If you’ve never gardened, there is quite a bit to learn before getting started. First, you’ll need to find out what planting zone you live in. This is easily done by asking at a nursery or by looking online. You’ll also want to know what type of soil you have in your yard. This will let you know what nutrients will need to be added before you can begin planting. You may want to visit someone who has been gardening for a while to learn from their experience in regard to how large a garden you need, what vegetables would be best to plant, and how many of each plant you’ll need to get the harvest you’d like.

Start with a plan. Vegetables won’t grow in the shade so you’ll need to seek out a place in the yard that gets full sunlight. When you have chosen the area, you get to pick out the vegetables you’ll plant. If this is your first garden, don’t go crazy. You may want to try spinach or lettuce, green beans, corn, and several varieties of tomatoes. For a family of four you would want to buy two packs of lettuce plants, two packs of green beans, a package of corn, and three to four tomato plants per variety.

There are two ways you can lay out a garden. You can plant everything in rows of a single vegetable per row. You can also create square foot gardens where you break the total size of the garden into squares of one foot or more. Find out more about this type of gardening by getting a book from the library or checking online.

For the number of vegetables you’ll be planting, an 8’ x 10’ or 8’ x 12’ garden would be perfect. You don’t want to make the garden so large that you’ll be frustrated caring for it, but you do want it to be large enough to accommodate the plants as they grow.

Spread the work out among each family member, keeping in mind each one’s abilities. One person can run the rototiller, another can pick up the rocks, and another can dig the holes for the plants, and another can water the plants in. The old saying “many hands makes light of work” can certainly pertain to a family working in a garden.

When you plant your own vegetable garden, be sure to have fun. Gardening doesn’t have to be a dreaded task that no one in the family wants to do. Encourage everyone to chip in and then the fruits of their labor at harvest time will taste all that much sweeter.

Wood cabin bird house is the most beautiful and gorgeous bird house. This wood cabin bird house is going to combine perfectly into your garden and its environment. This variety of bird house can also stay for long time and its cost is very reasonably priced for a lot of many people. You can interest so a lot of different kinds of birds.

The advantages of a Wood Cabin Bird House

This is the main rule, you must place a little bit of bird seed on the inside of your bird house if you need to interest a wide type of numerous birds. You are going to get that this is not only interest the local fare of birds, but also interest a lot of of the migratory birds. The migratory birds are going to be your favorite to be spotted on your backyard or front garden. but, you must keep in mind, you are going to interest common birds as well, so you will must be tolerant when trying to mark a uncommon bird.

Wood cabin bird house is a good asset for those who are long for to bring the nature’s prettiness to them. The Benefit is with this bird house, you can bring the nature’s prettiness right to your backyard. The other advantagess are you can bring the aesthetics to your own garden and instruct your children of numerous kinds of birds.

Wood cabin bird house is able to be used as your new hobby. It is not only make you get particular time with all member of your family, but it is able to also support you to decline stain. For your children, this wood cabin bird house are going to create them to know about types of birds.

Does that answer your question? For further explanation about wood cabin bird house you can find the complete guide here!

photo credit: SarahMcD ?

What exactly is a sensory garden? It’s an area set aside in your yard or garden that is created to be accessible for visitors to touch, listen, smell, taste, and see. It’s a multi-sensory area for children and adults to enjoy together.

Design your sensory garden so that you can have each sense in its own area. Make weatherproof signs to show which areas are which; you could make an ear for hearing, an eye for seeing, a nose for smelling, a mouth for tasting, and a hand sign for touching. These will be easy for even young children to understand.

Hearing Section – You might want to plant some rattle snake grass, sweet corn, or Canterbury bell. These plants all make noise as the wind breezes across them or they attract bees which make a buzzing sound. You may also want to include a moving water feature like a fountain or wind chimes. A bird bath and bird feeders will encourage birds to visit the garden which will add to the sounds. These will enhance the overall aural experience.

