Community gardens have become increasingly popular as people try to live a more "greener" lifestyle and beautify their surroundings. Community gardens provide numerous benefits for residents of all walks of life, since community gardens encourage social interaction, improve health and fitness levels, and reduce environmental pollution. The concept of community gardening originated in California in the 1960s. Ever since then, community gardens have spread throughout the world as people have realized that they not only offer scenic, beautiful gardens, but also provide opportunities for recreational activities, cultural events, and exercise, all of which are important to a healthy lifestyle.
Community gardening can be simple, requiring little more than common gardening tools such as rakes and spades, and permission from neighbors. If you prefer to create a garden on your own, you can find information about different types of garden design and the best ways to design a garden at any level of experience. There are books for everyone on garden design. Videos are also available to help you create the perfect garden from start to finish.
Regardless of what type of garden you want to create, it is important to choose a garden design that you will enjoy spending time in, because it will be one of your favorite places to be. Before you begin gardening, it is important to determine what plants you are interested in growing. Gardens are commonly shared, so the plants you choose will have an impact on how much time others will spend in your garden. Once you have chosen your plants, you can begin the planning process.
The next step in garden design is to decide how much room your garden will have. Will you create a large garden with many branches and areas for seating, or will your garden be small and confined? You will also need to choose a theme for your garden so that the design will flow well with the rest of your home's decor.
Once you have decided on a garden's layout and size, you must determine what structure will best fit your garden. Garden buildings can be constructed to fit the area available or you can build a smaller version of a building. With garden buildings, you have the option of designing the building around the garden itself, or you can allow your garden to completely take over the building. Building a smaller building will make your garden appear less cluttered. For example, if your garden has a long pathway, a building that sits along the pathway may work better than one that is built perpendicular to the pathway.
You should also create a plan for your garden's drainage area. If your garden has a wet area where it drains, you will want to define this area and add steps to allow water to flow freely into the other parts of the garden. This can be accomplished with steps, flower beds, and raised beds. Remember to allow for adequate drainage area will be extremely important for any type of garden design.
Once you have planned your garden's structure and taken care of drainage issues, your garden design should be complete. Now you can start planting! However, keep in mind that you will want to avoid planting too close to another structure or water feature. You also need to plan your garden's design so that it is easily maintained. A garden that is hardy and able to withstand the various conditions in which it finds itself is the most pleasing to the eye and most enjoyable to use.
Gardening For Beginners
In a wild garden, the entire structure is designed so that whatever is the use to which the garden is put, it will be useful in some way. In order to have a garden design of this character, you must know some facts, for example, whether birds or wild and domestic animals are likely to occupy the area, and whether birds of a certain sort would use the plants in the garden. Wild gardens are usually "open," as a rule, because they afford an easy view of the surrounding country; on the other hand, a garden designed for practical use is often enclosed within walls or other forms of enclosure, so that what is outside the fence is not seen. This may be necessary, if the garden includes lawns or grassy paths through which traffic can pass.
A wild or "back-yard" garden, as the British call it, may contain flowers of every conceivable type, provided that the local flora has not been exterminated by farming, and that the plants have not been over-invaded by weeds and other garden pests. This type of garden creates an atmosphere of calm and restfulness, while also giving delight to those who enter. Achieving this, however, involves a great deal of work. As in any form of cultivation, gardens may be sown with seedlings, cut into sections, planted and watered, and finally taken care of by fertilizing, watering, weeding, and other means.
Urban gardens, on the other hand, are built in an enclosed space and designed for aesthetic appreciation. This type of garden may contain plants of all kinds and colors, be well-maintained, and designed with pleasing effects. They are usually set up around an art piece or other similar attraction, such as a water feature, a statue, a fountain, a bird bath, etc. As in rural gardens, urban gardens must be carefully planned, constructed, and maintained. As urban gardens are frequently built on smaller scales than countryside gardens, e.g. homes and small apartment buildings, the scope of work and methods used are less rigid and more diverse.
