Getting the best from the living things in your garden is often a matter of creating the right environment for them. Plants thrive when they’re given the right resources, including sunlight, water, and nutritious soil – in the right quantities. Providing these things is often as simple as following three distinct steps.
Choose the Right Soil Mix
Just about every plant in your garden grows from the soil. You’ll need to be sure that yours contains just the right amount of nutrients, and is able to retain just the right amount of moisture.
This typically means thinking about the fundamental elements of your soil. The topsoil is arguably the most important. It can be sandy, clay-rich, or silty – but ideally, soil should balance these three qualities. You can compensate for the deficiencies in your soil by adding compost and organic mulch.
Creating your own compost from scraps in your kitchen is easy and cheap. However, if you want compost for your garden in ready-made, bagged form, you can find it online – or, at your local garden centre.
Maintain Consistent Watering and Drainage
When plants don’t have enough water, they tend to suffer. But, at the same time, if you give them too much water, they can suffer in a different way. In either case, stunted growth and stress are common.
Before you address these problems, you’ll want to be sure that the water has a chance to drain away. This is particularly important for raised beds, in which water can easily become trapped. A layer of mulch at the top will help to slow down evaporation, while a drip irrigation system will help you to cut down on work.
It’s worth considering that, in nature, plants are watered infrequently by irregular rain. It’s worth trying to replicate that in your garden. You might find that plants fare better when watered in bursts.
Rotate Crops and Remove Weeds Regularly
Soil can easily become depleted if it’s forced to provide a home for the same plants, year after year. Between seasons, you’ll have a chance to rotate your crops, and thereby help to prevent diseases and pests from gaining a foothold.
Weeds will compete with the plants in your garden for food and water. Pull them up whenever you get a chance. You might also resort to organic weedkillers, many of which can be made at home. Mulch is also an effective way to suppress weeds, as it will prevent them from gaining access to sunlight.
However, if you want to really protect your plants, then you’ll need to attract predators of a kind that will deal with slugs, aphids, and other pests. Birds, spiders, insects and worms are all your friends.
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