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6 Time Saving Tips For Gardening

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Garden

It’s officially that time of the year to start getting busy with planting and preparing your garden for harvest. If you haven’t already started growing your indoor buds, now is the perfect time to check your soil outside and see if the temperature is warm and dry enough to work with. Don’t have a lot of time to start a garden? Don’t sweat it! Here are 6 time saving tips for gardening that’ll get you up and running in no time at all.

Start with a plan

For anyone looking to save time and be efficient, planning ahead is always the best option when doing virtually anything. Specifically with gardening, having a thought out plan can save you time trying to decide where you want each plant to go while you’re working outside. For additional productivity, make a decision regarding what you plan on replacing the short-lived plants with, such as lettuce and spinach.

Keep tools close

Rather than running around when you finally find time to get outside to work on the garden looking for your tools, have a designated area close to the garden where you store them. A lot of gardeners lose time outside when they are disorganized, and this is something you can easily change. Whether you have a bucket full of your commonly used tools or you have a belt with all of them attached, use whatever method that will save you the most time.

Cut off weeds

One of the most annoying parts of preparing a garden for the spring is the process of getting rid of all of the dead plants from the previous year and any weeds that have grown since then. A time saving trick is to chop any low-growing weeds all at once as opposed to plucking each one individually. Use a sharp blade to slice beneath weeds and then turn them over to completely bury the leaves. As the leaves begin to rot, weeds can help to nourish the soil and act as a green manure.

Mulch it up

Spreading mulch is a no-brainer, but most importantly you need to make sure you spread it efficiently and evenly. Using the tined edge of a rake, you can pull and spread the mulch. Then by flipping the rake over, even out the mulch on the bed.

Water water water

Plants need water to grow, and without water, you will be wasting your time trying to grow yourself a garden. With that said, invest in a soaker hose rather than a traditional watering can so that you can water with ease. The great thing about these hoses is that the water can be left on for many hours, giving you the opportunity to work on something else.

Take small steps

No garden is going to grow overnight, and it’s important to keep that mind set as opposed to pushing a garden to grow faster. A huge mistake a lot of us make is that we get impatient with the process and rather than letting your garden take the time it needs, we over-water and spend too much time monitoring the process. Take a step back and let your garden grow and you’ll be pleased with the results by the time summer rolls around!

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Ann Michaels is a freelance writer and gardening advocate. She loves making her garden look as beautiful as possible, which is why she buys religious garden statues to improve the overall look. She loves offering tips and tricks to other gardening advocates and hopes her suggestions help!

Natural Alternatives To Weed Killers And Pesticides

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Weeds and bugs can destroy your yard, and if you worked hard on your landscaping—or if you simply can’t stand weeds and bugs—you’ll want to find ways to keep them away from your yard. Most people turn to pesticides and weed killers, but if you have pets or small children, or if you worry about the environment, most weed killers and pesticides are not a great option. Instead of buying and using products that are filled with harmful chemicals, you can always opt for one of the following natural remedies instead.

WEED KILLER

Hot Water

One of the easiest and safest remedies to killing weeds in your yard is to use hot water. Boil some water so that it’s as hot as possible and then pour it carefully onto the weeds. The hot water will instantly kill the weed and won’t harm you or the environment.

Vinegar

Another safe remedy to kill weeds in your yard is to simply spray them with vinegar. Place vinegar in a spray bottle and spray down the weeds that you don’t want in your yard. The vinegar will eventually kill the weeds. Note that you may need to buy a higher concentrated vinegar, so if the vinegar you purchase at the grocery store doesn’t work, ask your lawn care supply store if they have anything stronger. (Note: pickling vinegar has a higher amount of acid, so if it’s available at your grocery store, choose that one over regular vinegar.)

Newspaper

Newspaper is a great way to naturally kill and keep weeds at bay. If you have weeds already, smother them with newspaper and they will eventually die. If you’re about to plant a flower bed or garden, don’t spend money on the expensive weed screen and instead throw down a few layers of newspaper, as it will keep the weeds from growing in the first place.

