Once your plants are anchored well in the soil, you need to take care of them. Crucial care tips include watering, feeding, weeding and providing support where necessary. Most plants in your garden may require individual attention to ensure that they grow well.
Here are a few tips to help you look after your garden.
Watering
One of the most crucial ways of caring for your garden is watering. Transpiration reduces the amount of moisture in the leaves making it necessary to replenish the water in the soil. During hot weather, the soil loses a significant amount of moisture as well. This means that you will have to provide more water during summer than in the autumn and cool spring months.
Your seedlings need more water than older plants. Their roots aren’t fully developed, making it impossible to absorb adequate moisture.
If your plants are growing in a shade, they need less water than those growing in a sunny area.
During hot weather, consider watering your plants in the evening so that there is enough time for the ground to soak. Avoid spilling water on leaves during hot weather to prevent them from getting scorched.
Feeding
After watering your garden, your plants need important minerals and nutrients. Vital minerals include phosphorus for root growth, nitrogen for leaf growth, and potassium for proper development of flowers and fruits. These nutrients ensure that your plants are healthy.
Since the nutrients in the soil get depleted over time, it is important to replenish them by introducing fertilizers. Fertilizers may be organic or non-organic. Organic fertilizers contain significant amounts of materials based on animals or plants. These encourage the growth of bacteria and earthworms, enhancing the health of your plants.
Common organic fertilizers include manure and nettle feeds.
Pruning
Most trees and shrubs will grow well without being checked every now and then. However, most of them need to be pruned at some point.
The process of pruning involves trimming certain parts of your plants to control their size and shape or for improved development of stems, flowers and fruits. It may also be carried out to get rid of diseased or dead parts.
Don’t get intimidated by the description of this process. In reality, it isn’t as hard as it sounds. Most plants only require you to remove broken, diseased, crowded, dead or crossing branches.
Trimming and clipping
It is important to regularly prune new hedges in their first few years. This type of pruning is referred to as formative pruning. Normally, it is performed in winter or during the initial days of winter.
Formative pruning is performed on side branches until a suitable hedge appears. Trim the hedges of new evergreens in spring.
Once your hedge attains the desired appearance, you can prune the hedge on an annual basis. However, formal hedges might need to be pruned more than twice a year to foster an attractive look.
It is important to prune wildlife hedges each year to get rid of any butterfly eggs that may be on the stem. Should you wish someone to look after your garden you can follow this link
