Family Time

4 Checklist When Designing Your Garden at Home to Love

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When you hear the word “garden”, the first picture that will come into mind is a collection of plants and flowers — a place where you can grow and culture different kinds of plants. However, when you think of a home garden, it’s more than that. It’s a place where you can express your creativity by turning your plant pots into a gallery display. It’s also an outdoor space where you can spend time with your family or have a place to relax at the end of a busy day.

If you have extra outdoor space, it truly is tempting to turn it into a garden. Especially now that we often stay indoors, it’s good to have a new hobby to keep us from going outside. Additionally, adding a few greens at home can be beneficial to yours and your family’s health. The oxygen it produces can clean the air you breathe. In this article, we will discuss the different things that you need to consider when designing your own garden.

Factors to Consider when Designing your Garden

There surely are a lot of garden ideas online. You can search for the different types of plants, pots, and decorations that you can use. However, before you go crazy putting them all in your cart, it’s best to consider some of these aspects to make sure you are not overdoing it. Let’s take a look at each of them.

1. Set a budget

Just like any home improvement or renovation, it’s necessary to set a specific budget for your garden. From the types of plants that you will keep to the types of equipment and interior decorations, you have to make sure that it’s something that you can afford. Be wise when it comes to comparing different prices and products.

When listing your budget, do not forget to add the maintenance cost. Plants are, after all, living things. Hence, they need constant care and maintenance. When picking a plant, make sure that your budget can also cover what’s needed to keep your plants alive.

2. Know about the different types of soil

Gardening is a combination of art and science. While falling in love with the aesthetic appeal of each plant, also consider the types of soil that you will use in the garden. Make sure that it will be compatible with the type of plants that you will keep. It’s important to know if your garden soil is clay or loam.

Before you put up your garden, you should also test your soil. You can get in touch with experts on planting to give you a hand on this. In that way, you can know how to take care of it, which plants can you keep, or if it needs improvement.

3. Consider different types of plants

Once you already know your budget and the type of soil in your garden, it’s time to select your plants. Again, aside from its beauty, make sure you know something about these plants such as their life span, sunlight needs, etc. Through this, you can plan ahead as to how you could grow and foster it.

The size of the plant is also an important factor. Yes, most of them start small, but some of them can actually grow taller than you. By doing enough research, you can estimate if you have enough room in your garden when a plant is full-grown. Remember, there’s a thin line that separates a garden and a forest, and that is plant density versus your available space.

4. Learn about your location’s rules and regulations

Even if the garden is within your property, it’s best to know if your state or municipality has rules about putting up fences or installing water pipes. You can start consulting the authorities about it even before you purchase anything for your garden. Through this as well, you will know what you can do and what you can’t.  In that way, your efforts will not go to waste.

Furthermore, you can ask or get inputs from your neighbors, especially if there will be any potential intrusion in their property. You wouldn’t want to have any negative encounters with them in the future. After all, plants should give people a piece of relaxation.

Start Gardening Today!

Above all these, it’s also necessary to consider the needs of your family. Make sure that the plants that you will decide to keep will have a positive impact on them as well.

Have you completed the checklist? It’s time to start your gardening plans today. We hope this article helps you in designing your garden at home. It’s a great way to be productive while also starting a new hobby. Visit storables.com to get some new garden ideas to inspire you.

Positive Words Research – 4 Checklist When Designing Your Garden at Home

Home Garden

I Am Grateful For My Place And Purpose In The World

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I am an inspired individual, whose daily footprint is best expressed through words and thoughts in writing.
Each day is a blessing, some say a gift.

For those of us who have the good fortune of receiving love, support from friends and family, have a choice regarding our education and vocations. They can surely hope to evolve learn and find peace and contentment with our choices.

There are people less able to make choices because illness or a disability or social circumstances limits their dreams, hopes, and aspirations.

Success is measured in many ways, and not necessarily by wealth and fame.

 If I was to define success I would say the following

The success story of humanity lies in the way we interact and share our qualities positively with the rest of the human race. I am most grateful for my journey from youth to present.
I may not be a chief executive or drive an expensive vehicle or possess expensive materialistic items, but my place and purpose and positive choices are important footprints in my daily space and the space I share with others.

Like others, I have experienced suffering and pain, but steered myself through darkness with positive thoughts. My choices have not always steered me along a positive path, but knowing, that others are suffering in the world, are victims of cruelty or geographical disasters, confirmed that I am in position to make choices, some of which are good, some bad.

I am most grateful for my inner strength

Grateful for the gifts life has blessed me with, and grateful that I recognize my purpose as a sentient human being. Grateful for all I have received in my life journey, of living and learning the many different life events and experiences on my journey. Also grateful for the space I occupy on this wonderful planet and the energy I emanate daily to all in my personal and professional arenas.

I am grateful that I feel established and comfortable with the human being I am, my place and purpose. Therefore I find little reason to complain.
My achievements may not be grand or make ground breaking news.

But their significance and purpose are footprints from my journey.
I am at peace with myself , happy and content.

Grateful is a positive word

Below is an acrostic poem to which I can connect with in my life journey. ©

Gracious

Resourceful

Aspiring

Talented

Energetic

Faith (in humanity)

Understanding

Loving

Please see below an affirmation poem I wrote.

