How to Maintain a Fine Garden
A successful garden is a garden that is well maintained and that meets your needs. A garden needs to be loved and cared for in order for it to thrive. Garden maintenance requires effort, time and commitment. There are some steps that need to be taken in order to keep the garden in consistently great shape.
- Water the garden less frequently and ensure deeper saturation when you do water. Watering once or twice a week is good enough as long as there is deep penetration to the root level. If the soil is dry about one inch below the surface of the soil, the garden needs watering.
- Fertilize the soil. Over the years, the soil gets less fertile because of the rate with which plants use up nutrients. Nutrients are not organically replaced as fast as they are used up by plants. The older the garden gets, the more fertilizer it needs. Also you can do a soil test to determine the condition of the soil.
- Remove weeds once they appear. This is one of the most effective ways of keeping the garden in great condition. Pull the weeds from the roots, instead of just from the base of their stem. You can use mulch to control weed if you want. There are both organic much like wood chips, straw or grass clippings and inorganic mulch like crushed stone and plastic. All these create effective barriers to weeds. Mulch also helps to conserve water and maintain soil temperature.
- Use appropriate pest control measures. Check the garden regularly for any signs of disease or pests. Pests and diseases can destroy a garden quickly if they are not eliminated. Use the appropriate insecticides and pesticides to get rid of pests in the garden.