Tips For A Garden You Can Be Proud Of
Gardening is a way to get rest and recreation for many people. The cares you shouldered at the office will slip away once you get out in the garden and get your hands in the soil. Gardening is work, but it is fun work. Here are some tips to help keep gardening from being a chore.
Don't skimp on tools. A variety of tools are needed to help get garden tasks done. Most of these are hand tools, not machinery. Try to borrow or rent a rototiller to get your garden soil well turned and broken up. A variety of rakes, shovels and hoes will get most of the other necessary tasks done.
Caring for your plants starts in early spring and continues into late fall. Stretch twine to mark the rows you will plant. Use a hand cultivator to break up the soil even more finely where the seeds will be planted. Use a trowel to dig a hole for small seedlings and a shovel for large plants you are transplanting. Always put water into the hole before you place the plant in it. Only cover the plant's roots with soil, not any of the stem.
It is fun to visit a nursery and see the wonderful variety of plants. Choose a couple each year that you have not planted before. But to avoid expense, grow most of your garden plants from seed, instead of buying seedlings. Buy good quality seeds, and read the package carefully, so you know the right depth and spacing. Save last year's seeds when possible. This is easy to do with squash and beans and corn, but harder to do with lettuce and other leafy crops.
Use mulch judiciously. It can be put down fairly heavily around large plants such as squash, and will help keep the soil moist. But too much mulch can smother a plant, keeping air out, or drown a plant by retaining too much water around it. Mulch between the rows but not around individual plants that are small. Corn will be helped more by planting squash around it than by using mulch. Mulch may hamper weed growth, but it can also hamper your plants' growth too if used too heavily.
Early morning is a good time to work in your garden. It is cool and pleasant out. You will hear the birds sing and may see the sun rise. Avoid working in the hot afternoons. If you have to work then, be sure to put on sunscreen and a hat.
Collect water from rain and use it to water your garden. If your locality restricts watering with city water during dry spells, you can still use water from your rain barrel. A thorough watering once a week is better than two or three light waterings. It is important that the water get down to the deeper roots.
The rewards of gardening are such that even its chores can be enjoyable. You are happy to do all the tasks needed to help your plants grow, knowing that they will repay you with a harvest soon.
