It’s time for harvest eye candy, which means gorgeous photos of Autumn gardens and fall foliage!  This week’s dream garden is a true picture of an October Autumn day, complete with orange leaves on the trees.

Photo of the house at Forest Hills Gardens by Joe Shlabotnik.

Dream Garden of the Week

View other breathtaking Dream Gardens. Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.  We originally published Autumn Harvest Dream Garden: Forest Hills on October 6, 2009.

Even if you’ve never tried composting before, our easy Gardening Guide to Compost for Beginners gives you the step by step instructions and tips you need to get started now.

With fertilizer being as expensive at it is, learning how to make and use your own compost is a big help on your gardening budget. In addition to saving money, you will be helping the environment and reducing waste.  Composting is a wonderful green solution for disposing of household waste and can be a natural bonus to your organic garden this year.

Set Up a Compost Bin

To begin, you will need a large compost bin or a designated area to make a compost heap. Composters and bins can be purchased at major gardening centers, online garden equipment manufacturers and even some local hardware stores. Basic models are relatively inexpensive. Though wooden bins are more aesthetically pleasing, plastic bins are less money and just as effective. An open compost pile will work fine, but you should invest in a cover during the cold winter months.

Alternately, you can utilize a wormerie, which uses worms to digest kitchen debris and produce compost as well as liquid plant food that is high in nutrients. To build your own composter, purchase some wood pallets and build a small enclosure. As long as you have the necessary tools, raw materials will run you around $20.

What Can You Put in Compost?

Most of your organic home and garden waste can be used for composting, although there are some things you definitely want to avoid.  If you are ever unsure if something should be composted, it is best to leave it out. 

Do put these items in compost:

• fruit 
• vegetable scraps
• coffee grounds
• egg shells
• tea bags
• hair
• leaves
• yard and lawn clippings 

Don’t put these items in compost:

• meat
• fish
• all dairy
• oils
• bones
• waste (human or animal)

Though shredded papers and cardboard are perfectly acceptable, avoid adding glossy magazines.

How to Keep Your Compost Organic

If your aim is to create organic compost for organic gardening, evaluate items closely before you add them to your compost pile.  Items such as fruits, vegetables, and egg shells are great for composting, but if they weren’t organic when you bought them, they’ll be passing on chemicals to your compost when they break down.  This is also true with mowed grass or leaves from plants that have been treated with chemicals or insecticides.  Remember: Organic + organic = organic.  Organic + non-organic = non-organic.

How Long Does Compost Take to Break Down?

The amount of time compost takes to develop generally depends on your composting needs. If you are looking to use compost as a fertilizer, you will need to tend to the heap and manage your compost. This will include adding greens and turning as necessary. Managed compost on average takes 3 months.

However, if your goal is simply to dispose of household waste in a green fashion, your heap can be left unattended to compost on its own. This method will generally produce compost in 6-9 months.

Compost for Beginners – Tips for Success

• Composters have the potential for giving off a strong odor, so you will want to set up your compost a good distance from your home. Remember, however, that you will need to make frequent trips to the compost pile with your kitchen scraps, so it should not be at the other end of the yard completely.
• You want worms and other natural composters to have ample access, so avoid placing the bin on top of concrete areas. Opt instead for level ground with adequate drainage.
• Because heat will help the composting process, try to situate your bin in an area that receives ample sunlight and is shielded from strong winds. If you live in hot, dry climates, shade may be a better option to prevent compost from drying out.
• Remember that shredding or cutting up ingredients will help them compost faster than larger items.

If you’re new to gardening, next you’ll want to read our Gardening Tips for Beginners. 

Thanks to Works for Me Wednesday and Homemaker Mondays for linking up this article!  We originally published Gardening Guide to Compost for Beginners on June 9, 2009.  Top compost photo by solylunafamilia. Middle compost photo by Joi.

It’s time to play with your food: here are 7 crazy creatures to turn your vegetables into!

