mature plants

Garden Tools That Save You Time

~ craigb

TIP! Use climbers for covering fences and walls. These types of plants can climb anything, which makes them perfect for covering up a wall or fence that needs to be hidden.

There’s a lot more to gardening than most people realize. If you want a natural garden, you will have to find out about things such as natural bug repellent or pH balances of a soil. It can be difficult to switch to organic horticulture methods for a beginner. Read on to find some tips to make gardening in a clean, organic fashion a little easier and more fun to do!

TIP! When winter arrives, transfer some plants into the house to save them. It’s a good idea to save any expensive plants or those that will thrive in indoor heat.

A good way to ensure that your seeds sprout effectively is to start them in smaller pots and then transplant them once they reach the seedling stage. They are then more likely to survive and to become thriving, mature plants. In addition, it offers you a smaller time frame between plantings. Once you remove the most recent mature plants from your garden, the seedlings are immediately ready to be planted.

Measuring Sticks

TIP! Let your new seeds soak in a dark spot overnight. Use a small container filled with water to nearly the top and place several seeds in it.

Your tool handles can double as measuring sticks. Tools with long handles, such as rakes, shovels or hoes can work as great measuring sticks. Just run some measuring tape right on the floor next to the handles. Next, use a Sharpie to accurately label the distance between each one. Now when you go to work in the garden, you will have a ruler that is large at your fingertips!

TIP! Try growing wheat grass or cat grass in the area of the plants your cat wants to eat. You can also put something on top of the soil around the plants that has an offensive smell to cats, such as mothballs or citrus peel.

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. In addition, you might need something to fill empty spaces in your flower garden. Fill gaps with annuals or biennials. Just make sure the flowers will get enough sun to thrive. Notable collections include sunflower, marigold, hollyhock, rudbeckia, cosmos, and petunia.

TIP! Don’t mow your grass too short. If you leave a bit more height, the grass roots will get deeper, making your lawn stronger.

The first thing you should do when planning a garden is test the soil. You can get a soil analysis, and if you find your soil needs a supplement, do it! A lot of extension offices will offer this service and it is worth it so you know what your soil needs.

TIP! Don’t plant a garden without planning it. This way, when the sprouts start shooting up, you can recall where you planted each plant.

Fall edibles are a wonderful addition to your garden. Rather than putting standard clay vessels into use when planting crops of lettuce and kale, think about using pumpkins instead. Cut an opening in the top of your pumpkin, scoop out the inside, and spray the entire thing with Wilt-Proof. This will prevent rotting. When this is finished, you are now ready to plant.

TIP! Your garden can really benefit from evergreens featuring berries. They will provide a splash of color in the drab and dreary winter months when a lot of other plants have lost their colors.

Grow some wheat grass or catnip for your cat to eat instead. Alternatively, you can try putting mothballs, citrus peel or anything else with an odor that cats find distasteful in the soil surrounding the plants.

TIP! When it comes to harvesting your vegetables, know when the optimal time is to do so. For the optimum flavor, be sure to follow the guidelines for planting and picking.

If you have many low-growing plants in your garden, get yourself a pair of horticulture knee pads. The amount of time that you spend gardening on your knees can make your knees hurt by the time you are done. Purchase a great pair of knee pads; they will provide a cushion for your knees while making gardening more comfortable.

TIP! Scent the grass around your garden with old perfume or discarded aftershave to prevent your dog from wandering into your garden. This kind of scent is going to mask the scents your dog is attracted to.

A touch of organic mulch will boost the potential of the vegetable plants in your garden. The mulch will help keep the dirt around the plants more moist. An added benefit is that it also inhibits weed growth. This will save you tons of time from pulling out tons of weeds.

TIP! Any time that you are gardening in direct sunlight, dress appropriately to prevent skin damage. Clothing should keep your skin covered, and don’t forget to wear a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen.

It can be tough to keep insects and other plant-ruining crawlies from infesting your garden. You can’t use chemicals as they’re the last thing you want to be eating when you enjoy the fruits of your labor. You can prevent pests from appearing in the garden by adopting a vigilant attitude. If you happen to notice them early on, you can control them just by physically removing them from your plants with your hands.

TIP! You can create a great English garden by mixing types and sizes in one bed. Using plants that all grow the same height result in a flat and uniform looking bed.

