IMPORTANCE OF GARDENING

1. Its a good way to get safe food

2. It saves you and your family money

3. It can highlight your life giving you some fun and exercise trying to grow
any kind of vegetable or flowers. It is a great lifetime project and hobby.
You can enjoy your ownhome grown garden to feed yourself and your
family. It doesn't necessarily save you money on using water and that
is one of the draw backs. But the healthy part of it outweighs the cost. It
keeps you busy and happy and that is the main concern for many of us
to share our garden profits with neighbors and friends as well as
provide this type of enjoyment plus putting food onto our own table.

4. Grow your own food. Save the planet. Be healthy. It’s a win-win-win
solution.

5. Gardening is also important in eradicating global warming. It provides a

simple solution.

6. After scratching ones brain for too many hours what one needs is
peace and comfort. That can be gained where there is solace. And
best place one can get peace and relaxation is in nature. In the lap of
nature one can spend time in full happiness. Planting a garden or
planting trees at home is needed. But in this new era houses are not so
big that one can have a garden at home. In this instance, the best
option is a terrace garden. A beautiful terrace garden with flowers at
the top and a sitting place is a relaxing and enjoyable way to rebuild
one's mind.

7. Like landscapes in miniature, gardens are set- aside areas of land

where plants are grown to provide beauty and relaxation. Gardens
have a practical purpose too. From ancient times, they have helped
people nurture plants for food and medicine. They reduce noise and air
pollution in cities, and create a refreshing environment in hot climate.
Glorious landscaped gardens can enhance the finest modern buildings,
and botanic gardens are places of scientific study. Gardens have an
ancient history too. They were planted in China, Egypt, Persia and
Greece. Gardens in China and Japan often have a religious
significance, where nature itself is honored.
 8. AESTHETIC BEAUTY- Gardening has the potential for continuous
change. It raises our oxytocin levels to no end to see these exotic
flowers blooming here in our garden.

MAINTENANCE OF A GARDEN
Gardening is one of the most intimate tasks between a gardener and his
garden. What the garden requires is an immense amount of attention and
care.

Soil- It is the most important aspect that needs preparation before the actual
plantation starts. Soil is the garden; it should be loose and contain organic
matter. The organic matter releases nitrogen, and other nutrients for healthy
plant growth.
Compost and fertilizers are the prime requirement of every healthy and
beautiful garden. This makes the soil a viable ground for the plants and then
tress to flourish luxuriantly. Moreover, manure also plays an essential part to
make the soil fertile and rich in fundamental nutrients. Sheep manure is the
best available manure in the market. This is the best quality manure that can
be used for the plants to grow at an increased rate. There are exclusive
gardening shops to help one to learn and understand more about gardening
products. Gardening Direct is one such source that specializes in gardening
supplies.

The location of your garden, how you till your soil, and many other factors can
have a dramatic impact on your soil. These tips should help you tend to your
soil the right way.
 Don't walk on wet soils, especially clay soils. The footprints you leave
are evidence of compression -- packing the soil particles tightly and squeezing
out vital oxygen. This is not a desirable quality in a garden. Put walkways or
stepping-stones in the garden for easy access and to keep your shoes clean
and dry. When planting, cover the soil with a board to kneel or stand on.
 Till or spade a thick layer of compost into lightly moist (never wet) soil
to bring it to life before planting a new garden. The going may be rough at first
if you are starting with hard, compacted soil. Use a rot tiller and tough it out.
Go over the area, removing weed roots and other underground vegetation as
you go. Then go over it again crosswise, until you break up the soil into
reasonably small pieces.
 Your well-tilled soil, like screened topsoil, may look great at first, but silt
or clay soils are likely to get stiff, crusty, and hard after a few heavy
downpours. The best way to keep soil loose and light is to add organic matter.
 Add a 4- to 6-inch-deep layer of compost to the soil and work it down
until it's 10 to 12 inches deep. The soil will become darker, moister, and
spongier -- a dramatic conversion right before your eyes. As long as the
organic matter remains in the soil, the soil is likely to stay loose. But since it
slowly decays, you will have to continue to add organic matter
-- compost, mulch, or shredded leaves -- in order to maintain the desired
texture.
 Try spading or no-till systems to preserve the texture and organic
content of thriving garden soils. Once the soil is loose, light, and rich, minimal
disturbance will help preserve the levels of organic matter. Avoid repeated
tilling, which breaks healthy soil clumps and speeds up decay.
 Instead of tilling, loosen rich soil before planting by turning the surface
shallowly with a shovel and breaking it apart with a smack from the shovel
backside. Very loose soil can be made ready to plant by combing it with a hoe
or cultivator.
 Double-dig garden beds to make high-performance gardens for deep-
rooted plants like roses, a tradition in many beautiful English gardens. The
average rototiller works the soil only 8 or 10 inches deep and won't break up
compacted soil below. But double-digging will.

