5 Mistakes that Can Harm Your Plants

Before someone begins their hobby of gardening, it is always best to read as much as possible before getting started. New gardeners make simple mistakes that can seriously harm their plants. Below is a list of common mistakes that are made by gardeners.

Leaves As Mulch

Using leaves to make mulch for plants and trees are a great idea because first there is the recycling factor and second, it saves money when a gardener does not have to go and purchase more mulch. The problem with using leaves to make mulch is that some gardeners will simply rake up the leaves and apply them to the base of the plants and trees. That should never be done. To use leaves, they first have to be shredded before they should be applied. Leaves that are whole will simply compact the longer they sit there and eventually harm the trees or plants when they block out air, sun and water to the plants roots.

Watering at Night

When watering a plant, a gardener should apply the water to the base and roots of plants and trees. Watering should rarely be done overhead where the water will get on the leaves. Watering plants should also be done early in the morning after 5 or 6am. To water a plant over night or after the sun has gone down, especially with sprinklers encourages bugs and plant diseases.

Not checking the PH Balance

Jumping into the planting without checking the soil ph balance could be mean death to gardener's plants. All plants and trees require different types of soil such as clay, sand, dirt and they also like different amounts of feeding. Some plants like a higher acidic soil than others so finding the right balance for different types of plants is a must. There are a lot of products on the market that will give the balance or it is simple to bag up some soil and take it to a plant nursery to get tested.

Buying and Using Plant Food

A gardener should do some research on the types of plants that are required or wanted before buying and planting them. While some plants can be fed with the same time of plant food, plants and flowers such as roses and cacti require different types of plant food to keep them going. Using the wrong plant food can leave plants under nourished, over nourished or it could simply kill them.

Bugs and Chemicals

After that garden is planted and perfect, it is tempting to run out and buy bug killers when a gardener spies different pests attacking their plants. However, some bugs can simply be picked off and disposed of. There are also natural repellents that can be found in some nurseries and there are also lots of other organic ways to rid the garden of pests. Using bug killing chemicals is bad because the chemicals will kill the bad bugs but it will also kill the good bugs that are needed in the garden.