I have a friend that lives in an area where the ground is like granite. You need a jack hammer to dig down a few inches.

She is frustrated because she would like to garden but digging a small hole would be a major project. I experienced the same thing when I lived in Placitas New Mexico. I was a very frustrated gardener.

There is a solution to this problem. It is raised bed gardening. This really is easier than you think. You can use railroad ties or stone to create a border around your raised garden. It can be any size you choose. A word of caution however, don’t get too carried away with size because you are going to need to fill in this area with soil.

Once you have built your border you are going to add the dirt. When I built my first raised bed garden, after I moved into Albuquerque, I didn’t have a lot of money and I didn’t have a truck to haul in dirt.I was also doing this project by myself. So what I did was stop at Walmart and load up my trunk with bags of dirt.

I did a little bit every day until I had my raised bed full of soil. I also mixed in a bit of sand for drainage and mulch to hold in moisture. If you have a truck or bigger vehicle you could do it all at once. Of course you could also have dirt delivered but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do it all at once so I took it one step at a time. Of all my gardens the raised bed is my favorite. It is easier to work in and it was fun to build.

For Your Gardening Needs

It is that time of year again to get out and enjoy ourselves in the garden. Some love the beauty of flower gardening and others love the thrill of growing their own fruits and vegetables. Gardening is so much fun as well as very relaxing and you can see the fruit of your labors fairly quickly.

Most of us also enjoy finding new sources for plants as well as garden supplies and tools. I came across a site Spring River Nurseries that is really a terrific resource for all garden enthusiasts.

What is impressive about Spring River Nurseries site is the massive amount of information and products available for flowers, fruits and vegetables and gardening supplies. This site is a work of art. It is easy to navigate, well laid out and concisely gives you the information you want.

It is fun to go on the site and learn about which plants grow better in sun or shade and if they thrive in moist soil environments or dry.

Of course I can’t resist ordering a few things while I am on the site but I also use Spring River Nurseries as one of my favorite gardening resources. If I am having trouble getting a plant to grow in a certain area I go to this site and many times because of their detailed explanations I see where I have planted in the wrong area or need to change the soil or water treatment.

Spring River Nurseries has been in business for 30 years and the purpose of their site is to showcase a wide variety of plants and supplies as well as to help you understand soil conditions, sun and watering requirements.

Starter Kits and Lawn Supplies

I originally went to Spring River Nurseries for gardening information but to my pleasant surprise, I found they have a whole section that helped me with my lawn. With drought conditions last year we lost some huge sections of our lawn and I wanted to replace those sections with grass that was drought resistant.

They have quick lawn and shademaster grass that will take care of those problem areas in your yard.

I also found this cool insect repellant, called ‘Hot wax’, that with one spray repels insects for one month. I am definitely going to try that!

My take on Spring River Nurseries site

• Trusted Garden Resource
• Vast amount of gardening information
• Fun plant and pepper starter packs
• Wide Variety of Garden products

If you are like me you will visit Spring River Nurseries over and over again to find new ideas and products you can’t live without. This is my go to resource for all my gardening needs!

Rose gardening is a very therapeutic and rewarding activity.  Many cultures regard roses as the epitome of beauty and the cultivation of these gorgeous flowers requires persistence and discipline. Although a rose garden takes some effort to ensure that it flourishes, there is nothing more rewarding than finally seeing your rose plants flowering.

Here are a few easy and fundamental strategies for beginning a rose garden and growing roses:

For novice gardeners, planning a rose garden could be a daunting task.  With so many rose varieties to select from, it can be confusing to know which will do best in your particular garden. Before purchasing rose plants, you should undertake some basic research regarding which rose types are available and what their characteristics are.   This will enable you to determine which is best for your garden and the local climate in your area. 

Popular choices include Ground Cover Roses, which grow like small bushes and are available in various dimensions and colours and Heirloom Roses, which have gorgeous scents.  Growing Climbing Roses is a great idea if you have trellises or patio coverings. 

One of the most important points to consider in planting your roses is to find a suitable site and to sufficiently enhance the soil. Many expert home gardeners say, “Take proper care of the soil and the plants will take proper care of themselves”.  For rose plants to flourish, they require adequate nutrition from the soil, for example phosphorous, potassium and nitrogen. You can ensure that your soil has sufficient quantities of these by adding fertilizer.  Compost makes an excellent fertilizer and is more environmentally friendly and healthy.  Avoid using too many chemicals.  The nutrition created through the living microorganisms within the soil assists as nourishment for plants to develop. Chemicals kill individual helpful bugs residing in the soil. Organic fertilizer is a far better to use compared to inorganic.

