If you are looking to make a present for the gardener in the family or someone who has recently moved into their own home, someone in a flat or unit, or a person who can’t manage a full sized yard, or a family member who loves to cook with fresh ingredients, etc. Then why not consider giving them something from your own garden? Here I am talking about plants that you have divided off from your own garden plants.

There are many plants growing in the average garden that can be divided, or that have naturally self layered themselves. Where you could go along and take a rooted section, pot them up and with a bit of dressing up of the planting container, you could produce a really nice gift for someone you care about.

These plants include many herbs as well as perennials or shrubs and even some trees which manage to send out self-layering branches or suckers from the root system. Some perennials or bulbs will increase their size or number of bulbs over time. Chance seedlings coming up in the wrong place for you, can easily also be used. All of these provide you with an opportunity to cheaply create a wonderful present for someone else.

First things first you will need to obtain a number of pots either plastic ones left over from additions to the garden population, or from someone you know, or you can go out and purchase a pot plastic/ceramic/terracotta etc., to suit your needs. If the person you are giving the plant to is not a real gardener, then you might consider getting a pot with a waterwell in the base to increase the plants’ chances of surviving.

Next, you need to begin looking for your plant material, so take a careful look around your garden at the soil level. Check out which plants are showing multiple stalks growing out of the ground. Or those sprawling plants where a branch has leaned over on to the ground and taken root along the branch, maybe one where a branch has become buried under the mulch.

Or one where there is a sucker growing from the soil a short distance from the parent plant. Another possibility is seedlings growing in the garden a distance from the parent plant material. Maybe there is a clump of plants or a big patch of bulbs where you can do some dividing.

Many of these plants benefit from being divided up or being allowed some more growing room in the particular area where you have taken away some material.

Different parts of Australia will have a differing range of plant species, which lend themselves to this form of self-propagation. If you can’t find any plants that are doing this in your own garden, why not look at a friends or neighbours garden. Or you could maybe join forces and give a joint present using plants from another family member’s garden. Or another possibility is to buy a plant in a pot that has several plants already established in it.

Divide that up before you use half in your own garden, and still have half to repot and give away. Even if you are not confident about your gardening skills you can still pick up cheap plants at the local market, school/church fair, garage sale etc. Repot them into a bigger or nicer pot for a fairly cheap present.

Another possibility is to multiplant a few different plants into a long or large round tub. This will create an instant garden on the move. Some themes you might consider here is herbs, indoor foliage, bulbs, annuals, alpine/rock, cacti/succulent or even patio gardens mixing annuals and perennials.

It is best to moisten the ground around the plant that you are going to work on well before you do the dividing, as this allows you to remove the maximum amount of root mass during the dividing process.

The first step is to divide the clump or cut away the joining branch to make the separate plant available. Then using a spade, fork or gardening trowel, dig as far out from the potential plant as practicable, because this will give you the biggest root mass possible.

Go down as far you believe you need to, (this will depend on such circumstances as size of new plant, species of original plant material, type of soil, other plant or landscaping material around the area, etc.). As gently as you can dig out the new plant. Shake off any excess soil and refill the resulting hole in the ground if necessary.

Prune back the foliage of the new plant to roughly equal size of the root mass, trying to protect some of the new foliage growth. Repot as soon as practicable, so that the roots do not dry out and die.

Another thing to consider is what sort of pot you are gong to plant into; if it is only a plastic pot then you do not need to prepare it beforehand. However if you are looking at painting it, then do this before you get digging.

When painting up pots, you will need to do some preparation work for the paint to stick properly. Plastic pots should have their surface roughened up with a bit of sandpaper. While some terracotta pots should have a primer applied to the outer surface before you paint them. Try not to get primer or paint onto the inside of the planter, because while most wont, there are still some paints which contain chemicals that may affect or contaminate the soil and plant over time.

Other possibilities for decorating up pots include simply gluing on bits and pieces including stones, tiles, buttons, sticks, shells, ornaments, ribbon, stickers and decals, etc. Other ways of decorating up a pot for the initial presentation is to wrap up just the pot (not the actual plant), using either wrapping paper, cellophane, material, a cheap teatowel or even hessian. Hold these wrappers in place with string, ribbon, bandana, scarf, etc.

