While we all enjoy the view of well-trimmed and cultured gardens of places we visit like hotels, restaurants and plush residential areas, we may want to take a minute to look at how we can manage our gardens and keep them the way we want without spending so much. We have provided you with some do-it-yourself tips to actually see your garden grow.
A well-maintained garden is a healthy garden. Only a garden that is maintained produces edible fruits and vegetables as well as beautiful flowers. While maintaining the garden also improves the desirability of the property a neglected garden produces weeds, garden pests and reduces the aesthetics of your home.
General rule
Love your garden as you would your child. The passion attached would change this from a chore to a hobby before your realize it.
Trim your garden regularly. Have a time table specifically for this and keep to it with discipline. We would recommend trimming once bi-weekly for the grass and once monthly for the flower plants.
Gardens for beauty
When keeping a beautification garden, do not walk on the lawn as a regular path and prevent visitors from doing same. This keeps the grass looking fresh and ensures good germination, while you trim within regular intervals using a mower.
Gardens to feed
If you also wish to keep a vegetable garden (usually a backyard garden), nourish the soil before you feed the plants. Better soil means healthier, stronger plants (also for beautification plants). Dig up the soil with a shovel and break up the dirt clods. Spread a 2- to 4-inch layer of organic material like compost or well-rotted manure over the planting area. Mix this amendment into the top 12 inches of soil and plant as deep as the seedlings were growing.
Pick the large bugs off the plants and toss them in a jar of soapy water to drown them. Spray the smaller pests with a strong stream of water from the hose or a blast of insecticidal soap.
Uproot all the weeds and grass before planting the garden. This reduces competition for soil nutrients and moisture. Once the garden is planted and growing, apply organic mulch up to 4 inches deep. Mulching is a form of long-term weed control. When a weed seedling is located in the mulch, knock it down with a garden hoe.
Harvest your edibles as they ripen. Uproot and destroy any diseased plants. Pull up dying plants that are done producing and pile them on the compost pile. Remove all debris from the garden where pests can hide.
Bringing it home
Keeping your garden healthy will require high levels of passion and hard work, with these do-it-yourself tips we hope to make gardening easier and your favorite hobby.