5. Begin the Love Early

Getting your garden spot cleared, tilled, and mulched well before any plants will be arriving allows your garden to have a great head start. It’s sort of like creating a bed filled with love for your precious plants to thrive in.

4. Watch for Pests

Insects aren’t the only types of pests that can damage a garden. Squirrels, crows, cats, dogs, rabbits, and deer are a few other examples of garden pests. Deer love to eat tulip bulbs, cats and dogs dig up roots, rabbits love the veggies, and squirrels make messes burying nuts. Keeping these pests out of your garden will also help you maintain some sanity!

3. Keep the Weeds down

I know it’s often hard to find time to pull weeds, but keeping these pesky plants out of your garden helps your plants get their share of water and nutrients. Weeds not only take up the food and water your plants should be getting, but some also inhibit growth by crowding roots.

2. Deadhead Your Flowers

Pulling the dead blooms off usually encourages flowering plants to bloom more. My geraniums are just one example of plant that will keep flowering all summer, as long as I remember to pick off the dead blossoms.

1. Fertilizer Works Wonders

Even if you think your garden has the most fantastic soil around, it never hurts to add a little bit of fertilizer. My plants seem to respond best to fish emulsion. It’s a cheap fertilizer, but it smells horrific. Well, at least to me it does!

These tips will help you to show your garden just how much it is truly appreciated. I’m sure your garden will also let you know it’s thankful for your care, in its own special way. What special things do you do for your plants to make them as healthy as possible? Are there any gardening tricks you’ve found to be more useful than others?

Top Photo Credit: sminky_pinky100 (In and Out)