If you are looking for a way to beautify your home, gardening is a great choice! When you add flowers, greenery and even, home grown veggies to your landscape, it can make your deck, patio or yard look cool, lush and inviting. Even if you are a beginner, it’s easy to get started on this enjoyable hobby.
Remember to aerate your soil. If you loosen or puncture the soil, it will increase air permeability and water penetration. Aerating can be as simple as turning the soil over with a trowel, or in the case of lawns, making small holes in the grass. This can be done with an aerating machine, a garden fork, or even by walking on the grass wearing a pair of spiked golf shoes. This brings oxygen into the roots and promotes healthy new growth.
Consider using organic fertilizers in your garden. These are safer than chemical fertilizers, which can build up salts in the ground over time. The salts restrict the ability of the plants to get water and nutrients from the soil. They can also kill helpful earthworms and microorganisms which eat thatch.
If having a lot of color in your garden is what you like but you want a sense of continuity, the best way to achieve this effect is to use two colors consistently among all of your plantings. As you look at your garden, your eyes will be drawn to the continuity of color and the view will feel more harmonized to the senses.
During the hot season, water your lawn a couple of hours before the sun rises. If you water during the day, much of the water will evaporate before it gets a chance to be absorbed into the ground. When you water before the sunrise, the water will have a chance to go deep into the soil, allowing the roots to absorb the water.
Use your leftover pasta water in your garden! Plants are big starch fans and thrive with water that contains higher levels of starch, like the water left over after you boil pasta or potatoes. Make sure, though, that you let the water sit until it reaches room temperature prior to watering your plants with it!
If you spend a lot of time taking care of your garden, get yourself a gardening wheelbarrow. You can put all the gardening supplies that you need on the wheelbarrow and easily push it around to various parts of your garden. This will save you time from looking for various supplies every time you need to tend to your garden.
To make your own miniature greenhouse, simply cover a pot with an old plastic bag. This will mimic the humid environment that allows plants inside a greenhouse to thrive. If you’d also like to protect your plant from the weather, build a dome out of a sturdy plastic and place it atop the plant.
By following these simple tips, you will be able to get your garden going with just a few hardy, easy choices in plants. This will help you impress your friends, relations and the neighborhood at large, with your gardening expertise. As your skill grows, you can move on to more challenging types of plants.