Backyard Gardening Tips

Image by Belgapixel’s via Flickr Many people may not be aware that gardening can actually harm the environment.  A large amount of carbon dioxide can be released through tilling the soil.  This contributes to global warming.  When you cultivating and compacting the soil, destroys good fungi.  Fertilizers like nitrogen and manure often leach out of the soil and pollute the water you drink.

Global warming

Did you know that the earth’s soil gives out carbon dioxide in the atmosphere 10 times more than all human activity?  This comes from the pill bugs, microbes, fungi and worms when they breathe, digest food and then die. Although in the past plants have been capable of absorbing carbon dioxide caused by small-scale tillages, this isn’t the case nowadays.
The increase of the globe’s average temperature is because of the carbon dioxide the soil emits when tilled. The good news is that tilling can be minimized by mulching or sheet composting.

Good Fungi

In untilled soil, there is beneficial fungi known as the vesicular-arbuscular-mycorrhizae or VAM for short. VAM actually forms a symbiotic relationship with plants.  Their filaments increase root hairs and provide nutrients to the plant.  They give out zinc, copper, potassium and phosphorus.  Plants provide carbohydrates for the fungi in return.  It is possible to grow a garden without tilling the sooiil at all by mulching heavily until the soil is soft and friable.

Surplus Nitrogen

Many gardeners waste nitrogen and manures; farmers do otherwise. Farmers only need a quarter to a third of nitrogen to mix with an inch of compost, horse, or cow manure.  Kate Burroughs of Sebastopol California, uses the same rule for her home-grown lettuce and sweet corns. When it comes to broccoli and pear trees, farmers only need a small amount.  Notice that gardeners apply larger amounts of compost and manure than farmers. Obviously, they are not only wasting their fertilizer but also their money.

The best gardening advice that can be given to those concerned is to do all things with moderation. Keep in mind that too little and too much of something is not healthy. This is the most valuable advice one can have in gardening.

Image via Wikipedia Knowing how to care for your flower garden can make a big difference in the look and over-all health of your plants. Here are some simple hints to make your garden bloom with health

1. The essentials must always be given major consideration.

Your flower garden must have an adequate supply of water, sunlight, and fertile soil. Any lack of these basic necessities will greatly affect the health of plants. Water the flower garden more frequently during dry spells.

When planting bulbs, make sure they go at the correct depth. When planting out shrubs and perennials, make sure that you don’t heap soil or mulch up around the stem. If you do, water will drain off instead of sinking in, and the stem could develop rot through overheating.

2. Mix and match perennials with annuals.

Perennial flower bulbs need not to be replanted since they grow and bloom for several years while annuals grow and bloom for only one season. Mixing a few perennials with annuals ensures that you will always have blooms coming on.

3. Deadhead to encourage more blossoms.

Deadheading is simply snipping off the flower head after it wilts. This will make the plant produce more flowers. Just make sure that you don’t discard the deadhead on the garden or mildew and other plant disease will attack your plants.

4. Know the good from the bad bugs.

Most garden insects do more good than harm. Butterflies, beetles and bees are known pollinators. They fertilize plants through unintentional transfer of pollen from one plant to another. 80% of flowering plants rely on insects for survival.

Sowbugs and dung beetles together with fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms are necessary to help in the decomposition of dead plant material, thus enriching the soil and making more nutrients available to growing plants.

Other insects like lacewings and dragonflies are natural predators of those insects that do the real damage, like aphis.

An occasional application of liquid fertilizer when plants are flowering will keep them blooming for longer.

Always prune any dead or damaged branches. Fuchsias are particularly prone to snapping when you brush against them. The broken branch can be potted up to give you a new plant, so it won’t be wasted.

Image via Wikipedia Getting ready to put in a garden can be an exciting time in the spring and determining the vegetable garden design can be part of the process of planning what vegetables to plant where in the garden. Some folks who are really dedicated to having a good crop of vegetables include raised beds in their vegetable garden design as it allows the ground to warm quicker, stay warmer longer and provide better drainage, slightly extending the growing season, no matter which part of the country in which they live.

The major factor in determining vegetable garden design is the space available for the garden. Not everyone will have a large enough plot of land to devote a major portion of it to a garden. However, it may be surprising the amount of produce that can be harvested from even a small garden. People living in apartments have been successful in raising some of the best vegetables in small patio gardens and in containers, provided they establish a vegetable garden design to make the most use of the limited space.

Other than rich soil, about the only other requirement to growing a successful garden is an abundance of sunshine. Making sure the plants receive sufficient water is also part of the equation, but with the right vegetable garden design and the right soil mixture, watering can be kept to a minimum while still providing all of the plants with the amount of water they require.

