Garden space can be an immense source of satisfaction and value. But it can also be an ongoing challenge. If you’re going to get the best from your garden, then you’ll need to take a few steps to support it. Let’s take a look at how you can make your garden thrive with minimal investment.
Efficient Watering Techniques
Overwatering is a good way to kill fragile plants. Ideally, you should water your plants irregularly, but make sure that the soil is saturated. Doing it very early in the morning, or very late at night, will help to drive down evaporation, and prevent fungus from growing on the soil.
In order to make watering as simple as possible, you might invest in a drip irrigation system, or a soaker hose. In both cases, water is delivered along the whole length of the hose, rather than just the end of it. This means less hassle, and much greater water efficiency.
Utilising a Polytunnel for Extended Growing Seasons
In the UK, summer lasts only for so long. This is bad news if you’re tending to plants that aren’t native to these isles, and you’d like to extend their growing season. Fortunately, there’s a solution in the form of the greenhouse, and its more compact, convenient cousin, the polytunnel. Polytunnels are an increasingly popular means of protecting summer cropslike tomatoes and cucumbers, and of growing seeds and cuttings.
Mulching for Moisture Retention
When sunlight is allowed to strike the soil directly, it will cause the moisture contained in that soil to evaporate. You can limit this effect through mulching. This is the practice of covering the ground in a layer of bark chips, straw, or compost. This will help to regulate the soil temperature, and prevent weeds from growing at the same time.
Managing Summer Pests Naturally
During summer, gardeners face a constant battle with small pests like aphids. You might resort to artificial chemicals in order to kill these animals – but a better approach is to make your garden home to their natural predators, like larger insects. You might also seek out organic insecticides, like neem oil, which can deal with mites, fungus, and smaller insects without harming anything else.
Above all, it’s important to inspect the garden regularly for signs of an infestation. The earlier you can intervene, the better your garden will be protected.
Optimising Plant Growth with Companion Planting
Certain kinds of plants work well together. This is typically because one plant has an aroma that deters pests, thereby protecting its neighbours. But certain flowers can also attract bees and other insects, which act as predators. Mixed communities of plants also tend to be more resilient to diseases. An outbreak might decimate a homogenous plot of flowers. But if you’ve got a mixture of plants in there, some of them will stop the spread, and thereby help protect the whole bed.
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