Original Advice For The Gardener. Part 4

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

In previous issues of "Original Tips for the Gardener", we shared recommendations from experienced summer residents for the care, development, improvement and increase in the yield of many garden crops. We continue our exciting journey through new and original tips for improving the condition of your garden and vegetable garden

An unusual way to determine the acidity of the soil

Often, the gardener needs to know how acidic the soil is on his plot of land. Since most vegetable and fruit crops require a certain soil. Most often neutral or slightly acidic. Acidic soils are not suitable for growing good yields in orchards and vegetable gardens.

So, in order to determine how acidic the soil is in your garden, pick the leaves of black currant from the bush, about five. You can, if there is no currant, use bird cherry leaves. Put the leaves in a glass and pour boiling water over them. Now cool the water and put in it … some soil from your site, literally a small piece.

Now look at the color of the resulting solution in a glass to light. If it becomes a reddish hue, the soil in your area is pronounced acidic. If the water turns greenish, the soil is slightly acidic. And if the solution in a glass is bluish or blue, it means that the soil is neutral.

But do not worry right away if you get the result that is not the most joyful for you. It is quite within your power to lower the acidity of the soil on the site. This will help substances such as wood ash, slaked lime. Dolomite flour can be used. Such products should be sprinkled in a thin layer over the area where you are planting crops. Thus, you will significantly reduce the acidity of the soil on your parcels of land.

On a string to the world

Before planting tomato seedlings in the ground, bury two fresh sprats or capelin in a hole with a bush. Tomatoes will grow by leaps and bounds. Another original way to mulch for tomatoes is when planting a bush in the ground, put a little feather from old pillows in the hole, with a bush of straw on top.

Cucumbers can be planted in egg shells. And in the holes when planting cucumbers in the ground, pour the husks from sunflower seeds. They will fertilize the soil and help maintain moisture in it until the next watering.

Try to use sawdust only before winter leaving the garden, as they draw out nitrogen useful for ripening plants from the ground. In spring, sawdust covering plants for the winter should be removed.

Plant white mustard in a potato field around it. It will protect potato plantations from pests. And when hilling, do not rake the mustard, leave it on the ground as fertilizer for future humus.

In the garden, under or near roses, acacia, rhododendrons, close to the roots, bury the peel of bananas. It serves as a fertilizer for them. Plants will produce strong and plentiful inflorescences and bloom longer.

Feeding plants … with sugar

Sugar can be fed to plants as follows:

• Option 1 - sprinkle sugar (quite a bit, literally a teaspoon) on a square meter of soil before spilling it with water;

• Option 2 - a couple of teaspoons of sugar are diluted in a glass of water and poured evenly onto the ground, also before watering.

What does such a sugar dressing give? It serves as a building material for plant growth, also provides them with a source of energy to improve the condition of tissues, their absorption of nutrients from the soil, the ability to "breathe" and so on.

Spring Nature Tips

These are the natural tips for the gardener in the hot spring time.

At the moment when hazel is covered with inflorescences (they are fluffy), you can safely start sowing seeds into the soil without a greenhouse. From vegetable crops, the best planting time is for radishes and spinach; from flowers, plant poppies, calendula, marigolds, cornflowers.

Notice that violets are blooming? It is just right to plant carrot seeds, also parsley in open ground. Iberis and godetia can be planted in the garden at this time.

As soon as the willow "puffs" its small lumps of future inflorescences and the daffodil blooms, you can plant various types of lettuce, radish, some types of cabbage, for example, kohlrabi or Savoy. In the garden, plant phlox, daisies, mignonette during this period. After another 3-5 days, plant green peas and beets in the garden.

Are leaves in the oak grove near your garden? This means that the oak tells you that you no longer have to wait for frost. Feel free to plant heat-loving garden plants: beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini.

During the flowering of mountain ash and lilacs in spring, experienced gardeners plant tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants.

Original advice for the gardener. Part 1

Original advice for the gardener. Part 2