Play With Your Food: 7 Crazy Veggie Creations

1.  Potato Tribe with dandelion hair and mushroom hats. This 2nd place winner was created by Rachel Mitchell.

2. “Snowzilla” Turnip Snowman, complete with mushroom hat and green onion leaf scarf!  This 1st place and grand champion winner was created by Patricia Heiser.

3.  Potato Men in a Zucchini Boat.  The potatoes have mushroom and flower hats, and some very frightening looking faces.  This 1st place winner was awarded to Samuel Mitchell.

4.  Zucchini Seal.  The perfect curved shape made this zucchini a seal-lookalike which just needed a face. 

5.  Potato Creature with zucchini legs, jalapeno hat, and carrot curl hair.  Another well-deserved 1st place ribbon for creativity went to Sawyer Peterson!

6.  Zucchini Boat

7.  Yellow Squash Ferry Boat sailing on a sea of giant lettuce leaf!  This veggie creation would make a terrific yellow submarine…

Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

The following guest post was written by Marcy Tate, a blogger at Networx, a home improvement Web site for homeowners and contractors. Its mission is to provide the latest information on how to fix, renovate, and decorate your house using the smallest amount of resources for the best value. Subscribe here to the Networx blog.

10 Steps to Frugal Gardening & Landscaping

If you are a homeowner who enjoys gardening and landscaping, then chances are you are looking for ways to cut your gardening and landscaping budget without compromising the beauty of your garden and landscape. Editor’s note: If you’re new to gardening, first check out our Gardening Tips for Beginners.

The good news is that there are simple steps to frugal gardening that will help you save. The following frugal gardening tips are not only good for you and your wallet, but are good for the environment as well. Take pride in frugal gardening and start saving today.

1. DIY Gardening and Landscaping.  This step may seem obvious to some, but not to others. Cut back on any professional landscaping maintenance services. Set aside a few extra hours each weekend and take care of the weed pulling and bush trimming on your own. Not only will you save money, but you’ll get some extra physical activity.

2. Seeds.  Grow your own seeds or buy seed packets. Seed packets can be purchased at gardening stores or even your local dollar store. They cost about $.25 a packet and can yield close to 50 plants. Vegetable plants cost close to $2.00 each – you’ll really see the savings here. Be aware that you’ll need to plan early with seed planting. Purchase the seeds in March or April and plant them indoors. When the weather in your area is warm enough, transplant them to your outdoor garden.

3. Manure.  Find free manure to use in your garden. Head over to a local farm or stable and they’ll likely be willing to share some manure with you.

4. Organic Fertilizer.  Make your own organic fertilizer by sprinkling coffee grounds in your garden. It’s best to sprinkle used grounds around plants before watering. Coffee grounds don’t contain enough phosphorus, the most important ingredient in fertilizers for flowering plants. Therefore, do not use coffee grounds to fertilize shrubs and blooming flowers.

5. Mulch.  Create your own mulch by saving your grass clippings. If you need more, ask your neighbors for theirs. Also, check with your city as many cities across the US offer free mulch at local public farms or at a local municipality complex. Adding mulch to your garden and landscape also helps reduce the need for watering and fertilizing.

6. Compost.  Make your own compost and use it in your garden. Compost is an excellent alternative to chemical-based fertilizers. Making your own compost involves some trial and error and can be made in an outdoor or indoor compost bin. To a successful compost pile, do some reading on the web as to learn the best combination of what should be added to your pile.

Success will depend upon using the right combination of browns, such as dead leaves and branches, and greens, such as vegetable waste and grass clippings. Spreading the compost over your soil will eliminate the need to purchase fertilizers.  Editor’s note: To learn more about compost, read our Gardening guide to Compost for Beginners.

7. Tools.  Use the tools that you have or borrow from a neighbor. For additional savings, select hand-powered tools instead of gas or electric-powered tools. Not only will you save by eliminating the need to buy oil and gas, you’ll help decrease the amount of harmful gases entering our atmosphere.

