A guide to vines and how to vine beauty with your garden

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If you find yourself bored with the usual assortment of flowers and shrubs in your latest landscape design, maybe it’s time to do a little experimenting by adding VINES to your garden.

Advantages of Having Vines In Your Garden
Vines are often overlooked as a lovely complement to your garden. Not only do they bring additional and much needed color and enchantment to your yard but also extra shade, screen and shelter when you wish to spend a quiet afternoon reading your favorite fruit.

Vines make maximum use of the vertical space in your garden; a feature you’d no doubt welcome when you’ve used up every inch of space of the soil.

What’s more, there are also a number of vines that can provide you with edible fruit, bringing your one garden one step closer to Eden-like perfection.

Lastly, vines can also become quite useful when there are areas where you wish to avoid deep roots from appearing. Vines can serve as ground cover and help prevent slopes in your garden from erosion.

Adding Arbors for Your Vines

More often than not, people tend to add an arbor or two in their gardens when they plan to include vines in their list of botanical and horticultural jewels. Although an arbor surrounded by vines is a clichйd symbol, nobody can still deny its picturesque charm.

If you’re of the same mind as well, just make sure that you choose rustic looking wood – painted, stained or treated – for your arbor. Keep in mind the maintenance costs as well when you’re out for an arbor entryway for your garden.

The arbor must suit not only your personality and garden but also the color and structure of your vines as well. Since most vines are fast-growing, expect your arbor to be fully encased in vines in a year or two.

When the Vine Twines

Twiners - These are the type of vines that possess very flexible stems which twine around a support – an arbor or even a tree trunk, for instance – and examples of these would be wisteria, morning glory vine and hyacinth bean.

Root Attachment – These are the types of vines that attach its self – rather than twine – to walls, posts, roots or any adhesive disc for support. Examples of these would be the well-known English ivy and a number of forms of Virginia creeper.

Tendril – There are some vines that have modified stems or leaves that wrap themselves on supports; examples of these would be the popular passion flower – also known as clematis - and sweet pea vines.

Leaners – These vines do not possess any built-in structure that could use another object or plant for support; for that reason, these vines would have to be either tied to or woven through arbors, posts or any other structure. The best example of this type of vine is climbing roses.

Another Classification of Vines

Perennial – Example of perennial vines would be wisteria, Carolina Jessamine, gold honeysuckle and climbing roses.
Annual – Example of annual vines would be moon vine and morning glory

Other Tips

When you’re selecting the types of vines you wish to weave through your garden as enhancement, make sure that it’s really something you wish to do. Vines after all take a long time – a few years more or less – to grow and establish and would look quite awkward in their early stages. It would be such a pity if you cut them off when you find yourself impatient with their slow growth.

Lastly, keep in mind that some vines are naturally heavier than others and would need a sturdier type of support for better growth and easier maintenance.

Growing 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 can forget about whatever is bothering him or her.

Organic gardening is the way of growing vegetables and fruits with the use of things only found in nature.

Why would one want to indulge in organic gardening?

1. Organic gardening is less boring.

One can easily make his own compost from garden and kitchen waste. Though this is a bit more time-consuming than buying prepared chemical pesticides and fertilizers, it would surely be one rewarding activity.

2. 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 know reason for the boom of organic gardening and is also the best of what we get from the benefits of organic gardening.

3. Less harm to the environment.

Organic gardening has residual effect on ground water. The Environmental Protection Agency says that 38 states have cases of contaminated ground water.

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

The Soil Conservation Service says that an estimated 30 - 32 billion tons of soil erodes from United States farmlands every year. Commercial farming causes this.

4. Cost savings

One does need to buy costly chemical fertilizers and pesticides with organic gardening. One example of organic fertilizer that one could make use of is as lowly 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.

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

On the average, a 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.

Easy to grow seeds and plants which can be grown at home

You may just have doubts of whether the plant will eventually grow or not. Also some plants require additional heat, water and humidity which maybe difficult to provide always. So here, we make gardening simple and easy for you. Here are the top easy to grow plants which will ensure success without fail!

Mint

This is one of the easiest herbs to grow. Mint plants will grow rapidly and even spread to neighboring patches of your garden if you are no careful enough. Hence, a good approach is to grow mint in a container. The good thing is that, this plant needs hardly any maintenance and care. You can take a fresh sprig of mint and can grow it anywhere either in direct sunlight or inside a cool and shady place. You only need to make sure to water the mint plant thoroughly everyday till you see the seedling leaves appear.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are so easy to grow that it is almost ridiculous! All you need to do is take a handful of tomato seeds from a tomato which you have already cut. Then make sure to wash the seeds from all the tomato juice that is clinging to them. Otherwise the seeds will be coated with sugar which can cause a fungal attack. Then place the seeds around a quarter inch from the soil top. You should begin to see shoots appear after around a week or so. Once the seedling leaves appear, place them in direct sunlight for three hours every day till the leaves are grown. Then transplant the seedling into a pot.

