A tuberous-rooted begonia is a beautiful plant to grow. It has lovely double-flowers as well as textured foliage. They make excellent potted plants as well as bringing color to summer gardens.

In order to get the earliest flowers, you should start your tubers off by letting them sprout in a seed tray or in a box of damp potting soil in the months of February or March.

Space them approximately two inches apart, and do not bury them too deeply. The top side should just be covered by a surface layer of potting soil.

The begonias like to be put in a temperature of about 64 degrees Fahrenheit. However, they do not seem to mind higher temperatures.

After the tubers have sprouted and you can see small leaves, transfer the tubers to a five inch pot and cover them with compost. Since you will probably be using the begonias in an outdoor garden, begin getting your begonias acclimated to the temperature outdoors in stages.

This process should probably begin towards the end of May. After a week, if the threat of frost has passed, you may leave your begonia plants outside all night.

Begonias like a place that is moist and partially shaded. If they happen to be in the sun for most of the day, then you should water your begonias frequently in order to prevent bud drop.

As the plants continue to grow and buds begin to form, the begonias should be given a regular liquid feed every ten days or so. This will help to promote good growth as well as an abundance of flowers!

Growing Begonias from Tubers is a post from: Gardening Guide

When it comes to planting flower bulbs, there is a right way and a wrong way of doing it. Make sure that you pay attention to the care instructions that came with the bulbs when you bought them.

Planting tools

You can either use a trowel or shovel to dig the holes for the bulbs. Your job would be made a great deal easier if you used a bulb planter.

It may be a good idea to mulch the newly planted bed of bulbs. This is recommended by most experts. The mulch will help to prevent weeds, cool the soil, retain moisture and it will provide more organic material that is necessary for the growing plants.

Watering Newly Planted Bulbs

After you have planted the bulbs, they should be given a good drink of water. It may also be helpful to water the bulbs occasionally if the fall and winter seasons were very dry.

You should plan on giving the bulbs at least an inch of water each week when the growing season becomes active. This can either be from natural rainfall or from supplemental watering.

Fertilizing the Growing Bulbs

When you begin to see the bulbs pop their tiny little heads out of the soil, it is very important that you begin to fertilize them every few weeks. It is best to use a good water soluble fertilizer. This will help to promote additional flowering and better bulb growth.

All of the above will make sure that you have beautiful flowers from the bulbs you have planted. It may take a little work, but it will be worth it in the end!

Planting Flower Bulbs: Do It Right! is a post from: Gardening Guide

Instead of spending your weekend sitting in front of the tube again, why not devote one weekend to creating a patio that you will be able to then enjoy for many weekends to come? You don’t need a large back yard to have room for a patio – a mini patio of any size can be just right for giving you and your family a little outside oasis to enjoy and a place to escape from the stresses of the work week. The good news is that creating a patio that looks great can be a snap, and you don’t have to be a DIY expert to get the job done.

Adding a mini patio to your home is good for you and it is good for your pocket book. You will get plenty of enjoyment from your patio, whether you use it as a place to sit out and bask in the glow of the sun in the summer, a quiet place to read away from the hustle and bustle of kids and family or a place to throw impromptu neighborhood barbeques. Along with all of that personal enjoyment, you will also see a nice increase to the property value of your home. A patio adds instant value to your home, and when it comes time to sell, you will be able to sell potential buyers of the benefits of all of the things you used the patio to do when you owned the home.

To add a patio to your home, the first thing you need to do is decide where you want to put it. Of course, the ideal place is directly outside a backdoor to your home, so you can step out of the home and onto the patio. If you don’t have a backdoor, or if it is not practical to put a patio outside of the door, fear not. You can still enjoy your patio even if you have to walk around the house to get to it.

If you are going to place the patio away from the backdoor, consider a few other factors when placing your patio. Do you have a nice, large tree in your backyard that offers tons of shade? Do you have swing set, garden, big flower bed, or water feature in your yard? Place you patio near the other amenities in your yard so you can enjoy them all together. Just be mindful to look for level ground – placing your patio on a slope will make laying the foundation difficult and make the patio less “user friendly.”

Once you have decided where to place your patio, measure off the area and head to your local hardware store. The foundation of the patio can be anything from concrete to brick to slate, but when choosing the foundation, consider the area in which you live. If you get a lot of rain, slate may be a bad choice because it is slippery, for instance. Your local hardware store should be able to advise you on which materials stand up best to the elements in your area, as well as which materials are most compatible with your skill level – pouring concrete is easier than laying bricks, for instance.

