If you are an avid gardener and take good care of your plants, one of the most devastating things to happen is when your plants get a disease. It’s worrisome – will it affect the other plants? How did they acquire it? Will my plants die? How can I get rid of it? Aside from diseases, if your garden’s not healthy, you’ll notice that some of your plants are a bit off or malnourished. Leaves turn yellow, stunted growth, and the list goes on.
Prevention Is Better Than Cure
Most of the time, diseases, along with some minor issues, only happen if you don’t take proper care of your garden. Diseases emerge when you have a sick plant (host), a disease-causing organism (the pathogen), and a favorable environment for disease. If all of these three things occur simultaneously you have an infected plant; if one or more of the factors are not present, the disease does not occur. So, before these problems arise, it is better to keep your garden healthy and in good shape. After all, prevention is always better than cure.
Keep Your Garden Healthy With These Tips
We recently shared How To Take Care Of Your Gardening Tools in a recent post. Today, we are going to talk about how to keep your garden healthy.
Soil
The soil is one of the most vital parts of your garden. If you have good soil, then your plants will get the right nutrients they need. Make it a habit at least once a month of turning your soil – keep it loose and light. You can also tell that your soil is healthy if there are earthworms present. These tiny creatures also help ward off diseases.
Space Your Plants Correctly
Giving your plants the right amount of space promotes a healthy growing crop. Placing them too close together constricts growth, sunshine, air and at the same time, they may be competing for nutrients. On the other hand, putting them too far apart promotes weed growth and dries the soil. Thus, remember to plant them with the right distance.
Give Your Plants Some TLC
Gardening is not a one-time thing. It needs commitment and consistency. You have to regularly weed your plants, water them and maintain the soil. Quick Tip: water your plants from below. Watering them at a high angle may cause diseases from soil splash to other plants. If you want to be sure your plants get the care they need, use drip irrigation or flood irrigation.
Know The Right Time To Plant
Weather is a big factor for plants to develop correctly. Some plants may not be suitable for certain weather conditions while some may be suitable. You can ask local farmers for information about the time to plant or do some research on the internet. The USDA has a great map of plant hardiness zones for the United States and can be a great place to start.
Clear Your Garden
Weeds are stubborn so you definitely need to keep an eye on these. Routinely check your garden and take out weeds or other unnecessary critters from your crops/soil. These can be taken care of by doing manual work or using chemicals (which we don’t really recommend as much). Some plants may also need pruning so make sure to do that.
With some hard work and dedication, your garden will be a source of joy and produce. How do you keep your garden healthy?