Your rose garden must be properly maintained if you want to enjoy flowers for years to come.  Weeds should be removed since they compete for water and food supply of your roses.   You also need to ensure that the plants are properly irrigated.  You need to provide your roses with at least an inch of water each week.  Giving long deep watering rather than frequent shallow watering will ensure that your roses develop deeper roots that allow them to obtain water in the “sub-soil” level.  This will stand your roses in good stead in drier times.

Careful pruning is an extremely important part of taking care of roses.  Spring is the usual time to undertake pruning. Generally, you want to ensure adequate space between plants, to ensure that air can move freely within the plants to help keep it healthy.  Some kinds of roses flower on new shoots but others flower on old wood.  Experiment with various pruning methods to see which best enhance the plants’ ability to produce blooms.

The skill, effort and care that you invest in planting a rose garden will be appreciated by all who admire your gorgeous roses.

It is said that a person who wants to have a Japanese garden has a good taste. Japanese gardening has grown famous over the years and is popular for the serenity that it can bring. What makes it a cut above the rest is the beauty achieved through the harmony of plants and natural elements like sand, water and rock.  Your ingenuity and resourcefulness will always come into surface as you are free to blend some of the styles. Japanese gardening hones your creativity in planning and setting up a garden, and in making it a unique one that your family or friends can admire. Let us take a look at various styles of Japanese gardening which you can jibe with your own garden design.

Japanese Gardening Designs

Tea Gardens

“ Cha Niwa or Roji”

The phrase “Tea Garden” does not necessarily mean sipping a cup of tea in a tea garden. This type of garden features Japanese stone lanterns, crouching water basins, stepping stones, and a waiting place. Most of the time, these are little insulated gardens. They are the pathway to the teahouse where one does the tea ceremony. It is a passage from the outside to the inner world of the teahouse where its sole purpose is to create sense of tranquility and purification before officiating a tea ceremony.

Courtyard Gardens

“Tsubo Niwa”

The earliest forms of courtyard gardens were created in the open spaces between the house and the storage buildings. The tea and courtyard gardens are very similar in concept, the only difference is more shade tolerant plants are used in the latter. The principles of traditional Japanese courtyard gardens are very ideal in creating contemporary small spaces on roofs or terraces.

Zen Gardens

“Karesansui”

Also known as waterless rock and sand gardens is a very prominent design in Japanese gardening. This aspect of Japanese gardening showcases natural landscapes in a more abstract way by making use of stones, gravel, and a few patches of moss for representing mountains, islands, and rivers. As its name implies (“Zen”), was derived from the strong influence of Zen Buddhism. Zen gardens were mainly created for meditation purposes.

Stroll Gardens

“Tsukiyama / Kaiyu-Shikien”

Stroll gardens, usually spacious gardens, most likely include one or more hills to represent mountains.  A rocky island, planted with a low juniper or picturesque pine, may serve a captivating position in the lake.

Japanese gardening has procured its exquisiteness from the blending of different elements such as sand, rocks, water, decors like lanterns, water basins, and bamboo fences, natural plants and sceneries. Its elegance has always been accounted to the symbolic expression of religious Buddhism and Shinto beliefs. The peacefulness Japanese gardening brings wraps the senses and appeases the soul with its timeless beauty. The style exuded by Japanese gardens immediately tells something about their original designers—passionate yet humbling.

You can have fresh picked herbs right outside your kitchen door with a container herb garden.

The first thing you need, of course, is a container for you garden. Pick one with good drainage, such as a farmer’s market woven basket and line the bottom with plastic. Again, drainage is important so poke some holes in the plastic lining. Believe it or not, baby diapers make great lining with their ability to soak up excess moisture.

Next comes’ the potting soil. Get your herb garden off to a good start with potting soil that has the fertilizer all ready in it.

Another way to jump start your herb garden is to buy the young herbs from your local nursery. Take the plant out of its container and loosen the soil around the base to free up bound roots.

Choose some nice, flavorful herbs like mint, thyme, sage, lavender and basil. Plant the taller growing sage, lavender and basil in the back of your herb garden.

Water the newly planted herbs until you can see the water drain out the bottom. Test the soil on a regular basis to make sure it is moist.

Place your herb garden basket in a decorative container and you are ready for delicious cooking all summer.

There are a few essential basics every gardener needs to know, among these are weeding and deadheading. These tips will help keep your garden healthy and well maintained all summer.

First of all you need a light weight bucket to carry along with you to put the weeds, spent blooms and other debris as you move along. A good, sharp pair of pruners is necessary to remove deadhead blooms and cut back perennials. A sturdy garden trowel will help you dig into the soil.

Weeding and deadheading (removing old blooms) are the two most important tasks you need to do to keep your garden neat and healthy.

Start by grabbing the weed as close to the soil line as you can and pull, roots and all. Use the trowel the same way making sure to get the whole root.

