Water Gardens

By Jeanette Joy Fisher

The placement of your water garden is your most important decision. You'll want to choose a spot that gets as much sunlight as possible, generally away from trees or bushes that shed their leaves, because most plants and fish require a fair amount of sunlight to thrive, and deciduous trees and shrubs can make keeping your water element a chore in the fall.

You're only limited by your budget, the size of your space, and your imagination, but always bear in mind that your water garden will require a certain amount of maintenance, which you'll have to do if you want your garden to continue to look great. If you incorporate fish into your garden scheme, they'll also need to be fed as part of your routine maintenance program.

If you use aquatic plants in your water garden, only cover about half the surface of the water. It will allow you to see your ornamental fish underneath. You may also want to plant flowers around the edge of your pond, and there are some plants that will actually add oxygen to the water, which is important, especially if you have fish in your pond. Fish can help keep the pond clean by eating insects.

Algae is one of the primary problems encountered by water gardeners, and it's often brought about by over fertilizing water plants or feeding fish too much or too often. For many years, people in England have used barley straw to help reduce the amount of string and filament type algae, but it may not work in every situation. If you experience algae problems--and you probably will--pay close attention to the feeding regime of both your fish and your water plants.

To keep your water oxygenated and fresh, you'll need a pond pump and filter, which can also help reduce insect and algae problems. Water plants also remove nutrients from the water that could create pollution problems. Some good plants include water hyacinths, water violets, and water crowfoot, if you bear in mind that they tend to reproduce vigorously and can quickly take over a pond.

Like all gardens, water gardens require a certain amount of care, but the results can give you years of pleasure.

Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher

Jeanette Fisher has researched the effects of environment on emotions for over 15 years. She teaches interior design college courses and seminars. Free environmental design info: http://environmentpsychology.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeanette_Joy_Fisher

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Visit http://www.greatgardenponds.com for
all your water garden and garden pond information and products.

Pond Liners

If you are starting a new pond this spring, or have found holes in your liner from the nearby archery area where you son practices (as I did this spring), you may want to read over this article by Eric Morris about pond liners. If you are looking for a liner or pond kit, be sure to visit my Pond Building page at Great Garden Ponds dot com.

By Eric Morris

Ponds are small water spaces that provide beauty and calm to their surroundings, whether large concrete constructions or small private gardens. Even the Romans, Egyptians and Chinese of the ancient world loved to decorate their gardens with attractive ponds.

The most important task while building a pond is to lay a Pond Liner, just like laying a foundation for a building. A natural lake or pond has dirt, rock and silt at its bottom. A Pond Liner helps prevent the pond water from penetrating the soil, making the soil silty.

Pond Liners come in different options. The first choice is between preformed and custom-made or flexible. Preformed liners are suitable for small garden ponds. Preformed Pond Liners are quick and easy to install. Flexible liners are suitable for medium-sized ponds. Flexible liners are made of natural materials like rubber and clay, as well as synthetics such as PVC liners.

Installing a preformed Pond Liner requires creating a hole suited to the space of the pond. But installing flexible liners requires checking whether any sharp objects will penetrate the liner.

Preformed Pond Liners made of plastic are strong and not likely to leak. They are difficult to fit, due to their varying shapes and depth sizes, and are suited to small ponds. Such ponds are usually expensive, with high delivery charges. Flexible liners include rubber products like butyl rubber, EPDM (ethylene propylene dyiene monomer) rubber, and clay like sodium bentonyte clay. Synthetic plastics include P.V.C. (polyvinyl chloride), polyethylene (a thermo plastic) and Ultra Guard (polymeric alloy).

The primary advantage of flexible Pond Liners is that they are easy to transport. They are not affected by limits of size or shape. The materials can be molded into the pond shape of your choice. It is easy to make adjustments. There is a variety of material to suit every need. The pond will look natural as it blends with the landscape.

Synthetic rubber is most versatile. Called EPDM, it is economical, durable and easy to install. And really flexible. Flexible plastic liners such as PVC and HDPE are available, but not as effective as rubber liners.

With the advent of garden pools and preformed pool liners, all the hassles of concrete and other raw material are saved. Heavy-duty Pond Liners are available with long-term guarantees, and sell for less than $1 per square foot. Large ponds require a large Pond Liner that is safe for fish and plant life, inexpensive, easy to install, and durable to last over 20 years. Polyethylene is suitable for such ponds.

