The simplest kind of a miniature rose garden roses in containers. For these, you only need the planters, some rocks, and some potting soil. For starters, the line of the base of the pots with rocks to help with drainage and to give the roots room to go beyond the soil in the pot. Basically, if you've ever planted a plant or flowers in a pot, then the methods are very similar. Once the boat is set, the rose plant in a container, parcel of land for gardening tightly around him and make sure that all the roots are well covered.

If you are planning something on a larger scale, such as a garden bed of roses, then you have to do much more. If the land where you live is thick red or black clay soil, then they certainly need a good quality blade and an aerator. Probably worth planting out your roses in a mixture of potting soil and soil so that roots have a chance to settle and find the necessary nutrients before reaching the clay.

It is important to give your roses plenty of room, but do not want to be tight. Rose Gardens also require regular watering and rose food. Many plants are able to get all the good that need land, but in general, roses are a little more delicate and require more nutrients. These can be sprayed on the soil around the rose bushes and water, so that it soaks down into the ground where it can be absorbed by the rose bushes.

What follows are general rules or guidelines for preparing any garden for planting.

Preparing a garden bed before you plant will greatly improve your gardens performance, and promote healthy vigorous growth from any plant you choose.

Most often preparing for planting is done in the spring, and involves tilling or turning the ground, and at the same time adding generous amounts of organic material and some type of fertilizer.

The goal is to break up and loosen earth that has become compacted over time, and to replenish vital minerals and nutrients.

Conditioning, or reconditioning the soil as it is sometimes called, is best done after the winter rains or frost have passed, but before the summer growing season has started. However, soil prep can be performed at any time that the ground is not too wet or frozen to till. Clay Soil

A clay or heavy clay soil, will greatly benefit from the addition of organic material, and it’s almost impossible to add too much.

Clay, because of its particles size and shape, tends to become compacted, and so will drain slowly or not at all. Also, the heavy compact nature of clay tends to prevent air from reaching the roots, which will slow plant growth. Gardening Tip: As water passes down through the earth it draws air (oxygen) behind it. Soils with little or no air tend to become “sour” as oxygen is a necessary ingredient for biological activity.

One of the benefits of clay in the garden is it’s natural moisture retention properties. By combining a generous amount of organic material with clay, you can off set it’s tendency towards compaction, improve drainage, and allow the nature of clay to help maintain moisture in your garden.

A good ratio of clay soil to organic material is roughly 50/50. Sandy Soil

Sandy soils are the opposite of clay and generally drain too fast, and so are unable to hold onto any nutrients long enough for a plant to use them. Organic matter helps to hold onto water and nutrients, and as with clay, it’s almost impossible to add too much.

A higher ratio of organic material to sand is a good option, as the organic matter tends to break down faster due to faster drainage (more oxygen).

Clay and sand are at the opposite end of the soil type spectrum. Most gardens will be somewhere in the middle. The organic material available to you may depend on what region of the world you live in. However, regardless of soil type, the addition of organic material will greatly improve your garden’s performance.

Organic material can be peat moss, shredded bark, composted or decomposed plant material, some form of manure (generally cow manure), or even worm casings or rice hulls to name a few.

Potting soil is usually some combination of the above list and may have little or no actual “dirt” in it. Organic material helps to maintain moisture content levels, increases biological activity, and helps to prevent soil compaction.Gardening Tip: When adding organic matter to planting beds or gardens, add at least 2 inches on top of the bed and work in evenly to a depth of 4 to 6 inches.

If adding 2 or more inches of organic material would raise your beds higher than you’d prefer, you’ll need to remove some of the existing soil first. Don’t worry, your garden will love you for it.Gardening Tip: When preparing for planting always till (loosen) the earth before you add organic matter or fertilizer. Till no less than 4 inches and no more than 12 inches deep. 3 Steps to a Healthier Garden

1. Break up and loosen the soil (using a shovel or spading fork), to a depth of between 6 to 12 inches deep.

2. Level the bed a little, and add 2 or more inches of organic material, then work in evenly (mix) to a depth of about 4 to 6 inches.

3. Again, level the bed a little, then sprinkle or add a granulated-slow release fertilizer of your choice on top and “scratch in” or lightly till to about 1 to 2 inches deep.

This method tends to simplify the process of preparing a planting bed, and allows you to save time and energy for other gardening activities. Gardening Tip: All depths listed above are Rule of Thumb measurements. In general all plants respond well to the above system.

If most of the plants you’ll be growing tend to be shorter (1 to 2 feet high), you won’t have to till as deep (about 6 to 8 inches).

Taller plants will have deeper root systems, so tilling deeper in that case will be helpful. In general though, tilling deeper than 12 inches is an unnecessary use of time and energy.Gardening Tip: Adding organic material around existing or established plants is not difficult. Till in to about 2 inches deep if close to a plant, and a little deeper if further away.