Seeing Section – Of course, the easiest way to encourage sight pleasures is to have many colorful flowers. These would include giant sunflowers, poppies, zinnias, pumpkins, and marigolds. Include several sun catchers or an eye-catching mobile. Weather vanes would also be a sight treat for children. You may also want to create a wall where children can apply their artistic skills. Multi-colored pebbles or slate chips could add another dimension to the seeing area of the garden.

Smelling Section – There are so many flowers and plants that could be added to create an olfactory sensation that anyone visiting will remember. You could include flowers such as honeysuckle, lavender, roses, as well as herbs like peppermint, chamomile, and lemon balm. Be sure to warn children about the thorns on roses, but allow them to smell the flowers. You’ll also want to let them break the leaves on the herbs to let the smells out.

Tasting Section – Berries of all kinds are an obvious choice for the tasting section of your sensory garden. You could also include organic vegetables, several varieties of mint, and other herbs such as chives, parsley, and Stevia. While children are in the tasting area of the garden, be sure an adult is present to keep them from tasting something that shouldn’t be eaten.

Touching Section – Several plants would add to the sense of touch your children can enjoy. Lambs ear is a great plant that actually feels like a lamb’s ear. Gum trees have spiky seed pods that children may find interesting. You may want to have a protected touching table that has soft moss pieces, tree bark, smooth pebbles, and rough stepping stones.

If you’re unsure about which plants to include when you create a sensory garden, check with local nurseries for suggestions. Then design a garden to incorporate each of the five senses. You, your children, and any guests will enjoy the things you can learn from what you can see, smell, hear, taste, and touch.

Herbs are some of the easiest plants to grow, especially for a beginner. You don’t need a large plot of land to create an herb garden; in fact, you can grow a number of herbs in clay pots. This will enable you to plant related herbs for each different type of cuisine you enjoy. Herb pots can also be grown on patios, porches, or even fire escapes – any place you have a sunny spot will do.

Since pizza is such a mainstay of the American diet, you may want to create an herb pot that grows the herbs you need for pizza. But which herbs would you grow in a pizza herb pot? You may want to plant basil, oregano, thyme, sage, and even cilantro. Here are the steps for making this herb pot -you can choose any other cuisine by changing the herbs being planted:

* Find a spot to place your herb pot that will receive at least five hours of sunlight each day. Place the herb pot on a saucer.

* Pick a large container, one that’s at least 20 inches in diameter. You can choose a plastic or clay pot that has a drainage hole to ensure the herbs don’t remain too wet. Some pots may have been glazed with leaded glaze; it would be best to avoid using this type to ensure you don’t transfer lead to the plants.

* Put a little bit of gravel into the bottom of the pot and covering the drainage hole. Doing this will keep the dirt in and allow the excess water to be released. After you have the gravel in the bottom, you’ll want to fill the container about two thirds of the way full. Sterilized potting soil is best to use.

* Go to your local garden center or home improvement center. Choose the plants you want and then place them in the pot, tallest growing plants in the center, and then placing the shorter plants around it.

* As you plant each individual herb, loosen the dirt around the roots and then put the plant into the soil. Cover the roots with more soil and then continue to the next plant. By the time the planter is full, you should have about two inches of space to the top of the planter. Be sure to water them in by adding plenty of water, although you don’t want water to stand in the planter or the saucer underneath it.

Instead of watering your plants each day, poke your finger into the dirt when you notice the top of the soil looking dry. If the soil is dry up to an inch below the top, it’s time to water your pizza herb garden. In a couple of weeks you can start harvesting your herbs. By carefully cutting the leaves and not pulling the plants out, your herb garden should produce fresh herbs for your home-made pizza all year long.

Of course, there are other things in a garden that could be harmful to a child. There is something you can do about it, however. You can learn about everything in your garden – pesticides that may be used, the natural flora and fauna you might find, and how to properly use any garden tools, and being watchful of children while they’re in the garden with you. With diligence you can avoid the potential hazards in your garden and keep pets and people safe.

If you choose to use chemical pesticides, at least do your best to keep them away from your children. You can do this by clearly labeling them as poisons, properly closing them after use, and storing them in such a way children can’t get to them. The easiest way to avoid any potential problem associated with chemical fertilizers, weed killers, and insecticides, however, is to not use them.