When the patio foundation is in, you can consider the other little features that will bring your work to life. A rod iron fence surrounding the patio, an outdoor lamp or fireplace, a nice new grill – all of these additions can give your patio “wow” factor. Your imagination is the limit when it comes to adding these finishing touches to your new patio – the only rule is to make it the perfect outdoor oasis for you.

Weekend Project to Create a Quick, Attractive Mini-Patio is a post from: Gardening Guide

The American Homestyle and Gardening magazine can be a very useful magazine to subscribe to if you are interested in improving your home and garden. There are plenty of tips on decorating and home improvements as well as gardening and money saving tips. The magazine advertises products for the home and garden, some of them at discount prices. It also has a series of articles on homestyle and on gardening. Below are summaries of two useful articles in the American Homestyle and Gardening Magazine.

Landscape Design and Energy Efficiency
There are specific techniques that you can use in the design of your garden which will help to increase energy efficiency in your home. For example the way you place the trees and shrubs that you put outside your home can have a significant impact on the way the place is warmed and cooled. If, for example, you place deciduous trees to the south side of your home this will have an effect on the amount of hot sun on the building – thus acting as a cooling agent in the summer whilst still allowing the winter sun through

The American Homestyle and Gardening Magazine states that according to the US Department of Energy the correct placing of two or three trees will save the average household an estimated $100-$250 a year in energy costs. The trees should not be planted to close to the house however, because with maturity the roots could damage structures. Evergreens form a useful windbreak which can save on heating costs. They should be planted at a distance from the house equal to three to five times the size of a mature tree. Designing your garden therefore can be done with energy saving in mind.

Repairing Guttering
If you are redesigning your garden, while at the same time attempting to save on costs; then it is a good idea to make good any problems with your guttering. This will improve the outside appearance of your home and prevent any damp seeping through the walls. The American Homestyle and Gardening Magazine has some helpful advice on repairing guttering. Gutters sometimes develop holes – this may be a result of some damage or it could simply be corrosion from the weather. If the hole is very small then simply use roofing cement to plug it. Clear debris away from the area then put some roofing cement around the hole and smooth the cement in with a putty knife.
If the guttering has developed a large hole then you may need then you may need a small patch of metal to cover it. Cut the patch slightly larger than the hole then place some cement around the hole press the patch in place and tidy up the edges with a palette knife.

American Homestyle and Gardening Magazine is a post from: Gardening Guide

For great better home and gardening ideas, homemakers and gardeners should look into Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Better Homes and Gardens is full of information on home design, better home living, and garden and outdoor living. There is also a letters forum in which readers share their better home and gardening thoughts and experiences. Every issue is well illustrated with dozens of colourful photographs that show how people have made their better home and gardening ideas a reality.

Would you like to make a plain storage shed look like a picturesque gardener’s cottage? Better Homes and Gardens shows you how it can be done. There is even a regular column called Then and Now that takes readers into the past to experience better home and gardening stories from bygone years.

Better Homes and Gardens shows you how to turn even the smallest bit of yard space into a beautiful, old fashioned English garden. The magazine offers tips on landscaping, planning a garden, arranging trees and shrubs, and laying paths. You’re not sure where you should put a pergola? Better Homes and Gardens can give you some great ideas. Are you thinking of starting a container garden? This is the magazine to go to for helpful information.

There is more than just the magazine. Better Homes and Gardens is online. For a great gardening experience without even leaving your home, go to Better Homes and Gardens’ online test garden. You can check out the test garden map, then take the Interactive Test Garden Tour. You begin with the walkway to the garden, which is lined with ginkgo trees, then enter a small, shady plaza that leads to a pretty fountain. You pass through a shade garden that features hostus and other sun-loving plants, then go on to a beautiful dwarf conifer collection. At the southeast corner of the garden you find a lovely assortment of shrubs, perennials, trees and rock garden plants. Passing a tool shed disguised as a quaint cottage, you take a path that leads to some colourful barberry bushes. The site also provides you with a bird’s-eye view photograph of the entire garden. This garden, located outside the headquarters of Better Homes and Gardens in Des Moines, Iowa, has twenty-two distinct areas, 25,000 trees, shrubs and perennials, and 17,000 bulbs.

There are many other better home and gardening tips and ideas in the magazine and on the website. There are recipes, decorating ideas, and pointers on how to build a fireplace or a barbeque. Kids’ Corner tells you such things as how to make a Halloween costume or bake Christmas tree cookies. Better Homes and Gardens has something for everyone with an interest in the house and garden.

Better Home and Gardening is a post from: Gardening Guide

There is plenty of information available on managing your home and garden. One of the most important elements for those who are really interested in the home and gardening-or even those who want to do as little as possible but still have an attractive indoor and outdoor space; is organization. Magazines and television programs are filled with the voices of experts who tell us that the answer to all our problems is to get organized. Having a clutter free home and cheerful, tidy garden give many of us a sense of well being and a feeling that all is right with our world. Perhaps the best way of getting organized is to work from the inside out-i.e. to clear up the home and then the garden.

