There are literally thousands of gardening books and websites out there. You could spend hours on end searching through all of the books, websites, and magazines that are devoted to this topic. Find practical solutions by applying the innovative tips from the following article. Read on to find out what they are.
Try to have a plan with your garden. A thoughtful plan can remind you of previous plantings and what you will see appearing from the soil in the months of spring and summer. You can also prevent yourself from losing small plants within a large garden.
Deciduous shrubs need protection from the cold. If you have them in pots, you need to guard them from cold weather that will damage or kill them. Pull the canes together at the top and securely tie them. Next, using a sheet or perhaps even a blanket, cover the structure. This will work better than wrapping your plant with plastic, because air can still circulate, which will help to prevent rotting.
Knee Pads
It is a good idea to invest in a good pair of knee pads, made specifically for gardening. They can be very helpful when working close to the ground on low-growth plants. When you spend a lot of time kneeling while gardening, your knees can be very achy by the end of the day Investing in good knee pads will help cushion your knees so you are more comfortable.
Split up the irises. To increase the number that you have, you need to take all your overgrown clumps and split them up. You can do this by simply picking up bulbous irises once the foliage has withered. The bulbs should automatically divide in your palm, and once you put them back into the earth, they will typically flower the following year. Rhizomes should be divided using a knife. Throw out the center and cut pieces on the outside that are new. Each piece must have a minimum of one strong offshoot. Replant each one immediately.
Consider planting evergreens in your garden that produce berries. This will aid in giving your garden great color, even during the winter when other plants have lost their colors. Some evergreens that will provide winter color are the American Holly, Common Snowberry, American Cranberrybush, and the Winterberry.
Good tools for the gardener include a wheelbarrow and a kneeling stool. In order to relieve stress on your knees when gardening, always use a small garden stool to be more comfortable. There is also a lot of heavy lifting involved with gardening, so a good wheelbarrow is a great tool to have around.
Spectrum Pesticides
Don’t use broad-spectrum pesticides for your garden. While broad-spectrum pesticides will kill most pests, they will also kill helpful insects. Beneficial bugs usually have more sensitivity towards pesticides than bad ones. Therefore, if the number of beneficial bugs drops, the problem with pests can get bigger. When this happens, you will spray another round of pesticides to get rid of the pests, thus creating a never-ending cycle for yourself.
There should be no rush when you are planting a seed. Begin by adding moisture to the soil. You should then spread the seeds evenly, and make sure they have room to grow. You should bury your seeds deep enough, usually three times their size. Some seeds need some light to grow, and therefore shouldn’t be buried.
Horticulture can be very fun and fulfilling. As you gain valuable horticulture experience and take in lots of information, your skills will only get better. You should take all the good information you can get. Start out with the tips you have learned from this article, and soon you will have an amazing garden that you thought was never possible.
Originally posted 2013-05-08 12:48:42.