Hi there! Are you a gardening disaster, unable to keep even the most vicious of WEEDS growing? Do you have two ?left? thumbs?yearning to become two ?green? thumbs with regards to YOUR OWN successful backyard garden? Yes? Good, because that's what I want to share with you. . . how I knew NOTHING about the basics of lawn maintenance and gardening, and transformed myself into a knowledgeable ?backyard gardener? that has begun the process of cultivating my own little ?patch of Heaven? to enjoy with my wife and kids.

How about you?

Are you looking to learn the basics? Want to revamp your existing, lifeless and limp garden into a vibrant and flourishing haven? What about that dream of always having your very own vegetable garden? Are you thinking of quitting to soon, when it comes to learning how to cultivate your own ?homemade? fruits that you loving would be eager to share with friends and neighbors?

The starting point is to determine the finish line for you.

In the words of Stephen Covey--?Begin with the end in mind!? It's okay to give yourself permission to dream a little bit. When's the last time you walked around the family ?homestead?, whether that's a real acre or more of raw land or maybe just a small patch of dirt off the apartment patio?

I have learned the basics on a variety of garden topics and have started to turn my knowledge into action with my own backyard!

Let's just be upfront that NO ONE can become a master gardener without years of experience and increasing their knowledge base. BUT, as is my case, I can guarantee that YOU can raise yourself to a ?backyard gardener? standard by absorbing the experience and knowledge of other successful gardeners!

I am doing it?you can too!

Let me summarize some of what I have been able to learn and apply in my own life by giving a little demonstration of my own ?before and after? knowledge:

THE BEFORE PICTURE:

Grass & Lawn care?Grass is what the ?yard? is made up of. I know there are a couple of different kinds, only one I can think off of the top of my head is ?crab grass?. Also know how to use a lawn mower and a ?weed eater? to trim along the driveway and sidewalks.

Flowers?Bought in a pot or planter of some sort from the nearest Home Depot or Lowe's store. Require watering; but degree of shade and life cycle of a certain flower . . . what's that? ;-)

Vegetables?WHEN we eat them with dinner, they come straight from the market (usually in a can or a frozen back, right?). Of course, being from Indiana, I was raised on corn, green beans, peas, etc. Don't give me any of that ?foo-foo California vegetables? and stuff?like asparagus and such that my wife, native Southern California girl that she is, just LOVES! :-) And growing them? Fo?get ?bout it!

Fruits?Peaches, oranges and apples are an easy to think of since the fruit is right there hanging off the tree for the taking, BUT starting from scratch, who has the time and patience to MAINTAIN these bad boys?

The Seasons?Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, right? But what about ?zones? for differences in climate and environment across the U.S.? I have no idea EXCEPT that palm trees seem to do really well in Southern California! ;-)

Gardening Tools'A spade? That's either a little hand shovel or it's a type of symbol when playing cards. . . as mentioned above, my ?tool? knowledge consisted of the lawn mower, a ?weed eater? and a pair of gloves. Not anymore!

THE AFTER PICTURE:

Grass & Lawn care?Lawns tend to be one of the most labor intensive and repetitive jobs in your landscaping endeavors. By the way, most lawns are a mixture of grass types, and allows for the ?ol ?survival? of the fittest to take place. Reducing your lawn area by using different types of ground cover or flower beds will provide some enhanced beauty and lessen the overall work load! Ground cover is foliage that applies to many types of plants. Though many different kinds for different uses, they all tend to spread horizontally very rapidly often by vining or creeping plants.

Flowers?There are several types of flowers to plan into your ?patch? but one of the ?regular favorites? is annuals because they bloom so fully, and the amazing color. The essence of an annual is that it germinates from a seed, growing into a mature plant that flowers, then sets its seed and finally dies. All of this happens in a single growing season. I also know now that ?deadheading? is when you remove the fading flowers so that you prevent the seed formation and the bulbs will keep flowering!

Vegetables?When planning a vegetable garden, like my wife and I are currently doing, we have learned to focus on two things: 1.) creating a rich, abundant soil and 2.) spacing plants in beds instead of rows. Growing plants together will allow them to shade the ground, reducing evaporation from the soil and discouraging weeds. Also keep in mind that you don't want to have to recruit an ?army of workers? come harvest time! Planning and organizing your goals with regards to vegetables will help create a fun and enticing experience with less ?back breaking? chores to upkeep!

Fruits'I have learned what one of the MOST FRIENDLY types of fruits a weekend gardener, like us, can grow is . . . Do you know what it is? Its blueberries! Why? Because they require very little pruning and that pruning needs very little skill to accomplish. Just my cup of tea?low maintenance and a hearty enough fruit to survive my inexperience and low skill level!

The Seasons?Originally I only thought of ?gardening? when it came to Springtime and all the new life to enjoy?the flowers blooming, the bees working their way from one to the next, sunshine and fresh air! Not the case! Little did I know or even think about was the fact that you can do some ?good work? all year long that will enable your garden to flourish and expand even more so during the ?blossom? time.

Gardening Tools'A spade, the traditional English digging tool, has a flat, rectangular blade, attached at an angle to a short handle. They are useful for digging up the ground with your weight behind them. Mattocks are a digging tool that looks like a thick axe head and can be used to cut roots and for difficult soil types like rocky, hard-baked clay. A bulb planter cuts out a circle of earth as you jam it into the soil. You then insert the bulb and knock the soil back in to cover.

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