Having a clutter free, organized space to live in can make life much easier. This is especially true in today’s society where so many of us lead such busy lives-having a place for everything and everything in its place may be an old fashioned maxim but it makes busy lives a lot easier. Clear your clutter, if you can’t find a whole day then plan to do things a little at a time-clear one shelf for example and only return those books/ornaments that you really can’t do without-do the same with drawers. In the kitchen try to minimize the number of gadgets on show. Always wash up and wipe the sides after you’ve eaten. Keep regularly used items all together-keep your saucepans in a cupboard near the stove-not over the other side of the kitchen.

Clear out your clothes closet-throw out or send to a charity shop anything that you have not worn in the last twelve months. Keep spare bedding in the bedroom closet and spare toilet rolls and towels in a cupboard in the bathroom. Whenever you have finished using something remember the golden rule, don’t put it down put it away. A clutter free home is much easier to keep clean and more relaxing to sit in.

Once your inside is tidy it’s time to start on the outside. Put away any children’s toys that might be lying around the garden. Sweep up any leaves and other litter, pull up any weeds. If you have a lawn make sure that the grass is cut regularly-better still for a low maintenance garden-don’t have a lawn-have some decking and gravel with containers full of plants. If you really do want grass but don’t have time to cut it then think about paying a local teenager to do it for you once every couple of weeks. You never know, once everything is tidy you may find yourself developing more of an interest in your surroundings.

Home and Gardening is a post from: Gardening Guide

There are many home and gardening magazines on the market. Most of them are full of information on how to improve your home – both inside and out. Some home and gardening magazines are what as known as ezines. That is to say that they are not printed magazines like we are used to seeing, rather they are magazines that are only available on the internet. Home and gardening magazines are not just selling you tips on how to improve your home and garden – they are selling the people who buy it a lifestyle.

Publishers of home and gardening magazines know that people do not just want information. People want to be offered a different way of living. They look at the house interiors presented in magazines and want to picture themselves sat in those surroundings; or surroundings very like them. They want to imagine coming home at night and sitting in that room or eating their evening meal at the table presented in the magazine. The same goes for gardens. People don’t read home and gardening magazines just for information on looking after their plants and their lawns. They want to be able to imagine themselves with a garden just like the one presented in the garden makeover picture. People see advertisements for garden furniture in home and gardening magazines and they can imagine themselves in that garden with that furniture, entertaining their friends.

Home and gardening magazines are a mine of information for those who make their inside and outside spaces a hobby. Some of the information will be seasonal. For example in the period leading up to Christmas readers will find tips on present buying, and on decorating the tree and the table. Often people will be able to find recipes that will tell them how to cook the food that they see depicted on the table. Remember, home and gardening magazines are selling a life style. People will want to try out those recipes, especially if they have bought themselves a dining table and chairs like the one in the magazine. They will reproduce the decorations and then complete the picture by cooking the meal displayed in the magazine. In this way people are not just buying a magazine, or even the furniture that is displayed inside it – what they are buying is a complete lifestyle. Home and gardening magazines purport to show you what it is like to live the life of a person who has followed all their advice and information on having an attractive home and garden. They want to sell you a way of life.

Home and Gardening Magazines is a post from: Gardening Guide

Gardens are becoming more important to a lot of people, so much so that more people start gardening with a view to embarking on a home based garden business. There are a number of ways that people do this. Some of them sign up for a franchise where they distribute products under a well know name while at the same time giving them some scope for selling their own produce.

Others who want a home based garden business will set up an office in their own garden and help other people to plan a garden. This way of operating a home based garden business is becoming more popular. Every day you can find advertisements for people who are willing to help you landscape your garden or help you with buying plants and starting a lawn. Still others with a home based garden business go around doing other people’s gardening for them. This can range from a one man/woman outfit who go around cutting people’s hedges and mowing their lawns-to starting a garden from scratch for a client.

Some people who have a home based garden business get involved in garden makeovers. Garden makeovers are very popular and there is a growing number of television programs devoted to garden makeovers. Businesses that deal with garden makeovers have to be prepared to turn a wilderness into a beautiful garden within the space of a week or less. This can involve a complete clearing of the garden and garden rubble. Sometimes spaces are clear and the garden makeover simply involves making the garden attractive – putting in a water feature and a deck is quite a popular practice. Another thing that people involved in garden makeovers will do is color coordinate the plants in a garden.

