Keeping a beautiful garden is one of the most rewarding ways to beautify outdoor spaces. From vegetable gardens to flower beds, your garden can look pretty and practical.
A famous man once said, “A garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever.”
Gardening is an activity that most people love. But due to busy lifestyles, most people don’t have enough time to beautify outdoor spaces.
Proper garden care helps to increase the quality of your veggies, fruits, and plants. Your beautiful flowers and outdoor crops can withstand the seasons with appropriate care.
A garden makes the yard look beautiful. However, plants can get overgrown or messy if they lack proper maintenance. There are many types of gardens, and each has different requirements.
So, how exactly should you care for your garden? Here are a few tips to help you maintain a beautiful garden.
Examine Plants Before Buying Them and Site Them Appropriately
A healthy garden is based on identifying appropriate plants for your site and zone. If a specific plant grows well in the shade, you should plant it there. For example, if you plant an azalea in full sun, insects and diseases will easily attack it.
Stressed plants don’t have enough strength to fight off diseases. The best way to avoid diseases is not to introduce them. Before buying any plants, examine them carefully.
It can be hard to know healthy plants from those that are sick. The best thing to do is to look at Heartland Turf & Landscape to know how healthy specimen needs to look like.
Avoid plants with rotted stems, insects, or dead spots. Plants with these problems can quickly spread to other healthy plants. It becomes hard to get rid of such problems once established.
Take time to inspect the tops of plants and root quality. The roots should be firm and spaced around the root ball.
Remove and Prevent Pests
To keep plants alive, you need to check on the health of your garden. Pests are inevitable and can be hard to keep at bay. Insect damage is a lot more than what you see.
Bacteria and viruses get into plants through any opening. Certain insects transport viruses and spread them from one plant to the other. Aphids are the most common carriers.
When you’re transplanting plants from the nursery, you need to inspect them. Confirm they are rot and pest-free. Diseased plants can affect a whole garden.
Use appropriate pesticides to get rid of bugs like whiteflies, gnats, and aphids. You can also spray vegetables with soapy water to prevent or remove pests. Fill a spray bottle with 0.9L of water and 2-3 tablespoons of liquid dish soap.
Apply it to the entire vegetable, including underneath the leaves and the stems. It’s best not to use chemical pesticides because they tend to stay for long in the soil. They may make the vegetables unsafe for consumption.
Treat Your Soil
Soil tends to degrade with time and requires to be refreshed often. You need to replace your garden soil when necessary. You can always buy new soil from your local garden center.
Also, add mulch to help retain soil moisture. The mulching material will help reduce weeds. It will also supply your soil with the necessary organic matter when it starts to degrade.
Another way to maintain a garden is by applying the right fertilizer. The plant species will determine the type and amount of fertilizer for your garden.
Too much fertilizer will burn the roots. It also reduces the plant’s capability to retain moisture. In turn, your plants will be more prone to stress from heat, cold, and drought.
Get a soil test from your local extension agency. You will get accurate information on nutrient levels in your garden soil. Without the test, you most likely will be doing guesswork.
An overabundance of one nutrient can put stress on the plants. Strong plants fight off diseases easily. Apply the right amount of fertilizer to avoid stressing your plants.
Perform Plant Maintenance
Perform garden maintenance to encourage new growth. Prune, cull, and deadhead your plants as required.
Deadheading involves getting rid of old flower blooms to pave way for new growth. Pruning involves cutting branches to make room for new ones and to control growth. Culling is cleaning up the unhealthy beef to make room for your plants to flourish.
All these gardening methods help to promote growth. They also help clear up unwanted parts and get rid of hidden pests. Trimming is best done in the late winter than spring. Winter negatively affects wounded limbs.
Diseases are more likely to be established in plants when they are dormant. Pruning during late winter prevents the spread of diseases to the new growth. Make clean cuts using sharp tools so that the plants may heal rapidly.
Water Properly
Watering is one of the most important gardening tips. It is good to water your garden. But other diseases also need water, just like your plants do. How you do it will make a significant difference.
A lot of pathogens found in the soil and air need water to grow and reproduce. To avoid providing a favorable environment for diseases, avoid over-watering your plants. Over-watering leads to unhealthy plants, leaf spots, and fungi growth.
To prevent oversaturating, water your specific plants as required during the growing season. It means that your garden should be well watered and not soaked. Don’t wet the foliage but instead water directly onto the soil.
Watering is best done by hand. Make sure that leaves are out of the way and water the roots. Or you can automate things and use a drip irrigation system and not sprinklers.
Water soil to a depth of 15 cm. Dig 3 inches into the soil using a trowel. Pour water slowly and let it soak until you feel it at least 6 inches beneath the surface. Check after one to two days to be sure it has not dried out.
Don’t Crowd the Plants
Be careful when spacing transplants. Also, keep a close eye on already established plants as they grow.
