Global Gardening

Spending a bit of time and money designing your backyard before you start creating it is the key to effective landscaping. Although landscape design can be difficult for people without a design background, it’s certainly possible. However, if you’re including things like pool fencing in your landscape design then you should probably speak to an expert who knows what sort of legal requirements exist when it comes to pool fences.

Glass pool fencing has become increasingly popular over the past decade or so, as it has developed a reputation as a modern, stylish building material. Through the rest of this article we’re going to look at a few of the things that make glass fencing such an attractive option. These include:

Glass Is Simple

Minimalism and simplicity have become popular through recent times, and glass pool fencing is certainly minimalistic. Semi-frameless glass fencing can be built  with some sort of styled or ornate posts and fittings, but fully frameless glass fences are made of simple glass panels that are fixed to the ground.

The simplicity of glass makes it an attractive option for people who don’t want their pool fence to detract from other, more attractive elements of their landscape design. It also increases visibility through your yard, allowing key design elements to be more obvious and to stand out more to the average person.

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We are fortunate here in most parts of Australia, excluding the Australian Alps, to miss out on severe wintry weather. As a result, most people’s lawns and gardens don’t need too much of a spruce up once spring knocks on the door.

However, with enough rainfall and cold weather, lawn care should still be at the forefront of your mind. There is work to be done to ensure your gardens and grass will be in tip-top shape for the impending summery conditions ahead. But, do you know what that “work” is? Read on to learn the few things you need to do, or get someone else to do this spring.

1. Test Your Soil

Spring offers the opportunity for homeowners to get on top of their lawn care, and soil testing is an excellent place to start. You can buy an affordable pH testing kit, or hire someone to test it, then know what your lawn needs to keep it at its best.

If your soil results come in with a pH level of 6.5, then you’re in luck – that’s the best you can hope to get. If, however, it’s higher, then you might need sulphate of ammonia to bring it back a little. If it’s too low, then lime and dolomite lime in an equal ratio, plus magnesium and calcium, could prove beneficial.

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When the holiday season approaches, there are many things to organise. You have to put your pets into care, divert your mail or get someone to collect it, and make your house as secure as possible. With all that to think about, you’ll be unlikely to consider your garden pots until the last minute. In reality, they should be up there in terms of importance with your pets!

Many plants require frequent, ongoing care. If you’re away for a week or two at a time, there’s every chance you can come home to garden pots with no signs of life. To avoid this from happening – or to at least reduce the risk – read on.

Soil

The first thing to consider is the soil. Before you leave, add potting mix to your garden pot that contains moisture-retaining polymers. Otherwise, add those polymers to the soil already in your garden pots. These polymers will give your plants additional water when they need it.

Weather Conditions

If you want to give your plants the best chance of survival, change their living setup. Move your garden pots out of direct sunlight and keep the house cool. It may also help if you put your garden pots close to each other so they can share shade and moisture.

Shelter

If you know you’ve got some sensitive plants that may not make it, then do everything in your power to keep them alive. Put them inside makeshift shelters you can make from plastic rubbish bags. Put them over each plant with holes in them for oxygen, and use stakes in the soil to stop the bags from touching your plants.

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Designing a new garden and outdoor living space can be an extremely rewarding process. While a lot of people employ experienced landscape architects to design and craft their perfect backyard for them, a lot more take the plunge and do it themselves.

If you do decide to design and craft your own stylish modern garden, then you need to be prepared to spend a lot of time and, potentially, money. Landscape design is no easy thing, and the following tips should help you get the most out of your modern garden:

Decide on a simple colour scheme:

If you are planning on designing your own garden, then the first thing that you need to do is decide on a simple colour scheme. Choose two, or maybe three, base colours that you can start with. Remember, you can always add more later.

A lot of people choose simple colours like white for things like fences and walls, and then a darker colours for pavements and paths. However, there is no limit to your creativity; choose whatever colours you want!

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Experience landscape architects are in high demand throughout the world due to the incredible work that they do transforming mediocre or run down yards and gardens into something special. While most people end up very happy with their landscapers work, there is always the potential to run into problems.

It is therefore essential that you ask potential landscapers a few questions before you commit to using them to design your yard. Our top five questions to ask your landscaper include:

1. What sort of service do they offer?

This is a very important thing to consider, as not all landscapers work in the same way. While a lot are tradesmen who are able to complete the entire project for you from start to finish, some landscapers are ‘design only’. It is crucial that you are aware of this before you contract a landscaper, to make sure that they are going to be able to do the things that you want them to.

