The Most Difficult Parts Of Garden Maintenance: What Homeowners Should Know

Maintaining your garden is an essential part of being a homeowner. It’s an extension of your property, and if you never head out there to mow the lawn or keep the bushes neat, more than just your neighbors will start to complain! 

That being said, a lot of the work that goes into the garden can be tricky. It takes a lot of energy, there are a lot of tools to get used to, and you can never be sure if you’ve really pulled up that last weed! 

Even small and cutesy gardens will require a lot of upkeep to remain neat, tidy, and comfortable, and some of those jobs will be a bit tricky. Indeed, if moss has moved in after the area has gotten wet – and seeing as it’s out of the sun, the fencing panels you used have never been able to dry out – you’ll have an extensive task ahead of you. 

But the more you know about the hardest elements of garden upkeep, the more manageable you’ll find the jobs you need to get on with. As such, here’s what every homeowner should know about taking care of a garden, and especially what that could eventually entail. 

Wildlife Can Be Vicious

We like to think of the outdoor world as being quite the nice place. The grass is green, the sun is out, there’s a gentle breeze, and you can see bees floating around your flower beds. What a lovely place to spend time in! 

But don’t forget, wildlife can be vicious. You might come down one day to find a dead fox, badger, or hedgehog in your garden, or indeed, some birds that have fallen to the ground and never flown off again. 

Clearing these up won’t be a pleasant thing, but you’ll need to remove them from the area to prevent other predators from being attracted and making their way under the fence. Not to mention how ‘germy’ animals like these can be, and illness can quite quickly spread when they’re not disposed of properly. 

Your local government will put up information on safely dealing with these things in your area, but generally, make sure you use protection when picking things up, and try to cordon off the area if you have children or pets who like to use the garden as well. 

Sometimes You’ll Have to Cut Down Trees

You’re probably not a tree surgeon, by any means, but there may come a time when you need to hack down the big tree at the back of your garden. It’s probably become overgrown and hangs into the gardens of all your neighbors, and you’re not convinced it’ll be best to call someone to come and do it for you. 

At a time like this, you’ll need to know how to use a chainsaw, and you’ll definitely need to own one that you’re comfortable in handling. You’ll then need to get an idea of how to approach the tree during the cut, as you don’t want the trunk coming down all in one go. That’ll be hard to lift and remove when it’s fallen to the ground. 

You’ll also want to prepare the space as efficiently as you can, which means knowing where the tree pieces are likely to fall, and how you can ensure little to no damage occurs. 

The Weeds Always Come Back

We said it above and we’ll say it again – weeds always come back! Even the most manicured lawn can see weed growth within a couple days, and a lot of homeowners out there struggle to keep weeds from breaking up their patios

Be aware of just how much work you may have to put into weed removal. You’re going to need to be proactive in spotting them, and as much as you can, pull them up from the root. Getting rid of the root gets rid of the whole plant, and it’ll be a longer time between anything new growing and the same one growing again. 

Or if you’re able to, why not let the weeds call your garden home as well? If you’re not finding them all that intrusive, simply letting them grow and then just snipping them back in the same way you would the lawn is the way to do it. 

Remembering to Water Can Get Away From You

How often do you water your garden? Most people need to do so once a week, if the rain hasn’t gotten there first. Even with this schedule in mind, though, there’s a chance you’ve forgotten one or two weeks in a row. 

As such, your flowers are wilting a little, and the soil feels a little dry when you dig your trowel into it. Really, a lapse in memory like this could derail any of the gardening progress you’ve made.

Storms Can Leave Garden Buildings Worse for Wear

If you’ve got a shed in your garden, don’t get too comfortable with seeing it where it is, or indeed, in the condition it is. You could wake up one day after a storm has rained down on you and find the roof ripped off, the windows put out, and the unit itself on the other side of the garden. 

Even when you’re sure it’s been held down appropriately, bad weather can get a hold of it, and we’ve been seeing some pretty fast winds going round lately! Above all, on stormy days and nights, make sure nothing truly important is loose inside a shed. 

Garden maintenance is rarely all that easy, but most of it is something you can get through in an hour. That being said, some jobs will be unwieldy and take a lot out of you! Be prepared for these ahead of time, and make sure you only take them on when you’ve got enough time in your schedule. Plus, there’s always the option of calling a professional gardener to come and take care of the worst of things for you!