Other possibilities for adding value to the potplant is to provide some growing information and name tags for the plant/s included. Other little quirks you might add include a personalised name tag, (Hi, my name is David the Diffenbachia . . . ), or a little watering indicator, miniature hand tools, small amounts of fertiliser, pot ornaments, watering can etc.

So as you can see, creating a very personal gift for just about anyone can easily be within the grasp of anyone. Why not go out into your garden and start thinking about what presents you can be preparing for Christmas this weekend.

If you are looking to make a present for the gardener in the family or someone who has recently moved into their own home, someone in a flat or unit, or a person who can’t manage a full sized yard, or a family member who loves to cook with fresh ingredients, etc. Then why not consider giving them something from your own garden? Here I am talking about plants that you have divided off from your own garden plants.

There are many plants growing in the average garden that can be divided, or that have naturally self layered themselves. Where you could go along and take a rooted section, pot them up and with a bit of dressing up of the planting container, you could produce a really nice gift for someone you care about.

These plants include many herbs as well as perennials or shrubs and even some trees which manage to send out self-layering branches or suckers from the root system. Some perennials or bulbs will increase their size or number of bulbs over time. Chance seedlings coming up in the wrong place for you, can easily also be used. All of these provide you with an opportunity to cheaply create a wonderful present for someone else.

First things first you will need to obtain a number of pots either plastic ones left over from additions to the garden population, or from someone you know, or you can go out and purchase a pot plastic/ceramic/terracotta etc., to suit your needs. If the person you are giving the plant to is not a real gardener, then you might consider getting a pot with a waterwell in the base to increase the plants’ chances of surviving.

Next, you need to begin looking for your plant material, so take a careful look around your garden at the soil level. Check out which plants are showing multiple stalks growing out of the ground. Or those sprawling plants where a branch has leaned over on to the ground and taken root along the branch, maybe one where a branch has become buried under the mulch.

Or one where there is a sucker growing from the soil a short distance from the parent plant. Another possibility is seedlings growing in the garden a distance from the parent plant material. Maybe there is a clump of plants or a big patch of bulbs where you can do some dividing.

Many of these plants benefit from being divided up or being allowed some more growing room in the particular area where you have taken away some material.

Different parts of Australia will have a differing range of plant species, which lend themselves to this form of self-propagation. If you can’t find any plants that are doing this in your own garden, why not look at a friends or neighbours garden. Or you could maybe join forces and give a joint present using plants from another family member’s garden. Or another possibility is to buy a plant in a pot that has several plants already established in it.

Divide that up before you use half in your own garden, and still have half to repot and give away. Even if you are not confident about your gardening skills you can still pick up cheap plants at the local market, school/church fair, garage sale etc. Repot them into a bigger or nicer pot for a fairly cheap present.

Another possibility is to multiplant a few different plants into a long or large round tub. This will create an instant garden on the move. Some themes you might consider here is herbs, indoor foliage, bulbs, annuals, alpine/rock, cacti/succulent or even patio gardens mixing annuals and perennials.

It is best to moisten the ground around the plant that you are going to work on well before you do the dividing, as this allows you to remove the maximum amount of root mass during the dividing process.

The first step is to divide the clump or cut away the joining branch to make the separate plant available. Then using a spade, fork or gardening trowel, dig as far out from the potential plant as practicable, because this will give you the biggest root mass possible.

Go down as far you believe you need to, (this will depend on such circumstances as size of new plant, species of original plant material, type of soil, other plant or landscaping material around the area, etc.). As gently as you can dig out the new plant. Shake off any excess soil and refill the resulting hole in the ground if necessary.

Prune back the foliage of the new plant to roughly equal size of the root mass, trying to protect some of the new foliage growth. Repot as soon as practicable, so that the roots do not dry out and die.

Another thing to consider is what sort of pot you are gong to plant into; if it is only a plastic pot then you do not need to prepare it beforehand. However if you are looking at painting it, then do this before you get digging.

When painting up pots, you will need to do some preparation work for the paint to stick properly. Plastic pots should have their surface roughened up with a bit of sandpaper. While some terracotta pots should have a primer applied to the outer surface before you paint them. Try not to get primer or paint onto the inside of the planter, because while most wont, there are still some paints which contain chemicals that may affect or contaminate the soil and plant over time.

