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5 Ideas To Make Your Garden POP

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All gardens are beautiful, but if you want design features your guests will remember and your family will treasure, you might have to think outside the box. Creativity is the key to making a strong impression. Don’t do anything the way everyone else does it. Try something new. Go with something bold and out of the ordinary and adapt these exciting ideas to your unique style.

1. Add and Aquaponics Water Feature

Water features can be practical as well as beautiful. Consider a working waterfall raining down upon hanging or fixed planters to water them. The planters are filled with grow bed medium and beautiful plants, so your water will stay clean. Finally, after working through a system of numerous planters and waterfalls, the water babbles quietly through a final waterfall into a 300 to 600 gallon decorative fish pond. You could raise Koi for their beauty or Tilapia for your table.

Aquaponics system designs could be natural or something quite modern and abstract. Materials could be stones and concrete, decorative hammered copper and glass or any number of decorative materials. Many people are creating practical aquaponics systems that are utilitarian and designed to grow vegetables and fish, but it is possible to create intense beauty with an aquaponics system as well. Aquaponics systems self water plants, using bell siphons so they require very little maintenance, and the sound of their many waterfalls is absolutely enchanting.

2. Build Matching Walkways, Seating and Planters

There are many methods and materials that can be use to build a wonderland in your garden. Stone is always a good choice, but stamped or decorative concrete can mimic stone, brick, wood, marble or any other surface very convincingly at a fraction of the cost. A good concrete contractor can build both vertical and horizontal surfaces with the same patterns and materials. You will find his fees quite reasonable compared to the price of stone and the entire job will look like it cost a fortune.

3. A Custom Archway Trellis or Arbor with Built In Planters

Trellises and arbors can be so beautiful, but it takes forever for plants in the ground to reach the top of the trellis. Why not design an arbor with planters along the sides and built into the top for flowering plants. By combining the idea of vertical gardening with the old fashioned arched trellis one can have an amazing look almost immediately instead of having to wait for vines to grow to eight feet high? This way all types of flowering plants could be incorporated easily.

4. Build planters on the Top of your Garden Fences

Why not attach long planters to the tops of your fence posts so that they sit on top of the fence in a uniform row. This will add height, not only to your fence but to your garden. You and your guests will be able to enjoy your tall garden as a row of flowers or greenery at a new and unexpected height. This idea would work with any fence height including tall privacy fences. Consider filling the new fence planters with native violets and allowing them to trail down the fence in ample cascades of mauve and white blossoms and deep green foliage.

5. Consider an Exciting Designer Hammock

There are two stunning hanging furniture designs by Dedon, an Italian furniture company. Either would provide a stunning impression. Dedon makes an exciting 2 meter wide hanging teardrop shaped pod made of woven Dedon Fiber and stuffed with exciting outdoor cushions. Another possibility might be their Swingrest daybed. This round garden bed can be suspended or its swivel Corian base can be placed on the ground.

Mike Smith is a home decorator who uses Premium Pools and Gardens for all of his outdoor needs.






6 Simple Ways To Make Your Home Eco-Friendly

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Many people are trying to be more environmentally conscious these days in every aspect of their lives- including their home. Turning your house into an eco-friendly oasis is easier than you think, there’s no need to build a new home. There’s many small, simple ways to make your home more efficient, and improve the environment.

Use Friendly Paint

If you’re rebuilding or renovating, consider purchasing paint that’s low in VOCs (volatile organic compounds) which are compounds high in toxicity that can cause air pollution and even cancer to those who breathe it in. VOCs are unstable compounds that vaporize into the air still seep out even years after painting. Paint the second largest VOC contributor into the atmosphere, second only to vehicles. Choosing a paint that is low in these compounds will help reduce your carbon footprint, and could save your health! Regular exposure to paint emitting these vapors has been linked to many different cancers.

Try Composting

Altering your lifestyle to include a compost pile is a simple way to help out the environment. Putting all organic food scraps, such as banana peels and eggshells, into a bin and then using the resulting compost on your yard will not only improve your land, but the environment by reducing waste that is sent to landfills. Many cities have a composting service that will pick up your compost if you don’t have an area to use it in.

