Although gardening is only one of My Passions. It is up in the top categories. I have many hobbies, I also love companion planting.  I love to take a bare area in my yard and make it beautiful or more interesting. Changing the whole look of your home can be as easy as a few garden design ideas in prominent areas of your home. From a few great tips to some great bargain hunting ideas this should be a fun Hub so strap on your gardening boots- your water proof gloves and come along for the ride.

The first thing I do is design, design design. I sit down and see what all I have available to work with namely materials on hand and including a budget for what project I want to do.

Most of the time my design has more elbow grease then mu-la involved but that's half the fun if you ask me. I love to have fun out in my yard and I love to improve the design of it by any mean necessary.

Now that you have a design make out a work plan of steps you want to take to reach your goal. I like to write out my steps and number them so if I get number one done today I can go on to number two tomorrow or next week when I have time to get to the next step. I find this plan handy because I can not always finish a project in just a day or two. Some plans take a few weeks even. I like to be able to check back on my notes and remind myself where I was in my plan. I also like to buy items for the steps I am on so if I am on step two I wait to buy items for steps four or five when I am closer to that step that way I can stay focused on the task at hand. Unless I have a design that I can finish in just a day or so. 

One of the main areas I love to focus on are the corners of the house. The corner areas are very cold and less welcoming so the more I can do to make it more inviting the better. By starting out with a design that includes the corners I soften the areas that are harder or cold so to speak. 

If I can incorporate the same color of mulch, the same rocks or pattern of rocks or even plant materials it helps to unify the areas. To use the same or similar items in all areas helps to make it look more harmonious. The more harmonious the more welcoming to your guests or passersby your yard will be.

1. Design

2. Plan a budget

3. Make your work plan

4. Soften corner areas

5. Incorporate a common item or color

Bargin Plants

I find my best buys when the planting season is just about over. Right at the end of every planting season the local home improvement and discount stores will put all of their plants on quick sale. Clearance is one of my favorite words. Last year I got my evergreens that were $19.99 each for $5.00 each. I have the trees I bought in the pictures at the right. One mans dead plant is another gardener's design dream. Had I not caught the trees on clearance I would not have been able to buy them all as my budget was pretty small. I waited and kept checking my local stores for the clearance sales to hit. Once the trees and shrubs were marked down I made my move coming home with my booty. I was as pleased as punch. The main thing to look for when you buy discount plants is that it is in fact still alive and you will be able to save the plant. You can check the root ball closely make sure that the roots are not to entangled and dying. Some plants may be beyond repair but thankfully most store have only a certain time they can sale the plants at full price. Once the full price window closes they have to move the plants out to move in the next items.

The clearance items are not just for the garden area either. Any seasonal item will go on sale after a certain amount of time. You can even ask how long the items will be for full price many times clerks have no problem telling when clearance will start for items. For instance I know the day after Christmas I can get a $200.00 Christmas tree for about half price but if I check back and see they have say 100 trees left I will wait for a week then check once again. I picked up a $200.00 10 foot pre-lit tree for $20.00 this way and some small 4 foot Christmas trees for $1.00 to give to the family who needed a new tree. Hard to believe well that's the power of clearance. You can check after any seasonal sale and find a great bargain.

Dog Spot Help

Strange green spots in your grass or lawn may mean you have pet urine on your lawn, perhaps a neighbors dog coming to leave you a gift. Poochie pee has salt in it so it can cause these strange little greenish spots in your grass. To much salt can kill your grass.It will be move obvious if it is summer time & the heat of the day dries your grass out making the problem more noticeable. It is so easy to get rid of the spots by rinsing them with water as soon as you see them to dilute the salt.