8. Water.  Wisely Cut back on the amount of time you water your lawn. For additional savings, avoid using in-ground sprinkler systems. Instead, use a drip irrigation system. Drip irrigation systems use about half the amount of water as in- ground sprinklers as well as limit water runoff. Other water saving ideas include:

• Before watering, check the weather forecast to determine if rain is expected. Forgo the day’s watering if rain is expected.
• Water your lawn in the early morning hours. 5 a.m. is the ideal time in most areas. Watering in the early morning, before the sun comes out, avoids unnecessary evaporation and allows the grass to absorb as much water as possible.
• Harvest rainwater for even steeper savings. Collect and store rainwater to be used for your lawn or garden. It takes a few hours to set up a rain collection system. You’ll need to purchase a few basic supplies if you don’t already have them, such as a rain barrel, a small screen to cover the barrel and some bricks. There are simple DIY tutorials on the Web to help you get started.

9. Planters.  Make your own planters out of any plastic container you no longer need. Yogurt, cottage cheese and dessert whip containers are just the right size for small plants and flowers. Other ideas include an old boot, tea kettle, coffee tin, empty paint can, or an old Easter basket. I have seen some kids get creative and make a flower planter out of Legos. Editor’s note: Read more about Container Gardening on a Budget.

10. Maintenance.  Landscape maintenance will help you in early identification of any problems, as well as help prevent any problems. Homeowners who tend to their gardens and landscapes on their own save money by noticing problems such as a fallen downspout or gutter, cracks in cement and soil problems.

There are other perks associated with growing your own vegetable or fruit garden. A vegetable garden can provide lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and lower your grocery bill by eliminating the need to purchase fruits and vegetables. Vegetable and fruit gardening also encourages healthy eating habits.  Follow the tips here and you’ll surely be able to call yourself a fun and frugal gardener.

Get more Frugal Friday here.

It’s time for harvest eye candy, which means gorgeous photos of Autumn gardens and fall foliage!  This week’s dream garden in Herefordshire is a woodland walk right out of a storybook.  Notice the sign on the fence which reads, “Autumn Garden”.

Photo of Autumn scene by apdk.

Dream Garden of the Week

View other breathtaking Dream Gardens. Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

Dream Garden of the Week

Our dream garden photo this week is brought to us by gwydionwilliams. 

This picturesque setting is the Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou, China. You can learn more about the garden’s history here.

View other breathtaking Dream Gardens or learn about gardening. Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

Dream Garden of the Week

This week’s dream garden comes from a gorgeous little bed and breakfast in East Boothbay Harbor, Maine, United States.  The B&B is the Five Gables Inn.  Originally called the Forest House, this seaside piece of history dates all the way back to 1896.

The photo below of the Five Gables Inn bed and breakfast garden was taken by meglet127.  We hope you enjoy the red, white, and blue flower scape as much as we did!

View other breathtaking Dream Gardens or learn about gardening. Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

Everyone loves the look of a beautiful garden, but we don’t all have the time or resources to create the garden we may want.  That’s why we bring you the most gorgeous pictures each week of dream gardens!

I know it’s fall and the harvest is upon many of us.  Let’s enjoy the summer garden photos while we can, and then we’ll switch over to scenes of Autumn.

Dream Garden of the Week

Photo by Osbornb.  This backyard oasis belongs to the photographer’s neighbor.  What a beautiful view off of your back porch!

View other breathtaking Dream Gardens here or learn about gardening here. Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

Dream Garden of the Week

Leonardslee Garden is located in Horsham, West Sussex, England.  The pinks, reds and purples in this week’s dream garden make it my perfect haven away from the busy digital world!

If you ever read the book The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards, you’ll know what I see in this garden…  even the cover of the book looks similar.  The book is a young adult adventure book which I first read in 5th grade.  I’ll be passing it down to my daughter in a few years. 

Filled with imagination and fantasy, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles makes me feel just as much like a character in a story as this week’s dream garden.

This beautiful photo of the Rock Garden at Leonardslee was taken by Margaret Anne Clarke.

