Une maison aux couleurs fruitées en bord de mer

D'accord, les vacances sont terminées mais c'est toujours l'été, non ?

Sources : House of  Turquoise , House Beautiful

Garden Centres

Many people visit garden centres just to have a look around on a quiet Sunday afternoon. They are fantastic places to pick up a few green bags for your plants. I particularly love the ones that contain the feed for seeds, seedlings and the plants themselves. These provide lots of nutrition. This is particularly important if you are growing your own fruit and vegetables as you want as must goodness to go into these as possible. After all, you and your family will be the ones who will be eating these so you want the very best.

Larger garden centres provide an excellent family day out which the kids will especially enjoy playing in the park on the swings and slides if the centre provides these. Some places also provide animals which provides a great educational benefit to children who can learn about different types of creatures.

Garden design and landscape gardening companies can also purchase various products that they require for their projects including plants, water features and other types of decorations that can make their client's gardens look fantastic.

Some people prefer to buy seeds and grow their own plants whilst others prefer purchase young plants and grow them into mature plants.

Many gardeners can benefit can having a greenhouse or glasshouse. These benefit plants by increasing the heat and humidity which many plants like to grow. Some plants are suitable for indoors too. Garden centres tend to stock a range of both indoor and outdoors varieties to suit a variety of their customer's tastes. Seasons dictate the lifecycle of different plants. You can learn how to grow your own vegetables and plants by reading the many textbooks that are available on the subject. You could also enlist the help of an experienced gardener. Many garden centres have experts who can guide you in the best ways to grow whatever you to grow. If in doubt just ask a member of staff and they will be all too happy to point you in the right direction.

Once you've finished planting and your garden looks beautiful you might want to sit back in the sun and relax in your garden furniture which can also be purchased from your local garden centre. Garden chairs, tables, sun loungers and even barbecues can all the purchased from these places. A lovely, well maintained garden can also increase the resale value of your home so it's still worth doing even if you aren't a outdoors type of person.

Australian garden design ideas | Australian garden design

Ideas for Landscaping a Hill - A Few Suggestions

First and the foremost thing that a hill landscape architect has to consider is the steepness of the hill. He has to develop the idea for landscaping the hill based on incline of the hill. Landscaping ideas for a gentle incline and a steep slope would be entirely different.

Take into consideration the type of soil of the hill and the possibilities of erosion. Erosion could destroy the garden of the hill landscape. If the hill has a steep incline, there is always a possibility of landslides. This point has to be considered before designing a landscape garden for a hill.

If you are landscaping a steep hill, it would be a good idea to plant trees that develop deep root networks. This would prevent erosion and landslides and at the same time help to maintain water level in ground.

This idea for landscaping a hill helps to make the soil stable and also provides shade. Instead of trees, shrubs that have good root network system, which would help in preventing erosion, could also be planted.

It would be good landscaping idea to convert a gentle hill into a beautiful garden that has colorful flowering plants. Another idea for landscaping a hill is to cut the gentle slope to make terrace gardens.

When you are landscaping a hill, make sure to install a retaining wall and a few steps on the hill. A retaining wall would prevent landslides and also ensures the soil is not eroded. This is an idea to maintain water level in the plants. The plants grown on a landscaped hill have to be watered regularly. Carving out steps on a hill helps to deal not only with erosion but also gives a unique beauty to the hill landscape.

Another idea for landscaping a hill is to create a rock garden. A rock garden could be constructed to hold the shape of a hill. A rock garden would help to redirect the water coming down the slopes of the hill landscape to a sump to be recycled later or to the vegetation on level ground below the hill.

Landscaping designs exhibit the creative and imaginative ability and skills of a professional. A professional has to strike a balance between the appearance of the garden and the functionality. It is the responsibility of a landscaping architecture to ensure the prevention of landslides and soil erosion.

Gardening - Must Have Gardening Equipment

Every gardener needs to have gardening equipment of some type or the other. It is next to impossible to work in a garden without some kind of gardening equipment. The type of gardening equipment used depends entirely up on the size and type of your garden, the amount of time you are prepared to put in and lastly how much you can afford to spend.

