Spruce Up Your Garden With These Helpful Tips.

~ craigb

TIP! Insects and various garden pests can be avoided by making your soil healthy. If you have healthy looking plants, they are stronger and more resistant to diseases and bugs.

A lot of people feel gardening is difficult to do, but it can be easy if you are aware of what to do. With the right advice, anybody can become an award-winning gardener. This article will present you with all the advice you’ll need to become an expert gardener.

TIP! Let your new seeds soak in a dark spot overnight. Put some seeds in a container and fill the container to the brim with water.

Plant a variety of flowers to keep your flower garden colorful and interesting. Annuals and biennials can add excitement and interest to your flower garden every season. You can use biennial and annual flowers to brighten the bed, and let you change how it looks. You can fill any spaces between shrubs and perennials when they are in the sun. Some of these that you might consider are petunias, marigolds and sunflowers. If those are not flowers you like, you can also try cosmos, holyhocks or rudbeckias.

TIP! Make sure you protect any tender deciduous shrubs. If you have some tender shrubs that are in planters, you need to protect them from cold weather.

Transfer your favorite plants indoors to rescue them from the winter frosts. This is especially useful if you have a particular plant that you love or was expensive. Carefully dig up the plants, using caution not to disturb the roots, then transfer into a pot.

TIP! Keep your garden fertilized. Manure is very effective in helping plants grow, although it is important to use a commercially composted product to minimize the risk of pathogens.

Try to have a plan with your garden. That way, if you see your plants beginning to bud but can’t recall what they are, you can refer back to your plan to refresh your memory. In addition, some plants are so small you might forget you planted them once all your plants sprout. Planning stops these plants from getting lost in the crowd.

Knee Pads

TIP! Two items you need to invest in when working in a garden are a wheelbarrow, and a kneeling stool. Spending too much time on the ground working can be quite hard on your knees, and a gardening stool can help alleviate this, plus make things more comfortable for you.

If your plants do not grown very tall, try buying some knee pads used for gardening. Spending lots of time on your knees while horticulture can injure them and create lasting pain. Using a pair of quality knee pads designed for horticulture can provide your knees with cushioning and support, preventing any discomfort.

TIP! During the hotter parts of the day, vegetables are softer, which means even picking them gently can cause them damage. You should also be sure to cut them off the vine and not twist them, as twisting can hurt the plant.

Think about using evergreens in your yard that produce berries during the year. These will help give your garden a burst of color, even in the winter months when most other vegetation has lost their colors. Some examples include Holly, Snowberry trees, Winterberry and similar plants.

TIP! Water containing some aspirin helps your plants fight illness. One and one half aspirin crushed and added to a two gallon container of water will be a great help for your plants.

For visual interest, make one plant a focal point of your garden. Any great garden design involves using a focal point to grab someone’s attention and keep it there. Mostly it is a distinctive plant that sets it apart from the neighboring plants and flowers.

TIP! If you have a cut, be careful about exposing it to soil or gardening chemicals. It is possible for a cut to become extremely infected if it comes into contact with dirt and grime while gardening.

Using aspirin water will help your plants fight diseases. Your plants can benefit from a solution you can make by dissolving one and one-half aspirins into a couple of gallons of water. You can simply spray them with the mixture to help aid them in fighting off diseases. Your plants should be sprayed one time each three weeks.

TIP! To keep your houseplants happy during the day, your thermostat should be set anywhere between 65 and 75 degrees. Your plants will not grow well if it is too cold.

Make sure you have your gardening tools near you, so you can maximize your gardening efficiency. Use a large bucket, or wear rugged pants with several pockets. Have gloves, small shears, a trowel and any other tools you may need on hand to make it simpler to maintain your garden.

TIP! Make sure you have some plastic bags around so that you can cover any muddy gardening shoes you have. This allows you to maintain your flow so you can rapidly get back to your gardening.

You should utilize around three inches of mulch that is organic in your flower beds. Doing this keeps weeds down, keeps the moisture in your plants, and gives more nutrients to the plants. A layer of mulch also creates a more attractive appearance.

Pine Needles

TIP! If you have recently planted seeds in your organic garden, you should regularly aerate the soil by using your hands to gently sift it. Even though it sounds strange, it will help plants get bigger.

Pine needles make a great organic mulch. There are many types of plants with a high acidity, which means they thrive in acidic soil. Use pine needles to increase the acid level in your soil if you have plants that require higher acid. Go ahead and cover the beds you have with needles a couple of inches and while they decompose, they actually disperse some acid into the soil.

TIP! You should use wood that is untreated, brick or stone when building the raised bed. If you choose to use wood, see to it that it’s untreated and that it can resist rotting.

When planting your organic garden, spacing is an important thing to keep in mind. Many people don’t realize exactly how much space a plant needs when it grows. Plants need room for physical growth and for the air to circulate within the soil. Because of this, you should always take the time to ensure that there’s enough distance between all your seeds.

TIP! Over-watering your plants is not healthy because too much water may inhibit the roots from getting nutrients out of the soil. Check the weather for the next couple of days to see if you actually need to water your plants.

When maintaining your organic garden, try lightly petting your seedlings — either with the palm of your hand or something like a sheet of cardboard — once or twice each day. Believe it or not, aerating the soil in this manner can actually make your seedlings grow larger.

TIP! Organic material that is a minimum of three inches deep should be used as mulch within your garden. You will ensure your garden will be nourished by keeping moisture inside the soil, thus creating a neater appearance of your garden, and repelling weed growth.

Add mulch to keep your soil healthy. Mulch will protect and nourish the soil. It keeps the soil cool on very hot days, thus protecting the roots in the ground. This retains moisture for extended periods by reducing the rate at which water evaporates. As an added bonus, weed growth will be stunted.

TIP! Before you start your garden, learn how to properly construct garden beds. Start off by getting under the grass using a spade.

The mulch in your organic flowerbeds should be made of organic material and be no shallower than three inches. The mulch retains moisture, enriches the soil, and prevents weeds from growing. Mulch also makes your garden appear neat and well cared for.

TIP! When it’s time to dig a hole for a shrub or a tree in an organic garden, make the hole super ugly-looking. If you see that the sides of the hole appear shiny, you’ve probably packed the dirt to tight, which can interfere with the roots.

Know what you can and cannot use in your organic garden. Instead of fertilizers with caustic ingredients and potentially harmful chemicals, opt for all-natural or organically grown products. One easy method is to use compost. If you choose to go organic, you have less of a chance that there will be chemical, toxic buildups in your soil and water.

TIP! Go ahead and make your own compost so you have access to your own fertilizer in your garden. One entertaining method of doing this is to start a worm composting bin.

As you read before, becoming a great gardener is not as difficult as it seems. If you apply the tips from this article you’ll be able to be confident in knowing that you’ve got all the information you need to guarantee your garden will grow!