion planting: This technique is used for a variety of reasons, such as better growth, higher yield or bug repellent. For example, place a plant that is known for attracting good bugs next to a weaker growing plant.
• Clean garden: When you remove weeds or dead plants, be sure to rid your garden of the scraps. This can attract bad bugs, putting your garden at risk.
• Healthy soil: Utilize the best soil, as this is not an ideal environment for insects.

As a gardener, it’s important that you are educated on the garden bugs that may come to pay you a visit. When you can distinguish the good bugs from the bad ones, it’s easier to handle the situation as a whole. This will also be beneficial in your prevention process. When you know who to eliminate and how to do so, you will have a healthier garden all season long.

Courtesy guest post by Frank Merryman and Protex Pest Control providing expert pest control service and Houston pest control protection since 1978.

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A beautiful garden brings a smile to the lips but maintaining one, doesn’t come easy. This requires a true knowledge of the working of birds and bees, and other garden insects, to make a garden grow.

With National Pollinator Week, coming up in June this year, this is a good time to brush up one’s knowledge on how to make our patches of green, pollinator friendly, beautiful, and thriving in way that is soft on nature and beneficial for humans.

Sometimes, big things come in tiny packages so it’s always good to pay attention to the small details making up the big picture. To begin with, pollination means the transfer of pollen, between flowers of the same species or within the same flower itself, for the purpose of fertilization and multiplication. This phenomenon is aided, with agents like wind and insects, hummingbirds, butterflies and even bats. This makes pollination very important, and a keystone for all wildlife to thrive.

The Importance of Being a Pollinator

There are, interesting ways to beautify our immediate surroundings into a colourful, cheerful and bright oasis of green, dotted with the breathtaking visual allure, of fragrant flowers. One good way to lure bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to the garden is to identify and plant flowers that are the favourites of these pollinators. Perfumed flowers are a good choice, to bring these friendly creatures to the garden.

In recent times, pollinators have become scarce, because of the lack of knowledge and nurturing, of these vital agents of life. To live lightly, with a conscious will to preserve these natural elements, and so maintain a balance on this wonderful planet, of all interdependent life, is something to get involved in for every earth citizen.

The Bounty of Pollination

Some of the good things in life that nourish and delight the taste buds are melons, blueberries, apples, chocolates, coffee, potatoes, peaches, vanilla, tequila and almonds. Without pollination these things would be lost to us, and this threat looms very real if action is not taken from now. Moreover medicines, drinks, spices and fibres too depend for their production on these friendly pollinators and their busy, tireless, pollinating activities.

There has been worldwide concern over the loss of numerous species of pollinators because of the indiscriminating use of damaging chemicals, diseases and parasites and other man-made hazards. However, all is not lost if measures can be taken to correct this imbalance.

Strategies to Propagate Pollination

Go native, when planting those green shoots, because they are best for native pollinators as regards, honey and larvae which they produce in quantities. It’s possible to provide things such as ‘mineral licks’ and salts which make the butterflies hover closer to those bright flowers. Another best practice is to plant in clumps, so that the pollen friendly organisms can linger, for longer appetizing periods. It’s great to make little shelters or homes for bees to stay and bats to settle in.

A bee condo is a good way of inviting bees to nest. Similarly a dead log can be allowed to be in the garden, which then acts as a host, to all kinds of wildlife friendly beings. Needless to say, insecticides should be minimally applied and with care.

About the author: Alia Haley is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology, health and parenting. Beside this she is fond of games and gadgets. These days she is busy in writing articles on red Tibetan mastiff and ideas for apartment decorating.

Each and every year there are more and more people who are turning toward home vegetable gardening. The main reason for this is an attempt to combat the ever growing price of produce at their local super market prices, as well as to decrease their carbon footprint.

These two reasons are a bit part of why we are home gardeners today.

Fresh produce is one of the best foods we can put into our bodies, but the cost per family can be depressing.

My Dad’s Garden

When I was a kid my Dad had a garden. He was in the Army most of my young life but one of the first things he did when we came to a new post was get us a garden plot. I have got to say, though there were many gardens growing on the several acres the military provided my Dads was by far the most beautiful. You see, he loved flowers too.

Flowers for Tomatoes

In with our tomatoes we had marigolds, nasturtiums, chives and garlic (which he said were for me because of their lovely purple flowers—favourite color and all) but really I knew they were more for the control of spider mites.

