Grow a beautiful garden the water wise way

Saving water and enjoying the beauty and environmental benefits of plants are not only possible, but easy says the American Association of Nurserymen (AAN). “Water Wise” gardening is built on some basic, commonsense principles:

Planning

Planning a water wise garden or landscape is as easy and fun-as planning any type of garden. Talk to the professionals at your local center/landscape firm to see which plants will do well in your area. You may be surprised to find that some very beautiful, colorful plants are low on water consumption-and they may fit into your landscape perfectly.

Group together plants that require the same amount of water. Plant trees and shrubs to provide shade to cool buildings, air conditioning units, patios, decks, and other landscape features.  Shelter container plants by moving them to shady areas. Spike or aerate lawns to insure maximum water penetration. Control weeds which compete with useful plants for water.

Soil Improvement

Soil improvement is another easy and beneficial step in building a water wise garden. Soil that is well prepared at the time of planting influences the plant’s initial development and yields the best results. And plants placed in the proper soil will be healthier, often needing less water.

Soil characteristics include texture, structure, depth, and nutrients. To find out more about your soil content, test your soil with the following garden products: Accugrow Soil Test Kit or the Sunleaves Three-Way Meter.  

Wise Irrigation

Efficient irrigation is a critical part of water wise gardening. Your irrigation system can be simple, such as a hand-held hose, or elaborate, such as an in-ground sprinkler system. Consider a drip water conservation system, which can save up to 60% of water used by sprinkler irrigation. Whatever you choose, make sure you plan your watering to get best results.

Deep, infrequent watering, promotes root growth and is the wisest use of water and encourages strong rooting. This provides greater tolerance to dry spells.  Water early in the day, and on less windy days, to reduce evaporation loss. The ideal time is from dawn to 9:00 a.m.   Turn off sprinklers before water is wasted as runoff into gutters and streets.

Mulching

Mulching is always a benefit to your garden and can help prevent soil erosion and evaporation, conserving the water that is available and keeping your plants healthy and strong.

Maintenance

Maintaining your water wise garden means learning how to water all over again. You may find that watering less means having more time to sit back and enjoy your garden. Generally, plants should be watered less often and for a long period of time. Drip, soaker, or deep root watering promotes healthy plants and less water use.

Water Wise Gardening Tips

Follow these handy watering tips from AAN, and you’ll soon be started on your own environmentally sound garden or landscape.  For garden products mentioned in this article, please visit http://www.spray-n-growgardening.com

In our years of experience selling real estate, we have easily walked through more than a thousand homes for sale in the Charleston, SC area. Some homes are very well staged for showings, and you can tell that the home owners have really taken care of the home and have made good improvements to it. And, the money that the owners spent to update or improve the home should be paid back in full (and maybe with some profit) when they sell it.

Although we’ve seen some really good home improvements that pay off in the end, we’ve also seen some really bad home improvements. In fact, some of the worst features we’ve seen in homes for sale have actually been made by the sellers from “do-it-yourself” projects.

Sellers assume if they spend $10,000 in home improvements that their home is worth $10,000 more. This assumption is often true – indeed, it is the goal of the project. But, you need to make sure that you invest in the right areas so that you don’t waste your money.

So, which home improvements pay off? We’ve included below the five home improvements we’ve found to be the most effective during our experience in real estate.

1) Covering the basic necessities – the first improvements you need to make are the ones that really matter. If there are any problems with your home’s structure or systems, you need to fix these first. Potential buyers care more about problems that affect a home’s function (like a leaky roof) than problems that are cosmetic (like an outdated kitchen). And, when potential buyers find out that the home needs major repairs (replacing the roof, updating an electrical system, or removing mold), they will move on to the next home for sale on their list. So, use your money wisely – especially if you have a limited budget. Focus on areas that make your home more livable.

2) Kitchens – if your home poses no major problems, you can start your renovations in the kitchen. When you’re making home improvements, the kitchen is a good place to start because it can greatly affect the value of your home. Buyers want clean, updated kitchens. Be sure to use good quality materials and classic designs (but don’t go too modern). In order for your home improvements to pay off, you need them to appeal to a wide range of home buyers. Some of the easier improvements to make include painting the kitchen (using a neutral color, of course) and replacing cabinet hardware if the current hardware is too basic or outdated. Replacing outdated appliances almost always pays back more than full. Also, make sure that your kitchen has sufficient lighting.

3) Baths – if your kitchen is up to par, I would recommend working on the bathrooms. If you can only fix up one bathroom, I would focus on the master bath. Some of the easiest and least expensive improvements to make are repainting the walls and cabinets, recaulking the sink and shower, and replacing outdated light fixtures and faucets.

4) Creating Functional Space – if your home has a “catch-all” room, try to give that room a purpose. For example, if you have a finished room over your garage that is used simply for storage or for a recreation room, you can sell this room as an additional bedroom. Often these rooms don’t have closet space. So, adding a closet to this room would be a good investment because having an extra bedroom can greatly increase the value of your home. But, if the room over your garage is not finished, I would not recommend converting it. It would cost a lot of money to finish the room and run heating and air conditioning to it, and you would probably not get a full return on your money. The same would be true for finishing an attic.

