Growing roses is a great challenge and it’s also very rewarding. After all, the rose is is an international symbol for beauty and delicateness. With a little bit of work you can bring that into your own backyard!

The first thing you should learn is that there are many different kinds of roses out there. You can pick and choose the ones that will fit in best with the overall look of your backyard. Some options are climbing roses, cluster flowered roses, shrub roses, rose bushes, mini roses and more. Take the time to browse through a gardening book to see which of these appeal to you the most.

Keep in mind that certain rose varieties are more difficult to raise than others. They have different looks and growing patterns. Think about the layout of your backyard and what will look best. You might even want to consider planting a few different varieties that you can place all around your yard. They are simply more beautiful than many other flowers and deserve the space!

After you've chosen the type of rose that is right for you, you can get to work planting them. You have to start out by choosing where the roses should be planted. Then, dig an appropriate hole for the roots.

It might be a good idea to put some manure or other fertilizer in the hole so that your roses get off to the best start. Make sure you give the plant plenty of water in its early days.

You can choose to fertilize your roses as well. There are commercial "rose specific" fertilizers you can use. Some people prefer to use organic sources which is fine as well. It might take some trial and error before you decide which fertilization method is right for you.

Many people have the problem of pests coming in and destroying the look of their roses. This can be avoided as long as you're properly caring for the plants. Another problem is that molds and fungus can come and destroy the roses. Fungicides can control this problem. There are even roses that are disease free like Rugosas.

Growing roses can be a fun and special treat. Just like it’s a delight to get a bouquet of roses for a special occasion you can get that same feeling by having them in your backyard. Choose your varieties carefully and tend to them well and you'll have a rose garden worthy of praise.

If you drive around the neighborhood you might start to feel like you're always seeing the same old thing! Everything down to the backyard patios start to seem like they’re carbon copies of one another. It's time for you to do something different with your own backyard.

One great way for you to stand apart from the crowd is to create a stamped concrete patio. This is far different from the standard wood look we're all so used to seeing. Not only will the concrete last longer: it will end up looking a lot nicer as well.

You can have a stamped concrete patio whether you have one back entrance or two back entrances. The idea is that there is a circular patio outside of your sliding glass door. 

It's even more fun when you have two entrances! Imagine having matching circular patios that are connected with a walkway between the two. Whereas your doorways seemed disconnected and distant before they suddenly share a common pathway.

There are any number of things you can do to decorate your patio. You can stamp them in any pattern you'd like. One suggestion is to decorate the edges, but have the inside be completely smooth.

After your patio is finished you can add the outdoor furniture. When you add a few patio chairs or a garden bench it will become your family's favorite place to be!

Keep in mind that you should definitely clear away every piece of your old patio before you get started. Whereas many wood patios are raised a bit your concrete one will be a lot closer to the ground. You don’t want any remnants of the wood to be left over. If you have never had a patio it will be easier for you to get started.

You do need to read about concrete pouring in order for this project to turn out the right way. Your circle needs to be proportional and properly designed. If you’re unsure of your abilities you might want to hire a professional to come in and help you.

This new patio might become the focal point of your whole yard. When it’s in you can plant flowers and trees around it to complement the design. The important thing is that your backyard will stand out from all the others. Suddenly, your yard will be the envy of all the others and people will ask, “how did you do that?” 

Do you have a fabulous garden but there still seems to be something missing? Garden benches are often the key item that you need. There are choices available to fit every gardener's taste and budget.

Part of the reason that getting a garden bench is a great idea is because they give a certain look to your garden. They add a sense of completion to the work you have done. Another reason why it's a good thing to have a bench is for more practical reasons.

Have you ever been gardening outside when it suddenly got too hot or your muscles were throbbing after having worked so hard? The chances are good that when that happens you'd love to have a place to sit down and relax. When you have your bench there it's no problem at all.

Now that you've decided that getting a bench is a must, you have to figure out what kind of bench you want to have. There are metal, plastic, wooden, concrete, and other materials to choose from. Not only that, but they can be broken down into even more specialized categories like antique, recycled plastic, and iron.

Take a look around your yard as it is now so you can decide what style would fit best with what you already have. Or, if you have plans to do a total backyard makeover you might want to make this new bench a focal point.

