Just when you thought gardening is as easy as plowing, planting the seeds and waiting for days until they grow with crops…you haven’t seen anything yet.
You should know that, starting a garden is not as simple as it may seem. There are, of course, some things that an aspiring gardener should take into careful consideration. Embarking on to this task means tough work not only on the physical aspect, but on the mental aspect as well. You need to have the right amount of skills and knowledge; otherwise, you will only be opening your garden to hungry pests and filthy plant diseases.
Beginning a garden requires four important phases that you have to carefully outline. But of course, before anything else, you need to ascertain what kind of garden you want to have; whether you want to have a flower garden, a vegetable garden or what not. After deciding, you need to follow these steps:
- OBSERVATION
This is one of the most important stages in gardening that most beginners fail to grasp. Once you decide to start a garden, the first step that you need to do is to observe the location in which you want to plant your seeds. This goes without saying that you need to consider the temperature, water flow, soil and sunlight.
Observe whether the temperature in the garden is just enough to sustain the life of your plants. However, you should also note that the temperature changes according to seasons, and therefore, you need to measure the average temperature of the area.
You also need to measure the sunlight and the water flow that covers the area of your garden. Know whether there is enough hydration and visible light in the location. Consider the trees and buildings surrounding the area and how much sunlight they filter. The frequency of rainfall must be considered and know whether or not it causes floods. You don’t want your garden to be overflowing like a pond in the course of a heavy rain, right?
Soil quality is also important for you to know what types of seeds are compatible with it.
- INVESTIGATION
After you have written down all your observations, it’s now time for you to analyze every single detail that you have recorded. You have to know the meaning in every observation and sort out some ways on how you can use these remarks in coming up with a bountiful garden.
If you have recorded some problems with regards to the location of your garden, you need to come up with smart solutions that can help you push through with your vision of a beautiful garden.
For instance, if you noted that the area regularly floods, you need to find ways on how you can channel the waters to prevent it from pooling around your plants and eventually down them. Or if the areas have parasites, you need to have a buffer that would repel them and keep them from pestering your plants.
However, this does not mean that you have to close your solutions and provide necessary actions right away. Your solutions must be kept open and let your ideas come in as you start drafting your gardening plan.
- PLANNING
Now you have analyzed your observations, the next step is to plan the things that you want to do with regards to building your garden. With the help of your observations and analysis, plan out your garden in the smartest and the most creative way as possible. Remember the problems and the solutions that you have come up with and weigh down your options on how you can stop the problem that would arise sooner or later.
Planning also includes choosing the right seeds to plant in your garden. As what was stated earlier, you need to consider the quality of the soil and the amount of sunlight in order for you to plant the right kinds of seeds that would grow well in the area of your garden. This also means picking out the right fertilizers and insecticides that you will need in growing your plants.
In this stage, you need to squeeze out all your ideas in order for you to come up with the best plan that would perfectly work for your own benefit.
- PROCESSING
Finally, this is the stage where you will actually apply all the solutions and tactics that you have come up with. After all the careful observation, analysis and planning, carrying them out will come in handy. It’s just like a science investigation project, once you’re done with the theory; it’s time that you put them into practice.
However, since you are just a beginner, you might want to ask expert advices from professional gardeners who have been gardening for quite some time already. This is important because you’ll never know what will happen next. It could happen that while you’re in the process of carrying out your plans, you might discover some things that you haven’t sorted out earlier. Professional gardeners can help you in providing solutions as well as giving you some suggestions that can help you have the garden that you have been dreaming of.
In conclusion, gardening is indeed a dynamic task. In fact, no one has ever mastered the art of gardening yet, even professionals. Why? Because you can never tell what the future brings. There goes the issue on global warming and climate changes, which undeniably, can have a negative impact in maintaining a fruitful garden. However, if you put your heart in it, and that you are willing to embrace this craft with an optimistic perspective, you will soon be able to reap the fruits of your labor.
It may sound like an extremely tough job right? Not only that you need to use up all your physical energy, but as well as your mental ability to think and analyze things. It can be a draining task, but at the end of the day, your clouds will soon have its silver lining. All it takes is hard-work, will power and a spoonful of determination and just hope for the best. Besides, hope springs eternal, doesn’t it?
Well, good luck and have a bountiful garden all year round!
