Shoveling clay soil is tiresome since clay is hard, and it can also stick to your shovel for twice the difficulty. Make your shoveling job easier by lightly coating a shovel with a layer of wax, then buffing the surface. Either car wax or floor wax will work just fine. The shovel will glide through the clay and as a bonus, your shovel will be resistant to rust.
TIP! A handy trick is to turn the handle on a tool that you use often into a makeshift ruler. Tools with long handles, such as rakes, hoes, and shovels can be converted into handy measuring sticks.
There are a variety of all-natural techniques that you can employ that will create a healthy, vibrant organic garden. All it takes is a little research, and some strategic implementation.
Use climbers to cover walls and fences. Plants that climb are extraordinarily versatile, and can help hide an unsightly wall or fence, usually within one season. Climbers can also be trained to grow and cover an arbor, and they will grow through or around existing trees and shrubs. Some types of climbers support themselves naturally through twining stems or tendrils, but others will have to be attached to something. Some of these plants include, wisteria, jasmine, climbing roses, clematis, honeysuckle!
TIP! To achieve the best growing results, plants need sufficient carbon dioxide. With a high level of CO2 plants will grow much better.
Prior to planting anything in your garden, check your soil. Consider getting a soil analysis and working on enrichment techniques for giving your garden a vibrant and healthy environment. Save yourself the trouble of a failed crop by contacting your local Cooperative Extension to preform the soil test.
Grow some wheat grass or catnip for your cat to eat instead. Another option is to place offensively smelling objects on the topsoil near and around the plants you want to protect. Citrus peels or mothballs are a couple of examples.
TIP! Natural materials or some other plants can be used in your garden for keeping away pests. Slugs who want to enter a vegetable garden, for example, can be repelled by a simple border of marigolds and onions.
Grow some plants that cats like to eat – try catnip or wheat grass. Another option is to place something smelly, like citrus peels or mothballs, on the soil surrounding the plants that have previously been eaten.
Think about planting evergreen plants that will produce berries in the backyard. These will help give your garden a burst of color, even in the winter months when most other vegetation has lost their colors. Other winter plants include the American Holly, Winterberry, The American Cranberrybush and the Common Snowberry.
Knee Pads
In order to bring in good insects to your garden, you need to plant heather. Bees will go straight for these plants in the spring. Spiders, ground beetles, and other useful insects spend time in undisturbed heather beds. Because of this, you should put on a pair of gloves when it’s time to prune the heather.
TIP! To make a creative English garden, include many different kinds of plants and vary their height in the same garden bed. You should avoid using plants of the same height so that your flower bed doesn’t look flat and uniform.
A set of knee pads is a great investment if your garden has a lot of low-growing plants. Your knees will take a beating if you spend a great deal of time on the ground while tending your garden. Having a good pair of knee pads will cushion your knees in comfort.
Make sure you protect your knees well while you are gardening. Bending over from a standing position is something many people cannot do. You can get to your plants without straining your back if you kneel in your working area. You can purchase an inexpensive kneeling pad for gardening in order to protect your knees.
TIP! When your seeds sprout, they will not be in need of the warmth they needed to germinate. After growth begins, you can remove plants from any excessive heat sources.
Be sure your garden is fertilized. Manure can be very helpful in growing plants, but it is essential to use a commercial product that has been composted, in order to minimize pathogen risk. Although there are plenty of fertilizer choices, don’t be concerned with which one you use; just be sure to use one.
Is there a natural way to kill weeds? Use a lot of layers of newspaper in order to achieve weed control. Weeds require sunlight to continue growing. The layers of newspaper will kill the weeds because they no longer receive any sunlight. As an added benefit, the newspapers will decompose over time, becoming organic compost. Put mulch over top to increase the attractiveness of the pile.
TIP! Try using untreated stone, brick, or wood to create a raised bed. If you use wood, be sure that it is untreated and naturally rot resistant.
Plan your garden, and plant with fall colors in mind. But, that does not have to be the case! In the fall, the foliage displays every color of the rainbow. Maple trees produce yellow and red leaves, just like Beech and Dogwood trees. Also, when considering shrubs, try using cotoneaster, hydrangea, or barberry.
Using a soaker hose to water an organic garden is the very best choice. Because the water in these hoses seeps out slowly, it goes directly to the roots of the places and leaves the leaves dry. They’re easier than hand watering and don’t use as much water as sprinklers.
TIP! Think about what types of products you can use on your garden. Try to use natural and organic alternatives rather than common chemical fertilizers.
A good tip to help your plants stay healthy and fight diseases is to use aspirin water. Try dissolving around one and one half aspirins into around 2 gallons of water for your plants. Next, coat the plant with the aspirin mixture by spraying it on the leaves. Try spraying your plants with this around every three weeks.
You can create your own compost to use as a fertilizer. If you aren’t squeamish, why not build a worm composting bin? Layer your compost bin with shredded newspaper, a little garden soil, kitchen scraps, and red wiggler worms. Don’t add meat scraps, as they can attract rats.
TIP! One needs to build a border using a fence around the garden prior to planting in it. This will ensure that the animals and other pests are kept out.
Many people try to garden, but if you do not know what you are doing, you will not see the best results. Remember these helpful tips the next time you are working in your garden!
Use a mix of ammonia with water to keep the snails away. The ammonia will not hurt your precious plants, and it will later convert to beneficial nitrogen. It will kill off the snails and stop them from bringing harm to your garden beds. Spray the mixture on your garden daily until you see the snail population die off.
