gardeners planting vegetables, flowers, and shrubs in the
wrong place or at the wrong time, and under watering and
over watering different varieties, will no doubt put many
new gardener's new love in jeopardy and end in frustration
and hopelessness.
Count me in the "hopeless" category, or at least those were
my feelings about gardening last year. This year, I've
taken matters into my own hands, and instead of giving into
the temptation of hiring a professional landscaper, I
decided to buckle down and take the time to read about what
I had been doing wrong to see such a dismal turnout of the
flowers I'd planted and other gardening disasters I'd
endured since I bought a house just a year ago.
Mistake Number One : Planting bulbs and plants that attract
common garden pests who will destroy them with great
exuberance the following spring. You will need to be
careful to get varieties that are resistant to animals and
vermin that inhabit your area, such as deer, or else you
may end up seeing your hard work eaten within a matter of
days.
Deer are some of the worst offenders, as they will blow
through an entire garden of tasty bulbs in a matter of one
night, as they did with about 50 of my bulbs just days ago.
Be sure to read the labels and look up deer resistant
varieties and be aware of any other animals that may
inhabit your area as well.
I have intimate knowledge of this foible unfortunately, and
with my new barely-over-an-acre yard, I was pretty bummed
out that I must have had, as my sister would say a "black
thumb" (get it, instead of a green thumb, I kill
everything).
Well, that's not really the case, I just had to find out
what I was doing wrong and give my plants, trees, flowers
and shrubs what they were looking for, since each had
different needs.
My biggest mistake was that I thought all plants were
treated the same. I believed that as long as you watered
them a lot, gave them a spot with plenty of sunshine, and
planted them in the same sort of soil, there was no way you
could go wrong. That's simply not true, as many of you
know.
Some plants, like tomato plants, which happen to be the
most popular vegetable grown here where I live in Northeast
Ohio, love sunshine and can grow in just about any soil,
while others, like ivy and foxglove, love the shade and
flourish in the darker, richer soil that tends to be
present in shady areas.
Pruning is another huge issue that causes confusion amongst
newbie gardeners (yes, I'm a case in point on this one
too). For example, I pruned my hydrangea bushes all the
way down last fall, and because of that, I will most likely
see very little to no flowers this summer and fall.
The reason is that the wooden pieces that result after the
hydrangea has lost it's greenness actually create the buds
in the fall after their current blossoms die and fall off,
and if you prune this all the way back in the fall, you
will be cutting off the producing stems of the buds for
flowers next season. Sometimes gardening is going against
what you would think is common sense, and this is a good
example.
Many other plants, like most rose bushes, do require a
drastic pruning in the fall after they have "died" for the
winter and essentially gone into a hibernating state. I
mistakenly used this rule of thumb for roses and applied it
to hydrangeas, which essentially is going to result in my
bushes not having any blossoms this season.
Watering is another huge fauxpas where new gardeners tend
to apply the same rules for all of their plants and
flowers, even though they do not require a lot of watering.
An example of this is the difference between the salvia
plant, which is actually an excellent choice for
drought-prone locations, and the beautiful hanging plant,
the fuchsia, which thrives on tons of water.
Most plants do come with a tiny little direction stick when
you buy them as starter plants in greenhouses, and if you
are unsure of how to take care of a particular plant to get
the maximum enjoyment out of it as well as maximum beauty
and durability, then you can always ask a knowledgeable
assistant in a local greenhouse where you are purchasing
plants.
Of course, this wonderful thing called the internet and
it's revolution of data at your fingertips is always a good
source as well, where anyone can search for the best
gardening techniques for specific plants is also a boon to
any new gardener, and of course many who've been doing it
for years as well!
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Danna Schneider is the founder of
http://www.herbalnewsmagazine.com/genf20-hgh-releaser/ and
http://www.herbal-therapeutics.com , where news and
suggestions on new natural ways to combat the aging process
can be found as well as tips to live a healthier, more
active and happier life through natural supplementation and
lifestyle choices.
