Are you a newbie to gardening? Or are you a casual gardener who wants to keep a small with beautiful blooms or robust greens? Either way, you've likely encountered a pest problem or soil issue you've never seen before. You may be feeling lost on how to resolve it.
But don't fret! Every gardener experiences this. Even experts and professionals on plant care deal with their own concerns.
To help you along, we've put this practical guide together! You'll also find answers to the most common questions on gardening. You'll also find top techniques every gardener needs to know!
Here, we give you a quick list of pro gardening tips and tricks for rookies and hobbyists. You'll learn about planting your first plant seed. You'll find out how to give daily care to your plants. You'll find out how to move your seedlings to your plant bed. You'll also learn how to build your soil and harvest your herbs.
Whatever your worries are, we've got your back! This handy guide has all the basic know-hows for any budding gardener.
Interested in a formal course? Want to get certified as a gardening expert? Check out organizations offering classes in Floristry, like:
American Institute of Floral Designers (www.aifd.org).
National Gardening Organization (www.garden.org).
American Floral Endowment (www.endowment.org).
American Horticultural Society (www.ahsgardening.org)
Before doing anything else, all gardeners need to prep their garden beds! Other gardening practices like building soil can get difficult without a good foundation. But no worries, we're here to help!
Natural light, healthy soil, and water are the standard needs of any garden bed. But if you want to go all out, there are a number of steps you need to follow.
Clear away weeds, grass, and other vegetation from your desired area.
Wet the soil until it is damp. Make sure it's not soaking wet.
Work the soil to around 12 inches deep.
Add compost into your bed.
Cover the bed with mulch.
Top off with more compost to lock in moisture.
Prepping your garden bed can vary with the kind of plants you wish to plant. But these are the fundamentals you can adopt to ensure your bed is healthy! From here, you can get your lawn ready! You'll soon have a garden of the best Flowers and plant edibles!
So you've prepped your lawn or yard into a nourishing garden bed. Now you're ready to start planting seeds and growing them to fully flourish! With the proper care, you can look forward to lively blooms and harvests of herbs and vegetables.
To achieve this, here are a couple of tips from expert gardeners on seed starting! You'll see the best ways to bury a seed into the soil and start them up on their growth progress.
Some gardeners think it's okay to let your seed grow wild in every way they want. But experts don't agree.
Years of experience with maintaining our own gardens tell us otherwise. We say it's best for newbies to start their gardens in an enclosed space. It's much better for both you and your plants that you keep a close eye on them at all times. By doing this, you can adapt to and care for their needs in a more effective way.
That said, here are a few practical tips for new gardeners planting their first set of seeds into the soil!
Spread your seeds in the bed and avoid overcrowding at all costs.
Store your stock of seeds in a dry and cool site for longer shelf life.
Pat down the soil to make direct contact with the seeds.
Give them enough air flow and water drainage to protect against pests and plant disease.
Water them daily, and feed them well with a healthy mix of fertilizer and plant food.
Take time to let your plants get used to direct sunlight to prevent unwanted wilting.
Both Fresh Flower beds and vegetable gardens benefit a good deal from mulch. It gives your garden very high levels of moisture retention and soil temperature regulation. It also helps repel weeds better. You could never get these at top quality with any artificial product or formula.
Every gardener needs to know when to use mulch and what amount of it to use. This is because mulch belongs to the most valuable things a garden needs to flourish!
Whether you're using grass clippings, wood chips, pine needles, stone and rocks, or dyed mulch, here are the experts' answers to some FAQs on mulch.
Should I steer clear of any type of mulch?
Avoid grass cuttings from any lawn that's been treated with herbicide in the past three to four weeks. If you have pets, particularly dogs, don't use cocoa hull.
Aged mulch vs. New mulch?
In general, older mulch is better. It won't sap the soil of its much-needed nitrogen and other nutrients. This is because they've already begun decomposing.
When should I apply mulch?
Gardening experts say it's best to set the mulch in your garden bed in the early summer. Otherwise, you'll risk injuring the roots of any plants you insert after.
How deep should the mulch go?
The general rule on how deep mulch should go is a couple of inches from above ground. Experts say this is ideal for your plants. Top tip: Keep the mulch about at least a feet away from your house's foundation to avoid bug infestations.
The technique of composting has been around about as long as gardening has. It's only reasonable to conclude everyone has at least a basic idea of composting or building good compost.
Regardless of what you know about it, here are a few tips to catch you up on the basics of composting!
We recommend that you devote a dedicated space for your composting. This way, you can put compost in a bin to stock for longer use.
It's also crucial to optimize your compost for your garden bed. Start by dampening each layer as you put them in your compost bin and quicken the process.
Now you want your compost to be high quality. Compost is best when it has a well-balanced composition of brown (dry) and green (wet) components. If not, it can either heat up or smell bad.
So if one of these things takes place, check on the balance of green and brown in your compost. If it isn't uniform, add a bit more of whichever compost is less than the other. Be sure that the perimeter of your workspace doesn't clog up water and lets it drain out with ease.