When you garden, you can grow delicious vegetables and fruits in your backyard; this gives you plenty of dietary options for the future. Why settle for a few fresh herbs here and there when you have the power to grow the ingredients for an entire salad? Let this article guide you to greater gardening success.
Try planting seeds in pots, and then transferring the seedlings to your garden. Your plants will be more likely to mature this way. Seeds can’t always thrive in gardens, and are often eaten by birds. You can plant the seedlings once you have removed the old plants.
Fight pests before you even plant, by getting your soil in shape. If you have healthy looking plants, they are stronger and more resistant to diseases and bugs. Begin with a high-quality soil with less chemicals to avoid salt accumulation, and you give your garden an excellent chance of growing healthy plants.
Flower Garden
Plant a variety of flowers to keep your flower garden colorful and interesting. Annuals and biennials can add excitement and interest to your flower garden every season. The annuals and biennials are usually fast growing because they only last one season, and this will let you change the garden every season for a nice change of pace. Use them to fill gaps between shrubs and perennials in the sun. There are many flowers you can plant in these gaps. Try marigolds, petunias or sunflowers for a brighter garden.
Don’t bother with expensive chemicals if your plants start to sport powdery mildew. Plain water with a bit of liquid soap and baking soda will do the trick. Spray this on your plants once a week until the mildew disappears. No damage will occur to your plants, and the baking soda is mild and efficient.
Stink bugs can damage your garden, especially if you garden in the fall. Fruits, peppers and tomatoes are among the foods they love to eat. If they go unnoticed, they can cause large amounts of harm to your garden, so remember to take protective measures to reduce the population of stink bugs there.
Shelter your deciduous shrubs. Delicate shrubs that are sitting in pots should be sheltered from the cold weather. Tie together the tops, and then use a sheet or blanket to cover the wigwam loosely. Using fabric, rather than plastic, allows air circulation and prevents rotting from moisture build up.
Plant with autumn colors in mind. However, that does not have to be the case! Foliage never looks as colorful and vibrant as it does in the fall. Maple, Beech and Dogwood trees are available in a number of fall colors, varying from bright yellow to rich crimson. Some very good shrubs to choose are barberry, hydrangea, and cotoneaster, which is a member of the rose family.
If you want your garden to be off-limits to your dog, spray a scented perimeter around it using things like old perfumes or aftershave. This will help to cover the scents that are attracting the dog, and make it less of an appealing place for your dog to be.
You should protect the knees if you are kneeling in the garden. Most people can’t bend for long periods while standing. Kneeling can relieve pain in your back, but can instead be painful to your knees. Many types of horticulture pads and cushions are available so that avid gardeners can kneel for longer periods of time without experiencing knee pain.
Flower Beds
You should utilize around three inches of mulch that is organic in your flower beds. Mulch discourages weeds and helps retain moisture while adding nutrients to your flower bed. By adding mulch, you can give your flower beds a finished appearance.
Pine needles should not be overlooked as a great source for mulch. There are many types of plants with a high acidity, which means they thrive in acidic soil. If you have acid loving plants, use pine needles as a mulch. Cover the plots with pine needles. As the pine needles decay, they’ll raise the soil’s acidity.
Use an old laundry basket to collect your produce. This will be like a strainer for all your produce. The basket won’t be affected by the water and it will drain right off as though it were poured into a large sieve.
When planting seeds you should cover them with fine soil. Determine its depth by looking at the seed’s size and multiplying it by three. You should know that certain seeds need not be covered, because they need the sunlight. Example of these kinds of seeds include the petunia and the ageratum. If you’re not sure, a guide either comes with seeds, or you can find this information online.
Get your organic garden certified so you can credibly claim that your crops are organic. This will up your sales and prove to your loyal customers that what they have been getting is only the best that you possibly could get.
If you want to consistently grow healthy tomatoes, wait three weeks between planting each set. This staggers your harvest over time. Additionally, should something happen to during one of your harvests, your tomatoes will not all be ruined.
In organic gardens, like any garden, weeds take a lot of attention to keep them under control. As you can see, there exists a weed killer that’s organic and that’s safe to nature and you.
As this article noted earlier, gardening is an enjoyable and productive means of garnering fresh food in the privacy of your own backyard. Using your own produce in your favorite dishes will make you that much prouder of your meals. Use the advice in this article to optimize your efforts in the garden and yield amazing results.