Gardening can be very useful, rewarding and fun. Whether you choose to grow flowers, vegetables or ornamental plants, many find that nurturing and tending to a garden brings such a rewarding feeling and sense of accomplishment. The ideas here can provide some gardening guidance, and give you a little hand as you get started growing your own special garden.

You don’t require specialized tools or years of expert knowledge to keep your lawn well watered throughout the year. By learning how to spot the signs of an unhappy lawn, as well as a couple of tricks to help keep the moisture levels just right, you can enjoy a lush green lawn throughout the season.

Monitor Moisture Levels in Your Lawn

Know Your Soil Type

There are three different components that make up soil: silt, sand and clay. If you have soil that is mostly clay, it will hold moisture for a very long time. Sandy soil drains water from your yard or garden very quickly. The best soil is loam, which is an even blend of all three components. To determine your soil type, pick up a handful of soil, squeeze it into a ball, and let it dry for a day. Soil that dries into a hard lump is mostly clay. If the ball doesn’t hold its shape at all, you have sandy soil. Loam will make a ball that crumbles slightly, but stays mostly intact when you pick it up.

Learning the Signs of a Dry Lawn

The first sign of a dry lawn is a change in color. Depending on the variety of your grass, it can take on a bluish, purple or gray cast. As the moisture problem gets worse, you will start to notice that your footprints are still visible hours after walking on the lawn – dried grass doesn’t have the resilience of properly hydrated grass. When dehydration is severe, blades of grass will start to curl up lengthwise.

Monitoring Your Sprinkler System

Does it sometimes seem like parts of your lawn aren’t getting enough water while other areas get too much? It could be a problem with the way your sprinkler system delivers water. An easy way to test this is to place plastic cups at evenly spaced intervals within the range of your sprinkler. Turn your sprinkler on and let it run for 30 minutes. After that, compare the water levels in each cup. You might be surprised to find that areas near to the sprayer head are getting very little water, while areas along the edge of your sprinkler’s range are getting too much. Now that you know where most of the water is going, you will be able to adjust your watering system accordingly.

Well-watered your plants

A great tip to consider when gardening is to make sure that you are not over or under watering your plants. This is critical because you run the risk of either causing root rot and killing your garden, or drying your plants and soil out due to under watering. Always check the moisture of your soil, and keep it at an adequate moisture level.

You can use a mix of water and ammonia and spray them on snails. You will not damage your plants with the ammonia, and it will also produce nitrogen. To snails, though, ammonia is quite lethal. Spraying an ammonia solution around will deter them from doing any damage to your garden. This spray works best when used every day.

Protect you plants from damaging weather

As the weather turns colder, it is important to prepare your sensitive shrubs for the change. If you have them in pots, you need to guard them from cold weather that will damage or kill them. Tie together the tops. Once the canes are snugly together, put a sheet over the wigwam. When you do this you allow air to flow and circulate which can actually prevent rotting, this method is great and better than just wrapping your plant in some plastic.

As discussed at the beginning of this article, gardening has many rewards that come with it. There is just something about growing your own flowers and vegetables that is very fulfilling. By applying some of the advice you have learned, you can find a lot of joy from gardening.

If you are interested to learn more on how to take care of your lawn, call 805-773-5395