Window boxes are boxes which are installed right on the outside of window. The function of it is of course to place some flowers and small plants in it. The beautiful view created by these window flower boxes cannot only be seen by those in the outside of your house. Instead, you will also see the beauty it creates from the inside of your house, of course through the window. Can you imagine how beautiful it is when the flowers that you plant inside the window boxes are blooming? It will of course be a thing that will give you some peace in mind so that you house becomes a place which is so comfortable to live in.

If you don’t really know where the right place to get the window boxes is, maybe you want to check out the website of Flower Window Boxes in Flowerwindowboxes.com. Here, most flower boxes which are sold are those made from a kind of plastic named pvc. Although made from plastic, these pvc window boxes are physically beautiful. It is not made from low quality material that will just make it looks cheap. Besides, it is also designed in such a way that it becomes just simply beautiful. It will surely be a proper combination for the flower you are about to plant.

Small yard is no longer a problem that will make you away from planting some flowers. All that you need to make this activity that you love the most can always be done is by purchasing some window boxes. Don’t take it difficult because you can buy it online, such as buying it in the online store of Flower Window Boxes. Check out the website now to get the window boxes which are most suitable to the theme that you build for you house. Don’t forget to arrange the flower beautifully to make your house beautiful too.

Creating a garden that satisfies the hunger for beauty, while catering to life needs becomes more than just planting. There is no need to spend a fortune on a professional garden designer when you can create your own garden design on your computer with 3D landscape 2 Deluxe.

This advanced garden design program provides you with realistic 3-D views and you can even see your garden change through the seasons. The program is packed with lots of design tips.

Whether you are a professional landscape designer or a gardening enthusiast, 3D Landscape 2 will help you achieve the look you’ve always wanted before lifting a space.

A simple mouse click places trees, shrubs and flowers and over 100 garden design features such as brick pathways, wooden fences, lights and retaining walls.

Over 100 step-by-step explanations, and what tools and materials you will need are all included in this informative CD. We want to be able to use our garden designs, to entertain friends, children to play, and just to sit and enjoy the environment.

The old rule of thumb was to start doing hardwood cuttings of evergreens after you have experienced at least two hard freezes. After two hard freezes the plants are completely dormant.

However, based on my experience it is beneficial to start doing your evergreen cuttings earlier than that. So instead of doing “by the book” hardwood cuttings you’re actually working with semi-hardwood cuttings. The down side to starting your cuttings early is that they will have to be watered daily unless you experience rain showers. The up side is that they will start rooting sooner, and therefore are better rooted when you pull them out to transplant them.

To prepare an area in which to root cuttings you must first select a site. An area that is about 50% shaded will work great. Full sun will work, it just requires that you tend to the cuttings more often. Clear all grass or other vegetation from the area that you have selected. The size of the area is up to you. Realistically, you can fit about one cutting per square inch of bed area. You might need a little more area per cutting, it depends on how close you stick the cuttings in the sand.

Once you have an area cleared off all you have to do is build a wooden frame and lay it on the ground in the area that you cleared. Your frame is a simple as four 2 by 4’s or four 2 by 6’s nailed together at each corner. It will be open on the top and open on the bottom. Just lay it on the ground in the cleared area, and fill it with a coarse grade of sand.

This sand should be clean (no mud or weed seed), and much coarser than the sand used in a play box. Visit your local builders supply center and view each sand pile they have. They should have different grades varying from very fine to very coarse. You don’t want either. You want something a little more coarse than their medium grade. But then again it’s not rocket science, so don’t get all worked up trying to find just the right grade. Actually, bagged swimming pool filter sand also works and should be available at discount home centers.

Once your wooden frame is on the ground and filled with sand, you’re ready to start sticking cuttings. Wet the sand the day before you start, that will make it possible for you to make a slit in the sand that won’t fill right in. In this propagation box you can do all kinds of cuttings, but I would start with the evergreens first. Taxus, Junipers, and Arborvitae.

