Compost Your Own Fertilizer For A Better Garden

~ craigb

TIP! Use the handles of your tools as a handy ruler when doing your outdoor chores. Tools with long handles, such as a shovel or rake, are absolutely perfect for this job, and make your workload a little bit smaller.

Horticulture is an activity that has been enjoyed for thousands of years. It can be done for sheer pleasure or it can be done to feed a family. The following article will give advice for making gardening more fun.

Find some plants that will give you a higher yield. Normally, hybrid plants that are disease-resistant and cold-tolerant have a greater yield than traditional varieties.

TIP! When partaking in gardening activities, particularly in the autumn months, keep an eye on those stink bugs. Stink bugs like to reside in tomatoes, beans, and pepper plants, as well as many fruits.

Your first and best line of defense against pests is having healthy soil. The hearty plants that will grow in a garden with rich soil can resist the bugs and diseases that weak plants can’t withstand. So give your garden a kick start by beginning with a healthy batch of natural and organic soil.

TIP! To keep pests away, you can use plants in the garden or other natural materials. Forming a border around your vegetable garden with marigolds or onions are ideal for repelling slugs.

You can alleviate this problem by planting grasses that your cat will naturally gravitate towards. Another option is to protect your plants by lacing them with offensive entities, such as peels from citrus fruit or even moth balls from your closet.

TIP! Think about planting evergreen plants that will produce berries in the backyard. These will help give your garden a burst of color, even in the winter months when most other vegetation has lost their colors.

Don’t mow your grass too short. By leaving your grass a little taller, you are allowing it to become stronger, as the roots grow stronger and deeper. If the grass is too short that will lead to shallow roots, which will cause a brown and dried-out lawn.

Six Hours

TIP! Make sure your pesticides are focused on only what you’re trying to kill. While broad-spectrum pesticides will kill most pests, they will also kill helpful insects.

Vegetables should be placed in a spot in your garden that will get about six hours of sun every day. Most vegetables require this amount of sun in order to grow properly and at a quicker pace. Some flowers also need six hours of daily direct sun in order to grow and blossom well.

TIP! Use plants to get some autumn color. However, that does not have to be the case! Fall foliage provides for the most colorful season of the year.

Give them a nutritious drink by using the water that you boiled your veggies in. Add coffee grounds or tea leaves to the soil of acid-loving plants like rhododendron and gardenia. Chamomile tea is a good remedy against fungus.

Pest Problem

TIP! If sustainability and organic gardening are appealing to you, leave a portion of the property you own undeveloped to give wildlife a place to thrive. A natural area will allow beneficial birds and insects, many of which pollinate plants, to live on your property and help your garden grow stronger.

Do not use broad-spectrum pesticides within your garden. These pesticides can kill the useful insects that work as predators to pests. These helpful bugs are usually more sensitive to the chemicals than the pests, so if you find yourself in a situation where the good bugs are dying out, you can expect the pest problem to grow. If you respond to the growing pest problem with more broad-spectrum pesticide, you only continue the harmful cycle.

TIP! Keep your gardening tools close by to maximize gardening efficiency. You can wear an apron or pants that have a lot of pockets, or use a big bucket or can.

When you are gardening out in the sun, wear the proper clothing so that you do not get any type of sun damage. Clothing should keep your skin covered, and don’t forget to wear a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. By protecting yourself from the sun’s rays, you lower your risk of getting sunburns or skin cancer.

TIP! It never hurts to keep a few bags around the house to protect your floors from dirty gardening shoes. This lets you be able to return to the garden without interrupting your work.

If you are planning to grow plants within the house, the temperature should be maintained between 65 and 75 degrees within the daylight hours. Warm temperatures encourage plant growth. If you want to save money on gas bills in the winter, you can provide local heating for the plants with a heat lamp instead.

TIP! Put used coffee grounds on the soil. Coffee grounds have nitrogen that plants will utilize.

When it is harvest time, use a laundry basket. The basket will make a great strainer when you wash your vegetables. Just rinse the produce right in the basket; the water will drain through the holes.

Beer Trap

TIP! You need to make a bed that is efficient for your plants. Use a spade to slice under the grass.

Use a beer trap to capture slugs and stop them from eating your plants. To create a beer trap, dig a hole in your garden that is the depth of a glass jar, leaving the mouth of the jar level with the soil. Fill this jar up with beer almost entirely. The slugs will be drawn to the beer and then drown in the jar.

TIP! What plants are native to your area? Use native grass, plants and bushes. The best way to avoid unnecessary fertilizers and pesticides would be to pick out plants that thrive the easiest in your soil and climate.

There are many plant kinds you may grow in an organic garden. Mulch is a must-have for plants that require acidic conditions. Pine needles are an excellent choice for mulch material for these plants. When pine needles break down, they fortify the soil with their natural acids.

TIP! When adding a new tree or shrub to your garden, remember that a ragged planting hole is best. If you create holes that have “glazed” sides created by shovels, it’s possible that one of those holes will restrict any root from getting into the soil nearby.

High soil quality means higher quality plants, and high-quality plants are more resistant to disease and insect infestations. Although the insects might still be present, you will be able to avoid their damage, which is what makes everyone happy.

Save Money

TIP! If you’ve spent even a little time gardening, you’re probably well aware of how beneficial compost can be, but how much do you know about what it contains? Most compost is made of clippings of leaves, grass, small twigs, straw and other biodegradable matter. This matter is allowed to ferment into a nutrient rich soil.

Growing high-value crops is something you may consider for your garden. Think about the different types of grasses, vegetables and flowers that you enjoy most. It’s okay if your answers are non-traditional! You can actually save money by growing plants that are initially more expensive to buy. So, plant what you love and save money at the same time.

TIP! A helpful tip for gardeners is to plant some crops of high value. Of course, the value of a particular plant is going to be different to each person.

Use materials that you have around the house to make a winter tent for your garden. Start by placing bean poles at the sides of the garden bed. Next, lay old sheets or lightweight blankets over the poles to make the tent. Use bricks or cinder blocks to hold the edges of the sheets on the ground. This is an inexpensive way to cover your growing crops during the cold winter months.

TIP! Use fruit peelings and scraps of fruit and vegetable waste to create your own compost. These pieces will create an all natural compost that is well suited for your garden by providing nutrients at almost no cost.

As already noted, horticulture is an activity that many have enjoyed throughout history. A long time ago, it was often the only way to feed yourself and family. Now, people do it for pleasure, need and even profit. The advice provided to you can assist you in gardening, no matter what your reason for doing so. Enjoy the pluses that go with a garden!