 Double-digging requires of a bit of what the British call a stiff upper lip,
because it takes a lot of manual labor. Do a little at a time so you don't overdo
it, or hire a professional landscaper if you have health restrictions.Start with
vacant soil that is stripped of grass or other vegetation. Beginning at one end
of the garden, remove a strip of soil a spade's length deep and a spade's
width wide. Put it in a wheelbarrow. Use your shovel to turn the soil below it
(likely to be one of the heaviest parts of the job) and break it up.Another
(sometimes easier) option is to jab a garden fork (like a big pitchfork) into the
hard lower soil and rock it around until the soil breaks up. If organic matter is
needed, you should add it to the lower level at this point.Do the same thing to
the second strip of soil next to the first row. But turn the surface topsoil into
the first trench, adding organic matter as desired. Then loosen and amend the
exposed subsurface soil. Continue filling each trench from the adjacent row
and loosening the soil below. Fill the final strip with the soil from the
wheelbarrow.

 Build raised beds where the soil is too hard, rocky, poor, or wet for
plants to grow well. Instead of struggling to change these bad conditions,
construct a great garden bed over them. In vegetable gardens, simply mound
up planting rows 6 to 8 inches high and 2 to 3 feet wide. (You can walk in the
paths beside the planting rows without compressing the raised soil.)
Permanent and decorative gardens can be set in handsome raised bed
frames built of timbers, logs, rocks, or bricks and varying from 4 inches to 4
feet high. Don't hesitate to ask for professional help for big building projects,
which need strong structures in order to last.

WATERING- Once your garden has been planted, nothing is more important
to its ability to thrive than water. When provided too little water, plants are
unable to develop properly and become more susceptible to damage from
pests. Too much water can of course be equally bad. In soil that is kept too
moist plants become prone to rots and other diseases.
Proper watering would probably save 75% of the plants that are lost in
gardens each year. Even those plants that succumb to pests were usually first
weakened by inconsistent watering. In most cases, the gardener needs to
supplement natural rain water. The best way to tell when a garden needs
watering is to look at it. If the soil is dry to a depth of a half an inch or so, it's
time to water. How often you need to water varies greatly with the
temperature. Other factors influencing the frequency of watering are the
nature of the soil, the amount of sunlight, how well the garden is mulched and
whether the plants are in flower.
Irrigation systems can be great time savers for those with large gardens or
little time. The best use drip hoses to supply water directly to the base of the
plants. This minimizes the loss of water to evaporation that makes sprinkler
systems so inefficient, particularly in hot, dry climates.
Keep an eye on your garden's moisture and you'll save yourself much trouble
and expense.

SUNLIGHT- It is the next additive. Your garden should receive at least eight
full hours of sunlight a day. A south-facing slope is a good location, in an area
where the wind conditions are not extreme.

PLANTING OF SEEDS- Apart from taking care of soil, one needs to give
attention to the planting of seeds. This means that the actual process of the
planting of seeds plays a vital role in the process of gardening. Once the soil
gets prepared for plantation, next in line is the part to be played by seeds. The
actual method of laying these seeds is written on the seed packet. These
instructions must be rigorously followed. If one wants extra advice then the
online source such as Gardening Direct can always give special advises such
as the correct procedure of going about the actual process. Apart from the
purchase of seeds, another option available to the gardeners is to purchase
young plants or shoots that can be planted for further growth. These young
shoots are readily available from the market.

PLANTS should be suitable for your climate, and ones that you are familiar
with.

USE OF PESTICIDES- Now if we move our attention to the aspect of care and
precision that the garden and the process of gardening requires then it is the
use of pesticides that can kill and remove the pests attacking the plants
destroying them in a large number. These pests can be destroyed manually or
with the help of chemicals available in the gardening supplies stores.
Gardening Direct takes care of all these necessitate that one might need in
order to develop a garden.
A garden left to grown without giving any attention to the pests that bear the
capacity of destroying the entire group of vegetables and plants, will be a
deed of extreme foolishness on the part of the gardener. 
Therefore, gardening is an act that demands extreme attention in order to
save it from the hands of destruction and make it bear the fruits of effort
supplied by the gardener. It is for the individuals to take care of these details
in order to turn the garden for the advantages that it is meant for. Therefore,
gardening is a wholesome experience that demands special care and
attention.

KEEP IT FREE FROM WEEDS- The simplest way to spruce up your garden
is to keep it free from weeds. Weeds not only spoil the look of the garden but
also attract various insects and plant diseases. These diseases and pests
 spread from the weeds to the other plants. This apart, weeds snatch away
nutrients and water from garden plants.
You should free your garden of weeds even before you begin planting any
kind of garden plant. Once you've planted your garden, you should clean it
every week for young weeds that sprout out every now and then. As long as
you don't allow the young weeds to mature and develop stronger roots, you
will be in a position of control.

