Does everyone else’s grass always seem to look greener? You may suspect that your neighbor is employing some trick you do not know in their garden. Truth be told, there is no real secret to creating a gorgeous garden. All you need is the proper information on how to correctly care for your plants. You can begin your quest for knowledge by reading this article for some gardening tips.
Great Gardening Tips!
Flowering Annuals
There are some annuals that grow better in the colder months. They enjoy cooler daytime temperatures, and do well in areas where nights get quite cold. For a spring flush of color, plant early flowering annuals. Sow seeds in fall: they will lay dormant over the winter, and germinate in the spring. Following the pruning, it generally takes only a couple weeks before blooming occurs again, which creates a lovely image compared to the traditional foliage of the winter months. These plants may need to be trimmed if they are growing too much during these months.
Good varieties include snapdragon, petunias, California poppy, dianthus, candytuft, stock, linaria and cornflower.
Planting Lily Bulb
The time to plant lily bulbs is during spring so that they will be well-established by winter. However, you will find many varieties of lily bulbs in garden centers in the fall. If you opt to plant lily bulbs in the fall, be sure to mulch heavily at least six inches on top with hardwood mulch or straw to protect them from cold winter freezes.
For a ‘cottage’ garden
Rambling roses, traditionally grown in cottage gardens, are some of the oldest varieties of roses. They are once-a-year bloomers, featuring huge clusters of small flowers in midsummer. It stems can grow to 30 feet long if not pruned, in fact, the most benefits from simply being left alone. An advantage of rambling roses is that they are quite disease resistant and very hardy.
Deadheading blooms
Maintain your bulbs after they have flowered. When your bulbs have finished flowering, resist the temptation to cut down the foliage. The foliage is only present for a short time and it manufactures food for storage underground. The bulb needs this food to send up flowers the following year.
When it comes to deadheading blooms, wait to remove the faded blooms until the bloom is completely finished. Leave on as much foliage as possible so that the leaves can continue to feed the plant. Ideally, you should allow the foliage to yellow and wilt before removing it. When the foliage begins to fade, cut out the dying or discolored canes of the plant so that rot or disease does not set in.
Protect your garden from pest
When gardening, be watchful of stink bugs, particularly in the fall. They like fruits, as well as peppers, beans and tomatoes. If they go unnoticed, they can cause large amounts of harm to your garden, so remember to take protective measures to reduce the population of stink bugs there.
Protect your soft fruits from birds. Birds can be a problem when your soft fruits are maturing. Cover bushes with temporary netting once the berries start to ripen. Wall-trained soft fruit can be draped with netting attached to the top of a nearby wall, and allowed to hang over the plant like a curtain. Just be sure that the netting you use is fine, so that the berries get enough light.
Garden Gloves
When gardening, best ways to keep your fingernails clean in the garden is by wearing gardening gloves. Search for the best fit. If the gloves are too bulky or too loose, you will just take them off in frustration. One suggestion is using nitrile latex gloves. They will fit to your skin, can be re-worn a few times before tossing, you will not have the bulkiness of an over-sized garden glove and no hard to get out dirt under those nails!
Healthy and happy garden
Keep your plants thriving through the winter by bringing them inside. You might want to transplant your most valuable varieties. Carefully dig around the root ball and replant in an appropriate pot.
Keep your container plants watered if you go on a short vacation. If you are away from home for a few days, this short-term measure will keep your plants happy. Put the container in a shady spot, fill a bucket with water and place it on bricks so that it is higher than the container. Suspend a length of capillary mattings between the bucket and the container. This will transport water to the soil consistently and keep your container plant sufficiently moist.
Always fertilize your garden. Choose commercial compost instead of homegrown manure to keep toxins out of your plants. Although there are plenty of fertilizer choices, don’t be concerned with which one you use; just be sure to use one.
In conclusion, these are a few of the most important gardening tips available for your garden. All of the gardening advice contained in the tips above is simple and relatively easy to implement. You just need some basic education on gardening techniques, and then you can put that education to good use. Hopefully, this will give you not only knowledge, but also the confidence to do your best in the garden. Pay attention to how your plants respond to the methods that you use. Experimenting with already existing plants will only lead to disaster.
You want to be the best you can be when it comes to gardening. This is important because you want to be able to proudly show off your garden to anybody that comes to your house. Be patient and your garden will eventually be envied by your neighbors. Go ahead and give them a try and you should be happy with your turnout.
If you’re looking for more gardening tips, don’t hesitate to contact us at 805-773-5395.