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Are you thinking of redesigning your garden? Do you already have ideas on how you want your garden to look like? Homeowners nowadays are looking forward in creating a brand new design for their garden. Theyd like to consider different themes for their garden space that will look good in the modern age. In creating a modern space for your garden you have to consider the style, color, texture and shapes. And with all these, you should be able to create a harmonious, inviting yet elegant space for you. The foundation of modern design for your garden is the geometric pattern that is used. Here are some modern garden design ideas that you can use.

Basically, the garden is formed by organic and inorganic aspects. Organic aspects refer to the things that have life that symbolize energy and longevity. The inorganic part of designing your garden is the basis in creating a modern design. It is the fixtures that you use in creating a perfect area for relaxation and conversation. We also take into consideration the pathways, patios, walls and even parking space in creating a modern garden. Reconstructing your garden creates a new dimension of life that will be able to communicate with other elements around it to achieve a harmonious space.

The four forms that you can use in designing your garden are the following. Spirituality and femininity are represented by circles. These are usually found in fountains and trees on your garden. Quadrilateral is used to extend architectural elements that are often formed rectangular like swimming pools. Linear lines are used to depict borders or boundaries in the garden area. It also divides the space that you can use in creating different portions. And a triangular shape is used as to create a focal point for your garden.

Since the goal of redecorating our garden space is to create a place for serenity and an excellent outdoor experience, it’s important to attend to its focal point and its main purpose. Your design should go hand in hand on the major fixture that you have. Its surrounding should work harmoniously with the focal point to create unity. Sometimes we also need to work on materials and patterns as a supportive element to highlight the focal point.

Lastly, the success of your garden space depends on the selection of plants they you will use. As much as possible, the approach for your elements should be. The flowering should also match or compliment everything surrounding it to create theme. Too much will definitely cause chaos to your elements. It is best to make it simple. So when you are looking forward in creating modern design for your garden, you can check these ideas as your guide.

Provide for your home with a kitchen garden. This can save you money at the grocery store over the summer and beyond if you learn to can or dry the bounty. Flowers can be planted to beautify your yard and attract colorful butterflies.

Children’s Garden

Plant a children’s garden complete with bean tepees for a private retreat. Set up eight bamboo poles in a wide circle, approximately 5 feet circumference. Pull the tops of the poles together and secure with twine to form the tepee shape. Plant runner beans along the inside base of the poles. Train the vines to go up the poles. Leave an opening for children to sit inside the tepee.

Children’s gardens can include plants that can be touched or picked often such as snapdragons and mini tomatoes, large like sunflowers or unusual like purple carrots or blue potatoes or Build a scarecrow and include painted rocks for step stones or garden markers.

Kitchen Garden

A small kitchen garden can provide your home with vegetable staples throughout the summer. Choose a sunny location near your house. Plant herbs, tomatoes, peppers and beans, or your favorite vegetables. Alternately, use large planters that you can set on a patio and move when necessary.

You can plant a kitchen garden in a theme, such as a pizza garden full of peppers, hot and mild, tomatoes, basil and oregano. Design it in a circular bed sectioned off like a pizza pie.

Herb gardens are another kitchen garden choice. This useful addition can provide your with fresh mint, basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary. There are several varieties of herbs you can experiment cooking with. Use the cuttings fresh or hang to dry and use throughout the year.

Flower Garden

Fill your summer garden with colorful flowers. Choose plants that bloom at different times of the season for a continual show. Add fragrant flowers such as nemesia, ageratum, dianthus and sweet pea.

Attract butterflies to your garden with dill and parsley as well as the butterfly bush, marigolds and shasta daisies. Choose a sunny location for your butterfly garden that is also sheltered from wind. Include several flat stones around your plants to give the butterflies a place to warm up and rest. Maintain a mud puddle in a sunny spot near the plants to give the butterflies a place to drink. A bucket full of very wet sand is another way to provide water.

There’s nothing better to celebrate the coming of summer than by using a few of your garden party ideas.  With spring breezes carrying the warmth of summer on their haunches as they wisp away winter chills your annual garden party is drawing closer, however this year rather than succumb to the same garden party ideas as before, plan a few different activities to literally liven up your garden and celebrate the coming summer.  Here are five great garden party ideas that your friends and neighbors will really enjoy.