We hope you’ll join us next week for the Dream Garden of the Week!  If you have a dream garden you’d like to nominate, please email us (with photos) at tips(at)homeeverafter.com.

Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

The lush waterside garden featured this week is in Kensington Garden at Kensington Palace in England. 

The water fountain in the middle is such a nice touch, and one would hope for a breeze to come up and share some of the fountain’s spray to cool us off!  This beautiful photo was taken by gailf548.

Dream Garden of the Week

We hope you’ll join us next week for the Dream Garden of the Week!  If you have a dream garden you’d like to nominate, please email us (with photos) at tips(at)homeeverafter.com.

Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

Dream Garden of the Week

This amazing photo of purple hydrangeas is a stunning collection of colors mixed in with the lush greenery.  The photo was taken by IrishFireside at the Knockpatrick Gardens in Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland. 

Isn’t it amazing how vibrant the colors are in these flowers?

We hope you’ll join us next week for the Dream Garden of the Week!  If you have a dream garden you’d like to nominate, please email us (with photos) at tips(at)homeeverafter.com.

Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

Dream Garden of the Week

This week’s dream garden is tall enough to have a garden party inside!  Thanks for the dream garden photo, taken by hortulus_aptus.  Aren’t those pinks the most perfect shade?

We hope you’ll join us next week for the Dream Garden of the Week!  If you have a dream garden you’d like to nominate, please email us (with photos) at tips(at)homeeverafter.com.

Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

Dream Garden of the Week

This beautiful photo of an inviting country cottage in Strasburg, France was taken by Francisco Antunes.  If I lived there, I would never want to leave home!  Can’t you imagine sitting out in the garden, or entertaining guests with that home as a backdrop?

We hope you’ll join us next week for the Dream Garden of the Week!  If you have a dream garden you’d like to nominate, please email us (with photos) at tips(at)homeeverafter.com.

Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

Dream Garden of the Week

This week’s dream garden is at the Mill Rose Inn in Half Moon Bay, California.  Thanks to Wonderlane for the dream garden photos.

We hope you’ll join us next week for the Dream Garden of the Week!  If you have a dream garden you’d like to nominate, please email us (with photos) at tips(at)homeeverafter.com.

Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

Welcome to Home Ever After’s Gardening Guide.  Be sure to check our our gardening tips for beginners and guide to compost for beginners also.  Today we’re talking about the frugal way to grow your own food – container gardening on a budget.

For those who would like to plant a garden but are inexperienced or have limited space, a container garden on a budget may be the perfect alternative. Container gardening is easy and inexpensive, and can be started even when on a tight budget.

Before you begin, decide which plants you would like to grow. Stick with fruits or vegetables that you will consume to avoid waste and keep costs down. Make sure your choice will work in your climate and research to make sure it will successfully grow in your area.

Editor’s Note:  Instead of spending a lot of money to buy plants which have already been started from a nursery, go the frugal route.  Start a little earlier in the season and start your own plants from seeds.  If growing organic fruits, vegetables and herbs is important to you, make sure you buy organic seeds to use in your container garden.  Seeds are a very cheap way to grow your own organic produce.

Save Money on Pots and Containers

You can further decrease costs for your container garden on a budget by refraining from purchasing expensive or all matching containers. Get creative and use items you already have instead to plant in. In addition to typical flower pots, you can use items made from wood, metal, plastic, clay or even paper pulp. Old children’s toys such as metal or plastic trucks and toy bins work well, as do household bowls and small trash cans.

Be mindful of the soil depth you will need for the particular plant you will be growing. You will need to use items as planters that will allow drilling in the bottom to create holes for drainage. Be sure to clean and rinse containers before using them.

Tools for Container Gardening

Unlike traditional gardening, container gardening does not require you to purchase expensive gardening tools. Chances are you have many items in your home that you can use.

• Chopsticks make excellent plant stakes and can be used for seeding.
• Plastic milk jugs or juice jugs can be cut and used as a scooper for soil. They also double as great protective coverings for plants in colder weather.
• Old stockings can be used as stake ties.

