A List of Gardening Tools

Gardening can be a very healing and nice past time.

Gardening tools and equipments make the job of managing the garden easier. It is better to have them in your gardening inventory.

Gardening

Below are a list of some good to have garden tools and equipments:

Lawnmowers

A lawn mower is a gardening tool that has one or more revolving blades to cut a lawn at an even length.

Cultivators

They are modern gardening tools designed for cutting the hard compacted soil smoothly. This equipment helps extensively in preparing vegetable plots as well as flowerbeds.

Leaf sweeper

These gardening tools are extensively used for smaller lawns. It is having an infinite height adjustment with 200-liter collector.

Edge Trimmer

Edge trimmers are used for trimming and edging grass and cutting weeds. A commercial edge trimmer is usually motorized and has a two-cylinder gasoline engine.

Spading fork

This tool has flat tines that are designed for turning soil, lifting plants and separating perennials. A spading fork is less strenuous to use than a shovel for digging in rocky soil. By using this equipment, one is able to perform tasks such as parting of grasses and perennials.

Mattock

This equipment is used for breaking up the clay soils. It is also useful for working around trees with the roots. There is no need to have a pick and a hoe and handles in your garden, if you are having mattock with you.

Well, that is all for the essay on gardening tools and equipments. Hope that it is useful. Thanks for reading.

A List of Gardening Tools

The author has a website on Gardening basics [http://www.ideacosmo.com/gardening-list.html]. This site provides articles such as Garden Soil Types [http://www.ideacosmo.com/garden/soil-type.html].

How to Make a Small Garden Look Big Like the Experts

A small garden benefits from foliage plants in the same way that large gardens do from grasses. Foliage plants will help to calm down the liveliness of the border and produce somewhere for the eye to rest.

This is important in a small garden packed with plants, as the overall appearance can become overly busy. Another use of foliage in any garden, but particularly in a small garden, is to surround a single flowering plant with green or silver leaves so that it makes the flowers stand out, accenting them with a posy effect.

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Every bit of space in a small garden is at a premium to a plant lover, so it is important to remember that a garden is three dimensional. Climbing plants can be used against walls or fences. It may also be possible to use one or two posts or tripods, if there is space, to add to this vertical accent. As well as climbers, annuals can be used in hanging baskets and window boxes to add color at or above eye level.

It is possible to use a few optical tricks to make the garden look bigger. Cover the fences with plants so that the margins of the garden cannot be seen. This tricks works particularly well if there is a neighboring garden with shrubs and other plants peering over the fence as it will look as if your garden continues.

Use a winding path that disappears around a corner at the bottom of the garden so that it seems as if your garden continues out of sight. Paler colored plants set towards the end of a short garden will deceive the eye and appear farther away than they are.

Large mirrors covering a wall can give the impression that the wall does not exist and the garden carries on, though the mirrors must be angled so that anyone approaching cannot see their own reflection.

Another idea is to erect an arch, which can be covered with climbing plants, just in front of a wall, and then back the arch with a mirror to give the impression that the garden continues under the arch.

Similarly, using a trompeloeil painting in a wall perhaps a picture of a gate opening into another garden will deceive viewers into believing that more lies beyond.

How to Make a Small Garden Look Big Like the Experts

The Author is an expert in article writing and has done a lot of research online and offline. Come visit her latest websites on Plant Nursery and Interlocking Floor Mats [http://www.interlockingfloormats.org/]

Organic Gardening - Tips on Designing Your First Garden

Every organic gardeners love the relaxation there garden brings to them, along with the rewards of growing there own healthy crops. In these tough economic times, more are turning to gardening to help reduce household expenses. There are was for the new comers to gardening to enjoy these same relaxing and enjoyable times without getting overwhelmed with the starting process of a garden.

Organic gardening is a method of gardening where you work in harmony with nature. It's purpose is to grow crops naturally and not force them to grow as is done in gardening with the use of chemicals. It is a healthy way of gardening for both you and the environment. Designing your garden properly and the proper choice of plants will let you enjoy this method of gardening.

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Watching the way that nature grows plants naturally in the wild, along with the methods it uses to supply the nutrients they need to thrive is what organic gardening is about. Nature has it's own unique methods of keeping the environment in balance, whether it be for pest and disease control or the nutrients it supplies to plants.

Choosing your plants properly is another important part of this method of gardening. Growing crops that are native to you area or are from areas that have the same climate and soil conditions will greatly benefit there health, along with the productivity of your crop. It makes it a lot less work for you as the gardener when a plant is use to the environment it is grown in.

