Getting The Most Green From Your Garden

Gardening is a fun, healthy and rewarding activity. However, without the right knowledge, it can become difficult, stressful and frustrating. Everyone from newbies to experienced growers can learn valuable information from tips and tricks. This set of tips will really help you see an improvement in your garden and possibly teach you something you didn't know before.

Use a bar of soap to prevent dirt under your nails. Before you begin gardening, scrape your fingernails across a bar of soap. This will create a barrier that keeps the dirt out. When you are done gardening, the soap will wash out quickly and easily - leaving your nails sparkling clean.

Used tea and coffee grounds make good soil enrichers. Both coffee and tea grounds are great additions when you need to raise the acidity of your soil. If your soil is pH balanced, adding the tea and coffee is good, as flowers such as rhododendrons and azaleas, and fruits such as blueberry, appreciate soil that is on the acidic side. You can work the grounds into the soil before you plant your garden, or sprinkle a little around existing plants once a week or so.

If your gardening boots and gloves are beginning to develop an odor, try using orange slices! Simply place a orange slice in the boot or glove and leave it there overnight. Oranges are ideal for eliminating the unpleasant smells often picked up in a garden. If you don't have an orange, other citrus fruits like lemons or limes, will work as well.

Put compost down on the soil in your garden about two weeks to a month before you plan to plant. This allows the compost enough time to integrate with the soil. Giving the compost time to stabilize means that your soil pH will be steady enough to test, and your plants will be ready to thrive when you plant them.

Make your long handled garden tool into a measuring tool. You can get measuring tape and mark out the units with a black permanent marker. This works great for wood handled tools. When you need to space your plants out a particular distance, you can use your homemade measuring stick to measure the distance.

To keep animals from digging up and destroying your bulbs, wrap the bulbs in a thin layer of steel wool. This won't prevent the bulbs from growing in any way, but will scare away any animal that's begun digging it up. You can purchase steel wool from any home improvement store.

With just a little bit of help, gardening can become easier and more fulfilling. The previous tips were just a few examples of how you can add a new set of tricks to your information arsenal and really make a different with your garden. Every little bit of info can make a big impact.

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