If you have a garden, then knowing how to take care of it is essential, even if you usually hire a professional to do it. Garden maintenance can be a bit complicated because if done incorrectly, it could make your garden look unattractive, which, in turn, will affect the overall appearance of your house. When done right, however, the results can be very satisfying. Usually, the most difficult part of maintaining a healthy and attractive garden is pruning and trimming, because you have to know when and how to prune different plants, trees, and hedges. However, some tools and techniques could help ease the process and ensure your garden is groomed and attractive.
Here are some garden grooming tips from the pros that will make garden maintenance a lot easier.
Buy the Right Tools
Before you learn about essential garden grooming tips, you should first know what tools to use. Along with your regular gardening tools, you should get a string trimmer. Using a high-quality trimmer will allow you to trim your garden easily without any hassle. Choosing the right string trimmer line is also essential. Many people underestimate how important it is, so they don’t pay attention to the quality of their purchase, which could affect the whole grooming process. Based on the reviews in this article, the trimmer’s line length, material, and durability determine how efficient it is. Consider all types of string trimmers’ lines, read reviews about the type you want to buy, and know the pros and cons before making a purchase.
Know When to Trim Your Plants
- For Flowering Shrubs, such as early-spring flowering shrubs, it’s best to prune them right after the flowers die. That way, the next spring, you’ll have beautiful, healthy flowers.
- For flowering plants, trim them in winter or early spring.
- Non-flowering plants can be trimmed when their growth is completely formed.
- If you have grape or maple trees, you can trim them during spring, summer, or early fall, but never in winter, to ensure healthy growth.
Throughout the year, you can do light trimming with a string trimmer or manual trimmer to have a good-looking garden all the time.
How to Properly Prune
- Start by removing any growth you don’t want, and remove the thick outer cover so the inner branches can have access to air and sunlight. While pruning plants like roses or doing light trimming, ensure that you don’t cut more than 1/3 of the shrub during the year.
- If you have obvious gaps within your hedges or shrubs, it means there are outer branches preventing sunlight from reaching the inner branches.
- Find the spots of new growth in plants and cut right after them or at the plant base to enhance new growth.
- Search for dead limbs near the base or along the branches and remove them.
- While trimming shrubs, don’t make the top wider than the bottom. When the top is wider the base, as it will not have enough sunlight or air and can die.
Remove Weeds
Weeds use the resources you provide your plants, which means your plants will not grow as much as you expect. Weeds also are a good place for pests and many diseases, which could affect you and your garden. Remove weeds from your garden. If you’re using vases or pots, you can remove them with your hands. However, if you plant in a large garden, you will need specific tools for removing weeds without harming your plants, such as a weed puller, planters, and a weed fork.
Clean Your Tools
Tools are the perfect place for germs and bacteria to form. It’s important to properly clean them so you don’t get infected or harm your plants. Many cleaning products are specified for cleaning, gardening tools. Gardening tools should be cleaned with special products that include chlorine bleach or isopropyl alcohol to kill all germs, bacteria, and diseases. Cleaning your gardening tools regularly will make them last longer and prevent rust from forming. A clean blade is a sharp blade, which means that you will be able to groom your garden with more ease if you keep your tools clean.
Grooming your garden can be a bit overwhelming; but when you do it properly, your garden will look spectacular and you’ll be able to enjoy an attractive view. You have to know how to trim your plants and trees and purchase the right tools for the process to go smoothly. Choosing the right tools for your type of plants will help you trim correctly and remove the dead branches without harming the plant itself.
This will ensure that the plant can grow fully. If you’re not able to do this by yourself, consult gardening professionals. They can tell you when and how to prune your plants and walk you through all the necessary steps of taking care of your garden.