Sweet peas

These cute looking green peas are often used in germination experiments in schools because they grow so easily. You could even place peas on a moist wad of cotton on a bowl. Then keep the bowl in a shaded area and watch the seeds sprout in a few days’ time. You can transplant the seedling once you see the secondary leaves appear on the shoot.

Beans

Beans are another great option if you wish to ensure fast gardening. Simply place a couple of beans inside a seedling pot. Then water them regularly and keep the pot in a shaded area. Once the shoots emerge, place the seedling in direct sunlight for a few hours daily till they toughen up to face constant sunlight.

Ginger

Did you know that you could cultivate ginger by just cutting off a portion of the ‘eye’? The surface of the ginger root has several small projections on it. In order to successfully grow the plant you need to cut off this portion and place it under the soil. It will breed marvelously. Slowly, it will grow its roots into the soil and then the shoots and leaves will appear.

Lemons

You can easily grow a lemon tree from existing lemon seeds. Just take out the seeds making sure none of them have been dehydrated or damaged by cutting. Then wash off the seed surface from all sugar residues. Then plant the seeds into the soil. You will need to place the seeds a little towards the bottom of the soil. Then you can expect to see seedling plants emerge. The good thing is that each seed will yield multiple seedlings.

Nasturtiums

These are vine shaped plants which have leaves that look like lily pads. The great thing about this plant is that is comes in vibrant colors like vanilla, yellow, crimson and orange. These flowers are not edible and once you have planted these, they will regenerate with every season.

Cosmos

This plant is typically found in the old fashioned garden patches. You will find these plants in two varieties – sonata mix and seashells. Growing the plant from the seed is always better than just placing a seedling into the pot as the plant emerges stronger with better yield. The Cosmos plant is fantastic at regenerating itself time and again!

Sunflowers

These beautiful flowers can be grown from the seed itself. These flowers will be tall, bright colored and always facing the sun! You need to have ample space to grow sunflowers as the flowers grow as high as a corn crop!

Ornamental grass

This is a type of grass which grows out very quickly. Besides, its soft and velvet like appearance makes for a nice decorative patch in the garden or near your balcony. You can easily anticipate regeneration in the next season.

Arugula

This lettuce variety is a nut-flavored and is mostly found in the high-end salads. Hence, it would do you good to plant them to make your salads! You need to plant the Arugula inside a pot and place it in your kitchen where it is less sunny.

The great thing about growing plants at home is that they are more economical and organic. Therefore there are no chemicals making for a healthier, tastier meal!

Transform your backyard into a taco garden as a fun family activity

Many parents across the country are looking for ways to get their children to eat better, get outdoors and be more active. Gardening is a great solution-especially when you grow something kids love like a veggie taco garden.

When growing a garden with children, it's important to make sure the activity is an enjoyable experience or their attention will wander. According to Charlie Nardozzi, chief horticulturist for the National Gardening Association and Chief Gardening Officer consultant for Hilton Garden Inn®, there's no better way to make the garden exciting and meaningful for kids than to grow a familiar food.

Nardozzi knows firsthand how kids of all ages love digging in soil, and the important life lessons learned when planting, nurturing, harvesting and eating what you grow. Throughout the year, Nardozzi leads young students in gardening exercises through his hotel's Grow A School Garden program. Through the community outreach, hotel team members from the United States, Canada and Mexico work with local students to grow vegetables and herbs indoors in "Grow Labs" or outdoors on the school grounds.

"Gardening is a great way to encourage kids to spend time outdoors, learn about where food comes from and how to care for the environment and get some physical activity," says Nardozzi. "And it's a great way for families to come together over a common project and reap the rewards with a fun meal."

Nardozzi offers the following tips for growing a veggie taco garden at home or school:

• Give Kids Appropriate Tasks. Young toddlers can help plant seeds while older children can choose what to grow, plant the transplants, water plants, decorate the garden and help with the harvest.

• Grow What Kids Want. Make sure that each child gets to pick the vegetable or herb he/she wants to plant. This gives them a feeling of ownership over the activity. Some good vegetables to grow include tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, onions, cilantro and cucumbers.

• Decorate the Garden. Let kids have fun decorating the taco garden in their own unique way. They can make a veggie taco garden sign, Popsicle stick plant markers and kid-sized garden tunnels, teepees and banners.

• Plant in a Pot. If you don't have room for a garden, consider growing veggies in a container. Choose a large pot-a 20" diameter works best-and arrange the plants so the tallest plants such as tomatoes and peppers are in the center and the low-growing ones such as lettuce and cucumbers are along the edge.

• Plant Indoors. If you can't grow plants outdoors, consider setting up grow lights indoors to grow lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach, radishes and scallions.

• Harvest and Enjoy. In about two months, kids can harvest the vegetables and herbs. For a fun dinner idea, get the entire family together to enjoy your homegrown veggie tacos.