Category Archives: Gardening

Sneeze-Free Gardening: Tips for Gardening With Summer Allergies

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In addition to my suggestions below, it is recommended that you see your personal physician regarding other preventative measures and/or medications you can take to make your gardening experience more enjoyable.

In selecting the plants for your garden, lean toward lightly-scented, bird-and-insect pollinated plants versus wind-pollinated plants and use only low-allergy plants in your garden. Bulbs are very good for allergy sufferers.

For a lawn, choose low pollen producing grass that does not need to be mowed often. Keep grass short so it doesn’t seed and since most lawn grasses release their pollen from around 3:00 am to 8:00 am, it is not a good idea to mow the lawn in the morning.

The days when the pollen count is at its lowest are the best days to garden. For example, on cool, rainy or damp days when airborne pollen is low, or early morning while there is still dew on the ground. Chilly and wet is good weather for us, unless you are particularly allergic to mold. On windy days it is best to stay indoors. This is the worst time outdoors for an allergy sufferer as this is when there is the most pollen in the air.

When out gardening wear long sleeves, a breathable hat, goggles (or sun glasses) and gloves. Take frequent breaks to wash your face and hands.

Before gardening in an area next to grass, wet the grass down first with a hose to keep allergens from rising into the air. After gardening wash all clothes and hair and be sure to wash your hair before bed so you don’t get pollen on your pillow. Also, wear the same gardening clothes each time you garden and throw them in the washing machine after use.

Avoid standing under flowering trees and also try to avoid cut grass. When the lawn is being cut, close all windows and use air purifiers. In addition, avoid shady areas on the south side of the house if you have a mold allergy.

If, like me, you bring some plants in to winter indoors at the end of the season, be sure to wash the pollen off of them immediately before bringing them in. Then see if you can leave the mulching to someone else, but if you do use mulch, consider avoiding the mold from bark mulches and use an inorganic source such as rock, pea gravel or crushed mulch and low maintenance ground covers to help control weeds which are wind pollinated plants that produce a lot of powdery,easily inhaled pollen that can trigger a response.

For information about plants rated for allergies and general information about gardening with allergies, visit http://www.allergyfree-gardening.com. Here is to your most sneeze free gardening season yet!

Five Benefits Of Growing An Alternative Garden

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There are many benefits in growing an alternative garden. Here in this article I will go through what they are.

1 – Controlling Pest Management

The way that an alternative garden is created, will allow you to control the pest without you having to do anything. Pest looks for a particular plant either by its sense of smell of sight. If you could imaging how difficult it would be to see the plant that you want, when it is around a bunch of green materials. It also would be quite difficult to smell your plant that you are after, when there is so many other smells going on.

2 – No need for rotating crops

Dedicated gardeners are the ones, who generally practice the form of crop rotation, for a good reason, it is difficult to do. Every plant, as its own requirements, in particular the type of soil it needs. The reason for this, is that every plant requires a level of minerals. Crops can sometimes be depleted over a period of time, so in turn the plants don’t get the minerals that it needs to grow. Furthermore, some gardeners will let their garden beds rest, and then they will grow green manure crops, to combat this situation. These plants will create a nitrogen atmosphere. This process is called nitrogen fixing. However, when you are using an alternative garden you won’t have to do any of that, because of the way the plants will be arranged. How these plants are arranged will give them the minerals that they need.

3 – The use of composting

Using composting is very important when it comes to your garden. Composting is a great way to build nutrients that will in turn feed your family. When people by food from the shop they tend to use and dump it once it is finished. By doing this you are actually wasting all the good nutrients that you could use in your garden instead.

You should, use your nutrients in your own home in your own alternative garden, so that you can are able to gain from them. When you do this, you won’t have to buy nutrients all the time, as you are re-using the ones that you already have. Using nutrients in composts is a great way for it not to go to waste, as it is doing something useful by giving the plants the nutrients that it needs. This cycle can continue on, for a long time.

4 – No need for a hoe

Ecosystems don’t require a shovel or a hoe, and neither will your alternative garden. When you dig up your soil, you actually end up wasting all the nutrients and minerals that is valuable to help keep the plants on growing. Having an alternative garden will have a plant arrangement, that will cover the surface of the soil, and it will stop the surface from becoming crusty which in turn will cause the nutrient to runoff and deplete. When you develop a good structure that will help with the soil organisms it in turn will do what the soil organism does best. They will turn the organic matter, into something that can be quite valuable to the plants.

5 – No need to self seed
When you are creating an alternative garden, you have to make sure that it will have some sort of future. By having the plants go to seeds, we are able to build up a set of seed stores, in the same way a rainforest does. Just like the rainforest we should have many seeds to create multiple plants.