Home Improvement

Maintaining a garden in an ocean front location is not all blooming hibiscus and scented plumeria. Extreme conditions such as high winds and drought can play havoc on the sturdiest landscape. When plotting your ocean front garden, you need to do you homework. Here are some flowers that like to bloom in the toughest of environments.

Rugosa Rose: This Siberian native knows all about tough climates. the Rosa rugosa endures extreme temperature shifts, drought, wind and salt spray. Expect scented blooms from string to fall accompanied by colorful rose hips that will attract the birds.

Lavender: A hearty plant in most climates, and tolerates sandy soil well. Position the plant in front of your roses for a fragrant walkway. The bushy shrub also hides the bare rose stems.

South American Verbena: This is a nice complement to your lavender with its showy lavender/purple blooms on stems that can extend up to 6 feet tall. Butterflies like this plant.

Daylily: These do well in most climates and have a variety of colors and patterns to choose from. When not in bloom, their grassy foliage makes a nice border.

Hydrangeas: This delicate looking plant is really a pretty tough cookie and doesn’t mind wind and salt. It’s wise to plant it in a partially shaded area where it will get the morning sun and afternoon shade. Set up an irrigation drip for this one, hydrangeas don’t tolerate drought very well. To keep it blooming, trim off the ancient flowers as soon as they start to fade.

Ever wonder why some hydrangeas have bright blue blooms and others are pink? It all has to do with the amount of acidity in the soil – the more acid, the bluer the flower, the less acid, or more alkaline, and the pinker the bloom. Use aluminum sulfate to increase acidity and dolomitic lime to decrease it.

Juniper: This is a hearty evergreen that adds color and texture to your garden year round. Choose from blue, green or gold foliage, and tall or creeping styles of plant. The low growing selections work well in sandy rock gardens or for erosion control on hilly areas.

Wintercreeper: This is a hearty groundcover that still looks fantastic in the winter with its variegated leaf.

Portulaca: This is a well loved plant commonly found along walkways at the beach. You can forget to water it, expose it to wind and sea spray and it will respond with colorful blooms. Its trailing flowers make a nice accent in an ocean facing window box. Although it is an annual, it will generally self seed.

Yarrow: Also considered a herb for its medicinal qualities, yarrow will endure, sun, rain, cold, drought and wind. It comes in a variety of colors such as yellow, orange, pink and white. Plant it in a spot where you can keep an eye on it, yarrow likes to spread its roots and wander.

Gaillardia: This colorful flower blooms from summer to early winter, resists drought and doesn’t balk at sandy soil. It’s brightly colored blooms attract butterflies and make perfect cut flowers.

Cuphea: This is the new kid on the block and what an fascinating plant it is. It has bright red crinkly petals with purple middles that bloom non-stop in the hottest, dryest, salt and wind blown conditions. Keep it moist and fertilized, and you will be assured of constant color all season.

Growing your own herbs is easy once you know how, and can add colour and scent to your garden or windowsill all year round. Ceri Thomas, editor of Which? Gardening gives advice on stockists and suppliers, and all you need to grow three of the most well loved herbs basil, coriander and rosemary.

Supermarket herbs

Many common kitchen herbs are now available from supermarkets as potted plants, but they can be tough to keep going. But, the majority of these, such as basil, coriander and parsley, are really a collection of seedlings crammed into the pot rather than a single established plant. You can use this to your advantage and it can be an easy, convenient way to get a lot of herb plants. Just separate the individual seedlings, and re-pot separately.

Growing from seed is the cheapest method for annual herbs. Cut parsley, coriander and chives to within 5cm of the base before re-potting, and separate the individual plantlets and re-pot each one in its own container. Take care when dividing coriander, parsley and basil, as they all resent having their roots disturbed. If basil has become leggy, you can re-plant it more deeply to encourage stronger growth.

How to grow basil

You can start sowing basil towards the end of March in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill. It’s very sensitive to cold and will blacken at the slightest hint of frost, so make sure your early sowings are protected. Once the young plants reach about 15cm tall, remove the shoot tip to encourage more leafy growth and a bushier plant. When the warmth of June arrives, you can sow another batch outside and go any indoor plants outside to the patio. Make a final sowing in August to give you fresh basil into autumn.

Alternatively, you can buy basil in posts from the supermarket or garden centre. Look for bushy plants with lots of side-shoots and no sign of flowering. You can then make more plants by taking cuttings.

Keep your basil in the sunniest spot that you can find – preferably a south-facing windowsill or patio, once there’s no risk of frost. Water sparingly and remove flower spikes – if these are allowed to mature, your plants will stop growing new leaves.

