You want to be the best you can be when it comes to gardening. This is important because you want to be able to proudly show off your garden to anybody that comes to your house. This article is for you because it will provide some great free advice to help you out.
To save space in your garden, try planting your crops in blocks rather than in the traditional rows. Rows end up leaving too much space between plants for needless pathways. Blocks help keep plants tight together without sacrificing production. Small variety kitchen vegetables do best in blocks that are arranged in a wide bed.
Soil needs to be rich in certain nutrients to grow healthy plants. The soil may have to be adapted, depending on what types of plants you’re planning for the garden. You may also be able to design an artificial area that contains one type of dirt.
To grow an incredible crop of tomatoes, make sure your planting area gets plenty of light and has lots of room around each tomato plant. Tomato plants are sun hungry! They really want at least ten hours of sun each and every day and the additional space between plants helps maximize each tomato’s succulence.
A good idea when gardening is to keep a record of progress. If it is a journal form or photographic form of recording the progress of the garden is helpful for the years to come. Recording which types of plants work well, which did not work or what types of soil can help future gardens start without any trial and error of previous years.
Vegetable water makes a wonderful fertilizer. Next time you boil or steam your vegetables to eat, set aside the cooking water. This water is chock full of nutrients, and will provide a nice, nutritious boost to your garden. Make sure the water is thoroughly cooled first hot water can damage and even kill plant roots.
Plant seedlings on cloudy days. The cloud cover will help protect your new seedlings from the heat and radiation of the sun. This extra protection gives them a better shot of survival than if they were planted on a hot, sunny day. If your seedlings were being grown out of direct sunlight when you purchased them, be especially careful about exposing them to direct light.
Recycle your old pantyhose for garden use! Pantyhose make exceptional garden ties as they are very malleable, very strong and yet extremely soft, so they won’t saw into the plants you are tying up. Best of all, since you are recycling, this solution is another great way to save money.
Plant self-seeding flowers. Let your flowers do the work of re-stocking the garden for you. If you allow your flowers to go to seed, the following year you will have new seedlings popping up everywhere. If things get too crowded, or if plants appear in the wrong place, simply thin them out. Good self-seeders are alyssum, bellflower, forget-me-not, poppy and columbine.
As you plan your garden this year, change the layout so that it’s different from where the various plants were located last year. For example, place your tomatoes in the part of the garden where the corn grew last season. This rotation of crops will help keep your soil from becoming depleted of the nutrients needed by each type of vegetable.
In conclusion, these are a few of the most important tips available for gardening. Go ahead and give them a try and you should be happy with your turnout. Hopefully, this will give you not only knowledge, but also the confidence to do your best in the garden.