DIY, gardening, How to

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New Ideas for Coffee Grounds in Your Garden!

Coffee Grounds in Your Garden

Your garden is your haven and refuge, a place to escape the humdrum of everyday life. A gazebo or pergola in the garden can make it look stunning and also offers a place to relax and enjoy the company of family and friends. Make sure your garden oasis stays vibrant and alive by using something that you would normally discard – coffee grounds in your garden!

Here are some amazing ways to use coffee grounds in your garden and give your garden a much-needed perk-me-up without resorting to chemicals.

Make Your Compost More Nutrient Rich

Coffee grounds are filled with garden-friendly nutrients and properties. They contain nitrogen, lighten and loosen soil, attract earthworms, and act as a deterrent against garden pests. In addition, coffee grounds have a pH anywhere from neutral to acidic and this can prove to be a boon for soils that are alkaline.

Fertilize Your Garden

As coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, you can fertilize your vegetable patch with them. They are an excellent natural fertilizer that replenishes the lost nitrogen in the soil. Sometimes, coffee grounds also contain a high volume of carbon and this too can work wonders with the soil.

Give Acid-Loving Plants a Treat

If you grow tomatoes, azaleas, and rhododendrons, they will thrive on coffee grounds. These plants love acidic soil and when you feed them with a coffee ground solution, they will give a better yield. Just soak the coffee grounds in plenty of water and the following morning use the solution to water your acid-loving plants.

Show Some TLC to Roses

If you are a lover of roses, give your rose plants something to feel happy about. Feed them coffee grounds and watch them bloom in abundance. The neutral to acidic pH and nitrogen in the grounds are like a feast for roses.

Make Organic Mulch

Use coffee grounds as an organic mulch. They will prevent weeds from growing, help the soil retain moisture, and protect against soil erosion. Just make sure you put a fine layer of coffee grounds on the soil. If you do not, it will attract mold that could wreak havoc with your plants and garden.

Keep Tabby at Bay

While cats are not really pests, they can threaten the birds and other wildlife in your garden and also leave behind a stinking mess. If you want to deter cats from getting comfortable in your garden, putting coffee grounds on the soil is a good way to keep them at bay and prevent them from digging up the soil or eating plants that could be potentially dangerous for them.

Protect Your Plants from Fungi

Coffee grounds can protect your plants from fungal diseases, such as wilts and rots. According to some experts, coffee grounds have the ability to create their own type of fungus, which is extremely helpful to the common gardener. So, use the grounds in your garden and enjoy healthy and disease-free plants.

Alter the Color of Your Hydrangea

As weird as it may sound, coffee grounds have the ability to change the color of hydrangeas. If the soil is alkaline, you will get pink blooms. However, most gardeners yearn for and desire blue blooms, which only grow in acidic soil. Add coffee grounds to the soil and watch a miracle happen – a change in the color of your hydrangeas.

Boost the Yield of Carrots

Just like coffee stimulates you, the grounds can stimulate carrots to increase their yield. When you plant carrot seeds in your vegetable patch, mix dried coffee grounds with the seeds. Not only will the yield increase, you also will be able to protect the seedlings from pests.

Keep Nasty Pests as Bay

There is nothing more disturbing and frustrating than finding pests gnawing away at your plants after all the hard work you have put in. Instead of using chemicals to keep away that creepy crawlies from your garden, use coffee grounds. Just place the grounds around the plants that are favored by snails and slugs. You also can put the grounds around ant holes to prevent them from invading your garden.

That’s right, coffee grounds in your garden ward off bugs too!

Give Your Vermicomposting a Nutrient Boost

Gardeners who vermicompost claim adding coffee grounds can give the compost a nice dose of nitrogen and other soil-friendly nutrients. However, there is a lot of debate over this addition. Anecdotal evidence shows adding a few coffee grounds into the vermicomposting pit does not harm the worms. So go ahead and try it, give your compost an injection of nutrients like never before.