Most Sunshine Available To The South

The majority of areas above the equator receive the most sunshine from the south and a good vegetable garden design will be planted with rows running north to south. This provides sunshine to all of the plants in the garden, instead of those that are planted with rows running west to east, where the first row will have plenty of sun and the subsequent rows will be shaded from the previous rows. Planting some of the plants in small hills in the garden can have the same affect on the plants.

Many plants can be started indoors from seed, instead of having to buy starter plants, but some plants are not conducive to being transplanted and will have to be planted directly into the soil. When considering the vegetable garden design, it is important to consider how much space some plants will need compared to others, and if planting from seed, insuring the design leaves sufficient room for those growing from seed in the basement or garage.

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Image by Dazed81 via FlickrBackyard garden advice is not that hard to come by.  In fact, you can get gardening advice from another gardener, in a gardening catalogue, gardening books, gardening magazines, and I personally find gardening advice on the Internet.  Although you will have variations with every plant, there is some gardening advice that is universal and that goes for any plant.

For example, the gardening advice given for planting is pretty much uniform.  You must place plants where they will have room to grow so they don’t overcrowd each other.  Good air flow is a plus, and plants must be in a position where they will receive adequate amounts of sunlight.  Advice will always tell you to add some type of nutrients to the soil to lead to better plant growth, such as mulch or compost.

Gardening advice on watering plants is a little more varied, because every type of plant needs different amounts of water.  For example, you wouldn’t want to water a cactus near as much as you water a tomato plant.  How much you water will obviously also depend on where you live, the climate, and how much rain your area receives.

Gardening advice from nearly every source will tell you that your plants not only need fertilize when you first plant them, they will also needed to be fertilized throughout their growing season.  What type of fertilize used will depend on the soil content and pH balance, but fertilize will definitely be needed on most all plants.  Compost can be used instead and it is easy to find advice on how to make a compost pile as well as when fertilize and compost needs to be used.

Gardening advice on weeds, insects, disease, and how to get rid of them is probably the most sought after advice in all of gardening.  These pests invade all gardens and if you don’t get rid of them, they will take over and ruin your garden.  There are many different chemicals and pesticides that can be used, and gardening advice will usually clue gardeners in on which chemicals are better, which are harmful, and which ones are easier to administer.

Gardening is not an easy task; you have to fight against many outside forces, such as weather, insects, disease, and weeds.  Even the most seasoned of gardeners will seek out gardening advice once in a while.  Who wouldn’t when there are so many forces that could take a garden out?  There is a lot of general gardening advice on the market that goes for any plant, but if you look a little harder you will find specific advice for that one plant that is the only one giving you trouble.  Gardening advice is relatively easy to find, and while you may come across the occasional bad apple, most of it is relatively sound and will help with any gardening question.

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Image via WikipediaHere is something I have done on numerous occasions. Go to the nursery, buy too many plants on impulse only to find there’s no place in the garden that where they really fit in.

Just last night I was talking with my wife and agreed that, before buying more plants we will be careful to examine our garden to see how much sun and shade it gets. Checking also to see whether the soil is well drained or waterlogged and whether your aspect is sheltered or windswept.

You’ll then be equipped to go and buy the best plants for each location, some shade lovin’ flowers and shrubs for the sheltered areas, a few sun loving plants for those warm spots, a few drought-resistant plants for the parched areas which may be either sunny or shaded, and swamp plants for the poorly-drained parts.

We didn’t even have our soil checked so please, take the time to test your soil first, to determine the pH level of your soil and what kind of nutrients you need to add, if any. Is the soil acid or alkaline? Most plants prefer soil that is slightly acidic, but there are some that must have alkaline soil to grow.  You can alter the soil’s pH level, but it’s much easier to simply plant for the soil you have. Of course we were not satisfied with just getting those plants that suit our soil.

Now you are ready to plant. Well - almost. Will you plant in groups or singly? If you buy ‘one of everything’ your garden may seem rather spotty. Group plantings are organised, harmonious and you can vary the color for interest.

Before planting out, place your chosen plants around the garden bed in their pots to see how they will look. Re-arrange them until you are satisfied. Grouping plants in sets of threes or fives usually looks better than planting in groups of even numbers. Be sure that you have an interesting combination of colors and textures of plants. Tall plants should go to the back, or the centre if your garden will be viewed equally from all sides. Try to keep your plants away from trees. The roots of trees are fiercely competitive and will steal all the nutrients and moisture meant for your flowers.

The right color scheme is one way to maintain the harmony in your garden. Imagine the color of the flowers when they are in bloom. Some colors may clash with others, but can still be planted side-by-side if they have a different blooming season. Foliage color is also important. Many flower plants have silver, grey or purplish foliage that is just as attractive as the flower. This means that they are still attractive well past the blooming season and so have added value.

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