Simply try not to disturb the roots too much, and always water when you’re done to settle any roots that may have been disturbed.Good Luck and Happy Gardening!

Involve the children in your research. Gardening will provide wonderful hands-on activities that can truly bring learning to life for your children. It’s something that both boys and girls can enjoy. You don’t have to live out in the country to have a garden. You can start with just a small spot in your yard, containers on your porch, or even a small herb garden in your windowsill. When I was a little girl, I had a wonderful grandmotherly type babysitter who kept a garden in her backyard. My mother often commented about how when she’d pick me up at the end of the day Mama Linda would have all of us kids sitting under a shade tree snapping green beans. We thought it was a wonderful treat to “get” to work in her garden.

Create a garden notebook with all of your plans together in one spot. Start by working together to create a list of all the fruits and vegetables that you eat or enjoy. Don’t feel like you have to grow a patch of squash if your family won’t eat it. Spend your time on things that you all will actually use! Keep it simple. Assign different children to be in charge of certain plants. Narrowing their focus will help keep the tasks from seeming too overwhelming, while also helping your child to really research the best way to care for their plants. Children can find helpful growing information on the Internet, in books and magazines, and from experienced gardeners to put in their notebooks. Practical projects often help encourage even the most reluctant readers and writers. It gives learning purpose and brings satisfaction from a job well done. Watching those first little sprouts develop into an ear of corn, a watermelon, or giant sunflower can really make an impact on a child’s life.

Gardening helps mind, body, and spirit. Researching and planning for your garden involves reading, math, and science and encourages higher level thinking skills. You’ll also be able to use your notebook to journal when and where you plant things. Track the temperature and rain, fertilizing, how much you have to water them, and their growth.

Being outdoors in the sunshine is great for the body. Breathing in the fresh air and eating items straight from your garden can go a long way toward a healthier lifestyle for your family. Gardening provides nutritious food and exercise for growing bodies during those impressionable years. Likewise, the peace and quiet of working with your hands in the garden is good for the spirit, and gardening can help bring many Bible truths to life. The parables of the farmer in Matthew 13 truly come to life when children see how important preparing the soil is when they are trying to grow something.

Consider different types of gardens: • Traditional Garden—Grow plants directly in the soil in your backyard. One big advantage is how economical this type of garden is. It can be as large or small as you want.

• Lasagna Garden—Grow plants without digging by planting in soil covered with a barrier layer (such as newspaper), compost, and mulch. The advantages are that there is no need to dig, it conserves water, there are fewer weeds to pull, it prevents erosion, and it improves the soil.

• Container Garden—Grow plants in containers rather than planting directly into the ground. Advantages are that there is no digging in your yard, your garden is portable and decorative, and it is susceptible to fewer weeds and soilborne diseases.

• Raised Bed/Square Foot Garden—Grow plants in raised beds enriched with compost about one foot deep and 3-4 feet wide. Advantages with this type of garden include that the close planting creates a microclimate that conserves moisture and reduces weeds; it is easier to maintain; the soil is not compacted by walking on it; and higher yields are obtained.

A subject within gardening that’s interesting to study with your children is companion planting. Companion planting is the method of planting certain pairs or groups of crops in closer proximity because they benefit each other. Native Americans planted the “Three Sisters” together—corn, pole beans, and squash—so that they could benefit from each other. The corn provides a structure for the beans to climb, eliminating the need for poles. The beans provide the nitrogen to the soil that the other plants need, and the squash spreads along the ground, monopolizing the sunlight and thereby preventing weeds. The squash leaves act as a “living mulch,” creating a microclimate that retains moisture in the soil. The squash also deters pests with its prickly vines. Companion plants can benefit each other by repelling pests, encouraging beneficial insects, providing shelter or structure for each other, improving flavor, and enriching the soil. Carrots Love Tomatoes, by Louise Riotte, is a wonderful handbook for learning more about this method.

Also do some research on succession planting. Succession planting helps maximize your garden season’s potential. You can either plant different varieties of the same crop so they’ll mature at different rates, stagger when you plant crops so that they’ll mature at different times, or plant one crop and then another in the same space. Succession planting is a great way to increase your harvest by maximizing your use of space and timing. Often you can start off with a cool season crop like lettuce, follow it up with tomatoes that thrive in the heat, and then finish off the season with a third crop that grows well into the fall, such as spinach.

