Gardening Blog

I hate this project. Blogging is not my forte. It’s boring and unpleasant to sit here and sweat while i try to think of a topic to write about. Honestly I don’t think there are that many topics about gardening. So lately I’ve really been scraping the barrel. It’s really cool that maybe some of you care about my blog, but I dont give a …. This is only my opinion so please do not be alarmed. I hope you maybe learned about something in the meantime, and hope you carry on with your hobby and like of gardening. Do not hate. Peace. Love. and beanstalk. I now shall retire.

All my life I’ve grown up with flowers around me. My parents have been florists for a really long time, way before I was born. When my parents got married they made their garage into a flower shop. To this day, my parents still produce beautiful arrangements and setups from that garage. For me, different flower scents remind me of different times or just my house in general. The garage i the nicest place to go sometimes. It’s the nicest smelling place I’ve ever been. Everytime you walk in a waft of sweet fresh flowers greets you. Flowers and gardening have become such a huge part of my life even if  I sometimes don’t realize it. I feel like I’ve become more appreciative and observant to the things around me which i’ll always carry with me. Being a florist runs in the the family. Although I find gardening and floral design fun and relaxing, I am still not sure if I am going to follow through on in it and carry on the tradition.

People garden for the joy of it. What is even better is putting on your own gardening party!

Ypu can plan your gardening party by making a list of who you wan to come by creating invitations giving the recipient information such as where the party is, what time it starts and ends, what to bring, what you will be doing, and what the main purpose for the party is. You can get really creative with ideas by coming up with fun games and activities for your guests. Such games could include a plant exchange! Everyone brings their favorite or most exotic flower they can find and have a trade off. Another super duper fun game is to bring seeds and plant them in your garden. Everyone could help out with planting the flowers and plants and later you could provide food, snacks, and drinks (alcoholic beverages! yay! drink responsibly and if you are over the age of 21 remember! As a party favor you can give everyone a bag of seeds to take home and plant themsself. It can be fun!

Every now and then you will here about gardening in the news. Many festivals all over the country are put on to celebrate, honor, and reward, the excitement of gardening and flowers. You can look up upcoming local festivals and contests that involve gardening in the newspaper.

Some upcoming festivals include the Triangle Bonsai Expo at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. Artists create bonsais  of many types and shapes. You can also enter yourself into the festival as a site by creating your own Bonsai tree. This garden fest occurs on June 6th and 7th.

Another upcoming festival that you could find interest in is a garden party. This is an educational garden celebration at the annula Art Grows in Durham garden party. There is food there and plants you can buy. This occurs soon so you should plan your trip soon.

As I said before, you can look up local gardening activites and events in your area by checking up online and in the newspaper.

There are many tools out there to aid you in your gardening adventures. Obviously for the basics of gardening you need shovels, rakes, gloves perhaps, and of course some plants and flowers you are planting. Here is a list of some really awesome tools that might be helpful or useful to your specific project:

My personal favorite- The Garden Kneeler Seat!- is amazing. It’s not only great for gardening, but you can also use it to wash your car and other do other activities. It makes doing these activities more comfortable instead of bending and kneeling on your knees on the ground. Its proven that it helps your ergonomic skills because it doesn’t hurt or strain your back or knees.

Another useful tool that I like is the garden groom hedge. It grooms your garden hedges easily. You can get this at a regular home and gardening center such as Home Depot or Yardbirds.

Garden Carts can also be really helpful when you are working on a project in your yard. These are semi like wheel borrows, but a more modern version. This can help you move and transport items across the yard, such as heavy rocks, bags of soil, or tools. There are various sizes you can choose from, ranging from smaller ones which can sit next to you have you stoop low to work on the ground, and there are bigger ones that allow you move items more if you have to do that more often.

I have found that tools specific for weeding can be very helpful for small projects. Weeds continuously grow during the year. So if you keep these in your basement and bring them out whenever you need them, they won’t be a waste of your money. One weeding tool that can get the job done, is the multi-purpose gardening knife. Another tool that deserves recommendation is the Biodegradable Weed Mat.

Flowers come in all shapes and sizes. Some have thick stems, while others have spindly-vined branches. Some have big leaves while you can barely notice the leaves on other flowers. Some flowers have small buds while others the buds bloom into a big flower. Everyone knows the common flowers like daisies, daffodils, marigolds, and roses. But the exotic ones are the most intersting to study and look at. Most people don’t know a lot about the interesting exotic flowers. A lot of the exotic flowers come from other parts of the world. Here is a list of a few exotic flowers from all over the world.

The Blood Lily- the Blood Lily really has a strange appearance. This flowering bulb is from tropical Africa. The flower as a whole is made of a sphere of one hundred flowers. It gets its name from its blood red color.

Blue Dawn Flower- These flowers, based on their name, opens up in the morning and fades to a magenta color later on in the evening. In the morning it is a bright purple and is found in the tropics.

Blue-Passion Flower- This flower has an interesting appearance. It has a layer of long white petals on the bottom coming off the stem. the next layer showsa bud that fades from yellow in the middle to tiny dark purple petals on the outside. In the middle of this bud is the vine still growing out. This flower is known for its medicinal value.

