Get your hands dirty this summer with a home garden
This year, we decided to build a raised garden bed (you can find the directions in this post), and I recently decided our garden bed needs to be doubled in size next year! Already. Yes, I know. I definitely didn’t leave enough walking room between veggies this year. Oops!
I am definitely NOT a pro gardener, but I do want to share a few gardening tips I’ve learned. I’d say I’m doing pretty well so far. The tips I’m sharing below come from a variety of sources including: My pap, HGTV, The Daily Green, Pinterest, Family Handyman and well, me!
When starting a garden, it’s better to start too small than to start too large. Read that sentence again. In order to enjoy your garden, you must be able to control it. Don’t get too ambitious.
• To prevent accumulating dirt under your fingernails while you work in the garden, draw your fingernails across a bar of soap and you’ll effectively seal the undersides of your nails so dirt can’t collect beneath them. Then, after you’ve finished in the garden, use a nailbrush to remove the soap and your nails will be sparkling clean.
• Have garden twine handy when you need it. Just stick a ball of twine in a small clay pot, pull the end of the twine through the drainage hole, and set the pot upside down in the garden. Do that, and you’ll never go looking for twine again.
• The next time you boil or steam vegetables, don’t pour the water down the drain. Instead, use it to water potted patio plants, and you’ll be amazed at how the plants respond to the “vegetable soup!”
• The best fertilizer is the shadow of the gardener. Be there for your garden each and every day and it will grow.
• Wear gloves that fit up your arm rather than to your wrist. If the gloves are higher, you are less likely to get scratched and/or bit by any bugs when picking veggies.
• Save your eggshells. Eggshells in the garden deter slugs and are a great source of calcium for fast-growing plants.
• Water your plants the right way – consistency is KEY. Do not over-water and do not under-water. Do the same amount every day. Plants like consistency. Also, water earlier in the day rather than in the late afternoon. On days where there’s extreme heat, water twice.
* When watering plants, use ice cubes to prevent fast draining. They’ll melt slowly enough so plants can absorb as much water as they need.
• Beets should be eaten the same day they are picked. I didn’t know this little fact and picked them one evening, left 5 on the counter to cook the next day and when I woke up, they were soft, wilted, wrinkly and no good! Bummer … live and learn!
If you have your own garden, I’d love for you to share some tips with me, too! While you’re surfing the Web, view my Garden Board on Pinterest!
Web columnist and local blogger Angelique Lorence is a mother of three boys, a Robert Morris University alumna and resident of Washington County. Visit her personal blog Where the Piggy Toes Go for this column and more on family, food, fashion and everything in between. Follow The Piggy Toes on Facebook and on Twitter: @thepiggytoes.