7 Gardening Tips for Beginners

 Are you looking forward to a new recreational activity in these lock down situations? Does looking at green fields give you a fresh breath & a looking at your neighbor's backyard sends you an urge to have your own vegetation one day? Pursuing gardening as a hobby is not as complicated, as Lawra J. Lawson ,professor and chair of department of Landscape Architecture  states:

“My interest in gardening began, simply enough, as a stubborn attempt to grow my own food during budget-tight college years.”

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Well it's not that of a big deal & you definitely don't need to have a green thumb for that. Just a bit of simple steps to set on your foot.

1. Know your soil kind & climate

Thomas Whately in his book, Observation on Modern Gardening states that: “Nature, always simple, employs but four materials in the composition of her scenes, ground, wood, water, and rocks.”

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Speaking about the types of soil used in gardening can be listed as sand, clay, silt, peat, chalk and loam based on different sorts of usage in your garden. before actually digging up into the gardening stuff, discover the Cold Hardiness Zones of Pakistan, the Right Kind of Soil to choose and a Perfect Vegetable Calendar that shows the exact sowing and harvesting time for each of the plants and vegetables.

2. Compost Compost

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What's that? Compost is an organic material that's going to help your plants grow. Where to find this stuff? Well the closest place is your kitchen! Yes you heard it right. From tea bags, egg shells, trimmings of lawn, coffee grinds, ash and apple cores. This kind of organic stuff will help not only save your money buying fertilizers (however in future you'll have to get them obviously!) but also help the soil to retain its moisture, fight with diseases and pests.

3. Maintain your Plant

Humans (typically women) trim their hairs to ensure their healthy growth by eradicating the damaged and dead ends. Similarly, plants need to get trimmed on a regular basis too. Pinch the tops regularly so the next set of leaves can grow bigger and healthier. Pruning your plants ensure increased circulation of air & fewer leaves to water to.

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This Weed Identification Guide might be very helpful for you to identify the different kinds of weeds that eventually grow along with your healthy plants that you’ve worked so hard for, and choke them out of their water, air and nutrients.

4. Get some basic tools

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There definitely are a variety of gardening tools, but the most crucial of them for beginners include a trowel (used for digging, smoothing, applying or moving material), a prune (cutting, trimming) & a garden fork (used for loosening, lifting and turning over soil). But still in the beginning, you can use random kitchen tools for these purposes. But definitely, one day you'll run to store for these tools.

5. Start Small

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A smaller area for your garden or cultivating area will reduce the size of your effort in the beginning of your recreational activity. In addition to lesser work, if something goes wrong, you'll have less tears to wipe and less mess to clean up. Don't start too large in the beginning. Make a bit of space for early mistakes. And with time being, work your way to larger areas with great expertise. Also allow plants to have a bit of space so they won't suffocate each other and grow happily along other fellows.

6. Healthy drinking habits

Plants are advised to be watered in the morning just like for humans, taking a healthy breakfast is considered to be a token for good health and for an entire active day full of energy and positive energy. It's Ideal to Water plants in the Morning rather in evenings, as watering in evenings might lead to fungus production as they don't have much capacity to absorb water in the evenings. 

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Giving too much water isn't a good part too if you think you'll water once a day, a bucket full of water. It's neither helpful and may cause diseases. Use the three-second rule that says to water a container enough that water pools on top of the soil for pretty three seconds. It indicates that the soil is sufficiently drenched with water down to the roots. Also make sure that your plant container has holes in the bottom to ensure a good drainage in case the water is too much for the plant to bear.

7. Keep a Journal

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It's wiser to label each kind of seed and where it's planted as it'll save you much hassle at the times to come. Keeping a journal will help you to keep a record of when you sow, pruned and harvested your plant last time, from where you brought the seeds and plants, when was the last time you watered, and what steps were beneficial for plant growth and which ones caused you pain. Still not convinced? Explore Why a Garden Journal is considered to be a valuable tool.

Conclusion

The horticulturist says that “Gardening we must remember is a labor of love, dealing with living things and sensitivity to the needs of the plant is essential. Today we are fortunate we can search for information on any plant on the internet and learn how best to care for it,” gardening is rewarding in so many ways, helps with your limb exercise, release stress, make your yard bright, fight with depression, improve your diet and supplies you with fresh fruits & vegetables.

You may find further specific details on gardening from starting seed sowing to preserve the harvests in Common Sense Gardening Page.

Lastly, Have patience, Do your best and leave the rest on the plants itself to grow happily.

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Happy Gardening!

By: SAMRA HABIB UR REHMAN