Great lawn and gardening ideas to get you growing!

Author: Adam Fitzhenry   Date Posted:1 April 2020 

Get the growing going with Plant Doctor's favourite list of lawn and gardening activities!

They do say that gardening is cheaper than therapy, and with gardening you can get vegetables or flowers! If you’re looking for some inspiration or motivation to get out into the yard and try your hand at some creative and fun ideas that will bring some extra flair to your lawns and gardens, we’ve got you covered.

We’ve listed our favourite lawn and gardening activities and of course, you can include your young ones in a few of these. Have a read below for inspiration to revamp your outdoor and indoor spaces with some colour and greenery. 

Grow your own veggie patch

There’s something great about fresh vegetables and what makes them even better? When you grow them yourself! First things first, you need to select the right area to start planting.

Pick somewhere in your yard that is nice and sunny, vegetables generally need around six hours of direct sunlight. You’ll also want a stable location, don’t select the corner of your yard that always floods, and somewhere that the soil is reasonably healthy.  

Start to make rows running north and south to get good sun, space your plants properly, as you don’t want your plants competing for sunlight, water or nutrients. Some great vegetables to start growing are tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, carrots, beans, capsicums and broccoli.

To give you veggies an extra good start, and especially if you’re starting with seedlings, try our Seaweed Secrets and Nature’s Soil Wetter, they will help speed up germination and ensure they stay strong and healthy.

Herb haven

If you find the idea of cultivating a vegetable garden a little out of your depth, why not start with a basic herb garden instead! Once you know where you’re going to begin planting, whether it’s in pots or in the garden, you can start with either seeds or herb plants.    

Some common herbs you can try are basil, parsley, oregano, rosemary, mint, dill and sage.

Most herbs need a daily watering and harvesting your herbs frequently will help produce more foliage. Again, our Seaweed Secrets and Nature’s Soil Wetter are ideal for herb seedlings and healthy head start!

Create garden markers

Get creative and make your own garden markers! You can use anything including painted paddle pop sticks, rocks, wooden spoons, laminated signs and wooden clothesline pegs.

You can mark out all your herbs and vegetable and add some pops of colour to your yard! This is also a great activity you can include your young ones in on.

Get your lawn looking great and green

Most of us love a nice green lawn that feels great under your feet and passers-by give a second look! So why not try your hand at improving and maintaining the health of your lawn? Check out our blog Lawn and garden tips for beginners for more information on how to get started and for an idea of what products to use, give our blog post Ingredients to supercharge your lawns and gardens a read.

Painting and potting

Paint and dirt – possibly two of the best things a kid, and adult, can get their hands dirty in!

Why not add some creative colour to your garden with some painted pots. Prepare your pots by washing them and removing any dirt.

Make your own terrarium

If you want to freshen up indoors or have minimal garden space,  why not create your own terrarium full of lush and beautiful plants?  All you need is a glass jar, this could be an old vase or bowl, rocks  or pebbles, activated charcoal, potting soil, various small plants and  some decorative features, these is optional.

If this is an activity you are planning to undertake with children, there are some great themed ideas you can try, such as fairy gardens, dinosaur world, Ewok Plant (Star Wars), Mission to Mars or even desert or medieval.

Start by washing the bowl and removing any dirt, stickers and unwanted residue. Once ready, fill the bottom with rocks or pebbles, generally to a depth of about 3 – 5cm, this is to help with drainage.

Next add the activated charcoal, just enough to cover the rocks. This is a messy step, but it will help reduce fungi, bacteria and odours. Then you need to add enough soil so the plant roots to have plenty of room. You can now start planting, remember to break up the roots and you can trim them if needed. Now all that’s left is to decorate and find the perfect spot for your new terrarium to live.

Start composting

This is a great project to not only reduce the amount of waste we’re sending to landfills, but also provides you with a rich fertiliser for your garden. Composting is simply a natural process that involves mixing plant leaves, clippings and organic matter and turning them into a rich soil, otherwise know as compost.

A great idea is to have two compost bins, one for indoors and one for outdoors. Make sure your indoor composting bin has a good seal and doesn’t leak, that way you can store all your food scraps from the kitchen before you empty it into the outdoor compost bin.

When selecting your outdoor compost bin, think about how much food waste you estimate you will produce and that should give you an idea about how large you want your bin to be.

For effective composting you will want a mixture of brown and green materials. Green materials include grass clipping, coffee grounds and fruit and vegetable scraps, while brown material consist of dried leaves, sawdust and newspaper. Brown material or dry material is rich in carbon and your green material usually consists of a high moisture content and is rich in nitrogen.

To start your compost, place a large layer of brown material and then alternate your layers between green and brown. Do not compost meat, fish, bones, plastics, metals or dairy products. Add our Worm Magic and /or Humic Acid products to the mix to kick-start the composting process and attract a bunch of beneficial microbes.

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