Gardening is one of the most popular American hobbies and can be a great way to get some fresh air and exercise while making your house look more attractive. If you are interested in learning more about how to maximize your green thumb potential, you have come to the right place!
Design your garden so that your harvest is staggered over as long a season as possible. Use cold-tolerant root crops and greens in the fall, for example, and plan to pick and preserve early strawberries in June. This way, you will have the space and time in your life to store everything you grow.
It is crucial that you have the proper tools before starting a garden. You do not want to begin the process of starting a garden only to realize that you are in need of a tool you do not have. Try to get shovels, trowels, pruners, hoes, garden forks, and rakes.
Do not kill the spiders in your garden. Spiders prey on other insects and can keep unwanted bugs under control. They are a natural source of control for common garden pests. When you see a spider, you should leave him alone to do its job. This will reduce your need for insecticides in your garden.
Use an egg carton to start your seedlings early. Egg cartons are cheap and easy to obtain, and can contain enough soil to get a plant started. Once you’re ready to plant, you can simply rip the carton away from the seedling without damaging the root ball and place the whole soil ball into the ground.
If you do not have a lot of square footage for gardening, try using trellises or posts in your garden. Allowing certain vegetables to grow up a trellis or post rather than spreading out along the ground will allow you to grow more per square foot. You can do this with tomatoes, peas, and climbing beans.
You may want to think about having evergreens that will produce berries planted in your yard. They offer terrific color during the dreariest times of the year when nothing else you have planted has any hue remaining. These plants can help you get some color during the winter months: Winterberry, Common Snowberry, American Holly, and American Cranberrybush.
You can use small clay pots or milk jugs to protect your plants from a late season frost. A bed sheet is also an effective cover on shrubs or large areas. Typically, young sprouts are the most vulnerable. If you forget or your efforts fail, you may be forced to replant the crop.
Always dress appropriately when gardening in order to protect yourself from the harmful effects of the sun. Make sure you wear a wide brimmed hat along with sunglasses and plenty of sunscreen. If you properly protect yourself from the sun, you will not get a sun burn and you will decrease your risk of getting skin cancer.
Wearing gloves to protect your hands is very important. It is very possible to get cut on something that is lodged in the ground if you do not wear gardening gloves. The best time to buy gardening gloves is at the end of summer when all of the gardening supplies have been put on clearance.
Protect your hands when gardening. Garden gloves are made to fit all different hand sizes. They protect your hands not only from getting dirty but also from splinters, cuts and scrapes. Most gloves are inexpensive and are well worth the investment.
A great first step to having a successful organic garden is to test the acidity of the soil in your garden. The ideal number is 6.5, if your soil is on the low end, it’s too acidic and if it’s on the high end it’s too alkaline. Neither of those situations lends itself to a successful garden. So by purchasing a soil testing kit before planting, you will assure yourself a beautiful organic garden in the summer.
Calculate how much water your plants truly need. Thinner plants generally need more water; they contain larger surface area with less capacity to store water. Plants with large, thick waxy leaves are often more suited for water-starved environments. Over-watering may also cause problems with the plant due to microbial growth on their roots.
If you are beginning an organic garden, you should make sure that you re-pot your seedlings into larger containers with a compost mix as soon as your seedlings begin crowding each other in their original containers. If you do not do this, your seeds will eventually suffocate themselves and die.
Consider adding mulch for healthier soil. A thick layer of mulch offers protection to the soil underneath it. It will keep the soil cool in the summer, which protects the roots. This retains moisture for extended periods by reducing the rate at which water evaporates. Mulch also prevents the growth of weeds.
When growing your own organic tomatoes you should always alternate the tomato bed. The reason is because this will reduce the tomatoes’ risk of catching soil borne diseases like early blight and bacterial spot. These particular diseases can destroy your tomato plants, so you need to lower the risk of your tomatoes catching them as much as possible.
When dealing with an aphid infestation, even those that are very heavy, you can dilute soap with water and spray your plants. Not only is this method safe for humans, plants, and even those pesky pests, it keeps them off your plants where damage can be made, ruining the beauty of your organic garden.
Compost can be very useful when you decide to grow a garden organically, yet a lot of people don’t know what compost is made up of. It is made of things such as wood chips, lawn cuttings, fallen leaves, bits of produce, straw and other yard waste that has started to decompose. Making your own compost is much safer than using commercial fertilizer.
Gardening can be an excellent stress-reducer and a great way to add to the attractiveness of your house. Regardless of your level of gardening ability, the ideas presented in this article will be helpful to you in your pursuit of an attractive, well-kept garden. So grab your gardening gloves and go for it!