Easy Gardening Tips from an Expert

Easy Gardening Tips from an Expert

Gardening can be both rewarding and beautiful. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the seeds you planted blossom into a breathtaking cascade of colours.

There’s also nothing more frustrating than having spent days and weeks on your hands and knees, planting, watering, tending and nurturing the garden only to get wilted, ugly- looking flowers or plants and a sparse lawn.

Truth is you shouldn’t have to go through all that if you know the right and proven things to do to give you the gorgeous looking garden that’ll be the envy of your neighbours and the desire of passersby.

The following are some proven excellent gardening tips guaranteed to help you cultivate the garden of your dreams:

Start With a Smaller Space

This is important when you’re a beginner. In the excitement of cultivating your own garden, there’s always the possibility that you would want to start with a large space. Don’t fall for this temptation.

Even if the amount of space available is large, think of it working on the landscape in batches. This is particularly important when you’re planning a residential landscape design and want to make sure that your landscaping efforts pay off.

What is important isn’t in trying to do everything at once, it’s in starting with just one part of the space and expanding as you see fit. This is particularly important for beginners who often try to take on too much at a time. Gardening is an art and as with any painting, you should start from a small part and gradually cover the canvas.

Prepare Your Soil Really Well

If there is one mistake many budding gardeners make, it is to jump right into the planting without preparing the soil adequately. At the heart of every great-looking garden is good soil – which should be fluffy, light and properly drained.

In fact, over 70% of all problems encountered by beginner gardeners – whether it’s poor plant growth, lack of plant vigour, plant disease, pests and lacklustre flavour – can be largely traced to the quality and health of the soil used in gardening.

This is why soil preparation is not a joke. To prepare your garden soil, clear the soil first by getting rid of debris, stones, and tough weeds and then mixing the soil with the properly decomposed organic matter.

Consider Composting for Soil Enrichment Instead of Inorganic Fertilizers

For your garden plants to grow properly, your garden needs a consistent source of nutrients. One of the first things you will need to add to your garden is manure or fertilizers. While inorganic fertilizers are good, compost or nutrients from decomposing organic matter like dead leaves and plants, and animal wastes are better.

They are excellent soil conditioners and can make a whole lot of difference in your garden’s crops. There are, however, arguments that composts don’t do as much for plants as suggested. Well, the reality is it depends on what nutrients the waste materials have.

For instance, compost made from animals wastes tend to be rich in phosphorus, which is excellent for leafy and flower growths. Not just that, compost acts as a bonding or freeing agent for your soils.

Sandy soil will largely benefit from compost because they give the soil more body and bounce while clay soils can be easily broken up when compost is added to it.

If you want to make your soil more resistant to pests and diseases, try adding ash from a fireplace to your compost before applying them to your soil. As a rule, try mixing the compost well with the soil to enrich the soil properly.

Soaking Deeply and Infrequently is Better than the More Frequent Sprinkler

Watering your gardens don’t have to be such a chore. There are proponents of frequent but shallow watering, and there are those who support infrequent, but longer period watering. In our experience, the latter is best because the water gets to penetrate deeply into the soil and gets to the roots of the plants.

In the case of the former, the water is often, quickly absorbed by the topsoil, thus depriving the plant roots of the necessary moisture needed for them to grow. If you want to embark on a landscaping project and have no idea how much water the lawn needs, consult with other landscapers or schedule a landscape design consultation with expert landscaping companies to look at the water requirements for your lawn.

Test Your Soil’s pH Levels

Soil testing is an important part of your landscaping and gardening process. This is important because soils that are acidic or alkaline are usually unproductive and damaging to the plants. The perfect soil for your plants to grown in is neutral soil.

If you can’t get neutral soil, you can opt for a mildly acidic one. The good news is you can ask neighbours around. And if your landscaper is a resident in the vicinity, ask them during your residential landscaping sessions or meetings.

Pay Extra Attention to Your Plants and Lawns during the Summer

During the summer, plants are more likely to wilt and die from the heat. This is why you mustn’t neglect your gardens and lawns at this time. Carry out routine lawn maintenance and mow the lawn within reason.

Do not cut the grass too low as that can result in uneven patches in the grass. Water more frequently and longer during the summer. Watch the potted plants to make sure the pots aren’t overheating. This is even more important if the pots are made from terracotta.

You may also want to have the pots mulched and keep them out of direct sunshine. Some people make the mistake of placing the pots in saucers. Don’t do this as this practice breeds insects, pests, and mosquitoes, not to mention that it enhances root rot caused by excess moisture. Instead, put the pots in moist sand and your plants will do just fine.

Finally, do everything to protect your flower gardens from weeds, rodents, and pests. If you want to get the best results, try checking your gardens for weeds in the evenings. This wouldn’t take more than 5-10 minutes. This way, you can quickly uproot the weeds and repel/prevent any pests. You should also mulch your gardens because that does a great job of minimising weed growth.

