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Garden Doldrums? This Advice Will Perk It Right Up!

Chris Kostopoulos Dec 18, 2012 · 6 min read

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

If you dream of having green, beautiful, and healthy plants in your very own garden, there are lots of things you should probably think about in order to achieve that goal. Horticulture can be a lot of work, but it can also be a lot of fun. This advice will assist with increasing the fun and decreasing the work.

Your soil needs to be of good quality before you start a garden. Many nurseries offer a soil analysis service, which will tell you what nutrients your soil is lacking and what you can do about it. Save yourself the trouble of a failed crop by contacting your local Cooperative Extension to preform the soil test.

Start Growing

Before you start growing a garden, you should build a fence around it. Having something in place to keep out animals before the garden has even started growing will make sure the plants are safe from the moment they start growing, and can reach their maximum size.

Fertilizer is important when you garden. Choose commercial compost instead of homegrown manure to keep toxins out of your plants. There are numerous types of fertilizers available. What type you select is less of a concern; any kind of fertilizer is better than none.

TIP! When you decide to add vegetables into your garden space, be aware that they must be placed where they will receive direct sunlight for a minimum of six hours daily. Most vegetables require this amount of sun in order to grow properly and at a quicker pace.

When horticulture, be watchful of stink bugs, particularly in the fall. They enjoy tomatoes, peppers, beans, and many different varieties of fruits. If left unattended, your garden could be ravaged by these bugs, so you need to proactively keep their population under control.

Look for targeted pesticides instead of using popular but damaging broad-spectrum products. These strong pesticides are non-selective, killing beneficial insects as well as pests. The bugs you need are often more fragile than the ones you don’t: a pesticide could actually kill the beneficial insects while leaving the pests unaffected. This might result in you having to use even more pesticides to get rid of the pests.

Do paperwork for your veggie garden! List what plants you plan on growing, draw your growing area and include what you will plant where. You’ll need to remember plant dimensions and needed dampness and light exposure.

TIP! If you are gardening with a cut, make sure that you adequately protect it from dirt and chemicals. Your cut could get infected if you’re dealing with grime and dirt when gardening.

Vegetables get softer as the temperature goes up, so you could damage your vegetables if you pick them during the hottest hours. Cut vegetables to remove them from vines rather than twisting and pulling them. Twisting vegetables off vines damages them.

Planting Calendar

You should always have a planting calendar when planning your garden. A calendar of this nature helps tell you what to plant when each seasons comes. If you make a plan ahead of time, you will be prepared with the seeds and plants when you need them. Any type of calendar can be turned into a planting calendar, whether paper or via a computer application.

TIP! You can prevent pests from invading your garden with certain plants and natural materials. For example, planting a border consisting of marigolds or onions can repel slugs.

If you are a parent, gardening is a wonderful hobby that you family can bond over. Many children absolutely adore choosing the plants and flowers for your garden. They think that it is a great thing to have permission to be dirty, especially if it is with their parents.

Your vegetable garden should get at least six hours of sun daily. Most vegetables need this amount of sunlight to grow the right way at a faster pace. This also rings true for some of the flowers.

Some varieties of annuals can look beautiful in cold weather. These plants can be kept looking great by pruning them back when they become leggy. After a few weeks, these annuals will bloom again and look beautiful in contrast to the browns of winter foliage. Dianthus and petunias are two annuals that fare well in cold weather. Likewise, snapdragons do well, too.

TIP! If your garden contains lots of short plants, purchase some gardening knee pads. Gardening is supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable; you don’t want to finish every gardening session with aching, throbbing knees.

When gardening, protecting your knees is important. It’s difficult for most people to bend while standing, especially at the waist. You can kneel instead to help keep your back relaxed while tending to your plants. You can get a knee pad to place on the ground to kneel on so that you do not feel pain in your knees.

A simple ammonia and water mix will keep snails away from your garden. Ammonia is harmless to your plants, and it breaks down into nitrogen that will help fertilize them. It will kill the snails and keep them from hurting your flowers. Use the water and ammonia mixture every day for best results.

For visual interest, make one plant a focal point of your garden. Gardens are like art; you need to give the piece (or garden) an initial focal point. The focal point should be a plant totally different from the others around it.

TIP! There are many types of bees, most of which are beneficial to your garden, such as the bumble bee who help keep plants pollinated. Yet some bees can harm your garden, such as carpenter bees.

Make use of root cuttings to create many new plants. During wintertime, when the roots are dormant, you should cut them. Take off the biggest roots with a sharp blade. Cut the roots into two inch lengths. Fill up a tray with seeds with dirt and grit and put your roots on the surface of that. Cover thinly with grit and peat. Keep this in a cool setting, and in about one month, you will start to see new seedlings. When they sprout, it’s important that you plant each seedling in a separate larger tray or flower pot until it’s time to put them outside.

Flower Beds

Brighten up your flower beds with annuals and biennials. Your flower beds will look different from one season to another. They can be used to fill in gaps in your garden between the perennials or shrubs so your garden looks fuller. Notable biennials and annuals include marigold, sunflowers, hollyhock, petunia, and cosmos.

TIP! Do you enjoy fresh mint, but don’t like how they engulf your garden in their growth? Try to keep your mint in a container in your garden to stop their rampage. If you would like, go ahead and plant the container and the plant right in the ground to prevent root overtake.

To make sure the roots of your large plants (trees and shrubbery) have a strong development, plant them in the fall. The ground is warm and the plants will lack leaves in the fall. The plants will thus focus on building up their root system, which will give you a strong foundation.

With these tips, you’re better equipped to grow the most beautiful garden you can imagine. In learning how to create your dream garden, you’ll also be growing as a person. That’s because learning how to nurture your plants will not only help you reach the goal of having a great garden, but it will help you learn to nurture yourself.