Now is the time to start planning, though. Select your plants. Draw out a design of your garden. Gather the materials you’ll need. If you’re planning on a container garden, keep your eye out for containers that you can use. If you’re going to do a lasagna garden, start saving your newspapers and cardboard boxes. If you want to use compost in your garden, start your own worm bin or compost pile to discard your kitchen waste and improve your soil quality. Start building raised beds or gathering materials so you can start seeds indoors. You can also incorporate history into your studies in the garden. Study the Victory Gardens of World War II and discover how Americans grew 40 percent of their vegetables, allowing the War Department to purchase the mass-produced vegetables for the troops overseas. During that time, emphasis was placed on making gardening a family or community effort—not a drudgery but a pastime and a national duty. We can learn a lot from history. As Cicero once said, “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” Do a little gardening with your kids this year. No green thumb is required, just a love of learning and a willingness to get your hands dirty! Copyright 2008. Originally appeared in TheOld Schoolhouse Magazine, Winter 07/8.Used with permission. Visit them atwww.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com.For all your homeschool curriculum needs visit the Schoolhouse Store.

Summer Bulbs: Time to pull out summer bulbs from the refrigerator and plant them. These bulbs include tulips, crocus, amaryllis, daffodils and delphiniums. Some bulbs can be purchased and planted without the chilling process and should be in stock at nurseries. They include Dutch iris, lily, gladiolus and begonia.

Plant Vegetables: Warmer temperatures give gardeners the green light to plant asparagus, onions, beets, Brussels sprouts, cilantro, chives, lettuce, rutabaga and morrow squash. These hardy plants can withstand a quick blast of cold temperatures and still grow vigorously. In warmer inland areas, plant tomatoes at the end of the month. Fruit will appear by Memorial Day.

Save Money, Plant From Seed: One easy way to save money in the garden this year is to plant from seed instead of buying mature plants from the nursery. Flower seeds that can be planted now for spring and summer-blooms include Bachelor buttons, California poppy, larkspur and wildflowers.

Plant An Herb Garden: Mild winters enable Southern California gardeners to begin planting herbs in February. Plant chive, cilantro, dill, fennel, mint and parsley even if more rain is in the forecast.

Tackle Weeds Now: Rain promotes winter weeds. Remove weeds with a hoe before they get too big. Don’t put weeds in a compost pile. If you do, the resulting mulch will spread weed seeds throughout your garden.

Keep Soil Moist: If you hear of a frost warning in your area, water your garden thoroughly before evening. The moisture from the soil will evaporate and warm the air around your plants.

Cover  Your Garden: Plants heat up during the day. Trap this heat by covering plants with light materials such as paper, cloth or tarps prior to dusk. Stake up the frost shield if you are protecting delicate flowers and are worried the plants may be damaged by the weight of the covering. If not, drape the protection directly over the plants. Be sure to remove the covering the following morning to prevent plants from overheating during the day.

Protect Your Potted Plants: Potted plants do not have as deep a root system as plants in the garden. This means they are more susceptible to serious frost damage. Consider moving potted plants indoors or under patio covers on cloudless, cold evenings.

Keep Pesky Weeds From Overrunning Winter Gardens:  Often, the first heavy winter rain will cause dormant weeds to grow. To help control weeds during winter months, turn over soil after each rain and cover the area with a layer of mulch. Just as in the year’s growing months, an inch or two of mulch will prevent weeds from sprouting.

Select a Living Christmas Tree That’s Right for Your Yard: Purchasing a living Christmas tree to plant after the holidays can be a wonderful tradition. Select a tree that fits your yard. Popular living Christmas trees are Norway Spruce, Alberta Spruce, Noble Fir and Scotch Pine. Decide on a location in your yard for the tree and then visit your local nursery to select the best Christmas tree for the site. Since the small Christmas tree you purchase for the holidays can grow considerably once planted, take into consideration tree and root growth and proximity to your home.

What is the function of soil in our yards and gardens? Simply put, soil provides plants with mineral nutrients, water and anchorage. The basic types of soil are clay, sand, and silt. The percentage of each determines whether you have sandy clay loam, silt, loam, etc.  There are so many variables that affect soil that your yard may have a different soil type than the one across the street.

Some soil properties that are influenced by the texture of soil include aeration, drainage, water holding capacity and temperature. For example, sandy soil has excellent aeration, warms quickly in spring and has a low water-holding capacity. The exact opposite is true for clay. It has poor aeration, warms slowly, and has high water-holding capacity.

Here are the four major components of soil:

Amounts of each of these components determine whether or not plants will grow and thrive in the soil. Ideal or perfect soil consists of 25% air, 25% water, 40% mineral matter and 10% organic matter. As you already know, this never happens!

However, what we do to improve our soil will affect our plants.

You can re-mineralize your soil by adding Minerals Plus or Texas Greensand. You can increase organic matter by adding a good organic compost. This also increases earthworm activity and beneficial bacterial growth.  Spray-N-Grow increases microbial activity that helps keep air and water moving in the soil. To find out more about your soil, use the Sunleaves Three Way Meter.  It allows you to test your soil for pH, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and will give you immediate results.

Naturally, some soil needs more work than others, but with a little work and some good organic garden products, you can pretend that your soil is perfect! All of the gardening products listed in this article can be purchased from Spray-N-Grow.  

