Revelion 2010

Are you a homeowner who has your own garden? If you do and if you are like many other garden growers, there is a good chance that you take great pride in your garden. You may not only spend a large amount of time working on it to make it beautiful and full of life, but you may also spend a lot of time just relaxing in your garden area. If you are, have you ever thought about outfitting your garden area with teak garden furniture? If you have yet to do so, you may want to think about giving teak garden furniture a close look.

When it comes to teak garden furniture, there are many individuals who wonder exactly what is so special about it. If you were to talk to a lawn and garden expert, there is a good chance that they would recommend teak garden furniture to you. One of the reasons why teak garden furniture comes so highly rated and recommended is because of its dependability. Teak garden furniture is made from some of the best materials on earth. As long as you carefully choose your teak garden supplier or manufacturer, you should have pieces of furniture that may, literally, last a lifetime.

Are you establishing a new garden? Are you trying to bring a long neglected or difficult garden back to life again? You can create a flourishing garden anywhere. All you need is loads of desire, a little imagination and an open mind. In this article I briefly summarize some techniques that I have successfully used for encouraging growth in difficult areas of the garden. By adding a little magick to some basic ecological gardening principles your can create a sensation.

There are a few essential requirements for a healthy garden. These are: soil with the correct texture, nutrient levels, and drainage; water; sunlight and the appropriate plant choice for your local environment. Garden bed preparation is of utmost importance and you would be well advised to ensure that you have provided your plants with the best physical environment possible for their successful growth. But getting the physical environment right is just the first step. To get the best out of your garden you should provide a happy environment, full of positive energy and a little magick.

Visualize

There is a strong belief among many people, that Australian Natives are beautiful but have no perfume. A stroll through the bush will dispel that rumour easily.

The fragrance of crushed leaves and scented blossoms can be almost overpowering at times. But many of the natives have a more subtle fragrance; you have to be close to them at the correct time to appreciate the flavours and scents.

The perfume of native plants is often produced at different times of the day or night. Perfumed native flowers include many of the Grevilleas (some like G. biternata and G. G. buxifolia have a strong honey-like perfume others like G. buxifolia have a light fragrant perfume), Boronias ( e.g. B. floribunda, B. serrulata and B. megastigma), Sowerbaeas (Vanilla Lilies), Xanthoreas (Grass Trees), Banksias, Eleaocarpus reticulatus (Blueberry Ash) which has a strong almost aniseed scent, Hakeas, Pittosporum undulatum (Native Daphne) — the perfume of this species may becoming overpowering in the evening –, Leptospermum species (e.g. L. flavescens), Homoranthus species (which has a Baked Biscuit scent) and Hymenosporum flavum (Native Frangipani). Many of the white flowering Eucalypts, Melaleuca and Callistemon species have a strong honey scent.

It can be a scary exercise to sit down and work out exactly what is spent every year, on the average home gardens and lawns.

Try adding up the costs of plants, weedicides, pesticides, fungicides, fertilisers, petrol, mower and trimmer maintenance, weed eater cord, garden mulch and even water costs. Even the time and effort we go to in order to maintain a good-looking environment for our families and ourselves can amount to a substantial price.

So it is no wonder that many people are looking at ways to save money for more important causes.

One of the first things that you can do to save money, is to make use of as much of that organic matter that many people throw in the bin or wash down the sink.

For instance do you throw out your lawn clippings? Do you dutifully wrap up and throw out those old veggie scraps?