The idea of a home garden may have never occurred to you as a household-cost saving endeavor. The gardens can as well be done for aesthetic purposes or as a pass time activity with an economic edge. The passion one develops for his or her home garden often spring from plant health and their ability to give ample harvest. A frail-looking garden projects you as a carefree and disorganized character with very little or no life skills. Below are five home gardening tips for beginners with dreams to establish home gardens against all odds.
Soil type
You already know that sand soil drains fast as clay soil retains water. Loam soil – which is commendable for agricultural endeavors – is a mixture of clay and sand soil. This is a provision that isn’t always granted by Mother Nature. The soil PH and profile should match the growth conditions of the food crops that wish to cultivate. Obtain soil sampling kits to establish your compound’s soil fecundity. Take a walk in the neighborhood and note the kind of vegetation that grows naturally in that area to have an idea of what to expect.
Think outside the box
Don’t let low soil fertility or dry weather dampen your home gardening ideas. This is because you can establish aerial gardens using plant pots. Ensure that the pots are filled the right soil type. They should be perforated to improve aeration, avoid soil acidity or alkalinity that results from fertilizer use. Invest in soil-less agriculture techniques if you don’t have the right soil type to support your dream home garden.
Have the right tools
The types of gardening tools you choose have an impact on the outcome. Sticky soils can, for example, be difficult to plough or weed off. As a result of this, you will end up with a poorly done garden and face the challenge of fighting off an array of pests and diseases. Use non-stick gardening tools to avoid these. The tool should also be of the right weight and size. Cutting garden tools must be kept sharp at all times and those with losing handles or mechanical parts fixed to embrace safety.
Crop rotation
Divide up your garden into paddocks and plant crops that share the same diseases, pests and ecological requirements in a single season. Potatoes and tomatoes belong to the same family, for example. It follows that you will use the same chemicals and fertilization process to take care of them to maturity – lowering the cost of gardening. The idea behind grouping together crops that belong to the same family and rotating them with those of another family is to starve off the existing disease-causing pathogens and garden pests naturally. Effective crop rotation also boosts fertility and encourages the diverse use of the available home gardening space.
Automate the garden
Self-watering gardens are easy to manage. They can as well be customized to use chemical weed control mechanisms that can be administered with the help of the irrigation system in place. Home garden automation allows for temperature and humidity control, especially when established within a modern greenhouse that you can put up affordably with the help of innovative home gardening consultants.