Gardening can be expensive…(trust me, stay away from mail order unless you’re chaparoned by a non-gardener!)

But it can also be very inexpensive.. even free!

That’s right: free. Stop the Ride has a great post on Low Cost (and Free) Flower Beds.

These tips can also be used for growing your own food. Use open-pollinated vegetables, and save your seed! Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization that encourages people to save and propagate heirloom and open-pollinated seeds. You can get seeds from them (but not free) and then collect seeds from then on.

Also, ask gardeners for soft wood cuttings from fruit trees and bushes. Free food is even better than free flowers!

The house next door was empty for a couple months before it was sold. It’s a pretty house, and though a bit overgrown, the yard had some beautiful roses in it. The young couple who bought it asked the Realtor to “clean up the yard” before they bought the house.

A ‘mow and blow’ crew was hired, and boy did they ‘clean it up.’ They left lawn, trees, mulch, and an evergreen hedge (trimmed into a perfect rectangle of course.) Everything else was yanked, shredded, and bagged. My neighbor across the street and I were sick: if we had been home, we would’ve claimed the roses before they were chopped into little pieces. It wasn’t as if they weren’t recognizable as roses: they were blooming and Hybrid Teas!

When the young couple arrived at their new home, they stood on the curb, utterly shocked.

The new trend in real estate is to try to make the house look “new.” New carpet, fine. New kitchen, expensive but sometimes worth it. All new landscaping? Hmm…too young trees, tiny shrubs and large expanses of mulch are OK for a new home…but only because it’s expensive to do better.

The best thing about an older home is it’s mature landscape. Yes, you should trim and mulch. But please do NOT ruin the landscaping by removing trees (!), limbing up trees (especially pines) so that they look like paintbrushes, yanking out mature perennials, and any other effort to make it look “new.”

If the front of the house needs anything new, make it a new coat of paint.

Also see the rest of my articles on Home Staging to sell your home.

Technorati Tags: curb appeal, Home Staging, landscap

I’m moving
(in case all of you missed my series of articles on Home Staging.)

That means that I will soon be saying goodbye to yet another garden.

This time, I think I will take some bulbs, but only because they were shared with me and have since spread. No one will notice if I thin them a bit—they should have been thinned last Fall anyways. It hasn’t been that way in every home.

I remember fondly a Queen Elizabeth rose in Dallas. It thrived in full shade, put there by a previous inhabitant.
The palms in Montrose.
And the Austin rose garden I built from the ground up (have to raise those beds in Austin!)

Some plants we have carried from home to home. Like the fig trees, dubbed “Adam” and “Eve” that started off on a third-story apartment balcony and were carted through homes in two cities. One died, one is planted in the corner of my current yard. I will miss it.

So, the first thing I’m doing when I move is planting a plant. I don’t know what kind, probably, a fruit tree, a rose, or a native. But it will be mine, and I will watch it grow.

When we see a beautiful flower, we put our nose to it. When we see a beautiful garden, we close our eyes and inhale. By creating a fragrant garden, we fulfill these expectations and create an olfactory as well as visual sensory delight.

Design
When designing a fragrant garden, consider how the garden will be used. Is the garden an entrance garden that people will move through? Does the garden have a seating area or place to linger? Will the garden primarily be seen (and smelled) through the window or from a screened-in porch? The placement of the fragrant plants depends on how the garden will be seen and used.

If the garden is situated around a path, then the plants need to be placed in such a way as to be enjoyed by people who are moving through the garden. Foliage that is fragrant when someone brushes against it is ideal for these situations. Herbal groundcovers, like thyme, will release their fragrance when they are stepped on. Place any fragrant blooms near the path, and consider covering parts of the path with arches and training flowering vines over the arches.

In a garden with a seating area, plants with wonderful but subtle smells can be enjoyed. Plant an arbor or gazebo with fragrant vines. Surround a patio with fragrant shrubs and perennials. Place containers with flowering annuals on a deck. Since people will linger, there is more opportunity to move close to enjoy an elusive scent. If you have a favorite fragrant plant, but one that whose scent is not strong, place it near an outdoor seating area.

Gardens that are enjoyed from afar can still be fragrant gardens. Pick plants whose fragrance wafts. Honeysuckle, jasmine, and some old garden roses are ideal. Any fragrance that knocks you over will find a home here. Frame the window or porch with fragrant vines and plant fragrant flowers under a window in order to maximize the experience and let the garden come inside.

Plant choices (more…)

I found this great organization.
Garden Organic is a charity that has devoted itself to researching organic gardening methods since 1954.

They have fabulous information and advice for gardeners.

Check it out!

Last week I played “Capture the Flag” for over an hour in a gym with a bunch of pre-teens. I’m competitive, and not afraid to be tagged, so I landed in “jail” more than a dozen times. That’s a lot of running.

I couldn’t walk for days. I had problems driving because my legs hurt so much. I pulled muscles in my stomach moving boxes because I couldn’t lift with my legs.

I can’t wait to do it again!
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You want a great lawn. But you are worried about chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Worry no more! Fido and the kids will be safer and the environment will be better off if you use organic lawn care products.*

Build a healthy lawn
The first step towards having a beautiful organic lawn is having good maintenance practices. Mow high so that the grass will not burn and will be tall enough to choke out weeds. Mowing high also makes a lawn look more lush and green. Water your lawn infrequently and deeply. This will encourage the grass to develop deep roots.

Fertilizers
Organic fertilizers have a bad rep. Most smell bad and are hard to use on your lawn. But there are actually better options than manure. Ever seen the movie Caddyshack? Remember the insane grounds-keeper played by Bill Murray? That character really loved grass. And in the scene where he has set up bags of fertilizer as a sandbag barrier, the bags are labeled “Milorganite.” Milorganite was used on golf courses for years. It is a by-product from the Milwaukee sewage treatment plants, and has been manufactured for decades. Many municipal sewage treatment plants now offer similar products. They are granular organic fertilizers, although according to official food labeling standards they are not approved for use on organic crops. But they’re great for your lawn! Alfalfa meal is another great organic fertilizer for your lawn that is easy to spread and does not smell.

Pesticides
Most healthy lawns do not suffer from pest infestations. However, if yours does, there are many organic products to help. (more…)