Mulching And Fertilizing Tips For A Healthy Flower Garden

Savvy gardeners know that flower gardens are beautiful to behold and therefore they will work hard to plant them and also maintain them. Usually it is understood that they will use a well drained soil to ensure that root rot will not set in. They will carefully prune their plants to permit proper air circulation to flow through the flower bed, and by furthermore preventing over planting, the occurrence of powdery mildew is greatly decreased. Yet there are two more components to maintaining a flower garden that will take it from being a nice garden to becoming a wonderful one: mulching and fertilizing. Tips for a healthy flower garden abound, yet if you forget to fertilize and mulch, there is precious little the other measures will net you.

Mulching

There are different kinds of mulches available – commercially manufactured compounds are made from plastic and are oftentimes used in vegetable gardens, while the organically grown wood mulch is a favorite in flower beds. The reasons for using mulch abound, but the top three are easy to understand:

retain moisture around the plants so they do not dry out in hot temperatures

retain heat during the cooler spring nights to help vegetables grow

prevent weeds from germinating and growing up around flowers

The application of mulch is fairly easy: spread two to five inches tall around plants but not directly next to their stems. Spread it out evenly and do not fill in soil unevenness with the mulch, since such pockets of deeper mulch accumulation oftentimes become nesting grounds for field mice and rats. Choose the size of your mulch carefully: overly big pieces will dwarf your flower beds and if they are already on the small side, the big mulch pieces will do little to add to the aesthetic aspects of the yard.

Fertilizing

Everyone will agree that fertilizing is an important part of gardening, yet do you know how to properly fertilize your flowerbed? Fertilizer is nothing more or less than plant food. There are of course different kinds of fertilizers, such as organic compounds like worm castings, peat and compost, or those man-made substances that are a combination of a variety of chemicals.  Use of either kind comes down to the individual gardener’s preference. No matter what kind of fertilizer you use, essentially the goal is to provide the three important plant nutrients that your flowers will need:

Micronutrients, such as iron and zinc

Primary macronutrients, specifically phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium

Secondary macronutrients, which are magnesium, sulfur, and calcium

The one major difference between one kind of fertilizer and the next rests in the percentage that these substances are contained therein. Obviously you will need to know exactly what kind of fertilizer to use in your flowerbed. While a little of a good thing is recommended, too much will be hazardous for your plants. Do a soil test with one of the many available soil testing kits that are available at the garden stores. This will tell you if your soil’s pH is either too high or low, and will tip you off which kind of nutrients may be missing. Take a look at the package your fertilizer comes in. Chemically formulated compounds are often designed with the needs of certain flowers in mind, such as roses and African violets. Others are made specifically for indoor plants or flowering trees. Do not simply rummage through your garage and use whatever left over fertilizer you come across for your flower bed. You may do more damage this way than if you had left the plants alone!  After all, you would not simply rummage through the pantry in your search of infant formula and then serve your baby a concoction of what you believe it should eat!  The same is true for your flowers – their needs are precise and need to be met as closely as possible to ensure healthy growth, beautiful blooms, and heady scents.