If you own or rent your home and you want to have a garden, there are a lot of things that you may not know about, especially if you never had a garden before. Below are five tips that you can use to help you have a beautiful garden.
Take It Slow
This is for people who have just moved into a new home. If you’ve moved into a home when you’ve been living within an apartment or a place that didn’t have a lot of land, chances are good that you want to dive right into gardening. But it’s a good idea to get to know your land. Give it a year. This will let you see how much sunlight the different areas get. Test your soil’s pH level to figure out alkaline or acid living plants are going to do better there.
Properly Space Out Your Plants
Keep in mind that when you plant small trees, they may look spaced out properly now. But they are going to grow. This means that they’re going to crowd one another and compete for sun, nutrients, and water as they grow. It’s possible that you can transplant some of your bushes. But if you can’t, you’re going to have to throw away your starved bushes.
Before you dig, read the spacing instructions. Give your trees lots of space. Later you can always fill that space in. stagger your plants and bushes and make two rows. This will create additional breathing room. Even though it’s going to look sparse at first, it’s going to look awesome after time passes.
Make Sure You Have a Plan
Before you plant your new gardens, make sure you have created a landscape plan for the long term. Otherwise, it’s going to be like pouring the foundation of a house and not having blueprints. If you do it without a plan, you’re going to waste muscles, time and money.
Draw a very simple sketch – show what is there now and the things that you may add in the future, like outbuildings, pools, and patios. Research the shrubs and trees that are going to grow best planted in your climate and soil. It’s a good idea to do this online – landscaping websites are going to help you with designing beds and picking plants.
Go to your home improvement center or nursery where there is a design staff who can make suggestions and answer your questions. You can also hire someone who has a landscaping business to create your starter plan. This costs anywhere from $250 – $500.
Remember to Nourish Your Roots
Even when you have hardy plants, they will need some help with putting their roots down. Sprinkling your foliage isn’t going to nourish its roots. You have to water your plant’s root ball under the ground. Otherwise, the plants are going to short-lived and stunted.
Put your hose down at your new plants, trees, and bushes bases, and allow the water to trickle from the hose for 20 – 30 minutes two times per week. If the weather’s hot, then you want to do it more often. This should be done for 4-12 weeks. You can also buy something called soaker hoses and snake them through the beds. This is going to deliver steady and slow water to the roots.
Remember the Sunshine
A lot of gardeners will pick their plants just based on the looks and forget the growing conditions that are required. You want to look at the amount of sun that the plants require and make sure that you are planting them where they will get that amount of sun. If you aren’t careful your plants are going to die.
Look at the spot where you plan to plant your items and estimate how much sun it receives as the day goes on during its growing season. This will help you know where you should put your plants in your yard.
These are five tips that you can use to have the best garden possible at your house. The right garden can enhance your home and give you a peaceful place to sit when the weather is nice. It also can be very refreshing and therapeutic.
