An environmentally friendly and garden friendly was to clean your yard of leaves is to use a black bag composting method. I use this method when I am in a hurry and want to collect leaves and forget about them until spring.

All you need are black garbage bags and a place to set them until spring. I will often set them in a place where I might want to put in a new garden the following year – if its out of site and not in the front yard! Along a garage or by a storage shed or woodpile is also a good location.

Why black garbage bags? They will attract and hold heat from the sun helping the leaves to compost faster.

First rake the yard and fill the black bags with leaves. Add a little water and close them with tie wraps. If you have grass clipping you light want to mix some of them in. Place them in an out of the way place and ignore until spring.

In the spring check the leaves to see how they are breaking down. You may want to add grass clipping or straw if you have it. I lightly sprinkle the leave mix and seal it up.

Usually by march the leaves have broken down and can be used in gardens or added t o compost and stirred in. I use the leaf compost around new shrubs or perennials. Its a cheap green gardening technique for your home and garden areas.

One thing that will also help leaves to break down quicker is if they have been mowed. By mowing the leaves you break them into smaller pieces that will decompose at a quicker rate.

Composting by black garbage bags works well in towns and suburban areas where you might not be able to set up a composting bin. They can be easily moved and tucked into small spaces. And within a few months you will have a rich soil mix to add to the soil.

photo credit: SanGatiche

The downward turn in the economy has also made people reevaluate their backyards and design their space making the most use of every available inch of space. This is particularly important for those who rent or live in a city. It is possible to have a garden or mini retreat even on a porch, deck or balcony.

One way to do make more use of you space and make it look larger by extending the home living space into the backyard and making better use of whatever outdoor space is available. Vertical gardening and container gardening are also increasingly popular, even in the bigger backyard.

Larger backyards are being broken up into outdoor rooms with each area having its own use or activity. These open rooms are then designed to flow together to create an overall backyard. This technique helps to create a backyard that is functional to all family members. The entertaining area is one of the more important area followed by a recreational area that could be a child’s pay area, a pool or even a min golf putting area.

Bold and flashy are in and Gardeners are focusing more on foliage and less on flowers. The use of ornamental grasses has doubled in landscape design. They make a wonderful backdrop for flowers with vibrant colors such as reds, oranges and yellows. And for the small space garden layering your flowers and plants make better use of space and creates depth, thus creating the feeling of more space.
photo credit: tomsaint11

Green gardening methods using fewer chemicals, better use of space and water conservation is setting the design for all backyard spaces. And the addition of many vegetable gardens, with the emphasis being compact and easy to care for, has made home gardening increase by 20%. This summer you will notice many windowsill, curbside, container and vertical gardens.

This trend in home gardening has lead to creating gardens with less work and the return of Victory gardens and Recession gardens. The most successful small space gardens are combining ornamental plants with vegetables and fruits. Commercial growers have been stocking petite annuals, perennials, shrubs and garden vegetable that require less space to grow. So buy your garden supplies as early as possible as many places are experiencing shortages this year with the increase in gardening.

This is “Small Backyard Designs Week” at the Backyard Oasis. Ideas for garden rooms, small space gardening, garden art and many more useful backyard design ideas will be covered.