There are many factors involved to achieve the lush and beautiful garden you have always wanted. Gardening does require labor and effort, but at the same time, gardening can also be fun. The following paragraphs are going to give you ideas and insights that you can use to make gardening fun, instead of laborious. Shoveling clay soil is tiresome since clay is hard, and it can also stick to your shovel for twice the difficulty. To ease the digging, apply some car wax or floor wax to the head of the shovel and buff. This will both make the clay fall off of the surface, and prevent the surface from rusting. You can use the wooden handles of your tools as measurement sticks. Handles of things such as rakes, hoes or shovels make excellent measuring instruments. Place the handles on the ground and measure them. Label the distances onto them using a permanent marker pen. Now you will always possess a large ruler ready for your use in the garden. Insects and various garden pests can be avoided by making your soil healthy. Healthy soil equals healthy plants and healthy plants can fight off diseases with ease. So if you want your garden to provide plants that are as healthy as possible, you need a good quality soil that contains few chemicals and that can accumulate salts over time. Cover fences and walls with lots of climbers. Many climbers can cover the wall or fence in as little as one growing season. You can direct them over certain branches or boards, or you can send them through plants you already have. Some climbers will attach themselves to a support using twining stems or tendrils, while other varieties need to be held up by tying them in place. A few good choices are climbing roses, wisteria, jasmine, honeysuckle and clematis. When you are tending your garden in the fall, be on the alert for stink bugs. These destructive pests enjoy many kinds of fruit, as well as beans, peppers and tomatoes. If you don't take care of them, they can decimate your garden, so it's best to do all you can to get rid of them. Bulbs will give you wonderful flowers that you can enjoy in early spring and right through the summer. Planting and growing bulbs is very simple, and once planted the bulbs will grow for years. Various bulbs do not all bloom at the same time, and if you employ this knowledge wisely, your garden can provide freshly blooming flowers for half the year. You must protect tender, deciduous shrubs. Delicate shrubs that are sitting in pots should be sheltered from the cold weather. First tie together the tops; then take a sheet or blanket and loosely shroud the wigwam. This tactic is better than utilizing plastic, because it will allow air to circulate. Take a look at planting berry-producing evergreens in your yard. These will help give your garden a burst of color, even in the winter months when most other vegetation has lost their colors. These plants can help you get some color during the winter months: Winterberry, Common Snowberry, American Holly, and American Cranberrybush. During the hotter parts of the day, vegetables are softer, which means even picking them gently can cause them damage. Cut vegetables off at the vine, and don't twist them off, as this could hurt the plant. With these tips, you're better equipped to grow the most beautiful garden you can imagine. In learning how to create your dream garden, you'll also be growing as a person. That's because learning how to nurture your plants will not only help you reach the goal of having a great garden, but it will help you learn to nurture yourself.