Planning your garden around the wildlife in your area is another way you can benefit. There are many natural predators that can greatly benefit the pest control in your garden. Including plants that invite them and other beneficial insects will help in having a healthy and productive garden.

With the method of organic gardening you can benefit in more ways than just the garden. Starting your own compost pile will greatly reduce the amount of organic household and yard waste that needs to get disposed of. This is a great way to add the nutrients back into the soil for your crops to thrive and to improve the soil structure in your garden.

Organic Gardening - Tips on Designing Your First Garden

A environment friendly and healthy way of gardening. Organic Gardening is away of gardening in harmony with nature. Growing a healthy and productive crop in a way that is healthier for both you and the environment. http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com/gardentoolsandsupplies.html

John Yazo

http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com

The Effect of Caffeine on Plant Growth

The effect of caffeine on plant growth has been studied by the experts for some time now. People believe that exposure to caffeine would cause the plant to grow at a much faster rate and that this is a positive effect for plants. But this is just a myth and make-believe, not to mention, a total waste of perfectly good caffeine. While it does not do anything for the growth speed of the plants, research is still on progress about the real effect of caffeine on plant growth.

There are a lot of theories regarding that subject but nothing in particular seems to be the real deal. All are just theories that lack evidential support and therefore cannot be considered as factual truth about the effect of caffeine on plant growth.

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One theory mentioned above says that the caffeine can help in the growth of the plant. The believers of this myth argue that the potassium found in caffeine helps the plant to grow faster. As this theory can be true and that caffeine can possibly help plants grow, there is still no factual evidence that it really was the caffeine that helped the growth and not other elements present. It really is hard to say without eliminating all possibilities.

Another theory is that caffeine's effect on plant growth can make the plants abnormal and retarded. That they make the growth of the plants slow down and also make plants tend to be small in size, abnormally small in size. So again we have a group of people who believe that their theory is the right one. They claim that the caffeine added to the plants stop the plants from growing. There really is no telling whether what they claim is true or not.

There are a lot of elements to consider in finding out the effect of caffeine on plant growth. It would require controlled environment, day and night observation, and total focus to the subject. The weather is also a factor and the environment on which the plant was grown. There are factors and elements to take in consideration first before even attempting experimentation with caffeine and plants.

The effect of caffeine on plant growth is really a hard one to call. It can be that the plants are growing slower because of the caffeine and it also can be a possibility that the potassium and phosphorus can cause the plant to grow much faster.

The Effect of Caffeine on Plant Growth

Robert Grazian is an accomplished niche website developer and author.

To learn more about plants [http://bestgardenplants.info/the-effect-of-caffeine-on-plant-growth/] visit Best Garden Plants [http://bestgardenplants.info/] for current articles and discussions.

Bonsai Gardening

Bonsai gardening can be one of the most relaxing and rewarding things a person can do for enjoyment. This ancient Japanese tradition has swept the world and now everybody from Tokyo to Timbuktu is growing bonsais in their homes. Now it's your turn.

One of the first things you should do is buy your bonsai from an accredited dealer. There are people who sometimes sell plants outside of a van at gas stations which they claim are bonsai but are really a fake rip off. So spend the extra cash and buy a real. Once you do, find out if your city has a bonsai gardening meeting group. Yes, these do exist. If you are new to bonsai gardening, the people at these meeting can be very helpful and will tell you all they can.

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Now that you have your plant and your support, you can start working on your bonsai. When it comes to watering the bonsai, there is no set amount of water or number of times that you should water them as each one is very different. You should make sure that the soil is not too dry or it could dry out permanently. Too much water can cause the roots to get soggy and die. It's really an inexact science but can be learned with a little bit of patience.

Despite what you may think or may have heard, bonsai gardening is not intended for indoor growth. Bonsai plants will grow best outdoors with plenty of sunlight and protection from the elements. Don't forget to take the bonsai indoors in winter and other inclement weather situations like storms and extreme wind or heat.

Bonsais are just like regular plants in the fact that they must be given the chance to grow and expand their roots. You should replace the pot that your bonsais sit in every two years. The pots should be slightly bigger than the one before it, to help root growth and plant health.

Pruning is probably the reason many people buy a bonsai. You should prune the bonsai with specific a specific tool: a concave cutter. A concave cutter prunes the plant without leaving a stub and leaves the bonsai looking great. Pruning can take a while to get a hang of, but eventually you'll get it.

As you can see, bonsai gardening can be a fun and easy way to relax and take care of something if you cannot have pets. Bonsais can last for years, so don't worry if you don't get it right at first. You have an entire lifetime to learn!

