One of the first signs of spring in New Jersey is the appearance of brightly-colored crocuses peeking out of the last vestiges of snow. Soon to come are the daffodils and bluebells.
Our agents will be busy showing off the many Ridgewood homes for sale, made even more attractive by their lovely gardens. You may be thinking that you don't have room for the garden of your dreams, but that is far from true. Once you have decided whether to plant flowers, vegetables, or both, you still have several options from which to choose. Here are a few of them:
Container Gardens
Probably the most versatile option, containers allow you to move them around for aesthetics or to follow the sun's path. They also mean that you can bring them inside to escape cold weather. Your home improvement store can share many options from large to small containers and wheeled platforms for easy relocation. They will also allow you to choose the type of soil required for each variety of plants.
Raised Gardens
Add interesting visual elements to your landscaping by building platforms of higher levels. Raised gardens share a primary advantage with container gardens, which is selecting a particular soil type that differs from the surrounding ground. You can even put a garden on a patio or concrete slab since you will be filling the box with the soil of your choice. You can build your own or purchase a pre-made bed. Talk to your favorite garden center professional for specific advice, from the type of soil to vegetation.
Rock Gardens
Don't let uneven ground defeat your efforts. Take advantage of it by creating a rock garden. Gravel and rocks capture water to feed unique plant choices such as dwarf conifers and ice plants. To begin, clear the area of grass or other plants. Then add a layer of pebbles followed by larger rocks. Place your plants among them and add additional soil as necessary.
Water Gardens
A pond or stream is the perfect home for plants at the edge of the water or even floating in the water itself. Plants such as lemongrass wave gracefully in the breeze beside the water. While it can be a little tricky to grow it in New Jersey since it can't survive extreme cold, if you wait for two weeks after the last frost, you should be okay. Hyacinths and arrowheads add to the beautiful colors along the margins while water lilies and lotus drift happily on the surface.
Indoor Gardens
You can bring the beauty of the outdoors inside with options like an herb garden in the kitchen window or on a window seat. There are dozens of herb garden starter kits available at your local nursery. Attractive to look at, fresh herbs elevate your recipes to an entirely new level. You can also get a jump on your outdoor garden by germinating seeds in the warmth of your home. Whether you are planting vegetables or flowers, you will have living plants ready to transfer outside when the threat of frost is over. Old muffin tins are perfect for seedlings. Using paper liners as you would for cupcakes, you can lift the entire plant out without disturbing fragile roots, and the paper will degrade beneath the soil. You can start celery and onions from stalks wherever you have a sunny space for them in the kitchen.
If you're ready to seek out a place for your garden, contact us. We would be delighted to show you some options.