2. What sort of experience to they have?

If you want the best garden possible, then this is a very important thing to consider. Usually, the best landscape designers are going to be those who have a lot of experience. It is important to note that there are different types of landscaping, so make sure that you choose someone with experience doing the things that you want them to do.

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In Australia, wildlife can pose a big problem when it comes to keeping your yard clean and tidy, especially if you live in a rural or semi-rural area. Wild animals can damage plants, dig up garden beds, and can even break fences and other objects. Fortunately for you, decent landscape designers can help you craft the perfect animal resistant garden – to a point! After all, sometimes it is nice to see some of our wildlife enjoying our garden as well.

If you can’t afford to or don’t want to use a landscape designer, then the following tips and tricks will help you build your yard to eliminate destructive wildlife:

Build good fences:

In many cases, simple fences are all that you need to keep most Australian wildlife out. Things like kangaroos and other large herbivores that can damage and destroy gardens can be safely kept out by well designed fences.

If you do decide to go down this road, then you should consider using a fence which compliments your garden design. Rather than installing a simple colorbond or picket fence, go for something more inspiring and more creative – it will be worth it!

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If you have bought some rolled up turf to make a new lawn out of, you will need to lay it as soon as possible after purchase. However, doing so might not be as easy as it sounds. Laying a new lawn requires a bit of hard work and preparation if you want to do it properly, and it is absolutely worth doing this.

There are a number of steps to go through before you even purchase your grass. While most of these are simple, they all require tools and at least a bit of hard work and all set to enjoy outdoors. Use the following steps to guide you when you are getting ready to lay your own brand new lawn:

What Tools Will I Need?

There are a few different tools which will make your life much easier when it comes to laying a new lawn. The most important include:

• A rake, which you can use to level the ground and remove and rocks or other foreign objects before you lay the grass.
• A shovel, which is used to level large lumps of dirt, to remove larger rocks or roots, and to incorporate a soil wetting agent before laying grass.
• Secateurs, to cut the roll on turf to the right size.
• A wetting agent, which you can spread over and incorporate into the soil under the grass.
• A hose, for watering your new turf in.
• Fertiliser, to both lay under the grass and spread on top to encourage it to get started quickly.

Of course, you will need to source some decent rolls of grass before you can lay it, but don’t pick these up until the last minute, otherwise they may dry out and/or die.

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Many people would consider the biggest disadvantage of owning a pool to be the amount of cleaning necessary to ensure the water is safe to swim in. If you’ve been put off owning a pool for this reason, consider also getting one of the automatic pool cleaners available on the market today.

Having an automated cleaner can make a big difference to the amount of work required for pool maintenance. In fact, some can be set to come on automatically at a specific time so you don’t even have to worry about switching it on. You can set and forget that pool cleaner and in the morning your pool will be in excellent condition ready for use.

Another disadvantage is the safety factor. While we often hear of drowning in the backyard pool, if you have the right kind of safety fence and gate, the danger is almost eliminated.  No little toddlers can reach up high enough to open the gate. And you can take your children to swimming lessons when they are quite small, to make it even safer.

Cost is another factor and you will understand that it is ongoing, with power, filters and chlorine all contributing to it. But when you consider the many advantages of owning a pool, you may realise that these outweigh the disadvantages.

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Keeping clients comfortable is important in business. If they are uncomfortable physically because of the chair they are sitting in they will feel perhaps subconsciously, that you don’t care enough about them to ensure they are comfortable. But some outdoor furniture in a small green area can provide a lovely outdoor ‘office’ to delight clients.

You may be wondering what psychology has to do with business and why it is important.  If your business relies on clients and suppliers, then psychology is always an important part of it, whether you know it or not. For instance, the ability to get on with other people is as much about psychology –  understanding how people think and feel – as anything else.

Yes, you may need to be transparent, honest and like people in order to run a business successfully, but knowing how they feel is also an important part of the equation.

For instance, suppose your business needs a waiting room and you decide to add a comfortable 2- seat sofa as the seating because you only have a few clients in at a time. What you’ve done is actually provide seating for one, so the first person in will get the seat and the other person will stand. Why?

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