Adding A Koi Pond To Your Home

One of the newest crazes that are catching on with
homeowners is the koi pond. Koi ponds are in ground water
gardens that contain koi fish and are deep enough to
support life year round even in colder winter climates.
Many homeowners are finding it to be a great addition to
their front or backyard. The can add great scenery and a
tranquil environment for you to relax in.

There are two different ways to add a koi pond to your
home. First of all, you could call a landscaping company
to add one for you. Many landscaping companies have added
this to their list of services due to its popularity. This
would be as simple as looking thru the yellow pages and
calling landscaping companies to see if they offer this
service and see what the prices are. Once their service is
completed all you would have to do is add the fish that you
choose.

The second way to add a koi pond to your home would be to
install it yourself. This way will require a little more
patience and dedication. You would first have to start
with digging a hole for the pond. It is recommended that
the hole is a least 4 feet deep and 4-5 feet wide. Then
you would have to install your pond liner. You must
install a liner or else you will risk getting debris into
your pond from the ground. Then you need to install your
filtration system. Flirtation systems can be tricky, so
your best bet would be to go into your local pet shop and
let them know your needs and dimensions of your pond. Your
next step would be to add plants and vegetation to your
pond. Types of plants and vegetation you should use depend
on the type of climate you live in and can be researched
online. Your final step would be to pick out your koi fish
and add them to your pond.

Many people do not want this to be the last step in
finishing their koi pond but instead add other decorative
elements to their pond. These decorative elements can
include decorative rocks, sculptures, and decorative
redwood bridges which come in many different shapes and
varieties. All of these items can be purchased online
rather than fishing around at a local store for each item.

Both of these ways are good methods of adding a koi pond to
your backyard. You just have to choose which method is
best for you. Either way you do it, once your pond is
complete it will be there for you to enjoy for years to
come.

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How to Build a Greenhouse - Designs, Planning and Material

You will have to plan carefully before you buy or build a
greenhouse of your own. There are several things to
consider when building your dream greenhouse. You can save
a lot of time and energy by planning ahead. You will need
an array of factors all working together to have the right
greenhouse system, including an advanced lighting system
depending on how much light you do or do not want into your
new structure.

Greenhouses come in a wide variety of styles and sizes. You
can find premade greenhouses that will give you all the
options you can think of, including a variety of designs,
sizes and prices to best accommodate your budget. You can
find an array of different materials, including plastic,
polycarbonates, glass, partial wood, aluminum and more that
makes up your greenhouse. If you build your own, you can
find even more materials that you can use.

You will find similar issues if you buy or if you build a
premade greenhouse. You will have to solve some questions
on your greenhouse.

You will have to figure out what kind of foundation you
want, including no foundation at all. Most times, however,
your foundation will be either gravel, wood or cement. You
can even find brick foundations. You will have to decide
whether or not you want to cover your foundation with
linoleum, tile or carpet on top of that, depending on your
preference and where you live. You can also find floor
heating systems that will keep your floors comfortable in
the winter months. These systems, however, will take time
to clean and investment funds.

Depending on where you live, you will have to see what
kinds of trees are around you and how many trees there are.
This will influence how many hours of direct sunshine you
get. You will have to learn your own local environment as
well, to accommodate around wind, hail, snow and rain. You
will need to ensure that your greenhouse can withstand your
own elements.

Depending on your geographic location, you will find
greenhouses that can best accommodate your surroundings. In
the northern states, you will see less sunshine in the
winter months and have to deal with a high amount of snow,
but you can find greenhouses that will help you around
these factors, including electrical lighting and heating
systems to protect your plants and flowers.

The amount of heat and moisture in the area will also
affect your plants. Summers can be more dry in some areas
of the country than in others, so these dry areas will need
more water than more lush areas like the Northeast New
Hampshire area.

You will need to also make sure that the size of your
greenhouse matches the size of your property. You will need
a flat area ideal for your greenhouse. You also don't want
an area that has too much wind or too many trees if you
want more sun in your greenhouse. You can find trees that
will block rainfall and the sunshine so depending on what
you wan to do with your greenhouse, you will have to look
out for these things on your own property.

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Moses Wright loves greenhouse gardening during his free
time. You can find more tips and resources on greenhouse
gardening on his site:
http://www.homelyfamily.com/greenhouse.htm

Adding A Water Garden To A Landscape

Water gardens are a very nice addition and add to the
overall quality of your landscaping. Like anything else
though, starting small allows you to learn valuable lessons
that you could attribute to greater projects you take on in
the future. Several reasons why you should start small and
work your way up include that these mini-projects are cost
effective for a starter project and smaller projects
require less maintenance attention. Also, small fountain
landscaping projects fit easily into tight quarters, and
could simply be just the slight edge needed to bring a
focus into an existing landscape.

