Gardening! A rewarding experience with nature

Gardening is the most pleasant hobby one can have. Gardening not only relaxes and Soothes the mind, but also helps in burning calories due to the physical activity involved in it. Watching your garden bloom can be an overwhelming experience. A variety of gardening techniques available, help you to grow the garden of your choice.

Garden Types

There are many types of gardens out of which some of the important ones are as follows:

• Community gardens
• Indoor gardens
• Cottage gardens
• Palace gardens
• Vegetable gardens
• Botanical gardens
• Rock gardens
• Flower gardens
• Water gardens
• Container gardens
• Desert gardens
• Hanging gardens
• Organic gardens

Organic gardening-

This form of gardening is gaining popularity. Organic gardening involves the use of organic matter to replenish the soil .Pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers are not used. Organic manure is made of decaying animal or plant waste and compost. This manure is added to the soil which in turn attracts soil organisms that act on it to produce nutrients which are then taken up by the plant. This type of gardening is regarded as healthier than the non organic gardening as this avoids the use of chemicals in any form. Organic pesticides are used in case of any pest or disease attack.

Indoor gardening-

The theory behind hydroponics or indoor gardening is rather interesting. Outdoor plants grow roots in order to search for water and necessary nutrients due to which they have profuse roots. There is loss of energy because of this. In indoor plants, the necessary nutrients are directly supplied to the plant because of which the roots have limited growth while the foliage grows in abundance. The growing mediums used for indoor gardening are sand,vermiculite,gravel ,air and perlite.The nutrient solutions are supplied by drip method, Aeroponics, passive flow and nutrient film technique to mention a few. Hydroponic helps produce better quality plants.

Container gardening-

This type of gardening is for someone who cannot maintain a natural garden but still has the desire to have plants around him. The plants are planted in containers that can be used as decorating plants in your sit outs or pools.

Essential Garden Tools

To make your gardening experience easy and fun, you must know the right usage of tools. The following tools are essential for gardening:

• Spade- This is used for scooping soil. It has a flat blade.
• Shovel- This is used for digging and its blade is rounded
• Pitchfork- This is used for removing small sticks or branches
• Flexible rakes- These are used to trim leaves
• Cultivators- They are used to uproot weeds
• Hoes-They are used in removing weeds

Sharpening your tools from time to time is very important. Sharpening will improve the efficiency of the garden tools.Selection of the right file is needed for sharpening your garden tool. The point to be remembered is that the fine files are used for sharpening and smoothening while large coarse files are used for trimming purposes. A double cut file is used for chipping material.

Tips To Start Your Own Vegetable Garden

Having a vegetable garden of your own and cooking delicious veggies for your family can be a very overwhelming feeling. Tips to start your own vegetable garden are as follows:

• Lay out a proper plan on a paper.
• Make sure you have space for definite borders.
• A 20 “ space is required between the rows of vegetables that you are planting
• Some plants need more sunlight than the others. Keep that I mind before planting.
• Lettuce can be grown in between pea plants
• Carrot and spinach seeds can be added together.Spinach grows faster than carrot.
• Cauliflower and cabbage can be planted together.
• Make sure that the tall plants are not blocking the sunlight. Plant them in such a way that they do not block the sunlight for the smaller plants.
• Growing leguminous plants like groundnuts between rows of other plants help in replenishing soil with the much needed nitrogen.
• Weeding should be done regularly
• Make sure you have a wooden fence that would prevent animals from straying into the garden.

Bed Preparation For Your Garden

Addition of any form of organic manure or compost helps improve your garden yield. The soil has to be first dug to a depth of around 12“-18” and then 3” of compost should be added and then mixed with the soil. It is advised to test your soil before planting. The test will show if there are any nutrient deficiencies in the soil and also the PH level of the soil. The rapitest soil test kit helps you test for nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and ph level of the soil. You can get this kit for around 19.95$.Once you test your soil and add the required elements into it, level the soil bed ,allow it to rest for a few days and then start planting!

Garden Pests

The common garden pests that you must look out for are as follows:

• Cabbage maggot that attacks the cabbage family
• Leaf miners that attack leaves
• Slugs
• Aphids
• Mites
• Caterpillars

Pest Control

• It is of utmost importance that you have a basic knowledge of pest control.
• Planting during times when insects are not active is one way of pest control. Insects are inactive during spring time.
• Proper supplies of nutrients and water as required by each plant have to be carefully done in order to produce a healthy pest resistant yield.
• Turning soil for during fall for summer plants that have finished with their yield reduces pests to a considerable extent.
• Hand picking of insect larvae and eggs, using fine nets to prevent insects from egg lying on plants are some of the ways you can control pests.
• To control caterpillars you can do a leaf application with bacteria called b.t [bacillus thuringiensis] when caterpillars are feeding on leaves.
• Insecticidal soaps are available in the market that can be used for pest control.

By taking the necessary steps and precautions, you can make your gardening experience very rewarding. So embark on your gardening hobby today!