10 Gardening Tips Everyone Should Know

1.Growing season

Knowing how long your growing season is can make all the difference. Pay attention to when the last frost in spring is and when the first frost of the fall will be. This will help you plan which plants to grow altogether. If the growing season is not long enough, some plants will not be able to grow at all.

2.Deadheading

Deadheading, or pruning, wilted or spent flowers will tell the plant to create more flowers. Additionally, it can tell that plant to devote more energies to certain aspects such as root growth. By clipping the dead flowers, you are giving the plant new life.

3.Eight Hours Direct Sunlight

Vegetables need 8 full hours of sunlight each day. Make sure to look for the sunniest areas within your garden to plant vegetables so you can yield the most amount of veggies as possible!

4.Soil Quality

Only use composted, rotted manure that has cured for at the very least 6 months. Manure that is too fresh will actually kill new plants. Rich soil is important for plant growth and plant health. Make sure your soil has enough nutrients to support the plants you are specifically trying to grow.

5.Transporting Container Grown Plants

When you transport container grown plants to an outdoor garden, make sure to dig a larger hole than the soil ball attached to the plant. By digging a larger hole, you are giving the roots room to grow and establish themselves in the new location.

6.Proper watering

Most plants need a deep watering of about 1-2 inches once or twice a week rather than a light watering every day. If you are not getting significant rainfall, make sure to give your plants a deep watering. This soaks the soil all the way through the roots and does not encourage roots to grow upward.

7.Weeding

The best course of action for weeding is by hand. This keeps the weeds from seeding and growing even more. Pulling weeds by hands also do not disrupt any of the other plants too much. Weed early and often to keep your garden beautiful and uninterrupted.

8.Create a non-stick Shovel

Creating a non stick shovel will be more valuable than you could imagine. The shovel become more efficient and causes less effort on your end. Spray the head of your best shovel with a Teflon or silicone lubricant. This will cause all the dirt to slide off the shovel and creates less of a mess!

9.Restrict aggressive plants

There are certain types of plants that grow very aggressively and can tangle up roots and take over too much space. An easy way to prevent this from happening is to cut the bottom off of a plastic planter and place the aggressive plant in there. The planter contains the roots and forces them to grow down as opposed to spreading outward.

10.Protect your bulbs

To keep pests from eating your bulbs between seasons, place chicken wire over top the bulbs and keep it down with tent spikes. This will keep your bulbs safe and sound! When it comes times for the bulbs to start growing, remove the chicken wire.

5 Essential Gardening Tips To Prepare For Spring

For most gardeners, this is a quiet time of the year, but it won’t stay that way much longer. Spring will be arriving soon, and this means that we will all soon be caught up the frenzy of preparing our gardens for the warm weather. To help everyone get a jump on their garden work, I would like to provide you with five essential tips. If you take care of these five things now, your spring will be a lot less hectic!

1) Order Bulbs & Seeds

There are a number of summer-flowering bulbs that will benefit from an early spring planting. Plan ahead and go get your Lilies, Gladiolus, and Ranunculus now. That way your garden will be ready for a colorful summer display earlier than anyone else.

2) Clear Flower Beds

If you have a warmer day, get outside and tidy up your flower beds and borders. Remove the leaves and debris from the borders, lawns, and ponds. You should also cut back the old dead growth of deciduous grasses and herbaceous perennials now. If the soil is workable then you could even dig a 5cm layer of organic matter, such as well-rotted manure, compost or recycle green waste into empty garden borders.

3) Sow Seeds That Need Longer Season

If you have not already started, you should start to sow seeds of plants that require a longer growing season. This includes Geraniums (Pelargoniums), Begonias, Antirrhinums, Peppers and Aubergines. You will want to grow these in a heated propagator (or something similar) to encourage good growth. For a more comprehensive list of seeds to sow early in the year, take a look at this page.

4) Remove Garden Pests

Taking the time to hunt down and remove hibernating pests now can save you a lot of trouble when spring and summer comes around. You should take a close look at the crowns of your perennial plants, which is where you may find slugs, snails, and aphid colonies sheltering for the winter. Also, if you have not yet cleared last year’s pots of summer bedding then do this now!