How to Create Your Own Greenhouse At Home

Do you enjoy gardening and wish you could have a greenhouse? Well, it’s easier than you think, and you don’t need tons of space to build one. You can create your own greenhouse at home and take advantage of getting a jumpstart on spring. Our experts have some recommendations on do-it-yourself greenhouses that are budget-friendly, low cost and do a beautiful job of letting the sunlight shine in and warming the plants and air inside.

Cold Frame Greenhouse

Greenhouses come in a variety of forms, but one of the simplest to create is the cold frame greenhouse.

This type of greenhouse is designed as a clear, insulated outdoor structure that will protect your plants. According to gardening pros, vegetables, small fruit, and cut flowers do especially well in a cold frame structure and can boost your crop yield and profitability by up to 50%.

Some folks make their own greenhouses from salvaged windows and lumber, but that can get complicated and take a lot of time to construct.

A cold frame greenhouse is an excellent unit that you build with structural steel tubing into a hoop house design. You can purchase this material from farm supply shops.

These units are available in a variety of sizes. One of the smaller kits features dimensions of 8’W x 8’5″H x 24’L.

These kits are easy to assemble as there is zero drilling or welding and include ground posts and purlins. A baseboard is recommended for this type of greenhouse.

Greenhouse Cover Essentials

The greenhouse you create at home will only be as effective as its cover. For instance, a greenhouse not only offers shelter for your plants and excellent see-through convenience but it’s designed to evenly diffuse light, block the UVA/UVB rays and protect your plants from burning with the added benefit that your plants will need less water. The proper cover material will also provide waterproofing and UV protection, and it’s long-lasting for about three to five years.

Tarps made of polyethylene do very well in the elements and are cheaper than putting up glass panes and are also lighter in load-bearing weight.

A cover made of polyethylene has another advantage over most others as it allows you to maintain the ideal humidity levels inside your greenhouse. No moisture will go in or out, and you can keep the greenhouse going year-round. This type of cover offers a superb layer of protection against temperature changes.

D.I.Y. Greenhouse Guides

There are plenty of greenhouse designs you can find in books, magazines, and online.

Check out social platforms such as YouTube.com to see how gardening experts create their backyard greenhouses. Many of these videos provide terrific, step-by-step demonstrations and the materials you will need.

You don’t have to make an elaborate or pricey greenhouse for the structure to do its job.

Maybe you would prefer a low tunnel, hoop-style greenhouse for a raised garden bed for growing your vegetables and flowers. You can build a unit with something as simple as PVC pipes, which are easy to bend. You can use floating row covers or greenhouse polyethylene to build hoop houses and greenhouse tunnels over garden beds that are perfect for your backyard space.

Portable greenhouses are yet another design to consider. You’re not committed or restricted to one space, and these units come in many styles and sizes with easy-to-assemble and disassemble materials. You can even fit a portable greenhouse on a small balcony, for example.

You have many great options that will fit your budget and deliver a greenhouse that functions and looks attractive.

Gardening is a wonderful hobby no matter what you’re planting from seed or crops you’re hoping to shelter from the elements. A greenhouse is a stable environment and can help you extend the growing season and keep the annoying pests at bay. If you love growing your own food year-round, then strawberries thrive in a garden greenhouse along with veggies such as cucumbers, summer squash, beans, and peppers. Talk about healthy and nutritious! Do some research, and take your time. There is a perfect greenhouse at home that you can build. Have fun, and get growing!

5 Tips For Finding A Greenhouse Solution Provider: Prospiant & More

If you’ve recently decided to take up a gardening project and then you have realized that a greenhouse could come quite in handy, or that it is basically a necessity, then there are a few things you will need to think about. First and foremost, you will need to figure out the where of it all, because you need to choose the best site for your greenhouse if you want it to thrive. Then, you will need to start thinking about all the other materials, pieces of equipment and generally things you’ll need to acquire and do in the process of setting everything up.

As you can see at http://www.prospiant.com, there are undeniably quite a lot of important factors to consider and things to get when trying to make the most out of your future greenhouse. To put things as simply as possible, you will need to find the perfect greenhouse solutions for you, meaning that you will also need to find the perfect provider. If you haven’t done any research on this topic before, chances are that you don’t really know a lot about the providers that you will need to choose from.