Cinco de Mayo

The fifth of May is a day of celebration so why not use this Mexican festival to celebrate a culture and their independence.  This is an ideal garden party idea because the weather is just starting to keep hold of the heat and bright colored flowers are blossoming in celebration, too.  Cook Mexican cuisine and decorate with the beautifully bright colors appreciated by this culture as well as a few cultural touches like piñatas and colorful paper lanterns.

4th of July

You’ve probably contemplated a Fourth of July garden party idea well now is the time to do it.  Use your garden’s beautiful colors to emphasize the liberty colors of vibrant red, pure white and bold blue.  You can offer white cake decorated with fresh strawberries for stripes and blueberries for the blue badge that holds our country’s 50 stars united.  Use the extra space on your lawn to set out tables and chairs both adequately decorated with the nation’s colors.  The food is the best feature of this special garden party idea.  The good ole American barbecue with burgers, hotdogs and an arrangement of salads to keep guests full and happy while you wait for the sun to set and fireworks to finish off the evening of entertainment.

Celebrating Summer

When you’re coming up with garden party ideas do you ever consider having a garden party just because it’s summer?  The summer is best celebrated in the garden with a barbecue and friends while you enjoy the splendor of summer and the bounty of warm days.  Other options for summer celebrating are for birthdays, sports events, swim party, etc.

Ladies’ Luncheon

Who says your garden party idea can’t reflect what the whole garden party used to be about?  Somehow society changed garden party ideas into huge events for the entire neighborhood.  Garden parties used to be a time when women could get together and be women: gossip and eat while admiring the host’s garden.  If you need time with the ladies than a ladies’ luncheon is a grand objective to work towards.

Whether you have a reason or not sometimes just having a simple garden party is a fun event that allows people to really admire the work that you’ve put towards keeping your home a grandeur place using everything nature has offered.

Most gardening is green on some level because it involves working with soil to grow plants that help to cleanse the air and prevent soil erosion. Some gardening strategies, however, are considerably more ecologically friendly and responsible than others. Truly green gardening involves using no chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and cultivating native plants that help create a balanced ecosystem.

Green Fertilizer

# Truly green gardeners use a mix of strategies to build their soil and add to its fertility without resorting to chemical fertilizers. Thoughtful crop rotation methods integrate plantings of legumes–which restore the vital element nitrogen into the soil–with other plants that each provide and use complementary nutrients. Composting is another way to add vitality to the soil without adding chemicals. With the use of beneficial microorganisms, organic materials from plant trimmings and food scraps break down turning into fertile ground. Mulching, as well, fertilizes the soil with organic matter. Spread leaves and wood chips to create an upper layer that breaks down and fertilizes the ground underneath it.
 

Eco-Friendly Pest Control

# There are many traditional methods of pest control besides the chemical pesticides that many gardeners and farmers use. Creating a friendly space for creatures such as birds and ladybugs is one way to coordinate your gardening activities with the natural life cycles, as these creatures feed on the bugs that can be harmful to your plants. Weeding by hand can be labor intensive, but it can also be therapeutic and meditative, and it is certainly healthier and better for the environment than spraying pesticides. Having a wide variety of plants growing in a space can also help to minimize the damage that pests do because predatory insects tend to be narrowly adapted to eat only particular plants, so it will just be a matter of time before they run into something that is unsuitable for them.
 

Native Plants

# Choosing plants that are native to the ecosystem in which you live can help to preserve and restore ecological balance. Native plants are part of a whole system of plants, animals and insects that evolved together, feeding off each other’s byproducts and providing each other with environmental benefits such as shade or fertilizer. Most of our native ecosystems have been disturbed by the introduction of non-native plants. They harm the symbiosis that has developed over time by taking over a niche or changing a landscape. Reintroducing native plants can help to bring the landscape back into its original harmony.
 

Occasionally, the urge to garden could be stomped out by other conditions, such as living arrangements or space restrictions. If you live in an apartment, you can not actually operate a full garden, simply because you don’t actually have a yard! I think that among the best answers for this problem is to grow plants in containers. You can hang these, or just set them up on your patio, window sill or balcony. Just a couple of baskets or pots, and your whole living area will appear much classier and nicer.

