Tree-Mendous Gardening

Do you think your garden could do with a few more trees?

Lots of gardeners love adding them to their garden as they can encourage a lot more wildlife, such as birds and squirrels. Not only that, though, but they also help to create shaded areas in gardens, which are important during the summer when you want to sit outside but out of all the sun!

However, even though trees are very popular amongst gardeners, they can be a lot trickier to plant and look after than shrubs and plants. Here are my top tips to ensuring that your trees look great and are in top health.

Prepare The Earth

Before you plant your tree, you will need to make sure that the earth is all prepared. Firstly, take some time to loosen the soil. Once it’s all nice and loose, leave it for a day or two to encourage the are to drain. If the soil is particularly hard and heavy, you might want to mix in some organic matter to loosen it up further.

When To Plant?

If you visit your local gardening center, you will find that they have lots of small seedlings that will be ready to be planted straight into your garden. For most trees and shrub seedlings, the best time to plant them is between October and April. Even if you do plant during this period, you should try and avoid doing it after heavy rainfall as the ground will be waterlogged. It’s also wise not to plant after a hard frost, or if a frosty night is forecast. You might prefer to plant your seedling in a container and keep it inside until it has grown and will be able to face the elements better.

Potential Problems

Unfortunately, trees are very susceptible to various fungal diseases, including Dutch elm’s disease and Deadly Oak Wilt. If you ever think that your tree is showing the symptoms of one of these diseases, it is a good idea to get in touch with a tree professional such as www.arboristusa.com/tree-doctor/. They will be able to advise you on the best course of action. They will do all they can to help save your infected trees!

Pruning And Cutting

A healthy tree needs to be regularly pruned and cut back. As well as ensuring the tree stays healthy, regular cuts will mean that it won’t ever get out of control and infringe on your neighbor’s land! If you aren’t too sure what you are doing when it comes to pruning, don’t worry; there are plenty of videos with lots of tips on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LiWRXrC9So. Ideally, you need to prune your trees in late summer, as this will stop them weakening through the winter. You should also remove dead wood and branches in summer too.

Hopefully, this blog post has given you all the information you need to know about planting and growing trees in your garden. As you can see, it isn’t terribly difficult!