Edible Gardens Provide Beautiful, Tasty Landscaping Ideas

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

Landscaping Ideas For Edible Design

landscaping ideasIf you’re in the mindset that a garden can be either a vegetable or a flower garden, then it’s time to consider what a fun yard you could create if they were mingled together. Take a look at new landscaping ideas, where form and function collide to make lovely edible gardens.

The concepts behind edible gardens are more broad than just incorporating a few flowers into your vegetable garden. These landscaping ideas capture the beauty of certain edible plants to create a lovely border around your house or a whole yard of delicious varieties. Consider these ideas and tips for your edible garden:

Add to your existing landscape: If you already grow a beautiful garden, then incorporating a few edible plants can improve the beauty and give you some delicious produce. Consider adding a blueberry bush, which provides pretty blooms in the spring and then delicious fruit, followed by pretty colors in the fall.

Plant fruit or nut trees: Trees are one of the best additions to a yard, because they provide shade in the summer and a windbreak in the winter, in addition to tasty snacks. Be sure to plant your fruit and nut trees far from any sidewalks or driveways.

Make sure there’s sun: Most edible plants require at least six to eight hours of sun each day to thrive. If you’ve got a more shady garden, you can still try some varieties of loose leaf lettuce, spinach or radishes. Small cabbage varieties and radishes make nice little border plants for a flower garden.

Get creative: Gardening is a great place for artistry. You don’t need to plant edibles in neat, straight rows, like you might associate with a standard vegetable garden. Think of graphic patterns or consider what might help shade out weeds.

Protecting your edibles: Most edible plants are susceptible to disease problems, so be sure to remove any affected plants to protect your other plants. Deer can also be a problem, but building the necessary eight-foot fence in a front yard to deter them usually detracts from the beauty of your garden. To discourage deer and rabbits, you may want to enlist the help of the family dog (or hire a neighbor’s) to spend time patrolling your edibles. Just be sure he doesn’t have a taste for lettuce.

For more landscaping ideas or to appropriately mark your garden so that you don’t mistakenly serve your geraniums for dinner, check out Kincaid Plant Markers. The timeless design will add to the beauty of your garden, and you’ll always be able to provide the right care to the right plants.

Gardening at Home: Surprising Things You May Not Know About Your Garden

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

7 Interesting (or Maybe Weird) Facts Abogardening at homeut Gardening at Home

If you have been gardening at home for a while, you may think you know quite a bit about your garden, but it turns out that there may be more going on in your yard than you ever realized. Want to know about the strange things that are going on in your soil and among the leaves? Take a look at a few of the fascinating facts about your garden:

A flower isn’t always just a flower. For instance, the sunflower has not just a single bloom at the top of that stalk, but more like 1,000 to 2,000 individual flowers. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself slowing down on the Kansas highway to get a better look.

The population of your dirt may shock you. The soil in your garden is more than just dirt. It’s crammed full of microorganisms, and the number of critters in one teaspoon of soil outnumbers the total population of people living on earth.

They’re listening. Your plants, that is. You’ve heard the old wives tale that says success with gardening at home includes taking time to talk to your plants. It turns out that studies show that vibration or the sound of your voice can positively affect plant growth. The Myth Busters even tested this by comparing growth in a silent greenhouse with one that had music piped in. The serenaded plants had better results.

Butterflies might prefer your weeds to your flowers. The cultivating of brighter blooms in your garden plants may come with a price: the loss of fragrance. As flowers have been bred for better appearance, it seems that their fragrance often becomes less potent. As a result, butterfly visitors may be more likely to frequent your yard if they find that you’ve left those detested dandelions to grow unfettered.

Your baking pantry might sweeten up your tomatoes. No, you aren’t being advised to add sugar to your tomato plants. However, a sprinkling of baking soda on a regular basis can reduce the acidity of your plants and provide you with a sweeter fruit.