No matter what bench you decide to go with you have to make sure it's something that will stand up to years of use and abuse. Since this will be an outdoor item you have to make sure that it is weatherproof and can withstand nearly anything that comes its way.

Many people are tempted to get the cheapest thing they can find, but this is often a mistake. Part of your criteria for selecting a bench should be that it has some kind of warranty and has a good track record of lasting a long time.

You might fall so much in love with your new bench that you decide to get more than one. There is certainly no harm in that. You can get one for the front yard, backyard, patio, or wherever else you see it fit to have a nice place to sit.

Garden benches are a timeless thing to have in your garden. You're full of choices when it comes to picking the right one for you. It's a great investment that's nice to look at and practical as well.

There are many practical uses for ground covers as well as uses for aesthetics. If you have an area in your backyard that you’re not quite sure what to do with this might be a great option for you. 

In a natural eco system the ground cover can be used to protect the soil from eroding away. This is very useful in areas with high levels of rain or other destructive weather conditions. These can occur naturally or they may be planted strategically by ecologists.

It’s possible have the same effect in your very own backyard! You can use ground cover to hide an unsightly area or even make it a focal point of beauty. This is something that will appeal to many home owners because there are so many different kinds to choose from.

Most of the groundcovers are grass varieties when they are in the natural environment. That is probably because grasses are so easily spread. But your choices definitely don’t stop there when it comes to your own yard.

Moss is one beautiful option. There is something so elegant and pretty about deep green mosses, which makes them an excellent choice. If you’d rather have a cover with some more depth you can choose to use low growing shrubs. 

Ivy is something that some people forget to consider. Ivy plants are great because they spread all around and create their own intricate design. There are also a wide variety of ivy plants to choose from.

You definitely don’t have to limit yourself either. Pretty much any plant that grows low and will cover the ground can be used here. In fact, some people use herbs like mint as their ground cover. That serves a double purpose because you can use the mint in your recipes and in your iced tea!

It is important to keep in mind that the things you choose will have different levels of maintenance. For example, moss doesn’t really require you to do much at all while certain low growing shrubs would need constant care and attention. If you love being outside and doing yard work this shouldn’t be a problem for you. If you are more hands off it’s definitely something you need to take into consideration.

Ground covers are great for hiding a patch of land you can’t seem to do anything else with or for adding an element of great design to your backyard. 

Some otther groundcover options are:

- Bigleaf Periwnkle - fast growing plants with solitary violet flowers at the end of the stem

- Chameleon Plant - features boldly variegated leaves of red, pink, white, green, and yellow 

- Phlox - stunning color everyone would love

- Lobelia - beautiful tiny flowes in sky blue, dark blue and rose pink colors

- Silver Brocade, also know aas Wooly. you can step on this without any problems, and it will disperse a beautiful smell while stepped on.

If you’ve been trying to find a way to maintain a healthy supply of water for your garden, read on. Water soil crystals are an innovative way of maintaining the garden to your exact standards. 

The way these crystals work is by holding water inside. Then, it releases the water at a steady pace without any additional work from you. This is a great way to keep up with watering your plants without having to deal with the hassle that can bring. 

This seems like a very futuristic idea. However, many people have used them in their gardens with great success. The idea behind them is that plants will go into distress and lose their vitality if they are not watered properly. Water soil crystals help to solve this problem by always supplying water.

These crystals are so much fun that they even come in several different colors. If you have children in your household who would like to help you out in your garden, consider giving them the option of colors. This can act as a great motivator to get your kids to participate in outdoor gardening activities. 

Since water crystals are still so unfamiliar to many people, it’s best to follow manufacturers directions exactly. You will generally let the crystal soak for about ten hours. Then, you will drain the extra water and then use it. 

Even though this all sounds very plausible there are sure to be many different questions regarding the product. After all, you love your backyard garden so much that you’re probably willing to do all you can to help it grow healthier. These crystals will do that and so much more.

They are a great money saver as well. Each crystal will last for a full year. This is a great deal if you’re looking to save money while still building you garden to its fullest potential. There aren’t many gardening products out there that will last you for a full year.

