carefree gardens

Installing a Drip Irrigation System
If you’re looking for ways to keep your garden watered without wasting toomuch time and money, you’ve probably gone through a lot of options in yourmind. Maybe you’ve considered a sprinkler, a hose, or a good old-fashionedwatering can. All of these methods might be convenient, but most of thetime you will end up wasting water on plants that don’t need any more. Ifyou live in a drought stricken area like I do, you know that every bit ofwater counts. I ended up getting a drip irrigation system. I haven’tregretted this decision at all.
When you install a drip irrigation system, you can choose one of twovarieties: above ground and below ground. The above ground version dripssmall amounts of water continuously onto the ground, and allows it to soakin. It is all regulated from a pressure controller, which ensures that thewater just comes out at a drip instead of a spray or a stream. Thesepressure regulators are very inexpensive. The whole drip system can be setup with a pressure regulator and a garden hose with holes poked in it(although it is ideal for you to get a pipe designed for this type of use,I’ve found that the hose method works acceptably).
The underground system is a bit more of a pain to install and maintain.But if you’re really into the aesthetic aspect of your garden and don’twant any visible watering system, then you might consider it worth it.It’s essentially the same as the above ground version, only a small trenchis dug for the hose or pipe prior to any planting. This allows the waterdirect access to the roots for the most watering efficiency. Plus, you canimpress your neighbors by having a beautiful garden without ever goingoutside to water it! They’ll be baffled.
To choose between the two systems, you need to take several things intoaccount. Do you have the same plant layout year round? If it is alwayschanging, you probably won’t want to bury your hose. It can be a pain todig it up and re-align it with all your new plants every year or so. Evenif your plant layout never changes, you need to consider how much youreally mind seeing a hose in your garden. If it really bothers you to theextent that you’re willing to work for a few hours to get rid of it, thenby all means bury it. But otherwise I would suggest staying above groundif for nothing else than the convenience of repairing and rearranging.
One of the main advantages of the drip irrigation system is itsefficiency. Instead of spraying large amounts of water willy-nilly like ahose does, it makes the most of your precious water by putting it exactlywhere it is needed. It can also provide your garden with constantwatering, instead of just having to go thirsty whenever you’re not aroundto water it.
So if you’re looking for an easy, cheap, convenient, and efficientalternative watering method, you should go out to the gardening storetoday and purchase the necessary items to install a drip irrigationsystem. I think you’ll be surprised at how much easier it is to maintain agarden after you have it.

Please visit our Carefree Gardens website before you leave

carefree gardens

My First Gardening Experience
Ah, to this day I still remember my first gardening experience. It wassuch a disaster that I didn’t think I would ever want to garden again. Ialmost decided to turn my casual hobby into the most rage-inducing topicyou could possibly bring up to me.
It all started a few weeks after I moved in to my first house. I wasexcited just to have my own grass to mow, since I had been in apartmentsand condos for quite a while. In between plans to paint walls and renovatethe inside to exactly how I like, I thought it would be a good idea tostart a fruit garden so that I could have some fresh produce and put myyard to use. At that point I didn’t really know anything at all aboutgardening. But still in my spunky youthful years, I decided I didn’t needhelp. How hard could it be to start a garden and grow stuff? After all, ithappens in nature all the time and nobody even has to do anything.
I already had a grassless patch in my yard where it looked like theprevious owner had attempted a garden. But any attempt they had madeturned out to be an utter travesty. The area was full of rocks and weeds,with no signs of any agreeable plants. I spent several hours of workspread over several days to clear out the entire area, leaving nothing butdirt. At that point, however, I didn’t realize the difference between“dirt” and “soil”. I was dealing with barren, hard, nutritionless, andunforgiving land.
I made some attempt at making my garden look nice; although I think evenMartha Stewart would have had difficulties. I took some stained boardsthat were sitting in my basement (quite convenient, no?) and used them asa border for my garden, to keep out all the pests that couldn’t jump morethan a foot (I figured I would be safe from lawn gnomes). I used the pileof rocks I had collected from the garden to make a creepy shrine lookingthing in front of it. I don’t know what I was thinking when I did that.
I went to the store that very day, and picked out whatever looked tasty.Strawberries? Sure! Watermelon? Yeah! I hacked away a hole in therock-hard ground and poked the seed in. After that, I think I watered itfaithfully every day for several weeks before realizing that it was notgoing to grow anything. But even after I had that realization, I continuedto water in hopes that my seeds would pull a last minute sprout on me. ButI knew there was no hope, and I was heartbroken. After all those hours ofpulling up weeds and tossing rocks into a pile, I had no fruit to show formy labor.
So, feeling dejected and betrayed, I logged onto the internet and searchedfor a guide to gardening. I quickly ran across a site that led me torealize the true skill required for gardening. It was then I learned aboutsoil consistency, nutrients, ideal watering conditions, seasons, and allthose things. After I read up on my area and how to grow fruits, I learnedexactly what to do. I learned how to get the ideal soil, when to plant theseeds, how much to water, etc. Just a night of browsing the internet andprinting off sources, and I was totally ready for the next planting season.
If you’re in the position I was, and you’re just itching to start a newgarden… I urge you to learn from my mistake. Make sure you do plenty ofproper research on the types of plants you’re trying to grow, along withthe climate. Spend money on good soil, good fertilizer, and good gardentools. Hopefully you don’t have to go through the emotional disaster thatI went through.

