Digging The Trench

Do you have a metal storage shed on your property that just doesn’t look right next to your home? If you do, perhaps it is time for you to dress it up a bit. That means you’re going to make it look a bit “homey” rather than being something that looks like it’s all about business. You’re going to make it blend better. And the way you’re going to do that is through using planters and gardens. However, you have to be careful as to what flowers you use in your planters and gardens because a lot of heat accumulates around your metal storage shed.

Planters

Planters are great to hang around the door of your storage shed and even around the eaves of the metal building. Now don?t hang planters all the way around your metal storage shed because that could look a bit tacky. Around the entrance should be good enough. Just make sure you place planter-friendly flowers within the planter that are also friendly to the sun and heat. Such flowers include:

- Madagascar Periwinkle - This flower grows to up to 2 feet. This is one in which you want to buy the plants and not grow from seeds because they are difficult to grow. They do not like temperatures below 60 degrees and they enjoy a lot of sun. They come in various colors such as pink, lavender, white, and red.

- Wheat Celosia - This flower doesn’t like cold soil and it doesn’t like cold water. Basically, you have to keep it in the sun. It grows to anywhere between 2 and 4 feet and comes in pink, purple, or red.

- Amaranth - These can actually grow to be anywhere from 18 inches to 6 feet tall. Ground planters may be ideal for these or they can make a great hanging basket from the doorway of your metal storage shed. They come in orange, gold, green, purple, and orange. They do not like to be transplanted and they hate wet soil and shade.

These are just a few examples of what to use. Regular potting soil that uses the specifications listed above are great. For example: If a flower hates wet soil, then it is perhaps not a good idea to buy a moisture lock soil. You also don’t want to use planters such as metal or dark colored planters. Planters of those colors can actually make it too hot.

Gardens

You can always plant flower gardens around your outdoor storage shed in addition to planters. The combination looks very nice. You can till up the ground and use a fertilizer that works well with such flowers and can invest in some potting soil to provide adequate nutrients to the flowers. Here are some flowers to consider:

- Celestial Blue - This flower survives heat and drought. It has pink, purple, or violet blooms that butterflies cannot resist.

- California Juniper Shrub - Shrubs are great to add to a flower garden and this shrub is not an exception. It is both heat and drought resistant. You do, however, want to make sure this is planted into the actual ground and not into store bought soil.

- The Blackfoot - This one is native to Florida and is known to withstand soil conditions that are less than perfect. It is also beautiful and easy to take care of.

So if you need to make your metal storage shed look a little more exciting, this is a great way to do it. Sure, it may not look in the winter as it would in the summer, but a few shrubs can help with that. It is up to you how you do it and what’s even better is that you can be creative.

Have you ever had an interest to plant your first herb garden? Herbs have been around for ages and have been used in various purposes, such as treating sickness, craft projects and flavoring food. Here’s a few tips on getting started.

Plan your garden. Consider the herbs you want to plant. Think about their types. Would you like annuals, biennials or perennials? Are you wanting certain plants for cooking, or another purpose?

How much space will they occupy in your garden? If you want, you can purchase a book that can give you the right information on what specific plants you are planning to grow. You can also check out a gardening book or catalog or the nursery you purchase plants from to give you that information.

Time to draw out your plan on paper. Some suggestions would be to separate the annuals from the perennials. The reason for this is at the end of the season you can easily pull up the annuals without disturbing the perennials and make planting annuals next season easier. Sometimes you can plant the perennials on the perimeter of the garden, or in a section by their lonesome.

Another factor to consider is to plant the tall ones towards the back and the shorter ones in front. Give your plants plenty of space to grow and also find out their sunlight requirements and make adjustments accordingly. Properly positioning will help you in this department.

If you don’t want to plant your herbs in your garden, or you don’t have a garden, you can always try planting them in container pots. There are large pots with three or more outlets in them. When planting, fill the container to the first level, then plant your plant. Then continue to the second level and plant, and so on until your pot is finished. Generally you want to plant the herb that needs the most water at the bottom and the one that needs the less, at the top. Use a good quality potting soil and make sure you have proper drainage.

You can consider having a square herb bed. You can have your square bed divided into sections. You can edge it with stones or bricks for a beautiful look . A wooden ladder may also do the trick. You can lay it down on your garden and plant your herbs between its rungs. You can also choose to have a wagon wheel bed. Planting here is like planting with the wooden ladders. Plant your herbs in between the wagon wheel’s wedges.

It’s important to factor in the needs of each variety of plant. Many need alkaline soil conditions, so if you need to add any special additives you’ll already have that information on hand. If you start your own seeds, be sure to read the packet on the seeds as to water, temperature requirements, as well as when it’s safe to plant them in the spring.

Herbs can be very easy to grow on your own. Give each plant it’s basic requirements in regards to sunlight, proper drainage, moisture and fertile soil and you’re bound to get a great harvest.

You’ll also want to consider what you plan to do with the harvest. Will you cook them fresh? Freeze or preserve them in some other way? You’ll discover that you have some favorites each year and which ones didn’t perform as you would have hoped.

People who wish to have some sort of sheds in their gardens today no longer need to employ the services of a builder. Rather, what they can do is actually purchase one of the many different shed kits that are now available. These they can get either from their local DIY Store or Garden Center or by going online.

As you will soon discover there is a wide array of different types of kits to choose from. There are those which are small and designed to store all your garden equipment in to those built and which can be used as a playhouse.

Along with the various different designs of sheds to choose from, they are also being made from a wide variety of different materials as well. If you want something elegant in your garden then go for one that is made from wood. However, if you want something that is going to be easy to maintain then those made from PVC Vinyl or metal are the perfect solution. Plus those that are made from wood are often much more expensive not only to buy but also to maintain as well.

As mentioned, a quick search online and you will find plenty of different shed kits that you can choose from. There is sure to be one in the hundreds that are available which is going to meet your requirements perfectly. However, before you do invest any money in such an item there are certain things that you will need to take into consideration and we look at some of these below.

First of all, you need to clarify with your local authority if you have to obtain building approval before erecting the shed you have chosen. Although most sheds do not need such approval there are some, depending upon their size and the material from which they are constructed which means approval needs to be sought first.

Secondly, you need to ensure that you have the right sort of equipment to actually build the shed. In most cases, you will find that many kits have all the right materials in order for you to build them, but you will need to have some other tools such as screwdrivers and hammers as well.

Also, you need to decide what kind of base the shed is actually going to be standing on. Most people prefer to have a concrete base as the foundation for their shed. If you are going to go down this route then you need to budget in the cost of either laying the base yourself or getting someone else to lay the base for you.

Another factor that needs to be taken into consideration when constructing sheds is that you read through all the instructions provided carefully. It is also a good idea if you lay out everything in the kit before you begin construction to ensure that everything that should be in it is.