Make the cuttings about 4” long and remove the needles from the bottom two thirds of the cuttings. Dip them in a rooting compound and stick them in the sand about an inch or so.  Most garden centers sell rooting compounds.  Just tell them that you are rooting hardwood cuttings of evergreens.

When you make the Arborvitae cuttings you can actually remove large branches from an Arborvitae and just tear them apart and get hundreds of cuttings from one branch. When you tear them apart that leaves a small heel on the bottom of the cutting. Leave this heel on. It represents a wounded area, and the cutting will produce more roots because of this wound.

Once the weather gets colder and you have experienced at least one good hard freeze, the deciduous plants should be dormant and will have dropped their leaves, and you can now propagate them. Just make cuttings about 4” long, dip them in a rooting compound and stick them in the bed of sand. Not everything will root this way, but a lot of things will, and it takes little effort to find out what will work and what won’t.

This is a short list of just some of the things that root fine this way. Taxus, Juniper, Arborvitae, Japanese Holly, Blue Boy/Girl Holly, Boxwood, Cypress, Forsythia, Rose of Sharon, Sandcherry, Weigela, Red Twig Dogwood, Variegated Euonymus, Cotoneaster, Privet, and Viburnum.

Immediately after sticking the cuttings thoroughly soak the sand to make sure there are no air pockets around the cuttings. Keep the cuttings watered once or twice daily as long as the weather is warm. Once winter sets it you can stop watering, but if you get a warm dry spell, water during that time.

Start watering again in the spring and throughout out the summer. The cuttings should be rooted by late spring and you can cut back on the water, but don’t let them dry out to the point that they burn up.

By fall you can transplant them to a bed and grow them on for a year or two, or you can plant them in their permanent location. This technique takes 12 months, but it is simple and easy.

As a home gardener, fall should be a very special time for you. Fall is the best season of the year for plant propagation, especially for home gardeners who do not have the luxury of intermittent mist. The technique that I am going to describe here can be equally effective for evergreens as well as many deciduous plants.
The old rule of thumb was to start doing hardwood cuttings of evergreens after you have experienced at least two hard freezes. After two hard freezes the plants are completely dormant.
However, based on my experience it is beneficial to start doing your evergreen cuttings earlier than that. So instead of doing “by the book” hardwood cuttings you’re actually working with semi-hardwood cuttings. The down side to starting your cuttings early is that they will have to be watered daily unless you experience rain showers. The up side is that they will start rooting sooner, and therefore are better rooted when you pull them out to transplant them.
To prepare an area in which to root cuttings you must first select a site. An area that is about 50% shaded will work great. Full sun will work, it just requires that you tend to the cuttings more often. Clear all grass or other vegetation from the area that you have selected. The size of the area is up to you. Realistically, you can fit about one cutting per square inch of bed area. You might need a little more area per cutting, it depends on how close you stick the cuttings in the sand. Once you have an area cleared off all you have to do is build a wooden frame and lay it on the ground in the area that you cleared. Your frame is a simple as four 2 by 4’s or four 2 by 6’s nailed together at each corner. It will be open on the top and open on the bottom. Just lay it on the ground in the cleared area, and fill it with a coarse grade of sand.
This sand should be clean (no mud or weed seed), and much coarser than the sand used in a play box. Visit your local builders supply center and view each sand pile they have. They should have different grades varying from very fine to very coarse. You don’t want either. You want something a little more coarse than their medium grade. But then again it’s not rocket science, so don’t get all worked up trying to find just the right grade. Actually, bagged swimming pool filter sand also works and should be available at discount home centers.
Once your wooden frame is on the ground and filled with sand, you’re ready to start sticking cuttings. Wet the sand the day before you start, that will make it possible for you to make a slit in the sand that won’t fill right in. In this propagation box you can do all kinds of cuttings, but I would start with the evergreens first. Taxus, Junipers, and Arborvitae. Make the cuttings about 4” long and remove the needles from the bottom two thirds of the cuttings. Dip them in a rooting compound and stick them in the sand about an inch or so.  Most garden centers sell rooting compounds.  Just tell them that you are rooting hardwood cuttings of evergreens.
When you make the Arborvitae cuttings you can actually remove large branches from an Arborvitae and just tear them apart and get hundreds of cuttings from one branch. When you tear them apart that leaves a small heel on the bottom of the cutting. Leave this heel on. It represents a wounded area, and the cutting will produce more roots because of this wound.
Once the weather gets colder and you have experienced at least one good hard freeze, the deciduous plants should be dormant and will have dropped their leaves, and you can now propagate them. Just make cuttings about 4” long, dip them in a rooting compound and stick them in the bed of sand. Not everything will root this way, but a lot of things will, and it takes little effort to find out what will work and what won’t. This is a short list of just some of the things that root fine this way. Taxus, Juniper, Arborvitae, Japanese Holly, Blue Boy/Girl Holly, Boxwood, Cypress, Forsythia, Rose of Sharon, Sandcherry, Weigela, Red Twig Dogwood, Variegated Euonymus, Cotoneaster, Privet, and Viburnum.
Immediately after sticking the cuttings thoroughly soak the sand to make sure there are no air pockets around the cuttings. Keep the cuttings watered once or twice daily as long as the weather is warm. Once winter sets it you can stop watering, but if you get a warm dry spell, water during that time.
Start watering again in the spring and throughout out the summer. The cuttings should be rooted by late spring and you can cut back on the water, but don’t let them dry out to the point that they burn up. By fall you can transplant them to a bed and grow them on for a year or two, or you can plant them in their permanent location. This technique takes 12 months, but it is simple and easy.