Other possibilities for decorating up pots include simply gluing on bits and pieces including stones, tiles, buttons, sticks, shells, ornaments, ribbon, stickers and decals, etc. Other ways of decorating up a pot for the initial presentation is to wrap up just the pot (not the actual plant), using either wrapping paper, cellophane, material, a cheap teatowel or even hessian. Hold these wrappers in place with string, ribbon, bandana, scarf, etc.

Other possibilities for adding value to the potplant is to provide some growing information and name tags for the plant/s included. Other little quirks you might add include a personalised name tag, (Hi, my name is David the Diffenbachia . . . ), or a little watering indicator, miniature hand tools, small amounts of fertiliser, pot ornaments, watering can etc.

So as you can see, creating a very personal gift for just about anyone can easily be within the grasp of anyone. Why not go out into your garden and start thinking about what presents you can be preparing for Christmas this weekend.

Were you aware that there are a number of mulching materials that you can obtain from around your own community that are free, and some of which can even be even delivered to you for nothing as well.

Impossible you might say. Well I mulch my gardens fairly heavily, and I never pay a cent for the mulch material. As a matter of fact, most of the mulch is willingly delivered to my home for nothing. As the former owners are only too glad to see the back of it, as it would cost them money, time and effort to find other ways of getting rid of it.

I also combine these outside sources of mulch with my own compost, weeds and other organic matter mixed through to achieve a great result in my garden, and so all that it costs me is time and effort.

So what am I talking about? While some of the below list is delivered free, other items I pick up myself, depending on time, circumstances, importance etc.

Grass Clippings from other people in the area or from lawn-mowing contractors.

Wood shavings from local wood turners and carvers, ( Do not use shavings from treated timber).

Small amounts of solid fill from friends who are excavating. This is to assist in raising garden beds, in my heavy clay soil.

Light prunings from shrubs which is shredded by me or put whole into garden

Heavier sticks and logs, which are turned into trellis, garden stakes, garden edges, seats, frames, log planters etc. while they slowly decay.

Newspaper, cardboard, non-rubber carpet underlay, and even carpet and carpet squares. Which is put under other mulch to prevent grass and weed regrowth

Animal manures sometimes mixed with straw from places like Racetracks and Showgrounds, Pony Clubs, Stables etc. I contact them well beforehand to see if any is available.

To this I also add my own weeds, throwing away some which can still be a potential problem, or burying them below the bottom most layer of mulch material to stop them regrowing.

Another item I add is any old potting mix from deceased plants or when repotting plants.

Being a fairly lazy gardener, I throw the material around a bit at a time, as they are available, and let nature mix them for me. On a couple of occasions I have received a bit too much wood shavings so these became path material between some of the garden beds, with a heavy underlay of newspapers. People even tell me that it looks and feels good underfoot.

Never put a large amount of fresh animal manure on any garden, as it will burn any plant around it. Be extremely sparing or let it age first for a few months before applying it to the garden.

I have been living in my new house for about fifteen months, and the mulch layer in all my gardens (there were no gardens originally), is about 10 cm or 4 inches deep. None of which I have paid for and little that I have had to even pick up for myself.

People are even starting to comment on how fast the plants in my gardens are growing in the local heavy black clay soils, and they are surprised when I tell them that I have never bothered to fertilise the plants. The reason for this is that the earliest laid mulch material, is now broken down into plant nutrients and is now feeding my plants as a plant nutrient soup aided by the soil life which has suddenly started appearing in my gardens.

Another benefit that has started to appear in the last few months is the arrival of insect eating wildlife into my garden. Predatory insects and birds are now visiting my gardens on a regular basis, where I saw none this time last year. Bees and butterflies are also starting to visit many of the plants, which have come into flower for the first time this year.

So what can you do to start locating your own supplies of free mulch material, well here are a number of suggestions.

Put a little sign near your gate, something along the lines of ‘Organic mulch required’, or ‘Lawn clipping wanted’. There are sure to be a number of local people who are currently throwing theirs away in your community or even local area. Never mulch solely with grass clippings as they form an impenetrable layer that air and water cannot get through. Always mix it with other things to stop it ‘thatching’, just like a roof over the soil.