A benefit of growing in pocket-size containers is the fact that you are able to move them around to fit your needs. If you rearrange your furniture and you think that it would look nicer if it were in the other area, it is no trouble at all to scoot it over. As long as the illumination is about the same, your plant wouldn’t mind the transition at all. One more benefit of the containers’ versatility is the fact that you are able to adjust it to simulate any surroundings depending on the kind of soil you fill it up with and where you put it.

If you’re trying to make an aesthetically pleasing placement of containers and plants, you can set the containers to be at various heights by hanging them from the ceiling or placing them on stands. Hanging them will afford you to make the most of the space you have. This is popularly called “vertical gardening”. If you pull it off correctly, you can make a very pleasing arrangement of plants while conserving your valuable space. If you live in an apartment, you know how crucial it is to conserve space! One way of vertical gardening is the use of a wooden step ladder. When painted correctly, you can stage all the plants on it in a beautiful, stylish shower of color.

The maintenance of container plants takes somewhat more time, since you have to water more frequently and go around to every individual container. However, the square footage for container plants is a good deal less than that of a literal garden, so the time spent on watering and maintenance is more balanced. It is significant that you do not over-water your container plants, as this can be as fatal to their health as under-watering.

When picking out containers for your plants, you will want to buy them all together along with some extras just in case they break or you add more plants later. You do not want them to be all the same shape and size, but definitely the equivalent style so that the compliment each other. Plastic containers are perfect and require the least number of watering, but if you want to stick to clay or earthen pots then you should put a plastic line on the inside. This aids it retain water more, as the clay should soak up water.

Another thing to keep in mind when purchasing pots is the fact that the size of the pot will in the end constrict the size of the plant. Make a measured choice of pots according to what you wish to grow in every one. If you research for the plant you chose on the internet, you should be able to find specs as to how much root space it must be granted. This can even be an advantage for you if you select a plant that can grow really large. If you only have a specified amount of space for it, you can constrict its growth by choosing a pot that is not large enough to support huge volumes of growth.

If the benefits of container gardening sound likeable to you, then you must start preparing your container garden today. If you write a list of all the plants you want to have, you can do the needed research to determine what size and shape of pots you must get. After that, it’s just a matter of arranging them in a way that makes your home look the nicest.

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Plants That Grow Well in Containers 

Flowers are one of the easiest and most rewarding plants to grow in a container garden. Annuals are the simplest, but several perennial flower and small flowering bushes also thrive in a pot when given proper care. Decorative plants provide many convenient and strikingly attractive choices when planning a new garden container. The varieties that stay healthy in a more confined space are truly endless from small trees to coloured cabbages and from ivy to ornamental grasses. Naturally, Vegetables can flourish in containers when treated properly and chosen wisely. Common vegetables planted in tubs, pots, barrels and more are such as determinant tomatoes, peppers, squashes, melons, cucumbers, lettuce, herbs of all sorts and many more edible, food-bearing plants. Then, cactus and other desert varieties make superb potted garden plants. Generally, they need little maintenance and very little watering. 

Getting the Best out of the Container Garden 

First, consider the size of the plant and the size of the container you have selected in which to grow your garden. For all but vines, some trees and the shortest plants (like less than twelve centimetres), a good rule to follow is that the container should be as wide as the plant is wide. The pot should also be deep, but planners need to research required depth for particular plans so that roots can spread and get the nutrition and water for plant health. 

Good soil is essential for plant health and growth. For pots and container growing, a balanced mix should contain peat, sand, old mulched bark, limestone, perlite and maybe some vermiculite. Container plants do not grow well in clay soil. For permanent plants such as trees or ornamental and flower perennials, the soil needs to be exchanged yearly to prevent root rot from mould, and roots should be loosened so that they do not bind up. 

Watering should happen regularly unless the plant is from the desert, and fertilizing often is necessary. Plants grow best when they are fertilized according to plant needs and fertilizer directions. Plants, containers and garden accessories are a small investment for the joy gardening!

Spring is on its way and for many of us and that means getting our green thumbs ready for the spring season of gardening. This is the time of blooming and new growth so it’s also a great time to begin treating your plants and flowers to help them get a healthy start in the new season. It can also be a good time to plant new flowers although it’s important to check and be sure it is the right season for the ones you are choosing.

What are some great flowers and plants to consider for your spring garden?

1. Chrysanthemums

2. Pansies

3. Azaleas

4. Holly

5. Rhododendrons

What are some other ways you can care for your garden and lawn with spring approaching? Try Treetone of Planttone on your flowering trees, trees and similar plants. Now is the time to compost your perennial beds and maybe add some Flowertone to them as well.