You may enjoy eating fruit from rose bushes. It may surprise you to learn that many of your favorite fruits are from plants related to the roses you love getting on Valentine’s Day. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries and strawberries are all grown on plants that are cousins of the rosebush.

Deer are great jumpers. Deer can jump up to eight feet high to get to your garden, so plan your fence for at least that high. You can also try pungent plants that are natural deer repellents, or you can use wind chimes to frighten nibblers from your garden.

Gardening at home seems a little more edgy now, doesn’t it? If you want to keep the excitement, but in a responsible, organized fashion, check out the selection of beautiful plant markers at Kincaid Plant Markers. We look forward to talking with you about the weird and wonderful things you find in your garden!

Gardening Tips For Beginning Your Own Butterfly Garden

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

These Gardening Tips Will Have Your Garden All A-Flutter This Summer

gardening tipsCreating a butterfly garden is a lovely way to increase the beauty of your yard, but also encourage the multiplication of an important insect. Butterflies help with the pollination process and their fluttering around your yard makes being outside more enjoyable. If you are planning a sanctuary for butterflies, use these gardening tips to get started.

Choose the right plants. Your butterfly garden needs showy blooms to attract butterflies with their nectar, but that’s not the only consideration. You need to keep in mind these major elements of a successful butterfly garden:

  • Flowering plants are important for feeding butterflies with nectar and attracting them with colorful blooms. Each region is accommodating to different butterfly-attracting varieties, so check with your local nursery for gardening tips to help you choose the plants that will work best in your climate.
  • You’ll need the kinds of plants that caterpillars like to eat in order to make your butterfly garden successful.
  • Talk with your local nursery about which plants are the best choice in your region for getting butterflies to lay eggs in your garden.
  • Choosing a variety of plants can help you attract different butterfly species. Most plants will be marked accordingly if they are butterfly friendly, but you can also talk with an experienced gardener to see if there are particular plants that will be good to mingle so that you get some different species of butterflies visiting and living in your garden.

Add in these important elements. Not only do you need the right plants, but you also need a few other features in your garden to help butterflies thrive:

  • Water is a necessity for butterflies, but it doesn’t have to be much to keep them happy. You’ll mostly meet their needs with dew and rain water, but it may be helpful to have a puddling station in your butterfly garden.
  • Sun is important for butterflies to keep warm. They are cold-blooded creatures that need the warm rays to help them stay in your garden long enough to eat and lay eggs.
  • Shade is critical, too. Be sure that your butterflies have a place to rest when the sun is too hot, as well as a place to hide from predators.
  • Shelter is a good idea for butterflies when the wind starts blowing or if a thunderstorm blows through your area.

Keeping all your butterfly-friendly plants straight may become a bit of a challenge! You can create a neat, orderly butterfly garden that attracts a variety of insects when you label your garden with Kincaid Plant Markers. It will be easy to see which varieties attract which types of butterflies when you have them clearly marked, and you’ll enjoy seeing a garden that’s organized. Visit the Kincaid Plant Markers website to learn more and hear a few gardening tips for getting started this spring.

What Kind of Plant to Choose for Maximizing Energy Efficiency

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

Your Home Could be Warmer or Cooler Depending on What Kind of Plant Cover You Grow

what kind of plantYour first consideration when choosing landscaping and garden plants is likely aesthetics. You want a beautiful arrangement that showcases your home and provides a beautiful outdoor living space. For many homeowners, though, what kind of plant they choose to include in their garden or landscaping may also include other factors.

Deciding what kind of plant to install for energy efficiency may also be something you want to consider and often depends on your unique needs and situation. Here are a number of ways you can reduce your utility bills and beautify your yard:

Provide shade for your air conditioner. If you live in a particularly hot and humid climate, your air conditioner works hard. It’s a good idea to plant some shade around the unit, but be careful that it’s not a variety that will get tangled up in your fan or cause it to not be able to pull in air. Regularly check on your air conditioner to be sure that your vegetation is providing shade, but the unit is clear from all plant debris.

