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A Family Garden for Nature
09/05/10
Valerie Zilinsky
Each year we look forward to creating a special habitat for for all of our
wild and natural friends. Spring has arrived and we have been busy welcoming
the season by preparing the garden for all of our summer visitors.
Anyone can create a garden - even you! When some people think about gardening,
they think they need a lot of space or a big back yard. Even if you live in
an apartment and have no yard at all, you can still create your own natural
space with container gardens or window boxes.
Gardening isn't just for grownups! You can never be too young or too old to
build a special place for nature. Would you like to learn how to grow your own
garden? Let's get started because there is a lot to learn about creating your
special place in nature.
Planning Your Plot
The first step to growing a great garden is planning. You will need to choose
a location which receives at least five to seven hours of sunlight each day.
Plants like a lot of sunlight to grow!
Next, get permission from your parents or responsible adult. Before agreeing
on the location make sure there are no hidden dangers or obstacles beneath the
soil. You don't want to risk the danger of having cables or water pipes beneath
your plot. A big rock or tree roots could prove to be an unwelcome obstacle.
Once your special adult approves of your location it's time to think about
size and shape. Don't try to plan too much your first year. Your garden will
require plenty of work and a bit of time. At first a small garden is just right.
It will be easier to take care of and it will be a good opportunity to learn
about plants and gardens.
Add something new to your garden each year. This way you will have a few new
varieties to learn about.
Gardens come in all sorts of shapes including square, rectangle, triangle,
circle and even pie-shaped!. Choose one that works best for your yard or compliments
existing structures.
Sketch the plot shape in your Garden Journal. Include the approximate size
of the garden, and mark which side of your garden faces north. This information
will come in handy when you decide the right number of flowers or vegetables
to plant.
Now it is time to decide which plants to include in your garden. When choosing
your plants pay attention to the type of climate, amount of sunshine and space
requirements for the plant. Just because it looks cool or is a vegetable you
just love doesn't mean the plant will be happy in your garden!
Seed catalogs, online resources and gardening books are a big help when making
your plant list. Decide whether you will be growing annuals, perennials, or
both. Annuals (plants that live only one season) grow quickly and come in all
sorts of colors and shapes. Perennials (plants that live for several years)
bloom year-after-year. We enjoy watching them get bigger and better every year!
We prefer a combination of both annuals and perennials.
Make your garden interesting by combining different colors, sizes and shapes
of flowers and leaves. If you like, you can paste pictures from catalogs or
magazines in your Garden Journal.
Will you be planting seeds or established, young plants from the nursery? Starting
from seed is the least expensive. Many varieties can be planted outside as soon
as the weather is warm. Not all seeds are easy to start. You can purchase small,
established plants which are difficult to start from seed.
We save the seeds from all of the plants in our Garden for Nature. When the
seeds have developed we collect them in a big old coffee tin. All the seeds
from all the plants mix together. It's the special garden mixture that we use
the next year for our garden.
You don't need to have a big yard or a yard at all to create a garden. Container
gardens and window boxes are fun too. And they are a LOT less work!
Full articler and related Internet resources:
http://scienceforfamilies.allinfo-about.com/features/naturegarden1.html
About the Author
Internet content developer and author since 1995.
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