Eight essential don ts for a healthy garden
A healthy, well-maintained garden is a beautiful sight, and most serious gardeners strive to achieve that beauty all year long. It certainly takes a lot of time and effort, not to mention proper planning and plant and garden know-how. But to gardeners of all levels, it seems to be well worth the effort, because it's a hobby that's very rewarding: You get to create your own unique masterpiece!
However, throughout that creative process, knowing what "not" to do is equally as important as knowing what you should do to keep your garden thriving year-round. Keep your garden in tip-top shape with these "Gardening Don'ts" from gardener Paul James, courtesy of hgtv.com (Home & Garden Television).
1. Don't fertilize trees, shrubs, or other landscape plants during the late summer. Fertilizing landscape plants encourages new growth. And new growth is extremely susceptible to freeze damage (especially if you live in an area where freezes suddenly occur), which may not be apparent until the following spring. In addition, since your plants have already been growing for several months, by the time late summer arrives, they are ready for a rest as they begin preparing themselves for dormancy.
2. Don't fertilize your lawn with products that are high in nitrogen. It's best to fertilize your lawn while the grass is still green, especially in late summer to early fall. But don't use products high in nitrogen, because turf grasses do not need much nitrogen that time of year. Instead, use a balanced fertilizer with an NPK ratio of 3-1-2 such as 6-2-4 or 12-4-8. Since fertilizers enable turf grasses to produce an abundance of carbohydrates, the grasses can store those excess carbohydrates throughout the winter months. So by springtime, the grasses have all the nutrients they need to produce a lush, green lawn.
3. Don't scalp a lawn, even if you're getting ready to reseed. Scalping (mowing the turf an inch or less in early spring before new growth begins) only stresses the turf and encourages more weed growth by allowing the sun to reach more soil.
4. Don't use a preemergent herbicide two weeks before or after sowing grass seed. A preemergent herbicide prevents seeds from sprouting, which will also prevent the grass seeds from sprouting, too. If you have a lot of weeds in your lawn, use a postemergent herbicide. It will only kill emerging weeds and won't affect your sprouting grass seeds.
5. Don't stake trees. Staking actually makes trees weaker. The trunks of unstaked trees are allowed to sway or bend in the wind, which makes them stronger.
6. Walk in garden beds as little as possible. Walking compacts the soil, and plants can't grow well in compacted soil. Since it's impossible to avoid, consider walking on a board. It will distribute your weight evenly and reduce compaction.
7. Don't work the soil while it's wet. Doing so destroys its structure, and it may take months or even years before the soil has a chance to recover. In the meantime, you're left with a bunch of ugly dirt clods, which are not ideal for growing plants.
8. Don't overwork the soil. There is a misconception that a good garden soil must have the consistency of a fine powder. That's why some gardeners constantly work the soil with either a tiller or by hand. The truth is that good garden soil should contain a range of particle sizes and have a fairly coarse textural feel because of its high content of organic matter. This type of soil doesn't compact as easily, drains a lot faster yet has more water-holding capacity, contains more nutrients and oxygen, and is easier to dig in.
