To help you make your dream garden a reality, there are some tips and tricks that master gardeners have shared to help your garden grow. To begin, one of the most important tips is to understand how much sunlight your garden area will receive. Some plants prefer light shade, and some prefer full sun; and, depending on the season the sun can move to another area of the yard. As well, every gardener should have a garden plan. Know where you want the plants to be planted before they go into the ground. For example, if plants are vining varieties, make sure you have given them plenty of room so they do not overtake parts of the garden where other plants are growing.
10 Tips To Help You Grow Your Dream Garden
- Add 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt to the planting hole and cover with a thin layer of soil and plant. Epsom salt is made up of magnesium and sulfur which are both important to plant growth. Moreover, once the young plant roots reach the Epsom salt added to the planting hole, it will help improve flower blooming and enhances a plant’s green color and can even help plants grow bushier. Alternately, Epsom salt can be added prior to planting. Simply soak root balls in 1/2 cup of Epsom salt diluted in one gallon of water.
- Naturally get rid of insects on your plants by making a garlic-hot chili foliage spray. Because insects do not like the smell of pungent leaves, the chili pepper spray will repel them. For a basic chili pepper spray, add 1½ teaspoons of chili powder, 1 chopped garlic head, 2 drops of liquid dish soap to 1 quart of hot water. Allow mixture to sit for 30 minutes, or until cool. Drain mixture and add to a spray bottle. Test the mixture on a few leaves to ensure the foliar spray does not burn the plant. If the leaves do not turn yellow or are affected, then spray the plant.
- Make a natural version of Miracle Grow. In a large mason jar, add 6 crushed eggshells, used coffee grounds, a banana peel and fill it with water. Place the mixture in an area not exposed to sunlight and shake daily for a week. Strain the mixture and feed your plants with it. This provides a natural fertilizer for the plants without all of the nasty chemicals.
- If you are planting in small pots, place a coffee filter in the bottom to prevent soil from draining out the holes.
- Make your own seed tape –
- Insulate tomatoes from end-of-the-season cold snaps with plastic wrap. Wrap tomato cages in a layer of plastic wrap around the sides and top. This will protect young tomatoes from cold weather but still allow for air circulation.
- Use a wad of shipping tape to remove aphids from tender leaves.
- Mulch your plants with several inches deep with organic matter to suppress weeds and maintain good water retention.
- Do you have to head out of town and have no one to water your container garden? If you have a kiddie pool, set the plants inside the pool filled with water. This could keep your plants watered for up to a week!
- Common baking soda can help reduce powdery mildew on plants. Add 1 tablespoon of baking soda to one gallon of water and water affected plants.
Do you have a favorite gardening tip? Leave it in the comments and help the garden community!
Mine are:
* Soap water helps get rid of bugs. Sprinkle on anything from roses to veggies with a watering can.
* Blood meal sprinkled atop the ground around deters rabbits from munching on their favs. It’s good for the soil so not to worry when rain washes it away, but do replenish.
* Mothballs (not cake or flakes) will fend off many critters. Roll a couple into a burrow and they’ll not return. Mothballs do not melt in the rain. (Read a story where the park rangers toss a few under foot bridges to ward off snakes from hanging out under them.)
* Boiling water poured on those stubborn weeds that grow in cement cracks gets rid of them permanently. Get your teakettle to a rolling boil and carry it out to pour on the pests in your sidewalk, driveway, patio, etc.
Great tips, Yahooie! Thanks for sharing! I’m going to use the boiling water trick to get rid of some stubborn weeds growing in my garden path. I sprayed vinegar on them, but some of them are still growing. Thanks again.
The boiling water is my own invented trick. I gave it a try out of desperation because I didn’t want to harm some nearby plants with any runoff from commercial weedkillers plus I didn’t want to track any remnants of it into my house for fear of it getting somehow picked up by my cats.
A few bigger weeds with deep roots may need a second application but mostly you’ll have boiled weeds. LOL It’s very spot specific so a few inches away it’s only warm water and therefore harmless. For broader areas, I suppose a person would have to use a huge pot (like a canning pot)/cauldron (as used in dye baths) and dump the hot water on the intended area.
The best part is you can get a cuppa something brewing while you take the boiling water out–then go rest on your laurels for a few. 😀
Wrap cabbage and tomato plant stems with a couple squares of toilet paper before setting them in the garden. That keeps the cut worms from chewing them off at ground level. Cover a little of the paper wrapped stem with dirt. After a few weeks the stems are strong enough to resist the worms.
Mix radish seeds with your carrot seeds. The radish’s will come up first and break up the hard ground making way for the more tender carrot sprouts. By the time the radish’s are all gone you will have a row of carrots well on the way and the ground will be loosened up helping the carrots along the way.