See if you can get into contact with local people who are into woodturning and carving, or even local sawmills. And come to some arrangement about unpreserved wood shavings.

Check the local phonebook for local showgrounds/racetracks/stables etc, to find out if any have stable or manure waste to give away, for people willing to pick them up

In other words, start talking around the place that you are after mulch materials and they will soon start coming to you.

The only caution with using other peoples waste material is the chance that you might also import other peoples pests and weeds. I have rarely found it a problem because of heavy mulch on mulch routines. But it is possible.

One point being that when you first start applying mulch to your garden you may see some nitrogen deficiencies occur in some plants. This is because the organisms that are breaking down the mulch material are using up all the available resources of it during the initial breakdown. Once you have gotten past this time the old composted material provide more than enough nitrogen for future processes.

Another thing to be careful of is not to bury or mulch up against the stems of wanted plants, as it may cause further problems for your plants in rot problems around the collar of the stems.

So get out there and talk around the community, find the contacts, believe it or not they will be as grateful as you to solve their particular problems of waste reduction. As well as that, you may start making some new friendships out of the deal; I know I have.

Garden offices are specially designed offices set up in a person’s garden. It provides a very convenient work atmosphere for people who want to work from home. With your home just a stone’s throw away you get to experience the same comfort as working from home without the usual distractions. New mothers, a person suffering from disability, a person whose main office is very far away or even a person who just wants to work from home would be benefited from having a garden studio at home. A Garden office or lodge blends in beautifully with the garden and actually makes it more attractive. Even the materials used are eco-friendly. Not only can you use the garden office for work, but can also convert it into a guest room or an extra bedroom as and when required.

The dazzling range of garden offices offered by gardenlodges.co.uk is one of the most comprehensive available in the market. The flexible modular design of the structures allows you to customize the office according to your needs and also get it attuned to your beautifully manicured garden; thus solving adequately all your garden designing needs. The garden offices of gardenlodges.co.uk are built is such a way that you can stay and work in them throughout the year without any problems. A very negligible amount of heating is required and the same goes with air conditioning. Consumption of electricity is also minimal. Eco-friendliness is highlighted during the construction of the garden offices. The materials used and the technique, both put stress on that fact. Provisions to add a bathroom or even a kitchen allow you to use your garden office as a mini-home.

The garden offices available at gardenlodges.co.uk are constructed keeping with the standards of the British Building Regulations. Each garden office built by gardenlodges.co.uk is done following a careful study of the site conditions, and after taking into consideration other aspects like garden fencing. They are also carefully insulated and double-gazed. Environmental factors are also considered during construction and eco-friendly larch cladding is used to finish the construction. Cedar roofing shingles are used not only for protection but they also mellow as the years pass. Excellent soundproofing is provided that allows you to not worry about sound escaping out and extra care is taken to provide unrestricted passage of natural light.

Garden studios and garden offices are lifestyle buildings or offices that are set up in the garden. This is generally targeted towards those who wish to work out of their home but not in their home, at their own convenience.

There are multiple benefits of Garden Studios or Garden lodges. Besides the fact that it allows you to work from the comfort of your home, you also get to work in a very beautiful place as the office is built after a careful site survey. The garden surrounding your office offers you a spectacular view, as the company building your garden office will also help you design your garden as well. The garden studios can be personalized according to your needs. You can set it up in such a manner that you enter your garden office by walking through a winding walkway. The serene, peaceful and relaxing atmosphere at your garden studio will be absolutely amazing. A little bit of customization can turn your studio into a guest room or even an extra bedroom. You won’t feel the need to return to your home.

Women who need to work and also look after their family would greatly benefit from these garden lodges that can serve as a home office for them. Besides, those with disabilities would love to work in an environment where everything has been personalized according to their needs, in addition to the fact that the surroundings of the office are so spectacular. The horror of daily commuting to the head office, thanks to traffic congestion or unreliable train services is the chief concern, apart from other issues. Not only are modern parents keen to spend more time with their kids, but most of us are looking for a better work/life balance. There’s more to life than making money, especially if you’re doing it for other people – and much more to working than being a cog in someone else’s machine.

