October 20, 2018

How to Maintain a Happy Garden

Are you someone who is looking to embark on a new hobby of all things green? Or perhaps you are someone who already has an existing garden; either way, you’ll know how important it is to maintain your plants in order to keep them looking fresh, bright and healthy. In this article, we will look at how you can go about maintaining a healthy and happy garden, so read on to find out more!

Do You Have All The Tools You Need?

First things first - in order to do any job efficiently, you need the proper tools for the job. This same theory applies to gardening. In order to ensure that your garden is happy and healthy, you will need the correct irrigation supplies, a quality shuffle or two, spades, rakes, forks and hoes. Other fantastic options for a home garden are hand pruners to keep your plants looking in tip top condition, scissors, weeders to get rid of unwanted weed growth and a good quality water hose to keep everyone well watered and happy. Once you have your gardening tool arsenal sorted, you’re ready to maintain a gorgeous garden all year round!

Ensure You’re Purchasing The Correct Plants

The thing with gardening is that you have to do a little research into what plants work well together on the same patch of soil, and which ones don’t. On top of that, you want to ensure that you are introducing healthy plants to your garden, to avoid spreading any disease which may end up killing everything in sight. A great way to ensure a plant is disease free it to examine it thoroughly before introducing it to your garden. In order to know what a healthy plant looks like, you’ll have to refer to gardening books, articles online and even youtube videos which will assist you in identifying both healthy and unhealthy plants. A rule of thumb is to examine not just the top of plants but also the root quality of said plant. Dark, mushy roots are a bad sign and should be avoided, as roots should usually be white, firm and spaced all over the root ball.

Work According To The Seasons

The key thing to focus on when you’re aiming to maintain a happy garden is to work in accordance to the seasons. In the hotter months in summer, avoid watering your plants at the hottest/sunniest part of the day as this can end up scorching your plants. A good time to water plants in Summer would be in the late evening or early morning, when the sun isn’t as intense as it is during the rest of the day. On the flip side, when Winter decides to storm in, you will need to ensure that you are actively removing dead plants and weeds from the garden. When it comes to watering during the winter time, aim to water your garden in the morning so that it has adequate time to dry off before the day ends.

Inspect For Critters

Gardens and critters/pests unfortunately go hand in hand. It is of utmost importance that you inspect your garden for pests such as cucumber beetles, cabbage maggots, cutworms, flea beetles and aphids as they are often the most destructive bugs one can find in a garden. If you find any, remove bigger bugs manually and spray smaller pests with a stream of water. You can use insecticide if you want to, but in most cases this will be unnecessary.

 Ensure High Soil Quality

Healthy soil is absolutely essential for maintaining a happy garden. Some great tips for maintaining healthy soil is to add organic matter such as manures that provide your plants with much needed nitrogen. Always remember to occasionally dig your soil up and break up any dirt clods that may have formed. You can also spread 2-3 inches of compost over the planting area to further enhance the health of your soil. When it comes to commercial fertilisers, always ensure you know what you are doing as the wrong kinds of fertilisers can kill off a lot of plants by accident. If you are unsure of what kinds of fertiliser to use, always ask a professional for help before going out and buying anything.

We hope that this article has given you some handy pointers on how you can maintain a healthy and happy garden all year round!