Do the weeding, raking, sowing and tilling if need be and get your spring garden looking fresh and rejuvenated.

You can also add compost to your annual beds and get started on weeding. Even if you use herbicide, you may still want to go through by hand, especially the first time and remove weeds as much as you can. Clean up the beds that may have gotten overgrown or in disarray during the cooler months.

You can also prevent bugs and pests from harming your garden by starting prevention early. You won’t usually need to use harsh or strong pesticides if you tackle the problem early and keep it under control. Try horticultural soaps and oils first to see if these products help remove the pests without having to use harsher chemicals in your gardens.

This is also a fabulous time to spruce up your garden with great spring décor items such as:

• Garden signs

• Decorative fencing

• Garden statues

• Decorative rocks

• Birdhouses

• Patio and garden benches or furniture

• Ponds and fountains

What you do with your garden is totally up to you but spring is a great time to renovate and clean out the clutter- inside and out.

Why not make your garden a great place to start?

Garden Calendar
Today and Saturday: Garden Show and Sale: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at 5128 Whiteway Drive . Leaf castings, bottle trees, water gardening, great garden ideas and more. Call (901) 685-7525.

San Gorgonio Garden Club biannual tour offers ideas in ‘time of downsizing’
Photo for the Record Gazette by David James Heiss — Angi Ritchie stands among some of the plants in her Cabazon gazebo. Angi Ritchie’s garden is “a work in progress.”

Get ideas, inspiration for your home and tour a vineyard during Splendor in the Garden tour in Paw Paw
The tour features six residential gardens and a family-owned winery and vineyard.

If you’ve decided to redesign your garden, then perhaps you’re looking for gardening ideas to help you get the garden you want.

Here are 10 ideas to get you thinking.

1. Why not get the children involved? Perhaps you can give them their own patch of garden, or a few pots, so that they can grow their own plants and flowers. They’ll enjoy helping, and will want to make sure that their seeds grow.

2. You could grow your own fruit and vegetables. As well as saving you money, you’ll notice the difference in taste between fruit and vegetables bought from the supermarket and those you’ve grown in your garden. Perhaps this will spur you on to eating more healthily too.

3. Think about the amount of space you have, and what you can realistically do with it. It’s easy to get carried away and want decking, and water features and huge trees, but, if you don’t have the space, it won’t work.

Don’t get too ambitious, and be prepared to scale back your ideas.

4. Do some research and find out what sorts of plants will grow in your garden. Don’t just buy plants, as they may not be suitable for your garden, and so they’ll be a waste of money.

5. If you’re starting from scratch, perhaps you could think about things for the children. Room for a slide, a trampoline, a swing, or to kick a football or play badminton will be greatly appreciated.

6. Your garden will need to be easy to manage. You won’t want to spend all your spare time tending to it. By making sure that the elements you have in your garden don’t need a lot of looking after, you’ll be able to enjoy your garden a lot more, and not see it as a chore.

7. Make sure that your garden is easy to use.

Things like the position of the washing line, shed, or the barbeque will make a big difference to how much they get used.

8. Will you want additional storage space from your garden? What about a shed or a garage, or a play house for the children. You might want to build a home office or kids summerhouse

9. Perhaps you could turn some of the garden into an additional play area. What about adding a sandpit, or having somewhere to store the bikes and other outdoor toys and games?

10. Whatever you have planned for the garden, you’ll need to compromise with other members of the family. What might be important to you might not be important to the rest of the family. You might want a cottage garden full of flowers, but will your children? You might want a minimalistic garden that easy to maintain, but will there be an plants and flowers in the spring and summer? You might want a pond, but are the children old enough to be safe near it?

Once you’ve decided how you want your garden, and got some gardening ideas, you can then design it properly and make the most of it. By getting it right in the first place, you’ll be able to enjoy it all year round.

For container gardening ideas, scan the internet, the library or a bookstore. The challenge is to come up with a lovely container garden plan. There are a widespread collection of containers available for your container garden. These range in size from small-scale house-plant pots to sizeable boxes and planters. Equally varied are the materials from which they are made. These include wood, glass, clay, aluminum, bamboo, straw, plastic, fiberglass, terra cotta, tin, cast iron, zinc, copper, and brass, each with select advantages and disadvantages. What you choose will depend on availability, price, background, and attraction not to mention the characteristics of the gardening pots.

