Your Guide To Creating A Healthy Garden This Year

Here in the UK, our gardens hold great importance within our family lives. They are our little corners of nature, spaces that we can personalise and enjoy how we see fit. For many green-fingered enthusiasts, hours of research goes into finding the best ways to support a lawn as it flourishes or ensuring their flowers grow to their full potential. While this experience can take many years to develop and perfect, there are ways that even entry-level gardeners can create a healthy garden in their homes. In this guide, we’ll share the knowledge of our team to help you get started this year.

Choose The Right Plants

Not all plants will grow in every single garden. Not every plant will grow in every country. Not every plant will grow in every area of our own country. Understanding the suitability of a plant to your outdoor space is one of the first steps to creating something beautiful and healthy. You will need to take into account several factors such as:

  • How Much Space Do You Have?

Some plants need more space - even if this isn’t entirely visible from above the soil. Before you begin purchasing bulbs and dreaming of how it may look, take a tape measure and get an accurate understanding of how much planting space you have. Not only do you need to consider where the plants will go, but also consider sunlight, additional garden accessories and visibility throughout your outdoor space. You want to create a garden that can be enjoyed - not one that can only be appreciated from indoors.

  • What Direction Does Your Garden Face?

North facing gardens will likely have more daytime shade and drier soil. South-facing gardens will be flooded with sun and be more suited to plants that enjoy these environments. And West or East facing gardens can pretty much accommodate all types of plants as they have an equal blend of sun and shade.

  • What Locational Factors Play A Role?

Do you live in a city where the air is likely to be more densely polluted? Or perhaps near the sea where salt air is likely to be in abundance? You need to consider what sort of plants can withstand these different environments and make sure they will thrive here.

Use The Right Soil

The type of soil you have in your garden will dictate the flowers that can be planted here successfully. Soil is divided into two main types - acidic (pH less than 7.0) or alkaline (pH more than 7.0). Take a look at some of the plants that are doing well in other gardens near you - this is a good indicator of the type of soil you probably have. Or, you can get a pH soil testing kit from most garden centres to check yourself.

You also need to identify the texture of your soil out of the most common groups:

  • Clay
  • Sandy
  • Silty
  • Peaty
  • Chalky
  • Loamy

Identify The Right Fertilisers

The right fertiliser will help your seeds and buds to get the very best start and to grow strong. You need to take into account factors including what type of soil you have, what you’re growing and in what environments. Options such as Multi-Purpose Fertiliser can be used for all plants, both indoors and outdoors. Other choices such as the Growmore Vegetable Liquid Feed is designed to provide micronutrients for strong, healthy container and basket plants. More specific blends, such as Rose Feed or Azalea, Camellia and Rhododendron Feed have been formulated to help ensure the health of these individual blooms.

Some things to consider include:

  • Pelleted or granular fertilisers are best for preparation when planting out.
  • Liquid fertilisers are best for sandy soil that doesn’t retain nutrients well.

Eliminate Pests As Soon As Possible

The health of your plants depends on the environment they are given to thrive. If pests, including aphids, slugs and caterpillars aren’t removed, they can cause serious damage. Some animals, especially in large numbers, can eat leaves and flower buds which can impact new growth and inhibit our plant’s health. While some pests are important to the ecosystem and help our gardens to thrive, others can have a detrimental impact on the health of your outdoor space.

Thankfully, there are several solutions available on the market today to help. For example, if you’re dealing with excess slugs, you should look to create an environment that encourages birds that eat them. Try to attract them to a shaded space using dried cat food or bread so it is easier to collect and remove them from your garden - or use a Snail Trap. Using Slug Corner Copper Tape sets off a slight electrical charge that deters pests while remaining harmless to the environment. And then, you may wish to consider a Slug Killer that will leave no excess slime and can be used around edible crops too.

The Important Of Pruning

Pruning is the act of removing certain branches, buds or roots of a plant for its benefit. It involves targeted removal that takes off diseased, damaged, dead or non-productive plant material that can inhibit growth. Pruning can:

  • Prevent the spread of and support the treatment of common diseases.
  • Encourage fruit production on certain plants.
  • Reduce the risk of injury with larger plants.
  • Restricts the size of certain plants.
  • Prevents plants from outgrowing their allocated spaces.
  • Promoted future flowering.

To get started with garden pruning, you’ll want to get a pair of high-quality secateurs, some hard-wearing gardening gloves and a floor kneeler protector pad. How you prune will depend on the plant and the growth you’re tackling but here are a few of our tips:

  • Make pruning cuts at a 45° angle, slanting away from the bud to minimise the risk of rotting tissue.
  • Prune to the most outward-facing bud.
  • Prune away weak growth, allowing the plant to redirect energy correctly.
  • Remove shoots or branches that cross over with each other - or ones that rub up against each other.

Remove Diseased Plants Quickly

The removal of infected or diseased plants is basic garden hygiene. The material from these plants can easily spread throughout your space, increasing the problem and causing more of your plants to fall foul of these issues. Many plant diseases live in the leaves, twigs and other debris which will then break down into the soil and spread diseased spores.

Plant disease can be spotted easily - you may notice:

  • Crinkled leaves
  • Yellowing leaves
  • Lack of growth
  • White powdery blotches
  • Soft and mushy stems

If you notice that a plant has become diseased, it needs to be removed as quickly as possible. Place the plant into a plastic bag and pop it in the bin to be removed.

Here at Sealant & Tools Direct, we have a wide range of Garden solutions to help you - no matter how big or small your outdoor space is. If you cannot find the product you’re looking for or would like more advice, please do get in contact here today.