Gardening Basics and Know-How
Tips from the Experts for Gardening Hobbyists
Are you a newbie to gardening? Or are you a casual gardener who wants to keep a small with gorgeous blooms or robust greens? In any case, you've likely run into a pest problem or soil issue you've never seen before. You might be feeling a bit lost on how to resolve it.
But don't panic! Every gardener experiences this. Even experts and professionals on plant care have their own concerns.
To help you along, we've put this handy guide together! You'll also find answers to the most frequent questions on gardening. You'll also find top pointers every gardener needs to know!
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Here, we give you a brief list of pro gardening tips and tricks for rookies and hobbyists. You'll learn about planting your first plant seed. You'll find out how to give daily treatment to your plants. You'll discover how to transfer your seedlings to your plant bed. You'll also learn how to cultivate your soil and gather your herbs.
Whatever your worries are, we've got your back! This helpful guide has all the standard know-hows for any budding gardener.
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Preparing Your Garden Bed
Before doing anything else, all gardeners need to prep their garden beds! Other gardening methods like building soil can get difficult without a good foundation. But no worries, we're here to help!
Sunshine, healthy soil, and water are the basic needs of any garden bed. But if you want to go all out, there are a few steps you need to follow.
Remove weeds, grass, and other vegetation from your desired area.
Wet the soil until it is damp. Be sure it's not soaking wet.
Work the soil to around 12 inches deep.
Insert compost into your bed.
Cover the bed with mulch.
Top off with more compost to keep moisture.
Prepping your garden bed differs with the kind of plants you wish to plant. But these are the fundamentals you can adopt to be sure your bed is healthy! From here, you can get your lawn ready! You'll soon enjoy a garden of the freshest flowers and plant edibles!
Seed and Seed-Starting
So you've prepped your lawn or yard into a nurturing garden bed. Now you're all ready to start planting seeds and cultivating them to fully flourish! With the proper care, you can look forward to vibrant blooms and harvests of herbs and vegetables.
To achieve this, here are a couple of tips from expert gardeners on seed starting! You'll see the best ways to bury a seed into the soil and start them up on their growth progress.
Some gardeners think it's alright to let your seed grow wild in every way they want. But experts don't agree.
Years of experience with maintaining our own gardens tell us otherwise. We say it's best for rookies to start their gardens in a confined space. It's much better for both you and your plants that you keep a close eye on them at all times. By doing this, you can adapt to and look after their needs in a more effective way.
That said, here are a few helpful tips for new gardeners planting their first set of seeds into the soil!
Spread your seeds in the bed and avoid overcrowding at all costs.
Store your stockpile of seeds in a dry and cool area for longer shelf life.
Pat down the soil to make direct contact with the seeds.
Give them room for air flow and water drainage to protect against pests and plant disease.
Water them everyday, and feed them well with a healthy mix of fertilizer and plant food.
Take time to let your plants get used to direct sunlight to avoid unwanted wilting.
Mulch
Both flower beds and vegetable gardens benefit a great deal from mulch. It gives your garden high levels of moisture retention and soil temperature regulation. It also helps repel weeds better. You could never get these at top quality with any artificial product or formula.
Every gardener needs to know when to use mulch and how much of it to use. This is because mulch is among the most important things a garden needs to do well!
Whether you're using grass clippings, wood chips, pine needles, stone and rocks, or dyed mulch, here are the experts' answers to some FAQs on mulch.
Should I avoid any kind of mulch?
Avoid grass trimmings from any lawn that's been treated with weed killers in the past three to four weeks. If you have pets, particularly dogs, don't use cocoa hull.
Aged mulch vs. New mulch?
As a rule, older mulch is better. It won't sap the soil of its much-needed nitrogen and other nutrients. This is because they've already started decomposing.
When should I apply mulch?
Gardening specialists say it's best to place the mulch in your garden bed in the early summer. Otherwise, you'll risk damaging the roots of any plants you place in after.
How deep should the mulch go?
The standard rule on how deep mulch should go is a couple of inches from above ground. Experts say this is best for your plants. Top tip: Keep the mulch about at least a feet away from your house's foundation to help prevent pest infestations.
Composting
The technique of composting has been around almost as long as gardening has. It's only sensible to conclude everyone has at least a fundamental idea of composting or building good compost.
Regardless of what you know about it, here are a few pointers to catch you up on the basics of composting!
We recommend that you devote a dedicated space for your composting. With this, you can put compost in a bin to stock for longer use.
It's also important to maximize your compost for your garden bed. Start by moistening each layer as you put them in your compost bin and quicken the process.
Now you want your compost to be top quality. Compost is most ideal when it has a well-balanced combination of brown (dry) and green (wet) materials. Otherwise, it can either heat up or smell bad.
So if one of these things happens, inspect the balance of green and brown in your compost. If it isn't uniform, add a little bit more of whichever compost is less than the other. Be sure that the perimeter of your workspace doesn't clog up water and lets it empty out with ease.
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