PUBLISHING DATE: MARCH 2014
(Original Submission)
THE ART OF GARDENING
We’ve come to discern how space and nature are dwindling commodities in the modern age. In our search for a simple balance between our craving for advancement and our demand for environmental preservation, new gardening solutions have risen to satisfy the requirement. Container gardening, rooftop landscaping, and backyard farming are just some of the trends that impart nature in the urban setting. Not only visually appealing, the parcel of greenery may give access to nutritious produce, recycle kitchen waste, increase oxygen levels, and purify air. The act of gardening, on the other hand, is a recognized stress-busting activity. Here are four basic aspects to gardening that can help you start your own, with or without the luxury of land.
1. Location
Understand if your plants need partial or full sun exposure. Ideally, gardens should provide plants with six to eight hours of direct sunlight. Give four to six hours a day to root vegetables, lettuces, and herbs. Squash, cabbage, eggplant, melons, peppers, corn, and tomatoes require a minimum of six hours a day. Rooftop plants should be drought, heat, high winds, and moisture tolerant. Epiphytes or light plants that can root and survive in two to four-inch soil are good for shallow containers (any size should have drainage holes) and rooftops.
For limited spaces, creativity is key. Consider these locations for your mini garden: driveways or parking strips, columns and walls for vertical gardens using small containers or vines, and house corners decorated with hanging plants.
2. Soil preparation
Purchase topsoil, compost, and peat moss that can be placed straight into containers. For garden beds, till (digging and turning over the soil six inches deep) the soil to make the dirt loose and drainable. Excessively damp and clayish soil will need more sand, gypsum, or peat moss. Analyze the nutritional content with soil testers found in gardening shops. You may also add fertilizer or high quality topsoil to keep it healthy.
3. Planting
Seedlings bought from the market often come with instructions on spacing. For some crops, just scatter the seeds thickly. You can also opt for younglings ready for replanting. As soon as weeds are ready for pulling, remove them. Fertilize to keep the plants healthy. Do this when enriching the soil, when the plants are a few inches tall, and when they flower or fruit.
4. Watering
Lightly and consistently water newly planted seeds. As the seeds mature, water less. Frequent and heavy sprinkling create dependent and weak plants that do not grow deep roots. Saturate six inches for garden beds and two to four-inches for shallow containers. In cases of drought, water more than usual. Avoid watering on afternoons, which evaporate the liquid before it benefits the plants. Have proper drainage for rooftop gardens.
