Home Garden Types

Whether you garden on a patio or terrace, a large plot of ground, or in small garden beds, your passion for the home garden experience can be just as big as the next guy's.  There have 5 types of garden that you can grow.

1. Beach Garden
2. Butterfly Garden
3. Flower Garden
4. Herb Garden
5. Vegetable Garden
6. Water Garden 

Beach Garden

Gardening at the beach has a few unique challenges! The salty breezes can wreak havoc on plant varieties that would do fine under more suitable climatic conditions. You can plan for protection from high winds with a little creativity. Proper placement of a fence portion or hardy shrubs can make conditions more favorable at a beach location.
Sandy soil can also be a problem. Fortunately this can be corrected by working organic material and soil into the ground where you are planting. Large pots are another option for having more control over the growing medium used. You want to keep a close eye on how dry the soil is getting quite frequently. The bright sun and constant air movement will dry your plants out in a hurry.
On the bright side, the beach offers interesting natural decor that can be worked into your garden design. Drift wood, large shells and sea-weathered rocks can mix in real well with greenery and flowers. When using materials provided by nature, be sure to wash off the salt thoroughly before placing them in or around a garden bed.
Keep in mind that the both salt and sun will affect your garden furniture and other decor. Wood benches, gates and fencing may have a shorter life span. Metal objects . Use as much natural material as possible.
It is best to start with small plants as they will adapt easier to beach life than larger plants. Ground covers that do well include wedelia, creeping fig and dichondra. Flowering shrubs such as lantana, confederate jasmine and oleander are a also good. Bougainvillea works well as a direct planting and in hanging planters. Native Daisy and Hibiscus will bloom in your beach garden. Checking with your local nursery where they are familiar with what grows in your climate is sometimes the quickest way to get started when choosing plants at the beach. Live oak, palms, cedar, and some pines trees handle the beach well. Beach grasses can be mixed in around trees or planted as a border.

Butterfly Garden

You can attract a nice population of butterflies to your yard with a butterfly garden. Creating one near a window is a nice way to enjoy beautiful butterflies from inside your home as well as while you are outdoors. Eating a meal while being entertained by these colorful, winged creatures is a wonderful experience.

Flower Garden

Flowers can be grown around your home in containers, beds, along walkways, even in a meadow. There are literally thousands of different flowers to consider for your home garden or landscape. It is easy to become mesmorized with their many colors, shapes, and fragrances.

Most flowers will fit into one of three categories; annuals, perennials, and bulbs. Life cycle and reproductive habits will determine the category a flower falls into.

Annuals:
Annuals are plants that germinate, mature, flower, and produce seed in one year. Biennials are sort of "in between" annuals and perennials. Biennials will grow the first year but flower the second when grown from seed. After that you need to re-plant.

Perennials:
Perennials live for years though they die back to the ground in Fall and grow up from the roots the following Spring.

Bulbs:
Bulbs (daffodils, tulips, hyacinth, etc.) are perennials with specialized storage roots.

Herb Garden

The pleasure of growing herbs in a home garden is sufficient enough to justify the labor involved. The wonderful selection of herbs at most grocery stores can still come in handy for the varieties that you choose not to grow yourself.

By definition, an herb is a seed plant that does not produce a woody stem like a tree. But an herb will live long enough to develop flowers and seeds. They are primarily used as a food seasoning as well as for medicinal, aromatic, and ornamental purposes.

Popular Culinary Herbs

1. Parsley
2. Sage
3. Chives
4. Thyme
5. Savory
6. Marjoram
7. Mint
8. Basil

Popular Aromatic Herbs

1. Mint
2. Marjoram
3. Lovage
4. Rosemary
5. Basil

Popular Ornamental Herbs

1. Valerian
2. Borage
3. Chicory
4. Thyme
5. Mint
6. Lavendar
7. Chives

Growing Herbs
Choose your site in an area that receives at least 4 to 6 hours of sunlight a day. Use a spade to work the ground to 12 inches or so below the surface. Soil that remains real wet will not work well. Consider adding compost or use raised beds if your soil has poor drainage. Since herbs do well in soil with low to medium fertility, you should not need to apply fertilizers.

Try going with a theme if you are having difficulty deciding on which herbs to grow. A scented theme might include mint, lemon balm, silver thyme, and rosemary. For a culinary theme try thyme, sage, dill, basil, and tarragon.

You can successfully grow herbs in containers to take advantage of limited space or to beautify your deck or patio. Any container with a drainage hole should work. Clay pots work particularly well because they are more porous than plastic.

Plants grown in containers will dry out faster than in the ground. When the top layer of soil feels dry, water the container until a small amount seeps out of the bottom drainage hole. Pinch the plants back during growing season to keep them bushy. Remember also to remove dead or diseased leaves.

For the winter you should not have to worry too much since most perennial herbs are able to survive the cold weather. Prune your plants in the spring and summer then only mildly in the fall. Plants such as Rosemary and Greek Oregano should be brought indoors for overwintering. The easiest way to do this is to grow your marginally hardy herbs in containers so that they do not have to be dug up to be brought in.

Vegetable Garden

It is easy to argue that the best reason for growing vegetables in your garden is taste. You can have this great taste from vegatables grown on the deck or patio of your condo or apartment.Home grown carrots, lettuce, peppers, broccoli, tomatoes all taste better than store bought. By maintaining healthy soil your freshly-harvested vegetables are most nutritional and you know what has been used on them to protect against pests.

Tip: Grow vegetable types you are most likely to consume, in quantities you are able to consume. You'll feel better about not wasting what you can't eat or give away.

Gardening - the preparation, maintainance, and harvesting - is great physical and mental therapy. Just being outdoors can lift your spirits. The anticipation of seeing the fruit of your labor is rewarding in advance. Working with plants is relaxing. The extended use of fingers, wrists and arms is physically beneficial. Many can attest to renewed energy as Spring approaches while "this year's garden" begins to blossom in their mind.

Vegetables to Grow

• Tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Peppers

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth..." ---Thomas Jefferson

Water Gardens

Adding the sight and sound of water to your home garden does not need to be a difficult undertaking. Having a large pond just outside the kitchen window would be nice, but there are other appealing options that may be more in line with your space and budget.

At minimum, a water garden can be a small container that is home to water and plants. Add some fish and a pump to create that "trickling" sound and you should be quite satisfied with the tranquility offered by your new eco-system. You can start by purchasing a water garden tub from a garden center, or you may already have a plastic tub, an old bath tub, concrete dish or a half barrel that will work.

Is there room to dig a pond on your property? Ideally you will need a site that gets at least 6-8 hours of sunlight in order to keep healthy plants and fish. Pond maintenance will be easier if you can avoid nearby trees that will dump leaves into the pond. A simple way to get a picture of how the pond will fit in the desired space is to layout a hose on the ground. You can use the hose to form the size and shape that you desire. Use a shovel to mark the outline before removing the hose to dig. You also have the option of purchasing a pre-formed liner where the shape has already been determined.