Water soil crystals are the most innovative methods for growing your garden the right way. Consider the different companies that make this, and choose the best one for the features. Soon, you’ll have a yard that is the envy of all your friends and relatives. And this is all due to these great water-releasing tools. 

If you haven’t heard of square foot gardening, you’re about to learn one of the most useful and versatile gardening techniques ever created. Conceived by Mel Bartholomew, author of Square Foot Gardening, the techniques have been enthusiastically adopted by gardeners all over the world. Square foot gardening is eminently suited for container gardening, patio and roof gardening, backyard gardening, organic gardening, herb gardens, vegetable gardens, flower gardens and more.

The basic concept is to start small - the unit of measure is the square foot. Although Bartholomew’s original square foot garden was four feet square, many schools, community gardens and home gardeners start even smaller - a couple of one square foot containers is plenty to get you started. According to Bartholomew though, a four square foot garden provides just enough harvest for one person.

How to Create A Square Foot Garden

Creating your own square foot garden is as easy as building (or buying) a box in which to garden. My own first square foot garden was a two square foot garden on the cement apron outside my back door in a city apartment. I used four square wicker plastic lined wicker wastebaskets bought for a dollar apiece at the All-for-a-Buck store. Any container that can hold 6-8” of dirt, and has drainage holes in the bottom will work. The biggest requirement for location is sun - choose a nice, sunny spot to place your garden.

Did I say dirt? Amend that. Bartholomew recommends what he calls ‘Mel’s mix’ instead of soil. Mix 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 compost to fill the squares of your box or container. A 10 pound bag of each was plenty to fill my little 2 square foot garden.

Choosing and Laying Out the Plants for Your Square Foot Garden

The most important factor in laying out your garden is the one-square-foot grid. You’ll be planting one type of plant in each square – how many of them depends on the recommended spacing between plants - which you’ll find on the back of the seed packets. Depending on the needs of the specific seedlings, you can plant 1, 4,  9 or 16 plants in each square. To break it down - if the recommendation on the seed packet is 1 foot apart, you can plant 1 in a square. If they need six inches between plants, you can plant 4. Two inches gives you room for 9 plants, and one inch spacing means you can fit 16 plants into one square foot.

My own first square foot garden was a spaghetti garden with this layout:

   1 Basil Plant  4 Tomato plants

   1 Oregano Plant 16 Onion plants

After You Harvest Your Square Foot Garden

Harvest the crop in each square foot when it’s ready, and continue harvesting until it’s no longer producing fruit/vegetables. At that point, uproot the plants in that square (use them for compost!), and plant another, different crop. By refilling and rotating the crops, you avoid depleting the natural nutrients of the soil, and keep every bit of space productive throughout an entire growing season.

In much of the United States, the only way to take advantage of a full growing season is to start your plants from seeds indoors. In areas where the last frost can be as late as the end of May, and the first as early as the beginning of October, the abbreviated growing season can mean a short garden season and a severe limitation on plants and flowers that would otherwise flourish. One solution is to choose only native plants for your garden. A more workable solution is to cover your kitchen table with newspaper one day in March (and since we are in the alst day of March, NOW is the time!), pull out the potting soil, seeds and pots, and give your garden an early jump on the season.

What You Need to Start Plants Indoors

Location - Your best option is a room with south-facing windows that get direct sun at least 6-8 hours a day - but not having one is no excuse. Grow lights are fairly inexpensive and very easy to set up. Just be sure there’s enough space for you to move around and water the plants.

Equipment and Supplies - You can buy commercial ‘flats’ at any department or home supply store for under $5. They’re flat ‘trays’ with individual compartments each meant to hold one seedling. An alternative that works quite well are cardboard egg cartons. They’re biodegradable, provide drainage and can easily be cut apart when it’s time to transplant your seedlings outside.

Purchased potting soil is a good growing medium, but if you want to really give your plants a great start, you can mix up a batch of potting soil with compost and peat moss, or leave the soil out entirely and grow in peat moss, vermiculite and compost. Or you can do as my grandmother did if you’ve thought ahead. At the end of each growing season, she dug up several buckets full of rich soil from the garden and baked it in a 300 degree oven for a couple of hours to sterilize it. In spring, she brought it out to use as potting soil for her new seedlings.