Shield dark areas from the sun. If you have an asphalt driveway or patio area, you may want to consider planting some shade for the area. Your asphalt soaks up and gives off a lot of heat, which permeates the air around it, making it harder to keep your house cool. Give your air conditioner a break and plant some shade trees around your asphalt driveway.

Windbreaks shield your house. A line of trees or shrubs can give your house a beautiful, natural border that also offers protection from the wind. If you live in a particularly windy area, or if winters are cold, this is a good way to reduce the impact on your heating bill. A natural border is a great way to incorporate form and function into your landscaping.

Shade your walls and windows, too. When looking for what kind of plant to use for shading your walls and windows in a hot climate, try a trellised vine. You can choose from annual vines, some of which can cover a trellis by mid to late summer, or you can choose a perennial variety that will provide coverage year after year. You’ll want to be careful that your perennial variety doesn’t shield your house from welcome sun warmth in the winter, though.

Protecting your home from the influence of the weather provides you with a more comfortable home both in summer and winter. It may also significantly reduce your utility bills and give you the satisfaction that you’re taking steps to care for the earth.

Need a way to identify those weather-proofing landscape and garden plants? Invest in Kincaid Plant Markers, which provide an attractive and high quality way to label the varieties of plants in your yard. Take a look at our timeless plant markers, which beautifully label your plants year after year.

Did You Know Identifying Flowers to Plant in Your Vegetable Garden Can Help Keep Pests Away?

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

Identifying Flowers That Are Perfect Companion Plants for Your Vegetable Garden

identifying flowersIf you love the taste of fresh veggies, yet long for the beauty of flowers in your garden, you can combine both in complementary varieties. Identifying flowers that work well with your vegetables can give you a functional and lovely garden.

There are a few flower varieties that work well in combination with vegetable gardens. Identifying flowers that are ideal for your needs is often a matter of choosing which you like the best:

Sweet pea: This little beauty is a favorite among vegetable gardeners. While it is often munched by critters when left in a flower bed, the protective enclosure of a vegetable garden gives it shelter. The white, pink and purple flowers are a nice choice for alongside your bean poles or by tall pea plants.

Nasturtium: Placing a few nasturtium seeds on the borders of your garden may help deter a few unwanted pests. They can be a deterrent for beetles and squash bugs, and their interesting flower markings lend a pretty touch to your garden. Nasturtiums are also a favorite of aphids and work well as a trap crop.

Marigolds: This oft-overlooked plant is a favorite of seasoned vegetable gardeners, who know its power as a border plant to keep rabbits out of veggies. It also works well to keep squash bugs and tomato hornworm at bay. They also make a pretty border around your vegetable garden and give it an orderly look.

Lavender: Many plant it for its heavenly scent and pretty purple flowers, but it comes with benefits for the vegetable gardener, too. Not only will it keep deer from munching on your veggies, but it is useful for keeping the tick population under control in your yard, too.

Cosmos: You’ll have no trouble getting these orange or white beauties to thrive around your vegetable garden. While you’re admiring their robust coloring, though, they are filling the more important role of attracting bees and green lacewings to your garden. Green lacewings gobble up a variety of pests, including aphids and thrips.

Borage: While borage can be a bit messy in a formal flower bed, they make a nice addition to a vegetable garden. The showy blue flowers are great for attracting bees and both the leaves and flowers are edible, with a cucumber-like flavor.

Once you’ve chosen the blooms you want to include in your vegetable garden, don’t forget the important step of identifying flowers for proper care. Particularly in a vegetable garden with several varieties of plants, it can be easy to mix up your choices and their necessary care.

This challenge is easily solved when you invest in Kincaid Plant Markers. In styles that are timelessly beautiful for enhancing your garden, our markers help you enjoy your garden all season, for many years to come. Visit our website to see our selection of attractive plant markers.