Most gardeners do not go in for high tech or expensive gardening tools, but most have the utmost basic gardening equipments. Cultivating tools may be both power tools and hand held tools. The type of tool you buy depends on how serious you are about gardening and also how much you are prepared to spend. Basic hand held tools include shovels, forks, spades, trowels, rakes and diggers. These tools are used to prepare the garden for planting and are comparatively easy to use and not much strength is needed to use them.

Other tools that may be used are pickax, wheel cultivator and mattock.

Power tools though a little more expensive are great time savers and make back breaking jobs easy. The tiller is one of the most essential gardening equipment. The tiller helps to break up the ground and prepare it for cultivating, chopping up debris, and can even help you in mixing fertilizer and compost. If you would rather not spend money on a tiller, you may hire a tiller or may be rent one for one time use at the beginning of the gardening season. Other popular power tools that you can choose from are chippers, chain saws and garden shredders.

You can not do without suitable pruning tools if you have hedges, shrubs or small trees in the yard. Pruning shears work well with branches not more than ¾" in diameter. For bigger branches of up to two inches you will need to have lopping shears.

To reach branches that are high up you will have to get pole shears which can reach up to 15 feet high. The serious gardener might need larger, heavy duty equipment like pruning shears and hedge trimmers.

Another thing that you can not have a garden without is watering equipment. You need to water your plants regularly and without a minimum of a water hose you will find it a tiring task. It definitely does not rain when we want it too, so watering equipment is essential. If you would like fancier stuff you can opt for a drip irrigation system or may be a sprinkler system. If you are willing to spend some money you can buy timers for your drip or sprinkler system.

Gardening is near impossible without the right gardening equipment. Some people like to get down and dirty when they plant their flowers, but even such enthusiasts need tools like a spade or rake. Gardening may not prove to be so much of a pleasure without the proper basic equipments. Gardening equipments are an integral part of gardening just like seeds and soil.

Hypertufa Garden Art - Enhancing Your Garden With These Garden Ornaments

If you love gardening, you will most likely love to try making your own hypertufa. Hypertufa is an artificially made rock which resembles the porous volcanic rock called 'Tufa,' which has now gone rare and expensive. Aside from being plant-friendly, you can also make hypertufa garden art by making different objects aside from pots and planters.

Among the many things you can do with hypertufa aside from planters and pots are stepping stones, troughs, rocks, hypertufa lanterns and water fountains, leaves, mushrooms, and many other objects you want to decorate in your garden.

What is good about hypertufa is that it is lightweight and durable, as it can withstand extreme weather especially during the winter and does not crack like ceramics. You will not also worry about maintaining your plants as this porous hypertufa also retains moisture well.

Hypertufa garden art could also be a great component of your mini landscaping, giving that ancient look into your garden. Some people may even have created waterfalls with the use of hypertufa - which can be a great element in your garden.

Another good thing about hypertufa is that, you can actually make it at home, so you can also make your own design, style and ornament you want for your gardening. All you need are the basic recipe of Portland cement, peat moss and perlite. The recipes in making hypertufa can vary differently depending largely on what you desire your finish product to be. If you want a lightweight product for some hanging ornaments or if you want a stronger, more durable one, it will all depend on your recipe.

If you want to make your own hypertufa garden art, it is advisable that you start with small objects just to see how you can manage the recipe and master the skill.

Although this requires the correct recipe and skill, it is not very difficult to master. Once you had the correct recipe, molding and drying will be a lot easier. You can get molds from just any container you have - from any sizes and shape. You can also find some inspiring ideas from other gardeners who are also into hypertufa garden art.

The basic steps involved in making your own hypertufa include mixing the dry materials together with water. Determining the right consistency is important as this will be a factor in easy molding of your hypertufa. Of course, this will also keep your hypertufa remain intact during drying or curing. After achieving the right consistency, you can then mold different shapes and sizes to make your hypertufa planters, pots or any other design. Curing and drying will then follow. When you finally get the mold out of your hypertufa, you can also enhance the look of your creations by brushing the smooth edges to give it a rough rock-like appearance. Then you have to let it dry again until it hardens more.

If you wish to add color to your hypertufa, you can also mix color in your recipe. Indeed, making your own hypertufa is simple and inexpensive. Aside from that, designing and making your own hypertufa garden art can be enjoying as well. If you are artistic, you can also express your artistry with hypertufa not only for your garden but for your indoor art as well.