Are you a person who has a green thumb, or do you just tidy the garden so it doesn’t become an unruly jungle?
Whether you’re a horticultural expert, or your greatest addition to the backyard lawn goes as far as the traditional garden gnome, you don’t need to spend a huge deal to make your landscape look good. Worry not garden novices, for here are my six ways in which, you can have your garden looking beautiful and fresh this summer, while sticking to a watertight budget.
- Hydration and Irrigation:
When thinking about our backyards, some of us forget that plants are living creatures too. They get thirsty – just like us.
If you want your plants to remain fresh and luscious throughout the hot weather, proper irrigation is a top priority.
However, you don’t have to resort to remembering t0 hose the flowerbeds every few days. Inserting a sprinkler system can provide your plants and soil with regular, intermittent doses of H2O.
Whether you want to cover a small area with a pop up sprinkler to a gear drive for large lawns, there is a range of systems that will help your plants absorb right down to their roots.
- Healthy soil:
Keeping your soil in good condition is the best thing for keeping your plants healthy and growing.
Make sure your plant’s bed is fresh by rotating the topsoil. It is also wise to add those such as a potting mix high in nitrogen and some organic matter, as well as mulch to help your soil absorb the water it requires.
A real budget-friendly way is by using food scraps or compost. It improves your soil, helping your plants get rich amounts of the nutrients they need and it saves on food wastage, with it being recycled.
- Sow plants that work well throughout the year.
If you want to keep your summer landscape at a low expense, plant those that will give you flowers and life for an extent of the year.
If you focus on plants that only have a short bloom in spring, you won’t have much display of life through summer. Then there are those that may not be suited to the heat.
According to Maximum Yield, geraniums are a great plant if you want a flower that will last throughout the summer.
- Propagate your plants:
Propagating, or replanting, is a great way to add variety over summer.
However, if you want to have the same plants, one of the best ways to do this is from a previous cutting. It is a good way to save money instead of purchasing new seeds.
Doing this from a former cutting can also help to re-establish the growing cycle of the plant from a previous source.
Your local garden centre, such as Bunnings can guide you through the steps on how to undertake the regrowth process using this method and the tools and materials you’ll need to perform it successfully.
- Keep a vegetable garden or fruit trees:
One budget-friendly way to keep your garden fresh and vibrant is to keep seasonal vegetables and fruits.
Harvesting summer stock such as limes and plants such as lemongrass, tomatoes and corn can save you money on your food bill and seasonal planting helps keep the soil fresh.
- A natural weed killer:
We all know how weeds can invade the garden, sometimes to the extent that they outnumber the plants.
Lifehacker has a natural and inexpensive way, by using lemon juice and boiling water.
So, there you have it, six ways to keep your garden healthy through summer, while saving your wallet. Enjoy!