Please visit our Carefree Garden website before you go

carefree gardens

Choosing and Planting Perennials

If you’ve been growing a vegetable garden for a while, you might be feeling slightly disgruntled at how plain it is to look at. I too began my gardening career with a vegetable garden, but I decided that it wasn’t quite as pleasing to look at as I would have liked. I heard from a friend that the use of perennial flowers could be a great way to liven up my garden without adding any extra work for me.

Perennial flowers are strong, local flowers that come back every year without having to replant or do any extra work. During their off seasons, the flowers and stems die back and you can hardly even tell the plant is there (rather than just dying and looking like hideous brown clumps in your garden). When it’s time to bloom, entirely new flowers shoot up where the old ones were.

Before deciding whether to put in perennials or not, you need to make sure that your soil has proper drainage. If the water stays saturated for long periods of time, you should build a raised bed. To test, dig a hole and fill it with water. Wait a day, and then fill it with water again. All traces of water should be gone within 10 hours. If the hole isn’t completely dry, you will need to build a raised bed.

Picking your perennials can be a complicated process. The goal should be to have them flowering as much as possible during the year, so you should create an outline of the year. Research the different types of flower you want, and create a timeline of flowering. If you plan it right, you can have a different type of flower blooming at any point in the year. Getting just the right mixture of seeds can give your yard a constantly changing array of colors.

When you go to buy the seeds from your local florist or nursery, you might be able to find a custom seed mixture for your area. This takes the really tough research part out of the job. Usually these blends are optimized for the local climate, and do great jobs of having flowers always grow in your yard. If one of these isn’t available, you can ask the employees what they think would be a good mixture. They should be happy to help you put something together which will be optimal for whatever you desire.

You should definitely use mulch when planting perennials. This will reduce the overall amount of work you have to do, by reducing the amount of weeds and increasing the water retention. Bark or pine needles work great, I have found, and depending on the rest of your yard you might have them on hand at no charge. As for fertilizer, you should use it sparingly once your plants start to come to life.

When you actually go to plant the seeds, you should put them in small, separate clumps according to the directions. This is because they tend to spread out, and if you have too many too close together then they will end up doing nothing but choking each other out. As you plant them, throw in a little bit of extremely weak fertilizer. In no time at all you should start to see flowers blooming up.


Please visit our Care Free Gardens website before you go

Carefree Gardens

Are you worried about your soil?

Constantly watering to keep your plants alive?

Cant figure out which fertilizer is right and how much to use?

Planting in the summer to replace those dead plants?

Buying new seeds and plants every year?


Make these worries a thing of the past. Visit our Care Free Gardens website to discover the secret.

carefree gardens

The Psychology Behind Gardening

I don’t know what it is about a garden that has always drawn humans to
them. But they’ve always been very popular, and an integral part of
peoples’ lifestyles. Most religions feature gardens as the settings for
some of the biggest events According to Christianity, humanity was started
in a garden and the son of God was resurrected in a garden. The Buddhist
build gardens to allow nature to permeate their surroundings. Almost every
major palace and government building has a garden. But what’s so great
about them? They’re just a bunch of plants, after all.

Of course, the reasoning is fairly obvious behind why people grow food in
gardens. It’s to eat! If you live off the fat of the land and actually
survive on stuff from your garden, it’s easy to understand the reasoning.
But I’m thinking about those people who plant flower gardens just for the
sake of looking nice. There’s no immediate benefit that I can see; you
just have a bunch of flowers in your yard! However, after thinking
extensively about the motivation behind planting decorative gardens, I’ve
conceived several possible theories.

I think one of the reasons people love gardens so much is that while we
have a natural desire to progress and industrialize, deep within all of us
is a primal love for nature. While this desire might not be as strong as
the desire for modernism, it is still strong enough to compel us to create
gardens, small outlets of nature, in the midst of all our hustle and
bustle. Since being in nature is like regressing to an earlier stage of
humanity, we too can regress to a time of comfort and utter happiness.
This is why gardens are so relaxing and calming to be in. This is why
gardens are a good place to meditate and do tai chi exercises. A garden is
a way to quickly escape from the busy world.