5) Clean Gardening Tools

It is incredibly important to regularly clean and sharpen your tools. Caring for your garden tools will help preserve them, and save you a lot of money over the long run. It also helps to prevent the spread of disease in the garden. Dirty secateurs may introduce bacteria and fungi to fresh pruning wounds. Sharpening your tools will help improve their effectiveness, making it much easier to work in the garden.

3 Simple Gardening Hacks You Probably Didn’t Know About

Gardening is a very worthwhile activity to take up. You can plant flowers to spruce up your garden, adding color and vibrant life. Or, you can even grow your own produce, therefore allowing yourself to eat healthy and feel the satisfaction of creating your own food. Whatever type of gardening you like, gardening is a fantastic way to get some sunlight and do something rewarding. But even the most experienced gardeners have room for improvement. Here are some easy tips that can make you gardening experience even better.

1) For acid-loving plants, add tea or coffee grounds

While each plant has its own required care, there are some plants that love acids. These plants include camellias, rhododendrons, gardenias, azaleas, and blueberries. These plants thrive when you acidify the soil. How does one do this, you may ask? An easy way to add acidity to the soil is to use leftover tea or coffee grounds. Once a month, sprinkle about a quarter of an inch of the tea or coffee grounds on the soil. This way, the pH of the soil will remain on the acidic side, and your acid-loving plants will flourish!

2) Use a tool with a long handle as a measuring stick

If you are into gardening, you’re likely to have a long-handled garden tool. In order to use it as a measuring stick, simply lay it to the ground and place a tape measure next to it. Write inch and foot marks on the handle with a permanent marker and voila! You’ve got a measuring stick! Now, if you need to space your plants a certain distance apart, you can just use the very gardening tool that you have next to you to measure the distance between the plants.

3) The best place to dry herbs is in your car

So the recipe for the food you want to cook requires dry herbs. The good news: You have some fresh and delicious herbs growing in your own garden. The bad news: Drying herbs can be a tedious task. Here is a simple solution: place a sheet of newspaper on the seat of your car and place the herbs in a single layer on top of the newspaper. Then, roll up the car windows and close the doors of the car. Now, all you have to do is wait–but not nearly as long you would have to wait if you dried the herbs in any other setting. This hack allows your herbs to be dried to perfection in just a short period of time. And, it makes your car smell fantastic. And air freshener for your car and a healthy treat? What more could you want?!

Gardening is an amazing pastime, with some not-so-amazing obstacles. But luckily, you can use simple household items to make your gardening experience easier and more enjoyable. With these hacks, not only will you be a much more efficient gardener, but you will be able to see the results and reap the benefits. Your garden will look more beautiful and you’ll be able to cook delicious food with the produce you grow. If you want to improve your gardening experience, the answer may not be buying fancy new tools. It might be just using items you can find right in your home!

For more gardening tips and advice, please check out my Gardening Blog.

7 Essential Tips To Prepare Your Garden For The Winter

7 Essential Tips To Prepare Your Garden For The Winter from David Seff on Vimeo.

The colors are beginning to fade and your crops have all been harvested for food. This can only mean one thing: autumn is coming to a close and everyone is bracing for the cold winter weather, including your garden. But this does not mean your work in the garden is over until next spring. Autumn is actually an extremely important time to get in the garden to help ensure its health for the upcoming season. Here are 7 tips to make sure your garden is prepared for winter.

10 Beautiful Plants That You Need For Your House

10 Beautiful Plants That You Need For Your House from David Seff on Vimeo.

Some well-placed greenery in your home will not only help to brighten your space, but also purify the air. Plants are helpful in making a more relaxing, restful ambience in any room, and it’s known that spending time in nature is linked to reduced stress levels and tension relief. These plants will give your home a little bit of tranquility.

10 Plants That Thrive During The Winter

10 Plants That Thrive During The Winter from David Seff on Vimeo.

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As the seasons come and go, we have the opportunity to enjoy a variety of new plants that thrive in different weather conditions. While winter conditions may not appear suitable for nature, there are actually a number of plants that thrive in the cold weather. If you are an avid gardener like me, then you should consider adding some of these plants to your garden to keep it looking attractive all winter long.