Chicago Home and Lifestyles – 5 Old school gardening rules to follow
We all learned things from our parents and grandparents’ good ways of keeping that garden and yard thriving and being thrifty too. Nowadays, we have all sorts of fancy apps and AI to help us out with our gardens. But, there are still a few basic rules we all learned from our parents and grandparents’ on how to keep our yard thriving (and be thrifty too)!
Always build up your soil. Your garden is only as good as your soil. We should test the soil every few years but at least add compost every spring. You can start your own compost pile; it doesn’t have to be complicated. You can use hardware cloth or chicken wire in an unused corner of your yard. Add all your kitchen scraps from potato peels to eggshells. Turn it over periodically and you’ll have rich compost in no time.
Plant flowers next to your vegetables. This is a great way to attract beneficial insects like bees and other pollinators that are necessary. So, plant nasturtiums, marigolds and sweet alyssum to welcome those good bugs.
Pull your weeds by hand. Don’t use chemicals around vegetables that are going on your table. Doing a little weeding every day will keep them from getting out of hand. It’s not only good for the garden, but also for your health and mental wellness too. Plus, pulling weeds by hand usually gets all the roots too, so they don’t come back.
Inspect your garden daily for pests. Pests can be taken care of by hand as well rather than chemicals that eliminate important pollinators. Many pests like slugs, Japanese beetles, cabbage worms and horned worms can be drowned in soapy water or just squished. You can get rid of aphids with a good blast from the garden hose.
Watch the weather. Keep an eye on your weather app and plan accordingly. If it’s going to be exceptionally hot use shade cloth to protect your plants or if you have planters move them into the shade. If a frost or freeze is expected, get out there to cover your plants to extend the growing season.
Do you have any old school tips for the garden?
Kathleen Weaver-Zech and Dean’s Team Chicago
