Backyard Activities Articles
Other Factors in Garden Creation
So now you've picked out what type of garden you will have,
what the
location will be, and what kind of fertilizer you need, now is
the time to
really get started in choosing your garden environment. First
you'll want
to choose what your garden barriers will be. What will separate
your
garden from the rest of the world? Next you'll want to choose
the
decorations and support for your plants. Often some kind of
metal mesh is
necessary to keep your plant standing up. You will also want to
choose how
much soil and fertilizer to buy, and how to arrange all the
plants in your
garden.
Choosing a border is actually a fairly important step in
getting your
garden started. It might not actually affect the well-being of
the plants,
but having a garden is a fairly aesthetic ordeal for many
people anyways.
So usually you will want to choose between metal and wood. You
can stack
up boards around the perimeter of your garden, and give it a
rather nice
cabin look. If you're looking for a more modern look, you can
obtain some
metal lining at your local home improvement store for rather
cheap, and
installation is medium difficulty.
Finding something nice-looking to support your plants can be
a little bit
more challenging. Sometimes a short metal pole can work well,
but often
for plants such as tomatoes you will need a wire mesh for it to
pull
itself up on. You can find these at any gardening store,
usually
pre-shaped in a sort of cone shape ideal for plants. The plant
just grows
up through it, and usually it will last until the plant is
grown enough to
support itself. After that you can take a pair of wire-cutters
and just
snip it free.
Deciding how much soil to buy can be slightly easier. Look
up information
on your plants and find out the ideal soil depth. Then dig out
that much
from your garden, take the measurements, and find out the exact
amount of
cubic feet of soil that you will need. Go to the store and buy
it,
preferably adding on a few bags just so you can replenish the
supply if it
compresses or runs out. If you live in an area where the ground
is rough,
dry, and barren of nutrients, then you might even want to add a
few inches
of depth to the original recommendation.
Arranging the plants is rather important to the success of
your garden.
I'm not talking about some kind of feng-shui thing, but
depending on your
watering, some plants might hog all the water and leave the
other plants
high and dry. Some plants have longer roots than others, and
are more
aggressive in the collection of water. If you place one of
these plants
next to a plant with weaker, shorter roots, it will quickly
hijack the
water supply for itself, and choke out the other plant.
I hope I've led you to realize that placement isn't the only
important
thing about a garden. There are many other factors that might
not seem
very significant, but spending a proper amount of time
considering them
could change the outcome of your garden. So if you're working
on building
a garden, use and reference you can (the library, the internet,
and
magazines) to look in to some of the factors I've
mentioned.
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(Word Count 566)
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