PROPERTY NEWS - Gardening is easy, right? Dig a hole in some soil, pop in the plant, water it every so often and there you go!
If only it was that simple! Gardening, like most things worth doing, takes a bit of practice and a lot of effort, but it's well worth it when you can reap the rewards of a healthy, thriving garden that's all your own.
The beginner gardener needs to be aware of some common pitfalls - mistakes you might be making that you'll want to amend right away:
Crowding plants into one place without room between them to grow doesn't equate more produce. In fact, these plants will compete for resources and nutrients and won't be as healthy as well-spaced, individual plants.
Watering too often will drown your plant. Roots prefer a deeper watering less frequently to a shallow watering more frequently. It allows them to grow stronger and healthier, making the plant sturdier and more capable to receive nutrients.
Not all neighbours love each other. Some plants are better suited as companion plants to other plants, and even help each other produce healthier fruits.
If we don't know which ones to plant, we could be doing our plants a disservice by placing bad companions together and impeding their growth.
Some plants, especially herbs, act as repellents, confusing insects with their strong odors that mask the scent of the intended host plants.
- Dill and basil planted among tomatoes protect the tomatoes from hornworms.
- Sage scattered about the cabbage patch reduces injury from cabbage moths.
- Marigolds are as good as gold when grown with just about any garden plant, repelling beetles, nematodes, and even animal pests.
- Some companions act as trap plants, luring insects to themselves. Nasturtiums, for example, are so favored by aphids that the devastating insects will flock to them instead of other plants.
- Carrots, dill, parsley, and parsnip attract garden heroes - praying mantises, ladybugs, and spiders - that dine on insect pests.
- Much of companion planting is common sense: Lettuce, radishes, and other quick-growing plants sown between hills of melons or winter squash will mature and be harvested long before these vines need more leg room.
- Leafy greens like spinach and Swiss chard grown in the shadow of corn.
- Bush beans tolerate the dapple shade that corn casts and, since their roots occupy different levels in the soil, don't compete for water and nutrients.
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