Gardening is an activity you can pursue if you want to have tasty fruits and veggies sprouting to maturity just outside your house. Nothing beats hand-picked tomatoes on your salad or producing the contents of the whole salad right from your garden. The following paragraphs contain a handful of helpful hints that will enable you to maximize your horticulture endeavor.
For an unusual, but effective, organic solution to weeding young plants, try “boiling” the weeds away. Boiling water is an excellent, organic substance for use against weeds. Just pour boiling water directly on top of the weeds cautiously to avoid damaging your plants. Boiling water kills weeds by destroying their roots. Weeds won’t be able to survive, never mind grow, with damaged weeds.
Be sure to split the irises. You can increase the number of irises you have by splitting clumps that are overgrown. When the foliage has died off, it is time to harvest the iris bulbs. The bulbs, when harvested, should easily split by hand – allowing you to replant them for even more blooms next spring. You should divide rhizomes using a knife. Get rid of the center and keep the new pieces you cut from the outside. Each new piece you cut should possess at least one healthy offshoot. Plant immediately.
Place a few inches of organically based mulch around your vegetable plants. The soil around plants can stay damper through the use of mulch. It will also prevent weeds from popping up around your plants. This can save you a lot of time and effort in pulling out the weeds.
Read instructions before using any gardening tool you aren’t familiar with, including pesticides or other chemicals. Use the tools only as directed in the instructions. If you miss this easy step, you run the risk of harming yourself due to the chemicals that can irritate your skin. Always follow packaging directions to ensure your body’s safety.
Produce Berries
Consider planting evergreens in your garden that produce berries. The berries will provide a boost of color to your backyard, even during the colder months when most of the other vegetation has been drained of their color. Some examples of evergreens that produce berries and color in the wintertime are the American Holly, Cranberrybush, the Winterberry and the Common Snowberry.
Be sure you plant strawberries in your garden for your children, you want to make sure you especially plant everbearing strawberries as well. Children love to pick their own fruit right out of the garden, and will be more willing to help with the process if they get something out of it.
Prior to working in the garden, make sure any cuts on your hands heal completely, or shield any cuts from contact with chemicals and dirt. A cut that has come into contact with extraneous materials like dirt can become seriously infected. Bandages are available that will completely cover the cut so that this cannot happen.
Have all of your tools available to you as you garden to increase efficiency. Keep the tools in a big bucket, or store them in strong pockets in your pants. Have shears, a trowel, gloves and other commonly used garden tools portable and easy to access.
As was mentioned at the start of this article the beginning, a garden is a wonderful way to have your own fresh fruit, veggies and herbs at home. You’ll feel great using ingredients from your own garden to cook delicious food. Apply these guidelines in order to get the most out of horticulture.