Gardenlodges.co.uk offers the best services to construct garden studios in the UK. Each studio is built to meet the exact requirements of the individual. The customer’s tastes, preferences and needs are all kept in mind while constructing garden studios. Gardenlodges.co.uk doesn’t compromise on the quality of their products and offer a 10 year insurance backed guarantee. They also provide excellent after sales service. Maintaining good customer relations is another plus point of theirs. Constant interactions between the customer and the representatives of Gardenlodges result in the final quality product and service. Another special feature offered by gardenlodges.co.uk is that they conduct the Site Survey, free of charge. This helps the client to understand and then determine the exact nature of the product that he/she would like to purchase.

Home Gardening can be growing flowers, vegetables, fruits, and many other entertaining trees. This is also the right time to spend togetherness with your family, friends, and folks. As it is mentioned before, growing more plants around your house is healthy for you. When you are outside, you get more sun which is good for your skin and bones. It is also because if you have more plants, the plants will produce more clean oxygen for you. So, when the temperature strikes up, you will not feel so hot because of that. Besides, later on when all your plants are growing and showing the result, you will get the pleasure of seeing beautiful flowers with butterflies around them, tempting fruits, and green leaves. They are very helpful to get your eyes and brain relaxed from your stressing daily activities.

To start your Home Gardening, you may want to do it yourself or you can call home gardening expert. If you are not sure, you do not need to worry, as those experts will assist you to take care of your garden. You just need to get their addresses on Yellow Pages, or by searching it on your search engine of your PC. It is very easy now to get a healthier life by growing your garden.

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In today’s world, garden offices have gained much popularity and are in great demand. People purchase garden rooms from different suppliers and manufactures. However, there are certain essential things that a person needs to consider before purchasing a garden office. A person, prior to purchasing garden offices, should ensure that he is getting the best deal. There are ten essential things that should be considered before buying a garden office or garden studio.

Before purchasing a garden office one must be sure of the purpose that it would serve. This will help the person to ascertain whether the requirements of the building can be met by the design. If the building is being purchased to be used as a garden office, sufficient amount of lighting should be provided. If the room is to be used as a gym, then there should be provision for sufficient ventilation. If it is for the purpose of garden a lodge, then there should be provision for proper heating.

The position of one’s garden office is also of utmost importance. One rarely requires planning permission most of the time as long as the garden office is situated at a distance of 5 metres from the person’s home and occupies less than 50% of the garden’s area. Permission is also not required if the garden office or garden studio is built for private use and is about 20 metres away from any public place.

A person while buying a garden office or garden studio should also be careful about the height of the building. However, the height of the modular garden offices should not exceed 4 metres. If the height of the garden office exceeds 4 metres a person will have to seek permission. Permission also has to be taken if the building consists of two or more floors. Permission also has to be taken if the size of the rooms exceeds 30 Sq metres.

Further, a person prior to buying a garden room should be sure of the type of room he requires. A person buying a room for a garden studio should ensure that the room is in accordance to his requirements. The design of the room should also be taken into account.

A person buying a room for the purpose of running a garden office should also check the materials used for both constructing and designing the office. There are numerous suppliers who can provide the best garden offices. For information regarding garden offices and garden studios visit gardenlodges.co.uk.

In fact, many plants will trade more than 50% of their carbohydrates with these fungi and other microbes. Mycorrhizal fungi greatly improve soil characteristics, and are among the most important microbes that form relationships with plants.

This is another of those microbes that should be in our soil, but often isn’t anymore. In soil that has been tilled, compacted, water logged, treated with chemicals, or left without plant cover, mycorrhizal fungi may be seriously lacking.

They aren’t present in imported topsoil or potting soil mix either, and don’t multiply in compost. In any of these scenarios, they need to be added back to the soil, especially when planting or seeding, as they’re essential to optimum plant health.

We can inoculate our plants with mycorrhizal inoculant by taking just a small bucket of soil from a healthy environment that contains the right fungi, or by buying mycorrhizal fungi products from a garden center or online. While the first method sounds like more fun to me, I’ve always gravitated to the second because I know what I’m getting. The Organic Gardener’s Pantry carries it in Canada, and I even found some on Amazon a few weeks ago.

