Useful Plant Tips

When you have chosen the most suitable plants for your garden, make sure they get off to a good start by planting them correctly in the soil. This discourages diseases and pests, and ensures the best possible harvest.

Figuring plant spacing
A common mistake when planting is to underestimate the size that a plant or shrub will be when it is full grown. Planting too close together means crowded roots, increased potential for disease, and a lot of extra work created by the necessity to move plants. A good general rule is to space a plant one-half the distance of its mature size from neighbouring plants-for example, if a plant will be 60cm (2ft) wide, plant it 30cm (12in) away from other plants. If you are uncertain about a plant's mature size, consult a gardening book or ask an expert at a nursery or garden centre.

Beneficial planting
Plant closely enough so that, at their mature size, plants will touch and slightly overlap their leaves. This will create a beneficial environment for most plants, conserving moisture and helping to shade out weeds.

Rotate crops
Crop rotation plays an important role in preventing pests and diseases from overtaking your garden. By not planting the same crop repeatedly in the same spot in your garden, you keep the particular pests and diseases that attack specific plants from gaining a stronghold. Ideally, avoid planting the same crop in a garden bed more than once every three years.

Avoid compacting soil
When you are planting, stand on a board at least 30cm (12in) wide so that you are distributing your weight over a larger area.This will help you to avoid compacting the soil.

Align rows north-south
Lay out your vegetable garden rows running north to south so that both sides of the row will receive an equal amount of sunlight during the day.

How to plant straight rows
If you want to grow vegetables in straight rows, lay a narrow board on top of the soil and either plant along the edge of the board or make a furrow the length of the board and plant the seeds in the furrow. Another simple way of ensuring straight rows is to place stakes at the ends of where you want the rows to be; tie a string between the stakes and plant beneath the string.

Preparing seeds for planting
Seeds often carry disease-causing pathogens and should be treated before they are planted or stored. To lessen the possibility of disease, use this sterilizing bath.
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
1.25 litres (2 pints) water
Combine the vinegar and water in a bowl. Place the seeds into the centre of a piece of clean muslin, gather the ends together and secure with a rubber band. Dip the bag of seeds into the vinegar solution a few times. Remove the seeds from the bag and place them on several thicknesses of paper towels to dry. Make sure the seeds are thoroughly dry before storing.

Egg shell planting pots
To make simple individual planting pots for seedlings, cut the top off of an egg carton. After you've eaten the eggs, save the shell halves, and poke a small drainage hole in the bottom of each. Place the egg shell into the egg carton, fill with planting soil mix, and plant the seeds. When the seedlings reach transplant size, plant them in your garden in the egg shell, crushing the shell as you do so.
Freeing rootbound plants
Transplants destined for the flower or vegetable garden often become rootbound in small pots.To help the roots spread out and to keep them from continuing to grow in a tight mass, use a dinner fork to pull the roots apart If roots are really tightly bound, make a light cut with a utility knife vertically down each of the four sides of the root mass.
Water thoroughly before planting out
The best way to ensure that the plant will be adequately watered when transplanted is to soak the plant thoroughly while it is in the container. In addition, after digging a hole for the plant, fill the hole with water and let it drain before putting in the new plant After placing the plant and filling in the hole with soil, water again thoroughly.
Individual greenhouses from plastic bottles
A plastic bottle makes an excellent greenhouse for protecting young vegetable plants from a late frost Cut off the bottom of a bottle, about 2 litres (3.75 pints) in size, and place it over the plant, pushing it 5cm (2in) down into the soil. Leave the top off the bottle to prevent temperatures from getting too hot during the day.
Guard plants from frost damage
An unseasonably cold spring or autumn night can wreak havoc with tender plants.To protect your garden from frost damage, cover plants with a couple of layers of newspaper held down by rocks when the weather forecast predicts some freezing temperatures. This simple solution raises the temperature around the plant by at least 4?C (10?F).