Can coffee grounds paint your house? No, sorry, they cannot do that.

Now you know of some weird but helpful ways to enrich your garden soil using coffee grounds. Use these tips so that the next time you are sitting in your gazebo or pergola, you will feel thrilled at the vibrantly colored blossoms thriving and flourishing around your yard.

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gardening, How to

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Vegetable Seeds and Flower Seeds: Collect, Save and Germinate Seeds

vegetable seeds Spending time outdoors in your garden can be a constructive and altruistic hobby that provides hours of pleasure. However, many avid gardeners find that purchasing new vegetable seeds, flower seeds, and buying more fertilizer each growing year can be expensive. By collecting and saving seeds from your flowering and vegetable plants, you will be able to save money that can be used for other garden needs such as a new garden shed, potting bench, or garden equipment.

Plan Ahead: Heirloom Seeds vs. Hybrid Seeds

Before you can start collecting and saving seeds, you need to plant the right type of plants. This is because hybrid seeds are meant to be used only for the single generation. The plants have awesome and unique characteristics, but the seeds they produce can have a mix of wanted characteristics and those that are not so desirable. The same problem can crop up (pun intended) if you use seeds from vegetables you purchased at a department store as you have no way of knowing if the plant was a hybrid or heirloom. Instead, make sure you purchase or otherwise obtain heirloom seeds or open pollinated seeds.

Avoid Cross Pollination

Another problem that can occur is cross pollination. For instance, if you have two varieties of the same species in your garden, wind, bees, and birds can end up cross pollinating between them, and you will end up with seeds some of which will have the characteristics of one variety, others with another variety, and some with a mix of both. cross pollination This can happen, for instance, if you have both bush and pole beans in your garden or short and tall varieties of marigold. To avoid cross pollination, you should plant the different varieties far from each other. You can also select the particular flower you want to take the seeds from and cover it with a plastic bag and hand pollinate it.

New to Seed Saving? Start with Flowers.

If you are new to seed saving, begin with flowers as they are easier to collect from. When tending your garden, make sure to weed out any weak plants or those that have characteristics you are not so happy about. As you walk around your garden each day, observe the flowers and watch for when they begin drying. As the petals fall off, snip the head and place it in an envelope clearly marked with the variety and date. The seeds should be mature before you snip the flower head. Next, empty the flower head on a newspaper placed on a shallow tray and ensure that the seeds dry completely before being stored. Even a hint of moisture can lead to fungi and unviable seeds. The seeds should be dried in a well-ventilated, cool, dark, and dry place. Once dry, store the seeds in envelopes in a cool and dark spot, such as the back of the refrigerator. The ideal temperature to store seeds is between 32° and 41° degrees Fahrenheit. Exposure to sunlight or bright light can damage the seeds.

Collecting Vegetable Seeds

The process is similar to collecting seeds from flowers except for a few variations. When it comes to vegetables such as beans and peas, you need to first allow the pods to mature and dry on the plant. Instead of harvesting the pods for food, let them remain on the plant until the outer skin is dry and wrinkled. Remove the pods at this time and let them dry completely in a cool and dry spot that is well ventilated. Once completely dry, you can open the pods and collect the mature vegetable seeds. These too should be dried to remove every trace of moisture before being stored in a safe and cool place as described above. seed saving When it comes to fruits and vegetables with pulp, such as tomatoes, eggplant, and cucumber, you need to slice the vegetable open and scoop out the pulp and seed mix. Place them in a glass container and add water. Stir and let rest so that the viable vegetable seeds drop to the bottom and the pulp and lighter seeds float to the top. Remove these and repeat the process until all of the pulp is removed. Wash the vegetable seeds and dry them well before storing.

