A garden can be the place a home owner is most proud of, the first area they show off when entertaining friends. However, getting it to this stage takes plenty of hard work and dedication, especially for those who haven’t been blessed with naturally green fingers. Gardening takes time and effort, but it also requires a decent amount of prior knowledge and research to pull off successfully. Our tips below are aimed at both beginner gardeners and seasoned pros with the aim of turning your garden into your home’s show piece.
Improve Your Soil.
Your topsoil is the basic foundation of your garden. If it is of poor quality, then unfortunately everything else is likely to be too. Luckily, it’s easy to do something about this, by mixing in fertilisers or better still natural compost. The key to creating quality topsoil is to ensure it is packed with organic materials, including leaves, grass and cuttings. The nutrients in these will be reabsorbed into your plants through the soil, and composting them first can speed up this effect even further.
Create Plant Friendship Groups.
Companion planting can be one way of achieving spectacular results in your garden. This practice involves prior research to find out which plants take what nutrients from your topsoil, and planting different species together so that they benefit each other. This is particularly effective in vegetable plots, with squash, corn and beans being a classic favourite amongst many gardeners.
Plan Ahead.
Before buying seeds, cuttings or equipment, making an annual garden planner should be the very first thing you do. This will let you know when you need to plant, prune and harvest the various components of your garden, and makes the organisation of maintaining it much easier. It’s also a good idea to note on your plan characteristics of areas of your garden – if areas of your garden are shadier than others, they’ll provide a much better environment for some plants.
Create Raised Flowerbeds.
Not only are raised flowerbeds aesthetically attractive, they help prevent damage to your plants and improve their growth rate. Overly compressed topsoil, caused by ground being repeatedly trodden on, increases the amount of work your plants roots have to do when expanding, and also creates poor drainage areas. Laying down planks, stepping-stones or separating your flowerbeds using natural stone helps to prevent this, with the added benefit of keeping your shoes clean too!
Utilise Ladybugs And Natural Pesticides.
The humble ladybug can be a gardener’s best friend, thanks to their diet of aphids and greenfly. These nasty little critters suck the life out of your plants, so encouraging a healthy population of ladybugs is one way to keep them at bay – you can even buy them in many garden centres! If you are looking to keep things organic, a range of natural, chemical free pesticides are available. Boiled up beetroot leaves, spread over your plant’s topsoil, provide an effective natural pesticide that you can make free of charge in your own home.