5) Landscaping – lightly landscaping your yards can be a good investment. Small yard projects, like replacing dead bushes and reseeding (or resodding) bare lawn areas, can actually give you a small profit. But, we’ve seen some homeowners invest literally tens of thousands of dollars into their yards with fountains, gazebos, and goldfish ponds. These homeowners will only get a fraction of that money back when they sell their homes.

Making home improvements can drastically affect your home’s value. And, you can earn back more money than the amount you invested in the improvements. Just make sure that you invest in the right home improvements in order to get a full return on your investment. If you are not sure which areas to focus on, be sure to talk with your real estate agent in order to maximize your profit.

One of the things that recreational gardeners forget is to feed the various plants in their gardens. Springtime is the best time to start feeding your plants as the ground is still moist from the Spring thaw and from early Spring rain. This helps your garden feed permeate into the soil much more easily. As early Spring turns to late Spring the soil starts to warm up to create ideal growing conditions for your plants. As this time of year is when new life bursts forth from your garden it is very much worth while ensuring you have given the ground all the nutrients your plants will be looking for, especially as the roots looking for those nutrients are likely to be small new growth feeder roots.

You need to ensure that you have planned what plants are going where in your garden as this will determine which nutrients need adding to the soil. Make sure you get the correct ones because where some nutrients will be beneficial for some plants they could cause problems for others. Get it right and you can look forward to a spectacular garden come Summer. There are three main things you need to get right to make up to correct environmental conditions for your plants and these are the concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

If you have a good supply of nitrogen in your soil then your plants will benefit for excellent healthy foliage. However, don’t overdo it as too much nitrogen will mean that the plant concentrates too much on creating foliage and not enough on creating flowers and fruit. If you have enough phosphorus in the soil then you can be sure your plants will have healthy roots. Potassium will help the plant to develop what you are really looking forward to, and that is fruit and flowers. Get the balance right between all three and your will be rewarded. So, make sure you check what conditions the particular plants in different parts of your garden enjoy and then read the packets of fertilizer to ensure you get it right.

There are different ways of delivering food and nutrients to the soil as well. Some come in soluble form, some come in liquid form and there are some you can use that will control the release of those nutrients over a period of time. One application of these controlled release products can last for months and they are an ideal solution for feeding containers and indoor pot plants as well as more established garden plants such as shrubs and trees.

The effectiveness of the liquid feeds is about the same as the soluble ones but the advantage with them is that they can easily be mixed with water for use as a spray. Spray feeds allow you to apply food directly to where it is most required. Soluble forms are easy to spread over large areas including lawns. They then release their nutrients when it rains or if the rain doesn’t arrive for a while it may be worth watering them in with the hosepipe.

Remember all you need to do is decide which feed is best suited to different parts of your garden based on its contents and then the method of delivery is all about convenience you the gardener.

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Any time we see a deer or two, most of us just want to say, “Aw, look at the pretty deer,” particularly if there is a fawn in the group.

But homeowners who have tried to keep a garden looking beautiful in a neighborhood often visited by deer has a few other choice words for these animals. Most of the time, the reason they are in our yards is that housing developments have encroached on their natural habitat. How can we find a way to co-exist?

As deer have adapted to the world of humans and the related daily activity such as fast-moving cars, they are also raising their young in the same environment, creating a new generation of animals that live in a suburban world without fear. But no matter where they roam, these animals have the same instinct – survival.

When deer are hungry, they will eat almost anything, so buying the so-called deer-proof plants may be a waste of money. Even juniper bushes, normally distasteful to deer, will be eaten in a phase of extreme hunger. They may even chew on the bark of trees, using that as roughage.

However, under normal circumstances, many plants are less inviting to deer, so adding those to your garden may be a way to maintain your home’s curb appeal and still be kind to animals. Plants native to specific regions are often less appealing than carefully tended garden foliage and bushes. In Colorado, for example, shrubs less tasty to deer include Austrian copper rose, golden currant, lilacs and Oregon grape holly. Perennial flowers may also prove less inviting, such as lily-of-the-valley, Shasta daisy and Russian sage. Many ground-cover plants such as morning glory, English ivy or creeping mahonia are deer-resistant, as are herbs, including lavender and marjoram.

Most University Extension Service departments and municipalities have information on regional plants that are less likely to invite deer into your yard.

Other non-plant solutions include deer repellents, but these have varying degrees of success at keeping the animals away from your plants. They often have to be re-applied if it rains, or if irrigation occurs on a regular basis. One non-toxic product that has garnered a lot of attention recently is Plantskydd® deer repellent. This all-natural product is rain resistant when applied on dry plants and allowed to dry for 24 hours, and can last for up to six months.

The other solution is to build a deer fence around your garden. While this can sometimes be an expensive endeavor with wood posts or lattice work, using polypropylene mesh fencing, which blends in with the surrounding landscape, can be easily installed and is the most cost-effective choice. Like most deer fences, it should be at least six- to eight-feet high to be effective.

