If You Have Questions About Horticulture Find The Answers Here

~ craigb

TIP! If you learn that your soil has a high amount of alkaline, mix some used coffee grounds into it. This is a great and cheap way to increase the acid levels in your dirt.

Make sure you take care of your garden the best you can. However, it is possible to be smart about your organic horticulture. This can help you grow tastier and happier produce. Follow the tips provided for a successful organic garden.

TIP! Keep your fragile shrubs protected from the winter weather. If you’ve got tender shrubs which are potted, you need to protect them from cold weather.

Put sod down the right way. Prior to laying the sod, prepare your soil. Be sure to get rid of any weeds, and then proceed to break up the soil to get it ready to use. Compress the soil lightly yet firmly, and make certain it’s flat. The soil should be adequately moistened. Avoid laying your sod in straight rows with all of the seams lining up. Instead, stagger the rows for a more pleasing visual effect. Make sure the sod is firmly placed to ensure a surface that is sufficiently flat and even. Also, make sure to use soil to fill the areas where there are gaps in the sod. Water the sod for two weeks and then you can safely walk on it as it will have had time to properly root.

TIP! The best gardens will evolve from original seeds rather than transplanted items. When starting a new garden, the most environmentally friendly way is to start from seed.

Clay soil is hard and will also stick to a shovel, making it difficult to work with. Make your shoveling job easier by lightly coating a shovel with a layer of wax, then buffing the surface. Either car wax or floor wax will work just fine. This will keep the soil from sticking, and prevent rusting of the tool.

TIP! Start your peas in a protected indoors environment rather than outside. Pea seeds germinate better indoors.

When selecting among several varieties of a plant, choose the ones that will produce the largest yield. A lot of times a hybrid that will tolerate cold weather or disease will give you a higher output than heirlooms.

TIP! Vegetables are softer when they are warmer, increasing the risk that you will damage them. Also ensure that you use a tool to cut the vegetables off at the vine.

Create useful rulers from your tool handles. Tools with long handles, such as rakes, shovels or hoes can work as great measuring sticks. Lay the handles onto the floor and place a measuring tape beside them. Label the distances onto them using a permanent marker pen. This will allow you to have a ruler at your fingertips when you are working out in the garden.

TIP! Coffee grounds are a good addition to your soil. Plants can use the nitrogenous nutrients found in coffee grounds.

Plant a variety of annuals, biennials and perennials to keep your flower beds bright. You can use biennial and annual flowers to brighten the bed, and let you change how it looks. If there are gaps between the perennials and shrubs you have planted in a sunlit area, try filling those gaps with annuals and biennials. Some excellent choices include rudbeckia, hollyhock, sunflower, cosmos, petunia and marigold.

TIP! You can use something like a laundry basket to gather all of your produce together when the time comes. A benefit of using something like a laundry basket is that it can strain for you, as well as hold a large amount of produce.

Transfer your favorite plants indoors to rescue them from the winter frosts. It’s a good idea to save any expensive plants or those that will thrive in indoor heat. Carefully dig near the roots and transfer those plants into a flower pot.

TIP! If you’re planning on selling crops to people and labeling them as organic, you will need to receive an organic gardening certification. This also does several things to boost your business.

A good but unusual organic solution for weeding your plants is try “boiling” your weeds way. Boiling water is a safe herbicide which won’t damage your garden or your body. Make sure to pour only on the weeds and to stay away from healthy vegetation. Boiling water damages the weed roots and will inhibit future growth.

TIP! Gardening is a good way to connect with nature, but organic gardening remains the best way to observe natural cycles. When you do this type of gardening, you will start to have a good idea of the whole process of planting from start to finish.

Irises can be easily divided. Take clumps that have become overgrown and divvy them up into separate plants. When you see the foliage is definitely dead, lift up the bulbous irises. The bulbs should split up normally in the hand, and should flower when replanted for the next year. You can divide rhizomes with a knife. You can trim new pieces away from the outside of the bulbs and then simply throw the old center away. Divide your pieces carefully; they should each have one good quality offshoot apiece. Replant right away.

TIP! Rotate where you plant each type of plant each year. For example, if you usually plant corn in one area of your garden and flowers in another, switch which plant is planted in each section.

Place at least an inch of mulch that is organic in with your veggies! Mulching helps keep moisture in the soil. It will also prevent the growth of weeds. You’ll save a ton of time if you don’t have to constantly pull out weeds.

TIP! If you’re planning on adding some tomatoes to your garden, try planting a new set of tomatoes exactly three weeks after you plant the first batch. The reason is, this will prevent your entire harvest from coming in all at once.

Think about putting some berry-producing evergreens into your landscape. These will help give your garden a burst of color, even in the winter months when most other vegetation has lost their colors. These plants come in several different varieties, including the Winterberry, American Holly, Cranberrybush, and Common Snowberry.

TIP! Invite biodiversity into your garden. Wildlife will be attracted by different varieties of plants, so make sure you have a wide choice for them.

Use a wheelbarrow and a kneeling stool when you’re working in your garden. Get a portable stool if you want to garden comfortably without damaging your knees. Horticulture also usually requires that you transport heavy loads, such as dirt or mulch, and a wheelbarrow will make this much easier to do.

TIP! When preparing to plant a shrub or tree in your garden, consider digging a hole that looks ugly for planting them. If the sides of the hole show glaze which was caused by the shovel, the root may be restricted from entering into the adjacent soil.

Heather can bring you beneficial insects. Bees like heather, and they get their nectar from it early in the spring. Heather doesn’t usually require a lot of tending, so spiders, ground beetles and other good bugs like to call it home. With this in mind, be sure to prune your heather while wearing gardening gloves.

TIP! Before planting anything in the organic garden, decide exactly what you want to grow. Different variations of a certain flower or vegetable need different kinds of environments.

In order to maximize the efficiency of your gardening, ensure your horticulture tools are kept close by you. Wear pants with multiple pockets or use a toolbox or large bucket. Tools you’ll need to garden efficiently include towels, gloves, pruning shears and other plant-specific tools.

Organic horticulture will help you create a truly fresh and nutritious garden. It may take a ton of work, but it is worth it.