A Haven of Tranquillity in Your Backyard - Garden Fountains

Garden fountains add a special touch to any environment. They come in a huge variety of decorative styles, from ornately carved wall fountains to floating pond fountains. They’re beautiful to look at and listening to the sounds of gently splashing water is a great way to push aside your worries of the day. The sight and sound of flowing water can have a lovely soothing effect, helping to wash away the stresses and strains of daily life. 

And believe it or not, garden fountains are one of the easiest and most affordable ways to transform any space into your own private sanctuary. 

Once you start looking for garden fountains, you’ll quickly realize that choosing the perfect one is going to be your biggest challenge. With so many beautiful styles, sizes and materials to choose from, your options seem endless. Simple or elaborate multi-tiered garden fountains have always been very popular and the tower style with water cascading down the front of a rectangular-shaped piece of glass or stone is today’s trendy style. 

Outdoor water fountains run on either an electric pump or solar power. They come in a range of sizes and styles, to suit all kinds of garden themes. Tiered cascades, birdbaths, wall mounted and traditional pedestal designs are some of the many options available. 

Wall mounted garden fountains are perfect when space is limited. But even when space isn’t limited, wall mounted styles can really make a statement when placed along the entryway to your home. 

And there is more! 

Designs based on mythical figures, animals and cherubs are popular, as are more contemporary designs. Having a pond fountain not only adds to the atmosphere of relaxation and calm, but also helps keep the water circulating and prevents it from becoming stagnant. 

Patio fountains and waterfalls are sought after by many people looking to reduce stress levels and wishing to create an oasis of calm in their own backyard. Water fountains have been features of gardens throughout history in many cultures, and the soothing effects of lowing water have long been recognized. For instance, according to the principles of Feng Shui, flowing water in certain areas of a garden can help activate beneficial chi energy. 

If you are looking to transform your garden or patio into a relaxing retreat, then a water fountain could be just what you need to add that touch of serenity and calm. 

They are lovely to look at and soothing to listen to, but garden fountains are also very easy to maintain. Most are self-contained meaning that you don’t need to hire a plumber to get your fountain up and running. Most are available in either electrical or solar-powered models. With the electrical models, you will need access to an electrical outlet. 

Other than that however, simply choose a location, assemble the fountain, plug in the submersible pump that recirculates the water, and fill your garden fountains with water. In literally minutes, you will be enjoying the sights and sounds and most importantly, you will instantly begin to feel more relaxed. 

To ensure their continued functionality, it is important to keep garden fountains clean. This is easy too. Simply clear out leaves and other debris regularly so this matter doesn’t clog up the pump and be sure to maintain the water level according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In colder climates, garden fountains need to be emptied and covered to protect against damage. 

If you are considering having a look at water fountains and what is available right now visit 

www.gardeningtoolsandmore.com

Cooking Vegetables

Vegetables are essential to the human diet. We get a great deal of our daily vitamin content from vegetables. We need to make sure that how we cook them does not drain vitamin contents and benefits of consumption. 

Cooking vegetables can be tricky. Overcooking can make vegetables bland and soggy. My belief is that vegetables should not be boiled. Boiling not only robs us of vitamin content, it is the main culprit in turning vegetables to a lifeless, tasteless form. 

How do we proceed, if we cannot boil? 

First option, steaming vegetables is always a good choice. This will leave vegetables full of life. They will be crisp and colourful. It will also not deplete the vegetables of their vitamin content. 

By rule of thumb, vegetables will only need a few minutes in the steam. 

For those who do not have official vegetable steamers, an easy steamer can be fashioned out of a pot, a metal colander, and a pot lid. Place a small amount of water in the bottom of a given pot. Fit the metal colander into the pot. Start to boil the water. You will begin to see the steam rise. Place your vegetables into the metal colander and place the pot lid over the metal colander and pot. This collection of kitchen items will allow you to steam vegetables as good as any fancy store bought steamer. 

Another good option is to cook your vegetables in a wok. The secret to the wok is that it cooks quickly at a very high temperature. Vegetables retain their flavours, textures, and colours with small amount of nutrient loss. 

My favourite wok recipe for vegetables is to cook broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, and snow peas in a very light garlic sauce. The vegetables remain crisp and the garlic adds just the right amount of flavouring. This combination can be served with any cut of meat. 

I hope you will see that secret to cooking vegetables is not to overcook. Vegetables need to remain crisp, full of colour. As you learn different tricks to bringing your vegetables to life, these will become the most requested dishes on your dinner table. 

To get more recipes on how to cook vegetables in a tasteful and healthy way visit the “Barbecue” Page at 

http://www.gardeningtoolsandmore.com

 

A Little Overview on Gardening Tools

A garden does not have to be a lot of work if you have the proper garden tools. Here is a short list of handy garden tools. In addition, the link at the bottom provides more resources about garden tools. 

Most people know very well about the rules and regulations to keep your plants to grow healthy in your garden. For getting sustainable growth from your garden plants, they do require good soil quality, sun light and sufficient water. Although these items have been gifted by nature, gardening tools are necessary to upkeep your garden. Good gardening tools will assist you in taking care of your plants as well as cultivating good growing conditions, thus having a positive effect on your plant’s health. 

