Gardening is a great hobby and an excellent way to relax after a hectic workday. If you do not have a garden in your home, we recommend you set up one. It will beautify your home and boost your mood. And nothing tastes healthier than eating the fruits and vegetables taken from a home garden. So, if you are thinking about building a garden in your yard, we will help you start.
Here are the 8 simple gardening tips that every beginner should know before setting up a home garden. Let’s give them a read.
- Track the sun
As a beginner, you should know that choosing the right spot for your garden that gets the right amount of sunlight is most important. For planting vegetables and other plants, use the part of your yard that receives direct sun for at least half a day.
Vegetables, fruits, and flowers need 6 to 8 hours of direct sun daily to thrive. If you choose a shaded spot for such plants, you will end up getting lesser blooms or no blooms at all. It is why you should start gardening by tracking the sunlight exposure in your garden and choosing the right place for planting.
- Water in the morning
It is a pro tip for all beginners in gardening. Morning is the best time to water your plants because it prepares the plant for the day. A morning drink will help carry out photosynthesis all day long. Also, it is a good time for water retention. If you water your plants at noon or afternoon, the water will evaporate quickly, leaving the plants thirsty and dry.
Evening watering also prevents quick evaporation, but it also has some drawbacks. Due to evening watering, the water will keep the plants cool for many hours at night and make them susceptible to fungal diseases and root rot.
- Fertilize regularly
Without regular fertilization, the plants in your lawn will get weak and dull. They need the major and minor nutrients to grow properly. So if you have established a garden in your home, you should never forget to fertilize it every six weeks.
It is better to use organic compounds to fertilize your garden instead of using chemical fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers have high nitrogen content that can harm the plant roots if fertilized more than necessary.
The best organic fertilizers are tea bags, grounded coffee beans, banana peels, grass trimmings, and eggshells.
- Add mulch to the soil
It is another great tip for new gardeners. Organic mulch on the surface of the soil acts as its covering and prevents soil erosion. It also helps the soil to retain more moisture. And when the components of mulch decompose, they increase the soil’s fertility by adding nutrients.
Spreading mulch on top of the soil also prevents weeds from growing near your plants. You should add a 1 to 2-inch layer of mulch to the soil. If you add too much, it will do more harm than good. Too much mulch will suffocate the plant and not allow water to reach the bottom roots.
- Attract bees for pollination
Bees are beneficial for gardens. If you set up a way to attract bees to your garden, they will pollinate your plants to increase fruit production. Mason bees proved to be the best for gardens as they are docile and do not sting. You can attract these bees by setting a bee house in your garden and spraying it with an attractant spray.
Mason bees are also attracted to a mud source. You can create a mud source by digging a hole in the soil and filling it with water.
Bees are beneficial insects that will not only increase pollination but also kill many pests. So, it is never a bad idea to have honey bees in your garden.
- Prune your plants more often
If you want to see more blooms on your flowering plants, you should make it a habit to prune all the dead branches. Trimming old parts of the foliage and cutting down dead flowers encourage more growth. It also works on foliage plants. Cut all the brown tips and yellow leaves so that new leaves can grow and take their place.
Pruning also reduces the risk of plant diseases. It also helps to get rid of the diseased parts of a plant. All-in-all, you should take out your gardening secateurs once in a while and give your plant a good trim.
- Collect fallen leaves for compost
Just like mulch, compost increases the soil’s fertility and encourages the healthy growth of the plants. So whenever any plant sheds its leaves, collect the fallen leaves and add them to the compost bin. Once the leaves decompose, you can add them to your soil. This way, you will be consuming the fallen leaves in the best possible way.
You can also use kitchen scraps or shredded twigs to make compost for your garden plants.
- Buy the must-have gardening tools
There is an infinite number of gardening tools, but not all of them are useful to you. If you are a beginner, just a handful of tools will be enough to do pretty much every task in your garden.
These are the must-have gardening tools that you should buy:
- Gloves: A good pair of gardening gloves will go a long way. These will protect your hands from cuts, scrapes, avoid infections and keep your fingernails clean.
- Hand pruner: This will come in handy when your plants need trimming.
- Water hose and watering can: These two are great watering tools that you can buy for your garden. For larger areas, use a hose, and for small plants, use a watering can.
- Hand rake: It is an essential tool for gardens as it helps to remove weeds.
- Shovel: For digging, moving, or loosening soil, a round-headed shovel is used.
Now that you know the 8 basic gardening tips for beginners, you can start your garden at home. Happy gardening!
