A garden needs to be maintained and cared for no matter what season it is. If you do not maintain your garden, you can end up with safety concerns. Due to weather changes, different surfaces in the garden can end up becoming slippery, branches of trees may fall on you when they die or the debris in the garden can become home to certain dangerous insects and small mammals or reptiles. Above all, an ill-maintained garden spoils the beauty of a home and is a complete eye sore.

During the months when the climate is wet is when the garden will end up having more problems. Moss flourishes during these months and causes surfaces to become slippery.

This moss can be eliminated with certain products available in the market. If you are not comfortable using chemicals, you can use water blasting as a method to get rid of the moss. In fact, water blasting is a cheap alternative as the blaster does not cost too much. However, be careful when using a blaster as it is quite powerful and can ruin your garden in a blink of an eye.

Remember, the wet season also causes a change in weigh in plants. Plants become heavier. So, when you have hanging containers, be careful. These containers may fall as they may not be able to support the weight of the plants. Make sure the containers are secure.

If you are growing palms in your garden, be extremely careful. The fronds invariably have sharp projections that can pierce the eye or puncture the skin if you are not careful. Make sure when working with palms and palm fronds, you wear some form of protection over your eyes.

While most people use gloves, there are some who do not. Wearing gloves while working in a garden is essential. The gloves protect your hands from cuts, scrapes and bruises. They also offer protection from infections as there may be bacteria or pathogens present in the soil.

Make sure that after using gardening implements, you immediately clean and store them away safely. Many accidents in gardens are caused by careless lying gardening implements.

Gardening is a fun and great hobby to have. However, you have the responsibility of ensuring that your garden is a safe haven for you and your family.

In this article we will discuss why and how to have a home herb garden.

There are many reasons for raising your own home herb garden. Herbs can be used for teas as a healthy alternative to coffee. Some varieties produce beautiful flowers for your home or garden. Some herbs add flavor to your food others garnish your plate. Some herbs are grown for their aromatic foliage for use in perfumes or potpourri.

A lot of herbs are grown for their healthy medicinal benefits. Some herb doctors will give you one specific herb to produce a specific health benefit sometimes they will give you a package of mixed herbs that you boil in 4 cups of water until it's down to 2 cups which you drink hot as a healing tea. Herbs can be grown indoors in pots or in a garden

Some herbs are even used in pest control. Curiously herbs in general seem to be immune to the diseases and insect attacks that all other plants are susceptible to. And oddly enough fertilizers aren't even necessary for herbs.

Those are some of the reasons for having your own home herb garden now let's get into the how-tos.

Herbs prefer well-draining soil. If your soil it to compact and clay like it would be best to get some porous soil from the nursery. It very cheap in fact it's dirt cheap (ha). For growing herbs in pots use 2 parts of the porous soil and add one part sand (or perlite) with an inch of gravel in the bottom of the pot to ensure good drainage.

Almost all herbs can be grown from seeds but you can also buy herbs in the plant form and plant those in your garden. Sure it is faster to use the already grown plants but it's more fun to grow your own herbs from seeds. Seeds are best started in pots with the well draining soil and since they have very shallow roots the seeds should be planted very shallow (with very little soil above them). After they've grown sufficiently you can transplant them to the garden or leave them in the pot as an indoor herb.

Growing your own home herb garden is truly easy. To find out just how easy it is start with growing a few in some indoor pots. Once you see for yourself how easy it really is and how useful herbs can be you can expand from there.

Obviously there is a lot more to herb gardening but this is enough information to get you up and going.

Humming g birds are cute little tiny birds and it is very difficult to spot them due to their size. However, humming birds sing very pleasantly and they can add lovely music to the garden. Have you ever thought why the humming birds visit some gardens and not yours? Well, they do not find what they want in your garden.