If you want to keep dogs our of your garden, take some aftershave, old perfume, or any other scented item and spray the grass around the area. This will help mask the scents that attract your dog, and will make your garden a less interesting place for your pet to be.

TIP! Cover your muddy shoes with plastic bags. This way, you can get in and out quickly, and get back to work in the garden.

A mixture of aspirin and water can protect your plants from common diseases. One and one half aspirin crushed and added to a two gallon container of water will be a great help for your plants. The solution can then be used to spray the entire plant, and will offer protection naturally. Spraying should be one time every three weeks.

TIP! Leave plenty of growing space when you plant your garden. It’s common to not think about how much space a plant will need once it’s full grown, and you don’t want to crowd your garden.

You must always take care of your knees when working in the garden. It is not good to bend from a standing position for a long period of time. You can kneel instead to help keep your back relaxed while tending to your plants. You can kneel on a knee pad so that your knees are more comfortable.

TIP! Organic gardening is harder than relying on chemicals, but the results are worth it. While chemicals offer an easy solution to many common gardening problems, the organic method is far healthier for you and everyone you share your food with.

If you’re working to build a sustainable organic garden, try leaving a portion of your garden untouched so that the wildlife will be able to thrive. As the natural wildlife begins to flourish, the various insects, birds, and other natural life around will all blend together and actually assist your garden as it begins to grow.

TIP! Each year, you should rotate the plants in your garden. When the same plants occupy a spot in your garden for many years in a row, it can lead to the development of fungi and disease.

Now, you shouldn’t get your hopes up and believe that a few tips are going to turn you into an instant professional gardener. However, these tips are a great starting point if you do plan to grow organically. As you implement these tips and hone your skills, you’ll be a professional green-thumb-holder in no time.

Make Your Garden Special

~ craigb

TIP! For weeds that aren’t in the middle of your plants, use boiling water to kill their roots. Any vessel of boiling water that you can carry safely can be used as an organic herbicide.

You probably know quite a bit about organic foods, whether you have read about them, or noticed them at your local supermarket. You may not always know which fruits or vegetables are really organic without looking at the packaging or prices. These foods are not packaged the same and tend to cost much more. Review the ideas in this piece and see how you can have an organic garden in your own backyard.

TIP! Do you like mint, but not how they ruin your garden? Instead of planting mint in the ground, confine it to a large pot. If you prefer, you can even place the container in the ground, but the pot’s walls will prevent the mint from spreading and being a nuisance in your garden.

It can be very hard to shovel clay soil, especially when it sticks to your shovel as you are working. Rubbing wax on the shovel prior to digging can kick this challenge to the curb. By waxing the shovel head, the clay will not be able to adhere to the surface.

TIP! Pest control is very difficult if you are dealing with your veggie garden. Do not spray harsh chemicals on the vegetables you are going to eat.

When selecting among several varieties of a plant, choose the ones that will produce the largest yield. It is quite common to find that hybrids, which are often able to resist disease and withstand cold climates, produce yields much larger than their conventional counterparts.

TIP! Make sure your pesticides are focused on only what you’re trying to kill. If your pesticide has too wide a range of targets, it can kill off useful insects that fight off other pests.

Start your plant in pots before you plant them in your garden. They are then more likely to survive and to become thriving, mature plants. In addition, it lets you tighten the time in between plantings. Your seedlings will be ready to be planted when you remove your old mature plants.

TIP! If you cut your hand, you can use a glove to protect it from germs and chemicals until it heals. If dirt and grime get into a cut while gardening, it may become infected.

Cover fences and walls with lots of climbers. These climbing plants will help beautify an old fence, and they are fast workers too. They can be trained to grow over an arbor, or through trees and shrubs that are already in the garden. There are those that have to be fixed to a support, but others will find a surface to cling to all on their own through twining stems or tendrils. You can be sure that varieties such as climbing roses, wisteria, jasmine, clematis and honeysuckle will grow very well.

TIP! Plants growing in your home need a constant temperature of no less than 65 degrees. They need the temperature to be that warm so that they can grow.

Choose the right soil for best results. You should choose your soil depending on the plants that you are going to plant. You can simply use one type of soil to make an artificial area.

TIP! When you are growing organic plants within the home or an enclosed area, considering how much light the plants will receive must be emphasized. If the room you wish to grow them in faces in a direction that gets little light, choose varieties of plants which can accept this type of environment.