Don’t Scrimp on the Important Things

The most expensive aspect of container gardening is the soil itself. Although it may be tempting to use basic dirt from the yard, it will not produce quality results and is not recommended. Keep in mind that because container gardening requires good planting soil, you will not need to spend additional money on treatments for poor soil problems as you would if you were growing a traditional ground garden.

Once you purchase the potting soil, you can add the seeds to the soil in the container. Follow planting instructions on seed packets and tend to plants just as you would if growing in a traditional ground garden. 

Are you enjoying our garden guides?  If so, please bookmark this on Delicious, Digg or StumbleUpon.  Thank you for supporting our site and keeping the information free!

Check out Thrifty Thursdays at Amanda’s Cookin’ and Frugal Friday at Life as Mom for more great frugal tips. Top container garden photo by thomas pix.  Bottom container garden photo by by LollyKnit.

Dream Garden of the Week

These beautiful dream garden photos are of the Japanese garden in San Marino, California, called Huntington Gardens.  Thanks so much to JR Robertson for the wonderful photos.

I’d love to look out my window and have this view:

Pink Cactus Flower:

Cactus Flowers:

What a scarecrow in this dream garden!

We hope you’ll join us next week for the Dream Garden of the Week!  If you have a dream garden you’d like to nominate, please email us (with photos) at tips(at)homeeverafter.com.

Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom. 

Every homemaker should know how to grow a garden, in order to provide their family with fresh fruits and vegetables grown by your own hand (plus, it can really help cut down on the grocery budget).  With our gardening tips, you should be able to start a small garden this summer even if you’ve never grown a garden before.

Begin by locating the best place in your yard to plant a garden. Search for a location that is free of excess trees and shrubs, able to receive at least 6 hours of sunlight per day and sufficient water drainage.

Once you have decided on a good location, you will need to decide which plants you would like to grow in your garden. Make a simple list of some basic favorites. Remember to start small in the beginning, you can always add other plants once you gain experience. Begin with a small area, about 100 square feet of space.

The next step is to invest in all of the gardening tools that you will need before you begin. You can pick up all of the necessary tools at a local hardware store or the lawn and garden section of super centers like Walmart or Target.

Garden Tools You Will Need:

• rake
• shovel
• garden hoe
• fertilizer
• garden sprinkler or water hose
• gardening stakes

In addition, you will need the seeds or seedlings of what you will be growing. You can pick up seed packets at the grocery store or local farm stand, or you can even order seeds from catalogs or online distributors.

Begin by ensuring that the soil is damp, but not too wet.  Pick up a small handful of dirt and squeeze it in your hands. If it crumbles easily it is ready to go. Dirt that clumps together is too wet, while dirt that appears light and dusty is too dry. Once the soil is of the right consistency you can go ahead and begin preparing your planting bed. Work the soil about 6 inches down. You can use a rototiller or do it all by hand. Next, use a rake to evenly level the soil.

Follow the package instructions for planting seeds.  Once the seeds are planted, you will need to spend a lot of time tending to your garden. Weeds have to be pulled, plants need to be properly watered and checked for insects and diseases.

Gardening for beginners is fun and enjoyable and with some patience and hard work you will soon be enjoying the fruits of your labor.  Stay tuned next week for Compost for Beginners and Container Gardening on a Budget. 

Garden photo by net_efekt.

It’s summer time, and who doesn’t love the look of a beautiful garden?  We don’t all have the time or resources to create the garden we may want, which is why we bring you the most gorgeous pictures each week of dream gardens from around the world!

Dream Garden of the Week

This week our dream gardens come from the castle and gardens of Villandry in Loire, France. 

Above Villandry Garden photos by Francisco Antunes (Fr Antunes ).

Above Villandry Garden photos by Joe Shlabotnik.

Above Villandry Garden photos by denisema4.

We hope you’ll join us next week for the Dream Garden of the Week!  If you have a dream garden you’d like to nominate, please email us (with photos) at tips(at)homeeverafter.com.  Get more Wordless Wednesday at WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes 4 Mom.