Here are some container gardening ideas. In addition to run-of-the-mill circular pots and tubs, there are modern and ultra-modern forms such as square, rectangular, triangular, hexagonal, and octagonal. Also eligible are old iron kitchen pots, kettles, pails, jugs, casks, vases, crocks, jam tubs, barrels and nail kegs, Japanese fish tubs, aged sinks, bathtubs, bamboo soy tubs. There are novelty containers such as driftwood, wheelbarrows, donkey carts, spinning wheels and boxes attached to a roadside mail container. There are also bird cages, decorative well heads, animal figures, and Strawberry jars. Woven baskets may be used to conceal unattractive containers. Even tar paper pots, handled by garden centers and florists are worthy if painted or veiled to upgrade their exterior. Any of these can be used in your container gardening ideas.

Where to find your container supplies? Begin with what you possess. If you explore cellars or basements, attics, garages, and sheds, you will doubtless encounter objects of interest. Old-fashioned pots and kettles, usually sold in antique shops at rural auctions or observed at old New England inns, have much attraction.

Different container garden ideas to ponder are old cookie and bean jars, pickle and other types of crocks, wash tubs, coal pails, jardinières, and ceramic bowls. For drainage, scatter a thick layer of substantial pebbles or shattered pieces of pots or bricks at the bottom and then moisten plants with care. In substantial containers, drainage material should be many inches thick. Where rainfall is hefty, be certain to keep garden containers without drainage outlets on porches, below awnings or the under sizable eaves of house. With pails and old galvanized wash tubs, holes can be easily punctured at the bottom.

Plants in containers without drainage openings stay wet longer. Some of these—crocks, jardinières and cookie jars—are massive enough to be secure against the elements in exterior container gardening.

What constitutes the perfect container for your container garden ideas? A container needs to be attractive, even if it is not an object of art. It should be sturdy and lasting and able to resist all kinds of weather. This is especially true of the substantial sizes which ofttimes continue outdoors all year around. In the North, alternate icy and thawing is a predicament in winter (and could generate cracking); in blazing climates, intensive heat, humidity, and moisture are to be considered (and could cause fading). And in semiarid areas, there is the impact of searing sun to keep your attention, another source of fading. All these things need be kept in mind when coming up with your container gardening design.

The perfect container must be vast enough to hold a sizeable quantity of soil. It should have super drainage facilities through holes or various openings at the bottom or sides. It must not rust, at least in a single season, and it should have a wide enough base to perch firmly wherever placed. Further, it needs to be heavy enough to withstand average winds. In severe storms, like hurricanes and tornadoes, movable containers can be shifted to interim safety. All of these things should be factored in when you are coming up with your container gardening ideas.

Resistance to rot is another requisite. Wooden containers—except those made of rot-resistant Redwood, Western Cedar, and Southern Red Cypress—will require treatment with a wood preservative. Except for lifelong containers, the capability to move your container garden is another quality, and sometimes a safety precaution, of portable container gardening. Sizable boxes and planters can be equipped with wheels, and garden centers have redwood tubs that perch on platforms with wheels. An opening in the platform corresponds to the hole in the tub. Sizeable containers without wheels can be pushed on iron or wooden rollers by two or more people; however, if you live in an area inclined to severe storms it is best to keep your containers small-scaled.

Smaller containers are ideal for cultivating herb container gardens. If you plan to plant an herb container garden be imaginative. Here are some container garden ideas for herbs that go great together.

* For an Italian selection try Sweet Basil, Italian Parsley, Oregano, Marjoram and Thyme.

* For a pleasing scented container use Lavender, Rose Scented Geranium, Lemon Balm, Lemon Thyme, and Pineapple Sage.

* For utterly extravagant salads try Garlic Chives, Rocket, Salad Burnet, Parsley, Celery.

* And to say “We love French Cooking!” use Tarragon, Chervil, Parsley, Chives and Sage.

Any of these will liven up your meal and please your family.

So these are just a few container gardening ideas. Get out a pad of paper and make up a container garden plot that will add to the view and conceivably even the palate.

Happy Container Gardening!

Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at http://www.GardeningHerb.com and http://www.ContainerGardeningSecrets.com To read more of her articles go to http://www.ArticleBazaar.net