How to Germinate Seeds

Toward the end of winter, you need to remove the seed containers from the refrigerator, bring them to room temperature, and start germinating seeds. For this place the seeds on a damp paper towel and cover them with another damp paper towel. Keep the paper towel moist until the seeds germinate. Next plant them in starter containers. Preferably use biodegradable containers such as egg shells that can be buried in the soil once the seedlings have become healthy. Plant viable seedlings in your garden and watch them flourish. Saving the flower and vegetable seeds from your garden is a fantastic way to participate in the complete cycle of the growth of your plants. You soon graduate from a novice to an expert after a few years of this.
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gardening

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10 Reasons Why Gardening is Good for Your Well-Being – Infographic

Summertime approaches, and gardeners all over the world respond to the signals. Out come the rubber boots, the spades and shovels, the garden hose, the cotton gloves and the kneeling pads. It’s time to dig into the soil and get their hands dirty. You, too, can join the legion of people who “play” in the dirt in order to create beauty or add fresh flavours to their summer meals. Gardening is a club that welcomes all members, whether you’re planting a container or two of flowers on your balcony, or laying out a vegetable garden in your backyard, greenhouse or raised garden bed.

The Benefits of Gardening

Gardening adds colour to our world, but it also offers multiple benefits to the gardener, including an excuse to be out of doors on a lovely summer day. Still not convinced? Here are 10 good reasons to “dig in”: Benefits of Gardening Infographic
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Gardening with Children

Gardening with Children If you are an avid gardener, you probably would like to introduce your children to the joys of gardening. Gardening with children is fun and allows you to teach your children many valuable skills such as patience, discipline, persistence, and a love for nature. Children will also be able to learn basic skills and the joys of manual labor when they help in the garden even as they enjoy seeing seeds sprout and buds flower. Another advantage of gardening with children is that even picky eaters are likely to eat cherry tomatoes and kale that they have helped to grow.

Keep the Age of the Child in Mind

When introducing children to gardening, keep the age of the child in mind. Children are impatient and expect quick results, so get them to plant quick-growing plants such as sunflowers and tomatoes. Similarly, sunflowers have large seeds that are easier for very young children to handle.

Hand over Ownership

One of the best ways to encourage your children to take an interest in gardening is to give them individual plots. The ownership of the plot will inculcate a better sense of responsibility and ensure that they remember to water their garden and weed it. The size of the plot should depend on the age of the child. You could start off very young children with a container garden that they can easily water. Locate the child’s plot in a sunny spot that has easy access to a water source. Depending on the age of the child, you can help by weeding, removing bugs, or watering.

Gradually Involve them in All Gardening Activities

While very young children are likely to only be interested in some aspects of gardening such as planting the seeds or watering, you can gradually involve the child in all gardening activities. Teach your child how to compost organic material, weed, remove pests, and harvest. As the child grows older, you can ask them to take part in mulching and fertilizing, pruning, and harvesting. You can also increase the area of the garden your child manages and let them choose which plants to plant each year.

Safety Measures When Gardening with Children

When gardening with children, you need to ensure that adequate steps are in place to ensure their safety. First, you need to make sure that the plot allotted to your child is close to the house and visible from the home for better monitoring. While even very young children should be given proper gardening tools, these should be the right size for them to use safely. Some garden tools and implements should only be used by children under supervision. Apart from this, you also need to make sure that your children are not exposed to chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This is best achieved by keeping your entire garden organic. If that is not possible, keep pesticides out of the reach of children and explain that certain products are not to be used by them.

Planning Garden Beds

When planning garden beds for children, make sure that they are not very wide so that children can reach the center of the beds with ease. This means that the garden beds should not be more than four feet in width. Additionally, you need to leave adequate space between the beds for children to move around with ease. With very small children who may not be the most coordinated or have that attention to detail that adults have, you need to leave around two feet between the beds to ensure that they do not trample on the plants.

Using the Garden as a Teaching Tool

To be most effective, the garden should be used as a fun teaching tool. This can be done by letting children get muddy and dirty as they explore all aspects of the garden. While you are gardening with children, you can introduce them not only to the plants in the garden, but the insects, small animals, and birds that are part of it. Installing a bird feeder and bird bath can help add color and interest to the garden. Help your children identify the birds and insects in your garden even as you teach them the names of the various plants.

