PEOPLE ARE ASKING.
How Can I Make My Yard And Garden Better This Year?
TEN THINGS
1. Location
Identifying planting locations by amount and duration sunlight is crucial.
Morning, afternoon, or day long sunlight, or shade, will influence the success of the
planting you make. Some plants do best with the gentle warming of full morning sun. Other plants can tolerate late afternoon summer sun with sufficient watering.
2. Classify Soils
Is your soil loamy, full of organic materials? Sandy, with fast drainage? Or, is it hard, clay like soil? Loose, loamy soil is usually ready to plant, especially with acid loving shrubs and trees. Sandy, or hard soils will benefit from a 50/50 mix of "native soil" (taken from the planting hole), and the amendment of your choice.
3. Watering
All living things need water to survive. That includes plants, and the critters, that call your yard and garden home. Most plants need fresh water regularly. Regularly can mean daily in hot weather, or weekly for others. Succulents (cacti) store water in their tissue, and can actually be damaged by too much watering. Water by hand, hose, or automated sprinkler system. In every case, make sure you have a schedule that meets the needs of all that will need watering through the season.
4. Plant Selection
Several factors will go into the selection of plants for your yard and garden.
First, determine how much sunlight will be available, and when. You will have three guides to follow in selection: FULL SHADE, PART SHADE/SUN, FULL SUN. Plants will be identified by sunlight requirements. Shade loving plants will do best in shade, sun lovers ( especially flowering shrubs ) will do best in full sun. You can also choose from a short list of "margin plants" that will do well where the sun and shade mix during the day. Narrow your choices to 3-4 PERENNIALS, or ANNUALS suitable for that location. Select flowering perennials and annual flowers by season of bloom. In making choices keep in mind the mature size of perennial shrubs and trees. In drought prone areas, select LOW WATER plants by category: grown cover,
vines, deciduous or evergreen shrubs and trees.
5. Season Selection
Your landscape is like a painting. You can paint the background with with PERENNIAL shrubs, evergreen trees and lawns. You can add dabs of bright color with ANNUAL flowers selected for their blooming season. Summer and early fall will fill your table with fresh fruits and vegetables. With very little extra effort you can harvest these home grown delights spring, summer, fall and even winter !
6. Timing
All plants are influenced by times of the year. These SEASONS, winter, spring, summer, and fall are measures of day length, from short days to long, each with their increasing and decreasing lengths of sunlight. EXAMPLE: you plant squash, corn and summer flowers in the late spring because the soil is now warm and there are 3-4 months of long warm days a head. Your roses have bloomed continually since mid spring, through summer, and into fall, until the shorter days and cooler nights tell them to shed their well used leaves and take a winter's rest.
7. Fertilizing
When I ask a new follower what they feed their plants, the answer I most often get is "water ??". That's only half the answer, To grow and fruit, be it a squash or an acorn, the plant must have nutrients (food) to flourish. In their natural setting plants either make their own nutrients ( rotting leaves ) or invite creatures to deposit their droppings. Both deliveries result in some measure of Nitrogen (N),
Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). This is the formula gardeners know as
N-P-K. Since we tend to clean up our yards and garden, and don't invite hordes of pooping creatures, we need to supplement our regular watering with regular applications of fertilizers. The correct amount, formula, and timing of fertilizers
will increase growth, flowers/fruits, and greener, lusher lawns.
8. Care & Grooming
In addition to fertilizing, we need to care for our plants when they might be distressed, or you wish to maintain some desire shape or direction of growth.
Examples might be frost blankets, dormant sprays or scheduled (seasonal) pruning. The most prominent care could be the prevention of disease, and/or the
elimination of pests invading your yard and garden. Try to inspect your plantings daily in the growing season. Weekly at the very least. Insects, not discovered and addressed, can wreak havoc in just a couple of days. Most plant diseases and fungal infections are subtle at first, but can spread like wildfire if not treated as soon as possible.
9. Keep Notes
Successful gardening is a collection of experiences. Some of these experiences are so dramatic ( like your first endless harvest of zucchini squash ) that they'll be remembered without effort for a years. Others, can last only a day; or seem insignificant at the time they happen. But, I can assure you that being able to recall that fertilizer that worked so well, or that plant that brought you so much joy can be both rewarding and a big help when you go shopping. This doesn't mean you have to keep a detailed journal. If you didn't do any more than make photo records posted to an album in your phone, you would be way ahead of the curve when you need to recall . . . what, when and where !
10. Don't Give Up
The first 9 won't matter if you give up. If I had given up when damping off disease killed half my seedling in one night, this web site would not exist. Gardening is about making mistakes, learning from them, and making corrections. Some in the same season, others when you get a second chance next season. All your successes, and failures, are what make up your experience. You experience is about you . . . don't wish for it . . .
make it happen.