Seeds of course!  - Basil, tomatoes, carrots, asters, marigolds, nasturtiums, petunias and pansies are all good candidates for starting indoors, but you can choose any garden plant that can be started from seed.

When to Plant - Most garden plants can be started indoors about six weeks before the anticipated last frost. In most northern states, that’s mid-March. You can transplant the seedlings outside when they’ve reached 4-6” in height, after the last frost.

Seed Starting Method Using Egg Shells - Loosely fill each egg cup with enough garden soil to just below the top. Do not pack down! Use your index finger to poke a hole about an inch into the soil. Drop seeds into the hole. For large seeds like beans, use ONE seed per cup. For tinier seeds, sprinkle a pinch into the hole. Lightly cover the seed by raking soil over it with your fingertips. Move trays to a sunny window (or beneath grow lights). Water well - but don’t over-soak. Loosely cover each egg tray with a sheet of clear plastic wrap. Now LEAVE THEM ALONE. Check daily for signs of moisture, and when you don’t see any, lift the plastic wrap and mist well with a mister, then recover. You can remove the wrap when seedlings have two leaves, or are touching the plastic. When the seedlings are 1-2 inches tall, it’s time to thin them. In any container that holds more than two seedlings, pluck out all but the hardiest so that they’ll have the best chance at setting root and growing. Water and mist frequently until the danger of frost is past, then transplant to your garden outside.

For more seed starting methods and ideas see Tifaffany's blog at http://www.naturemoms.com/blog/2008/02/06/recycling-stuff-for-your-garden/

When shopping for plants, sometimes things can become a bit confusing. It's not uncommong to come home with too much or too little, and you might even find that you purchased things which weren't overly compatible either. Then of course, there is the quality of the plants themselves… did you pick a dud that can't be revived, or did you pick a very slow growing plant while it's too small for your tastes and needs?

While none of us is perfect, there are some things you can do to help make your plant shopping trips more productive, so we'll create a general checklist for you which may help.

1. Where do you intend to put the new plants? If you're shopping for new plants which will be kept in pots inside your house, try to decide where you think the new plants will actually reside. This will allow you to know how much or how little sunlight that specific place in your home has available.

The same rules apply to outside plants too. Whether you're putting them in a new garden bed or a container, you need to have an idea of where exactly you'll be putting them.

2. Are there other plants already in place? If you're shopping for plants with the intention of filling out or supplementing an existing garden bed or container, you'll need to be aware of what you already have in place so that you don't cause yourself additional headaches down the road.

For instance: Are those existing plants at their full mature sizes? If not, then how much extra room will they take up once they're fully grown? If they're not fully grown, then you may want to consider buying annual plants so there will still be room for your existing plants to grow as needed. If you buy perennials to fill the bare spaces, then by the time everything is grown up you may find that your garden bed is over filled, and this may even cause growth problems with the plants in time too.

Also think about the plants which are already there. If you have a garden bed with invasive plants such as ivy or mint planted for instance, you may not have much luck trying to put rose bushes or tulips in there too.

3. What do you want to accomplish? When you go shopping for plants, it helps to have an idea of the end results you'd like before you start actually buying the plants and flowers. If you want to simply add some different flower colors or textures to a garden bed, then it's usually safe to buy whatever catches your fancy. If however, your garden bed already has too much red in it and you want to balance that out, then it may help to make notes about which colors you'd like to add to the existing mix.

If there's a certain garden design style you're trying to attain, knowing this before going shopping helps dramaticly too. If you want an old fashioned English cottage garden for instance, you'd need to look for different types of plants than those which would go into a desert cactus garden.

4. How to the plants themselves look? Once you're at the garden center or nursery, you want to pay attention to how the plants actually look, and be honest with yourself about your personal gardening abilities. If you're not sure how to take care of a Begonia for instance, then it might not be wise to buy one which looks like it needs extra tender loving care.

5. What is your budget? This may seem obvious, but most of us plant lovers tend to spend much more than we ever intended every time we go plant shopping. So if you have a budget that must be adhered to, keep this in mind as you're shopping. It may help to write down your budget, and write down the cost of each plant you want too. Then if you find yourself over extended, go through your list and decide which ones can be left for the next shopping trip instead.

