Garden Nursery Landscaping Blog

You may be looking at Koi ponds in the local aquarium and wonder what you need to arrange for the installation for a Koi pond as a centerpiece in your yard.

When arranging for the installation of your centerpiece, you should also buy a couple of other elements, you need to keep healthy Koi fish in your pond for years to come.

Koi fish hate sunlight, so you need to grow vegetation in your pond, to create dark spaces for the fish to stay out of sunlight.

The water needs to be kept free of algae, growing plants in the water helps to keep the algae away, but if you see algae growing in your pond, then you could add blue die you can buy from the aquarium, to clean out the algae.

Another way to keep the water clean is a strong pump to take out impurities and bring in clean water.

To read more Keeping Healthy Fish In Koi Ponds

August 18th, 2010 | Category: Koi Pond, Fish Pond, Backyard Ideas, General, Garden | Leave a comment

You may be thinking about setting up a fish pond in your yard, but you may be worried about fish pond predators attacking your fish. There are methods, including humane methods, to keep predators out of your pond.

If you worried about neighbourhood strays, including cats, wanting to attack your fish, you may consider an electric fence surrounding the pond. A more humane method, is netting, a deep pond up 4 metres deep, lily pads growing along the surface of  the pond, so the fish can escape.

Another humane option, is motion lights to scare animals, as they approach the pond. Also you may place fake birds and animals like owls and snakes and move them around the pond.

A physical barrier above the pond, may be needed to keep out larger birds like herons, to stop them from swooping on your fish in your fish pond.

To read more Keeping Out Fish Pond Predators From Your Centerpiece

August 16th, 2010 | Category: Fish Pond, Fish, Pets, Backyard Ideas, General | Comments (1)

You may already have perennial plants growing in your yard and in your garden. Depending on local climatic conditions, some perennials like flowering plants will grow well in the spring and summer and then die back during fall and winter and come back again during early spring.

The advantage with perennials over annuals, is you do not have seeding every year, as the plants re-surface from root stock. This way perennials, can last for generations. Just think of trees, where some could live for hundreds of years, or even thousands of years.

Perrenial plants include flowering plants, woody plants like shrubs, trees and non-woody plants. If you place a variety of perennials in your yard, you could have different flowers blooming at different times of the year. Some perennials love the Spring time, while others love the cooler weather in the Fall.

To read more Blooming Colours With Perennial Plants

August 10th, 2010 | Category: Perennials, Gardening Tips, Backyard Ideas, General, Garden | Comments (1)

Soy beans are grown all over the world and it is included in many food products. All you need to do is look at the ingredients on many of the food product you buy, and you will see soy is an added ingredient.

Soy beans are like other beans, as they are a member of the family of legumes. They are rich in protein, carbohydrates and oil. They are grown in many parts of the world as they are easy to grow and are considered a staple in many cultures.

Soy beans can be processed soy flour, soy concentrate and soy isolate. These can then be fermented into soy sauce, included in tofu, ground into flour or pressed to create soy oil. During the second world war, soy was the main source for dietary protein.

You may know about soy milk as a substitute for dairy milk, but it is also included as a meat substitute for vegetarians to get their dose of textured protein.

To read more Processed Soy Beans In Your Food

August 8th, 2010 | Category: Soy Beans, Food, Agriculture, Farming, General | Comments (1)

You prepare the soil, you place the seeds and then cover the seeds with soil, and then water them carefully. After a period of time, depending on the type of seeds you have placed in your garden, you see little seedlings growing out of the ground. You may wonder what happens under the soil, the seed germination process you cannot see.

For the germination process to begin, the seeds need water, where the soil must be kept moist, warm and dark. If you forget to water the soil, after placing the seeds, the seeds will remain dormant and there will be no seedlings, unless you are lucky and it rains.

One way to watch seeds become seedlings then grow into plants, is to grow herbs in your kitchen. Watch these simple plants grow, you will understand the reasons why you need to create optimal conditions of seed germination.

To read more Preparing Your Soil For Seed Germination

August 6th, 2010 | Category: Seeds, Organic Seeds, Gardening Tips, General, Garden | Comments (1)

There are several options for finding organic seeds. One option is to buy organic produce from local farmers markets and decide which herbs, fruit and vegetables you would like to grow in your organic garden.

