Starting a garden in your backyard is a rewarding project. You will have a chance to grow your own fruits and vegetables, save some money, and spend more time outdoors. Needless to say, watching seeds grow under your care can give you a real feeling of accomplishment.
Although there are a lot of solid reasons to start a garden, this hobby is not for everyone since it requires a lot of time and knowledge. If you want to have a beautiful garden with flowers, a pond, and fruit trees, here is what you need to know:
Maintain your garden pond right
A pond can be an additional decorative element in your garden. There is nothing more relaxing than pondering by your garden pond on a sunny day. The only challenge is to keep your little lagoon clean throughout the year.
First of all, make sure to fish out any debris that might have fallen in and drain about 15 to 25 percent of the water. Keep in mind that during the winter months, debris can accumulate in the garden oasis.
Secondly, if you plan on having fish in the pond, make sure to leave them for partial water changes. Adding tap water to the pond is not really fish-friendly. That’s why you also need to use a conditioner in order to keep the water safe for your fish. Pond conditioner will protect them from stress and possible infection.
Other than that, consider using a water testing kit to measure ammonia, nitrate, pH, and phosphate levels.
You can also keep your pond water sludge free throughout the season by adding some sludge remover once in two weeks.
Diffused aeration at the bottom of your pond can create an efficient distribution of oxygen and improve your water quality.
Learn how to examine plants
If you want to become a proud owner of a beautiful garden, learn how to determine healthy plants. For instance, you should not buy plants with rotted stems, dead spots, or insects. Also, it is crucial to inspect the root quality while shopping in the garden center. To do so, you need to invert the pot with a plant and shake the loose. All rots should be white and firm. Don’t buy plants that have mushy or dark roots since they can easily infect other plants in your garden.
Water properly
Another important thing is to know how and when to water the plants in your garden.
Experts recommend watering garden plants in the evening or early morning. When watering cooled soil, less water evaporates, which is beneficial for plants during hot summer days.
For new plants, gently mist the solid before planting the seeds. Also, make sure to water daily or at least once every two days, so the soil stays moist but not soggy. After the first week, cut back to watering three times per week to encourage deeper roots to form.
All garden plants should get an inch of water per week (including rainfall). For fast-draining soils, half an inch of water over two sessions would be enough. In case you have healthy soils, water your plants just once per week.
Also, don’t forget to mulch your garden in order to keep moisture around your plants and reduce water evaporation.
Apply the right fertilizer
Fertilizing can help your garden plants grow better. Fertilizers are nutrients that should be added to the soil. It’s important to learn how to choose the right fertilizer and how much of it you exactly need. The thing is that applying a lot of fertilizer can burn your roots, and they won’t be able to absorb water.
If you want to make everything right, have a soil test in order to get accurate information on nutrient levels needed for your soil.
Fertilizer labels might be very confusing for beginners. On every fertilizer package, you will see three numbers. For instance: 5-10-10. These numbers refer to the concentration of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus (needed for your plants’ nutrients). Get a fertilizer low in nitrogen in case you experienced green growth without flower blooms. A fertilizer with extra phosphorus will be useful in case you planned vegetables in cold soil.
Prune damaged limbs on time
Don’t wait until the spring to trim your trees and shrubs. It’s better to do it later in winter since wounded limbs can easily become infected. Early pruning can help you to prevent the disease from spreading.
When trimming trees, make sure to use sharp tools since clean cuts heal faster.
The bottom line
As you can see, maintaining a garden takes a lot of effort. However, once you learn the basics, gardening will become a pure pleasure for you. So, don’t be afraid of new challenges! One day, you will look around and see the results of your hard work and determination!