Planting your plants in the wrong areas - Even when you know for sure the new plant will grow in your garden zone, you may have problems with it if you plant it in the wrong area of your yard. In fact, one of the reasons some of your plants may get too much water while others are getting too little, is because you planted them into the same container or flower bed even though they had different watering requirements.

When you buy new plants, be sure to pay attention to it's particular requirements. If it needs a lot of sun, don't choose a shady spot to plant it and vice versa. Sometimes this exercise is more of a trial and error process too though. You may plant something in an area that you feel fits the description of "partial shade", only to find that there's too much sun for it.

There are many other common mistakes gardeners can make without knowing it too. Not keeping the weeds under control for instance. Most gardeners are unaware that the weeds can sap water and nutrients from the soil, and this effectively starves your plants and flowers. Some weeds can even grow quite tall and steal sunlight from your plants too. So keeping these under control goes a long way towards making sure your garden is able to thrive.

Not deadheading or pruning - Some gardeners are afraid to do anything which they feel may hurt their plants and flowers. So when they see a dead flower or dead branch, they hesitate to snip it off because they worry they'll hurt the plant somehow, and make it start dying. The truth of the matter is though, that getting rid of dead flowers and branches actually makes your plants and flowers healthier.

In fact, getting rid of live and healthy plants and branches can help make your plants healthier too. And this is why you're advised to deadhead and prune your plants regularly.

Deadheading is the act of removing dead or dying flowers from your plants. In most cases, new flower buds are trying to develop beneath the old ones. So when you remove the old ones, you're making it easier for the new flower buds to appear. This causes your plants to bloom much more often and in much more volume.

Pruning your plants is the act of trimming off dead or dying areas - even when it means cutting off whole branches of the plant. Sometimes pruning is also done to help the plant grow better too. So branches are cut even when they're still alive and healthy.

Pruning off healthy branches of a plant or bush can often help it to grow fuller. If the plant or bush is growing almost straight up, and looks a bit thin, then you can selectively prune areas of it that will force it to start branching outwards, and creating a more filled out look.

One of the most popular garden tools today is a relatively new invention: Self Watering Garden Planters. With these ingenious planters, you can have a container garden which flourishes as if you're caring for it every single day, even if you barely touch it at all.

A self watering garden planter will do what it sounds like: Water the plants in it automatically, on it's own. Now it's not 100% maintenance free of course, because you do have to add water to it at some point, but it's needed much less often than normal. Some self watering garden planters can actually go for a full month without having extra water added to them.

Self watering garden containers can be used to create any type of container garden you'd like: Vegetables, herbs, flowers, vines, annuals, perennials, miniature bushes or trees and so on. If a plant can grow in a regular garden container, then it can also grow in a self watering one too.

Self watering garden containers are basically garden planters which have a water reservoir built into them. All you have to do is fill that reservoir when it's low, and the container will take care of watering the plants for you automatically.

How often you have to add water to the reservoir will depend on the particular container you choose. Some specialty self watering garden containers can water your plants and flowers for several weeks before needing to be refilled, while others will need to have water added at least once each week. Of course the location of your planter will make a difference too, because outdoor containers which get a lot of hot sunlight will use water faster than those sitting indoors or in shady areas.

Most self watering garden containers also have a water wick which runs from the water reservoir up into the soil surrounding your plants. This wick is a simple absorbant cloth, and its job is to simply suck water from the reservoir into the plant soil on a steady basis.

Specialty self watering containers can be a bit on the expensive side. It's not uncommon to see prices of $50 or more per container. You can however, create your own fairly easily. Do it yourself versions tend to be much smaller though, because they're usually made with plastic water bottles or milk jugs. They're wonderful for growing kitchen herb gardens, small plants, and starting seeds too.

To create your own small self watering garden container, simply cut a plastic bottle or jug in half. The bottom half will act as your reservoir, and the top will be inverted and used as the plant container. You can place a wick in the bottle's original neck opening - use either an old tshirt scrap or a piece of floral foam in that opening. Once you have your wick in place, simply invert the top so that the wick is now inside the water reservoir, then add your potting mix and seeds or small plants.