Know your terrain – What type of soil do you have in your area? Once you know that you can find the proper soil additives and fertilizers to ensure the ground itself is ready to be planted after the last frost.

Know your types of plants – Each plant has different needs, so it is very important to carefully look at the various trees, shrubs and plants in your landscape. Feeding and fertilization of each plant varies, some will have to be pruned others will need to be fertilized.

Once you know what’s in your garden, follows these easy instructions:

Seed Stalk Plants – Should always be removed in the fall to avoid the need to weed in the spring. Removing seed stalk plants from your garden in the fall will also provide room for new different plants in the next season.

Shasta daisies and Goldenrod plants- Remove any spent flower stocks before winter and cut back extra growth. Cutting back will help them grow bigger and healthier in the spring.

Shrubs – Don’t need a lot of preparation. Some like to cover shrubs with burlap to help avoid frost, but it is not necessary. Shrubs are hearty and resilient, but if you have a dying shrub, remove it to make room for another healthy one to be planted in the spring.

Roses – Are very vulnerable to the effects of fall and winter. If the roses are incorporated into the landscape, take extra care to help them survive in order to keep the overall landscape beautiful. Extreme weather changes kill roses, so take care in either bringing them in over the fall winter season if you can, or covering them outside. Keep in mind roses hate humidity as much as frost, so watch the indoor temperature as well.

Perennials – Should be treated like shrubs. They are hearty and resilient much like the shrubs, and aside from some minimal pruning they won’t need extra care.

It’s always a good idea to use this fall and winter season as an opportunity to make changes and improve your landscape and garden. Take a good hard look at your landscape, how can it be improved? Maybe there are new flowers you would like to plant or a new line of shrubs to create a room-like space outside. Whatever your creative mind comes up with, do your homework, know your terrain and have fun. That’s what it’s all about anyway, isn’t it?

To grow vegetables, you do not need a large site.

You can grow in containers without any need for a piece of land.

In fact, growing vegetables need a careful planning and some simple planting tips with which you can grow your own vegetables in no time!

1. For a successful growth of vegetables, a healthy soil is very important. Use a high-quality soil or improve the existing one through the addition of organic materials such as sphagnum peat moss, leaf mold, compost, and rotted manure in large quantities. For a clay type soil, add some sand to provide a clear drainage. Add these materials into the soil using till or spade.