Pond Liners are available in black, and U.V. protected. Many people install pre-liners to provide an insulating layer between the soil and Pond Liner. Ultimately, to select a Pond Liner, a number of criteria must be considered such as size, quality goals, budget, property value, and wildlife.
Pond Liners provides detailed information about pond liners, garden pond liners, preformed pond liners, rubber pond liners and more. Pond Liners is the sister site of Natural Waterfalls.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Morris

Pond Kits are a great way to quickly start a Backyard Retreat area this spring. Remember to read over all the great information on my Great Garden Ponds dot com site to help get your project off to a good start.

It’s Time to Get Started with Your Backyard Gardening Project

Spring is here, the weather is warming up and now is the time to get outside and make plans for your own backyard garden pond retreat area. One of the things that can often prevent home owners from attempting to take on their own landscaping project is fear. Look through the books on landscaping and read some of the suggestions and it can look overwhelming.

Don’t be afraid of taking on your gardening project. You certainly need to read up and look at pictures before you begin a project, but remember; this is your backyard and you are free to do with it what you want.

When you consider the plants that you will use, the main thing to be concerned with is to make certain of their growing requirements. Do they require a lot of sunlight, a mix of sun and shade, or mostly shade? Other than that, let's get started.

The biggest and most dramatic feature you can add to your backyard is a garden pond. Put in a waterfall and enjoy the relaxing sounds of water while you sip lemonade and read a good book.
If a garden pond or water garden is in your plans, do this first. It will be the focal point and you can begin your plantings later.

A pond is not hard to build. Plan your layout and get some white spray paint or chalk and layout your design. You can use one of the plastic pre-shaped pond kits if you like, but you can seldom really get the natural look that you can with a liner. Take a look at the Garden Pond kits that Yardiac has to offer. The range in size from 550 to 3000 gallons.

The hardest part will be digging. The tedious part may be laying out the liner to try to remove most of the wrinkles. The fun part will be filling the pond with water and, later, stocking the pond with goldfish or Koi.

Put in some water lilies and, if that's the only thing you get done the first year, that’s great! Just remember to take time to set and enjoy what you have created. This will be dramatic and will definitely bring you lots of relaxation as well as pride. Plant it near where you spend most of your time.

When the pond is finished you may want to add more flowers and plants around other areas of your yard. Notice the sunshine at different times of the day. That's what will determine the location of your plants in each area.

Unless you have a lot of time and money, you probably won't be able to plant your entire backyard in one season. Start with one area and till it up. Plant a few plants and space them out somewhat. This will give you a chance to mix in some plants next year. You can see what the plants look like and decide if you need more color or some hostas or some more of the same plants. Next year, you can add or subtract plantings as needed.

Start with a few sections now or one section and add more each year. You'll be amazed what you can accomplish in four or five years without breaking the bank. You'll create a backyard garden retreat haven made especially for you.

Great Garden Ponds Invited to Join BlogBurst

Great Garden Ponds has received an invitation to join the BlogBurst Network.

BlogBurst is owned by Pluck, my favorite news reader folks. They are now involved in their spring 2006 trial development phase building their syndication service. You can read all about this service on the BlogBurst website.

If all goes as they have planned, folks all around the country should be reading posts to the Great Garden Ponds Blog site. Some of the publishers they are working with include: Washingtonpost.com, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, and San Antonio Express-News.

You Can Now Get Your Garden Pond Kit in a Box

OK, you have been reading over this blog site or looking at the information and wonderful photos from my Great Garden Ponds website and now you have the pond building bug. The only thing that is stopping you from "jumping in" and making a "splash" with your own garden pond project is, well, your never built anything like this before.

Relax and pick your garden pond size from the great new Freedom Garden Ponds available from Yardiac. They offer garden pond kits ranging in size from 550 gallons to 3000 gallons. These come complete with everything you need to get "your feet wet" this spring with your own garden pond project. Well, you may need to go and get your own fish... I don't see them on the material list from Yardiac.

You can find the information about the Yardiac garden pond kits on the Pond Building link on my Great Garden Ponds site.

Of course if you are really into making things from your own plans, you can find everything you need from the links of resources at my GreatGardenPonds.com website.

Are you ready? You know you want your own Backyard Garden Pond Retreat Center this summer. You Can Do It!