While you might find one or two pesticides that aren’t hazardous to pets and people, they are few and far between. One such pesticide is known as “milky spore,” a bacterium that is not known to be dangerous to people, animals, or any beneficial insects you may have in your garden. In fact, it is a very selective insecticide that will only kill certain types of beetles.

Pesticides are used to prevent insect infestation, kill them, or make it so that plants aren’t palatable to the insects and thus repel them. Nearly every type can be harmful to people, animals, or the environment. To understand how dangerous pesticides are, manufacturers must label them with signal words:

* The word “Danger” is the apex of words used on labels. Use of chemicals with this label requires extreme care. Improper use could result in children being sick, hurt for an extended period, blindness, or even death. This designation is also used to indicate the chemical could explode if it gets too hot.

* “Warning” labels indicate a less severe danger. This doesn’t mean they’re safe, but are not quite as dangerous as those with the “danger” label. Serious injury or illness could still result. This label also identifies chemicals that can catch on fire quite easily.

* “Caution” labels lead users to be careful when using them. While the dangers aren’t quite as serious as those with “danger” or “warning” labels, there are inherent problems associated with using them. You could develop skin irritations, illness from breathing the fumes, or serious damage to your eyes if it is splashed into them.

Store pesticides in containers that will keep them from curious eyes. But what should you do if someone is exposed to them? Quickly find out which chemical was spilled, breathed, or ingested so you can give this information to Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) or 911 when you call them. If the chemicals got into the eyes, rinse them out for 15-20 minutes under a shower or running water. If splashed, clothing must be removed and the skin rinsed for the same amount of time.

Remember that pesticides are poison and be sure to treat them accordingly. Knowing what they do, when considering outdoor pesticides and having kids, is it worth the risk?

There are many reasons to choose to grow your own garden and to do so organically. Here are some of them:

* Vegetables you grow out of your own garden are fresher than commercially grown vegetables. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone with a garden leaving the food sitting around for more than a day or two. Commercial produce, however, has been picked before it is ripe, sprayed with chemicals to continue the ripening process during shipping, and then traveled up to 1,500 miles to reach your table.

* Organically and locally grown vegetables are healthier for you and your family. Fresh produce quickly loses nutrients. If you can eat it soon after it’s picked, it retains more of the nutrients.

* You don’t have to worry about any of the vegetables being genetically modified. Genetically modified seeds aren’t currently available to individuals and you probably don’t want to use them in your garden anyhow.

* Should you have more vegetables than your family can eat, you have three options. You can share the vegetables with friends, family, or neighbors. You can sell it at a local farmer’s market or a stand in your yard if that is permitted where you live. Or you can put it up (freezing or canning) for use later in the year.

* Any vegetable, or fruit for that matter, that you grow on your own property is going to taste better than vegetables from other areas of the country. You may actually hear your children say homegrown vegetables ‘taste like summer.’

Another reason to plant your own vegetable garden this summer is that you can use it as a way to teach your children about nature and how to care for the environment. You can also spend quality time with your child if you can get them to help you.

The biggest benefit of growing your own garden, however, is knowing where your vegetables came from. You’ll know what, if any, pesticides were used on them. You’ll also know that you and your children can go out the back door and pick them fresh.

Children who may be picky eaters when it comes to vegetables may be more willing to give them a try if they’re fresh from your garden. There’s no guarantee that your green bean-hating child will suddenly turn into a green bean lover, but there’s more of a chance that’ll happen if they have a hand in growing, caring for, and harvesting the beans themselves.

Organic gardening in your own back yard often leads to healthy eating habits. Let your children go outside, pick some cherry tomatoes and let them pop them into their mouth. You know what went into growing them and that they’re perfectly safe.

One of the most natural ways to care for your garden is to use compost. This is natural, organic matter that has decomposed and been broken down into nutrients the soil can use to feed and nourish the plants.  By incorporating the organic matter into your soil, the soil in your garden will become a living substance which will be able to ward off disease, weeds, and insects without the use of harmful chemicals. Natural fertilizers and pest control is used in place of chemicals, and they won’t bother the natural ecosystem.