Be Flexible

In order to ensure that your children enjoy gardening and spending time outdoors, you need to be flexible. Let the children choose what they want to plant and allow them to make a few mistakes. This is how children learn – they learn from their mistakes. No different than adults really though. Very young children are likely to pull up plants along with the weeds, trample on seedlings, over water the plant beds, and so on. While this can result in a less than perfect garden, your children are likely to find the process enjoyable and take pride in productive work. While children need to be supervised to ensure that they do not injure themselves when using garden implements, they should be allowed to experiment and make mistakes so that they learn to appreciate the joys of gardening as well as other life lessons. And certainly they can enjoy some of the fruits of their labor as well.
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Essential Features of a Potting Bench

Potting bench features A potting bench is a vital piece of furniture for all gardeners. It helps collect all the gardening tools, containers, potting soil, and fertilizers at one pale and also makes potting, transplanting, and weeding much easier. Whether you are an amateur gardener or a full time one, whether you look after a large garden or a small balcony or patio garden, you need a potting bench to ensure that you can easily carry out many of the gardening tasks without straining your back or spending time hunting for tools and equipment.

What to Look for in a Potting Bench

A potting bench should be made of high-quality wood that can withstand exposure to moisture and sunlight. Red cedar or other natural woods or pressure treated wood can be used to make a potting bench.

Sturdy Base

In addition, the potting bench should have a sturdy base that will be able to carry the weight of pots with soil, sacks of potting soil, fertilizer bags, a watering can, and some tools.

Height

The main work surface of the potting bench should be slightly lower than your kitchen counter. This is because many of the pots you work with will be more than a foot in height. A very high potting bench will not let you see inside the pot when you are lining the base with gravel, charcoal, and other materials.

Multiple Shelves

There should be multiple shelves that can hold a variety of tools and equipment that are required to make potting easier. The shelves should be place such that you have a clear four feet by two feet surface to place the pots on and work.

Built in Sink

Another salient feature is the built in sink. This can help collect debris, soil, and other material with ease for cleaning up. A sliding lid over the sink can increase the work surface while the sink is not needed. A detachable sink will make clean up much easier as the debris can simply be dumped in the compost bin.

Grate for Collecting Soil

Another feature that can help make a potting bench much easier to use is a grate for the work surface. This will help the potting soil fall through and collect in a bin below for reuse, ensuring that you do not have to worry about spilling potting soil or fertilizer.

Wire Mesh, Lattice, or Pegboard for Hanging Tools

While most potting benches have a shelf for keeping tools, some come with framed wire mesh, lattice back, or pegboard for hanging tools. This keeps the bench and work surface uncluttered and enables you to reach out for the tool you need with ease.

Storage

Some potting benches have built-in drawers to store tools and fertilizer. These can be left outside the garden shed and yet keep the tools dry and protected from the elements. It also helps you remain organized. Regarding the weather, extreme cold, humidity, and heat could wear down your tools. Putting them in drawers will help preserve them for many more years and even be suitable enough for your children to use.

Wheels

Wheels and a handle can be of marvelous help if you have a large garden. Imagine the ease of gardening if you are able to wheel the potting bench to different sections of the garden instead of having to lug containers to the garden shed or potting bench for transplanting, repotting, or adding compost and fertilizer.

Paint or Sealant

Whether your potting bench is placed in the garden shed or outside, you need to ensure that it has multiple coats of waterproof paint or sealant. This will help protect the wood from exposure to moisture and sunlight.

Maintenance of your Potting Bench

Maintaining your potting bench is relatively easy. You need to wipe it dry after use and paint it once a year. Move the potting bench indoors, either to your garage or a garden shed in the winter months to help preserve it for longer. Potting benches can be as simple and basic as you want with a working surface, a storage shelf, and a smaller shelf to keep tools. On the other hand, a potting bench with a framed mesh for hanging tools, wheels, and handles to help move it, a sink or grate to collect debris, and drawers or covered storage to hold potting soil, fertilizer, and tools can make it much more comfortable to carry out numerous gardening tasks.

