Liz Strauss

Grow healthy and delicious food at home, right outside your door. You can make things like salads with freshly picked tomatoes right from your garden, or if you are advanced enough you can even make salads that are completely from your own garden. This article is packed with a variety of simple and effective gardening tips that anyone can use.
Properly lay your sod. Before laying sod, you have to make sure the soil is accurately prepared. Remove any weeds, and break the soil up into a fine tilth. Compact the soil lightly and firmly, and be sure to create a flat surface. The soil should be adequately moistened. Sod should be staggered in rows, the joints offsetting from each other. Firm the sod down to form a flat, even surface, and fill in any gaps between the sod with a little soil. Water your sod daily for a fortnight, which is enough time for it to root and be able to withstand foot traffic.
Learn about plant varieties so you can choose the ones with the best yields. If yield is important, choose hybrids designed to resist cold and diseases rather than traditional varieties.
Use the handles of your tools as a handy ruler when doing your outdoor chores. Tools that can be used for more than one task are quite handy to own. Lay the handles upon the floor and use a tape measure along side of them. It's a good idea to label distances with a permanent marker. This will allow you to have a ruler at your fingertips when you are working out in the garden.
Plant slug-proof perennials. Snails and slugs are garden nightmares, and only need a single evening to obliterate a plant. Snails and slugs have a good time destroying perennials that are young and have tender and smooth thin leaves. Some varieties of perennials are not preferred by snails and slugs, particularly perennials that have hairy, tough leaves or a taste that isn't appetizing. Some perennial families that snails and slugs won't eat include achillea, campanula, and helleborus.
Cover the fences and walls with climbers. You can hide an unsightly wall or fence, in as little as one growing season, with the right selection of climbing plant. They can also grow through existing shrubs or trees, or be trained to cover an arbor. Some must be tied to supports, but some climbers use twining stems or tendrils and attach themselves to those surfaces. A few good choices are climbing roses, wisteria, jasmine, honeysuckle and clematis.
Make sure to pre-soak seeds, preferably in a dark location. Place a couple seeds in each container, then fill it close to full with water. The idea here is for your seeds to become fully hydrated by the time they hit the dirt. This improves the chances of successful plant development.
As this article noted earlier, gardening is an enjoyable and productive means of garnering fresh food in the privacy of your own backyard. You will enjoy the proud feeling you will have the first time you are able to use the plants that you have grown in preparing a meal. Gardening should be a fun, relaxing and enjoyable hobby that you can share with others.