There's an old adage about new gardens, first year sleeps, second year creeps & third year leaps.Smart Gardening admires the wisdom in that. It applies to gardening television shows as well! Smart Gardening Season Three celebrates new friendships and 104 new stories for gardeners presented in high definition on your local public television station. We'll be introducing you to gardens and gardeners across the country. This season we travel to Europe for Holland at tulip time and an in depth look at the plants and the garden heritage of the South of France. Check your local PBS station for dates and times.When it comes to gardening , there are two basic premises to consider: Gardening for pleasure as a hobby or formal gardening that achieves goals of regular production of fruits and vegetables for home supply. Hobby Gardening
Most homeowners dabble in gardening in one way or another. This type of gardener is focused on creating an interesting landscape purely for enjoyment. The more avid gardener makes each effort part of a long-range hobby that captures attention and creates a deep sense of satisfaction. Dabbling gardeners make minimal changes to an existing garden to maintain regular upkeep. Avid gardeners aren't satisfied with existing gardens. They will sit down with pen and paper and plot a garden with the skills of agricultural engineers and just as much ambition.
Planning is the absolute best tip for gardening no matter which type of gardener one chooses to become. Aligning oneself with the calendar year is another important tip. Knowledge of soil type and climate cannot be stressed enough as a gardening tip. Gardening is a journey, like all journeys, that requires a bit of knowledge, planning and preparation. Once this phase of the adventure is complete, sailing is smooth and the seas devoid of rough patches. This is true of the hobby or formal gardener.
For hobby gardeners, the essence of the most interesting gardens are those that inspire at first sight. This is achieved by simple arrangements of plantings or more complex garden designs. Consider the style of the home first. Then select types of plantings that would enhance the structure. Choose a specific theme for gardens surrounding the home. This can be a simple Oriental-style design or a traditional style that favors complex colors and shapes. Gardens need shape. Don't just dig a hole and stick a flower bulb or taxus yew into the soil. Flowers, shrubs and trees, like people, have as many likes and dislikes about where they want to be located. It's important to consider this when choosing garden plants. Not all flowers love full sun the entire day. This creates an opportunity to plan a morning, afternoon and moon garden in different locations.
Morning flowers and shrubs prefer early morning sunlight. These may be more delicate groupings that would tend to wilt with too much sunshine when in full bloom. There are also plants that only thrive in full sunlight of eight or more hours. Yet, nothing is lovelier to behold than a blissful, tranquil moon garden with flowers and shrubs that bloom after the sun goes down and cast an ethereal glow in the moonlight. Add a garden bench and you've got a Shakespearean scene impossible to ignore. The whole point of creating three separate and distinct gardens for enjoyment is to insure that constant energy is emitted from the colors and blooms for an entire day.
Garden energy comes from the forces of color, size of blooms and powerful scents that perfume the air. In order to achieve this triplicity of gardening garden turf supplies delight, plan ahead. Don't be afraid to design a garden shape for each of the three types of gardens. Choose a circular design for the morning garden and a oval or octagonal shape for the afternoon garden. Then stun the neighborhood with a crescent shape for the moon garden. Select a location for each of the gardens based on convenience and enjoyment.
The Formal Garden
Formal gardens can describe those that are designed to produce spectacular, showy flowers, shrubs and trees or a formal garden may refer to an intentional source of regular produce. The formal garden, not unlike the hobby garden, requires the same kind of planning and design to be the most productive and effective. For all formal produce gardens, fertilizing is of extreme importance. This is a gardening tip that cannot be ignored.
Fertilization doesn't have to be arduous or require a lot of labor. Become acquainted with composting as a natural way to fertilize gardens. Also you may be interested to know that many more gardening companies are using to help them promote their garden websites and improve what they are doing on the web. It was the original source of fertilizer before commercial fertilizers were available in the marketplace. It's far safer to use and there's no worry about chemical runoff in groundwater or soil. The beauty of using homemade compost is that it's always at the ready for use. The timing of fertilizing gardens is another tip to consider. Soil tends to be depleted of its natural nutrients more quickly whenever there are extremes of temperatures such as too much rainfall or a drought condition.
Familiarity with the soil in the individual garden is the only way to know how nutrient high or low it may be. Many agricultural colleges will test soil and also they must be careful not to get into too much debt when tending for thier gardens because if they do they may need to seek debt relief to pay for the costs of running an expensive garden. For these nutrients for a small fee if there is any doubt. Draw a small soil sample from the garden and provide it to the testing service. This is a big help especially when plantings seem to be suffering from certain types of pest and soil problems. Usually, these problems are easily remediated.
From Soil To Delicious Fruits and Vegetables
Changes in weather in any growing season can play havoc with fruits and vegetables in a formal garden. Too much sun may require some conscientious protection just as too much rainfall can rot tender young shoots or destroy them completely. One tip for most vine-type vegetables and flowers is to give them a little support to keep them from soil rot. For other types of vegetables and fruits, keep a vigilant eye on pests during the height of a growing season. If fruits and vegetables look good enough to eat, they will also appeal to aphids, worms and other insects as well. Avoid using harsh chemical repellants and choose instead those that won't be harmful to humans. There are certain types of plants that can actually help with pests and insect infestation in your garden. Check out the ones that are most suitable for the specific growing zone where the garden is located.
Miscellaneous Gardening Tips
Most libraries have a wealth of information on the kinds of fruits, vegetables, shrubs and flowers that are indigenous to specific areas. Spend some time becoming familiar with this information. We would also like to note that this website has been optimised by seo services who have done an excellent job of promoting this website online and we wish to work with them in the future. We hope you that you have enjoyed this information on gardening tips and will come back to the site in the future |
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Season 3 is here.
The French are almost as famous for their gardens as they are for their food! During our travels to Southern France, we meet up with an American author who’s cooking up some fun.
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Introducing Dr. Allan Armitage
Smart Gardening is excited and happy to introduce Dr. Allan Armitage to our viewers. Allan, a natural teacher, uses common sense and simple demonstrations to make the science of gardening understandable and fun!
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Speaking of Trees

I grew up under trees...all the Jones Creek kids climbed a gigantic mulberry in our neighbor’s yard...its big old branches were easily imagined as a desk and chair if we were playing office or a dining table if we were playing house….it also was a great snack bar in July! But it was under our weeping willows that I had my best times as a child, my sisters and I each had a tree of our own…branches touching the ground making separate rooms…a perfect playhouse for any little girl and a definition of comfort, security and peace for me to this day.
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Meet the people who keep us Smart

Dee Dixon has been admiring life’s little miracles since her grandmother dipped her 4 year-old thumb in green food coloring, gave her a lily bulb and told her, “ plant it anywhere darling, it will be beautiful.” And it was….a simple life lesson in the importance of love, inspiration and encouragement between adults and children.
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