We all love beautifully mowed, exceptionally well-groomed lawns. However, renovating a lawn or to start developing one can be a very difficult task overall. The process of renovating the lawn can be successfully achieved if 50% of the total lawn area is covered with grass.

Renovating lawn comprises of planting of grass seeds of various varieties to do damage control or to increase tolerance towards adversities like drought, shade and wear. Before you start with the renovation you should diagnose the problem first i.e. to know why the lawn’s quality has declined otherwise renovating could become waste of time. Renovation should only be done if the following conditions exist:

i)              If 25 to 50% of the lawn is dead or has scant growth

ii)             If the lawn is responding poorly to regular conditioning applications and even feels soft and spongy when being walked over.

iii)            If 25 to 50% of lawn is covered with weeds

In case any of the problems persist, follow the below mentioned steps to renovate your lawn in 10 easy steps:

1)     Soil Test once can make a fresh start with testing for the soil conditions of the lawn. This will give a fair idea as to what all are required to be done to make the soil more fertile and productive.

2)     Weed Control: There are three ways through which this problem can be dealt. A) Physically pull out the large spreading weeds. B) In case of general weeds, spraying of herbicides consisting of glyphosate would do the job. Though it might kill all the vegetation but definitely allows new pasture to regenerate quickly. C) If the weeds are non-grasses then broadleaf herbicides are good options.

3)     Replenishment of Soil Moisture:  Especially during the fall, the soil needs to be moisturized. For that the soil is soaked in water at a depth of 6-8 inches. Then it’s allowed to dry until the thatches are removed. The whole process requires 1-2 days.

4)     Thatch Removal: The sod cutters are recommended to get rid of severe thatch problems. Even vertical mowers can also do the job along with preparing of seedbeds.

5)     Preparation of Soil: in case the soil is compacted 3-5 passes with commercial, aerifier is required but again in this case also the vertical mowers can prove to be effective. They can be used with their tines nicking the surface at a depth of 1/8-½ inches.

6)     Soil fertilization: The soil needs to be fertilized with various components like Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium according to the results of the soil test.

7)     Seeding: Before seeding, the seeds are mixed with sawdust or any other organic fertilizer in a ratio of 1:4. Generally this process is achieved by dividing the seed lot in halves or quarters and then seed in 2-4 directions using the following methods: A) If the site is small i.e. less than 10 feet across then the process can be achieved using hands only. B) To overlap half way or to seed in 2 directions drop spreaders can effectively be used. C) Hiring professionals is the best option to deal with lawn renovation. They have slit seeders that can go over the whole 2-4 times to accomplish perfection.

8)     Irrigation: It should be made sure that the seed and soil contact is good after the process of seeding. The soil initially requires to be watered twice daily without making it soggy. Later watering can be restricted to once daily.

9)     Mowing: When the grass finally starts growing let it grow till 4 inches tall. Then mow it to 2 inches with a very sharp mower and maintain regular mowing as per the requirement.

10)   Lawn Establishment: On a newly renovated lawn traffic or play should be strictly avoided for a few weeks so that the lawn takes its own time become healthier.

Whether you own a house or a mansion, the basic of a garden is bound to make you think of exotic plants, beautiful hardwoods and mystical stones imported from say India. Furthering your vision, you might also choose to consider scented herbs and shrubs which are ornamental and need quite a bit of investment and care to start with.

However, if you have finally awakened of your dreamy visions and smelled the proverbial coffee, its time you bit the proverbial bullet as well. The elements present in your dream vision are literally drilling a super massive black hole on the face of the earth. Moreover, these exotic hardwoods and stones from India that enchant you so much might be the results of some poor kids unfortunate enough to be forced into child labor.

Think now, does that dream still seem important? If not, here is what you can do to get that beautiful dream in the best manner possible. After all, never giving up on your dreams should also be preached!

[box_dark]Water-smart Alternatives[/box_dark]

At the surface, you might think that the judicious use of water may hint toward absence of the same and hence the absence of greenery. Nevertheless, modern thought process has and will allow you to understand that the choice of judiciousness should be applied not to the water, not just yet at any rate, but in fact to the choice of plants and outlay of the garden.

This option also gives you a chance to explore brilliant and innovate combinations in the selection of plants. Also, after careful evaluation of the lawn, you may want to add a variant of the turf grass which needs less water than usual to flourish. The climate should also be taken into consideration in such a case.

[box_dark]Plant Choice Revamped[/box_dark]

The basic idea of a garden starts and indeed ends with plants. The question of reduction of water also hangs heavily. In that case, choose native plants that sustain in your region. If you are not sure what sustains in your region, look for places with similar climatic conditions and make a small assessment. Such native plants will certainly need less water than more exotic options.

