Starting a New Garden: 5 Things to Keep in Mind -

There’s no limit to the pleasure, happiness, and floral or horticultural knowledge that comes through gardening, which may become a lifetime pastime. However, before you can design your first planting bed and call yourself a great gardener, you must first study and appraise numerous aspects of gardening.

Now, here are the top 5 things you must keep in mind when starting a new garden:

1. Removal of Grass

Removing a patch of grass to make room for a new bed (garden) is standard practice. Chemicals can be used to get rid of grass (or other ground coverings), but there are a plethora of organic alternatives that are just as effective. Let’s look at them.

i. Sheet Mulching (Layering)

Layering is the method of suffocating grass by spreading organic material like newspaper over the area to be mulched. Sheet stacking usually works, even if it takes a while to get rid of grasses. The process of sheet layering takes time, so it’s best done in the summer to ensure the area is ready for planting in the spring after that.

ii. Solarization

Solarization is another natural way to get rid of the grass. This method kills weeds by using the sun’s heat to bake the soil to a high enough temperature.

iii. Hand Removal

Manually pulling weeds takes time, but it’s a great workout and all-natural exercise. It also has a high rate of success. Thoroughly wet the area a day or two before you want to remove the grass. As a consequence, the grass will get softer, and the root system will become looser.

After that, use a sharp spade to chop the grass into 1-square-foot sections. To remove the section, slide the spade under it and then lift it up and out of the ground with the help of the lever. Compost the unwanted grass clippings, re-sod your yard, donate them to neighbors, or toss them in with the rest of your yard waste.

2. The Garden Soil

Healthy soil is essential to having a successful garden. Most plants have a preferred soil type. So it’s important to consider the soil type and common soil issues that can affect your garden.

The following common soil issues might have an impact on the health of your plants.

Nutritional Issues

Plants get all of their nutrients from the soil in which they are grown. Conduct a soil test to find out what your garden’s nutritional needs are. This means you’ll have to make improvements to make up for any shortfalls that you discover.

Incorrect soil pH

Soil pH affects a plant’s ability to absorb nutrients. Some plants may thrive in soils that vary from acidic to alkaline in pH. The growth and productivity of a plant might be harmed by soil that is too acidic or alkaline. A soil test may reveal the pH of your garden’s topsoil.

Wrong soil type

Soil type is a term used to describe the texture and composition of the soil. Because certain soils have an excessive quantity of clay, it might cause problems with drainage. The soil drains water before plant roots can use it if it’s too sandy and lacks enough organic material to provide the required amount of nutrition.

Also, it’s a no-brainer to add compost to your soil when you initially start your garden, regardless of how healthy it is already. To fully integrate the compost into the soil, use a rototiller or a garden pitchfork. After that, level the earth with a rake and get ready to plant.

The usage of pricey compost containers isn’t required for composting. Understanding the basic idea of stacking organic materials and delivering just the right amount of moisture and oxygen makes composting straightforward. Natural organisms can use organic waste quickly to become the most nutrient-dense soil addition.

3. Pick The Right Plant

When picking plants for your garden, do your study to learn about each plant’s unique requirements. This will help you ensure that you choose the correct plants for the right location.

There are three main types of plants found in garden beds and landscapes: ornamentals, food sources, and weeds.

Herbaceous annuals are short-lived plants that need to be transplanted each year once they have finished growing.

Plants that come back year after year are known as herbaceous perennials (including biennials). Their leaves drop in the winter, but the plant itself develops from the roots the following spring. Biennials are perennials that survive for just two years or less. They develop foliage the first year, bloom the second year, and then die the third year.

The soft herbaceous stems of annuals and perennials are absent from woody trees and shrubs. Instead of leaves, they have thick, woody stems and trunks.

4. Design of the Garden

It’s important to practice your garden design skills once you’ve learned about the basic needs of the plants that’ll be in your garden. While where you place your plants is mostly a matter of taste, there are a few broad design aesthetic considerations to bear in mind.

i. Size: Consider the mature size of the plants when you first fill your garden bed. Also, consider the basic shape or contour of the plants before placing them in your garden bed.
ii. Line: The structures inside the garden bed’s boundaries are the landscape or garden bed’s buildings.

iii. Texture: The fineness or coarseness, roughness or smoothness, weight, or lightness of a plant are all aspects of texture. Flowers, stems, bark, and most significantly, leaves all contribute to a plant’s texture.

5. Transplantation Techniques: Planting and Transplanting

The use of proper planting methods is critical for best results, whether you’re working with seeds or nursery plants in pots. After transplantation, a guide to watering new grass seeds needs to be followed. Water your transplants liberally immediately after placing them in their final locations in your garden to ensure that their roots touch with the soil they were just transplanted. To encourage the roots to develop into the new soil, keep the roots and the soil wet.