‘Life force’

We are beautiful instruments,
Living in the ever ongoing
Mysterious orchestra of energy.
That delivers our purpose and grace.
So we may emanate our own individual
music to share
and be received as gifts
of humanity in the hearts
of those with whom we
Share our world.

By Stephanie Alexandra Howard ©

I hope you all enjoy.

Peace and Blessings ~ Stephanie Howard.

Author’s Bio

Grew up in the North of England as a young child, steered my way through a difficult relationship with my mother and stepfather. Most of my spare time and school holidays was spent with my sister who had health difficulties.

In the early part of my life journey I was fortunate to have two wonderful uncles in my life. They recognized my creative gift for words and writing thus encouraged me to express myself through words and writing.

I reflect on those moments  in my journey shared with two wonderful human beings and their wonderful minds, whose influence left an impression so  my journey would grow and evolve. As a result I grew to be who I am and express my gratitude, compassion and energy, through my love of words and writing.

I work full time not as a writer, but I am in the process of writing a book a thought/poem/affirmation for each day of the year I belong to the spiritual writers network who have published two of my poems. ©

Here at Positive Words Research, we are looking to share with our readers original content that hasn’t been published on other sites so if you are comfortable with Positive Words Research being your sole publisher, we are more than happy to share with our readers your inspiring and empowering story.

life force

Everyone Needs Help Sometimes: Never Give Up Have Faith

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The golden rule of overcoming mental health obstacles reads, “you have to want to be helped”. I’ve learned this over the span of my mental health journey after some devastating abuse I experienced in my childhood. Sadly, my mother turned to addictive substances when I was just 8 years old. She became addicted to methamphetamine and needless to say, it was devastating for my family.

My brother and I were severely neglected during this time and were put into some very uncomfortable situations. Addictive substances dealers coming and going, a missing mother for extended periods of time, strange paraphernalia around the house – we just couldn’t process it all. Luckily, after just a few months we were court ordered to begin living with our father and the nightmare was over.

It took me years to come to terms with the fact that I would never be able to accept my past and continue positively into my future without help. Asking for help is not always easy, but keep in mind that no one should have to keep abuse a secret. No one is meant to handle it alone.

Unfortunately, I have also had many friends and family members who have struggled severely with their own mental health. However, often times the illness continues untreated because people will not help themselves. No one on earth can help you if you aren’t willing to help yourself.

This is a problem that I struggled with for years. I put my family and friends through hell from time to time because I was miserable and they didn’t know why. It wasn’t until I revealed the intricacies of my abuse and asked for help that I was able to separate myself from the events and know that my abuse does not define me as a person. I was a victim of abuse, but I am not my abuse.

If you are going through an emotionally trying time or are trying to come to terms with past events, I urge you to first think of your family before you continue on your current path. Many people fall into a black hole of depression and don’t know how to get out and/or simply give up. You must remember that it is not the job of your loved ones to lift you up, you have to want help first.

Just because you are suffering from a mental illness does not mean that the world has to treat you differently. It is your job to work towards your mental health goals, thus, you can move into a better future that you create for yourself. Again, imagine your friends and family.

Do they bring a sense of well-being and helpfulness into your life (or at least try)? What are they receiving in return? If the answer is only anger, sadness, and no appreciation because of your mental illness, then it’s time to take a stand against your mental health. The fact of the matter is your mental health may be affecting theirs.

I understand this all too well, I tried to hold in the sadness and anger I had for my past and of course, it didn’t work. I went through spouts of deep depression and occasionally dragged friends and family members down with me or didn’t speak to them at all. It was absolutely not a way to live.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you have a loved one whose mental health is suffering, you may understand how incredibly trying it can be to try to make the situation better. The truth is, you can’t. No amount of love or friendship can erase a traumatic experience and if it isn’t dealt with, the emotional scarring may only deepen.

Regularly, those who suffer from emotional damage turn to addictive substances in order to self-medicate the pain that they feel. This may occur because of a lack of support or a suspected lack of support, especially if the victim is young. They may feel like there is no one to turn to, no one will listen, or that no one will believe them. I am genuinely lucky that I never seriously turned to addictive substances or alcohol. Several of my friends and family members used addictive substances as an escape for the anguish that they endured.

If you believe that someone in your life may have gone through traumatic life experience, please offer to be a part of their support system. Strangely enough, I never considered therapy or counseling until I had become an adult, years after my abuse took place. All it took was one little seed planted in my head by a loved one and I knew that’s what I needed to do.

So, just know that all it takes is letting the person know that there are options available – they do not have to continue suffering. It may take some time for them to come to terms with this fact and ask for help, but someone who wants to be healthy will eventually take the first step towards a better life.

Trisha is a writer from Boise, ID. She is a dedicated vegan who promotes an all-around healthy lifestyle, including mental health. You can find her on twitter @thatdangvegan or check out her blog thatdangvegan.com 

Feature Image Credit: Petras Gagilas/Flickr

Positive Words Research – Everyone Needs Help Sometimes

Everyone Needs Help Sometimes