In many cases it has also been seen that such native plants are more resistant to drought, diseases and of course pests. It is also implied that the growth is better and the resulting flowers or fruits are more in number. If you are however bent on choosing some particular types of exotic plants, make sure that you plant them pretty close to one another. This way only one area will require the maximum water. Be sure to infuse mulch on the irrigated surface in order to prevent evaporation.

[box_dark]Group-ism[/box_dark]

Though a terrible thing in real life, an eco-friendly garden will certainly thrive well, if plants in the similar group or with similar needs are placed together. For instance, placing a perennial beside Lavender is nothing but a waste of resources. Why? Because each has its own need for sun and water.

This is something very relative and needs careful study in order to judge what goes with what. However, that is a very small price to pay when it comes to the environment and of course saving money by preventing the wastage of resources.

[box_dark]Addition of compost[/box_dark]

Not too long ago, something about mulching was slightly mentioned. As was previously said, addition of a thick layer of mulch is important for retaining the moisture of the soil. Compost is probably the best option, whichever way you look at it.

Water is held back since the loose nature of the component helps in absorption rather than simply drifting away. In addition, composting provides nutrients and helps in the suppression of weeds.

Green roofing is in many ways like any other home improvement project. You need to come up with a plan, taking into account all the necessary conditions for the structure as well your personal needs and climatic conditions. Begin with the process of structural assessment.

Structural Evaluation

A qualified engineer, skilled in dealing with structures or architecture, should be consulted during this method. You need to know what steps to take to support your roof so that it is able to hold more weight than in the beginning, or how much it can hold at the moment, before you start setting up plants over your present roof or fixing a brand new form of a roof over it. Carrying out a structural assessment helps you with your decision of choosing a particular variety of rooftop garden.

Selection Process

The majority of buildings of a suburban nature are suitable for growing a rooftop garden. The primary reason for this is because of the fact that green roofs meant for residential buildings are usually very light, although nearly each roof that is to be changed into a green one needs to be supported through some means so that it is able to hold the extra bit of weight. When designing your own sprawling rooftop garden, make sure you do it in such a way that it can manage the overall load you wind up proceeding with.

You can also opt for another type of green roof, known as an intensive roof, where an assortment of diverse plant categories with separate planting depths is present. Large scale renovations need to be performed on existing roofs if you wish to develop an intensive roof. So be sure to take all kinds of factors into consideration as you are likely to rack up a huge bill, unless the roof has already been remodeled.

Selecting the type of plants you want to grow in your rooftop garden is fairly easy if you happen to be aware of your climatic zone. Intensive roofing usually suits most plant types due to the benefit of dissimilar planting depths while extensive roofing is more popular with specific kinds of plants like succulents. A landscape architect or your local nursery might be able to provide some valuable advice.

Plant Layout

Coming up with the main landscape plan is really fun. The process will be made easier if you have extensive roofing. Be sure to position your plants in a way that the design does not appear patchy. Alternate between hibernating and blooming plants. Group your plants according to different parameters such as functions, planting depths, properties. Ensure that your rooftop garden looks beautiful but still meets the requirements of each plant.

In addition, nothing ever gives more pleasure than making something with your own hands and then decorating it to give a completely new facelift to your style and talent. Gardening is one of the best forms of activity, which you can treat as both a hobby and a form of art.

Some Ideas for your Garden

Well, you can do much more with your garden than just plant trees. You can actually design the way you would like to plant them, you can add waterfalls, statuettes and so much more.

In fact, if you can get some help on the garden front, you might just be able to get some great lights to decorate your garden further and then maybe you might consider constructing a patio and then light the whole area up and create something very romantic.

Even bushes can be very beautiful as long as you know how to maintain it well. Actually, you need to plan and only then go ahead with the kind of designs you have in mind. With some planning and keeping a track on the growing and flourishing of that bushes, just a perfect balance between necessarily unkempt and yet kempt design can actually be chalked out.

The Scientific Side of It

No matter what your design of the garden is, make sure that you leave enough space for them to grow and of course plant them in a way so that they can get enough sunlight. Also, make sure, than they get enough water.

Moreover, you have to be very thorough with how much water and sunlight and the other needs of your plants are. In addition, you have to decide which kind of look you want to focus upon.

Of course, there should be a balance between the plants and of course, the special accessories that you want to invest in. Too much of either would of course make it messy and keeping it in shape will take much more time and resources to maintain.

However, it all depends upon what kind of tastes you have. Even very complicated designs can look very prim and proper when you have a design in your mind. Outdoor activities have never been so much fun!

The name literally translates into French as “plant shutter” and allows folks to place three or more planter boxes into a retractable frame into their windows. The frame can be rotated from vertical (covering the whole window) to horizontal (when it hangs out the balcony like a drawbridge) via a pulley system which lets apartment dwellers show off their window gardens to eh world while offering their plants plenty of sunshine and/or rain.

