Love your garden, it’s your own little Eden.

Xeriscape

The primary purpose of Xeriscaping is water conservation but there are many benefits to this style of gardening.  For instance, it’s cheaper, easier, environmentally friendly, low maintenance, no fertilizers are needed, it  preserves local wildlife AND, it can increase your property value, just to name a few.

Water has become a valuable commodity these days and can be expensive and at times of drought, restricted.  Xeriscaping your garden will reduce the amount of water needed and allow you to use the natural rain fall and local flora and fauna, as well as the contours of your garden to create a cool looking aesthetic space.

Love your garden with ornamental grasses, a personal favorite of many, they look good, they can be planted in clean lines, used as borders, require little water, low maintenance, are drought resistance and there’s nothing like having the greenery sway in the breeze.

Check out eartheasy.com and formulate a structured plan for xeriscaping your outside area using their step by step guide to a local and environmentally friendly space.

What’s cooking?

Veggie Garden

Doing a tiny bit of research can open up your edible garden to all sorts of dinner options.  The backside of almost all seed packages will usually give you the instructions of when to plant seeds, temperatures needed and how long it will take to germinate and grow.

San Diego has a great climate for a variety of vegetables, you just have to time it right.  Practice makes perfect, not all of us were born with a green thumb,  but it’s rewarding, challenging and your own veggies always taste better!

Here are a few vegetables that are recommended to grow in the San Diego region.

• Hardy Veggies – not injured by light frost – onions, cabbages, kale, brussel sprouts, spinach, turnip, radish, rhubarb, asparagus.

• Half Hardy Veggies – can germinate at low temps but avoid frosts as young plants- lettuce, beet, carrot, chard, parsley, parsnip, broccoli, potatoes, garden peas, celery plants, and cauliflower.

• Tender Veggies – cannot survive frost or low temps – snap bean, tomato, sweet corn, and sweet potato.

• Very Tender Veggies – soil needs to be warm – eggplant, pepper, cucumber, watermelon, lima bean, squash, and pumpkin.

Herb Garden

Lavender, Thyme, Basil (all types), Dill, Cilantro, Sage (all kinds), Chamomile, Oregano, Rosemary, Catnip, Chives, Scallions, Ginger root, Onions, Spearmint, Peppermint, & Lemon Balm.
All of these are herbs that grow readily in the outdoors in San Diego.  Be sure to research before you plant as it’s the little things that make all the difference.  For example, be sure the last frost has passed; frost is the enemy to many young plants.  Also, some herbs are bullies, they can take over and dominate other plants, some may need to be potted and not planted directly into your garden.  Read up on each herb you like to use in the kitchen, it’s easy to find out basic information for the goodies you want to grow.

Trends

If your not a gardener at heart with that itching green thumb, there are a lot of inspiring and idea inducing places where you can find inspiration.  Directly online through websites like Pinterest.com or just home store sites will have links for outdoor areas.  Even the smallest picture might inspire an idea for your outdoor haven.  If you can’t find anything that way, check out these magazines while you sip a cup of tea and put your feet up in search for your perfect zen garden, even if it’s just in your window sill.

• Better Homes and Gardens
• Country Gardens
• Fine Gardening
• Organic Gardening
• Garden Design

There are just too many ideas about the outdoors so good luck and get out there this spring, from the team at real-estate-property-search.com