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Clever Gardening Tips, Ideas; Vegetable Gardening Tips

Clever gardening tips for beginners

Today, we discuss the topic of clever gardening tips for dummies. What is gardening? Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating all plants. Gardening is considered by lots of people to be a relaxing activity. Gardening is always an excellent and environment-friendly idea and if you can go for sustainable gardening then it will be even more helpful for all. Gardening is a favorite hobby for many people.

Below are the most important clever gardening tips for beginners;

Pick the correct location

What is the best location for a garden? Almost all vegetables and most flowers need 6 to 8 hours of full sun each day. So you need to observe yard throughout the day to figure out which spots receive full sun versus partial or full shade. Don’t despair if a lot is largely shady.

Pick a relatively flat spot for the garden because it’s more difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to deal with a sloping garden. Check for windbreaks (e.g., your house or your neighbor’s house) that will maintain plants from being harmed by strong winds.

Vegetable Garden.
Vegetable Garden.

Read: Hydroponic Strawberry Gardening Tips.

Giving plants too little or too much light

Different plants have different light requirements and one can easily select the right location for them if we remember a few basic rules.  Most of the plants that flower annually want a full day’s sun or, at the very least, 4 to 6 hours of direct sunlight.

South-facing balconies get the maximum light, in terms of duration of time and intensity. Next maximum light comes east and west-facing balconies. North-facing balconies get the least light for the most part of the year. If you are growing vegetables or flowers, the best option is to grow in them in the south, east or west facing balconies.

Know your soil type

Gardening soil can be sandy, clay, or loamy, which determines how well plants grow and how prone you may be to experiencing plant diseases and root rot. To find out what you’re working with, grab some soil, wet it, and try to form a ball.

The plants do best in loamy soil, which has a good balance of clay, silt, and sand and provides good drainage. If the soil is clay or sandy, add soil amendments, such as compost or peat moss, to add nutrients and correct its structure. Or, container or raised-bed gardening with purchase soil.

Soil test and improve the soil

Before starting a vegetable or flower gardening, conduct a soil test and re-test it at least every three years. The results say about characteristics that affect fertility, such as organic matter content and pH, nutrient, and salt levels. A soil test helps determine which crops are appropriate for which soil.

The more fertile and friable the soil, the better vegetables will grow. The same holds accurate for other plants. Invariably, residential soil needs a boost, particularly in new construction where the topsoil may have been stripped away. Your soil can be excessively wet, poor and infertile, or too acidic or alkaline. Add organic matter to the soil. Add a two to three-inch layer of compost, decayed leaves, dry grass clippings, or old manure to the soil when you dig or till a new bed. If you choose not to dig or are working with an established bed, leave the organic matter on the surface where it will eventually rot into humus. Earthworms will do most of the work of mixing hummus in with the subsoil.

Containers for gardening

When space is at a premium, look to correct containers. You can develop many plants in pots, including vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruit trees, berries, and shrubs. When gardening in containers or pots, use a pot that’s large enough for the plant it’s hosting, and fill it with Miracle-Gro, Moisture Control, and Potting Mix. Not only is it particularly formulated to help plants in pots thrive, but it helps protect against over- and under-watering.

Choose the right plants

It’s very important to select plants that match your growing conditions. This means putting sun-loving plants into a sunny spot, select heat-tolerant plants in warm climates, and giving ground-gobbling vines like pumpkins and melons ample elbow room (or a trellis to climb). Do your homework and pick varieties that will grow well where you live and in the space have. And to get a step up to success when growing veggies and herbs, begin with vigorous young plants from Bonnie Plants instead of trying to grow from seed.

Choose plants adapted to climate, soil, and sunlight. Here are a few easy-to-grow gardening plants for beginners:

Annuals: Calendula, cosmos, geraniums, impatiens, marigolds, sunflowers, and zinnias.

Perennials: Black-eyed Susans, daylilies, lamb’s-ears, pansies, phlox, purple coneflowers, and Russian sage.

Vegetables: Cucumbers, lettuce, peppers, and tomatoes.

Tomato Container Gardening.
Tomato Container Gardening.

Read: Aeroponic Gardening Ideas.

Plant your Picks 

Some plants, such as pansies and kale, tolerate cold, so plant them in autumn or late winter. Tomatoes and most annual flowers, on the other hand, choose warm temperatures, so don’t plant them until the danger of frost has passed in your area. Midspring and mid-autumn are very good times to plant perennials.