Besides composting, you want your garden soil to be aerated. How do you do that? Well, you can physically go out to the garden with tines of a pitch fork and aerate the soil, or you can allow earthworms to do it for you. By having healthy, composted soil, you’ll create a habitat where earthworms can thrive.

Use companion planting. By planting vegetables by flowers or other plants, it is feasible to drive pests away. For instance, if you plant tomatoes near marigolds, the plant secretions from the marigolds will cause harmful nematodes to find another garden to infest. You can also plant garlic near plants to drive insects away.

Rotate your crops every year. In other words, don’t layout your garden with the plants in the same location every year. This depletes the soil of vital nutrients. For example, move the legumes into the location where corn stalks are usually placed because one places nitrogen into the soil and the other uses a lot of nitrogen. Rotating plants can also help prevent the development of some types of soil disease.

After the harvesting has been done, use the tiller to turn the dead plants back into the ground. This will put organic matter back into the soil and nourish it. It will also allow you to plant cover crops like clover, alfalfa, and rye which will keep the soil from becoming compacted during the winter months and can protect the soil. When it’s time to prepare your garden in the spring, you can again till the plants back into the soil to add much needed nutrients.

Regularly hoeing or manually weeding your garden will help keep plants healthy. They’ll be more resistant to insects and the weeds won’t be leaching the nutrients from the plants. You can also pour boiling water over the weeds to kill them. Using mulch around the plants can also keep weeds at bay and will help the soil retain more moisture.

If you notice that your plants are looking sickly, realize that every garden is going to have some pests. Sick plants attract predators. Add back beneficial insects such as lacewings or ladybugs to help diminish the number of bad insects in your garden. Some insects, however, may need a more direct and personal approach such as tent caterpillars; they can only be removed by hand to ensure you get them all.

Try using some of these ideas for natural gardening care this year in your garden. You, too, may decide that natural gardening is best. You’ll find you have better crops, you’re not poisoning the environment, and not risking poisoning the family you love.

Start out by inviting them to help you in your garden. Explain how to plant both seeds and seedlings, how deep to dig, and how to recognize weeds. Be sure to answer any questions they may have and tell them why you do the things you do.

You don’t have to set aside a full-sized garden for them; that would overwhelm them and they’d probably end up letting the weeds overtake it. Instead, start small; a 6 feet by 12 feet area would be a good size for a child, depending upon their age. The garden may be separate from yours or it may be a marked off area of the bigger garden. Short rows, approximately 3 to 4 feet each, would be the perfect size.

Find kid-sized gardening tools and present them to your child with much fanfare. You might also want to create a sign showing the smaller garden is theirs. Child-sized gardening gloves would also be appropriate. Show them how to care for their tools and how to properly store them so they’ll be protected from the weather.

Help your child choose the plants they want to include in their garden. Do they want to grow only vegetables or do they want a flower garden? If they decide on vegetables, try to find starter plants such as tomatoes, lettuce, or strawberries. If they’re determined to start the plants from seed, try to find seeds that are larger so your child can easily handle them as they’re being planted. For a flower garden they might choose to grow sunflowers, zinnias, and marigolds.

Explain to your children that there are good creepy crawlies that visit your garden, but there are also bad ones. Good visitors would include butterflies, bees, worms, and ladybugs. Bad visitors as far as plants are concerned include moths, caterpillars, aphids, deer, and bunny rabbits. You’ll also want to explain how some plants prefer full sunlight and some prefer shadier areas.

Show them how to water their plants and tell them how important it is that the plants are watered regularly without over-watering them. Let them be responsible for watering their garden by making a watering can or garden hose easily accessible to them. You can also teach them how using mulch in their garden can help keep moisture in the soil and how it can make weeding the garden easier.

Watch the wonder on your child’s face as they watch their garden grow over the summer. You’ll also see a sense of accomplishment and pride, and possibly increased self-esteem, as they begin to harvest the vegetables or pick flowers to share with those they love. They may even be able to sell some of their crop at a roadside vegetable market rather than having a lemonade stand.