Bonsai Gardening

If you would like to learn more on bonsai gardening, go to http://www.squidoo.com/bonsaigardening/

Gardening to Attract Wildlife

Whether you have a large property, an average backyard or no more room than a patio or balcony, you can transform your space into a peaceful and attractive garden for you and a sanctuary for a variety of local wildlife. Your wildlife habitat can be as simple as choosing a few large potted plants to attract butterflies or hummingbirds, or hanging bird-feeders supplying an assortment of foods for your favorite birds. Or it can be as elaborate as your space will allow.

You can create a pond for fish, turtles, frogs, toads and other wetland creatures; surround it with Typha (cat-tails/bulrushes), Irises, Saggitaria (arrowhead), and who could forget water-lilies? This scenery could attract some very interesting and unique wetland wildlife, such as beautiful dragonflies whose larvae are aquatic. Depending on your locale, ducks could even be drawn to your garden pond.

Gardening

You may also want bee attracting plants, because bees are often a garden's best friend. Plants and flowers which are high in nectar and pollen are great for attracting bees, also make sure to plant them so they are accessible and obvious. It is an especially good idea for a back yard where children play, because bees will be more attracted to those plants rather than small flowers on the ground that children may step on.

If you're particularly interested in butterflies, it's a good idea not to concentrate only on plants that will attract adult butterflies. Instead, choose plants that may also give them a place to hibernate and lay eggs, and plants that caterpillars like to eat. Some of them are not very attractive and generally are not included in most gardens, such as nettles and thistles, dogbane, or milkweed.

Birds may enjoy flowering shrubs, you could choose a species of Viburnum, and with over 150 different kinds it should be easy to choose one that will be a perfect addition to your garden. Viburnums are relatives of honeysuckle, but not often victimized by pets, another reason for their great popularity. The foliage of Viburnums vary greatly from one kind to another, there are evergreen, semi-evergreen, as well as many deciduous varieties which are especially attractive in autumn.

It's also important to have a water source in your garden, an old tub or basin would be fine, otherwise you could install a birdbath or fountain. You could also place a broken clay pot in your garden to house a toad, or a woodpile to welcome all sorts of insects or a frog if it's wet enough. If your woodpile is big enough, you may even find a rabbit living in your garden!

You may want to leave part of your garden wild (or plant wildflowers there), near a fence line or an isolated corner, and do not tend it often. This can also attract a variety of your local bugs, and entice butterflies and birds to linger longer in your garden sanctuary.
If the goal of your garden is to attract and shelter wildlife, you may also be interested in organic gardening and pest control. After all, you would not want to harm all of the creatures you've successfully lured to your garden, would you? There are lots of organic gardening tips and tricks available, especially since so many people are now starting to "wise up" and go green!

Gardening to Attract Wildlife

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How To Replace Lawn Mower Tires

Lawn Mower Tires - The Essential Difference

The essential difference in replacing a car tire and flat tire of a lawn mower is,

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* You do not carry a spare tire with you all the time when you move along with your lawn mower.

* Your equipments for replacing the tire like jack, spanners etc. are not with you, they are in your basement workshop.

* Your house is nearby so you can summon help from your family members.

* You may not be in a hurry to change the tire and you are not putting anyone to difficulty by leaving a vehicle with a flat tire on your premises, as you would if you leave your vehicle on a public road.

* You can change the tire at a more convenient time.

* Depending upon the size of tire, you may require some external help.

Changing the tire

A lawn mower works on an undulating surface too. Therefore if your tire has gone flat where not all the tires are on a level surface, do not try to change a flat tire at that place. Depending upon where the tire has gone flat, you can change the following procedure slightly, but ensure that the spirit of safety precautions is not violated.

If you have a portable air compressor with you, (even a foot operated one will do), try to inflate the tires and then shift your lawn tractor to a flat and level surface, it will be best for the tractor. If you do not have an air compressor and the flat area is nearby, take your tractor in, as is condition, to the flat surface. The lawn mower tires are a rugged lot. The tire will take this punishment without a murmur.

The procedure for changing the tire is as follows.

* You have already brought the tractor on a flat and level surface. Park it there. Shut off the engine. Pull the hand brake and remove the tractor keys in order to prevent accidental re-starting.

* Clean the tire to be replaced and the area around the tire with water. This will take away any dirt from the nuts holding the tires and reduce the work load on you while taking out the tire.

