Garden building materials
Once you have an area planned out, you can start thinking about what materials and surfaces to use. For the most part these should be fairly simple and inexpensive (ostentatiousness … Read More
Category: Landscaping
No-work food plants that should be in every garden
I’m a pretty casual gardener (to say the least) and really appreciate plants that produce food without requiring anything from me (this probably comes from my being a wild food … Read More
Water in the garden
Open water is a unique element, unlike anything else you can put in the garden and you should have at least one water feature of some kind (and preferably more). … Read More
Using rainwater
I grew up in rainy England, where rain was so frequent (and dampened so many outdoor activities) that it was hard to appreciate its many virtues. Having spent the last … Read More
Using gray water
Gray water is any water that has been used in the house, but doesn’t contain sewage (water containing sewage is known as black water – like the security company). Gray … Read More
Drip irrigation
If summers are dry and water is scarce in your garden you should consider drip irrigation. It doesn’t make a lot of sense if you get plenty of rainfall in … Read More
Gopher proof beds
Making 100% gopher proof beds that will last for twenty years isn’t difficult, but can involve quite a lot of materials and get quite expensive. Though when spread out over … Read More
Growing beds
The past 30 years have seen a big change in vegetable gardening in this country, with wide (often raised) beds replacing the traditional row cropping in many cases. This might … Read More
Hugelkultur beds
A hugelkultur (hill culture) bed is basically a cross between a growing bed and a woody compost pile. The high volume of organic matter at the core helps it to … Read More