Identifying Herbs for Your New Garden

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

The Secret to Identifying Herbs in Timeless, Classic Style

identifying herbsStarting an herb garden is a satisfying way to include fresh ingredients in your everyday cooking. Most herbs produce continually, making it easy to snip off some oregano, thyme or parsley for your latest recipe. Identifying herbs, however, can be tricky. Many have similar leaf shapes and grow at the same pace, making it a trick to choose the right one if you haven’t marked them well.

Here are a few tips for starting your herb garden, including suggestions for identifying herbs:

Choose your herb garden’s location strategically. Many cooks enjoy having their herb garden within a few steps of the kitchen, in case they need to snip a few herbs while dinner is simmering on the stove. You may want to balance this thought with accessibility to a water source, as watering can be a frequent task if you live in a hot, dry climate.

You will also want to choose a location that receives at least six hours of direct sun each day, and one that has adequate drainage. If your herbs sit in soil that doesn’t drain well, you’ll quickly have rotting plants.

Evaluate and adjust your soil. Before you plant your herbs, take a look at the soil where you plan to install your herb garden. Is the soil filled with heavy concentrations of clay, or is it a little sandy? You may want to add compost in order to achieve good results.

It’s important to note that you should avoid using composted manure in your herb garden because it has a high concentration of nitrogen. While it will cause your herbs to grow quickly, it will also rob them of their flavor.

Choose herbs you’ll enjoy. There are so many options for herbs that you may find it difficult to decide on a small variety for a starter garden. Many novice herb gardeners choose popular items like chive, dill, oregano, rosemary, mint and basil.

You may be tempted to shy away from snipping herbs out of your garden, believing you’ll tax the plant too much and impede growth. The opposite is actually true, with frequent trimming encouraging increased growth.

Invest in markers for identifying herbs. Keeping your herbs identified correctly can be a challenge, depending on how large a variety you choose to plant. It may seem, at planting time, that you could never mix up your herbs, but one botched recipe may be all it takes to feel regret about not taking time to label them well.

This is a good time to invest in high quality, reusable plant markers for identifying herbs. You will love the way they look, adding a bit of official organization to your herb garden, and you’ll enjoy using them year after year.

Our markers at Kincaid Plant Markers are known for their high quality craftsmanship and their attractive presentation. You’ll love using our markers year after year to organize your herbs. Check out our selection on our website.

Get Kids Started in Gardening With Fun Seed Kits and Quality Garden Markers

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

Garden Markers and Seeds Can Help Kids Develop a Love of Gardening

garden markersMany years ago, gardening was necessary for survival, but today many modern kids have never put a spade in the soil. With a little time and minimal resources, kids can get started with seeds and garden markers and enjoy basic gardening skills.

Seasoned gardeners suggest that young children can get started gardening with just a windowsill and a little dirt and seeds. Garden markers are a fun addition, too, to help kids keep their varieties of plants separated by type. Here are a few of the benefits of gardening with children:

  • Kids gain a connection to where fruits, vegetables and other foods come from. Rather than a plastic bag or aluminum can, kids find out that their green beans originally come from a seed, then a plant that requires care.
  • Seed sprouting requires very little space or investment. You can sprout a seed in a wet paper towel, then transfer the sprout to an eggshell with a little soil in it. Even if you go no further in your gardening adventures, your young child will learn a lot about how plants get started.
  • You may discover a child’s love of gardening at a young age. Many people wait until they are adults and homeowners before they dig into the earth and try gardening. If you find out that your child enjoys gardening early, though, you’ll give them a lifetime of fun with their hobby.
  • Many kids that garden learn to enjoy eating healthy foods. The pride that comes from picking ingredients for a side salad or enjoying green beans right off the vine can inspire kids to eat healthier.
  • Kids gain an appreciation for the earth and for nature. You can teach a child about the environment in a classroom, but the concepts remain theoretical if they aren’t experiencing it themselves. Working in a garden, much like activities such as camping or hiking, gives kids a personal connection with the environment and helps them view environmental concerns as their own.
  • It’s a fun activity to do together. Weeding side-by-side in your garden, spreading mulch and watering are all time-consuming, but they give you an opportunity to talk with your child and make memories together.
  • Gardening gives kids a chance to learn responsibility and organization. Provide them with their own gardening gloves and a set of plant markers as they grow into their hobby and you’ll probably see your child learn new skills and gain maturity in caring for their plants.