The planters have been designed to stay upright even when the shutter is being drawn in and out so your plants don’t spill out and might we say the window garden makes a great green privacy shield for people who like a “garden view” in their high rise home. The Volet Végétal will be submitted at Jardins Jardin, the exterior design expo and garden show set to begin in Paris this June.

Via: Tree Hugger

Aesthetically though, the garden was given a facelift before it was adopted domestically. The stunning structure that holds a mesh along the periphery and flickering lights will look awesome standing inside your house or out in the balcony. A tubular light piece is suspended in the center. Also, the inside of the circle bears perforated vases. The plants are actually arranged around the main light source on the inside of the wheel, which looks delightful.

An engine is hidden inside the wheel rotates plants around. The plants get irrigated automatically with a pump and water reservoir. The perforated inner wheel holds the vases and cover vases. The coco fiber present in the vase supports the plants and its roots. In fact, the whole system is really easy to manage as it can be controlled with an application ready for download on your smartphone or tablet. You can regulate the temperature, water level and intensity of light with this app.

As you have a supply of produce right at home, your visits to the supermarket will be reduced drastically. Additionally, all ingredients used for cooking will be garden fresh. Moreover, it allows a wide variety of harvest to be grown inside your home. Furthermore, this eco friendly structure is a better choice over traditional gardens. It helps to save energy and conserve resources. As your trips to the market will decrease, you will be cutting down on cost of transportation as well as packaging. Also, the lights are arranged at the center of the wheel, which trims down its lighting consumption.

Via: Design Libero

To form a multi-leveled geometrical setup as an alternative to regular, space-hogging planters, the PET Tree projects uses PET bottles sliced in half to serve as the main planter pots while the other half of the bottle is recycled and used to create other plastic components in the design. one mm thick stainless steel is used to craft the main support body of the system while the protective membrane is fashioned out of welded CA (cellulose acetate).

The vertical pot arrangement allows the system to use an innovative irrigation cycle which can help keep many levels of pots and planters hydrated using a smaller amount of freshwater. By using a dripping system, all the PET planters can be irrigated using the same water which filters down to lower level, is collected at the bottom and then pumped to the top level again to be reused in the drip. This allows plants to optimally soak up all the nutrition in the soil that is otherwise wasted and helps gardeners extend their water sources and feed more plants using a little amount of water.

By extending a garden vertically instead of horizontally, the PET Tree system also allows users to make the most of the space available to them and the system thus allows people to transform their backyards, balconies, terraces and spare rooms into vertical farms that can be used to grow seasonal veggies and herbs. The system, when used on a larger scale, can be used to promote the production of organic groceries in cities short on space like New York, Hong Kong and Singapore which have to import a large part of their vegetables and herbs from other places. When incorporated on a larger scale, the PET Tree system would enable producers to reuse plastic PET bottles that would otherwise end up in landfills while maximizing their city’s water resources and producing organic vegetables and herbs for sale in local markets.

Do you ever wish you had a brightened-up pathway in your lawn that looks beautiful, as well as contains enough power to light up the place where you need to water the plants? Now, you can turn your thought into reality as Patricia Tait has designed an amazing integration of a sprinkler and a pathway light – and that too in an environmentally friendly manner! Patricia’s Innovative Sprinkler/Pathway Light combines the concept of pathway lighting with the existing water sprinkler devices or systems. A great addition to your home’s lawn area, this equipment offers solar-powered lighting to the place.

The Innovative Sprinkler/Pathway Light helps you get rid of electric wires and an intensive installation process. As both the sprinkler and the lighting system are integrated into a single unit, it has been taken care that lights could be installed at the same time the sprinkler system’s installation takes place. This design has been safely created and displays special visual effects at the place where it is installed. Such a system also helps lowering down the lights into the ground when you may not require them to be used, and specially at the time you start mowing your lawn or garden. These lights do not interfere with the mowing and cleaning process and are safe from being tripped upon.

If you prefer, you may also place these lights on the top of those sprinklers that are more commonly used and are well placed under enough sunlight. The Innovative Sprinkler/Pathway Light can make your garden shine when its light strikes the drops of sprinkled water on the grass. If you place these lights all along the pathway, it would give your lawn a special look and yourself a refreshing feel. This innovative sprinkler and light system gives a natural and green touch to the complete surroundings.

Via: Behance

In the primitive days mowing of the big yards and landscapes were done with the help of sheep and scissors-welding servants. Gradually with civilization as the people started building homes and large landscapes turned into a segregated assortment of houses, the idea of mowing lawn with sheep became absurd. Then either with the help of servants or on ones own people started cutting their lawns with gardening scissors. But, with the onset of modernization time became the most precious thing. Cut-throat competition, ever increasing population and scarcity of resources made people busier day by day. Activities such as mowing that were considered a relaxation activity soon turned into a burden. Thus, lawn mowers came into existence. But, these lawn mowers were gasoline operated and caused enough noise and pollution to irritate the farthest neighborhood. Pondering on these aspects, innovators introduce electric and solar operated lawn mowers which are capable of cutting grass evenly at a much faster rate without any noise or air pollution. Here we have listed 10 hi-tech lawn mowers to ensure a lush green garden at your home like never before.