Pick individual leaves from the top of the plant and feed with a liquid fertiliser afterwards. Then leave it to grow again. If you find that you have a bumper crop at the end of summer, pick the lot and make it into pesto. It freezes really well if you leave out the parmesan, which can be added before use.

Recommended varieties of basil

Sweet basil, often sold as ‘Sweet Genovese’ has the classic basil taste. Greek basil is compact and bushy with tiny leaves, so there’s no need to chop them before cooking. ‘Green Ruffles’ has the classic basil flavour with a crinkly leaf texture, while ‘Thai basil’ is spicy and hot.

‘Cinnamon basil’ has a flavour rather like aniseed sweets, or for a fresh lemony tang try ‘Mrs Burns’ Lemon’. For ornamental use in window boxes or edging beds, try ‘Purple Ruffles’ for its crinkly purple leaves.
How to grow coriander

Coriander doesn’t like being went, so it’s best sown where you want it to grow, either in the ground or in large pots. Sow in late spring or early summer, and in August sow some more in pots on the windowsill for a supply during autumn and winter. Well-drained soil in a sunny spot is essential for growing coriander, and if you’re growing it indoors on a windowsill, give it plenty of light and don’t over water.

Coriander is annoyingly quick to flower and set seed before it has produced much leaf, so it’s best to sow small and often. Watch out for fine, feathery leaves – a sure sign the plants are about to flower.

Keep picking mature leaves as and when you need them. Regular cropping should delay flowering, but once the plants do flower, allow them to set seed. The seed is ripe when it stops smelling unpleasant. Collect it and use in cooking, keeping some to sow for another crop.

Recommended varieties of coriander

If you want the leaves choose ‘Cilantro’ and ‘Leisure’, which are slow to form seeds. If it’s seed you’re after, go for Moroccan coriander.
How to grow rosemary

Rosemary is widely available as established plants in garden centres for planting in spring. For more plants, take cuttings from young shoots in spring or summer. Rosemary is slightly tender and needs a sunny, sheltered position in well-drained soil; it does well in chalky soils. If you are growing it in a container, add some grit to the compost to aid drainage and don’t over water. After flowering in March, trim into shape and feed.

You can pick leaves from this evergreen all year round. It’s a excellent thought to dry some leaves at the end of summer if you want to use lots of rosemary over the winter, or add a sprig to olive oil for salad dressings.

Recommended varieties of rosemary

The Common rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is the hardiest form and most used in cooking. ‘Miss Jessopp’s Upright’ is a more vigorous and upright variety and makes a excellent focal point in a herb bed. The Prostratus Group are low-growing forms ideal for the top of a wall or rock garden. Corsican rosemary has a more pungent scent.

When it comes to gardening, there are some additional benefits to just having your own fruits and vegetables. Not only can you be a “green” thumb, but you can be a  contributor to the “green” living movement by recycling common household “garbage” items into useful, and helpful, garden utensils.

Take the common soup can. By removing the top AND bottom lids, this cylinder becomes a useful starting pot. Removing the top and bottom lids will help aid in the removal of your plant start with greater ease. Now, don’t throw away those lids! The lids can be placed at the base of light loving plants, such as tomatoes! The lids will reflect sunlight, thus providing extra light. In addition, the reflected light has been shown to repel plant eating insects and aphids. To deter birds from your fruits trees, punch holes in the lids and hang them from tree branches. Apparently the reflected light and movement scares these rascals away.

Another “green” thought for recycled starting pots are used, washed, individual jello or pudding containers! They are just the perfect size to start individual plants! It is also wise and frugal to wash and reuse any and all previously bought vegetable or plant containers. It is vital to wash the containers out, and even use a mild bleach solution, to kill any bacteria or pest that may have hitched a ride with the previous “owner”.

Styrofoam or plastic trays from pre-packaged meats make brilliant holders for peat pots or pellets. They are also practical holders for your individual plant starts and help prevent water from getting on your window sill or potting bench. Pre-packaged dinners, such as lasagna, come in perfect containers in which you can convert to a medium for starting various herbs or vegetables.

One gallon plastic milk jugs have a variety of uses. The milk jug can be either used as an individual miniature green house, or, by just using the top 2/3rds of the jug, you can make your own “hot” caps for tomatoes or peppers. I have also used the extra plastic to make plant markers. With a “sharpie” and a plastic marker, I have a winning combination…all water resistant so I don’t forget what I planted and where!

Popsicle sticks are another brilliant choice for garden stakes or plant markers. I even keep the plant markers from the previous garden season.  I just simply reuse them if it is the same type of plant or I turn the marker over and write on the back the new vegetable I am growing!