KEEP IT CLEAN- The next step to a clean garden is to periodically remove

any debris or rubbish that may blow into your garden. Keep a look out for any
over-ripe fruits and remove them immediately as they attract pests and
rodents. Take a walk through your garden everyday and assess the health of
the plants. If you find any damage caused by animals or insects try to get a fix
on the cause and try to prevent further damage. As you are walking, carry a
pair of shears to remove any wilted flowers.

KEEPING A NOTEBOOK- Many people like keeping a notebook where they

jot down the names of plants in their garden and draw a map showing the
location of each. This notebook could be useful if you are selling your property
and would like the new owner to know the kind of plants that present in the
garden. You could have other uses for the notebook as well. You could create
reminders about when each plant will be likely to blossom.
You can also make a list of those plants that bloomed well and those that did
not. This way you can avoid planting those that did not show any results.
If you have a vegetable garden, draw a sketch so that you can mark out the
locations of crops. This will help you in rotating your crops in the current year.
For instance, corn and tomatoes should never be planted in the same place
for two consecutive years. This is why a map of your vegetable garden is very
essential.
When you reach the end of the growing season, you should clean up your
garden by discarding diseased plants and pulling up woody stalks, vegetable
plants and annuals that have already bloomed to add them to the compost
pile.

Tips for Convenient Gardening

1. Don't walk on wet or freshly tilled ground, this compacts the particles
and squeezes the oxygen out.

2. Till or spade fresh organic matter into the soil annually, remove all
weeds and unwanted vegetation before planting each spring. Rototill the soil
both directions until it is loose. Organic matter is the best way to keep soil
loose.

3. Compost or organic matter should apply four to six inches thick and

worked into the ground until it is 10 to12 inches deep.

4. Maintaining the desired texture requires the continual addition of

organic matter.
5. Avoid repeated tilling when the desired texture is reached, this breaks
down the healthy soil clumps and speeds decay of the organic matter.

6. If your soil is rocky, hard or to wet for normal growth of the plants, the
construction of raised beds is an option. Mound the dirt to six to eight inches
high and two to three feet wide, to create a platform of loose soil for the
plants. A frame can also be constructed of rocks, logs, bricks, or timbers, and
the dirt and organic matter added to it.Your soil is the heart and soul of your
garden; don't take it for granted. It needs your help to be as productive as
possible. If you take care of it, it will perform to your expectations.

7 . Plant it close: One of the core principles of permaculture is zoning,

namely placing elements according to the amount of attention they need.
Because a garden thrives best with a little attention daily, it makes sense to
plant it as close to your kitchen door as possible. That way you can pop out to
harvest a few leaves, weed a bed, or water a particularly thirsty plant. If you
don't have space for a full garden close to the house, place the fussiest plants
there.

8. Keep it tidy: This one is a little hard for me to recommend - I'm not

known for tidiness. But keeping your tool storage and your garden tidy will
help make it easy and convenient to access. As soon as you have to start
rooting around for the shears, or stepping over discarded pots to get to a
plant, you're on a downhill slope to a neglected garden.

9. Keep Hand Tools Close: Sure, it makes sense to keep your shovel,

hoe and fork in the garden shed - those are only usually used for major
gardening sessions anyway - but why not keep handtools like a trowel, some
shears etc either by the backdoor, or even in a storage box in the garden?
Add some gloves, a small watering can, and some twine for staking - and it
becomes easy to throw in 5 minutes of gardening time here, or ten minutes
there.

10. Invest in Infrastructure: I mentioned this when I talked about taking it

easy on yourself - but sometimes it's worth splashing out on infrastructure that
will make your job easier. A faucet next to your garden, properly cleared and
maintained paths, and well-built raised beds will all make gardening that much
more pleasant - and they'll save you time in the long run.

If you doubt the importance of your own garden as a potential haven for wild
flowers, insect life, small animal and bird life, think about the massed green
patchwork that's visible from the air, even in built-up areas. 

Gardens of every kind tuck themselves round buildings and become vital
conservation sites. Now that one in every eight plants in the world is
threatened with extinction and many insects, birds and animals are short of
habitat, we have to change the way we garden and view our own gardens as
important mini-nature reserves, not neat garden rooms.

The most helpful things you can do as a gardener are, abandon the
insecticides and the slug pellets, compost your own garden waste, leave leaf
litter undisturbed and have some areas of long grass.

Just these four things will encourage wildlife and allow some native plants to
gain a foothold on your plot. In return, you'll be dazzled by the movement of
the bees, butterflies and insect life - and the insects will attract the birds and
feed their fledglings.