Gardening is not just a popular hobby for those who own property, but a family activity and even a profession for some. As with any endeavor, gardening is a lot easier if you know a few things before you get started. Read on to learn some pieces of advice sure to make your thumb a little greener.
Check for weeds often in your garden as they will leech nutrients from the soil. Weeds can grow at a high rate of speed and overwhelm the resources available to your plants. Take the time to check for weeds at least twice a week to catch them while they are new shoots.
Collecting and preserving autumn leaves is a fun gardening project, especially for the kids. Generations of kids have used the “wax paper method” to preserve fall leaves at peak color – with a little help from Mom. Just select colorful thin leaves that don’t have a high water content and place them between two sheets of wax paper. Place a cloth – like an old tea towel – on top of the waxed paper “sandwich” and have Mom slowly run a hot iron (no steam) across the cloth. Peek underneath to see if the wax paper is melting and bear down hard to get a good seal. The wax paper may seem cloudy while it is warm, but it should dry clear as it cools. Enjoy your pretty display of colorful leaves!
Use a solution made of a combination of alcohol, water, and vinegar to remove the salt deposits that may accrue in clay pots. Spray it on the the pots and scrub away with a brush, preferably plastic. This allows you to continue to reuse those clay pots! Make sure the pots are dry before using them though.
Make sure you recycle your garden waste and organic kitchen waste to create compost for your garden. A compost heap makes an excellent soil conditioner. It can also save you a lot of money, as you won’t need to buy bags of expensive commercial compost or fertilizer to make your plants grow.
Key to any garden activity is using the right tools. While having a shovel is essential, so are other tools that work best with your garden size. For smaller gardens, short handled tools work best, for larger gardens longer handled hoes and spades work better. Make sure you keep a sharp edge on your tools for easier work.
Fall is a great time of the year to plant a fall vegetable garden. The mild temperatures of autumn are fantastic for cultivating fast-growing, cool-season vegetables such as spinach, radishes and lettuce. Growing an autumn garden does require some planning since you need to harvest your salad crop before the first frost. By looking on the seed packet, you will find out how long it takes for your plant to be mature enough to harvest. Since plants grow more slowly in the shortened days of fall, add two weeks to the time listed on the seed packet. If the total number of days is 45, make sure you plant your fall crop at least that many days before the time that the first day of frost typically occurs in your locale.
You were told in the opening of this piece that if you read on, you would learn a few things about planting and growing. Hopefully, that has taken place and you are ready to go out in the yard and plant some seeds. Keep in mind what you have learned, and you’ll have fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers in no time.