Sound Advice For Gardening WIth Great Success
Gardening is a popular and fun activity that allows you to enjoy the outdoors and adds beauty to your home yard. The key to being a good gardener is educating yourself on the subject and learning about the best gardening techniques and strategies. The following article contains a number of wonderful gardening tips.
Praying mantises can in fact be beneficial to your gardens. These so called garden pests can be a great organic pest control. Praying mantises are skillful predators that trap and eat harmful insects in your garden such as: caterpillars, aphids and flies without harming your plants. If you have the imagination, you can even believe that in very rare cases praying mantises have been reported to kill small rodents.
Cover your garden with newspaper at the end of the growing season. Weigh the newspaper down with some heavy rocks. This will help to prevent insects, and discourages winter weeds too. The newspaper will break down in the spring and becomes a delicious treat for the worms in your garden, encouraging them to stick around.
If you are going to be doing a lot of work in your garden very close to the ground, such as weeding or planting, use a garden stool or pad to protect your knees. This will make it easier to get back up again and move once you finish, and will also reduce bruising on your knees.
When you are pruning a tree, make sure that your tools are sharp. Cutting with a dull tool can tear the bark off the tree, causing unnecessary damage to the tree. Not only that, cutting with a dull tool causes you to spend extra energy in cutting. A sharp tool will give you a cleaner cut with the least amount of effort.
Grow crops that have a high value to you. Planting flowers that are attractive can be great. However, planting fruits and vegetables that you consume on a regular basis will save you money and allow you to eat healthier. It can be anything from tomatoes and carrots for your salads to herbs for seasoning.
If your flowers leaves are curling, this probably means they are not getting enough nutrients. The soil might not be rich enough, or some insects might be stealing the nutrients from your flowers. Look for eggs or bugs around the roots of your plants. Buy insecticide or additional nutrients for your plants.
Use both well-matured compost and mulch in your garden. Compost will naturally help plants grow faster, taller, and healthier, and increase the yield of your vegetables. Mulch helps prevent the growth of weeds. Mulch also shades the ground around the roots of your plants, protecting them from heat and conserving water.
Create a series of garden 'rooms'. The days of a square lawn with a surrounding border are long gone. A garden can offer so much more, by creating different areas to explore. A patio area is simply an extension of your indoor living space. Add an arbor at the end of the patio, leading to another outdoor room. This can be a play area for children, or a small vegetable or herb garden. Create seating areas under a tree or nestled in between shrubs. Add an element of surprise, such as a unique sculpture or piece of large pottery. Let your garden reflect your personality!
While growing your own fruits and vegetables can save you money on produce and cut grocery costs, growing flowers can give you a sense of pride. Watching something grow when you have taken care to protect it, can make you feel useful. Remember the tips in this article to start your own garden today.