A Generational Experience For Aspiring Gardeners

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

I have two neighbors in the country. One young and very well-to-do, and therefore her gardening equipment is all up-to-date. The other is an elderly woman using a hand scythe, a bayonet shovel, and an old-fashioned rake. But it was a pleasure to look at her beds, and even the weeds of the young did not want to grow. So the young and the elderly often visit to find out the secrets of such success. After all, no state-of-the-art technology can replace the experience and knowledge that people have accumulated for centuries

It is better to loosen once than to water seven times

A person can go much longer without water than without air. Plants and soil, being living organisms, also need water and air. Moreover, the hierarchy of these two elements for them has the same order as for a person. That is, they need air much more than water.

You can water the plant seven times a day, but it will wither if there is no access to oxygen to its roots. A novice gardener should remember that one loosening will replace the plant with two waterings. Slightly the ground in the garden is covered with a hard crust, we take the tool and loosen the aisle. Vegetables will thank you with an excellent harvest.

Each plant has a place according to needs

Different plants have their own habits and preferences. Some people like drier places, others - more humid. Someone seeks closer to the sun's rays, while someone prefers to hide in the shade. Everyone needs soil in accordance with their personal "appetite".

Therefore, breaking new flower beds or vegetable beds, each plant is selected a place according to its tastes. Young seedlings should not be planted close to each other. Growing up, they will hurt from crowding and annoying pests. A popular proverb about people that, where it is crowded, there is a place for priests, it is not suitable for plants.

The beds should not be made wide, which will be difficult to care for, with difficulty reaching the weeds. But do not skimp on the width of the paths between the beds. Such a garden will not only be easy to cultivate, but it will also give a much richer harvest. Tested in practice.

Brave neighbors

In the plant kingdom, like in humans, there are sympathies and antipathies, mutual assistance in the face of viruses and pests.

Knowing the properties and abilities of plants, try to plant them in such an order that they can help each other. Plants that release phytoncides into the surrounding space, with their aromas, scare away many pests that encroach on the crop. Such plants include spicy herbs (cilantro, coriander, dill), as well as garlic and onions, which can protect a cucumber garden from bacteriosis. Beans, marigolds, elecampane planted next to potato rows will significantly reduce the invasion of the Colorado potato beetle. Coriander will also protect flower beds, including, it is able to almost completely rid rose bushes of voracious and prolific aphids.

Tall tomato bushes, planted under fruit trees and shrubs, will scare away many pests, protect them from a fungal disease called "scab", scare away moth butterflies from the apple tree, save currant and gooseberry bushes from their worst enemy - the gooseberry moth (butterflies themselves and their caterpillars), eating away still green berries.

Features of watering plants

While people prefer spring water, from which they already drive their teeth, plants love warm water. Therefore, well water should be packed in barrels so that it warms up in the sun and only then can it be used for irrigation. Better yet, place barrels on the sides of the house to collect rainwater to water the plants with water bestowed by the heavens themselves.

Watering is best done in the morning, supplementing it with evening watering during the dry season of summer.

Summary

Of course, the science of growing a decent harvest is not limited to these common truths. But everything comes with experience. Feel free to experiment. Own experience is the most reliable compass in arranging a summer cottage.