As the Garden Grows

What's blooming today?


You are here: Home / Archives for In The Garden / Garden Maintenance

Things To Consider Before Setting Up Your Home Garden

by

Having home grown vegetables is a nice perk. Not only are they delicious, and you are able to know exactly how they were grown, growing your own vegetables can help you live healthier and help keep your pocketbook a little fuller.

The idea of having a garden is commendable, but there are some things to consider before you get started on your home vegetable garden. By thinking these things through ahead of time, you will be able to build, plant and grown a garden that fits perfectly in your lifestyle.

1. Location
The first thing to consider is do you have a location for a garden? Do you have an area that the sun hits for at least six to eight hours a day? How much space is this area? It all matters, especially when you figure out what fruits and vegetables you want to grow.

2. Harvest
Once you decide on the location of your home garden, now is the time to figure out what you will grow. If you are limited in space, potatoes, tomatoes and other large plants may not be your best bet, but smaller crops of peppers and strawberries may workout just perfectly. Would you rather have a dense supply of one to two plants or a small wide variety of plants with just one or two of each? You will also need to consider how you will plant your garden. If you have large plants in front of small plants, they may cast shadow and diminish the much needed sunlight for the smaller plants. There are also some plants that grow well near each other and vice versa – all things you should consider before planting.

3. Preparation
Before planting, it is a good idea to prep the soil and plan an irrigating system. Will you grow your fruits and vegetables organically? The richness of the soil will also help your plants. If you do not live in an area with good soil, you may have to purchase some. Either way, remember fruits and vegetables are best grown with a nutrient-rich soil and need plenty of water. Speaking of water – will you run a base line irrigation hose throughout your plants or simply run sprinklers? When planning your irrigation method, make sure you plan a way for the water to run off as well – plants do not do well if they are not drained properly.

4. Boarders
Adding a fence around your garden is a good idea to keep away critters who may want to harvest your garden before you are ready. By taking this extra precaution, you will be saving your hard work by keeping rabbits, raccoons and other animals out.

Now that you know what items you should consider before setting up your home garden, you can begin tackling these tasks and get your home prepped for a prosperous harvest come this summer. Happy growing!

Kathryn Thompson, health advocate and assistant to Susan Wright DVM who is the staff expert for Dog training Collars , devotes part of her time providing encouraging advice regarding life changes and healthy living that make a difference.






4 Common Compost Problems And How To Fix Them

by

Compost is essential for fertile soil. Compost benefits the soil in various ways including encouraging the soil to hold nutrients, attracting much needed soil insect activity and encouraging a more conducive environment for plant growth. There are some common problems that you may encounter when preparing compost. Below are some solutions on how you can address the problems.

Not All Items Are Decomposing

You may have a varied plant matter to create your compost. However, sometimes the materials in the compost do not decompose at the same rate. This is especially the case if you have included whole plant or animal matter in the compost. To address this, ensures that you chop all the matter in the compost to small pieces. This ensures that all matter is exposed equally to the environment and will therefore decompose at the same rate.

Stink

Compost is made up of decomposing matter and the stench is inevitable. Nevertheless, you may want to manage stink if you want to avoid lawsuits of nuisance from your neighbors or you have a sensitive nose. Compost stink can either be caused by wetness or nitrogen rich matter in your compost material. To address this, you should remake your compost by adding some dry leaves or grass. This will help to take care of the nitrogen content in your compost material. The stink is usually caused by bacteria that usually thrive in wet, damp, and dark conditions. Address this by turning your compost regularly to help manage the wet condition.

Dry and Dusty Compost

While compost that is wet may lead to bacteria breeding, you do not want to have compost that is too dry. Damp conditions are ideal to create a good compost material. If the material gets too dry, the compost will not break down sufficiently and this will compromise the quality of your compost. You will experience the problem of dry compost during summer or if you live in a hot environment. Correct this problem by adding some water to the compost. This should be done with care as you do not want to make the compost wet and soggy. Pour the water in bits and keep mixing the compost as you do this. As the compost gets wet, mix properly to ensure that it is damp but not soggy. Stop adding water when you are sure that the compost is damp enough.

My Compost is Attracting Animals and Insects

At time, your compost may even attract some wild animals that are foraging for food. This is normal considering the amount of possible feed available for these animals. You should be able to prevent this by putting protective mesh around your compost site. This should safely keep away any animals that want to eat your compost. It is also very natural that you will find lots of bugs within your compost material. While this sounds disgusting, bugs will help the compost material decompose. They are therefore good for your compost as they assist in the process.

Denis is a freelance writer that loves to share tips on gardening. You can have a look at his site on wall fireplace if you want to learn more on him.

Three Steps to a Fungi-Free Garden

by

If you love gardening, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing all your time and effort go to waste due to fungi attacking your greens and blooms. To make matters worse, these culprits spread rapidly when conditions are favorable and eventually cause a wide variety of parasitic diseases on plants.


However, plant fungal diseases are usually the result of some factors that you can actually control. In fact, as simple as paying attention to your garden’s hygiene and cleanliness can do a whole lot in protecting your plants against fungi attacks. Written below are three more ways you could follow to keep damaging fungi at bay.

Mind your plant placement

Remember that fungi thrive well in damp conditions and planting your greens too close together will eventually result to crowding, which limits the amount of air circulating between the plants. When this happens, your greens are not able to shed water well, especially on their leaves. And if left unattended, fungal spores that are carried by air easily attach themselves on leaf surfaces, thereby setting the stage for fungal invasion.

To avoid this, it is vital that you site your plants properly to allow optimal air circulation around them. It is also wise to group plants together base on their level of water needs so that when you create an irrigation system, you will be able to apply the same amount of water to specific plants within your garden.

Ensure good landscape sanitation

As mentioned earlier, the key to keeping your garden free from fungal diseases is to observe cleanliness. Hence, if you have greens or blooms that are susceptible to fungal diseases, make sure that you regularly remove and discard leaf trimmings, old root systems and fallen fruits from their growing area to avoid the onset of fungi attack. If, for instance, you will reuse old pots, sterilize them before you put the greens in to minimize the risk of fungi infecting the plants.

Practice preventive measures

Keeping your plants in tip-top condition by properly attending to their needs is your safest bet to ensure that they will be able to withstand fungi attacks. Therefore, when gardening, don’t forget to practice preventive measures such as watering the plants’ bases instead of their leaves, applying fresh mulch every now and then to prevent spores from bouncing on the surfaces of leaves, and applying compost to keep both your soil and plants healthy.

Additionally, use horticultural oils and baking soda solutions to keep fungal diseases from infecting your plants in the first place. And don’t forget to provide your greens and blooms with optimum growing conditions (sufficient light, water and soil) so that they will grow healthily.

This gardening advice was penned by one of the regular contributors of Heritage Cleaning, a stone cleaning specialist in Scotland. Their steam-based stone cleaning system is acknowledged by Historic Scotland and has been used in the restoration and conservation of listed buildings throughout the country.

Meta