If you want the kind of home based garden business that involves selling your own cut flowers and fruit and vegetables then you really need to have a fair expanse of land. This is not something you can do from an ordinary back yard because you will not be able to grow enough produce to keep up with demand. If you do have this much space and are determined to start up this kind of home based garden business then there will be a lot of competition. Probably the best thing to do is to find one or two things that you grow really well and carve yourself out a niche. There are home based garden businesses like this where people will drive considerable distances in order to get special kinds of tomatoes or organically grown cabbages. If your gardening techniques are organic and you produce organic vegetables then you might be able to carve yourself a niche in your area.

Home Based Garden Business is a post from: Gardening Guide

The Home Depot gardening section has a wide range of products to fill all of the needs of the home gardening enthusiast. Do you need gardening equipment? At Home Depot gardening machinery includes tillers, cultivators, mowers, chippers and shredders. If you’re looking for hand gardening tools like shears, clippers, shovels, pruners and rakes, they are in the Home Depot gardening section. Home Depot gardening supplies include seed, fertilizers, pest control products and plants. The gardener will also find landscape supplies, watering equipment, storage sheds, greenhouses and even seasonal garden decorations. At Home Depot gardening tips are available to help you get the maximum enjoyment from your garden.

According to the Home Depot gardening tip on planting flowers, the best time to plant is not a warm sunny day, but an overcast day when rain is expected. That first shower will do your new plants good. Plant your annuals and perennials just after of just before the season’s last frost date. In the North, perennials should be planted in the early fall. In the South, they can be planted in late fall.

Choose your new plants carefully. You want short, sturdy plants with just a few flowers and healthy foliage. Don’t buy plants that are spindly, wilted or discoloured. When you knock the plant from its pot, keep as much of the rootball as possible. If the roots are well tangled, it’s a good idea to cut them or pull them apart by hand. This will allow them to spread out into the soil.

It is best to pinch the flowers off a new plant. The plant must put its energy into developing its root system, not flowers. The plant will grow better, healthier flowers later.

Use a spade to prepare the flower bed. Work in at least an inch of organic matter. Every year add sphagnum peat moss, compost, rotted manure or some other organic matter to maintain and improve the soil. An alternative is to top the flower bed each year with a two-inch layer of compost. Loosen the soil to a depth of twelve inches for annuals, and eighteen inches for perennials. Use a ground rake to smooth the soil. When the flower bed is ready, you should plant the flowers at the same soil level they were at in the pot.

Now add one to three inches of aged wood chip mulch, or grass clippings, bark, pine needles, or any other kind of organic mulch. This will conserve moisture, discourage weed growth and prevent many diseases.

There are also Home Depot gardening tips on planting trees, starting a new lawn and pruning a hedge. You will even find buying guides for equipment like valves, hoses, pond pumps and planters. It’s all there for you at Home Depot.

Home Depot Gardening is a post from: Gardening Guide

Planning to overhaul your garden – or have you just moved into a house with a garden? Whichever it is, if you decide to do your on gardening then you will need to get the right gardening supplies. The first thing you should do if you have a garden is to clear it of weeds, scrub grass and any rubbish. If you need to shift a lot of rubbish then it is worth contacting a home gardening supplies depot to hire a skip to put it in. Once your garden is clear then you will need to put down some weed killer – if you want to do your gardening organically then you will need to pull them all up by hand. Your home gardening supplies should include a strong spade and garden rake. If you intend your gardening to be organic then the best thing you can do is to dig the garden over. Go as deep as you can in order to make sure that you have the weeds pulled out by their roots. Once the garden has been dug and the weeds pulled the ground will need to be raked over.

Among the home gardening supplies you will need if you want to do things organically is plant and soil food. The best soil is arrived at through regular feeding and watering – organic gardening and decent soil rely on hard and regular work. Home gardening supplies depots are often good sources of information and tips for getting the best out of your garden. So when you go to replenish your home gardening supplies it is well worth taking along any questions you may have, and asking one of their experts. When you begin your gardening in earnest you will find that there are some home gardening supplies that will need replenishing regularly. You will need a ready and constant supply of plant and soil food. If you plan to grow at least some of your plants from seed then besides the seedlings you will need other home gardening supplies. You will need some soil and seedling boxes to start your plants off. Once they are showing what look like healthy shoots; then providing it is not too cold it is time to plant your seedlings outside. To do this you will need a small rake, hoe and shovel. You might also want some thread so that you can mark out the space before you put in the next row of seedlings.

Most important among home gardening supplies is the watering can. Get yourself a good one because you will be using it most days. Both the plants and the soil need plenty of water. If you make sure that you have the right home gardening supplies then your gardening efforts should be successful and rewarding.

Home Gardening Supplies is a post from: Gardening Guide