To him flowers served a purpose. He was especially fond of marigolds which he always started from last year’s seeds—believe me, to my mother’s headache, he had envelopes of seeds everywhere! But these lovely ladies he would tell us warded off insect that were detrimental to his vegetables—such as tomato hornworms, whiteflies and squash bugs. The rabbits don’t like them either.

Nasturtiums attract aphids—which my sister and I thought was terrible, but Dad was patient explaining that it was the tomatoes that were of the upmost importance. They are also helpful against squash bugs and beetles. And we were never allowed to pull the stinging nettle—not that we wanted to, because they made the tomatoes taste better.

Flowers for Peppers and Cucumbers

We had geraniums in and among the peppers because not only did they look beautiful—flowering continually, but they repelled cabbage worm and Japanese beetles. And next to them nasturtiums grew among the cucumbers along with the peas and radishes. Once the dill did its thing there was nothing so lovely—brilliant yellows, oranges, pinks and white along with the whispy heads of the dill.

Other Useful Flowers around the Vegetables

Lavender-deer do not like it and neither do ticks. The moths that love your vegetables leaves do not care for it; nor do the mice. These flowers can come in handy when growing broccoli or other vegetables. Cosmos—particularly the orange ones, will attract bees for pollinating, and lacewings, who also happen to love aphids and scale.

Author by-line: Nancy is a gardener who blogs at DIY Gardener. Check out her blog for more info.

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If you’re one of those gardeners who just can’t wait until spring to work in the garden, this post is meant for you. If the garden is your idea of a playground, then you should really consider the advantages of raised bed gardening.

Perhaps you have already heard about raised garden beds and wonder if they really make gardening easier and more efficient. Well Jenny and I are 60 now and I’m here to tell you raised bed gardens are the way to go.

We were tired of sore knees and back so it’s great we don’t need to kneel on the ground when we working with our raised bed gardens. Of course we still have to kneel in our vegetable garden but I’m actually thinking about making our entire veggie garden a series of raised beds.

Another reason we love raised beds is because they are so efficient, no wasted space, plus they warm up so much faster in the spring meaning I get out into the garden sooner and that works for me.

Just What Are Raised Garden Beds?

A raised garden bed is pretty much what it sound like, garden beds that are raised above ground level. Our raised beds gardens are just boxes with no top or bottom and their filled with topsoil and compost.

We went looking for raised bed garden material to build a new raised bed and soon learned that they are not all made from lumber as I had thought.

• railroad ties
• cedar
• recycled plastic
• bricks
• cinder blocks
• stone

We bought lumber to build our raised garden beds in order to replace on of ours that has seen better days. We bought 4 foot lengths of 2×12 so we could make 4×4 raised beds.

Personally I like having raised garden beds that we can actually sit on so we don’t need to kneel so much and it works wonders for the back, which I’ve mentioned. Believe me when I say raised garden beds are great as well as efficient.

What Are Some Benefits to Raised Garden Beds

• Raised garden beds are PERFECT for vegetables, flowers or both.
• Raised beds don’t have problems with drainage so our plants have healthier root systems.
• No more walking through garden beds which tends to compact the soil making for poor drainage. Leaves more air pockets in the ground for micro organisms.
• Less back pain!
• Plants can be spaced closer together as paths through your garden aren’t needed. Great for square foot gardening.
• Less weeding needed
• Less water needed as there is less open space for evaporation.

What If I Want to Buy My Raised Garden Beds?

Jenny and I went to a local store to buy the materials we wanted to build our first raised bed gardens. I had checked online before going and we were hoping to buy a recycled plastic raised bed garden kit but they were only sold online. Kind of disappointing.

If you do a search in Google for the following phrases you should find exactly what you’re looking for, just be sure to look at what is only available online before you head to your local stores.

Here is the searches I conducted:

• “raised garden beds”
• “garden beds”
• “beds raised garden”
• “raised bed garden”

Of course you can do your searches with or without the quotes. I also added the word Moncton to my search so I would find local stores.

I hope I have opened your eyes to raised bed gardening as it’s so easy and efficient to grow your flowers and vegetables.

Related articles

• Building Our Own Raised Bed Gardens (hbb2obm.com)
• An Introduction to Raised Bed Gardening (backyardgardeningtips.com)
• Raised Bed Gardening Saves Our Backs (hbb2obm.com)
• Organic Gardening Raised Beds (growinganything.com)