Learn to beautify your outdoor spaces with the helpful horticulture tips in this article. With a little research, you can learn exactly what you need, which will keep you from spending money on seeds you can’t use, or unnecessary equipment.
Properly put down your sod. Get your soil ready before you lay your sod. Pull any weeds that you see, and work to break up the soil so that it is a fine tilth. Lightly, but firmly compact the soil, making sure it is flat. Moisten the soil thoroughly. Lay the sod down in alternated rows, keeping the joints set off from one another. Cut away extra sod and save it to fill in gaps you may create later. Water the sod every day for a couple of weeks. Then it should be rooted well and ready for foot traffic.
Healthy Soil
Starting off your garden with healthy soil can be the best defense against those pesky garden bugs. Healthy soil leads to healthy plants with more strength to deflect those insects and various diseases. To give your garden the best chance of yielding the healthiest plants, start with a high-quality soil that has fewer chemicals which over time will accumulate salts.
Biennials and annuals are great if you would like to better your flower bed. The annuals and biennials are usually fast growing because they only last one season, and this will let you change the garden every season for a nice change of pace. In addition, they work well as gap fillers between other areas, as long as those areas receive plenty of sunlight. Notable varieties include cosmos, rudbeckia, petunia, hollyhock, marigold and sunflower.
Climbing plants and vines are great for covering fences and wall structures. Plants that climb are extraordinarily versatile, and can help hide an unsightly wall or fence, usually within one season. They may also grow through tress and shrubs that are already grown, or you can train them to cover your arbor. Some varieties of these plants will have to be tethered to some sort of support, but other varieties will be able to attach to the medium they are climbing. Reliable varieties include wisteria, honeysuckle, climbing roses, clematis, and jasmine.
Vegetables should be planted in an area where they will get a minimum of six hours of daily sunlight. Most members of the vegetable family need this minimum of light for proper growth. Many flowers also require adequate sunlight to flourish.
You can keep pests away from your garden by using other plants or natural materials. Slugs stay away from marigolds and onions when they are planted in a garden. You can also mulch around trees and shrubs with wood ash, which drives away insects. These methods are environmentally-friendly and mean you do not have to resort to harsh chemicals.
Plant things that will give you color for the fall. That idea is actually far from the truth. Autumn is the most colorful season of all, foliage-wise. Maple trees are an autumn rainbow of crimsons to yellows, and so are beech and dogwood trees. When selecting shrubs that will be colorful during the fall, consider hydrangea, barberry, or cotoneaster.
More Gardening Ideas & Resources
You just need to do some research, work outdoors, and have patience. All the work will be worthwhile, when you experience the satisfaction of a thriving garden established by your own effort.