An easier process of starting your garden is to buy young plants, called set plants or transplants. Dig holes in your arranged bed based on tag instructions. Eliminate plants from the container by pushing up from the bottom. If the roots have developed into a big ball (a condition known as being root-bound), use a fork or your fingers to untangle some outer roots before setting it into the hole. Pat soil into place around the roots, and then soak the soil with water.

Watering the plants

This has to be the main common mistake made while growing plants. Many of us simply over water the plants, without knowing how much water the gardening plant requires. For plants that are planted in the ground, water them well so that the soil is totally wet. For container-grown plants, water the plants till you see some water draining from the drainage holes give in the container. All containers used for potting the plants must have a drainage hole to ensure accurate drainage. Water must not stagnate near the roots as stagnant water can deprive roots of oxygen and cause them to rot.

Water your plant in the morning to avoid water loss from evaporation, another benefit of watering in the morning is that it allows the plant’s leaves to dry up before the evening, this helps in restricting mealy bugs and fungus to develop. Deep watering develops deep roots that are very important in the healthy growth of the plant, whereas shallow and frequent watering develops shallow roots and weaker plant.

Learn your frost dates

Planting too early or late in the season can spell disaster for the garden. You want to know the last average spring frost date for your area so you don’t accidentally kill plants by putting them out prematurely. It’s good to know your first average fall frost date so that you get your plants harvested or moved indoors before late-season cold damages them. Discover the average first and last frost dates for the area. Plants want a mix of nutrients, just as humans need to consume a mix of protein, fat, carbohydrate, minerals, and vitamins. They particularly require nitrogen (N) for leaf growth, phosphorus (P) for root growth, and potassium (K) for fruit growth. All plants want all three, but leafy crops, mainly need nitrogen, and fruit crops won’t develop well without enough potassium. They need a wide range of other nutrients, often in tiny quantities.

Protect your garden with mulch

To help maintain weeds out and moisture in, cover the soil with a couple of inches of mulch. You won’t have to water as often, and by preventing sunlight from hitting the soil, you’ll check weed seeds from germinating. Decide from a wide variety of mulches (each with its own benefits), ranging from shredded bark to river rock. If you use organic mulch, such as bark, compost, or cocoa bean shells (which smell good, by the way), it will nourish the soil as it decomposes. For a vegetable garden or bed of annuals, select mulch that decomposes in a few months. For perennials, use longer-lasting mulch such as bark chips.

Feeding plants

Feeding the garden plants is one of the important clever gardening tips in the garden world.

Plants require a mix of nutrients, just as humans need to consume a mix of protein, fat, carbohydrate, minerals, and vitamins. They particularly need nitrogen (N) for leaf growth, phosphorus (P) for root growth, and potassium (K) for fruit growth. All plants need all three, but leafy crops particularly require nitrogen, and fruit crops won’t develop well without enough potassium. They need a wide range of other nutrients, often in tiny quantities.

Letting weeds take over

A garden is not only for the seeds we sow, sometimes we obtain uninvited guests in the form of weeds and it is very important to be able to tell the difference between the two. Before sowing the seeds for a plant, it is an excellent idea to read up about it and learn more about it.

Removal of weeds has to be completed as early as possible. Leaving the weed to develop in the container will result in the nutrients being eaten away from the unwanted plant. Scout around the garden every day morning and look for weeds.

Leaving the plants to the pests

Pests are every gardener’s nightmare. As gardeners, we love strong plants and so do pests. By carefully inspecting the plants every morning, we can detect the pests sooner and obtain rid of them. Bugs, insects, and caterpillars can be easily controlled when they are identified through their early stages. Spraying the garden plants with organic pesticides such as neem oil will ensure the pests don’t attack the plants in the future.

That’s all folks about “Clever Gardening Tips and Ideas”.

Read: NFT Farming in India.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Hello,
    I am from Bangalore and my name Mr. Sait.
    Its very nice very much helpful and useful.
    My request is is it possible to get Printed material / a Book about this ? for my personal references and use.
    How to grow, a begginer, Vegetable and Fruits in a very small open land, / backyard for personal use.
    Hope to hear from you and thank you in the meanwhile.
    Regards

  2. Thank you for sharing such a well-researched and comprehensive blog post. Your attention to detail and the variety of sources you referenced made the content reliable and trustworthy.

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