Crowded plants allow diseases like downy mildew, powdery mildew, and rust to thrive. They create their own humidity and grow poorly. Crowded plants compete for nutrients, water, and light.
They are also more susceptible to attacks by diseases. Diseases can quickly spread when an infected leaf gets into contact with a healthy one. This is more likely to happen because they are very close to each other.
To reduce the spread of diseases, you need to trim out damaged stocks. Rearranging or dividing plants when needed can also help. Proper planting space helps with nutrient intake.
When you space your plants as required, they will get enough nutrients and sunlight. Harvesting is also easier when plants are spaced well.
Destroy the Weeds
Weeds can harbor pests and suffocate the roots of healthy plants. They are not only garden killers but are also an unsightly nuisance. They also take up resources and space that your plants should be using.
Weeding your garden helps to keep it growing and healthy. After one to two days, you should check for weed sprouts. Grab the root system of the weeds and remove them to ensure they don’t grow back.
If you don’t prefer to pull the weeds by hand, use a hoe to cut into the soil below the weed and remove it. You should remove these unwanted plants throughout the gardening season. It helps to ensure your garden plants don’t compete with weeds for water and nutrients.
As your plants mature, they’ll have a better chance of out-competing the weeds. These unwanted plants act as hosts for a variety of diseases and insects.
Removing them from your garden reduces the risk of pests infesting your plants. Regular weeding prevents other weeds from growing and set seeds in your garden.
Companion Plant
Companion planting, also known as intercropping, is planting a variety of crops together. The aim is to provide pollinators, ward of pests, and increase growth productivity.
Intercropping is an ideal way to ensure your flower beds and garden thrive. Surround them with the right plants for successful growth. Look for plants that do well with others to ensure they repel pests and don’t compete for nutrients.
You can mix larger vegetables with smaller ones to protect them from the wind. If your garden attracts pests try using lavender or basil.
Plant sunflower and cilantro to attract beneficial insects. Choose plants with a pungent smell like garlic or onion in your vegetable beds to deter larger pests. Identify compatible plants since you don’t want them to compete for nutrients.
Use Fully Composted Yard Waste
All materials found in a compost pile don’t decompose at the same rate. Some may degrade sufficiently for use in the garden, while others may not.
Fully composted yard waste produces high temperatures for a longer time. It helps to kill any pathogens in the soil. Infected plant debris will only re-introduce diseases into your garden.
If you’re not sure of the condition of your compost pile, don’t use it. Compost has a lot of benefits to your garden, provided it’s fully decomposed. It makes it easier to plant and work on your garden.
Compost also improves the moisture retention capability of your soil. In turn, this helps to improve plant health and growth. Composting is also a great way of recycling yard waste like shredded twigs and leaves.
Instead of letting a company haul away leaves, you can turn them into compost. You will return the nutrients to your garden soil. Save money by making your own compost instead of purchasing peat moss.
Use Gardening Tools
Using the right garden tools is essential for garden maintenance. Keeping weeds under control and your plants clipped can make things easier.
Using appropriate gardening tools helps save time. A tool like a shovel is essential in growing delicate and small plants. It’s also suitable for uprooting pesky weeds.
You may not use such tools every day, but when doing earthy work, they help save time. A garden cart can help you transport things at once if your backyard is long. It reduces the need for manpower and time for transporting the goods.
There are also tools used to promote water conservation and save time. A leaf blower is an effective tool for clearing up debris from your garden.
It helps to blow leaves back into the flower beds. It is also a way to make your own mulch and keep your garden healthy.
Cleaning garden tools after use. It helps to prevent the transfer of any bacteria or diseases. Your garden remains healthy for longer.
Put a Fence Around Your Garden
Take your time to nurture your garden correctly. Set up a wire fence to act as a barrier around your garden. A fence keeps critters and herbivores from destroying your plants.
Wire fencing also keeps your garden exposed to the sun and visible. Avoid traditional fencing because it can block direct sunlight.
It takes patience and hard work to cultivate a garden. Fencing is essential for proper maintenance. Installing it provide shelter against the wind that can quickly destroy your garden.
Use a chicken wire fence buried 30 cm underground and extends up 61 cm to keep rabbits away. Choose wire fences that extend 10-13cm underground and 1.5-1.8m tall if possums or raccoons bother you.
Also, you can surround your fence with lightweight plastic netting. It helps to prevent animals from getting close to your garden.
A fence also acts as decor to personalize your outdoor space. While it may be costly to buy a fence, proper maintenance and care are extremely rewarding.
Choose the Best Location for a Beautiful Garden
You now know how to maintain a beautiful garden. It’s essential to identify the right location for the plants to grow and remain healthy. Most plants need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight every day. But some can tolerate some shade.
You need to identify a place that drains well and does not stay wet. You also need nutrient-rich soil to feed your plants. Avoid places that get strong winds that could knock down young plants.
We hope you’ve found this article helpful. For more information on gardening, check our website.