Planting a garden can be easier and more enjoyable with these gardening tips

Planting a garden, whether it is a vegetable plot or a flower bed, is an adventure where your creativity and patience are put to the test! You are directly responsible for the beautiful rose blooms or the delicious tomatoes that develop in this section of the land. Therefore to have the most success you need to determine where you plant!

The location of the garden should be determined by several factors: sunlight, soil conditions, water and wind exposure. Take notes on when this area of the yard is exposed to sunshine. This can determine which plants will thrive there. Test your soil to see if conditioners are needed to bring it up to optimum growing conditions. Pay attention to whether water collects in this section of the lawn. Some plants do well in soggy locations, but most need well-drained soil. Strong winds can dry out soil and plants, so try to locate the plot out of direct winds. Once you have determined where you will create your garden masterpiece you are ready to select plants!

Choose plants that will grow in your zone. Although you might have your heart set on a certain flower or vegetable, if your climate or garden location won’t support this choice, you will inevitably be disappointed. To avoid this, choose plants that are meant for your growing zone (ideally native plants), and disease-resistant and drought tolerant plants. Ask the employee at the nursery for assistance in selecting these. Be aware of the future size of each plant. A tree planted near a house will eventually provide shade, but it could also be a hazard during storms.

Plan out what flowering plants you would like for the seasons. Most perennials only bloom for a short time, so by mixing in some annuals there will be constant color in your garden. By having seasonal color you can change the look of your garden and create excitement and personality!

Now that you have your garden location selected and your plants purchased, you are ready to start digging! What tools are required to get things started? These include:

Rake: for seasonal cleanups and spreading/leveling soil

Trowel: for transplanting and weeding

Shovel: for digging, scooping, spreading compost and planting Hoe: for chopping weeds and tilling soils

Pruners: for clipping flowers and pruning trees

Garden Gloves: for protecting your hands from blisters and dirt Garden Hose: invest in a top-of-the-line hose that will resist kinking, is flexible and coils easily. Invest in high quality tools. They will last longer and are more durable than their cheaper counterparts.

Have fun starting a garden. Don’t try to create a masterpiece your first year-build up to it. Select a few choice plants that are more expensive. The rest can be less expensive, smaller complementary plants to round out your garden. Gardening is our nation’s number one leisure activity so go out and have a good time in your own piece of earth!

Saving water and enjoying the beauty and environmental benefits of plants are not only possible, but easy says the American Association of Nurserymen (AAN). “Water Wise” gardening is built on some basic, commonsense principles:

Planning

Planning a water wise garden or landscape is as easy and fun-as planning any type of garden. Talk to the professionals at your local center/landscape firm to see which plants will do well in your area. You may be surprised to find that some very beautiful, colorful plants are low on water consumption-and they may fit into your landscape perfectly.

Group together plants that require the same amount of water. Plant trees and shrubs to provide shade to cool buildings, air conditioning units, patios, decks, and other landscape features.  Shelter container plants by moving them to shady areas. Spike or aerate lawns to insure maximum water penetration. Control weeds which compete with useful plants for water.

Soil Improvement

Soil improvement is another easy and beneficial step in building a water wise garden. Soil that is well prepared at the time of planting influences the plant’s initial development and yields the best results. And plants placed in the proper soil will be healthier, often needing less water.

Soil characteristics include texture, structure, depth, and nutrients. To find out more about your soil content, test your soil with the following garden products: Accugrow Soil Test Kit or the Sunleaves Three-Way Meter.  

Wise Irrigation

Efficient irrigation is a critical part of water wise gardening. Your irrigation system can be simple, such as a hand-held hose, or elaborate, such as an in-ground sprinkler system. Consider a drip water conservation system, which can save up to 60% of water used by sprinkler irrigation. Whatever you choose, make sure you plan your watering to get best results.

Deep, infrequent watering, promotes root growth and is the wisest use of water and encourages strong rooting. This provides greater tolerance to dry spells.  Water early in the day, and on less windy days, to reduce evaporation loss. The ideal time is from dawn to 9:00 a.m.   Turn off sprinklers before water is wasted as runoff into gutters and streets.

Mulching

Mulching is always a benefit to your garden and can help prevent soil erosion and evaporation, conserving the water that is available and keeping your plants healthy and strong.

Maintenance

Maintaining your water wise garden means learning how to water all over again. You may find that watering less means having more time to sit back and enjoy your garden. Generally, plants should be watered less often and for a long period of time. Drip, soaker, or deep root watering promotes healthy plants and less water use.

Water Wise Gardening Tips

Follow these handy watering tips from AAN, and you’ll soon be started on your own environmentally sound garden or landscape.  For garden products mentioned in this article, please visit http://www.spray-n-growgardening.com