Gardening is a great hobby. Whether it’s a small patch in your back yard or your entire lawn, it makes your home look beautiful and inviting. But if you’re a beginner, you might not know where to start. This article contains many suggestions that can help you answer some of the questions you might have and get started.
The fall season has arrived and the task of emptying our container gardens is at task. However, instead of storing your clay pots in a garden shed for the winter season, why not replace the summer annuals with edible fall vegetables. Having mums in your favorite clay pot signifies fall, however, consider adding alternative edible plants like leafy lettuces such as arugula, endive, bok choy and radicchio. When it is time for a quick salad, simply snip a few leaves, and you will instantly have delicious ready to eat salad.
A tip to prevent dirt from accumulating under your fingernails while working in the garden, use a bar of soap before starting. Rake your fingernails across a bar of soap and it will seal the undersides of your nails so that dirt will not collect beneath them. When you are finished in the garden, just use a brush to scrape the soap from beneath them and your nails will still be sparkling clean.
Don’t underestimate perennials in making your gardening life easier. Perennials will continue to come back every year and will only require minimal maintenance such as weeding and fertilizing. You’ll save time by not having to plant and care for seedlings or starts. Different perennials will perform better in different climates, but sorrel greens and horseradish should work almost anywhere.
Design your garden so that your harvest is staggered over as long a season as possible. Use cold-tolerant root crops and greens in the fall, for example, and plan to pick and preserve early strawberries in June. This way, you will have the space and time in your life to store everything you grow.
Make a handy twine dispenser from old clay pots. To always have gardening twine ready to use, take an old clay pot, and place it in your garden where you want your twine dispenser to be. Then place your ball of twine in it, and turn a second clay pot upside down. Thread the twine through the drainage hole of the upside down pot and place it on top of the bottom pot. You now have a handy dispenser!
When it is spring and time to plant, do you have a hard time remembering what your gardens looked like the year before so that you know where to plant your new bulbs? This year, take pictures of your spring garden, and in the fall have a look at them. If you see a place in the yard that is bare and in need of a new daffodil, you can be confident on where to plant the new bulbs!
There is a great satisfaction in enjoying your garden after all the effort you’ve put into making it. It is a great, fun activity but also one that takes time and patience. If you follow the tips in this article, you will find that making the garden of your dreams is easier than you might think.