Once you have made your decision on the type of growing plants you like in your garden, then you can buy organic seeds from the farmers markets.

Although the seeds may be organic, you should read the label, to confirm the seeds are not chemically treated and therefore do not impede the natural growth of your plants.

 There should also be instructions on the package on how to prepare the soil, for the most effective growth of your plants.

Local growers, gardeners, garden nurseries and online garden sites also sell organic seeds, although their range and choices may be limited, depending on the supplier.

To read more Easy To Find Organic Seeds

August 4th, 2010 | Category: Organic Seeds, Gardening Tips, Organic Garden, General, Garden | Comments (1)

You may have an organic garden in your yard, but there are a number pests taking advantage of your growing plants. With an organic garden, you do not want to use chemical pesticides, but there are a number of organic pest control options to get rid of pests without chemicals.

If your garden is infested with aphids, you can purchase a couple of ladybugs online or from a garden nursery. Aphids eat at your plants in your garden, shrubs and bushes in your yard. Ladybugs love eating aphids and an advantage of keeping ladybugs, is they do not harm your plants.

Another option, is to keep a hungry toad near your garden pond. One toad can eat up to 10,000 insects over a three month period. Toads eat flying insects, larvae, snails and crickets.

These are two of a number of options available to keep out pests from your garden with organic pest control.

To read more Maintaining Your Growing Plants With Organic Pest Control Methods

August 1st, 2010 | Category: Organic Pest Control, Pest Control, Pests, Organic Garden, General | Comments (1)

You’ve heard of the “on demand” style of inventory, where a company keeps no extra parts in stock but only orders them as they’re needed. Well, the tankless water heater works in exactly the same way.

Rather than following the mode of the traditional tank, where water is heated constantly even if it’s not being used, a tankless hot water system only heats the water right when it’s needed. This prevents energy loss and, coincidentally, also saves money.

Getting a tankless water heater for your home requires some careful preparation, though. Some smaller units may not be able to raise the water temperature high enough if you live in a cold climate, for example, so you’d need to investigate which heaters can do so.

There are considerations like the type of fuel you’re using, whether it’s gas or electricity. Each type has different requirements, for wiring, venting, and so on. Buying a water heater like this should only be done after some very careful homework.

It’s true that a tankless water heater still uses a small amount of energy even when it’s not heating water. It, too, has to be turned on all the time, or at least its sensors do, so it can tell when the water starts moving and it needs to start heating.

But even the standby energy used by these water heaters is very low compared to the energy used to keep water in a tank at a constant temperature. These heaters provide not just efficient energy use and energy savings, but economic savings as well.

To read more Preventing Energy Loss With A Tankless Water Heater

July 26th, 2010 | Category: Tankless Water Heater, Hot Water, Appliances, Home, General | Comments (1)

In the world of tankless hot water systems, the gas-fuelled units are thus far the most popular and the most sought after. In certain circumstances, such as homes where the main power source is gas rather than electricity, they may indeed be the most logical choice for the homeowner.

But electric tankless systems also have considerable merits, especially in the long term, and these sometimes don’t get the press they deserve. So before you buy your tankless gas water heater, have a look at some comparisons.

It is also simply more expensive to install and maintain a tankless gas water heater. The venting requirements are quite strict, and will most likely involve some degree of renovation, and the annual maintenance costs can be added as well.

Even the fuel sources, gas versus electricity, are projected to rise at different rates in the future. Gas is expected to become much more expensive, much more quickly than electricity, especially as world gas reserves are used up. An electric water heater is likely to be less expensive over the years than one fueled by gas.

Between the cost of installing a tankless gas water heater and maintaining and fueling it through the years, this type of tankless hot water unit may simply not be an economical choice.

On top of that, there are certainly environmental issues connected with this type of system, from greenhouse gas emissions to the home’s continued reliance on a fossil fuel. It may be time to take a second look at the available electric units, and consider one of them instead.

To read more Heating Water On Demand With A Tankless Gas Water Heater

July 24th, 2010 | Category: Tankless Water Heater, Hot Water, Appliances, Home, General | Comments (1)