Consider gardening as a hobby with many benefits and rewards. Whether you choose to grow flowers, vegetables or ornamental plants, many find that nurturing and tending to a garden brings such a rewarding feeling and sense of accomplishment. This article has a lot of great advice about gardening, and it will prove very beneficial.
Clay soil is hard and will also stick to a shovel, making it difficult to work with. To make your digging project easier, apply a coat of automobile wax to your shovel first and then buff it lightly. The clay will no longer stick to the shovel, and this also helps to prevent other problems like rusting.
Beginning your garden with healthy soil is your first defense against pests! Healthy soil leads to healthy plants with more strength to deflect those insects and various diseases. If you start with balanced soil, your garden will produce healthy plants with the best yield. Refrain from using chemicals since these will increase the salt content of the soil.
Long plants that run up or around a fence or wall are often useful for masking ugliness. Climbing plants are great for hiding hideous fences and walls, and they usually grow within a season. You can also train climbers to cover arbors and other things that you want covered, and they will even grow right through trees and shrubs. Some require ties attaching them to supports, but others will attach themselves to any surface nearby. A few good choices are climbing roses, wisteria, jasmine, honeysuckle and clematis.
For a garden that thrives, choose the right type of soil. You may need to alter the kind of soil you use based on the types of plants you intend to grow. You could also isolate a certain area, and fill it with just one kind of soil.
Take the time to remove weeds. Weeds can take a promising garden and turn it into a shell of its potential. A clever way to accomplish this is with the help of some white vinegar. White vinegar can kill weeds! Try spraying some white vinegar in water when you are pulling weeds from your garden.
Grow some wheat grass or catnip for your cat to eat instead. You may also place something offensively smelly atop the soil, like citrus peel or mothballs.
Using pest-resistant plants or natural materials in your garden is a good way to keep pests away. Onions and marigolds can help to deter slugs. Insect pests will stay away from seedlings and trees if you use wood ash around the base as a mulch. Using these natural methods will reduce the need for potentially harmful chemical pesticides.
Your garden can really benefit from evergreens featuring berries. This gives your garden a bit of a “splash” of color, even in winter when everything is nearly colorless. These plants can help you get some color during the winter months: Winterberry, Common Snowberry, American Holly, and American Cranberrybush.
As was mentioned earlier in the article, gardening can be a truly rewarding hobby. The benefits of garden-fresh vegetable or beautiful floral arrangements can be immediate and long-lasting. Apply these tips to make sure you do everything properly for better results.