These starter projects can either be purchased at the store
or even homemade. If building a homemade fountain is your
best alternative for a starter project, it is recommended
to start in a flower bed. Begin by creating a simple
shape, and line it with a supple liner. From there,
install a fountain inside a piece of clay pottery. This
will provide you with a simple, yet effective accent to a
normal flower bed. Building and maintaining this man made
creation will allocate skills and knowledge for future,
more illustrious fountains. Unfortunately, the clay
housing for the fountain cannot sustain the impact of the
weather in some region's winter weather. During this time,
it is recommended that the pot be removed from the water to
avoid breaking.

Once the time comes that you decide you would like to
dispose of the starter project, and move on to bigger and
better things, the process is simple. All that needs to be
done is to remove the liner (which can be reused for the
next project) and fill in the spot where the fountain used
to be with dirt. As mentioned previously, as you build
your new, larger landscape, you will be aware of the
shortcomings and mistakes you encountered when building the
previous development. Applying the experience gained to a
new landscape will allow you to maximize the quality.
Another positive that you could apply is the boldness of
the landscape itself. With one venture under your belt,
you are more likely to take chances and experiment with
more complex components. Some examples could include a
bridge as a new focal point of the landscape that showcases
a stream running to the pond area with a fountain. The
more sweeping the features are means that the more in depth
the project will require you to be.

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Purchase a bridge for your water garden at
http://www.redwoodgardenbridges.com . Article by Steve
Cancel - http://www.slwebsolutions.com .

Garden Perennials Provide a Riot of Color

Garden perennials are popular with many gardeners, though
there is a danger that the new gardener will over-plant
them as they wait for those already planted to mature. The
secret with perennials is patience, and if you want
something to add color to your garden while you wait, then
plant some annuals for the first year until the perennials
really show their true colors.

A perennial needs at least a year before it flowers
properly and that is when some gardeners get impatient. In
year two, although you get some show of flowers, you will
still not be impressed and might start to wonder why you
chose perennials. That feeling totally changes, however,
with the explosion of color in year three. That is when you
will start to regret the extra plants you put in because
the first ones did not seem to be doing anything.

Once your perennials are established it will seem very easy
just to sit back and admire your work, but you will have no
time for that. Perennials do not last for ever, and the
definition of the term is one that lasts for more than two
years. As some die away you will have to remove and replace
them with fresh plants. You can even move them about the
garden since perennials are ideal for replanting. In fact
many gardeners have a space set aside for starting off new
garden perennials in a variety of colors that they can use
later for filling in gaps as plants die. This avoids them
having to wait until the plants mature.

It is not easy to fill an empty space in a row of flowers
if you have to wait two or three years for a plant to
flower, and a small personal nursery area is a good idea
and quite common with gardeners experienced in growing
perennials. Others fill spaces with annuals, but they never
quite look as though they belong.

Growing perennials takes experience. Perhaps not so much
the growing, but the planning and envisaging what your
garden will look like in three years time. It is not easy
to space your plants correctly since they will spread out a
great deal more than you think as they mature, and some
such as asters, can continue to bloom when others have died
out. The overall plan of a garden should take several
aspects of the plant into consideration, such as height,
spread, color, whether it prefers shade or direct sunlight,
and how long they flower for.

As mentioned, the aster can bloom past September into the
fall, and you don’t want to plant asters together
with summer blooms that die off in August. You will then
be left with some asters all on their own and, while asters
are lovely plants, it might not be as you planned it.
Perennials can bloom right through from April to November,
sometimes even later depending on the climate and the
weather conditions.

Let's face it, there are more to perennials than most
people think, and they include plants as diverse as
rhubarb, daffodils, and other bulbs, corms and rhizomes,
lilac and even dandelions and daisies. You also have the
soft, fleshy stemmed herbaceous perennials such as the
peony. These have fragrant flowers, the smell of which
varies between varieties and come in reds, pinks and whites.

The beautiful blue cornflower, also known as
bachelor’s buttons because they were once worn by
bachelors when they went courting, are excellent flowers
for cutting, and the lovely flower belies the foliage that
can get quite ugly as it ages. For this reason cornflower
is best grown among other flowers with sufficient foliage
to hide that of the cornflower.

Lobelia plants can be either annuals or perennials, and the
delicate purple lobelia is very attractive. Although most
people generally regard lobelia as being a purple plant,
there are over 350 species of lobelia, and the short-lived
perennial lobelia cardinalis has red flowers that appear in
the summer through to the fall. The lobelia siphilitica
(Azure Sage), on the other hand, does not appear till the
fall and has delicate deep blue flowers. These plants
prefer to be planted in clumps where they show their colors
to best advantage.

The geranium is another garden perennial that looks good in
borders, beside ponds or even as ground cover. The true
geranium is a hardy perennial with a fabulous range of red
to blue colors that love well drained soil and shady
conditions. There are over 300 species, and new hybrids
coming along all the time.

In summary, garden perennials have to be understood, and
once the gardener new to them gets past the first two or
three years then he or she will be hooked. They provide a
riot of color to any garden, large or small, and are able
to be easily moved and transplanted to suit your particular
planning needs.

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