Gardening gives your home the required curb appeal and does wonder for your well-being. Physical exercise keeps blood pressure in check and contributes to a healthy weight, and interactions with flora improve your mental health and mood. Below is a list of ways to maintain your garden.
Watering
Watering the plants is crucial and should be done early in the morning and evening. The soil is cooler during this time, which prevents more water from evaporating. Water your plants gently to minimize soil damage, and avoid overwatering the leaves to reduce fungal infections. Consider using drip irrigation to regulate the moisture in the soil and save more water. Moss or mold growth means that you have been overwatering the plants, and brown or dead leaves and wilting of plants are an indication that you are underwatering the plants.
Prevent and Control Pests
Pests tend to eat and kill flower plants, which makes it crucial to keep them at bay. Prevent pests from accessing your plants by weeding your garden and installing traps and barriers on your farm. The pests you should beware of include mites, bugs, whiteflies, aphids, and gnats. Use appropriate pesticides if your plants are attacked by pests and eradicate those highly affected plants to minimize the spread of pests.
Prevent and Control Diseases
Just like pests, diseases cause harm to plants. Bacteria, fungi, and viruses cause most conditions affecting plants, and those diseases you should be wary of include bacterial leaf spot, anthracnose, and white rust. Prevent fungal infections by minimizing overwatering plants and viral diseases by using clean pruning and weeding tools. Use appropriate chemicals to deal with the disease-causing microorganisms.
Thin and Cull Your Plants
Thinning entails the removal of excess plants to establish room for other plants to grow. Carry out this process if the garden has minimal resources for the flowers. Culling, on the other hand, involves the removal of weak, inferior, and diseased plants to control diseases and pests and give room for the remaining plants. Remove undesirable plants in the flower garden to facilitate the growth of healthy ones.
Stake Your Plants
Staking provides the necessary support for plant stems. It involves fixing a rod or stake to the ground and tying a stem to it. It is done where plants need to grow in a specific direction and on plants with weak stems. Use bamboo sticks and any other light wood to support vulnerable stemmed plants. Fix the posts onto the ground and tie such stems with garden tape, threads, or strips of cloth. Reports from the Insurance Information Institute indicate that winter storms are the third-largest cause of property damage, including collapsed roofs, and destroy unsupported plants.
Easy Ways You Can Improve Indoor Air Quality
Improving indoor air quality helps you avoid allergy symptoms and asthma flare-ups. Eliminating all allergens inside your home may be impossible, but one can reduce exposure to them. Below is a list of strategies to improve indoor air quality.
Invest in an Air Purifier
If you are allergic to allergens inside your house and cannot control the source of the problem, using an air purifier is essential. Position such devices in the most used areas inside the house to capture irritants that trigger allergic symptoms. Position a dehumidifier in damp areas such as the basement to prevent mold growth. Ensure the bathrooms are well ventilated and scrub off visible mold on fixtures, in the shower, or walls.
Change Your Filters
Ensure you change the filters regularly if you have installed a forced-air heating system. Install an electrostatic filter to ensure that airborne irritants and dust are trapped rather than recirculated inside your house. Ensure you clean your ducts regularly to remove dust that may be trapped inside. Indoor air quality, according to the EPA, is two to five times worse than outdoor air.
Assess Beneath the Sink and Cabinets
The inside cabinets and underneath the sink are not in the spotlight most of the time. A small leak may go undetected, increasing humidity and allowing mold spores to thrive. Clean and inspect such spaces regularly to minimize the occurrence of moldy problems to enable such fixtures to last up to 50 years.
Caring for outdoor plants and maintaining indoor air quality is essential. Follow the above tips to improve the aesthetic value of your home and achieve the required curb appeal.
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