Owning a garden gives you a feel of being closer to nature. It quite relaxing as a hobby and has been proven to even be therapeutic.
However, we must also admit that maintaining a garden can be a lot of work, especially if it’s your first time and you have no idea on what to do. But don’t panic yet with a little reminder on the basics of fixing your garden, you are well on your way to doing a great job.
Sometimes, a garden might be too much of a mess to be salvaged, but not to worry, these tips we have for you would work great whether to fix up an existing garden or building a new one from scratch. Here are 6 important details to remember when fixing your garden:
Table of Contents
Remove Weeds:
As gardeners, one thing we can all agree on is that weeds pose a problem to gardening. These weeds compete with planted crops for nutrients, water and sunlight. This leads to reduced crop yield, increased costs of cultivation as well as increased spread of diseases. This means that at the end of the day all efforts you put into cultivating your garden could be wasted.
Don’t start panicking yet, getting rid of weeds is actually easy. When fixing your garden, getting rid of weeds is one detail that should not be left out. You could do this the fast way or the slow way, depending on how much time you have.
You can choose to dig them up using a spade or a sod cutter. Alternatively, you could mow the area as low as you can, then cover it with a thick layer of newspaper and several inches of soil or compost. It takes a couple of months for the grass to die.
Remove Debris:
Gardens need proper environment to grow, and just like the humans fall sick in unhealthy environments, so also is the growth of plants affected in unhealthy gardens. This is why there is uttermost need for you to remove debris when fixing your garden.
To avoid poor, stunted growth, make sure to dig up or till your garden to remove rocks, roots, shed leaves and other debris that may have found its way into your garden.
You will need to get a skip to collect the dirt from your clearing out. Unless you want your garden to look like a landmine just exploded in it. You can find places to hire a skip by searching ‘skip hire’ and your location. For instance, if you’re in Telford, you can search for ‘Skip Hire Telford’
Edge Your Garden Beds:
Every gardener’s nightmare is having their perfectly planned out garden looking out of place because their lawn has started encroaching into their garden. Not to mention these plants may begin struggling with other plants for sunlight, nutrients and water.
This is why you need to keep your lawn from crawling into your garden with a good edge. A trench about 8 inches deep and a couple of inches wide will stop any possibilities of an invasion. As an alternative, you can sink an edging material around the perimeter of your garden. This way your dream garden is maintained.
Site Your Plants:
Fixing your garden also includes fixing your garden plan just the same way as you would if you were just mapping it out. This is why every gardener has to properly plan how their garden should look before they begin fixing their garden up.
While planning your garden takes a little extra time but planning your plants placement before you put them in the ground makes a whole lot of difference. This allows you to get your spacing just right, allowing your plants look good next to each other. So don’t worry too much about the extra time, instead focus on how good your garden will look in the long run.
Get Planting
Now that you must have created an effective planting plan, the next step is to actually utilize it in building your garden. While you may argue that planting is very obvious when it comes to gardening, you need to remember to plant according to your garden plan.
Planting in the ground according to an already laid out plan is very helpful to your plant’s growth. It helps loosen or ease the roots of plants before they are put in the ground, especially if they are rootbound. Planting according to your garden plan guarantees the actualization of your dream garden.
Spread Mulch:
This is another important detail to remember when fixing your garden. It is not enough to stop there; you also need to continuously ensure the efficiency of your garden. This is why other than amending the soil; the best option to keep your garden healthy while spending next to nothing is to spread mulch.
A 2-inch-deep layer of shredded wood or other materials will do wonders for stopping weeds and helping your soil conserve moisture during dry spells. This way, the continuous fertility of your garden is ensured, while you spend less.
3 Common Garden Problems And How To Fix Them
Garden issues are common to all gardens. Vegetable gardens are also affected by the same slow growing plants, yellowing leaves and other common garden problems. Once you notice these issues in your garden , stay calm and remember to check the leaves, stem, blossoms and fruits to get a clear idea of the problem and its cause to map out a solution. These problems include:
Wilting And Dying Plants:
When this happens, it is often caused by dry soil. Tackling this is really easy as all you have to do is keep the soil moist. While watering the soil, ensure not to overwater it as that could lead to another problem – logging.
Weak, frail looking plants:
This could be caused by lack of sunlight, as such, you should move your garden to a location where it will receive between 6 to 8 hours of sunlight daily.
Also make sure plants are not crowded and larger plants do not overshadow smaller plants.
Plant leaves are turning yellow or light green:
This also means that your plants are not receiving enough sunlight or cold weather. To do this you will also have to move your garden to a location with proper sunlight. You also need to make sure that you are not overwatering your plants.
Owning a garden is a great pastime and can even be therapeutic, but without proper care, your garden will end up being a mess. As you must have figured by now, caring for your garden takes quite a lot of effort. If you are willing to put in the work though, you’ll have something beautiful to show for it.