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Posted: 04/03/12 09:39 AM ET

Spring Gardening Tips: What Your Garden Would Tell You

From Networx's Erica Glasener:

If your garden could tell you what it needs, these are 7 things it would request.

List and captions courtesy of Networx

1. Realistic Expectations
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Designing your garden to provide year around interest or production of food is a great goal to strive for. However, it is not realistic to think it will have the same look in every season. Spring and summer may offer bountiful blooms but colorful foliage may be the focus in fall, and in winter, bark and berries will be the stars.

Flickr image courtesy of woodleywonderworks
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From Networx's Erica Glasener: If your garden could tell you what it needs, these are 7 things it would request. List and captions courtesy of Networx ...
From Networx's Erica Glasener: If your garden could tell you what it needs, these are 7 things it would request. List and captions courtesy of Networx ...
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jonny dipstick
436 Fans
10:30 AM on 04/04/2012
I had to move to the east coast for work and what I could rent a house for I can only get a one bedroom apartment. I really miss having my yard and a garden. You people that can garden are so lucky! I'm very envious.
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GretchenMann
220 Fans
 
08:02 AM on 04/08/2012
I understand, jonny dipstick. I moved from some acreage in CO to a downtown city condo in Louisville, KY. I miss my garden and my fruit trees very much.
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mf123
121 Fans
06:32 AM on 04/04/2012
It's a garden for f.c.s sake, Erica. Your piece belongs in the compost bin, along w/ the advertisements for gardening "stuff" from Bed Bath and Beyond.
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Conspiracy2Riot
Go ahead, try and eat that fiat currency
385 Fans
02:13 PM on 04/03/2012
the ideas here seem geared toward the gardener with a bigger budget.

crop rotation and information on which crops love which type of soil and intercropping with other crops can be found online. 3 year rotations are best and some things should never be planted next to others.

affordable soil test kits are available at home depot/lowes and god forbid, walmart. also, again the soil ph info of what requires what can be found online.

check online gardening forums in your area to see what's working for your neighbors.

and get over the idea that all weeds must go. many of them provide food to beneficial insects, bees among them. we need to be feeding our bees non toxic food sources.

plant chives & garlic around fruit trees. this repels bugs although it takes about 3 years for the effects to start kicking in. grow bee balms and mints and use the clippings to spread around your vegetables regularly. it will repel bad insects.

get some lady bugs and release them into your garden. they'll munch on those aphids.

compost your veggie scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds. coffee shops hand these out free.

try to find someone on craigslist giving away horse or cow manure. or get some chickens and use their manure and free range them in your garden in the winter months. you and all your beneficial microbes and the soil will be so much healthier it's not funny. dead soil grows very little.
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