Have You Ordered Your Plants for Springs Yet?

Finally this week the weather here in Minnesota is getting into the 50's with thunderstorms in the forecast later in the week. We only have a couple small snow piles left in the yard that should be gone by the end of today. We have been looking at the garden catalogs and dreaming about summer and the beautiful things that we can grow this year.

If you have not already ordered your own garden catalogs there is still time to get them. Just go to our Garden Catalogs web page and select from Gurney's, HenryField's, Spring Hill, break, Garden's Alive and Direct Gardening. You can also place your garden orders right from the website links found on our Great Garden Ponds site. Many suppliers offer FREE shipping on orders.

Want to get a head start on your gardening? How about creating your own Kitchen Garden?

A kitchen garden has a charm all its own. There really is nothing to beat the look and taste of fruit and vegetables that you've grown yourself. If you add a few decorative herbs to the mix, there's absolutely no reason why your kitchen garden can't look as good visually as your flower garden.

It's a fact that fruit, vegetables and herbs are very rewarding to grow. There's an extra special flavor to produce you've grown yourself.

But be warned, a kitchen garden is going to be very labor-intensive. If you're not into hard, manual work in your garden, a kitchen garden may not be for you. The only way you're going to get bumper crops of the fruit, vegetables and herbs that you grow is by lavishing tender loving care and attention on them.

Starting your growing early can produce a bountiful crop weeks ahead of its normal time, giving you a home-grown harvest at a time when those fruits and vegetables are particularly expensive in the shops.

You can make your kitchen garden as visually attractive as possible by careful planning. If space is at a premium you can choose some of the more decorative vegetables and herbs and plant them in your flower beds.

Ideally you need to choose a sunny site in your garden for most herbs and vegetables to do well. If you are growing fruit trees, you should ensure that they do not cast a shadow over the vegetables and herbs.

Remember that although most herbs are leafy and lacking flowers, they will provide greenery in your garden, even in the winter. Just exercise a little thought as to where to place them and think in terms of what your garden will look like in each of the seasons and factor this into your planning.

Most herbs will do very well when planted in containers, so they are an excellent option even if you don't have much space in your garden. Tall herbs can be planted at the back of a traditional flower garden and low-growing herbs make excellent flower garden borders.

The normal method of growing vegetables is in regimented rows. If they are kept properly weeded, this can still look good. Again, if you don't have much space, you can still grow a large range of vegetables in containers e.g. peas and potatoes. Some vegetables are even attractive enough to be planted amongst the flowers - but remember that you are going to have gaps once the vegetables are harvested.

You may be surprised to learn that there's a large range of fruit that you can grow even if you don't have several acres worth of orchard plot. Small apple trees can grow in pots on the patio, you can grow strawberries in containers and there are even certain varieties of cordon-trained apples and pears that can be grown against a garden fence.

Nearly all fruit trees prefer a sunny site. You will certainly suffer from poor crops if you allow frost to damage the blossom on apple and pear trees. Pears are particularly vulnerable because they tend to flower earlier than apple trees.

If you don't have space in abundance but still want to try your hand at fruit growing then you should look at planting trained fruit trees such as espaliers, cordons and fans against a fence or wall. They can look very decorative and take up very little room.

With a modicum of planning, thought and imagination there really is no reason at all why you can't have the joy of growing and harvesting food for your own kitchen table in your own kitchen garden, no matter how small the plot.

How and When to Plant Roses

When spring comes and the ground is thawed, it is time to start planting your rose garden. Roses have been a cherished aphrodisiac since biblical times. They have been around for over 3000 years, yet they still hold a particular mystery and fascination, not to mention the fact that they just look and smell good!

One of the most important rules of growing roses is to plant the rose bush in an area that receives around 4 to 6 hours of sunlight every day.

It is preferable not to plant too many trees or other plants around the rose bush because most of these are likely to either mix with the rose or stifle it's growth. If you are replacing an old rose bush, approximately 1 1/2 cubic feet of old soil should be removed, and fresh soil added to replace it. When positioning your rose in the garden or landscape, consider the growth habit of the rose.

For example, place climbers and ramblers along fences, trellises, or next to arches or pergolas. This location offers them free range of growth, and optimal potential for the showiest blooms.