Check the nutrients in the soil before you plant your garden. Have a soil analysis completed so you can know what you need to add to have soil which will fully support your garden. Ask about this service at a local university or the county Cooperative Extension office to improve the soil and insure fruitful crops.

TIP! Spend your time working efficiently in your organic garden. Have your tools laid out in an orderly way so you do not have to search for them.

Do you enjoy fresh mint leaves though hate how they grow so fast and take over your entire garden? Try to keep your mint in a container in your garden to stop their rampage. You can plant the container into the soil if you want to, but the container will restrict the roots, and make sure that the plant doesn’t run rampant in your garden.

TIP! Make sure you have some plastic bags around so that you can cover any muddy gardening shoes you have. You will save time and be back in the garden much more quickly by doing this.

A quality garden must be grown from seeds. When you begin a garden, it’s most eco friendly to do so with seed. Most nurseries use plastic containers to grow seedling. This plastic is seldom recycled, so most is dumped in landfills. Be kind to the environment and start your garden with seeds or purchase young plants from nurseries that use organic packaging materials.

TIP! When you want to harvest the produce in your organic garden, always have an old laundry basket to hand. The basket strains the produce as well as stores it while you are going through your garden.

Consider planting evergreens in your garden that produce berries. They offer terrific color during the dreariest times of the year when nothing else you have planted has any hue remaining. These plants come in several different varieties, including the Winterberry, American Holly, Cranberrybush, and Common Snowberry.

TIP! Include both green and dry plant refuse in your compost. Examples of good green material to use for compost include grass clippings, flowers, leaves, and weeds.

Plant items with fall color. However, that does not have to be the case! Fall foliage provides for the most colorful season of the year. Many trees display a range of the vivid colors of fall, from bright yellow to rich crimson, including maple, beech, and dogwood. Add even more color to your garden by planting shrubs such as hydrangea, barberry or cotoneaster.

Protect Yourself

TIP! In order to claim your crops are legitimately organic and be credible, it is important to your customers that you become organic garden certified. This attracts customers who are willing to drive a little farther and pay a little more for products that are safe and healthy.

Protect yourself from sun overexposure while horticulture by wearing the proper clothing. Wear sunscreen, wide-brimmed hats and sunglasses. When you protect yourself against the sun’s rays, you are more likely to avoid both skin cancer and sunburn.

TIP! Try growing some organic garlic. Garlic cloves should be planted in the spring or fall.

Keep the temperature in your home between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, if you are keeping or growing any kind of plant in your house. It is important for them to be kept in this temperature range if they are to grow properly. If you wish to keep your house cooler than that, you may want to use a heat lamp just for the plants.

TIP! Just by doing a few things, you can make a garden for perennials. Flip up the turf using a spade or shovel, then cover the exposed area with a thin layer of wood chips, about three or four inches.

Spend your time working efficiently in your organic garden. Don’t waste your time by searching high and low for that packet of seeds or spade. Prepare your equipment before you go into the garden and put everything away afterwards. Invest in a tool belt or wear pants that have lots of pockets.

TIP! Try to make your organic garden a beautiful shade garden. These gardens are low maintenance, which is very appealing to people.

Spacing is essential when planting an organic garden. Many people underestimate the space needed for plants to grow to their full size. Failure to provide adequate room will restrict growth because it forces plants to compete for valuable nutrients and oxygen. Plan accordingly and put an appropriate amount of distance between seeds.

TIP! Before putting shrubs or trees in an organic garden, dig an uneven hole in which to place them. If you place a plant in a hole with glazed sides, the roots will not be able to penetrate the soil properly.

Try not to let the chores associated to your organic garden build up. If you can’t get out in your garden every day, there are still a number of things you can do to keep things from falling into disarray during your absence. For example, while your canine is outside going to the toilet, take the time to pull out a few weeds.

TIP! Be specific about the things you desire to grow when it comes to your organic garden. Some flowers and vegetables require specific types of soil, a certain moisture level, and direct or indirect sun exposure.

Growing your garden at home might not be the most convenient thing for you, but you will save a lot of money and always have the confidence that what you’re eating and feeding your family is as fresh and as healthy as possible. Use the tips you’ve learned here and get started on your garden today.