1. Solar powered lawn mower

The solar powered lawn mower is based on advanced technology to ensure that mowing a garden becomes very easy. In their endeavor to make lawn mowing eco friendly, designers Marguerite Kahrl and Apul Ruff came up with this mower which is powered by the solar energy. All you have to do is to just sit and mow the entire lawn using a remote control. It helps in reducing pollution as people will now have a better alternative to the conventional gasoline powered mower.

2. Remote-controlled lawn mowers

In this fast paced life where every second holds the key to success you just can’t find time to mow your garden. However, here is the solution to all your problems. With remote-controlled lawn mowers, you would mow your entire front or back yards in no time. This one is from the reputed Evatech and has been named ‘goat’ as it resembles the same. Goat mower is available at a price of $5299 and is able to climb a 45-degree incline of own. With its 22” blade rotation, this mower easily mows the garden in no time.

3. RBZG001 lawn mower

This one is again a solar powered lawn mower which is designed for commercial as well as domestic usage. Far superior when compared to the gasoline or electric mower, RBZG001 lawn mower offer noise free operation. This law mower is automated in such a manner so that it could maneuver without any assistance on its own. It can easily identify routes, obstacles and slopes. This one even collects the scrap in one place making sure that you don’t have to make a minimal effort at all.

4. Black & Decker cordless electric mowers

Have you got tired of noisy and messy mowing of your front and backyards? Well, Black & Decker has come up with an entire range of battery powered cordless electric mowers that will mow a 1/3 acre lawn in a single charge. At present there are three models of these mowers namely 19”, 36V, 18” 38V and an 18” 12A corded. You can purchase additional battery for even larger lawns. Once the mowing is done, you can recharge the batteries using Energy Star chargers. Surely, this one is the best noise free and effective method of mowing gardens.

5. All-electric Lawn mower Scooter

In order to take the mowing experience to an altogether different level, industrial designer Vicky Petihovski has designed Lawn mower Scooter. This is an electric mower which is equipped with a riding surface such that there is no need to exert the downward pressure as it will be automatically applied owing to the weight of the rider. The front end has a transparent bin in which all the mowed grass gets collected automatically making it easy to collect the scrap. This lawn mower is a very eco friendly gadget to mow your lawn.

6. Husqvarna’s robotic lawn mower

Husqvarna’s robotic lawn mower looks more like a smaller version of Batmobile. It has an aerodynamically shaped body design which allows it to quietly do its work. It is priced at $4,000 and is widely acclaimed for zero percent emissions. This one is a fully automatic lawn mower which can be easily programmed for mowing up to 2300 square meter of grass and then returning to the charging base on its own. Being solar-powered, Husqvarna’s robotic lawn mower also helps one save precious energy and reduce environmental pollution.

7. ReCharge Mower

The ReCharge Mower has been designed drawing inspirations from a golf car. This small car cum mower will not even emit a gram of CO2 but will mow large residential lawns in no time. The best thing about this mower is that it is almost 50% quieter when compared to the conventional mowers available in the market. ReCharge Mower gets 900W of power owing to which it can easily carry a 330 pound operator and still mow the entire garden with unparalleled efficiency. This mower has been priced at $1,295 only.

8. Solar-electric lawn mower

Solar-electric lawn mower has to its credit the Red Dot Award in the Design Concept 2009. This mower has very compact and elegant design so that it easily accommodates into small outdoor spaces. Based on the photovoltaic technology, this lawn mower is a future-oriented concept. It is highly demanded across different markets as it is compact, inexpensive to operate, requires low maintenance and very low on noise. It is installed with a removable polymer-ion battery system that allows optimum functioning.

9. Manual-solar hybrid lawn mower

Manual-solar hybrid lawn mower, designed by a industrial designer Frank Deveson, will allow you to keep your lawn neat and tide that too without any CO2 emissions. The best thing about this lawn mower is that it can be operated both manually as well as with solar energy. It helps in saving valuable energy and reducing the environmental pollution.

10. Flymo

Powered by the abundant solar energy, Flymo is a boon for people who do not have access to 24/7 power supply. This mower has been designed by a first year student, thus, do have some flaws. However, these flaws are so minor that they can be easily rectified before commercializing this fully autonomous gadget. Flymo eradicates the need of continuous supervision as it can operate on its own. The design is really adorable and compact so that one can carry this mower to places without many efforts.