Location of the Potting Bench

The potting bench can be placed in the garden shed or outdoors. However, you need to ensure that there is plenty of air circulation and light on the work surface. If you are placing your potting bench in the garden shed, place it close to a window that lets in natural light and air. If you plan to locate your potting bench outdoors, try placing it under a tree or close to the walls of the house so that you will have some shelter from the elements as you work on potting, transplanting, and other constructive tasks.
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Drought-Resistant Plants for an Eco-Friendly Garden

drought-resistant plants A lush and green garden is a welcome sight, but with many parts of the country suffering from water shortage, choosing to plant drought-resistant plants that require less water will reduce your water bills and make your garden more eco-friendly. Drought-resistant plants do not mean only cacti. There are many flowering plants, shrubs, and perennials that have been developed to be drought-resistant. These plants will survive on rainfall after they have become established. However, the first year or first month you will have to ensure that they are watered adequately. After that the drought resistant plants might not bloom when there is no rainfall or watering, but will survive and add color to your garden after you water them or there is adequate rainfall.

General Watering Tips

Whether you have planted only drought-resistant plants or some sections of your garden have plants that require regular watering, you need to follow the rule of occasional deep watering rather than frequent shallow watering. A general rule of thumb is to water the plants once a week so that the soil receives an inch of water. Avoid watering the leaves since this can lead to the growth of fungi. Covering the soil with mulch will also help prevent water evaporation from the soil, helping to delay watering sessions.

Drought-Resistant Plants

Yarrow ‘Coronation Gold’: These are golden yellow flowers that bloom among tall silvery gray leaves. The flowers bloom from mid-summer to early autumn. The plants grow up to three feet in height and require plenty of direct sunlight and soil that handles moisture well with the proper drainage capabilities. Silver Artemisias: You can add fragrance to your garden with this silvery gray leafy plant. The aromatic leaves grow from between one and a half feet to four feet in height depending on the variety you choose. These plants thrive in direct sunlight and when they are growing in well-drained soil. They can be invasive and you need to divide them often to limit their spread. Purple Coneflower: Another plant that prefers direct sunlight and well-drained soil is the purple coneflower. The plant grows to be between .6 to 1.3 meters or two and four feet in height. Tall Bearded Iris: This hardy plant also requires direct exposure to sunlight and well-drained soil. It blooms in spring and is a great ornamental plant with blade-like leaves and purple flowers with six petals. The plant grows to be more than .6 meters or two feet in height. Rosemary: Another hardy plant that produces both flowers and aromatic leaves. The pine-like leaves add a distinct aroma to the garden while the sun-loving plant will thrive on well-drained soil and less water. Common Thyme: This is a garden plant that blooms in late spring and early summer. The bush-like plants grow to a maximum of one foot in height and the flowers are white or light purple in color. The plant can be grown in either direct sunlight or lightly shaded areas. Lavender: These mounding plants flower in the summer. The silvery gray leaves of lavender are spiky and the plant grows to between two and three feet in height. The flowers can be lavender, purple, or white depending on the variety you choose. Common Sage: The wooly gray green leaves of this plant make them attractive throughout the growing season. The plant prefers direct sunlight and a soil that is not too saturated and that allows the water to drain away appropriately. It can grow to between .6 to 1 meter or two to three feet in height. Hens and Chicks: This is a succulent plant with blue green leaves that are tipped with red or purple highlights in the summer. The plants should be placed in direct sunlight or lightly shaded locations and the soil should not be flooded. Snow-in-Summer: This plant is very short, only six to ten centimeters or two to three inches in height. The leaves are silvery and the flowers are star-shaped and white. The plant thrives in direct sunlight and in soil that does not hold water for extended periods of time. Creeping Phlox: This is a hardy plant that grows in fertile soil that is well drained. The flowers bloom in late spring or early summer. The plant is only six to 21 centimeters or two to six inches tall and the leaves are bright green and form a majestic background for the white, pink, or violet flowers. These plants can make attractive borders. Sedum: This plant has fleshy evergreen leaves and grows well in average or fertile soil. The plant requires direct sunlight. It flowers in summer and produces loose clusters of purple or white flowers. The short plant attains a maximum height of about 14 centimeters or four inches. An eco-friendly garden should make every effort to conserve water, using drought-resistant plants, storing rain water in barrels, and using mulch to help the soil retain moisture for a longer period of time. These steps will ensure that your garden is lush and enticing without consuming a lot of precious water during the dry months.
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Planning a Flower Garden

