Gardening Made Simple - Maintaing Your Garden

Maintaing Your Garden

Time to get started on your new garden project. Print & fill out the Designing My Garden pages (click here to download these forms). After completing the analysis of your landscape, meet with one of our Design Professionals to determine plant selection and placement. Consulting a professional helps finalize your ideas to make them a reality. This process will take about two weeks.

In the meantime, here are a few things to get your garden heading in the right direction. The next step in the process should take about one to two weekends. You will need some gardening tools and products to complete the work. Please review the list below & gather these recommended products to make your new garden an enjoyable one.

Garden Gate suggests these tools:

Mud Gloves or Weeder Gloves
Soil Scoop / Angle Weeder
Coil Hose
Earthway Hand Spreader
Digging Shovel / Heavy Garden Rake
Garden Pruners and Loppers
Thug Garden Carryall
Heavy Duty Trash Bags
Tape Measure
Handheld Sprayer

Working in My Garden

In the general areas where you are going to install your new garden, clean and remove all debris.

If weeds are persistent in the garden, apply Roundup at 2% solution (typically 2 ounces of commercial grade Roundup to a gallon of water) and apply using a handheld pump sprayer.

Prepare the beds for planting. Use soil conditioner to prepare the planting mixture, incorporating it into the existing soil. You will need to use one bag for every 15 square feet. Use a garden fork to thoroughly work the new soil mixture in with the existing soil.

Apply Amaze or Eptam at a rate of 1 lb. per 100 sq. ft. Incorporate the pre-emergent herbicide in the upper 2” of the soil by raking with a metal leaf rake. These products reduce the population of new weeds in the garden.

Add 1.5 lbs. of Nursery Special 12-6-6 per 100 sq. ft. of bed area. Apply with a handheld Earthway fertilizer spreader

Monthly Maintainence Plan

Week 1
Pruning of all plant materials

Week 2
Cleaning and deadheading flowers and perennials.
Spot planting in bare spots

Week 3
Inspect garden for insect or disease problems

Week 4
Leaf and fallen flower removal
Spot mulching

After your garden is designed and built, you'll have to maintain it. Garden maintenance should be simplified into three categories that need routine monitoring:

Watering - use the watering guidelines from the previous page as a general guide for watering.

Weeding - with the use of preventative herbicides for weeds, your weeding time should be reduced by at least 50%. Weeding is the second most important part of maintaining your garden. Weeds compete with your plants for the available nutrients in the soil.

Pruning - helps control the overall growth of the plants, shapes and promotes flowering. Pruning also helps the plant cycle, or how the plant moves from one growth stage to the next. Improper pruning can lead to deformities and the death of a plant (if severe pruning is done).