PESTICIDE

Syrup

Put a small amount of syrup (or even honey) in a container and place it far away from your garden or flower bed. The sweetness of the honey will attract flies, bees and other insects and keep them away from your garden or flower bed. Plus, since the syrup is extremely sticky, most bugs will get stuck and eventually die.

Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous Earth is a natural pesticide that can be found at most home and garden stores. It’s a chalky substance that you place around your garden or flower bed, and the chalky substance works as an abrasive to smaller insects, killing them by tearing open their stomach or dehydrating them from the inside out.

Soapy Water

Add a few drops of dish soap to some warm water and place it around your flower bed or garden. Although this mixture will not kill the insects that come near your flowers, it irritates them enough to keep them away.

Cayenne Pepper

If you have bugs that are eating your flowers or vegetables, you may want to invest in some cayenne pepper (or red pepper flakes) and sprinkle it on your plants. The spiciness of the cayenne pepper will not kill the insects, but it will make it uncomfortable enough for them to keep them away from your garden or flowers. Using spices has also been known to keep away small animals such as rabbits and squirrels too.

Jessica Crouch is a landscape expert and avid gardener who loves writing about common plants and ways to deal with herbal pests.






How To Prepare Your Garden For Winter

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As the days become shorter and the weather cooler, you know winter is not far away. Your thoughts will turn to what you need to do to prepare your garden for winter.

General Gardening Tasks

Weeding is a never-ending job. It is important to remove as many as possible before winter, otherwise you will have rampant weed growth in spring. Many weeds respond better to weed-killer applications now than at other times of the year.

Putting down a thick layer of mulch will suppress weeds and protects the roots of plants. Much of the mulch layer protection comes from providing more even temperatures that make sure roots are not stressed from an on-going cycle of freezing and thawing. It is best to wait until the ground is getting colder to do this in order to discourage any mice from making their winter homes in the mulch.

Autumn is the ideal time to plant new shrubs and trees. Autumn and winter allow strong root growth to develop. The new plantings should be well established before the hot dry days on summer arrive.

As the leaves fall put them on your compost pile as they convert to great organic matter.

Any potted houseplants which have been outdoors will need to be moved back inside. This process should be done in a two-step process to order to protect them from climate shock. Give them a few days is a shed or garage before bringing them into the house.

If your area is susceptible to heavy frosts make sure you disconnect any garden hoses. This is to make sure fittings do not split due to frozen water.

Grass will have a head-start in spring if work is done to remove weeds such as dock. An application of a specialised lawn fertiliser now will also lead to lusher growth in the new growing season.

Flower Garden

If any plants are looking unhealthy or diseased this is an ideal time to dispose of them. Put these plants in the rubbish rather than putting them on the compost pile.

This is also the time to plant out any bulbs. Most bulbs need the winter chill so that they flower as expected the following spring.

Winter annuals can be planted before the soil temperature gets too cold. If you are well prepared then you can plant out seeds. However, the potted seedlings will probably have a better success rate. Good flowers for winter colour are pansies and stock.

It is good to cut perennials back, but do not do this before the plant heads into its winter dormancy. The plant needs to transfer energy through to its roots for the winter lay-over and if cut back too early, this won’t be able to happen.

Vegetable Garden

The vegetable garden becomes a lot less busy over winter. Pull out any old plants before winter so any eggs laid by insect pests don’t hitch a ride through to spring. This old plant matter can be worked directly back into the soil to improve the soil condition.

If you have winter crops planted such as parsnips, broccoli or leeks, they will benefit from staying in the ground. The winter temperatures convert natural sugars in these plants making them tastier.

Attached Images:
  •  License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://photodune.net/licenses/photo
  •  License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://photodune.net/licenses/photo

These tips were brought to you by Luis Simmons and Rhodium (rh-45.com) – Luis is a property blogger from London and loves to share is home improvement and interior design ideas.

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