A couple of ideas when you're just starting your garden and want to stay on budget.
To start, decide exactly what you can afford to spend on your garden to start with and stick to it.
Take just part of your garden - (divide up in sections) and begin with one part of your garden first.
Absolutely do the work yourself. It will save you TONS of money!
Don't ever scrimp on soil preparation - Great soil just makes for healthy plants that you don't have to replace down the road.
Buy plants in the fall (or late late summer) and buy smaller potted plants; like plants in four inch pots for instance. Small plants grow. All nursery stock goes on sale at the end of the season and you can get some great buys on everything from hardscaping (like bird baths, etc.) to plants.
And last but not least, if you're not having fun, then you're never going to create a space that you enjoy being in!
Monday, March 28, 2016
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Engleman Ivy
I've never quite understood how someone couldn't LOVE gardening. For me, I could spend hours in the garden; actually I can spend hours in ANYONE'S garden and have often been seen in friend's gardens helping them plant, remove, replant, and dig! As long as I'm digging in dirt, I'm happy.
So a bit about my own garden. I have a very small garden. Most of my backyard is taken up with a large deck and because I live in a cookie cutter house on a cooking cutter street, my yard isn't very wide. The part that isn't deck out my back yard has a border garden.
Engleman Ivy in full sun
And since in the cookie cutter design of subdivision homes, I decided to plant Parthenocissus quinquefolia 'Engelmannii a.k.a Engleman Ivy to grow up and along my fence. It gives a really nice softening affect to hard looking fences. Plus the birds love it and are always hiding in it and eating the berries that come out in early fall on the plant.
Engleman Ivy will grow in shade or sun so no matter what part of my fence I put it on, it looks great. Having said that, the best fall colors are on the part of the fence that is in full sun. In the fall, the leaves turn orange then red. Very pretty! Since it's a crazy fast growing vine, cutting it back is no problem in the fall. It actually looks much better the following summer when it is cut back. I usually take at least a foot off the top of it and tidy up the suckers that grow around the base.
The only problem I've ever had with Engleman Ivy. I did try it once on some arbors that surround my deck, and it actually looked great (for a while) but as summer went on, the leaves started to stress and fall off. Turned out that because the area was really sheltered. there just wasn't enough air movement to keep the vine happy.
Engleman Ivy in partial/full shade. Both do great.
I've never quite understood how someone couldn't LOVE gardening. For me, I could spend hours in the garden; actually I can spend hours in ANYONE'S garden and have often been seen in friend's gardens helping them plant, remove, replant, and dig! As long as I'm digging in dirt, I'm happy.
So a bit about my own garden. I have a very small garden. Most of my backyard is taken up with a large deck and because I live in a cookie cutter house on a cooking cutter street, my yard isn't very wide. The part that isn't deck out my back yard has a border garden.
Engleman Ivy in full sun
And since in the cookie cutter design of subdivision homes, I decided to plant Parthenocissus quinquefolia 'Engelmannii a.k.a Engleman Ivy to grow up and along my fence. It gives a really nice softening affect to hard looking fences. Plus the birds love it and are always hiding in it and eating the berries that come out in early fall on the plant.
Engleman Ivy will grow in shade or sun so no matter what part of my fence I put it on, it looks great. Having said that, the best fall colors are on the part of the fence that is in full sun. In the fall, the leaves turn orange then red. Very pretty! Since it's a crazy fast growing vine, cutting it back is no problem in the fall. It actually looks much better the following summer when it is cut back. I usually take at least a foot off the top of it and tidy up the suckers that grow around the base.
The only problem I've ever had with Engleman Ivy. I did try it once on some arbors that surround my deck, and it actually looked great (for a while) but as summer went on, the leaves started to stress and fall off. Turned out that because the area was really sheltered. there just wasn't enough air movement to keep the vine happy.
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