Keep container plants from freezing
Protect your container plants and their pots from unexpected freezing temperatures. Wrap each pot in several layers of newspaper, followed by a layer of sacking on top.Tie the layers in place with string.To protect the plant, cover it with a brown paper grocery bag.
Prevent scorching
Avoid watering your plants during the heat of the day to prevent the leaves and flowers from being scorched by the sun's rays.

Blanching cauliflower
If you want to grow pure white heads of cauliflower, most varieties must be blanched while they are growing. Without blanching, the heads turn an unappetizing yellowish brown.
Choose a sunny day when the plant is completely dry and the cauliflower head is about the size of a golf ball. Tie the leaves of the plant up over the head and secure with a rubber band. Water only the roots of the plant, and unwrap the cauliflower every few days to check for pests.
Grow straight carrots
Carrots need loose. rock-free soil to grow properly Prepare a garden bed by thoroughly digging and loosening the soil to at least 30cm (I 2in) deep, and make sure you remove all the rocks and roots. and break up the clumps of soil.This will allow the carrots to grow straight down. Spread 5cm (tin) of compost on top of the garden bed and dig it in to loosen the soil. If the soil is really heavy, add an additional 5cm (2in) of coarse builder's sand and thoroughly dig it in. When the carrot tops are 5cm (2in) tall, thin the seedlings to 25mm (I in) apart.Thin them again about two weeks later to 7.5cm (3in) apart Failing to thin the seedlings properly results in misshapen carrots.

Encourage a bigger broccoli harvest
Many varieties of broccoli produce not only a central head, but also smaller side shoots that are just as tasty as the head. Try to encourage the production of these side shoots to receive a bigger harvest from your plants. When you remove the central head, cut it by taking just 5cm (2in) of the stem. At the same time, apply dditional fertilizer to the plant by cratching in 30g (2oz) of balanced rcganic fertilizer per broccoli plant r you want to produce tender reads of broccoli, make sure you nulch the plants heavily and water -hem regularly.
Produce more and better asparagus
To improve the productivity and health of your asparagus bed, add pickling salt to the soil at the rate of 1.5kg (2.51b) for each 30m (100ft) of row. Sodium chloride rock salt improves the growth of asparagus and increases resistance to disease. Don't use salt on asparagus beds that are less than one year old, and don't use iodized table salt.
Produce more beans
Dust the seeds of beans and peas with a bacterial inoculant just before planting.This helps beans to gather nitrogen, improving growth and increasing harvest. Pick beans when they're tender and about the diameter of a pencil. Harvesting daily also encourages bean production.
Grow better cucumbers
To save space and produce healthier cucumbers, train the vines on a trellis instead of letting them sprawl on the ground. Cucumbers need plenty of water while growing to prevent deformed or bitter fruits. To keep the vines producing, pick cucumbers frequently while they are still young.
Produce more apples
To improve the yield of an apple tree, spray the foliage with seaweed extract, available at garden centres, three times-when the buds fill out after the petals drop, and once again when the fruits are 12mm (0.5in) in diameter. To increase the size and flavour of apples, thin fruit on trees by removing the smaller apples in each cluster of fruit before they reach 25mm (I in) in diameter. Remove all but one apple in each cluster on small trees; you can leave two apples per bunch on larger trees.
Shade lettuce naturally
Plant leafy greens and cool-loving plants such as lettuce and spinach beneath tall flowering plants, such as nicotiana or sunflowers, or beneath trellises of cucumbers or squash.
Pollinate plants by hand
The flowers of vine crops such as squash. courgettes, and pumpkin need to be pollinated to produce fruit Ideally, beneficial insects do this. but plants sometimes need assistance. If the tiny fruit on a vine is dying, it has not been pollinated.To handpollinate flowers, take a small soft artist's paintbrush and touch it to the pollen-bearing stamens in the male flowers and then brush the pollen gently on the tip of the pistil in the female flower (those with a tiny fruit at the base of the flower).