A beautiful garden is a place to marvel at nature, relax the mind, and entertain with family and friends. It’s a chance to show off all the hard work you’ve done, choosing just the right plants and creating the perfect arrangement to display them. But what if you’re looking to add a little something extra to your garden? Where do you turn? One of the best, most eco-friendly ways you can do that is by adding a solar fountain to your garden. Here are some things to consider when purchasing one.

Location

• The first thing to consider when putting a solar fountain in your garden is the location. Not for the size of the fountain, but for the amount of sunlight it can get. Generally, all solar fountains operate with a solar panel either inside the basin facing up or outside the fountain on the ground next to it. In either case, you need a location where your fountain will be in complete sunlight all day long so it can run optimally. Avoid areas with trees or overgrown greenery that might hang over or even drop into the fountain and block the solar panel. If your panel sits outside your fountain, try and place it at least 1 foot away from any plants to avoid them from blocking sun getting to the panel.

Style

• After you’ve picked a location, you need to consider the style of fountain you want. Solar fountains come in many designs, so it’s not too hard to find one that will mesh with the theme of your garden. If you’re looking to attract birds and some of nature’s other creatures, a solar birdbath is a great choice. They provide a spot for bird stop and play, rest, and get a drink in their busy days. For something a little fancier, you can go with a tiered fountain. These have classic designs that let you enjoy the sound of running water all day long. And if you have a small garden and are looking for something compact, there are even tabletop solar fountains that can fit right in the corner of a flower bed.

Backup Power

• A backup power source is something a lot of people don’t think of with solar fountains. They think that they just get to enjoy the running water during the day and that it has to sit at night. While that used to be the case, it’s not anymore. Today, there are backup batteries that you can use with your solar fountain that store the sun’s power to keep your fountain going when it’s cloudy or at night. Many fountains now include these as a standard feature, but if yours doesn’t, don’t worry. You can easily find one at any fountain retailer and install it on your fountain in no time. They really are a great investment and will give you that much more enjoyment from your fountain.

If you’ve been contemplating adding a little something extra to your garden, look into some solar fountains. They’re good for the environment and good for enhancing the outdoor space. Use these tips and you’ll find a great fountain for your garden in no time!

About The Author – Marissa Alan is a writer with Outdoor Living and enjoys green living, cooking, and playing with her dogs. For more on products like solar garden fountains, decorative planters, bird baths, and glass wind chimes, visit OutdoorLiving.com.

First up was Coblands Nursery – I had the pleasure of visiting the Nursery in Kent last summer so it was great to catch up with Nigel Gibson again. They offer both commercial and retail outlets for their plants but were displaying a range from their Best4plants range which is an online garden centre, I guess in some way rivalling Crocus.

Presnting their range of ‘larger than usual’ bulbs were Avon bulbs, I think what appeals here is that the bulbs are UK grown, not, as so many are, from Holland or Europe. If you are looking for great spring and summer flowering bulbs this site is well worth a visit. They have won numerous RHS Gold Medals for their show exhibits over the years. As a little thank you visitors were presented with a pack of Gladiolous callianthus

I am really looking forward to trying these, having first seen them a few years ago when they were known as Acidanthera murielae!

Celebrating 50 years were the Beth Chatto gardens and it was great to see some of the team buzzing with enthusiasm and interested as ever, I have the gardens in Essex high on my list of gardens to visit.

There were a couple of interesting seed merchants there. Worthy of note were Harrod Horticultural with their range of Stephanie’s (Harrod) Kitchen Garden Organic Seeds and Thompson and Morgan for their wide range of seeds and plant plugs. Perhaps the most interesting thing particularly if you are new to growing your own is a range from Unwins called Gro-sure which come with a guarantee of successful results. There were of course many others!

Many of the stands had interesting organic or eco-friendly products on display including Vitax with some organic slug pellets fetchingly called Slug Death XL - no guesses as to what that does then!

