Once you have created your perfect garden you should know that you should spend time on it. Garden maintenance is important if you want to have a beautiful and healthy garden. You might think that it will take a lot of time to maintain it well, it doesn’t always apply.
In this article, we are going to provide you with tips in order to have a great garden and of course to give you tips for your vegetable garden too. Don’t forget that garden maintenance can be an easy job if you organize from the beginning.
Garden Maintenance Tips
One of the tips for your garden’s maintenance would be first of all to have the right equipment. If you do get the right one then your job would be quite easy. Buy tools that will help you work and that will be affordable ones. You need to have pruners, rakes, hoes, spades, and sturdy wheelbarrow.
Once you buy them don’t keep them in your garden wherever you want to. Have a particular space for your equipment and try to keep it clean, especially the blades because you don’t want them to rust. You could use machine oil and clean sand in order to clean them.
Apart from the tools garden maintenance includes watering. If you work a lot and you don’t have time to water them use an irrigation system that you will be able to control and in this way you will have the result that you want. If you do it on your own then water the plants during the evening, the soil will stay cool and the water won’t evaporate.
Also, when you water the plants try not to water the leaves and the blossoms because they might produce mold. If you do water them do it gently because you don’t them to break from the water force if you use a hoe.
Your lawn is significant too. Don’t overwater it because it will lead to mold. If you leave in a hot climate don’t cut the grass too short because the soil will dry out. Use from 10 to 15 liters of water for every square meter.
Remove unwanted weeds to achieve your perfect garden maintenance. You can use mulch to prevent it from growing or you could use a weeding trowel to remove the weeds from the roots. In this way, you might not see them again.
When you use fertilizer, use an organic one. Organic fertilizer and compost are the best solutions because you protect the soil form chemicals too. The nutrients that the soil will receive will be the ones that are necessary for it such as potash, nitrogen, and phosphate.
Finally, another important factor is the sanitation. Keep everything in order, clear the garden form dead plants and unwanted leaves. If you keep your garden clean and tidy then you will give fewer chances for the pests to appear and destroy your plants and consequently your garden.
How to Maintain a Vegetable Garden
Garden maintenance includes the vegetable garden too. You need to know your soil because vegetables need different types of soil. There is the loam soil, the sandy soil, and the clay soil. The loam soil is a combination of clay, silt, and sand which makes it the best soil for your vegetables.
The sandy soil has one disadvantage. If you leave it as it is and don’t add organic material to it the water will run through and the vegetables won’t have a chance to absorb the water. The clay soil can absorb the water quite slowly so you should water accordingly.
Vegetable garden maintenance also includes mulch. Mulch has many advantages some of them are that it reduces diseases, it can reduce the growth of seeds, it can control the temperature of the soil, it improves the moisture of the soil, and the soil doesn’t erode.
You can create your own mulch and you should apply it in the early spring. You could use hay, leaves, paper. If you are going to plant strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and potatoes that you add coffee grounds and pine needles to your mulch. You will have the best result in this way.
During heat waves, you should protect your vegetables. You could do that by using stakes, tepees, and trellises in this way your vegetables will be protected in the shade. Apart from that, the air will be able to circulate easier and you will be able to harvest them easier.
When you pick your vegetables and you see that some of them can be used for compost, add them as they don’t have any diseases. Remove the dead or diseased part of the vegetables in order to protect the healthy ones. In this way, you will have your perfect vegetable garden maintenance.
If it gets too cold then you could use your greenhouse to protect your vegetables from the cold and cloches which are individual types of greenhouses. You could also make your own by using milk jugs and cover the vegetables that need protection.
Finally, you can use cold frames where you can store your vegetables and keep them safe. In this way, you will be able to extend the growing season of the vegetables that you would like to have almost all year round. What we mentioned before about the watering and the tools applies here as well, so keep that in mind.
The Conclusion is:
The maintenance of your Garden is an important part of your garden. If you take care of it you will be able to have not only beautiful flowers but also tasteful vegetables too. If you don’t have a lot of time to spend you could add sprinklers to help you with the watering.
If you try to keep your garden as tidy as possible then you won’t have to work on many things because you will have everything in order. Garden maintenance might seem as a difficult job but it can be quite rewarding once you decide to do it properly. Follow our tips and you’ll have an amazing garden.