When deadheading, follow the spent flower down the branch to where it meets another branch with live blooms on it and carefully remove the stem without damaging the other branch. Pinch off the stem with your hand or cut it off with your pruners.

Weeding and deadheading keeps your garden free of water and nutrient robbing plants and assures more healthy blooms all summer long.

Consider more than the color of flowers when you plan to arrange a flower bed. The height of the flowers when fully grown will create a visually dynamic appearance when you place the tall plants in the back. Be aware of the plants height when growing from seeds or transplanting from the nursery so as not to block out the shorter plants as the garden matures.

How you group your flowers when you arrange a flower bed is also an important consideration. Lines of similar color plants are usually placed in a curved or circular pattern. Larger blooming plants of a similar color can be placed behind the shorter plants of a different color for an attractive design.

Consider using complimentary colors next to each other or blend shades of the same color from light to dark. Break up the lines of colors by planting them slightly offset from one another to create a softer appearance as one color blends into the other and back again.

If you are looking to arrange a flower bed in a more formal setting, curves and circular lines of blooms work well as opposed to straight lines and squares.

Author Doug Green has some good advice for perennial garden flowers that are hardy, bloom most of the summer and are easy to care for.

Echinacea “Maxima” or coneflower can grow up to 36 inches high and blooms 6 to 8 weeks in the latter part of summer. An added bonus is that butterflies love this plant.

Veronica (named after St. Veronica) sunny border blue with its 18 inch flower spikes is one of the favorite perennial garden flowers because it will do well in Sun or light shade.

Perovskia, sometimes called Russian Sage has silver leaves and purple flowers and usually grows 36 to 48 inches high in a well drained garden with full Sun.

The late summer, early fall blooming Black Eyed Susan pairs well with Russian Sage with its orange and black flowers and desire for a sunny location.

If you have a shady garden, Hellebore or Christmas Rose is a spring blooming plant and can grow 18 to 24 inches.

One of the longest blooming perennial garden flowers is Geranium Rozanne with its light violet blooms. It will grow in Sun or part shade to a height of 18 to 24 inches and continue to bloom into the fall frost.

A yard that slopes down towards the foundation can be a problem with water pouring down and collecting along the edge of the house. Creating a French drain can help solve the problem.

Start with an axe, shovel and post-hole digger for digging a trench about 14 to 15 inches deep and 12 inches wide the length of the house. Have a bucket of water handy to test the flow of water and make sure it goes down hill the entire length of the trench.

A plastic cloth in the trench below the gravel will help prevent a slow draining trench. Make sure the cloth overlaps the gravel in the trench facing your foundation.

Rocks in the way will also deter the flow of water and will have to be removed. Creating a French drain with a slope of about 1% per 100 feet should create an adequate flow down hill.

It is very important when creating a French drain to be aware of underground utility cables and other hazards. Ask your local cable company to flag areas where cables run underground so you can be extra careful when digging in those areas.

You may have a back or front yard with a steep or moderate slope that is difficult to work with or you may want to create a slope on purpose for decorative effect. Either way, here are some helpful tips to deal with when landscaping steep slopes.

For our example, we are going to use a yard that slopes about 6 ½ feet over a distance of 22 ½ feet from home to fence and about 2 ½ feet from side to side which, is about 100 feet.

The first step was a good, strong retaining wall built with bricks available at your local home improvement store. A rail fence along the top of the wall is an added safety feature, a necessity when landscaping steep slopes.

This was built in 2 levels with gravel in between and on the bottom layer to act as water drainage for the yard. A series of concrete steps, also with a safety fence connects the top to bottom layer.

The side to side slope was also built with 2 smaller retaining walls and a few concrete steps. Stamped, stained concrete was used to create the base level of the yard combined with more gravel for drainage.

Bedding plants and shrubs add to the design when landscaping steep slopes for an over all attractive yard.

Professional landscaper, Carolyn Holt has some good advice for pruning shrubs. Take, for example a large perennial like Salvia Indigo Spires. After its first blooms are complete, you will want to prune back about 1/3 of the plant.

Use a pair of sharp, clean cutters to remove the spent blooms and trim the long, twisting flower spikes. Pruning shrubs in this manner will encourage growth and make room for new blooms. You can get 2 seasons of growth out of your plants by the right kind of pruning and of course a more attractive garden.

Salvia Indigo Spires, like many flowering shrubs, can get quite large and produce blooms from spring to the fall frost. It is a deciduous plant, so at the end of the year, it is cut back to about 6 inches above the ground to form a nice, neat crown. This is how it will spend the winter.

Pruning shrubs like Salvia in this manner will cause them to grow back very rapidly the following spring and soon produce blooms with their bright, blue color.

Pruning shrubs like the large growing Salvia to about 2/3 their original size will leave the plant more compact and healthy and producing the beautiful blue, violet flowers all summer long.