Grow healthy and delicious food at home, right outside your door. Whether you pick your whole salad or enjoy a vine ripened tomato in your favorite recipe, there is nothing more delicious than produce from your own garden. Use the common sense advice in the article below to ensure a bountiful harvest.
Slowly acclimatize your plants to the outside environment to keep from shocking them. Leave them outside in sunlight for a couple of hours on the initial day. Over the week, try gradually increasing the time they’re left outside. If you do this correctly, the plants should be able to make their final move at the end of a week’s time.
Plant seeds in pots that have a rich soil to give them a strong start. This will help the plants make it to full growth. This also helps tighten time between plantings. The seedlings are ready to go, once you remove the mature plants.
Pull all the weeds in your garden. Weeds and gardens do not mix; they will destroy your garden. A clever way to accomplish this is with the help of some white vinegar. The acidity of the vinegar is harmful to most plants. By placing a white vinegar solution in a spray bottle, you can spray the weeds away instead of having to pull them out manually.
When dealing with any type of seeds in gardening, it’s important that you soak them overnight in a cool, dark location. Place some seeds in your smaller pots and add water almost to the brim. This will keep seeds hydrated and help them to grow faster. The seeds will most likely have a greater chance of maturing and surviving.
Protect your delicate shrubs from harsh, wintry elements. When these tender shrubs are kept in pots, cold weather can be very damaging. Connect the tops, and then place a sheet over the top of the wigwam. This method is much better than wrapping the plant in plastic, as it allows air to circulate, which can prevent rotting.
A set of knee pads is a great investment if your garden has a lot of low-growing plants. Gardening can really put a lot of pressure on your knees that will leave you cramped and uncomfortable. Your knees can get supported with a decent pair of horticulture knee pads.
Using boiling water to kill weeds is both efficient and organic. A pot of very hot water is one of the most effective ways you can get rid of the weeds in your garden. Literally pour the water on the weeds, avoiding any wanted plants near them, and watch the weeds die over time. The boiling water will damage the roots of the weeds and will usually prevent further growth.
Choose plants that will provide color in autumn. It doesn’t have to be this way, however. In terms of colorful foliage, fall is the time of year admired by many. Maple trees come in a variety of fall colors ranging from yellow to deep crimson, as do Beech trees and Dogwood. Add even more color to your garden by planting shrubs such as hydrangea, barberry or cotoneaster.
The flesh of vegetables gets soft in the heat of the day, making them especially vulnerable to inadvertent damage with even the gentlest picking. Cut vegetables off at the vine, and don’t twist them off, as this could hurt the plant.
Heather is a magnet for friendly insects. Bees are naturally attracted to heather for its nectar. Because heather beds require very little maintenance, they often become the home of spiders, ground beetles, and other insects that can benefit your garden. Protect yourself from being surprised by these bugs by donning horticulture gloves before disturbing your heather beds.
It is important to keep the temperature set between 65 and 75 degrees, if you wish to raise plants in the home. The temperature needs to be this warm so they are able to grow. Heat lamps can be used to promote growth without the necessity of raising your home’s interior temperature.
Plastic bags can be kept on hand and reused to slip over your dirty gardening shoes. This lets you be able to return to the garden without interrupting your work.
Pine Needles
Pine is a wonderful mulch so do not discard the idea. A number of plants commonly grown in garden settings do best in an acidic soil. If this is the case, use pine needles to mulch your beds. Cover soil beds with a few inches of pine needles, and they will disperse acidity to the soil below as they decompose.
Don’t let the chores for your organic garden pile up. Even doing just a few small things each day can keep chores from piling up and eventually becoming unmanageable. This will save you a lot of time in the long run. For example, if you are playing in the yard with your child, take a few moments to pull some weeds as well.
When planting seeds in containers, remember that the depth should be at least three times bigger than the seed. You should know that certain seeds need not be covered, because they need the sunlight. Ageratum and petunias fall into this category. If you are not sure whether your seeds need to be exposed to sunlight, resources are usually provided with the seeds or can be found online.
If slugs are a problem in your garden, use a beer trap to kill them naturally. Start by burying a wide-mouth jar in the soil, ensuring that the rim of the jar is just at the soil’s surface. Pour beer into the jar until it is an inch from the top. Slugs will be attracted to the beer and find themselves trapped.
Horticulture, as you can see, is an awesome way to grow your own delicious food. Making meals with your own fresh produce will mean dining memories you are proud of. If you apply the advice you have learned here, you can get the most from your garden.