Defective gardening tools can be detrimental to your garden and to you. Defective gardening tools can cause injury to your plants or injury to yourself. Gardeners should find the best quality garden tools that they can afford. Once you have labelled your garden tool as “the best”, it implies that the tool provides quality work for which it was designed for and with the least labour possible. 

Here is a list of some common garden tools and their uses:

Lawn Mower

Push Reel Mowers are helpful to operate on elbow grease alone and causing no pollution but is not conducive for too tall grasses.

Electric Mowers are running very quiet and can be used for larger areas. They are also easy to operate.

For bigger lawns with tall grasses a gas powered lawn mower is preferable.

Garden Shredder

In general, all garden shredders have a high watt motor and come with silent crushing system. This kind of gardening tool accelerates your shredding activity. Gardening shredders with an electric shredder are easy to assemble and aids in tree pruning with maximum of 40 mm. The garden shredder also aids in shredding debris from pruning your hedges. This gardening tool is considered the best among all the garden shredders since it is available with a plunger for increased portability and built-in wheels. 

Cultivator

These modern gardening tools are available with patented tines to help in cutting the hard compacted soil smoothly. Cultivators are available with a free border edger. It is perfect to use in cleaning the moss, aerating and in thatching. This garden tool helps extensively in preparing vegetable plots, flower beds, etc.

Leaf Sweeper

These gardening tools are extensively used for smaller lawns. It is having an infinite height adjustment with 200-liter collector.

Edge Trimmer

The gardening equipment reviewers have also accredited this gardening tool as important equipment. This aids in trimming the hedges and aids in plant pruning.

Spading Fork

This is a wonderful gardening tool used for aerating and transplanting. By using this gardening tool, it is possible to perform splitting grasses and perennials. In addition, this garden tool can be used as a manure fork, mulch fork, and sorting hay. 

Mattock

A Mattock is an important gardening tool for breaking up the clay soils and working around established trees with the roots. There is no need to have a pick and a hoe, if you have a mattock.

It is highly advisable to have a look at this list of gardening tools and confirm if you have all the gardening tools you need to make your garden picture perfect.

Visit “Garden Lover’s Paradise” and have a look around for the garden tools available on the market right now at 

http://www.gardeningtoolsandmore.com

Organic Gardening - Growing Your Own Fruits and Vegetables the Way Nature Intended Them to Be

Gardening can add more quality to the way you live and even to some extent may also add quantity to one’s life. There are many benefits of gardening; particularly organic gardening that can make one forget about whatever is bothering him or her.

Organic systems recognize that our health is directly connected to the health of the food we eat and, ultimately, the health of the soil. Organic gardening is the way of growing vegetables and fruits with the use of things only found in nature.

Organic growing severely restricts the use of artificial chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Instead, organic growers rely on developing a healthy, fertile soil and growing a mixture of crops. Genetically modified (GM) crops and ingredients are not allowed under organic standards.

Why would one want to indulge in organic gardening?

Among the many things an organic vegetable garden may offer towards a satisfying experience are fresh air, exercise, sunshine, knowledge, supplemental income, mental therapy, and fresh food, rich in vitamins and minerals, harvested at the best stage of maturity.

Going organic may mean that you have to make a trade-off between glossy supermarket looks with better tasting crops that aren’t perfect in shape or size, but many gardeners think this is a price worth paying. You’ll be able to grow different crops that are always relatively expensive to buy in supermarkets and at farmers markets and, growing your own vegetables is both fun and rewarding.

You can easily make compost from garden and kitchen waste. Although this is a bit more time consuming, you will also make cost savings, because you do not need to buy costly chemical fertilizers and pesticides with organic gardening.

Where animal manures are available, they are probably the best source of fertilizer and organic matter for the organic gardener. Use manure which has been aged for at least 30 days if possible, or composted.

With organic gardening there are less health harming chemicals on the food that you and your family may consume. Pesticides contain toxins that have only one purpose – kill living things. One of the best known benefits of organic gardening is the zero tolerance for pesticide use. This is the most widely known reason for the boom of organic gardening and is also the best of what we get from the benefits of organic gardening.

Organic gardening has residual effect on ground water. The number of states who have cases of contaminated ground water is increasing.

The protection of the topsoil from erosion is another concern dealt with the practice of organic gardening.

With organic gardening one does not need to buy costly chemical fertilizers and pesticides. One example of organic fertilizer that one could make use of is as low as the stale coffee and coffee grounds. If one wishes to attract off aphids from vegetables, plant marigolds.

One frugal garden pest spray could be concocted through mixing 1 tablespoon of liquid dishwashing soap and 1 cup of cooking oil. Put 3 tablespoons of this mixture in 1 quart of water and spray on plants.

Mulch, which is used to keep moisture in and weeds out, could be in the form of grass clippings and pine needles.

Organic gardening makes one feel better knowing he is doing his part in safeguarding the future of the next generations.

On the average, c child ingests four to five times more cancer-causing pesticides from foods than an adult. This can lead to various diseases later on in the child’s life. With organic gardening, these incidents are lessened.

If you have a surplus you can sell these and you will be contributing to the ‘go local’ food movement which is flourishing – more and more people buy organic food locally and the number continues to rise. You can find everywhere locally produced foods which are fresher, healthier and more economical.

Going ‘organic’ is caring for the future.

You will find everything for your gardening activities (work, fun, relaxing) in “Garden Lover’s Paradise” at

http://www.gardeningtoolsandmore.com/