 

 

 

Related Articles:

Questions to Ask a Landscape Design Consultant Before Hiring

Choosing The Right Landscape Gardeners

 

 


OUR REFERRALS

  • Paula and Jon Whitty
    We knew that we would need a landscape designer with imagination, creativity and the ability to listen to our requirements. When you came to our house you took time listening to what we wanted and the scale of the project. This was important to us, because we were on a budget and timeline. You then offered wonderful suggestions within the scope and offered details. You have transformed our featureless front garden into a beautiful space where the plantings and lovely stone features enhance the natural contours of the yard and existing trees. Our front yard is now more welcoming and complements the look of the house. You gave us a yard that is easy to maintain and and is beautiful in every season. We are extreemly happy with the quality of the workmanship, and your professional nature, and highly recommend you to all our friends. We couldn’t be happier. Thank you!
    Paula and Jon Whitty
  • Gina and Marc Di Paolo
    In November 2012 we commissioned Teedo Beggs to landscape our property in Mount Macedon. The distinguishing qualities that determined our decision to go with Teedo (over other companies we had approached) were his knowledge of indigenous/native horticulture, his understanding of and familiarity with the gardens of Mount Macedon, and his ability to help us to articulate and visualize our own garden on what was a modern architectural structure on a sloping building site. The ‘landscape challenges’ Teedo took on were significant, beginning with a sharply sloping block, significant ‘drainage’ issues, and the presence of large forest eucalyptus trees that we wished to keep. Teedo was able to masterfully incorporate our desire to create a garden that would complement or enhance the sharp angular features of the architecture, protect existing vegetation, include and incorporate native/indigenous plantings, build dry rock retention walls, and provide us with a beautiful outdoor living space that we desperately needed. Teedo’s approach to his work impressed us from the outset because of his uncompromising high standards and attention to detail. Whilst the end results in mid-March may have reflected Teedo’s detailed landscape designs to a T, they far surpassed our own expectations and dreams. Our house on a slippery red slope of Mount Macedon had been transformed into a home with a truly beautiful and functional garden. We are exceedingly proud of what Teedo was able to realize and we highly recommend his work- without reservation.
    Gina and Marc Di Paolo
  • Kate and Dominic White
    Teedo Beggs responds to each garden space as an artist, the plants are his media and the landscape is his canvas. He introduces sculptural elements through natural and constructed materials. The result is an ever-changing work of art. How do we know this? Our family was fortunate enough to be able to commission Teedo to transform our country garden into a magical place. Using existing plant forms, such as established trees he creatively introduced new excitement into the landscape. The keyhole design of the formal front lawn added a theatrical element to the entry of the property. Visitors were drawn into a green, scented walkway off the sweeping drive through rendered pillars with the promise of more beyond. This opened out into the drama of the larger garden where the eye was greeted by a sensual vista full of wonderful perfumes, colour and graduating forms that complimented the enormous Golden Elm. A wrought iron handmade bench seat embedded in a hidden position ensured a comfortable view. Visitors were then coaxed downwards to the unfolding garden scenes around the house. Beautiful features were integrated into the many gardens created on the property. A graduated fishpond with its babbling waterways was set in a ‘Fairy Garden’. A tennis wall on the court beyond was superbly engineered and constructed to appear as a ‘crumbling ruin’ from another era. A post and rail fence of cypress enclosed a kitchen garden that featured generous raised beds of vegetables, accompanied by fruit trees and red brick pathways. This was a joy to work in and allowed us to feed our family. Teedo Beggs was not only artistic in his vision and execution of his ideas, but he was very professional, sensitive to our needs as a client and respectful in the way he conducted himself and his team throughout the project. We would highly recommend him
    Kate and Dominic White
  • Pete & Geri Walsh
    We have engaged Mr Beggs (Teedo) now for three different landscaping jobs at our residence in Woodend. All jobs have involved both design and construction. In respect of design, Teedo impressed us with his ability to listen and understand our requirements. This lead to a number of design ideas of which we were very pleased. In all cases we then engaged Teedo in the construction. We found his work to be both competitively priced and was completed on time as agreed, despite some minor modifications, at our initiation. The work was finished to a high standard and we have had no reservation in recommending him to our friends and colleagues.
    Pete & Geri Walsh
  • Bruce Cameron
    Being determined to make a garden from an overgrown bush block on the steep slopes of Mt. Macedon had/has it’s challenges. Luckily there is a community here of skilled garden loving and knowledgeable peoples. Most of them think that they are gifted and a few of them actually are. Teedo has an abundant and creative mind that can spit out real and never thought of options and can even more importantly manage these ideas and concepts through to a smooth and real outcome. His forte’ is structural garden design and then the project management/implementation of that design. He has an accurate and unusually quick eye for land/earth contours, levels and drainage. These lines evolve into structure, light and shade, harmony and reflections. Working with him has been a straightforward and professional affair. I have never given him a cheque without feeling pride, happiness and goodwill.
    Bruce Cameron

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