You might not even be aware of the fact that there are various amazing ones on the market these days, which could only make your final choice even more difficult, as you might not be able to decide among all of those providers that will offer their products and services to you. Well, I can definitely understand if you start feeling overwhelmed with all of this, as making the right choice is important, but it is also a bit tricky. Things can, however, get a bit easier for you.

If you are now wondering how things can get easier, let me cut to the chase and explain that right away. Basically, choosing the right greenhouse supplier without any help whatsoever is certainly difficult, but the thing is that you can always get the help you need. For example, while you are here, you can get familiar with some amazing and useful tips that will be helpful in this process. I will list those below and I hope that you’ll use them during the process of making this choice.

1. Search Online

It is definitely not surprising to hear that you will have to search the Internet in order to find the providers you are looking for. Once you type in the necessary keywords in your search engine, you will get a lot of relevant results. That’s when you will come across Prospiant and multiple other greenhouse providers and suppliers and that’s when you will realize just how many different companies are in this business today. You should use this step to create a list of potential companies. Click this to get a better idea about how to buy your greenhouse.

 

2. Check With Other Greenhouse Enthusiast

There is one more thing you can do in order to add some names to that list of potential providers that you are making. First things first, you can, and should, talk to other greenhouse enthusiasts and let them tell you basically everything they know about the companies that are in this business. Of course, these people might also be able to offer you some useful tips regarding the process of maintaining your greenhouse and taking care of them, so if you find that they are skilled enough to talk about that, make sure not to pass on the advice and the tips.

 

Most importantly, though, you should check if they are happy with the providers that they are working with. If you find that they aren’t, then it would be foolish of you to choose that same company. After all, there is no point in trying your luck out with someone if the other gardening enthusiasts you know are complaining about that someone. There are so many great companies out there, meaning that there is no need to settle for anything less than perfect.

 

3. Don’t Ignore The Reputation

Since we’re on the topic of not settling and of making sure that you aren’t choosing a company that people often complain about, let me continue along the same lines and tell you what you should do next. Basically, you should check the reputation of those different providers, with the aim of finding those that are highly reputable and respected in this community. This is how you will ensure that you are getting the best services and the best products, which is undeniably what you want. So, when you come across Prospiant or any other company, your task will be to take all the time you need to determine their reputation on the market and then decide if working with them is a smart idea.

 

4. Check What You Get From Different Places

Before making your ultimate choice here, you will need to check precisely what it is that you’ll get from Prospiant or any other provider that you are taking into consideration. You should go for those companies that can offer you not only the products you need, but also the tips you need in order to keep your greenhouse in the perfect state. Some providers will, for example, offer tips on how to keep the greenhouse cool, as well as how to care for different plants, and that is something that will definitely be of huge help to you. The bottom line is that you should find a place that offers some expert advice along with the products you need.

 

5. Do Some Price Comparisons

As I am sure you understand already, different places will offer different prices when it comes to their products and services. Sure, those might be similar to a certain extent, but the bottom line is that the prices will differ from one provider to another, meaning that it will be your task to do some comparisons before making a final choice. Of course, don’t regard the price as the number one criterion, because there are definitely more important things to think about, such as those mentioned above.

Incredible Ways Gardening Can Improve Health and Benefit the Environment

Human health and the state of our planet are connected. To be healthy you need clean air, water, and soil. For the environment to be in such good shape, you need to be in good health to help it heal from centuries of abuse. Elevate your gardening routine with the right attire. Explore our selection of Garden Clothes—perfect for a comfortable and stylish outdoor experience.

One of the activities that can improve both is gardening. If every human being on the planet planted one tree, it would eliminate a lot of carbon emissions from the atmosphere, believes climate activist Greta Thunberg. She has a good point, considering that trees use carbon for photosynthesis and release oxygen into the air. Moreover, they barely cost anything and can pretty much take care of themselves.

Imagine how much good gardening can do for you and the environment if planting only one tree can turn into something this big. So, let’s discuss ways gardening can improve health and benefit the environment, both at once or one at a time.

