Just another Journalhome blog
5/12/2010 - Stategies To Make The Most Of Your Garden
Many folks have their own modest garden in their back yards. I personally have had some sort of garden for years. When I started my vegetable garden, my initial crop did not add up to more than half a bucket full. But, as I continued to garden, and with a little help from my grandfather, I was fortunate to create ample fruits and vegetables to feed my whole family and then some. But like I said starting up a garden is not as easy as it seems and in this article I am going to share with you a few tips I have learned over the years.
One of the first tasks you must do whenever planning your garden is to make sure you choose a space that gets at least 8 to 10 hours of direct sunlight everyday. The lack of sufficient sunlight on your garden can provide you with poor results. Making sure you have enough sunlight will be the basis to a great garden.
Once you establish the right spot one more thing you will need to do is to till manure and seaweed into the soil. You don't need marine seaweed, truly those present in lakes, ponds and rivers will do. By contributing manure and seaweed into the soil, you will be adding lots of healthy nutrients needed for your garden to grow and thrive. In addition to manure and seaweed, you can even use compost that you've produced or paid for.
Now in terms of irrigating your garden you'll need to be careful. If your garden gets an excess of water or inadequate water, your crops will suffer and not produce as much food as they can. Generally, it is best to give your plants around 1 to 2 inches of water every week. This helps these plants build strong and deep roots. If you don't get adequate rainwater, you may want to water your plants before 10:00am. You should not water in the afternoon because the leaves could burn from the hot sun. If you undertake it late at night, there may be risk of fungal growth since the water does not evaporate.
With regards to holding pests off your plants I have some things that may seem odd but they work great and you won't have to use harsh chemicals. The first thing you should do with any garden is to plant peppermint, lavender and basil throughout your garden. These distinct plants help naturally chase away all sorts of insects along with other things like deer and rabbits. Here is another excellent way to keep the bugs away. Mix together one to two tbsps of essence of garlic and 2 tablespoon of dish lotion with 1 cup of vegetable oil. You'll subsequently add two tablespoons of this concoction to a water filled spray bottle. Once per week, use this mixture on all your plants.
Filed under: gardening, gardens, home improvement
Post A Comment! :: Send to a Friend!
Notify me of followup comments via e-mail.
Share and enjoy
