Planting a garden is one thing, but garden maintenance is ongoing. The planting is merely the beginning of the work – now you have to start staking, watering, mulching and the ongoing schedule of plant and garden care.
There is a lot involved in maintaining your garden – which is why more than a few things are usually neglected in most gardens. Here are few tips to ensure a successful garden even if you never own a garden before.
Watering: is a simple and basic fact that plants need water to grow. However, can be tiring sometimes and this might affect our plants. Consistent watering usually yields the best result in your garden. You might look into soaker hose or a drip irrigation if you have a large garden. This could save you a lot of money, actually up to 65% of water used by the sprinkler system and will ensure your plants get watered without having their leaves wet and eliminates disease problems.
Mulching: 3-4 layers of mulch should be spread over vegetable beds. This will help reduce loss of water from the soil and fully reduce the growth of weed. Look for organic mulch sources like shredded dry leaves, dry grass clippings, compost, straw and many more; they add a great value of nutrient to your garden soil and build its soil structure. They also reduce the growth of weeds and water loss.
Fertilizing: fertilizer and soil additives like garden limestone should be added to soil, based on your soil structure and soil test result. Don’t waste time and money treating the soil without testing the soil pH first, to ensure the best result for the garden soil. Organic fertilizers such as blood meal and alfalfa meal, and mineral fertilizers like crushed stone are excellent for soil and so plant health. If you do use any chemical fertilizers, ensure they are strictly in recommended proportion as overuse can be detrimental the the garden, and “burn” plants.
Weed control: weeds usually are major problem for not only as direct threats to existing plants but because they also house diseases and insect which may do significant damage to your garden if not taken care of early. It is advisable to weed regularly, especially at the early stage of the growing season. This will make it much easy to keep weeds at bay.
Cool plants: when the weather becomes very hot, it is advisable to provide shade for plants to avoid witting off. Basic cheesecloth is a very good shade cover you can look out for, that is still cost effective. Or you might look at erecting a shade cloth, garden umbrella or even a shade sail to protect some areas of the garden in high summer.
Keep clean: it is advisable to always remove and destroy any part of the plant that has any form of disease so as to protect the healthy one. If quickly controlled, it might not spread to other plants but in case it already does, removing or taking off just the damaged part will be enough in many cases. It depends on the infection, by the way, you might have to remove the entire plant in some cases.
If Jim’s can help, whether you’re taking a break and going on holiday or want regular garden maintenance, no job is too big or too small. Just call 131 546 for a free quote or book a Jim’s online.