The equity that you have in your home or real estate is a major piece, but other factors that are considered are your credit history, national and local interest rates. The amount you want to borrow, and even the types of repairs or improvements that you are pondering over doing with the money. For the lending authority has designed out Low cost home improvement loans for the home improvement.

Obviously, low cost home improvement loans are major investments and should not be entered into lightly. Finding the right low cost home improvement loans for an individual is a two-step process. First you need to find out how much your improvements are going to cost, and then you need to try to find your best offer at a bank or other lender. Shop around at building supply stores to try to find the lowest prices, and contact carpenters, contractors, and other professionals in your area for quotes on how much the work would cost.

Low cost home improvement loans can be used to purchase fitted bedroom furniture or to develop unused spaces in your home. You can use low cost home improvement loans for improving your garden such as landscaping. These are also available for double-glazing, new conservatory, heating system, new kitchen, rewiring and plumbing or any home remodeling that one can think of. Making improvements in your home helps in improving your lifestyle as well as may add equity to your home.

There are many lenders available online and offline, whereas as online method of availing low cost home improvement loans is in vogue. There are many factors to consider when you search online for a lender to get low cost home improvement loans from. Before you start, make sure your credit score is as good as it can possibly be.

Further, when getting low cost home improvement loans, try online search for the one with low cost home improvement loans. Variable rates tend to change more often and thus cost people more money in the end. Also, when searching for low cost home improvement loans, look into the ones that will get you the cash when you need it. Some lenders take an awfully long time to get you the money you are asking for.

Lastly, when looking for low cost home improvement loans, search for the ones with the best deals. Some lenders offer no appraisal fees and no lender fees. This will in turn save individuals’ money.

The subject of gardening is so huge that there are hundreds and hundreds of ways you could add some iterest to your garden. There are manby different categories that the interesting points in your garden can fall into as well from the way you choose to group different coloured plants together, to sculptures and water features.

If you would like to create a focal point of your plants you can do this by grouping together specimens of a similar look and feel as well as the before mentioned blocks of colour.

You could add items into you garden to make it more functional and easy to relax in such as chairs, benches and tables.

An unusual addition to your garden that might work quite well could be a mirror. Mirrors can be used to good effect in the garden in just the same way as they can be used indoors as they create the illusion of size. Mirrors can also be used to increase the available light in dark corners.

If you would like to increase the privacy available in your garden as well as creating more focal points and even protection for delicate plants, why not consider planting a hedge. Hedges also make great places for birds to forage and nest.

The sound of running water for some people as they sit in the garden enjoying a refreshing drink can be relaxing. There are so many water features on the market now that you are sure to find something to create the exact effect you are looking for. Also, it may be worth considering shopping around for solar powered water features. These are becoming more and more popular as they remove the need to dig up your garden to install electrical cable. Water features are also great for keeping the birds interested in your garden, especially as water may be hard to find in the Summer months.

If you are thinking about statues and sculptures but you think they may be a little over the top, especially if you have a small garden, why not consider using groups of rocks and pebbles to create some abstract elements in the garden.

These are just a few things you may want to consider adding to your garden to create a little more interest. There are lots and lots more. Everything from bird tables to sun dials, you are only limited by your imagination.

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Wall Treatments: Home Improvements

Your garden should be a place for relaxation after a tiring week at work or a restless mind racing night. A garden should provide you with tranquillity, inspiration and most of all enjoyment for you and your family. Does your garden give you these things? You don’t need a huge amount of space to create the garden of your dreams. You just need to think about what to do with the space that you have which will help you to relax and enjoy your garden all the time. There are lots of ways to transform your garden with lots of great garden products out there.

Purchasing wooden garden furniture is a great way to start improving your garden. Having good wooden garden furniture will provide you with comfort and keep inviting you back outside to relax outside. Wooden garden furniture can be made from different sorts of wood, like teak, oak, mahogany, and cane. These types of wood would be good for gardens that are uncovered as these woods are durable and waterproof, with Teak garden furniture being the most resistant to environmental factors.

Cane garden furniture is another type of furniture for your garden which is a light weight. This furniture is suitable for both outdoors and covered areas like in conservatories or under a gazebo. Cane garden furniture is easily maintained as it can be wiped and easily moved due to its light weight. It can also consist of hand made attractive accessories and coverings which make this furniture very beautiful and inviting.

If you have lots of plants and ornaments in your garden, conservatory or greenhouse it might be an idea to get some greenhouse staging. This is an easy to use timber two layered bench which improves the usability of your garden areas creating space. You can get two different types of staging there is the folding type, and the heavy duty greenhouse staging. The heavy duty staging offers you extra strength and capacity and is ideal for outdoor use.

Once you have brought your garden furniture it’s a great idea to look after it. Keeping an eye on your furniture for wear and tear and repairing it before becomes old looking, this will help keep your maintenance costs down. There are lots of garden furniture companies out there that will help you maintain your garden furniture to the best, and recommend products to protect your new relaxing furniture for many years.

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