Learn the proper way to lay sod. Get your soil ready before you lay your sod. Eradicate any weeds and work the soil until it is very fine. When the soil is clean, pack it tightly and create a flat surface. Thoroughly moisten the soil. Then lay the sod in staggered rows so the joints are offset. Pat your sod to form an even and flat surface, fill any gaps with some soil. Water the sod every day for a couple of weeks. Then it should be rooted well and ready for foot traffic.
If you’re planning on eating healthier and saving a lot of money on groceries, growing an organic garden will accomplish that and much more. It can be a little daunting, however. From the type of mulch to use to the right equipment, there are many questions you need answered. There are also many types of seeds to choose from. Below you’ll find some great tips to make sure you get the most out of your organic garden.
Choose perennials that are not vulnerable to attack by slugs. Snails and slugs can do irreparable damage to your garden in a single night. Certain perennials that don’t have tough leaves are especially tasty to snails and slugs. Perennials that have tough or hairy leaves are often times unappetizing to snails and slugs. Some of these plants include achillea, campanula, euphorbia, hellaborus, and heuchera.
Shoveling clay is very difficult and lots of work because the clay is hard and sticks to the shovel, making it tough to handle. Coat and buff the digging end of the shovel with automobile wax to make digging easier. This causes the clay to slide rather than stick, and prevents rust as a side effect.
Autumn not only means colder weather but new vegetables to plant. This time, use a pumpkin for the container for your lettuce and kale, instead of plain clay pots. Simply carve open the top of a pumpkin so you can remove the innards, and then spray inside and out with something like Wilt-Pruf to prevent pumpkin rotting. Once this is done, you are ready to plant!
Long plants that run up or around a fence or wall are often useful for masking ugliness. Known commonly as climbers, these plants are very versatile, easy to grow, and they will quickly spread out to cover up walls and fences within a single season. Climbers can also be trained to grow and cover an arbor, and they will grow through or around existing trees and shrubs. Some must be tied to supports, but some climbers use twining stems or tendrils and attach themselves to those surfaces. Honeysuckle and jasmine are very beautiful varieties of such climbers.
Make sure that you divide your irises! Splitting up overgrown groups of irises will allow you to easily increase the number of irises in your garden. Lift bulbous irises when the foliage is dead. You will be able to split the bulb easily and replant it to get more flowers next year. Cut rhizomes into pieces with a knife. From the outside cut the new pieces and then get rid of the old center. Don’t plant any pieces that don’t have any strong offshoots. Immediately replant all your selected cuttings.
You may be able to re-pot some plants to bring indoors for the winter. You may want to save the most beautiful or expensive ones. Carefully dig near the roots and transfer those plants into a flower pot.
Interested in using Mother Nature to keep pests at bay the natural way? Planting marigolds or onions around the border of your vegetable garden will help repel slugs. Another way to get rid of pests is to spread wood ash at ground level around shrubs and tree plantings. When done naturally, there is no need for pesticides with harsh, and sometimes dangerous, chemicals
Starting an organic garden helps make your diet better, and understanding the different options for your garden can help you be even more successful. Use the tips from above to take a step in the right direction when it comes to organic gardening, and start your family on a healthier path to better living.
Try placing evergreens that grow berries around your garden. They add color to your yard, throughout the year. Other plants that boast of winter berries include: Holly, Snowberry and Winterberry.