Roses also look beautiful in island beds interplanted with perennials. Miniature roses make great edging plants in front of their taller cousins. Planted singly, shrub roses make excellent specimen plants or they can be clustered to make a flowering hedge. You can also use them to camouflage unsightly garden objects.

Dig a hole large enough for the root mass and loosen the bottom of the hole. You should add bone meal, which is a slow acting source of phosphorus that leads to healthy root growth in the rose plant.

Then the plant should be placed in the hole carefully and the hole refilled with soil, covering the roots properly. Before making the final covering, water the rose plant and let it absorb the water. After this, water the plant more and mound the soil about 6 inches high. The dome will keep the stems from drying out until the plant is rooted. Gradually remove the excess soil as the leaves open.

Special care should be taken with the planting depth. It varies according to the climate you live in.

If you live in a colder area, plant a bit deeper and consult with the people growing roses in your area. If you are buying potted roses, you should plant them about 1 inch deeper than their potted level.

The best time to plant roses varies depending on the winter temperature. Where temperatures don't drop below -10 degrees F; either fall or spring planting is satisfactory. If you live in an area where winter temperatures go below -10 degrees F, spring planting is preferred. Plants should be planted in a dormant condition if purchased bare root, but container grown plants may be planted throughout the growing season.

Spacing of the rose plant is highly influenced by the temperature. In regions where winters are severe, the rose plant does not grow as large as in mild climates. Taking this into consideration, hybrid tea roses should be spaced 1 1/2 to 3 feet apart. Large vigorous growers, such as hybrid perpetuals need 3 to 5 feet of space, and the climbers need from 8 to 10 feet of space.

If the winter temperature is below 10 degrees F, roses can grow healthy if proper care is taken. The gardener must prepare for that cold, wet reality as he revels in the summer air conditioning.

In zones 7 and colder, the roses enjoy their last fertilization of the season by August 15th to limit the emergence of new rose canes, which will almost certainly not survive the winter.

Visit www.greatgardenponds.com and order your Garden & Seeds Catalogs and order those new rose bushes.

The Bird Garden - Creating a Bird Friendly Habitat

Are you delighted by the natural show of birds? Flocks of sparrows descending to the ground for a feast, or a lone blue jay making his noisy calls against a winter backdrop - birds offer the observer and listener both pleasure and entertainment.

If you want to enjoy the company of birds in your yard you can do so by creating a garden suited to their needs. Planting a variety of trees, shrubs and natural grasses can make your yard a desirable destination. There are four needs that you can provide for that will encourage birds to your yard: safety, shelter, food and home.

SAFETY

Birds have many predators. Thick trees, grasses and shrubs hide them from enemies and protect their young. Evergreens like pine, fir or hollies provide dense cover throughout the year while deciduous trees are welcome protection in the warmer months.

SHELTER

The trees and shrubs that offer protection from predators can also protect them from the elements. Even tall ornamental grass can be used as a refuge from inclement weather. Planting bushes close together will provide better protection for your birds.

FOOD

Since most birds are not taught to find food from bird feeders you will attract more varieties of wild birds if you offer natural food sources. Berries, insects, nectar and nuts are preferred to seeds by some birds and will be abundant in supply if you choose these trees and shrubs to plant in your garden.

Plan your garden to offer food throughout the year, for example; blueberry and blackberry bushes in the summer, dogwoods in the fall and hollies in the winter. Oaks, pines and walnut trees will provide seeds and nuts during the year.

Shrubs and flowers can be planted to encourage visits from nectar-seeking birds like the hummingbird. Crabapple trees and azaleas provide nectar equally well as flowers. Shrubs and trees with winter berries will attract non-migrating wild birds throughout the colder months. By offering a varied selection of natural food sources you can enjoy the splendor of all your local birds.

HOME

You may create homes for your birds, or notice them being built in your eves, but providing trees will encourage even the most timid birds to your yard for nesting and rearing their young.

Different birds prefer different nesting sites. Some will nest high in a tree, some will prefer nesting in lower bushes, and others will nest on the ground amongst the tall grasses. The variety of planting you do will encourage more birds to nest in your yard.

Since some birds will only nest in your area for the summer, deciduous trees can provide equally well for their nesting needs as coniferous trees. They can also be a desirable home if they provide an easy source of food to feed their young.

A beautiful garden is well complemented by the company of birds. Provide for their needs and they will surely provide the gift of beauty, melody and entertainment to your garden.

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