You can actually add certain plants and features to your garden which attract these cute little birds. A humming bird would come to your garden to build a nest. It likes to build a nest at a height of 5 feet to 15 feet. So, you need to plant trees or shrubs in your backyard or garden so that the bird can build its nest. Some of the trees that the humming birds like to build their nests on are tulip, poplar, horse chestnut, and the flowering crab.

The blossoms in these trees provide the sweet nectar that these birds want. Humming birds also like flowering shrubs because they find nectar in them to feed their young. Some of the flowers that they like are hibiscus, buddleia and currants. They also like to eat insects, aphids and mosquitoes. So, humming birds need all these factors in your garden to nest happily.

They are not the kind of birds that will tend to look for food far away from their home. They are tiny and can fly only in a limited place. Therefore, you would actually have to make your garden into an attractive nesting place for them by planting appropriate trees, shrubs and flowering plants. This way their food and nesting concerns will be taken care of and they will be able to make your garden their home.

Creating or building your garden is very important for your home. In my case, it's more important than the inside of my home because I love the outdoors. I enjoy being out in the garden for coffee in the morning, lunches, social gatherings, to read, and for any other excuse I can think of. Feng shui in the garden only requires understanding a few basic principles, and does not require a degree.

The first basic principle to understand about feng shui is that it is not a religion. Feng shui doesn't require the belief in any god; it is simply the art of perfect placement to maximize good energy. In order to get the maximum peace and harmony into your garden, it is important to balance the energy and correctly place all of the elements that will be in the garden. Feng Shui literally translates to "wind and water", so these are two elements you must obviously have in your garden

Water in your garden can take many forms. You can have a waterfall, creek, pond, or even just a running fountain or two. I like the sound of running or flowing water, so two running fountains are excellent, and a pond with a few peaceful koi fish. If you live in a rainy state, you may want to consider the many options you have available for hand made fountains or a man made creek.

Wind will always be in your garden. Wind travels on its own accord and there isn't too much you can use to harness it. But there are a few things you can use to appreciate it. A few options are small windmills, wind chimes, trees, or any object designed to be animated by wind.

Aside from the two most important elements of wind and water, there are nine elements for a prefect feng shui garden. For lack of space, I combine elements. These elements are wealth, fame, partnership, family, energy, children, friends, career, and knowledge. Each one is represented or amplified by its own elements and symbols.

Wealth is represented by rich purple and soft wood such as some bushes and plants. This is obviously very easy to incorporate into your garden with bushes and purple flowers.

Fame requires a bit more thought, but is represented by bright colors and unique designs. You can do this with bright flowers, or with bright and unique garden accessories and decorations.

Partnership is amplified by earth. Balancing the fame aspect, you may wish to use earthy hues such as wood chips or dark soil.

Family is promoted by the use of dark green, hard wood, and running water. So consider a sitting space that combines these three elements and the whole family can sit in. This can even be on a patio or porch that looks out to the garden, rather than actually in the garden.

Energy's favorite color is yellow, and having a focal point in your garden using a shade of yellow and standing water serves as a perfect energy source for your garden. This does not need to be anything more than a birdbath, or it can also be a pond or even a well.

Children zones are easy to enhance. The use of wind chimes and bells are natural choices for this element. Spacing these throughout the garden helps make the whole garden a happy place for children.

Friends are promoted by seating in open air environments. White is the optimal color for friendship, and hard metal is the optimal element to use. I like to combine this with the energy zone to promote high spirits and good friendship.

Career elements are meant to encourage a happy work ethic. Use water (running or standing), and the colors black and dark blue to encourage the career zones. It can be combined with elements of the partnership zone easily.

Knowledge is one element in feng shui that should not be denied its own area. Many areas can be combined to save space, but knowledge should be represented by a semi-private area optimized for personal meditation and reflecting. Use colors such as tan, brown, and yellow to promote knowledge.

Besides a well laid garden being visually pleasing, it can also promote health and well being. Having a plan before building a garden will help you get the most out of every inch of your garden.