If you have little experience in gardening, you might make mistakes when planting crops and taking care of them. This article will help you to make the most of your garden.
When people try their hand at gardening for the first time, they tend to make many mistakes.
As a result, their gardens turn into a mess. Their plants might grow too weak, fail to fruit, and die prematurely.
In this article, you’ll find a collection of the most widespread blunders and smart tips on how to avoid them.
Putting Plants in a Bad Spot
Before buying a plant, you should find out how much sun or shade it needs.
If the instruction says that a plant requires “full shade”, you should never expose it to direct sun rays.
“Full sun” means at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day and “part sun” means at least three hours per day.
Ignoring Spacing
It doesn’t matter whether you’re planting in the ground or in containers.
Plants should have enough room to spread their roots and branches.
Air should be able to circulate freely between them.
If you try to squeeze everything in too closely, that would invite disease and reduce the harvest. Mind that different plants might require different spacing intervals.
Again, this information should be mentioned in their instructions.
Smart tip: you might place vegetables that you’ll be harvesting as whole plants throughout the season a bit more closely together and thin them as you harvest.
Neglecting a Plant’s Mature Size
When calculating the optimal distance between the plant and some other object, you should realize that a baby tree or a tiny shrub can grow considerably.
In a few months, it might partly block your path or crowd its plant neighbors and stunt their growth.
Also, it might start giving too much shade, depriving other plants of the sun rays that they need to fruit.
Installing One Type of Plant in a Row
Such an approach to planting is known as “monoculture”. Its main advantage is that it looks very tidy and elegant.
Also, it provides a stunning screen that will give you more privacy and will enable you to zone your backyard. But imagine what your garden will look like if pests or disease strikes!
To create a sustainable landscape, opt for staggered rows of different kinds of plants.
Alternatively, you might want to plant shrubs and trees in clusters.
Planting Too Deeply
At first, everything might seem normal. But in a couple of years, the plant might decline — and you would fail to identify the true reason for the problem.
Ideally, you should set the plant at the same level as it was in the pot. The hole should be two-three times wider than the container.
When planting a tree, make sure that its root flare stays above ground (it’s that part where the base widens).
Adding Peat Moss to the Planting Hole
Your grandma might keep praising the benefits of potting soil, also known as peat moss. But modern science has proved that it might cause drainage problems.
Also, it might prevent the roots of the plant from spreading out into the surrounding ground, which means your shrub or tree will remain weak forever.
The wisest approach would be to let the plant grow in its native soil.
Discarding Flowers That Attract Pollinators
Thanks to pollination, plants are able to produce seeds and fruits. Your garden needs bees, beetles, butterflies, flies and wasps to carry pollen from plant to plant.
Very few plants are self-pollinated and can do without insects.
To attract pollinators, you should plant flowers in your vegetable garden.
Dill, oregano, fennel, thyme, lavender, catmint and bee balm are among the most popular options. They look nice and are easy to take care of.
No Fencing
Depending on where your garden is located, it might attract rabbits, dears and groundhogs.
To protect your harvest from deers, you might install a high fence or use electric fencing.
Also, you might consider fences that look like traps — deers normally avoid them.
For chipmunks, rabbits, and groundhogs, you’ll need both a fence that is at least 3 to 4 feet tall and a foot of buried fence.
No Harvesting
Some gardeners have no time to harvest the crop, or they just enjoy how it looks, or they are afraid to hurt the plant.
Yet if the branches are already full, the plant won’t set more fruits or vegetables. Your garden will slow down and your harvest won’t be as abundant as it could.
To get the maximum yield, you should harvest the crops timely.
Also, you should cut off the tops of cilantro and basil — this will encourage them to branch out and get fuller.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this information came in handy and now you understand better how to take care of your garden.
Feel free to check Nadingardening.com for more useful recommendations that will keep your plants well-groomed and your harvest abundant.