Gardening is a life-long hobby that doesn’t have a minimum age requirement. Even the tiniest hands can help plant a seed and cover it with soil. To learn more about getting your child started with gardening, check out Kincaid Plant Markers. They help your child create a beautiful and organized garden that they will love to tend.

How to Get Started Gardening at Home

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

Start Small When Gardening at Home

gardening at homeGardening at home is a great way to economize when you include your favorite vegetables, but there are so many other benefits, too. You’ll appreciate the physical activity, the pleasure of choosing a tomato out of your garden for your dinner salad and the beauty of your plants as they grow.

If you’re a beginning gardener, you may want to start small. It’s easy to get excited when you see the rows of little tomato and bean plants at your local nursery. You may start picturing a lush, green paradise in your backyard and friends gathered around your table, eating the harvest of your labor.

It’s important to note, though, that a small, well cared-for garden often yields more than a bigger garden that can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips for getting started gardening at home:

  1. Remember that one tomato plant can produce up to 10 pounds of fruit in a season, and that each row you plant will require watering, weeding and, possibly, pest control. Start with a small plot or a few containers and plan to expand each year as you get more experienced.
  2. Choose a sunny spot for your garden plot or your containers. If you don’t have six to eight hours of full sun each day, your vegetables won’t thrive. Shady yards aren’t hopeless, though, because there are many varieties of lettuce and spinach that do well in shade.
  3. Make sure there’s a water source nearby. One of the biggest tasks connected to gardening is making sure your vegetable plants are adequately hydrated, so consider how far you’ll need to haul water or drag a hose before you start planting.
  4. Evaluate the soil. Your garden will do best with well-drained soil that has a lot of organic matter in it. Think about choosing a location with a slight incline, so that water can seep in, but then can also drain away from your plants once they’ve had a good drink.
  5. Choose plants that you like to eat. It doesn’t matter if your neighbor tells you how easy it is to grow zucchini. If you aren’t a zucchini fan, you may not enjoy the task of caring for a zucchini plant. Many people like to get started with a little salsa garden, growing tomatoes and a variety of peppers for their favorite recipe. You could also grow some of your favorite salad ingredients, including loose leaf lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and radishes.
  6. You have a lot of options when it comes to getting started. You can begin with seeds and grow them indoors in early spring, or you can buy starter plants at your local nursery. Many beginning gardeners go this route to ease themselves into the process.
  7. Water, feed and weed your plants. When it looks ready to eat, it probably is!

Gardening at home is a pleasure that comes with a lot of benefits, and it’s easy to get started with a small garden. As your garden grows, you’ll appreciate incorporating Kincaid Plant Markers to keep your rows organized and beautiful. Check out our selection of attractive plant markers to help you identify your plants and provide the individual care that each one requires.

Improved Wellness is Just One of the Many Benefits of Gardening

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

The Benefits of Gardening Include a Robust Immune System

benefits of gardeningFeeling a little blue lately? Struggling to lose weight? Or maybe you fought a persistent cold all winter. The benefits of gardening are many, but one value that is important for everyone is it can help you improve your overall wellness.

Not only will you feel better when you spend time gardening, but you’ll have a beautiful yard and a delicious harvest, too. Take a look at the many ways you can feel great in your garden clogs with these benefits of gardening:

Weight loss: Whether it’s the fact that your home-grown veggies taste better than anything your grocer can offer, or the physical effort involved, gardeners tend to weigh less than non-gardeners. Gardeners have a lower body mass index, and on average female gardeners weigh 11 pounds less, and male gardeners weigh 16 pounds less, when compared with non-gardeners.

