Introduction
The smell of fresh blooms and the joy of picking your own flowers are just some of the perks of gardening. But if you don’t know where to plant, what to plant or how to care for it, your garden can seem more like a chore than a hobby. Here are five tips on how to start planting your first garden that will help you create a lush and beautiful landscape without all the hard work.
Soil pH is important.
It’s important to get your soil’s pH right before planting. Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of the soil, and it affects the availability of nutrients to plants. It can be measured with a pH meter, which can be purchased at most gardening stores.
Soil with a high pH (above 7) is considered alkaline; low-pH soils are acidic. Most plants grow best in slightly acidic soil that has approximately 6-7 on the scale. You can check out this chart for more information on what level works best for each type of plant:
Choose the right seed.
You can start a garden from seeds or plants. Seeds are cheaper and usually available in more varieties, but there’s no guarantee they’ll grow into the plant you want. Plants are more expensive, but they’re also guaranteed to work as long as you choose one that matches your location, climate and soil conditions.
Before choosing a seed or plant, make sure that it has been genetically engineered to resist pests in your area. If there aren’t any pest-resistant varieties available for your location and climate—and there probably aren’t—consider starting with seeds instead of transplanted plants so you can avoid wasting money on dead plants later on when they succumb to pests anyway.
Find a good spot to plant.
- Find a good spot to plant.
- You need to find a place that gets enough sun. If you live in an area with hot summers, you will want to make sure your garden gets plenty of sun each day. The best time for most plants is morning sunlight and afternoon shade. Make sure to check the temperatures of different areas in your yard before deciding where to plant them!
- Choose well drained soil if possible. It’s important that the soil drains well so that excess water is able to move through it easily and doesn’t stay around the roots of your plants causing them too much stress or damage over time. This can cause root rot which leads into death very quickly.”
Water your garden every day.
Watering your garden is one of the most important parts of gardening. If you don’t water, your plants will die. But if you water too much, your plants will drown and die as well! So how much do you need to water?
It depends on the weather conditions – if it’s hot outside and sunny all day long, then watering twice a day is just fine. On days where it rains all day long and when temperatures are milder than usual (like springtime), you only need to water once every two days or so because there is plenty of moisture in the soil already from rainwater runoff during previous days’ storms. If it’s wintertime though — when temperatures are normally cold for most places across North America — then watering should only be done once per week at most because frost covers everything around them which means no moisture can get into their roots through ground contact alone so they’ll dry out quickly without assistance from us humans who care about our gardens so much.”
Weed at least once a week.
Weeding is essential if you want your garden to look its best. Weeds compete with plants for nutrients and water, so they can stunt growth. They can also spread disease if you’re growing vegetables. Weeds are an eyesore too!
To keep weeds at bay:
- Regularly pull or hoe the soil around your plants (this loosens the dirt). This won’t eliminate all of the roots, but it will weaken them.
- In areas where weeds are particularly bad, like under trees or shrubs that have tough root systems, cover them with mulch (wood chips work well) so they can’t grow through onto your garden plot!!
If you follow these steps and care for your garden, you will have a successful harvest
If you follow these steps and care for your garden, you will have a successful harvest.
Step 1: Find the best spot for your garden. You want to put it somewhere that gets at least six hours of sunlight per day, but not in direct sun. The soil should be fertile and moist, but not too wet or dry.
Conclusion
By using these tips and tricks to plant the perfect garden, you will have a successful harvest. For more gardening advice and resources, check out our blog!