The majority of gardeners, however, fall into the trap of believing that a garden that consists simply of beds, a small lawn, flowers and shrubs is a Zen garden. In a word, a Zen garden exists to serve its purpose, not necessarily to relax and meditate. Many gardeners these days prefer gardens which have a few plants arranged in a flowing and interesting way, but also in a methodical, logical manner.
Zen gardening has much to do with learning to rearrange things to make them function more smoothly. In this respect, a gardener can adopt a minimalist approach or a very traditional one. It's all about learning new techniques and experimenting with various methods. Zen gardeners often have a difficult time working with soil and how it relates to plants, choosing among various types, colors and textures, and how it responds to sunlight, rain, etc. A Zen gardener uses the natural order of things, in which there is harmony between plants, rocks, water, sand and everything else that goes into a garden.
Gardening has come a long way from the simple gardening we used to enjoy as kids. Nowadays, horticulture is big business, especially since most people have to spend much more time outside the house. There are many horticulture professionals and organizations that exist to cater to gardeners' needs, and they provide a multitude of services. A gardener interested in conservation will most likely want to join a gardening club or society, which usually meets in the evening for a meal and discussion, in addition to other special events.
As more people are turning to gardening for relaxation and healing, gardens have come to symbolize health, peace and prosperity. In China, for instance, the entrance to a home is greeted with flowers. Japanese gardens also include a variety of shrubs, vegetables, fruits and flowers. Typically, the gardens in Japan are small because space is so limited. They're usually located in the outdoors in private residences.
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Garden Design Ideas for Smaller Gardens
Most gardens are designed so that some portion of the garden lies within the range of a drive, while the rest is shaded by trees, shrubs, or bushes. This planning, in turn, provides a measure of protection from the elements, whether wind, rain, snow, or sunlight. Protection from the elements is especially important in colder climates, where adverse weather conditions can quickly damage a garden. In warm climates, such as in California, gardening is often undertaken because of recreational rather than protective reasons.
In contrast to the understated character of most American gardens, China, Japan, and other Asian countries have large, ornate gardens. Gardening, it turns out, is an inherent part of the Asian aesthetic culture. Far from being insular, Asian gardens draw on traditional methods of landscaping, incorporating rock structures, water features, and ponds and lakes in their design. The Japanese are particularly known for their dedication to landscape architecture and the creation of koi fish ponds.
A key component of the Asian aesthetic culture is the importance of open space. All gardens, no matter what type of garden it is, should include at least some space that invites people into it. Japanese gardens, for example, emphasize the role of the garden as a landscape feature. Instead of the typical contorted forms found in many American gardens, the spaces are planned carefully and intuitively.
Another aspect of Asian gardening is the use of plants. These gardens tend to be small, requiring much less water and attention than the American garden. These gardens also emphasize the role of the plant, emphasizing life rather than death. For instance, in China, when Chinese gardeners want to highlight the effect of a passing wind, they will plant something like a butterfly. These gardeners also do not restrict plant growth to a certain degree. As one might imagine, this brings problems with disease and insect infestations, but it also has positive implications.
One of the most unusual elements of the Chinese garden, perhaps even more so than the actual garden itself, are the seasonal gardens. In China, these gardens often take advantage of what nature can bring. The four seasons of the year in China can mean a variety of planting opportunities, including the use of perennials for vegetables and fruits and biennials for flowers. Some of these plants may be planted every three years, while others may be planted only once a year.
In Japan, the gardens tend to be small, more closely related to the landscape plants found elsewhere in Asia, and the planting tends to be year-round. This means that the gardens tend to be year-round, rather than seasonally. These landscape plants also play an important part in the symbolism of Japanese gardens, representing the various phases of the moon and the cycle of planting as well as the colors of each season.
Finally, the Japanese garden emphasizes a structure to the landscape design more than the plants themselves. Unlike American gardens, where the plants are simply there to look pretty, in Japan the plants act as a type of connection to the outdoors. As a result, the plants in these gardens are smaller, often no more than a few feet in height, and their appearance is geared toward enhancing the exterior of the house and garden itself. One popular type of plant is the ornamental pond, which is meant to represent a natural fountain within the garden. In this garden, plants are set into the water to form shapes and sometimes pools. Plants may also be used to shape structures like small stone ponds.