Planning a flower garden Flowers in your garden ensure color especially in the summer and the fall. However, a marvelous flower garden does not develop by just ordering flowering plants and planting them wherever there is space.

Overall Considerations when Planning a Flower Garden

You need to begin with a plan that should include large deciduous trees, evergreen hedges, perennial flowering shrubs, and finally seasonal plants that add color. Following this scheme when planning a flower garden will ensure that your garden has structure as well as color.

Plant the Trees First

If you are starting a garden from scratch, plant the trees first. The deciduous trees will grow to be large and cast a shade over a large section of your garden, so locate them with care. The trees should be located at spots where you would like to place a bench or similar seating and away from where you want a lawn or flower bed that will require plenty of sunlight.

Hedges

Once the trees have been planted, decide on the location of hedges to create paths and alleys. These should be planted next.

Perennials

After you have planted the hedges, decide where you want to locate the perennial flowering plants. These will grow to be tall and need sunlight as well.

Flower Beds

After all of these have been located, make flower beds that can border the lawn or line the paths. Plant these with flowers that will add color to the garden. By planting a mix of flowering plants that bloom in the summer as well as those that bloom in the fall, you will be able to have a colorful garden for a longer period of time.

Different Flower Garden Styles

While the basics of a flower garden design are the same, each garden should be unique and reflect your particular style. Before you begin planting the trees and the hedges, consider what sort of flower garden appeals to you. A flower garden can have curved paths and a profusion of blooms in an informal array, straight alleys and more formal design, easy to grow flowers or a group of exotic orchids or cacti. Additionally, you need to keep in mind the flowers that will grow best in the climate conditions of your locality.

Width of Flower Beds

When planning your flower beds aim for a broader bed that will accommodate multiple layers of flowers. A minimum of five feet width is needed to ensure that the flower bed has at least three layers of flowers, giving it a colorful and lush appearance. If your garden is larger, you can even make the flower bed 10 feet wide and plant multiple layers of flowers of varying heights and colors.

Borders vs Islands

Again, the decision to have flower bed borders or a flower island depends on both your tastes and the space available. Plant flower borders along hedges and close to the fence or wall of the house. If you have a large lawn, you can also include an island flower bed. While border flower beds have the large plants away from the path and toward the house or hedge, island flower beds should have the taller plants at the center and gradually taper off to the shortest plants.

Sunshine, Climate, and Soil Types

When planning a flower garden and choosing the plants for it, you need to take into account the amount of sunshine the garden receives, the climate, and the soil type. Of these the soil type is the easiest to fix. Just get the soil tested and add fertilizer, manure, and compost to the soil to improve its health and ability to sustain various flowering plants. However, your choice of flowering plants should also take into account the sunlight the garden receives and the climate of the locality. Consult with the local horticultural organization to find out which flowering plants grow best in your area and select your plants from them. This is especially a marvelous idea for new gardeners, as local plants are more likely to thrive even under an inexperienced gardener. Some plants require shade, so these can be planted in areas of the garden that receive less sunlight, ensuring that most of the garden has colorful plants that will add vibrancy to the outdoors.