Types Of Mycorrhizal Inoculant

There are two main categories of mycorrhizal fungi. Over 90% of plants form relationships with endomycorrhizal fungi, also called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. You need them for most of your vegetables, grasses and many ornamentals.

About 5% of plants, including many conifers and some deciduous trees, form relationships with ectomycorrhizal fungi. When you’re planting a mix of plants, you can often buy a mixture of endomycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal fungi and just use that for everything.

How To Apply Mycorrhizal Spores

The best time to apply mycorrhizal inoculant is at the nursery during the plant production stage, but since your plants probably didn’t have that done, the next best time is at planting/seeding/sodding. This will allow you to establish contact between the fungi and plant roots, which is important because that’s where the relationship occurs.

There’s no benefit to foliar feeding with mycorrhizal fungi, as they need to touch the roots. We can, however, mix them with biostimulants before application. Mycorrhizal products shouldn’t need to be applied more than once to each plant, unless your management practices are harming them.

Rub the fungi directly on the root ball if possible, or sprinkle in the planting hole. For seed, mix it dry with the seed before spreading. For sod, get a powder form of the fungi, mix with water, and spray it on the soil right before you lay the sod, or even better, right on the bottom of the sod. You could spray it on afterwards as well and water it down to the root zone.

While not as good, the other choice is to apply the product to existing landscapes. The powder form is best for mixing with water to get the spores to infiltrate into the soil. For turf, it’s better to do this right after aerating so more of the spores get down to the roots. Otherwise, it can be watered in, but will not be as effective on heavy clay or very compacted soils.

There are some plants that generally do not form relationships with mycorrhizal fungi. The most important for vegetable gardeners is the Brassicaceae family and the Amaranthaceae family.

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It provides a broader operation of micronutrients than any stone dusts I’ve seen and a stand response is mostly unequivocally impressive. When people are starting to get into foliar fertilizing, this is mostly what we suggest first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Now, regulating strong sea H2O in a organic garden is a bizarre one to many people. The many common questions we get are:

“Isn’t it too salty?” Interestingly, it’s not too salty. The sodium in sea manure is buffered by a other 80+ sea minerals benefaction in a water. In fact, a vegetable makeup of sea minerals is strikingly tighten to a blood.

“Isn’t a H2O from a sea is polluted?” Yes, a sea is intensely soiled in some places and not so bad in others. The good products come from comparatively primitive waters. You substantially wouldn’t wish to take sea H2O from too tighten to a vital centre, nonetheless depending on a circumstances, a minerals competence be value a compared toxins.

“Why we should compensate income for something that is so abundant?” This doubt mostly comes from people on a seashore and it’s a good one. You’ll see next that we can potentially go get it from a sea yourself, though we can also contend that over fifty years of investigate says it unequivocally is an glorious thought to compensate for sea vegetable manure if we wish healthy dirt and crops.

How To Use Sea Fertilizer

If we live nearby a ocean, we can go get sea H2O and request it during 1 crater per block feet of soil. Of course, we wish to get that from purify sea water, not a (often) some-more soiled H2O that is tighten to a city. And with 5 gallons covering usually 75 block feet, that’s a lot of H2O to haul.

Nowadays, there are unequivocally strong glass sea manure products on a market. They enclose over 80 healthy sea minerals and active organic substances from sea water. Many gallons of sea H2O are processed to furnish a singular gallon of these products. This has turn one of my favorite biostimulants, maybe even some-more than a ever-present kelp.

For soil, it is churned with H2O during a rate of 1:50 (20ml per litre of water). For foliar fertilizing, that is what we always do, it is churned with H2O during a rate of somewhere between 1:100 and 1:200.

I go for a some-more diluted 1:200 rate (5ml per litre of water) since I’ve had people tell me they burnt a leaves of certain plants during 1:100.

I mist this directly on my plant leaflet with a hose-end sprayer or trek sprayer, being certain to soak a leaves thoroughly. The suggested rate of focus is 170-340ml per 1000 block feet. we go with a reduce rate. we do it once a month, though even a integrate of times a year is intensely beneficial.

The cost of a code we use – Sea-Crop – is about $60 for a gallon or $20-$25 for a liter if we can find it in that smaller distance (The Organic Gardener’s Pantry has it in Canada).