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Knowing how to care for your flower garden can make a big
difference in the look and over-all health of your plants. Here
are some simple hints to make your garden bloom with health.
1. The essentials must always be given major consideration.
Your flower garden must have an adequate supply of water,
sunlight, and fertile soil. Any lack of these basic necessities
will greatly affect the health of plants. Water the flower
garden more frequently during dry spells.
When planting bulbs, make sure they go at the correct depth.
When planting out shrubs and perennials, make sure that you
don't heap soil or mulch up around the stem. If you do, water
will drain off instead of sinking in, and the stem could develop
rot through overheating.
2. Mix and match perennials with annuals.
Perennial flower bulbs need not to be replanted since they grow
and bloom for several years while annuals grow and bloom for
only one season. Mixing a few perennials with annuals ensures
that you will always have blooms coming on.
3. Deadhead to encourage more blossoms.
Deadheading is simply snipping off the flower head after it
wilts. This will make the plant produce more flowers. Just make
sure that you don't discard the deadhead on the garden or mildew
and other plant disease will attack your plants.
4. Know the good from the bad bugs.
Most garden insects do more good than harm. Butterflies, beetles
and bees are known pollinators. They fertilize plants through
unintentional transfer of pollen from one plant to another. 80%
of flowering plants rely on insects for survival.
Sowbugs and dung beetles together with fungi, bacteria and other
microorganisms are necessary to help in the decomposition of
dead plant material, thus enriching the soil and making more
nutrients available to growing plants.
Other insects like lacewings and dragonflies are natural
predators of those insects that do the real damage, like aphis.
An occasional application of liquid fertilizer when plants are
flowering will keep them blooming for longer.
Always prune any dead or damaged branches. Fuchsias are
particularly prone to snapping when you brush against them. The
broken branch can be potted up to give you a new plant, so it
won't be wasted.
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