2. Good soil with better drainage is best for growing vegetables healthily. So, get your soil tested prior to using it for vegetable plants. Also, ensure that soil has all essential nutrients required for a plant growth.

3. Location of the garden is the key to the vegetable garden planning process. As almost all vegetables needs a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight for a healthy growth, choose a sunny spot with full of sunlight–south, southeast or south west facing is best spot.

4. In a partially shady location where you get less sunlight, it is best to grow leaf crops like lettuce, coriander, and spinach than tomatoes or other vegetables.

5. For a vegetable garden, choose a location away from trees and shrubs as far as possible. This is because the roots of trees and shrubs, near the vegetable plants, will deprive the essential nutrients and water of the vegetable plants.

6. It is a good idea to locate the garden close to your water source. This helps you save time and energy.

7. Employ a drip irrigation system to save your water as well as to reduce watering chores. This system is most beneficial because it provides water directly to the root region of plants. In addition, it provides water automatically for the plants in the garden if you set a timer on your faucet.

8. For a vegetable garden, it is good to obtain maximum yields within a minimum space. So, do inter-planting with quick-growing vegetables (bunching onions) and slower-growing vegetables (cauliflower and broccoli).

9. It is not a good idea to do over planting. Growing several plants in a small area can damage the growth of all vegetable plants in the garden.

10. Get aware of the plant-growing season and protect the plants according to the season. To protect plants from early frosts, always use cloches, plant protectors, and row covers. Tomatoes are cold-sensitive vegetables and can be transplanted outdoors prior to its normal planting time.

11. Mulching is the best way to maintain healthy vegetable plants. So, mulch the vegetable plants in the summer time. This helps to eradicate weeds, keeps soil moisture and improves the soil structure when it gets rot. Cocoa bean hulls, straw, shredded bark, spoiled hay, and compost are the best mulch materials for vegetable plants.

Because your bushes are not yet in hibernation they still require some attention from you. Water continues to be a prime need, so make sure that the soil around their roots continues to remain moist. Give them a good soaking as need be, but, as always, don’t over-water.

Water is an important part of your roses’ winter survival requirements and properly hydrated roots will help them stay protected when the cold weather arrives.

Stop all pruning and deadheading activity so you do not encourage new growth. You should have stopped applying organics last month, and you don’t want to apply any more fertilizer now either. Your goal is to keep your roses healthy while, at the same time, encouraging them to begin the process of going into dormancy.

Continue spraying at least once each month to combat black spot. Spider mites are still active during late autumn so keep your eye out for them. Spritz your blooms and foliage with water whenever you see signs of infestation. Aphids are also active now, so have a bottle of soapy water ready to send them packing.

Pick off any diseased leaves and rake away any fallen leaves from your rose beds. This not only improves the appearance of your garden, it also removes any disease residue which may be still on the leaves.

This is also a good time to prepare your new rose holes and rose beds for next year’s growing season. They will have time to “mellow” over the winter season and will be ready to accept new bushes in spring.

Begin the process of piling mulch around your more delicate varieties such as “St. Patrick”, “Color Magic”, “Oklahoma” and “Signature”. Your hardier varieties can wait until next month. See our “Winter Gardening” article for mulching tips.

You worked hard all season to keep your roses healthy and beautiful. If you did everything right, you were probably rewarded with waves and waves of beautiful blooms. Your hard work is almost over for the year, but don’t neglect your roses during these important final months.

Using solar power to run your fountain is the same as using it to run just about any other electrical item. The fountain pump is equipped with solar panels which catch photons from the solar cells transmitting them to the silicon semiconductor which then ultimately produces energy. Using this method eliminates the need for any addition electrical source. Keep in mind, that the size of the fountain will also determine the size of the solar panel used to power the unit. Residential, Commercial, or Farm Industrial sizes are all a possibility.

