Dreary Garden? Perk It Up With This Fabulous Advice.

~ craigb

TIP! Plant a variety of annuals, biennials and perennials to keep your flower beds bright. These types of flowers grow at high speed, which gives you more flexibility in changing the look of your flower beds as the seasons change.

Many people are interested in organic gardening but are unsure how to get started. A lot of people feel like growing your own garden is a daunting task because they feel intimidated by the unknown. This article has some good ideas to help you reach your goal of creating a garden for your enjoyment, and without incurring too much difficulty.

Clay Soil

TIP! It’s sometimes possible to save certain plants from winter cold by bringing them inside. This is especially useful if you have a particular plant that you love or was expensive.

Clay soil is hard and will also stick to a shovel, making it difficult to work with. To make digging clay soil easier, try applying a light coating of wax, either car wax or floor wax, and then buff off and commence digging. By waxing the shovel head, the clay will not be able to adhere to the surface.

TIP! Vegetables should be planted in an area where they will get a minimum of six hours of daily sunlight. Most vegetables need that much sun to grow rapidly and successfully.

Annuals and biennials are an excellent way to add a splash of bright color to your flower gardens. Fast-growing annuals and biennials can brighten up a flower bed, and allow you to change the look from season to season and year to year. If there are gaps between the perennials and shrubs you have planted in a sunlit area, try filling those gaps with annuals and biennials. There are many flowers you can plant in these gaps. Try marigolds, petunias or sunflowers for a brighter garden.

TIP! Prior to planting your garden, devise a plan. It will be a while before things start to sprout and visually remind you of what was planted where, so a written record can be helpful.

Before you plant anything in your garden, have the soil checked. For a tiny fee, a soil analysis may be done, and based on the results, the soil can support a growing garden by you enriching it as necessary. You can often find Cooperative Extension offices that provide this service, which can help to make your garden flourish.

TIP! Shelter your deciduous shrubs. Shrubs that are planted in containers are especially susceptible to frost and must be carefully protected.

If you want your garden to blossom with flowers throughout the spring and summer, plant some bulbs in it. Bulbs are generally very simple to grow and hearty, as well; they will continue to grow for years. The types of bulbs you use will determine the time of year your flowers will bloom, giving you the pleasure of blooms from spring to summer, if you plant them right.

Six Hours

TIP! Look for evergreen variants that produce berries. The berries will provide a boost of color to your backyard, even during the colder months when most of the other vegetation has been drained of their color.

If you’re growing veggies in the garden, they need to be in a spot that lets them get about six hours of sun daily. Proper sunlight is a prerequisite for proper growth. Some flowers also need six hours of daily direct sun in order to grow and blossom well.

TIP! Put money into a quality wheelbarrow and kneeling stool if you plan to do garden work often. Spending time on the ground is rough on the knees, a portable and light stool can help make gardening easier.

Having a good wheelbarrow and a kneeling stool makes garden chores a lot easier. Working in the garden means you’ll be down on the ground a lot. This can cause knee pain, so if you have a stool, you’ll have an easier time. Also having a garden usually requires moving heavy dirt and objects, so investing in a wheelbarrow is a very sound investment.

TIP! Another way to help them grow is by watering them with the liquid that is left from cooking vegetables. Tea and coffee grounds can be used to add acidity to your soil for plants like gardenias and rhododendrons.

To create an attractive, quintessentially English garden, you need to use a mixture of different plants that all grow to varying heights in each bed. If you want a more organized look, select plants that will grow to the same height and put them in the same bed.

TIP! Be sure to plant using the colors of Fall. That idea is actually far from the truth.

Add aspirin to your plants to help them fight sickness. One and one half aspirin crushed and added to a two gallon container of water will be a great help for your plants. Then spray your plants with this mixture to stave off diseases. Be sure to repeat this process every two or three weeks.

Coffee Grounds

TIP! Mixing a variety of plants at different heights is how you can make a very interesting English garden. Having plants that grow to the same height will result in a common and flat looking bed.

Add used coffee grounds to your soil. Coffee grounds contain many of the essential nitrogenous nutrients that plants are able to use. Nitrogen is a nutrient that will help your plants grow taller and bloom faster, so use those coffee grounds, extra compost, or diluted urea to make this happen.

TIP! For in-home organic gardeners, you are looking for an ideal temperature of around 60-75 degrees for your plants. Plants require a warmer climate to grow.

A beer trap can help to eradicate slugs. Take a glass jar and bury it in your garden, making sure that the lip of the jar is even with the soil. Pour beer into the jar until it’s almost full. Leave an inch of space between the beer and the jar top. Slugs will be attracted to the beer and find themselves trapped.

TIP! When growing organic plants indoors, it is important to consider the amount of light that is available to them. If you are living in a place that does not have a lot of natural sunlight, think about cultivating plants that do well in lower lighting situations.

Create raised beds with stone, brick or untreated wood. If you are to use wood, you should make sure that the wood is not treated and is also naturally rot resistant. Optimal wood choices that fit these criteria are locust, cypress, and cedar. In a vegetable garden, never use treated wood, as the chemicals can leach out into the soil and food crops. You may have previously used treated lumber; if so, you should use a plastic liner to cover it.

TIP! Over-watering your plants is not healthy because too much water may inhibit the roots from getting nutrients out of the soil. Before watering your organic garden, check weather forecasts to determine if it is likely to rain later that day.

If you sell your crops and label them organic, you should get an organic garden certified seal. This should improve sales and attract customers who are environmentally conscious. A certification will easily communicate to them that they are getting the best products possible.

TIP! This tip greatly eases your organic gardening attempts. Select native specimens for your landscape design.

One of the most wonderful things about buying food that is organic is that they don’t contain pesticides. This will improve your family’s overall health, but it does mean you have to be extra vigilant about checking for pest infestations.

TIP! Incorporate shade elements into any organic garden area. These kinds of gardens are usually low in maintenance, which a lot of individuals like to hear.

Take a look below the surface to get a start. When buying tomato seedlings, avoid the ones with a bad root system or green starts. These starts will stick around on the main plant for several weeks, hindering the growth of the seedling as long as they are present.

Organic Garden

TIP! Be sure you have information about what to look for when buying plants to add to your organic garden. When it comes to perennials and annuals, this is particularly important.

Once you understand and begin utilizing the tips you have read, the thought of working on your own organic garden should not seem intimidating at all. With your new-found knowledge, your organic garden is sure to be a success, and you will be enjoying the fruits of your labor in no time!