Thursday, February 2, 2012

Essential DIY Gardening Tips For The Struggling Gardener

By Gary Kent


Many people would agree that one of the most rewarding endeavors is growing their own garden. There is nothing like the feeling of planting something, watching it grow, and then getting to enjoy the fruit of your labor. This article will share some useful gardening tips to help make your garden grow.

A great tip to consider in regards to gardening is to be sure that you protect your feet. Make sure that you wear a sturdy pair of old shoes or boots. This will help to keep your feet clean as well as prevent injury from rocks or sharp tools.

As a gardener, you need to store away your pesticides during the winter. Remember to store pesticides in a locked cabinet and in a place so that they will not be exposed to freezing winter temperatures. Try to minimize the amount of pesticides by only buying as much as you need for one season.

Give your garden a boost with instant color. If your garden is looking a little dull, a quick trip to your local nursery will do the trick. There, you will find colorful annuals and perennials in full flower, waiting to be planted into the ground, a window box or a hanging basket. This is especially handy if you are entertaining, and you need to brighten up the yard, or if you are trying to sell your house. Spots of color help to make a home look inviting and cheery.

Plant evergreen shrubs for year-round interest. Evergreen shrubs provide the backbone for any garden because they bear leaves all year long. In addition, many varieties produce attractive flowers in the warmer months. Plant these shrubs throughout the garden, interspersing them between deciduous shrubs and herbaceous perennials. Excellent types include camellia, barberry, skimmer, kalmia, and daphne.

Mow your lawn correctly. Reduce the height of long grass in several stages rather than at one time, as this prevents the lawn going brown. Let long grass dry completely, or it will look ragged after mowing. Mow hard-wearing lawns when the grass reaches 2.5 inches, and fine lawns when the grass reaches 1 to 2 inches. In late spring, when growing conditions are good, you may have to mow your lawn twice a week, whereas in late fall every 2 weeks is sufficient. Use grass clippings as mulch under mature trees and shrubs, or add them to the compost pile.

Using a garden box to grow your vegetables is water efficient. Certain vegetables do not need a lot of root depth to grow. Plant these types of vegetables in a large planter box. When you water all the water will go directly to the roots of the plants. Grasses and trees will not have the chance to rob the vegetables of water.

If you have a very shady garden, make up for the lack of sunlight by growing shade plants with dramatic, colorful foliage. You can create an amazing display when focusing on color and texture, which in many ways, is much more interesting than flowers!

A good tip for growing salad greens, is to mix up a variety of salad seeds together and then, broadcast or throw the seeds across your prepared bed. After you have strewn the seeds, lightly rake the soil and tamp gently. The best salads are the tender little seedlings. As you harvest your salad, throw more seed down to replace the greens that you have just eaten.

Even a small investment of time and effort to gardening activities is sure to be greatly rewarded. Those rewards may come in food to feed our families or in flowers and other decorative plants to beautify our environment. Everyone can reap these rewards. The tips that are outlined above will get us started in that direction.




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