Beginners Gardening Guide #8 : Maintaining Your Garden

Now that your flower or vegetable garden is growing strong, beautiful, fragrant, and is ripening toward delicious conclusions, there are general maintenance issues that will keep it healthy.

First, keep an eye out for pests that are trying to enjoy your vegetables before you do, or wreaking havoc on your flowers before you can make a bouquet of them. Fencing will keep out rabbits, deer, and raccoons. Various sprays and mixtures will prevent insects, slugs, and caterpillars from doing damage. See our guide How to Keep Pests Out of Your Garden for all of the details.

Secondly, keep the weeds out of your garden. Once your plants are well established, small weeds will not pose much danger. But some weeds attract unwanted insects, so it makes sense to eliminate that potential. And since weed growth can block sun, rob the ground of nutrients, soak up precious water, or send out roots that damage your plants’ root systems, it’s best to remove weeds on a regular basis.

Thirdly, keep the soil aerated. After heavy rains, the soil may become compacted. Loosen soil around plants, being careful not to damage their roots. This will allow the roots to receive water and air, and will allow them to spread and thrive, giving the plants stability and better nutrient-gathering potential. Be careful not to walk on soil that is very wet, because this will magnify the compacting problem. Decorative stepping stones or tiles placed throughout the garden will allow you access into its interior to do the weeding and pruning work required.

The next step is to remove any dead plant material quickly, to avoid the spread of disease, if that was the cause of it dying. Never use that type of material for mulch. Dead head and prune flowers that have faded, and feel free to include that material in your compost or mulch. When your garden is done producing for the year, uproot all healthy vegetable plants and add them to your compost. Cut back perennials and bushes, and compost that waste, too. Autumn is the perfect time of year to plant bulbs, transplant trees, divide perennials, or shift plants around within your garden to achieve the garden design you desire.

Give your garden a thorough watering before the ground freezes, then cover it as deep as you want with raked leaves, or with 2-4 inches of compost. This will prepare it for a great start when spring inevitably rolls around again. See our other guides featuring gardening tips for each season, for a more comprehensive overview of how to maintain your garden for optimal productivity. The right kind of TLC in each season is important, and your garden will repay you many times over with flourishing flowers and robust, tasty vegetables.

A-Z Beginners Gardening Guides

• Beginners Gardening Guide #1 : How To Start Your Garden
• Beginners Gardening Guide #2 : Steps for Designing Your First Garden
• Beginners Gardening Guide #3 : Choosing the Right Tools for your First Garden
• Beginners Gardening Guide #4 : How to Keep Pests Out of Your Garden
• Beginners Gardening Guide #5 : A Beginner’s Guide to Planting Flowers and Trees
• Beginners Gardening Guide #6 :How to Choose What to Plant
• Beginners Gardening Guide #7 : First Steps in Vegetable Gardening
• Beginners Gardening Guide #8 : Maintaining Your Garden
• Beginners Gardening Guide #9 : Lawn Care for Beginners
• Beginners Gardening Guide #10: Blossoms for Every Season
• Beginners Gardening Guide #11 : Your Garden During the Fall
• Beginners Gardening Guide #12: What Steps to take as Winter Approaches
• Beginners Gardening Guide #13: Preparing for a Great Spring Start