 

1. It’s a workout

Gardening can burn as much as 330 calories in an hour, based on CDC. Today, when one of the biggest health problems in the world is obesity, this is a good way to maintain or lose weight. Basically, the more work you do in your garden, you may burn more calories. 

Also, it can lower the body mass index or BMI that is directly connected to being overweight or obese. While according to a 2013 study, men lost more in BMI than women, the results are still an important indicator that gardening can help you control your weight.  

 

2. It can relieve you of stress

If you want to take control over your stress, a Dutch study suggests you do gardening. The study included two groups of participants, both exposed to the same stressor. Afterward, one group was instructed to read quietly and the other to garden. The tests showed that the group doing gardening had lower levels of stress hormone — cortisol than the other group.   

Gardening helps you stay in the present and calm down by doing various tasks, like planting and digging. This is a great way to take your mind off the things that bring you stress and even come up with solutions on how to resolve the troublesome issues. 

 

3. It can improve your diet

Growing your own food allows you to control what kind of ingredients you use. If you follow organic farming, you will eat chemical-free produce and also be kind to the environment. 

In addition, you will pay more attention to your diet by including more vegetables, fruits, and herbs into the meals. This means more vitamins and minerals, as well as fewer bad habits, such as eating processed food and trans fats. The more people do this, there will be less demand for products cultivated by practices that harm the environment, like mono cropping. 

 

4. It brightens up your mood

If you suffer from anxiety or depression, gardening should be part of your therapy. Tending to your garden increases serotonin and dopamine levels in your body making you feel happier and satisfied. However, using glyphosate-based herbicides is bad both for your mood and the environment. 

Even if you wear products made from plants sprayed with glyphosate, such as cotton, you can feel the bad effect on your mood. Besides lowering dopamine and serotonin, this chemical affects wildlife on the cellular level. Some scientists believe that it is responsible for disrupting gut bacteria in many animals, like bees. 

 

5. It’s good for your heart

Swedish study found that gardening can reduce the risk of stroke or heart attack since it is a form of moderate exercise. This is because it offers an appropriate amount of physical activity and stress relief, both effects are known to improve heart health. Moreover, using homemade pesticides may lower the risk of heart disease, as well as keep the environment clean.  

 

6. It’s beneficial for the brain

Based on a 2019 Korean study, 20 minutes of active gardening can stimulate nerve growth that may improve memory. This means that people who suffer from dementia may experience improvement after gardening. 

Greencare programs in Norway and Netherlands are based on horticultural therapy where dementia patients work in the gardens for several hours during the day. Social interaction and cognitive function during gardening may allow people who suffer from memory problems to relax, stay active, and improve their quality of life.

 

7. It teaches you to reuse waste

You probably heard of composting as a good way to give your plants the nutrients they need to grow. But this is also a sustainable practice that will help you recycle your food and natural waste instead of throwing it away. 

Put used tea bags, coffee grounds, banana peels, grass clippings, dead foliage, and other suitable waste into the composting bin. Since it takes three to nine months to produce compost, you should start making it in time for the fall preparation of the soil. Thanks to composting, you may turn into a zero-waste household.   

 

8. It reminds you to conserve water

A garden needs water or your plants would wither and die. However, even though Earth has more water than land, we can use only 1% of it. This is why water is a precious resource that needs conservation and careful use, especially during drought seasons. One of the ways to do that is through rainwater harvest from the roof into the barrels. 

Also, install a sweeper hose which is designed to sip water into the soil and reduce wastage. Placing a timer on your irrigation system will make sure you only spend the amounts your plants need, as well as not to forget to water them.

 

9. It helps lower carbon levels

Plants need carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to perform photosynthesis. As a result of this process, they release oxygen into the atmosphere. So, the more plants we have on the planet, the better are our chances to eliminate these harmful amounts of carbon from the air and stop global warming. 

This also means you will have more fresh air on your property, especially if you plant trees. Maple, spruce, and Douglas fir give the most oxygen, but you won’t make mistakes by planting oak or aspen. 

The bottom line

There is a strong connection between your health and the health of the entire planet. If air is polluted, waters contaminated, and soil barren, humans may be next in line for extinction. Gardening may not be the only way to improve health and benefit the environment, but it’s a good start to make a difference. 

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About The Author

Nina Simons is a lifestyle blogger and an avid traveler passionate about interior design and creative DIY projects.

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