Leave Space for Growing

When planning a flower garden, keep in mind the final size of the plants. This will help you space out the flowering plants at an adequate distance so that they do not crowd each other or leave the flower beds looking sparse. Each plant has its own space needs and you need to learn about them before you begin planting the seeds, seedlings, or cuttings.

Creepers

Apart from flower beds, a garden can also have creepers and climbers that flower. Planting a climber that flowers in the fall close to the trellis will provide a colorful and shady arbor for the summer and the fall.
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Increase Your Vegetable Garden Yield with Simple Tricks


Whether you are a new gardener or have been gardening for some time now, there are ways by which you can increase your vegetable garden yield. These steps can help you get more vegetables out of your garden this year.

Improve Soil Quality

The most important way in which you can increase your vegetable garden yield is by improving soil quality. This can be done without too much work by covering the vegetable garden plot with compost and hay at the start of winter. By the time you are ready to plant, the compost would have been worked into the soil by the snow and rain as well as insects, ensuring nutrient-rich soil for your vegetables with less effort on your part. The deeper the layer of composted soil, the healthier the plants.

Use Raised Beds

Another way of increasing vegetable garden yields is to use raised beds. This has multiple advantages. The raised beds reduce the amount of space taken by paths. Moreover, the soil can be made more nutrient rich much more easily as compost can be worked into it. Both these benefits will increase the yield of the vegetable garden.

Round Out the Beds

When you use raised beds, you can also round them out. This increases the surface area available for plants. When multiplied by the length of the beds, the amount of additional space is significant enough to increase yields. Plant greens and similar plants at the edges of the raised beds, making them easier to harvest as well.

Stagger the Plants

Another way of saving space when planting vegetables is to stagger them. Instead of planting them in straight rows, plant them in triangles. This will enable you to plant more in the same area while still ensuring that all of the plants get sufficient sunlight, water, and nutrients to grow to their maximum potential.

Use Vertical Space

Fix vertical trellises and poles at the sides of the raised beds and train vines of beans, melons, and similar plants on them. This will help save garden space and ensure healthier plants as well. The vertical plants will escape fungal diseases. Harvesting is also easier as you will be able to spot the crop of vegetables much more easily.

Interplant

You should also interplant or mix up the plants in your vegetable garden to maximize the use of available space. Compatible plants can be grown together to ensure that weeds are kept out and all available space is used by vegetable plants. For instance, if you plant corn, pole beans, and squash together, the corn stalks will support the pole beans and the squash will grow on the ground in the space between them. You can also grow tomatoes, onions, and basil together or plant carrots, radishes, and onions together.

Plant Successive Crops

Another way to make the most out of your vegetable garden is to plant and harvest successive crops. If you select quick growing plants, the first lot can be harvested before a second crop is grown in the same area. Before planting the second crop, ensure that you add more compost to the soil to make it nutrient rich.

Stretch the Growing Season

In order to grow two crops, you will also need to stretch the growing season. This can be done by growing seedlings in your greenhouse or garden shed before the start of spring. Once the weather becomes warmer, transplant the seedlings to the garden. The head start will enable them to mature faster, leaving you with the time to start a second crop. This too should be started in the greenhouse as the first crop starts to mature.

Move Plants Indoors

Toward the end of the growing season, you can prolong the growth period, by simply moving some of the plants indoors to your garden shed or greenhouse. For instance, if the tomatoes have yet to ripen and the weather turns chilly, all you need to do is cut the vines and hang them indoors in a warm area. The tomatoes will continue to mature and ripen, ensuring a bountiful harvest.

Enjoy Your Increased Vegetable Garden Yield

If you love gardening and want to increase the supply of fresh vegetables that your garden yields, you do not have to look for more ground space. Instead, simply improve soil quality, plant quick maturing plants, space the plants properly, and transplant seedlings.

Each of these steps will help increase your vegetable garden yield. Additionally, the labor and materials used is not significantly higher. By spacing the plants closer together, you will be able to spend less time watering, weeding, and harvesting, maximizing the productivity of your garden with ease.

