If you have specimen plants which need warmer climate zones than the rest of your garden, you can easily create a suitable space for them within your regular garden! Just create a shelter with a south facing wall which will become a solar collector, absorbing warmth in the day and releasing it at night, thus providing your specimen plants with the perfect environment!
Organize your garden so that all your plants are exposed to the sun most of the time. Your house or your trees cast shadows: keep in mind that these shadows move throughout the day. You ideally want your plants to be exposed to the sun in the morning and the afternoon, but not around noon, especially in the summer time.
Having a color-themed flower garden is a beautiful way to display bold color with different flower varieties. Single-color beds, like the color white, makes an impact when set among deep green background plantings. It may not be necessary to plant extra greenery to contrast against the white flowers around your bed. A green lawn may be all you need to display the color.
Invest in a electronic PH tester. Avoid liquid PH kits (the color coded ones) as they tend to be less accurate. It is very easy for first time users to botch readings. Also, do not use soil PH test kits as they are unreliable and are not intended for home use.
Don't plant your seedlings or young plants too deeply. The top of a root ball of a large shrub or tree seedling should be just above the soil level, and then covered up with mulch to protect it. This allows the roots to breathe and keeps the tree or shrub healthy.
When you first plant a seedling, make sure that you keep the soil moist until it germinates. This is very important because, if the soil dries out, you risk the seedling dying. Once the seedling does germinate, the soil can be allowed to dry in between watering, but remember that it is still delicate and needs to be taken care of.
Use companion plants. Companion planting is the pairing of plants within your vegetable garden, such as planting cabbage with tomatoes. Companion planting helps reduce the problems with insect pests, as it attracts natural pest-controlling wildlife. Companion planting is also a better use of the space in your garden, since you basically have two plants in the same plot.
Why buy new garden covers when you can use your old blankets to cover plants in the winter time? If you don't have any old blankets you can buy used ones at thrift stores cheaply. Use tomato cages to support the blankets over your plants. Individual bricks or garden rocks can be used to hold the blankets and down and insure good coverage for your plants.
By having an organic garden, you will be providing yourself with much fresher and more nutritious produce. It may take a ton of work, but it is worth it.
