Bring Your Garden To Life With These Top Tips
If you enjoy being outdoors, doing things with your hands, and having a real, tangible result for your work, gardening may be the perfect hobby for you. Gardening not only improves the look of your house and provides fruits and vegetables, but it also improves your own stress level. Read on for some tips!
If you plan to be a gardener, start with the right tools. A hoe, rake, hose, and spade are the minimum that you will need. Planting without these supplies will be difficult, time consuming, and sometimes even impossible. Many garden centers offer “getting started kits” with all of the supplies you will need.
When you do gardening, make sure that you have a good pair of gardening gloves. Gardening is rough on your hands. Thorns and sharp branches can hurt your hands if they are not protected by gloves. Sometimes you cannot see what is in a bush when you stick your hand in there to prune. Wearing a pair of gardening gloves will make sure that your hands will not be injured.
Wait for the right moment if you plan on dividing a plant. Leave perhaps two years to grow and divide it at the end of the season when it looks at its best. If your plant shows signs of diseases or has areas with fewer leaves and flowers than others, it is too late.
Alfalfa meal can be a great fertilizer for many gardens. This is a natural fertilizer, and can be readily purchased at most health food stores. It provides essential nutrients to your plants, while letting you avoid harmful chemicals. Apply the alfalfa meal directly over your soil. Reapply after any heavy rain falls.
To get rid of weeds and household junk at the same time, use shredded junk mail as a fertilizer. Take the shredded pieces of mail, wet them, and lay them in your garden. This will prevent weeds from growing on the places where they are laid, and will also help your plants to fight off diseases.
Plants need room to grow. Packing too many plants in proximity to one another will make them compete for resources and you’ll subsequently either have one plant die, or have both plants grow in much worse conditions. It’s advisable to research the full size of a plant and look at how deep and how far apart the plants should be grown.
Make sure to pick the right seeds for your location and zone. Certain crops grow better in certain locations. Seed packets usually have information regarding USDA zones. Information regarding USDA Plant Hardiness Zones is also available online. A good example of this is growing oranges in warmer climates and apples in cooler climates.
As you read earlier in the article, gardening has a diverse set of benefits that make it a great hobby, from improving property value to putting delicious and healthy food on your table. If this sounds like a good way to spend your time, apply the tips from this article and start your own garden!