Instead of going to the land fill, raked leaves, lawn clippings, spoiled hay, etc., can and should be used for mulching around individual plants and on garden pathways. Please see my article, “Have The Most Successful and Productive Backyard Garden Ever!  Plant These Mulching Tips”, for a much more detailed description of the benefits and advantages of mulching.

As you can see, there are many practical, useful, and helpful applications that can be employed in your backyard garden from “recycled” items.  By employing these “green” tips in your garden, you will not only improve the environment, but you will greatly enhance your “green” thumb!

There are scores of advantages in growing container plants. Firstly, due to easy mobility of the plants; and as per their requirement they can be shifted to any area which has exposure to adequate sunlight, temperature and moisture. Secondly, they avert the growth of undesirable weeds in the garden and also eradicate diseases which are borne by the soil. If you like nature and wish to beautify your surroundings with lush green plants, you can opt for container gardens. Growing plants in urn gardens do not entail much expenditure and you can set up one with the available space, and with minimum expense. There are numerous varieties of plants and containers sold in the market and you can exercise your discretion in making the right choice by using your imagination. The greatest advantage of a pot garden is that there is no necessity to spend much on buying pots. You can use any type of urn that can retain mud and water e.g. mug, bucket, shoes, sinks and barrels. You can use your own thought and skill in decorating them. But make sure to drill a hole at the bottom of the pot to prevent accumulation of moisture. Next, your focus should be on coloring the pots by using different shades. You can either paint them with striking contrast colors like pink and orange or blue and yellow; or you can use soothing colors like varied shades of green, blue or pink.

The next step is to select the appropriate soil and plants. Make sure to choose the right type of soil for the particular plant. Since fertilizers may be expensive, you can use cheap composts for your plants in the container garden. You can get information about different composting programs from your city as well as Government websites. You may be aware of the fact that a container garden comparatively requires more water than a soil garden because the water tends to dry up quick in containers, particularly in the summer season. You can possess a gorgeous container garden which can be used constructively for growing different types of herbs. They not only look appealing but are also very useful for your kitchen. You can enhance the appearance of your jug garden by growing lovely bonsais. You need to regularly water the plants and annually cut and trim them to present a clean look. You can grow different types of plants, creepers and shrubs in bottle gardens. Presently, the concept of container gardening is gaining ground. Now the latest trend is towards adopting jug gardening as a favorite pastime. So why not use this leisure activity to your advantage if it can bring you pleasure and at the same time keep you engaged in growing and maintaining lovely green plants in your urn garden.

The use of organic plant nutrients instead of the man-made chemicals in the hydroponic garden eases the work of a gardener. The matter is that the absence of synthetic chemicals eliminates the problem of ppm amount and pH balance of the water. If there is no need to calibrate nutrients, to check pH level of the water, and calculate fertilizer’s amount, a beginner of the hydroponic gardening will certainly make no mistakes, which means many problems may never occur.

A dual root growing system is made by special composition of the medium in the container: the upper part of the medium is soil or soil substitute, and organic nutrients can be supplied directly to this upper part; the lower half of the medium is some porous material, which retains water, but to which no nutrients are supplied. 

Making an organic hydroponics system, a gardener may use a standard hydroponic grow container, though a coir fiber container will suit too. The preferred material to place at the bottom of the box is lava rock, which perfectly keeps water. Lava rock is then covered with a thin layer of loose rockwool or coir fiber to divide both medium layers and prevent them from mixing together. The upper half of the container should be filled with a mixture of 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 coarse grade horticulture perlite, and 1/3 large-sized horticulture vermiculite. Such arrangement ensures the upper capillary action of water and protects the bottom of the grow bed from the occasional mixing with any organic particles. 

Using a standard plastic hydroponic grow container one should place a plastic screen lining inside the grow bed, fitting it well at the bottom and on the walls of the container up to their top, also with the aim to protect the water from the small particles in the medium mixture. It is also possible to use a hydroponic container with tiny holes.

One more excellent choice for the use of organic gardening methods in hydroponics system is coir fiber containers. The filling is the same as described above with the thin layer of loose or strand coir fiber between the two types of medium. 

Such box is then set in the grow bed. Note that the level of the pumped water should be a bit lower than the soil mixture. The secondary root system will be submerged into the water along with lava rock and promote the capillary water flow up into the soil. The lower half of the medium may be watered on a regular hydroponic basis, while the upper one can be moistened just once a day. 

This system allows a gardener to supply nutrients right to the upper part of the medium, where they are vitally vital. At the same time, the whole medium structure will be perfectly moistened by the pumped water and the plants will also have constant supply of oxygen and CO2, drawn into their root systems. Finally, proper amount of CO2 will improve the absorption of nutrients by the upper parts of the roots.