* Loosen the nuts holding the tire slightly. Make it a point to ensure that all the nuts are loosened slightly. Any one remaining to be loosened might give you a problem later on. Do not back off completely. Just loosen them and that is all. If you are not in a position to back off even a single nut, do not proceed further. Retighten the loosened nuts and ask for professional help.

* Fix up other wheels with a wheel lock or slip a wooden plank or a stone so that the wheel may not move. Do this to two wheels at least.

* Next slip a hydraulic jack or a crew jack at a convenient place on the chassis, (This place is usually indicated in the maintenance manual) and raise the wheel to be replaced).

* Back off all the nuts holding the wheel and take out the wheel. You may require some help in this as the lawn wheels are slightly larger than car wheels.

* After taking out the wheel, clean the brake drum (if you have one) and wash off all the dirt that has collected, remove anything lodged in there.

* Put a new wheel and get the other one repaired.

Safety Precautions

* Wear hand gloves all the time. This will prevent injuries to your hand.

* When loosening the nuts, give particular attention to slippage of spanners. They can cause serious injuries to hand or head as you will not be able to control your movement when spanner slips.

* NEVER EVER change a tire on an undulating surface. There are many cases when the jacks have slipped from their position due to this and deaths have resulted from persons being crushed beneath lawn mower.

How To Replace Lawn Mower Tires

Andrew Caxton contributes adding reviews and special articles regularly to [http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com] A gardening website that carries interesting readings on lawn equipment and lawn mower parts, including lawn mower tires [http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com/lawn-mower-tires.html]

What is No Till Gardening?

No till gardening means that you do not dig and turnover soil to mix amendments the way you would in traditional gardening. In no till gardening, you do add amendments like compost, organic fertilizers, lime and manure but these are pulled into the soil by organisms present in the soil and by frequent watering.

This type of gardening is not as labor intensive as traditional gardening but works in the same manner to improve the soil structure of your garden. In this method of gardening, your overall landscape of the garden stays the same as you add organic matter using top dressing method.

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The earthworms and microorganism present in the soil do all the hard work for you. Of course they have to be motivated and the motivation comes from the organic matter you keep adding onto the soil. Therefore, the no till gardening method involves mulching the soil to ensure that the soil gets all the nutrients it requires and this also helps to keep a healthy soil structure which ultimately benefits the plants that you grow.

This method also ensures that weeds are kept to the minimum. The fact that you are not tilling and adding mulch or compost each year prevents the weed seeds from coming to the surface of the soil to germinate.

If you are into organic gardening, then switching over to no till gardening should not be difficult. Let the earthworms and other microorganisms do all the work for you while you sit back and watch your plants flourish.

What is No Till Gardening?

About Author:
Pauline Go is an online leading expert in the gardening. She also offers top quality articles like:
Weeds in Flower Garden, Growing Organic Vegetables

Gardening Without Chemicals

The color may be different, the shape may be different but the taste will also be different!

Organic gardening is simply growing plants without the use of pesticides or herbicides, instead relying upon insects, birds, shade, sun and trying and testing a combination of all things natural. It can be fun it can be rewarding ,the taste, the satisfaction of harvesting fruit or vegetables that you know are fresh and aren't full of pesticides and herbicides.

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Companion planting, the organic gardeners pest control

By growing numerous types of crops you create a habitat for beneficial insects and animals, deter problem pests, and enrich your soil. Companion planting isn't new, it can be traced back to ancient Roman times and probably all the way back to the beginning of gardening. Just to survive, just to get food on to the table the ancient gardener and farmers must have used organic gardening companion planting plans before the arrival of Eco warriors, pesticides had not been invented! Maybe thats why folk living in Faulkland have all got healthy rosy cheeks

Try the old tried and tested, Corn, Squash and Bean combination in a small corner of your garden and taste the difference.

By separating crops you create a garden dependent on pesticides or herbicides. Take a walk in a local wood or a field that has been left to nature, even a disused petrol forecourt, runway or old factory gradually turning back to green and see natural harmony at work. There are bugs that feed the birds, small mammals managing ground growth, and larger mammals including badgers and foxes managing the smaller ones.

Every garden needs birds and wild animals. As well as being a pleasure to watch, the birds eat greenfly and caterpillars from your plants, animals (badgers and hedgehogs) eat slugs and snails . Also, as the farming countryside becomes more and more hostile to wildlife, domestic gardens are becoming an increasingly important habitat for our wildlife.

This is the environment that can be created in your garden, making it harmonious for birds and the bees and providing a peaceful place to grow things to eat and a relaxing place to sit with family and friends.

