My Yard Is Too Small For A Real Garden
Is it now? As yards become smaller and smaller in many areas, not enough gardening space is becoming a more common complaint. Many plants need less soil space than you think to grow well. As long as the roots have plenty of room, and the plantings can be situated so the lighting that they require to thrive is available, plants are usually somewhat flexible about their homes. I have even seen some gardeners who just slit a bag of soil they bought at a gardening center, plant the seeds, and water through the opening in the bag after adding drain holes. These bags can be stacked and arranged to save space and can be moved easily if required. Simplicity at its best. Use your imagination and think of the many ways you might get a trailing type of plant to grow up instead of out. How might you stack and arrange the containers to conserve space and best complement your yard or patio?
By making a lattice framework to keep the plants from making direct contact you can mount plant pots all the way up a wall of a building and grow on several levels. How about making a human face with a few well-placed planting containers and vines along the sides for long hair? You can get whimsical or be serious with your designs. How about using plants for containers like dried gourds, etc? A natural container goes good with a rustic style wall. Arched trellises are good ways to save space. They can have hanging baskets, as well as plants trained to grow up over the top, filling every square inch with greenery. Two large sized landscaping posts with wire strung between them can make a wall of beauty with a small footprint quite inexpensively. I’ve seen sections of metal porch railing painted brightly so it sets off the colors of plants as it supports them. Some use the netting that protects fruit trees from birds for support of the lighter types of greenery. I can see the rubber truck bed netting being used for a rugged, techy look. You can really get artistic.
Many like to use various unique containers for their gardening plots. Retaining wall blocks that are made to hold plantings can make that space do double duty. Scraps from a tree trimming operation can make great wood components for your space. Natural seashells and even abandoned bird nests are popular and eye catching ways to make a customized statement from an otherwise dull area. Benefits of container gardens include their portability and flexibility. You can move spent plants out and change plantings around as the seasons change. Nearby buildings can shelter the dainty ones. Look around and see how many items you could use to nurture plants. The more unexpected the better. Some plumbing fixtures may not please the neighbors however.
Raised bed gardening and square foot gardening allows more plants in a given area due to the way the soil is contained and plantings are arranged. Wasted space like many wide paths through the greenery, and using only a single level of growing area is eliminated. The growing spaces are built upward, as well as outward. Kind of like a three dimensional vertical gardening technique. Many organic gardeners like these sorts of techniques because it gives them more control. Pests are more easily eliminated because of the more carefully contained soil areas. The building materials used to make the enclosures can be made from almost any substance strong enough to contain the weight of the soil and water that will be used. Look at your petite yard in a new way and think about how many plants you can fit into it now!
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Tags: design, gardening, landscaping
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