Cautleya- Coming from the eastern Himalayas, these flowers are bright yellow and orange flowers. They reside between moss and lichen in high altitudes in forests.

Rafflesia-This is the most peculiar flower in the world. this flower lives for only 5 to 7 days and only buds for 24 hours. It is known to be the biggest flower in the world and also has an interesting smell.

Having a garden has many positives. One of these exciting features includes making new friends in your garden! Personally I have made multiple friends through my garden. One of my friends, is a snake that likes to slither through the undergrowth. His name is Spunkle. He helps me maintain my garden.

Another one of my friends is an insect. She is a beautiful ladybug that resides on a nearby leaf on a plant. She tells me everything that goes on in my garden. These are just the few friends that I’ve made. They tell you what you need and what works well for your garden. Some very friendly creatures that are just waiting to be your friend are squirrels, snails, worms, and salamanders. Salamanders can be mysterious sometimes but you have to get to continuely talking to them to get to know them before you become a good friend of theres.

Having a compost pile helps speed up the process of the breakdown of organic materials. Microorganisms will work on the materials by decompsing it. The more space the microorgansims have to work with, the faster the organic materrials will decay.

Before you get started on having a compost pile in your own yard, you should consider the location of it. Make sure you put it where it is easy to get to and where it doesnt interfere with family activities.

The basics to start a compost pile in your own backyard would be to put leaves and dirt in a box, then place a watermelon and let it sit there to decompose. The sizing of decompost piles vary. Make your compost pile somewhere in the range of 3×3 feet and 5×5 feet. A smaller pile wouldnt be able to break down as fast, and a larger one would not allow air into the center.

When you have kitchen scraps, you could always put it in your compost pile. things like peels and other organic materials. Some signs that shows that your compost pile is working out, is that many insects will take residence in it and you’ll find a white material throughout your pile.  This white stuff is like cobwebs. They are actinomycete which is part of the microbial community. Some bad things you should look out for is your pile not heating up and if your pile has unpleasant odor. If your compost pile isn’t heating up, it could mean either of the following: it is too small, doesn’t have enough air, it is lacking nitrogen, doesn’t have sufficient moisture, or your compost pile may be finished. There are many things you can to do fix this. Based on what you pile needs, you could either add water, nitrogen, make the pile bigger, or just start over if it’s finished. If is has a odor problem, it could mean that there isn’t enough air either from overwatering or if it’s too compacted, or it could mean your pile has too much nitrogen. This is easy to fix. The simplest solution is to add dry materials or to keep turning your pile to break it up a bit.

Although a compost pile takes time and care, it is good for the breakdown of organic materials.

One of the best things about gardening is you get to wear awesome clothes!!! Essentially, overalls are the best kind of style to be in while you are gardening outside. The many pockets give many places to put your nifty gardening tools. There are many different colors you can even choose from. Usually gardeners pick earthy tones and hues when doing their jobs. In addition, overalls give lots of coverage to your legs so you don’t get them that dirty and are easy and comfortable to move around in.

Also with your overalls, a good pair of gardening shows will help you feel more at ease. Gardening shoes can just be shoes that you can get dirty and wont bother or give you blisters. Shoes that give you blisters or irritate your feet will just be a hazard to your gardening and get in the way of what you should be doing.

Sometimes, gardeners wear hats. There are many different styles to choose from, whether its a baseball cap or a cowboy hat, or even a sun hat or visor. baseball caps keep most of your face from the sun, but it doesn’t give you coverage on your neck. Cowboy hats give you more shade around your head. The air holes also let air flow through to give you more cooling off. Visors, like baseball caps, don’t give your head shade all the way around. it mostly protects your face, but not your neck. Since gardening has a lot of squatting and bending down, sun hats or cowboy hats (or even sombreros can do the trick) would be best since it protects your face and neck all the way around. It keeps your head out of the sun while also having breathing holes for your head. Personally, sun hats are the coolest accessory you could have for gardening.It adds style while you are doing back-breaking work in your yard. SUN HATS ARE BOMB. Use them. Enough said.

If you are out in the sun alot, sunscreen could be a necessity. Wearing sun screen could make all the difference as to whether you will be in pain or not later that day. I highly advise using sun screen. Sun burns can really put a damper on your day, especially if its a super bad one. Very bad sun burns can be very very painful. This is why gardening is said to be so dangerous!!!

These are the essentuals you will need for gardening. This is just one of the pros to gardening- you look super fly while doing it.

Although she spent some time behind bars after her widely known mishap, she made her comeback. As many of you know, Martha Stewart has been around for years. She always has new ideas in home projects such as cooking, crafts, home decor, and gardening. Her job is to bring creative and helpful advice to make your life easier.

Gardening is one of Martha Stewart’s specialties. She gives tips on how to maintain and grow your very own vegetable garden. She explains the processes thoroughly and shows you what kinds of seeds to buy for your specific garden type.  Martha even has her own vegetable garden in Bedford which she shows and explains on her blog. The garden consists of creative techniques on how she produces her crops. Overall, Martha Stewart is great as a reference for at home projects. Refer to her website for more ideas and projects. Yay Martha!