Install Solar Panels

Solar panels will reduce your electric bill by providing clean, natural energy to your home. Solar water tanks are also out there, to replace water heaters. Harnessing solar energy reduces the need for non-renewable fossil fuels that we currently use to produce most of our energy. Solar panels may be pricey to first install, but the change in electric bills will make up for initial costs.

Use Low-Wattage Light Bulbs

A really simple way to improve the eco-friendliness of your home is to switch out basic light bulbs with low-wattage, energy efficient ones. It’ll not only save you energy costs, but they last longer than traditional bulbs as well. This is one of the simplest ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

Find Low-Flow Alternatives

Another fairly simple step to making an environmentally friendly home is to invest in low-flow toilets and showers. These do the same job as regular appliances, but use less water- protecting the environment and saving you money.

Clean Green

Eco-friendly cleaning supplies are important to protecting the environment and yourself from toxins. Most eco-friendly cleaners contain grain alcohol, coconut oil, or other plant oils instead of toxic chemicals that you shouldn’t be ingesting and that shouldn’t be released into the air. You can also make a change by making your own cleaning products using simple ingredients around the home like soap, water, baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, and borax to save money and go green.

It’s not hard to take these steps to improve our environment. So, take a trip to the hardware store and get started on making your home and eco-friendly oasis today.

Fahreed Tulbah is the owner of Caden Roofing, a professional roofing company in Austin, Texas that prides themselves on having competent, experienced workers that provide top-quality roofs made with inspected materials for both residential and business buildings.

How To Redesign Your Garden To Make It Safe For Your Children

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How To Redesign Your Garden To Make It Safe For Your Children

Having a garden is fantastic, especially when you have children; however, unfortunately many gardens provide a huge number of hazards to children. It is therefore really important to make sure, upon ever redesigning your garden, to keep a number of crucial points in mind, such as:

Checking your garden is escape proof

Accidents do happen and as a parent you will make mistakes. Unfortunately no matter how hard you try it is impossible to keep an eye on children all the time. It is incredibly important your children do not find a way out of the garden when your back is turned. Therefore when you are installing hedges, fencing or gates for the first time, you need to make sure you haven’t left any gaps, all fastenings are secure and that little fingers cannot unlock or untie anything.

Checking your plant types

Unfortunately, many of the prettiest plants people want in their gardens, such as roses, holly and pampas grass often come with sharp leaves and/or thorns. These are obviously dangerous to young children, who don’t know any better than not to touch. However, this is no reason to not put these in your garden. If these plants are essential to your new garden redesign, you just need to be a bit more considerate about where you are planting them.

You will also need to double check the toxicity of your new plants before planting, to make sure they are not poisonous if a child happens to eat them. Aim to keep all of these kinds of plants at a higher level, far away from children’s eyes, faces and fingers. Or you can always section off an area of your garden using handrails, thereby making the plants inaccessible to your children.

Checking your tools are always safely stored away

One of the most important things to remember, when redesigning a garden with kids around, is to ensure everything is always put back in its proper place. Even if you only put something, like a garden fork or a hammer, down for a second in order to go and get a drink, it can be extremely dangerous. A child might easily pick something like this up off the floor and cause damage, to themselves or even to someone else.

Try to avoid using any tools with power leads, when your children are about. Not only might the cords prove to be a tripping hazard for your children but you may also find tools start and stop for no apparent reason…Upon investigation you will probably find a mischievous toddler is at fault and they are playing an ‘innocent’ plug and unplug game, however, it just isn’t worth the risk of something going wrong.

Checking the safety of your water features

Without a doubt water features are one of the most popular aspects to include when redesigning a garden, ranging from large pools and ponds to simple bird bath fountains. However, whilst they can be beautiful, they are also very dangerous to children, for obvious reasons. Try to keep this in mind when installing your water features and include whatever safety measures you can, whether this include cordoning off the feature itself, covering with netting, or just settling for features too small in size to be a threat to your children.

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Laura writes for Seagull Ballustrades. When not writing, she can be often be found trying to keep her children from destroying her garden.

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