Gardening serves different purposes for many people. For some, gardening is a means of relaxation, as they find it therapeutic to create beautiful floral arrangements and give new life to flowers. Others use gardening as a means of sustenance, growing their own fruits and vegetables for consumption. The tips in the following article will help you with your gardening needs.
Trying to shovel through clay soil can be extremely difficult and tiresome. One way to get around this problem is to coat the shovel with wax. Use a clean cloth to spread the wax evenly. The shovel will glide through the clay and as a bonus, your shovel will be resistant to rust.
When boiling or steaming vegetables, keep the water that the vegetables were cooked in and let it cool. Use the water to water the garden with. It is packed with all the vitamins and minerals that were in the vegetables when they were cooked and will help the plants grow as a natural plant food.
To keep dirt from getting under your fingernails while horticulture, reach for a bar of soap beforehand! As much as we all love horticulture, none of us really enjoy all that soil that gets stuck under our nails that can be so challenging to remove. Simply claw a bar of soap before you begin working in your garden and when finished, run your hands under water and as the soap washes away, so does the dirt!
Don't use broad-spectrum pesticides in the garden. These pesticides will kill every type of pest in your garden, including beneficial bugs that eat garden pests. Beneficial bugs are usually several orders more sensitive to the things you spray than the pests you are trying to kill, so you might wind up dropping the good bug populace and open the door to pest population growth. This will cause a cycle to start where you will need to keep increasing the amount of pesticide you are using.
When you get new plants for your garden, make sure you are meeting their sun requirements. Some plants prefer low sun and shady areas, while other plants require full sun in order to thrive. Giving your plants the wrong light level can cause them to wilt and die too soon.
A helpful solution for getting rid of a few slugs in your garden is to set out a container of beer. Just take a small plastic cup or container (plastic margarine bowl works great) and tuck it down into your garden beds near the area where the slugs are known to appear. Be sure the lip of the dish is level to the ground and then fill it with beer. The beer attracts the slugs into the dish where they will drown. You will have to dispose of the slugs and reset the beer "trap" every couple days, but your slugs will disappear.
When planting your bulbs, have you ever wondered what end of the bulb should be pointing upward? Even though the growing end will naturally grow towards the warmth of the sun, being planted in the right direction will make it easier on the growing shoot. If a bulb has a pointed end, the end with the point should be planted upward since it contains the stem. Long tubers and rounded corms are more difficult to figure out which end to plant upward. If they still have dried roots attached, plant that end downward.
Marigold flowers are quite the powerhouse in an organic garden. As their flowers and leaves decay, the marigold releases chemicals that attract frogs, repel snakes and kill nematode pests that attack many vegetable plants, including tomatoes. Look for ways to let the bright yellow marigold bring brilliant color and decoration to your garden, as it goes to work to protect the health of your plants.
Keep your horticulture tools organized. You do not want to trek out to your garden, only to realize you do not have everything you need with you and need to hunt your tools down. Keep small tools in a tool belt that you can grab and throw on easily or keep them in a 5-gallon bucket that you can carry out to your garden, quickly.
A typical English garden combines various plants of differing heights in a single bed. If you use plants that are all the same size your garden will look flat.
Carefully consider the location you choose to plant trees. Remember that your trees will likely get huge. Make sure trees are not planted too close to any structure or foundation. The costs involved, to remove a tree and roots that have gotten into your structures, can be astronomical. This will be easy to avoid with proper planning.
Once you begin gathering produce from your garden, share it with your friends and family. It is extremely satisfying to give them a gift containing something that you made with your own hands. Seeing the pleased reactions of the recipients, also motivates you to continue working hard on your garden.
Use compost to feed your crops. In organic gardening, compost is necessary for the survival of your plants. A home compost pile is a great, inexpensive source of compost. Many food scraps, grass, and dry leaves can be used in your compost. However, avoid cooked foods, ash, and animal waste in an organic compost pile.
For your flower beds, organic material should be used as mulch. Two or three inches should be enough. Doing this keeps weeds down, keeps the moisture in your plants, and gives more nutrients to the plants. By adding mulch, you can give your flower beds a finished appearance.
Use organic mulch. Any material that is spread over the soil is considered mulch. It helps to keep weeds at bay, holds moisture in the soil, and keeps the ground cool in summer and warm in winter. Examples of mulch include compost, shredded leaves, fine wood chips, straw and grass clippings.
Use organic weed killers. Weed killers commonly contain toxic and noxious chemicals. These can get into the soil and contaminate your groundwater. A great and cheap alternative to the harsh chemicals is to use vinegar. On a sunny day, spray cider vinegar onto any weeds you have. They will soon die without hurting the environment.
Use mulch to protect the plants in your organic garden. Plants need to be http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/decorating/outdoor-living/outdoor-decor protected so that they can grow, since they cannot protect themselves that well. Some protections that mulch provides includes protecting your plants' roots from the heat of the sun and and protecting the fragile plant crown during the winter.
Hopefully, this article has given you tips and tricks to enjoy a well-maintained garden.
Most people consider gardens to be high-maintenance, when in reality they require less than 20 minutes of work a day. This misconception can lead people to let their lawn or backyard go into a state of disrepair, which actually takes more time and hard work to remedy than simple daily maintenance. Remember, a official source little time spent here and there can add to the value of a house and be a real pleasure to look at for both the owner and people passing by.