Select the plants that are best suited for the soil and climate around your home, and reduce the amount of labor you need to put into it.

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Spring Gardening Tips

spring gardening tips Spring is the ideal time to start gardening. However, the garden needs to be prepared for planting after the cold winter. Before you start planting flowering plants and working in your vegetable and fruit garden, complete these essential spring gardening chores to ensure that your garden flourishes.

Spring Gardening Essentials

Clear Up Flower Beds and Borders

Before you can plant new seedlings, clear up the flower beds and borders. Remove dried leaves and other debris from all over the garden and pond. This is the time to trim old and dead branches of perennials as well. You can also retain an arborist to trim back trees and shrubs.

Clean the Greenhouse

The next step is to clean the greenhouse completely. Wash the outside and inside and apply a disinfectant on all surfaces after removing any insects, mold, and fungus that have established themselves over the winter. Wash the potting benches and seedling trays, clean and paint pots, and paint the greenhouse if it needs a fresh coat of paint.

Fix Fences, Gates, Trellis

As part of your spring gardening activities, you also need to clean and examine other garden fixtures such as fences, gates, and trellis. If your garden has furniture that was left outdoors in the winter, these need to be cleaned and painted as well. If you have stored the garden furniture indoors, bring them out and place them in the garden. You might need to mend broken fences and paint the trellis if it has been affected by the winter weather. Similarly, if you have a playhouse, tree house, pergola, or arbor in your garden, these need to be cleaned, disinfected, mended, and painted. Check these structures for mold, fungus, and insects and remove them before they take over the structure. Wash the outside and interiors of the structures.

Bird Feeders and Bird Baths

Another set of garden fixtures that bear the brunt of winter weather are bird feeders and baths. These need to be cleaned, disinfected, and painted if necessary. Test the bird bath to ensure that it does not leak. Once the weather turns mild enough for the birds to return, you will be in a position to fill the feeder and bath, adding bird song to your garden.

Eliminate Garden Pests

The time before spring planting is ideal for hunting down and eliminating garden pests. This will save you plenty of time and effort later on as your garden will be relatively pest free during the growing season.

Soil Test

Another must-do activity before spring planting is a soil test that will help you determine the right fertilizers to apply. You should also add mulch to the empty flower beds and bald patches of soil, to enhance the soil quality.

Compost Pit

Build or start a compost pit and use the garden debris and trimmings you have collected to prepare mulch.

Start Seedlings for Long Growing Plants

Even if the weather is still too cold to plant outdoors, you should be preparing the seeding trays for plants that need to grow for a longer period of time. The seedlings will be ready for planting once the weather becomes milder.

Water Butts

If your garden does not already have water butts, now is a salient time to install them. If the water butts were moved indoors during the winter, bring them out and place them in locations where they can catch rain water during spring precipitation. This move will help save the environment, reduce your water bill, and ensure healthier plants thrive on and live off rain water.

Spring Gardening Tools

Once the weather is appropriate for planting you will be busy in the garden, digging, planting, and so on. Before that, clean and inspect all of your gardening tools, sharpen and repair broken tools, and order any new ones that you will need.

Plan Your Garden

You should also take the time to plan your garden, decide which flowers you want in the flower beds and which vegetables and fruits you plan to grow this spring. With this decided, you will be in a position to order the seeds or seedlings you require and ensure that they are on hand the weekend you decide to plant them. While the actual planting of the garden can start only after the weather is conducive, you can begin work on the garden and prepare it for the spring planting just as the weather becomes warmer. This will give you a head start on your spring gardening; giving you time to ensure that the plants thrive by the time summer is on its way. By checking the soil, tools, and garden structures, and preparing seedlings ahead of time, you will soon have a colorful garden that truly heralds spring in your neighborhood. A little bit of planning will help your gardening efforts go more smoothly as you will have the tools and seeds you need when you are ready to plant.
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