Category Archives: Gardening

Unlimited Benefits of a Premium Garden Office

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A garden office not only benefits your working style and business, but also your home life stands to gain from the introduction of a garden building. Working in an office block brings with it added stress and cost of not only commuting but renting out a separate office space. This is where a garden office proves its worth from the offset, as it provides you with an individual working environment, and is only a stroll away from your back door. It is the combination of stylish design, ease of access and the atmosphere it creates which has made the garden building an increasingly popular choice for many home businesses.

Working from home in an energy efficient garden office not only cuts out the need to commute, but in return gives you more time that can be preciously spent with your family. If you regularly have to commute long distances to work, due to the pace of modern life, you have to sacrifice time which could be spent with your family to sit in traffic or queue for transport. When you get home you also find yourself looking at the clock and counting down till you know you have to go to bed before starting the inane routine over and over again.

With some already making the move to working from home, there are downfalls from working out of a spare bedroom or in the corner of the living room. The distractions that come from this can really affect the work that you do, and is why a garden office is the best alternative to benefit your business. The atmosphere allows you to work in an environment most beneficial to you as it has been purpose built to your requirements. An area where you can solely work means productivity and efficiency increase from which your business benefits. If you try to work from a spare room in your home, you will never associate that room primarily as your office which means working can be difficult. A garden office has been primarily built for your business needs, so has a professional atmosphere where a working ethic comes naturally.

A premium garden office is perfect for all seasons, and is practical throughout the year. With highly insulated walls that allow the garden building to breathe in the summer and retain heat in the cooler months, it is possible to work in there all year round and only brave the elements for a matter of seconds from walking out of your back door to your office. A natural garden office, set in the relaxing setting of your garden is the perfect environment in which to grow your business.

Working from home in a garden office is now seen as one of the most effective and efficient ways of running a business. You have spare time to relax and enjoy your evenings, and working in an office space designed to your requirements. Experience the benefits of a garden office and see your business flourish.

Organic Garden Pest Control – The 5 Best Tips to Keep Your Garden Bug Free Without Strong Chemicals

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Organic gardens are not without some of the drawbacks that every garden has. One of these drawbacks are various kinds of pests.

In a conventional garden you fight these pests in a different way than in your organic garden. In an ordinary or non organic garden strong chemicals are regularly used to fight the pests. These chemicals harm every living thing, including plants, good bugs (yes there are plenty!), your soil and you and your family, as well as accumulating and trickling down into the ground water.

Organic Garden Pest Control 1: Manual removal
This is by far the easiest and cheapest way, but not applicable to all kinds of pests. Go out into your garden in the early morning and in the evening, and pick by hand all the bugs you can see eating away on your precious plants, like for example aphids and lily beetles. Squash them or put them in a container with soapy water.

Step 2: Organic Garden Pest Control with solutions to spray
A simple way to fight bugs is to suffocate them with soapy water. Just mix 1 dl of natural soap with 1 liter of water, then pour into a spray bottle and spray away at your plants. Make sure you cover the whole plant with the mixture, and repeat now and then to get rid of the bugs that subsequently hatch.

Usually kills of both aphids and spider mites, but sometimes the latter ones are a bit difficult.

A mixture of 2-3 garlic cloves, 3-4 large chili peppers and 2 tablespoons of some vegetable oil, blended well in your blender, then strained and added to 1 liter of water plus 1 tablespoon of natural soap (or dishwashing soap) makes a stronger homemade solution for fighting bugs. When spraying this on your plants, avoid spraying during mid day or in really hot weather, because that may harm the leaves on your plants by burning them.

This scares away most animal pests in your garden, even mice and moles if you spray near their holes. There is one major back draw with both of these remedies though: They will get rid of the good insects as well, which leads us to

Organic Garden Pest Control 3: Biological pest control Let the good bugs do the job!
The ladybug is very efficient, it eats plenty of aphids (and is pretty to watch!). Lacewings and praying mantis are also good at this, and can be lured into your garden by plants that attract them. You can also buy these good bugs or other parasites (that is, parasitic on your pests) to establish an ecological balance among your garden bugs. These bugs or parasites can be bought in egg sacks or live, and are very efficient and a really environmentally friendly way to pest control.

Step 4: Organic Garden Pest Control by Growing Scary Plants
That is, the only ones to get scared are the of course the bugs! Onions planted together with your carrots will deter the carrot root fly from eating away at your carrots. Plant lavender along your garden path and smell the fragrance when you pass by… Marigold are lovely when planted amongst your veggies in your vegetable garden, and can of course be a part of any flower bed, there are so many varieties to choose from.

Also, it is very important to keep your plants strong and vigorous by making sure they get enough nutrients and grow in a healthy soil. Then they will be able to better withstand attacks from various pests.

Step 5: Organic Garden Pest Control by Spreading Mineral Dust
Not any old dust will do however, it has to be Diatomaceous earth, which will penetrate the hard exoskeleton of insects like ants, fleas or small beetles. This will cause them to dry out. Spread a thin layer of the mineral on the ground, and repeat after heavy rain or watering.

Extra tip for hollyhocks! Hollyhocks often suffer from fungus attacks causing the leaves to become all reddish brown and then fall off. The plant itself usually survives, but it looks terrible with the naked stem and the flowers at the top. But here is a remedy for this nuisance:

Boil a kettle full of horsetail and water to cover for 10 minutes at the least. Strain, and then dilute the solution 5 to 10 times with water. Use this diluted fluid to spray your hollyhocks, and don’t forget to spray under the leaves.

The best of luck with keeping pests off and your plants healthy and beautiful!

Indoor Herb Garden: Questions That Must Be Answered

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So you really love gardening but you don’t have a space to plant or you live in a flat with just a little space for an outdoor herb garden. Then worry no more because to you an indoor herb garden is the answer you’ve been looking for.

The question most beginners ask is if the plants can thrive in an indoor herb garden. And the answer is a resounding yes. Actually, growing herbs indoors is easier that you think and what’s better is that the herbs that you grow, especially if they are culinary herbs, are just so near, right when you need them. You don’t have to go out to pick the basil you need for your pesto recipe!

Although herbs can be grown indoors, it must not be forgotten that they are still not indoor plants; that is they need air, sunshine and water during the day. Sunlight helps the herbs produce the essential oils that you will love when it comes to their flavor and fragrance.

Placement

The first step to consider is the placement of your indoor garden and it should be on the sunniest spot of the house- it could be on a windowsill, sun room, porch or balcony. However, if it’s not possible for them to get at least 5 hours of good sunshine every day, you can use fluorescent lamps to supplement their lighting needs.

What You’ll Need:

1. Container
For you to start growing your indoor herb garden, you need a trough or any long narrow container, or it could be individual pots which are at least 6 inches deep that can be mounted on your windowsill. There is a prescribed depth to the containers in order to give the herbs enough room to stretch out their roots and don’t forget to fill the bottom of the containers with peat or vermiculite for good drainage.

2. Soil
The soil to be placed on the pots should be rich but clean and light. You should avoid letting the herbs in pots dry out as well as making them very wet. Plant pills can be placed on them occasionally.

3. Type
Have you decided what herbs to plant on your indoor herb garden? There are plenty of them that can grow well even on indoors and the list includes parsley, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, sweet marjoram, chives, chervil, basil and mint will do well.

You can also buy indoor herb garden kits online to help you take the first step in growing your plants. An exciting new style of indoor herb gardening is called hydroponics – the roots are growing in aerated water, not soil. Consider joining the new hydroponics garden club now! Along with this, you should strive to learn all you can about growing herbs indoors to ensure that your garden grows healthy and productive.