I’ve thought at times that perhaps we as humans feel a sort of guilt
driving us to restore nature and care for it. This guilt could stem from
the knowledge that we, not personally but as a race, have destroyed so
much of nature to get where we are today. It’s the least we can do to
build a small garden in remembrance of all the trees we kill every day.
It’s my theory that this is the underlying reason for most people to take
up gardening as a hobby.

Gardening is definitely a healthy habit though, don’t get me wrong. Any
hobby that provides physical exercise, helps the environment, and improves
your diet can’t be a negative thing. So no matter what the underlying
psychological cause for gardening is, I think that everyone should
continue to do so. In the USA especially, which is dealing with obesity
and pollution as its two major problems, I think gardening can only serve
to improve the state of the world.

Of course I’m no psychologist; I’m just a curious gardener. I often stay
up for hours wondering what makes me garden. What is it that makes me go
outside for a few hours every day with my gardening tools, and facilitate
the small-time growth of plants that would grow naturally on their own? I
may never know, but in this case ignorance truly is bliss.

Please do visit our website before you go by Clicking Here

Carefree Gardens

I have had a reader of this Blog ask a question and I am wondering if anybody can help with any suggestions. The question is this

“I have been looking after 3 dogs this past summer and now my lawn is covered with dead brown patches as a result of urine. Has anybody found anything which gets rid of these or have you any suggestions as to how I can get my lawn looking green again? Thank you”

carefree gardens

I thought you might be interested in this article which is about lawns.


Hills and holes: Not part of your landscaping design?
Do pests ‘gopher’ your lawn? Chances are, if you have a lawn, you risk the chance of having pests, such as the gopher and his cousin the mole. And, perhaps even those pesky six-legged creatures- ants and other insects- call your grass patches home. Why are these animals and insects attracted to your lawn? And, what can you do to stop them from burrowing and nesting? Those answers and more will follow in this article.
Most household lawns are not large enough to attract so many pests that a serious problem will result, but nonetheless, they can be a nuisance and cause some minor damage to your grassy nook. Insects are not very easy to spot, as some are so small they are naked to the eye, however, they can be identified by dead, brown patches of grass. Telltale signs of moles and gophers are a little more obvious- dirt hills on the top of your lawn, and beneath them, tunnels and holes. Once you identify that you have pests, you then need to decide the best way for you to take care of the problem.
The first option is to call an expert. Use your local directory or a referral from someone you know that had a similar problem. But if you are like most people today, you may want to do it yourself. And, if you are a DIYer, the first thing you need to do is size up your situation, and what you are up against. Let’s look at insects first.
When dealing with insects, the first thing you must realize is that not all insects are bad guys. Sure, we probably would swat at them all, but in reality, some insects can actually act as exterminators against others. Other insects can actually help control your thatch level. There are two types of insects when it comes to the ones who invade your lawn: above and below ground insects. Above ground insects usually feed on your grass, and can be seen fairly easy. Some examples of these can be chinch bugs, green bugs and armyworms. The below ground insects are just that, they feed on your lawn through the root system, which means they are the most destructive of the two. They are also the most difficult to identify since they are not easily seen. These can include grubs, beetle larvae and billbugs. There are literally thousands of species of insects, far too many to list here. You could borrow a book on insects from your local library, or check out some entomology websites to learn more about what roles and functions they have. After all, you don’t want to kill off any allies!
There are five basic types of treatment for anthills and other insects: chemical insecticides, biological insecticides, botanical insecticides, insecticide soaps and predatory insects (remember- some are your friend!). There may also be specific types for specific insects. Weigh each option and choose which one fits your needs the best.
Moles and gophers are two of the most common animal pests, and due to striking similarities they are often confused. Both animals build tunnels under your lawns, but that does not mean they are the same. These two have many things that set them apart from one another. Moles are smaller than gophers, and have pointed snouts and large front claws. They do not feed on your lawn, but the insects that dwell within. Sounds like they are helping you with the insects? Maybe, but the moles’ tunnels leave mounds of dirt on the ground above, and their shallow tunnels cause uneven ground. Gophers, the largest of the pesky pair, have buckteeth and small ears. These creatures love to dine on your grass and plant roots. Gophers also leave mounds of dirt, but they do far more damage underground, causing sinkholes. While your green may not encompass as many acres of the turf in the movie Caddyshack, they can cause just as much recurring trouble. Getting rids of gophers and moles leads to one grand solution- killing them. There are also more conventional methods, such as traps.
The best way to deal with pests though is to perhaps not have them at all. This can be achieved by taking preventative measures in your lawn. But of course, nature has a mind of its own!


Please Click Here to visit our website