Garden Cleaning Manifest

Those of you with a garden of your own must be aware of the amount of hard work that have gone into, in making your favorite ‘me’ zone in the house – a place you can call your own. Read more to learn about this.

But all that hard work doesn’t come to a halt once you are done with designing the garden. In fact the real challenge commences when you exhibit the consistency of love for your garden through maintenance. One of the fundamental aspects of care and maintenance is ensuring the cleanliness of your garden. Your garden might be tastefully done or in sync with the latest trends in garden décor but if it has an unkempt look it can put off the onlookers.

Some of the common sources of a scrubby garden are:

• Weeds that compete to outgrow the plants.
• Waste and decayed leaves that are scattered on the patios, lawns, driveways or beneath the host plants or trees.
• Dead plant/s.
• Asymmetrical shape of your lawns.
• Animal waste.
• Deposition of dirt particles at the edges of the flower pots or the fenced border surrounding the lawn.

These are some of the everyday problems that a gardener has to stumble upon. However, these are not too difficult to manage if cleanliness is your middle name and dedication is your motto. A garden cleaning manifest is just what you need.

Let us begin with the problem of weeding. Weeds and shrubs can be clipped off by rabbiting spade or a pair of garden scissors or a garden knife. It is a natural phenomenon that that the plants and trees will get rid of its dead leaves. However the sight of the mound of brown and yellowish leaves will is enough to invite a frown and your immediate expression “Not again”. The easiest way to dispose those decayed leaves is to use a leaf rake (the one in the picture). This will ensure that sweeping away the leaves doesn’t become an overtly hectic activity.

Even after a laborious day of work in giving your lawn the perfect manicure it will not retain its symmetrical shape. Although flower beds generate maximum attention if the lawn is not in good shape, it can spoil the holistic picture. Make sure that your lawn is manicured once a month with a lawn mower. The weeds that peep through the grass can be tackled with good quality pruners. But both these activities demand your time so be prepared when you venture for these and not finish up your task in a hasty fashion.

Before cleaning and washing the animal waste remember to put on plastic gloves. If the animal waste has been noticed after a prolonged period of time then it is cognizant to use a scalpel. Sometimes watering your plants can do the trick if the waste is near the plant body.

Use loppers (picture below) for pruning the small plants and bush limbs. In case it is a broken branch that is hindering the visual grace of your garden opt for a saw pruner.

The verges or the lawn borders and the flowering pots routinely accumulate dirt. Always keep a spare cloth piece to clean your favorite flower pots. If those are hand painted by you and has white as the base color, then it is advisable to recolor every once a month so that it exudes freshness.

Ensure that you don’t make any compromise in the department of quality while purchasing these garden equipment as these are great investments for your garden. Also feed this equipment with lubricant to ensure their longevity. Use a soil scoop while transferring the soil and keep a plastic bag as a shield so that residual soil gets deposited on the bag and doesn’t scatter throughout the flower bed.

Cleanliness of garden requires your time, energy and patience so chalk out a timetable that at least twice a week you will rake the debris with your leaf rake and block your calendar that one day in the month that you will completely dedicate to the welfare of your garden.