A fun workout: Maybe you don’t relish the thought of dragging bags of mulch and kneeling to weed your garden, but when compared alongside lifting weights or kickboxing, gardening looks pretty enticing! You’ll have a toned body to show for all that work, plus the flowers, fruits and veggies that your efforts produced. When’s the last time your workout class gave you homegrown tomatoes?

Elevated mood: Physical activity and being outdoors are both great for your spirits. When you consider that NASA uses gardening to keep their astronauts from experiencing depressive symptoms while out in space, it’s a pretty convincing argument. Their studies found that gardening provides stress relief as well as sensory stimulation.

A healthy heart: A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that gardening reduces your risk of stroke or heart attack by up to 30 percent and may prolong your life. This seems surprising, since gardening isn’t a big cardio workout like running, but it provides many of the same benefits.

Better immunity: That dirt under your fingernails isn’t making you sick. In fact, it’s boosting your immunity with good bacteria, giving you the ability to fight off infections and recover more quickly if you do get sick. Your allergies may be improved, too, by working outside in a garden and you may even lessen the severity of an allergic reaction.

You feel good about yourself: One of the best benefits of gardening may be the satisfaction that comes with the boundless possibilities for creativity and developing your skills. There’s plenty of options for every level of gardener that produce beautiful results. Don’t be surprised if you hear some compliments when guests visit, though your own enjoyment may eclipse your friends’.

At Kincaid Plant Markers, we know that you may not have started gardening to improve your immune system, but aren’t you glad you did? You’ll love creating your beautiful garden with attractive, durable markers from Kincaid Plant Markers. Check out our selection today.

Gardening Tips for a Trendy Outdoor Space

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 0

Try These Gardening Tips to Get the Look and Feel You Want

gardening tipsGardening trends may not change as fast as fashion and decorating do, but they may bring some new ideas of things you want to incorporate into your outdoor space.

The newest trends in gardening tend to be less about certain colors or styles and more about the feel of your space, as well as what you are trying to accomplish with your garden. Try these gardening tips to stay on-trend:

Natural materials: Incorporating natural materials is one of the big trends shaping gardening right now. Environmentally-focused gardeners want a landscape that flows naturally between added elements and their plants. You can follow this trend in a couple of easy ways. For instance, if you are thinking of replacing your deck or including some planters, look for natural materials and color choices that make your added elements blend right into your garden.

Many people like this trend because not only is it kinder to the environment, but it also provides natural habitats for animals and is aesthetically pleasing. It may also translate into less work for you, as a more relaxed and natural look takes precedence.

Low maintenance: This is an option for gardeners that love working in their outdoor space, but love relaxing in it even more. You can choose low-maintenance plants that require little pruning and incorporate techniques to reduce the encroachment of weeds in your garden.

There are tools out there that help you keep maintenance down, too, like self-watering planters and shrub trimmers that make maintenance quick and easy. Make sure you complete the low-maintenance design with some strategically placed furniture and maybe even a hammock to make the most of your garden.

Streamlined and modern: If you crave simple lines in your decorating indoors, you might like it in your garden, too. Try grouping plants in blocks based on color or forgoing a lot of flowers to focus on topiaries and lush grass.

If you enjoy putting a lot of thought into your indoor decorating, then a modern garden might be the right choice for you. You’ll have fun choosing the color scheme, the progression of sections of plant types around your garden and the prospect of doing it all over again next year. You can include cushioned furniture in stylish colors and coordinating accent planters.

When you’re following these gardening tips to maximize your enjoyment of your garden, don’t forget to invest in Kincaid Plant Markers. With sturdy construction and a design that won’t take away from your garden’s style, you’ll appreciate using these markers year after year. To view our full selection of stylish markers, visit our website.