This doesn't mean you have to let your garden become over grown with weeds, they need to be controlled, some are beneficial but all weeds should be removed before they go to seed.

Being Eco friendly doesn't mean going to extremes. It doesn't mean turning into Eco Worriers, we can still have a patio or decking. It does mean caring about our environment and it does mean having a garden we and our family and visitors can enjoy or what would be the point.

Try these Eco friendly landscapers tips for greenfly and slugs

Greenfly do not like lavender. Any plant that attracted greenfly I manually squish them off but also tried smearing crushed lavender leaf on the infested area it worked. Greenfly/blackfly dont like Nasturtians and Marigolds try planting them between the Broadbeans.

Because the carrot fly finds its way to Carrot seedlings by smell I planted rows of garlic between my carrots having a strong smelling plant close by confuses the carrot fly . It worked for me, try it.

For the same reason Lavender and garlic are good companion plants for roses too.

Slug repellent plant? Cant think of a plant but jam jars sunk into the soil around lettuce plants and part filled with beer work, slugs love it and probably die happier than if they were poisoned with slug pellets. Safer too for birds and hedgehogs. (I don't think 'organic' slug pellets are any better).

Another good and wildlife friendly way is to put sharp sand around the edge of pots or in rows along side seedlings - the slugs don't like crossing the sand. Putting copper wire around the top of plant pots is supposed to stop slugs too - I've never tried it, let me know if it works. Encourage birds, frogs and hedgehogs into your garden they eat slugs and snails. Picking them up and throwing them over the wall might work for you but wont help your relationship with neighbors .

Gardening Without Chemicals

I am a landscaper interested in wildlife friendly garden design and build. More on my website http://www.flowerpotman.com

5 Tips for Hydroponics Gardening

Hydroponic gardening can be an excellent way to grow a large amount of fruits and vegetables in a limited area. However, it's much more than just growing plants in a water-nutrient system without soil. There are many variables, all of which depend on the space available, your budget and how much time is available to spend on maintenance. There then are some tips that will help to make your hydroponic experience pleasant and productive.

Number 1: Get Your Plants Off to a Good Start

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When seeds first sprout, they are said to be germinating. In hydroponic gardening, this happens within a growing medium, which can be any number of things. The best choices are composted bark, expanded clay, gravel, peat moss or sand. Rockwool, oasis and perlite are less desirable; vermiculite should be avoided at all costs, as it is often contaminated with asbestos fibers that can have grave consequences for one's respiratory health.

Keep in mind that every type of plant has its own specific needs when it comes to temperature and light. You'll need to check the seed specification in order to determine the plant's unique germination requirements.

Number 2: The Right Light

As mentioned above, different plants have different light requirements - and a single plant has different light needs at different stages. In general, a plant that is in the growth stage needs more red spectrum light, whereas a plant that is flowering or fruiting uses more of the blue spectrum. Metal halide (MH) lights are good for the former, while High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights work better during the latter stage. Some of the newer LED grow lights can actually be adjusted for different kinds of plants and various stages, however these are more expensive than standard types of light.

Number 3: Proper Nutrition

All plants require some sixteen different mineral nutrients in order to reach their full potential. These fall into the category of either micronutrients or micronutrients.

Important macronutrients include nitrogen (N), which aids in the growth of new leaves; phosphorus (P), needed for root growth and bloom; potassium (K) for disease resistance; calcium (Ca), which promotes the growth of new roots and shoots; and magnesium (Mg), the ions of which are an important component of chlorophyll, the substance that aids in photosynthesis. Minerals such as boron (B), copper (cu), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) are micronutrients that are necessary in trace amounts.

Number 4: Preventing Disease and Warding Off Pests

Just as with traditional gardening, hydroponics means battling unwanted insects and plant diseases. The best ways to avoid these problems consist of maintaining a clean growing environment, selecting hearty, disease-resistant plants, proper ventilation and temperature control, and constant monitoring for problems. The latter is especially important; most problems are easily cured if caught in their initial stages.

Number 5: Keeping it Pruned

Discolored, insect-eaten or unhealthy leaves and diseased roots should be removed with a pair of sharp scissors. Judicious pruning of your hydroponics gardens will also help your plants to grow fuller and allow it to concentrate its energy on more productive shoots.

5 Tips for Hydroponics Gardening

Susan Slobac is experienced in hydroponics gardening. She has used a variety of grow systems including Deep Water Culture. In her experience the type of grow lights used have the largest impact. She recommends LED Grow Lights, HPS grow lights and MH grow lights for the best results.