Want to start growing your own garden? Here are a few tips to help you start.
- Begin with a survey of the space available in your home and the area where it is to be situated. Check whether adequate sunlight is received and water is readily available.
- Decide whether you want to plant in the soil or have a potted plant garden. You don’t really require a lot of space. The important thing is that you need to create this space. Not everyone is blessed with a large space in the front of the house. Even a very small area in the front balcony, the shaft area, a terrace or an area in the rear or side of the house can be transformed into a heart-warming patch of green.
- Next comes the choice of flowers and plants – it’s very important to spend some time deciding whether you want to grow seasonal flowers, vegetables, herbs, medicinal plants or even a combination of any of them.
- The selection of plants or flowers can’t, of course, be completely random but will largely depend on the nature and quality of the soil available, i.e. whether it is acidic, neutral, clay, alkaline, loamy etc. and the amount of sunlight that will be available for the plants.
- Next will be the selection of the particular plants. For this, it will be very useful to visit a well maintained garden in your neighbourhood or consult a friend who is a keen gardener and then visit an established nursery in your area. None of these could, of course, be a substitute for an experienced Maali. But that, as always, is easier said than done. More often than not, the size of the garden may not always justify the cost of an experienced Maali.
- Most garden centres are generally very helpful and will give you advice about seeds, pot mixture, the required addition of plant feed and pesticide and the procedure for doing all this.
- A garden is remarkably like a baby in that the real challenge starts after its birth. Similarly, for a garden, starting one is only the easiest and first step. The singularly important aspect of gardening is maintenance and good old “TLC”( Tender Loving Care).
- A beautiful garden not only pleases the eye and is aesthetic but also releases positive energy and maintains happiness within yourself and the family. A beautiful and well maintained garden helps you create and maintain harmony and balance in your life.
- Once you have started and have a little garden of your own, there is no limit to letting your imagination soar and losing yourself in your own little world.