When it comes to gardening, there are lots of things that you are going to have to learn when you first start. But even if you are an expert gardener, you can always learn something new and these 10 gardening life hacks are going to be able to help you become better gardener.
They have been separated into three different categories. The first category is design. Design your garden may not be as important as what you are growing or taking care of your plants, but it certainly is a consideration because an aesthetically pleasing garden can be a wonderful thing.
The next category is tips on raising flowering plants. Some people prefer to have vegetable gardens and will get to those shortly, but if you have decided that you want to raise flowers to beautify your home, you are definitely going to want to check out these tips. Finally, the third category that we will go over is growing fruits and vegetables. Whether you are growing fruits and vegetables simply for the challenge or you want to cut down on your grocery budget by providing your own, these tips will definitely help you produce better things from your garden.
Garden Design Tips
One of the great things that you can do with your garden is attract some of the insects and wildlife that are out there. For example you might want to bring in some other beautiful birds that are flying around your neighborhood or you want to bring in bees to pollinate your plants. Lavender is a great choice when it comes to attracting these creatures because of the spell, but daisies and ivy are good choices too.
If you leave any portion of soil without something planted and then you can bet you’re going to have weeds growing up there. You would probably rather have your own plants then weeds so make sure that you plan something whenever you have unused patches of soil.
One tip that the experts advocate is creating a professional design look by using only three or four different types of plans but using quite a few of them to design a small space. You want to make sure that you only have one or two colors among the four plants.
You want to make sure that your borders are far enough out so that you can plant anything you want. If you make your borders from front to back very narrow you’re only going to be able to plant single plants and when it comes to shrubs and perennials, you are going to have a problem with them spilling out over the walk or lawn. That means that you will have to cut them down which is a waste and extra work.
Tips on Raising Flowers
When it comes to annuals there are a few things to keep in mind. First autumn should be your season for collecting seeds of the heartiest annuals like sweet peas. Make sure that you let them dry completely before storing them to avoid rotting. Annuals are also good choices because you have a lot more freedom when it comes to when to sow them. They will just bloom at a different time every so them differently. Annuals like California poppies, cornflowers, larkspur, poached eggplant and opium poppies are all good starter annuals.
Many people want to plant roses and if you have a summer garden, roses can be one of the best features. But if you don’t have very much space there are roses that flower throughout the entire summer. The logic behind this is that roses take up a lot of space and you should have the ones that last as long as possible.
Another thing to keep in mind about roses is that if you have climbing plants, they will flower a lot better if you train the branches horizontally. If you train them vertically than the hormones are going to be concentrated at the tip whereas with a horizontal training, you get them all throughout the stem. That is going to make for a much better looking rose plant then if you only had flowers at the stem.
Tips on Fruits & Veggies
Keep in mind that when you are raising fruits and vegetables you should only dig when the soil is fairly dry.If the soil is too wet and sticks to things it will become compacted under your feet and the entire point of digging is to decompact the soil. A good rule of thumb is, if your soil is sticking to the bottom of your shoes then you should wait for it to dry out before you start date.
Something you want to keep in mind that a lot of beginner gardeners don’t realize is that you can so different crops in the same row and you can save a lot of space this way. For example, you can combine crops that grow very slowly with ones that flower quickly. Carrots take forever to come to fruition but lettuce and radish are both plants to grow quickly.
Finally, remember that if you are using very small seeds then one of the hacks that you should be aware of is that you can mix it with a little bit of sand before you sow it. This prevents small seeds from being sown too thickly and is quite economical for you as well.