Battery backups are also something to consider in areas with less frequent sunshine. Cloudy days, or overcast could ultimately stop the panel from producing enough power for the pump. An easy way to combat this would be to install a backup battery that is automatically activated with lack of sun. Another option is to purchase a high efficiency solar fountain that can toggle between a high and low voltage source. This would allow your pump to continue to run even during overcast conditions.

Maintenance is an important issue when it comes to the operation of the solar fountain. Bear in mind, the amount of power being produced by a solar source is much less than an electrical source. If it becomes jammed with leaves or other debris it may burn out the pump. Also, make sure the solar panel has not accumulated debris which may hinder its ability to catch the sun’s rays. Damage to the panel and other electrical parts will decrease the overall output of the product, but take comfort in the fact that most suppliers offer warranties that will cover these issues.

The solar powered water fountain may or may not be the cheapest option; however it is the most convenient. Consider the fact that you won’t have to run cables, or hook up any other electrical devices. Running these can be timely and costly especially if the garden is not near any source of electrical power. Solar powered fountain installations are a breeze and can be placed and functional in a matter of minutes.

There is just something satisfying about a natural water garden display being powered by nature itself. With the depletion of our energy sources it is a wise choice to look for other alternatives to power our recreational interests. The solar powered water garden fountain systems are a great solution for those that want a simple and easy water garden fountain that is fully functional. Compared to the purchase and installation of all the electrical components necessary, solar powered water fountains are a much cheaper, environmentally-friendly, and more practical display for your garden.

An ingredient that you can use effectively as fertilizers is “Coffee Ground”, which can be used instead of the “Rose Plant food”. The preparation of this fertilizer does not require complicated materials. Let us have a look at the necessary ingredients: Coffee grounds that you use, cookie sheet and newspaper. These materials may be available right in your home. Thus, you may not have to spend extra money on them.

The first step in the preparation of this fertilizer is using the newspaper for lining the cookie sheet. Next, spread the coffee grounds onto the sheet as they have to be completely dried.  Then sprinkle these ground around the plant base. This particular fertilizer is suitable for roses, azaleas, rhododendrons, blueberries etc besides many other plants that can be called “acid-lovers”.

You must take care not to add too much of the grounds to the plants as the acid content of the soil may increase.

The coffee grounds fertilizer consists of potassium, nitrogen and magnesium that are important for plants as nutrients. They have acidic content in them and the soil can get enriched with it.

What are solar landscape lights?

Solar landscape lights draw on the power of the sun to keep them unblemished. Throughout the day, they accumulate the available sunlight by means of solar cells, charging a battery contained by the light unit. A light sensor inform each garden light when to turn on & provide outdoor elucidation. A full charge & a low power light can allow these lights to run for nine or more hours at a time. If they are still on at crack of dawn, the light turns off automatically. Obtainable sunlight determines how long & how bright your lights will burnish. That means that you cannot place them in areas that are dappled during the day, & that weather conditions can affect their function.

Unlike conventional garden lighting options, solar lights have no wires. You won’t require digging up your landscaping to inaugurate them, & they won’t run up your electricity bill. Just install a bolt to mount lights on posts or buildings, or stake a ground light down. No maintenance is requisite after installation, except its battery fails or a light breaks. Replacing a light is simple, & does not affect the rest of the system. New lights use less power, provide light for longer, & shine brighter, due to the use of bulbs with lesser energy requirements, making them a brilliant choice, even if you have avoided solar powered lighting in the earlier period.

How can you utilize solar powered lights?

Solar powered outdoor lights come in many different sizes & styles, & can be used almost any place that they will get sufficient sun. People utilize them for stair, fence & deck lighting where safety possibly a problem, to give ambience, & to help direct people along pathways. Solar garden lights also work well to emphasize elements of your landscaping, such as a beautiful plant arrangement, prized architectural feature or sculpture. Solar garden lights can also be used to assist you see what you are doing in outdoor living spaces, like party rooms & kitchens. There’re even floating solar lights for swimming pools that let you swim longer.