So you want to grow a beautiful garden at home, or already have a garden and want to maintain it such that you can click beautiful pictures every day and share them with friends! well, that's what this blog is exactly for. A few simple changes and routines will give you better results.
Now we aren't saying this is immediately going to have effect in a week, it takes time. How much time? well, it depends solely on the plants. You will notice changes gradually, new leaves, new branches, more flowers and so on.
Basically, plants require three things; adequate sunlight, regular water, and regular nutrients
Whatever plants you may be growing, these guidelines will help.
How to start garden maintenance?
#1 Efficient plant arrangement
#2 A schedule for watering
#3 Regular de-weeding
#4 A schedule to loosen topsoil
#5 Schedule for spraying foliar nutrients
#6 Regularly looking out for pests & diseases
Efficient plant arrangement
This is the first step to success, it is the foundation of a garden. Garden maintenance will become a breeze if this is done right.
Make a list of all the plants in your garden or the list of plants that you are planning to buy.
Once you have that list ready. Look at your garden space and understand which part receives most sunlight and the least sunlight.
Now you need to position the plant in such a way that plant meets its daily sunlight requirement. For example vegetable plants like tomatoes. brinjal requires 7-8 hrs of direct sunlight. Peace lily, anthurium will do with 4 hrs of direct sunlight, any more sunlight will cause the plant to burn out.
How to water my plants?
A schedule for watering
Once your plants are placed in the perfect position. They will receive adequate sunlight, now they need adequate water.
Always water the bottom of the plants, that is pour water on the soil or at the bottom-most part of the plant.
For small plants and saplings, you should gently water them so that the force of the water does not damage them. It is better to use a rose can.
Remember the watering schedule changes as per season,
During summer water at least thrice a day, once in the early morning, once in the afternoon, and once just before sunset. Whereas during rainy and winter season the watering schedule needs to reduce to maybe once or twice a day depending on the sun light that day.
Regular de-weeding
What are weeds?
Weeds are unwanted plants that grow alongside plants. These plants are usually brought into your garden by the wind, rains, birds, and small animals, or even with the soil you use.
Weeds compete with your plant for sunlight, water, and nutrients.
A recommended schedule for de-weeding the whole garden i.e. all the pots in your garden is once every week.
A schedule to loosen topsoil
Loosen the topsoil up to 7- 10cms deep.
Loosening the soil helps make the soil less compact which allows the roots some aeration.
Schedule for spraying foliar nutrients
Mist the leaves with foliar nutrients such as seaweed spray, bio enzyme spray, growth promoter spray, growth booster spray, panchagavya spray.
Foliar nutrients are absorbed faster by plants as compared to soil nutrients. Foliar nutrients are taken in by the leaves of the plant.
Regularly looking out for pests & diseases
Every 3 - 4 days check all the plants thoroughly. Under all leaves, on the branches. Look for anything that may seem out of place such as yellow spots on leaves, curling of leaves, drooping of plants, white pests on plants, etc.
Pests and diseases if not taken care off immediately could wipe out all the plants in your garden. In our vegetable garden, we had the leaves of 10 brinjal plants eaten off by a caterpillars within a week.
So to summarize plant arrangement, watering, nutrients, pests & diseases these are the fundamentals of a garden. If taken care off properly it will result in a beautiful and thriving garden.