The award for the Best Overall Stand at the event though went to a company called Carbon Gold. This is an innovative company formed by Craig Sams – who also started Green & Blacks Chocolate. A quote from their website

“Biochar offers a fresh solution to the challenge of climate change. Carbon Gold is developing a portfolio of projects that uses the latest technology to turn surplus biomass into biochar – a form of fine-grained charcoal that is high in carbon and largely resistant to decomposition.

Biochar offers a unique tool to combat global warming because it can capture the carbon dioxide that has been absorbed by growing plants and tie it up in the soil for hundreds of years, so preventing it re-entering the carbon cycle.

Biochar also increases soil productivity, retains moisture and reduces nutrient leaching, thus reducing the need for irrigation and artificial or organic fertilisers. Unlike charcoal, biochar can be sourced from various types of biomass, typically from surplus agricultural materials, such as crop residues, tree prunings and agro-processing by-products.”

This certainly seemed an amazing product and it will be interesting to follow its progress in the market, we shall see just what impact it can have.

There were of course tools and machinery on display and all sorts of novelties, like Backdoorshoes – which take on from where Crocs left off!

One thing I found which was particularly interesting as a garden designer was a publication on the Husqvarna stand which had analysed the many ‘garden blogs’ from around the world and had identified the most prevalent topics of discussion, surmising that these were likely to be the styles and trends most reflected in the corners of the globe – it makes fascinating reading and perhaps I’ll find a way to share some of its contents here.

Still on the design theme Vectorworks were showing their new Vectorworks 2010 software. I use an earlier version and recently reviewed Tamsin Slatter’s book on the subject. They are certainly forging ahead with developments and it is now justifiably regarded as the number one CAD software for garden designers. Like so many software packages it is a vast programme, but the backup and support available makes learning a pleasurable experience.

An interesting show and one that I could easily have spent another day at and still not spoken to everyone! Here’s to next year!

Involving the family in growing their own vegetables has some great and often unexpected results. The enthusiasm of reading the packet, discovering that one packet contains a humungus number of seeds and that if we can successfully grow even a few of these we wll have achieved an outstanding result!

So do we have a huge vegetable patch and an endless supply of all the things the books tell you that you need? Not a bit of it! We have a tiny patio with a few pots and trays (and a windowsill or two!) What I hope to show you in the coming weeks is that you don’t need a farm to produce food that can be eaten and enjoyed by the whole family and at a price that beats any supermarket!

What did we start with? Well today we tried a few salad seeds starting with some spinach.

Planting radishes

Our 3 patio pots

TIP 1

With vegetable seeds typically being sold in packs of hundreds of seeds, why not get together with your friends or family to share your seeds (and the costs!). You could even have a competition to see who can grow the biggest crop.

Take a pack of Lollo Rossa seeds:

• you get approximately 250 seeds
• seeds take around 48 days to mature to full grown plants
• plant 10 seeds in the FIRST week; wait 2 weeks then plant another 10 etc
• you get a regular supply of salad leaves for all the family
• do this FIVE times a year and still have 200 seeds left!

A pack of 250 seeds costs £1.99. Share it five ways – that’s less than 40p each! At the time of writing a bag of salad leaves from Tesco costs £1.15. If you bought one bag of salad leaves a week during the summer months, it would cost you £29.90.

Growing your own gives you a tidy profit of £29.50; possibly more if you were to buy organic. Plus you know where your salad has come from and you have reduced your carbon footprint. Actually thinking about it, you would end up with more salad than you could eat over a longer period so your profit would be even greater.

This example features lettuce but you can do the same with other salad favourites such as radish, rocket, tomato, cucumber, chives, coriander and basil etc.

The joy about growing your own vegetables is that you don’t need a huge garden or allotment to make it work. Try these simple and cost saving ways:

• Yoghurt pot seedling starter. Put a few holes in the base of your pot, fill with compost and seeds, place pot in pot lid (acts as a water tray), and pop on windowsill, water and watch them grow.
• Patio containers. Plant ornamental flowers among your vegetable or salad seeds and you have a pretty, productive and easy to maintain display.
• Plant eye catching and vibrant vegetables such as artichokes as border plants in your garden beds.

Seeds can be bought from garden and shopping centres or online. The seed example used can be bought online from Thompson & Morgan

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