Garden Landscaping For The Drought Season

A garden is an important part of everyone’s home today and most people would want a garden they can enjoy all year round across all the seasons including during drought. This means growing plants that would survive even during the drought period. As a gardener, it is important to be open minded and be ready to welcome new ideas as times change. Gardening is as dynamic as everything else and so over time new plants will come and it is important to be flexible and adapt from time to time.

If the weather forecasts predict that there could be drought in the near future, it is importance to landscape your garden to incorporate plants that do not need a lot of water and constant watering if indeed you want to have through the drought period.

Creating an appropriate landscape can be quite difficult but can be a beautiful experience if you take time to put your ideas together and get down to specifics. If for example you want to restructure your landscape from one that demands constant watering to one that can make it with little or no water, or even from a dull landscape to a bright one, here is how to go about the transformation journey.

Garden Locations

The first thing is to identify the perfect location for your garden. This could be a fraction of the backyard or the front of the house that in most cases is ideal.

After, you’ve chosen the perfect location, take time to study the place, study the soil texture and structure whether it is loam, clay or sand. This would determine how much water the place will take, study the topography as well if it is a slope or flat area. All this will help you identify plants that can thrive in your garden as per the available conditions.

Next is a very important step: choosing a theme for your garden. A theme based on your character and expectations will help in identification of plants that suit your expectation and those that match the landscape. There are numerous drought-resistant plants available I especially in the Mediterranean regions across the globe. This particular design will be utilized by plants from the native California region; you can choose to use native plants available within your locale. In California, the plants have over the years transformed to cope with changing climates and soils of the region growing areas as well as adapted to benefit from relationships with the flora and fauna around them.

 

Next is to pick a group of plants that will help you come up with clusters of similar plants that will give an ideal image and a consistent layout throughout the garden. A lot of professional landscape designers prefer landscape designs consisting of plant clusters that are repeated and stay away from detached singular species.

You can visit garden nurseries and centers around you to help you come up with suitable plants for the theme you’ve chosen. Most plants are available if you order online, but you can find them also in the native nurseries around California.

Scientific Names

The following are the scientific names and most used names of some of the most preferred Carifornian native plants that can grow well in a drought-resistant plan that is well exposed to the sun:

For trees most people choose; Arbutus, Aesculus, Quercus.You may also want taller shrubs for your garden; Ceanothus, Rhamnus, Rhus would be ideal. As for shorter shrubs: Arctostaphylos, Artemesia, Baccharis will do very well. Good perennials include Dudleya, Penstemon, Salvia. For the Bulbs you can go for: Allium, Brodiaea, Calochortus and finally some groundcovers: Epilobium or Zauschneria, Eriogonum would be perfect.

These plants 

need irrigation after planting and for a while till they are stable. The results from your soil study and topography will allow you to know how frequently you will need to water. All you need to do is ensure the soil is moist for long enough to allow the plants to stabilize in your garden. As soon as they are well rooted, you will not need to water them frequently, and they will even survive through drought on their own.

Palmate Shells Out a Newly Designed Gardening Knee Pads for Work

Whether you are working in the garden, greenhouse or around the home, they are comfortable work knee pads to wear while you work. Palmate Gardening Shells are designed to be comfortably worn on bare skin or the outside of pants. Your preference.

They are made from a water-resistant, professional sports-grade Neoprene material that is delicate on your skin and will not bite into your legs as you kneel down. 

The endless applications include flooring knee pads, construction knee pads, gardening knee pads and some unique uses such as martial arts or dance knee pads. The material is sturdy, stretchy and will last many years of vigorous use!

 

Guide to Gardening with Arthritis and Other Physical Ailments

What is the most important tool when you garden? Certainly the most valuable is YOU! Your body is what puts in the labor to create the space you love, and whether it is made for aesthetics or you are producing food and vegetables, your body is the caretaker.

To help prevent injury or tame previous ailments like arthritis there are some tips and strategies we have learned over the many years of gardening:

Respect the pain: Pain is a precursor to more pain. It should be treated as a warning sign that something is off and you need to rest or sooth. Deadlines are important but the point of gardening at home is supposed to be leisurely and enjoyable. Plus, there are no gardening deadlines that should force someone into painful activities.

Poor posture: repetitive movements and action is okay if you are doing it correctly. When you bend or kneel or pick items up make sure you are doing it properly: straightened spine, always use your legs, and never overload one side of your body. Like a trainer friend always encouraged: “Posture up!”. Avoid awkward lifting and abuse of your elbows, fingers and other major joints. Respect your body and its’ dynamics no matter how old you are!

Switch tasks often: this coincides with the previous point as repetition can be not only boring but draining on the body. Switch up jobs. Bend a little, pick a little, weed some more, etc.. It’ll all get done eventually but multi-tasking will keep you sane and your body going.

Use supports, splints or braces: many seniors have had shoulder, hip, knee or back surgeries through the years and for the sake of protecting those previously operated on or injured areas.Read equipment and tool user manuals: pretty self-explanatory but the instructions are designed for a reason: to keep you from misusing and injuring yourself.

Make sure your tools are sharpened frequently and clean: shears, knives, hoes, trowels and shovels will be easier to use if sharpened, and this will in turn make task easier, and keep the impact low on your body.Fingers and arthritis: hand tools can pinch and slice, and the repetitive use can strain joints and tendons so make sure you alternate hands. It is very good to balance the workload between both sides of your body.

Carrying heavy objects: place all heavy objects in a wheelbarrow or device with wheels (wagons are great!) to transport these items. If you are watering your yard or plants look into buying a lightweight garden hose like the Clear Flow. This hose ejects the excess water so you don’t have to lug around water weight and whip the hose around various items (you know what I mean by this!).

And the most important: Stretching beforehand. Gardening is a physical activity. Make sure you ‘warm up’ and keep your muscles and joints loose. Being stiff only encourages injury, and decreases the fun factor to a zero!

Other Great Gardening Tools: Check Out these Neoprene Gardening Knee Pads