One of the benefits of encouraging your child to join you when you’re in the garden is that you can talk about anything without feeling pressured. It could be something as simple as valuing the earth and protecting the environment, to more serious subjects such as life and love. Whatever you talk about, because you’re in a non-threatening atmosphere, you may find you’re talking about things that your children are concerned about most.

You’ll definitely want to encourage your children to give gardening a try if they show any interest in it at all. Don’t expect them to actually ask you if they can help; you may have to invite them to come join you while you’re in the midst of planting.

Let children use their imagination when planting or helping in the garden. They may imagine a tiny village behind the plants or in the rocks; maybe they’ll even try to create the village they imagine out of natural materials found in the garden. Since children often have vivid imaginations, let them run wild while you share time among the dirt and plants.

Children have short attention spans, so don’t become upset if they work a little while and then run away to do something else. You may want to find them work they can do in short periods of time. You may also want to buy them some child-sized gardening tools so they can accomplish more while they spend time with you in your work.

Teach them how to dig in the dirt so they can place plants into it. You may want to explain to them how the dirt provides the nutrients the plants need to grow and show them how to make the dirt healthier for the plants by using peat moss, sand, and compost. Explain the reason for adding these components and help them understand why they shouldn’t handle commercial fertilizers.

Perhaps after you’ve spent some time in the garden and are comfortable with your child’s knowledge, you might think about creating a small garden that is entirely the child’s. Remember that you want their experience to be a positive one and passing off too much responsibility too soon could squash their interest in the activity.

Your goal in inviting your child to join you in the garden is multi-faceted. You want to teach them about loving nature and natural things, to make light of the work needed in the garden, and to spend quality time with your child. Be sure to give your little helper a hug and hearty thank you for their help and let them know you enjoyed your time together.

Help your child learn about fairies by researching fairy lore. Determine which types of fairies she’d like to attract and then do what you can to make a fairy garden all her fairy friends will adore. If you have a large garden, perhaps you could allow her to plant her fairy garden in one corner. Maybe you need the entire garden for vegetables; why not create a fairy garden around the base of a tree or even use several large planters?

Creating a fairy garden doesn’t have to take up a lot of space. In fact, it could be something as simple as a window box, a row of flowers, or a planter set on the patio of your home. And although you’re not likely to draw fairies to the garden, you can allow your daughter to believe the little winged fairies actually exist.

Many people think that butterflies are fairies in disguise, so you may want to plant a garden that would interest butterflies. What would a garden for butterflies look like? It would have beautiful, brightly colored flowers that drip with nectar. Of course, fairies and butterflies both agree that variety is the spice of life, so you’ll want to plant many kinds of flowers for them to choose from.

Don’t stress out if your fairy garden isn’t pristine; in fact, they like finding flat rocks in the garden so they have some place to warm their wings in the bright sunshine. They also prefer a spot, in direct sunlight, that is sheltered from the wind where they hide and find sanctuary.

Fairies and butterflies also like to take a dip on occasion, so providing a shallow bowl or saucer near their sunning rock will be a big plus. Besides, if you have a water element in your fairy garden, their little birdie friends can come to visit them. Be careful, however, to keep everything as natural as possible. Pesticides and insecticides can hurt any visitors to the garden. You may also want to be aware if any pottery has lead in its glaze as it could be harmful.

Here are some good flowers choices for your fairy garden. Fairies and butterflies seem to be partial to them: Lily of the Valley, Pansies, Queen Ann’s Lace, Roses, Violets, Lilac, Nasturtium, Snapdragons, Baby’s Breath, Butterfly Bush, Columbine, Forget-met-not, Buttercup, Periwinkle, and Heather. Don’t forget to include natural materials such as twigs, shells, and small rocks to add interest to the fairy garden and for the fairies to use to build a home.

You can decorate the fairy garden with small wooden houses to create a fairy village complete with fences made of twigs stuck into the ground. Use small pebbles as a walking path for them to saunter through the village. Let the child in you dream with your daughter as you create a wonderful place for her to dream and use her imagination. This magical make-believe fairy garden can be a special place you’ll both want to visit as long as you both believe.