Plants, in addition to water, also need air to be able to grow properly. Therefore, it is very important that from time to time we make sure that they receive everything they need, otherwise they could soon weaken.
But what are the different ways to aerate a garden? And when should you do it?
Index
- 1 Aerate your lawn
- 2 Aerate your plants
- 2.1 Do not put them too close together
- 2.2 Prune them from time to time
aerate your lawn
Let’s start by talking about the lawn, which is an area of the garden that we often pass through. As time passes, the impact of our footsteps makes the ground become more and more compact, thus preventing the roots of the grass that forms it from receiving the oxygen they need. To solve this, you have to aerate it once a year, in the spring, with a garden aerator, either gasoline-powered if it is a large plot of land, or manual if it is rather small.
Once we have the aerator, we will place it in a corner of the lawn and we will pass it from one side to the other in orderly rows. Do not pass more than twice through the same area. In the event that we have never aerated it or want to ensure that we will achieve an optimal result, we will acquire an extraction aerator that what it does is extract portions of soil using a cylinder.
aerate your plants
Don’t put them too close together
And finally we are going to talk about a topic that is rarely given importance but that is really very necessary to take into account: aerate the plants in the garden. We often see, for example, coniferous hedges which are planted a few centimeters from each other, and this is a mistake.
I understand that you want to have privacy as soon as possible, but if a minimum distance is not left between specimens, several will end up dying , not only because the strongest ones will “steal” their nutrients, but also because the air that circulates on both sides will not be able to be renewed and, as a consequence, the fungi will not take long to appear.
If we take this into account, it is essential to find out what is the adult size that our plant will have in order to know in what zone it should be located and at what distance it should be placed from other plants that grow more or less at the same height . For example, if we have a tree whose crown will occupy 4 meters, if we want to put another tree or a palm tree near it, we will have to dig the hole at about 4.5 or 5 meters.
Prune them from time to time
In nature, the air, heavy rains, lightning and even the heaviest animals are responsible for “pruning” plants. But in cultivation we have to take care of this task ourselves, since being a little (or a lot) pampered and not lacking anything, they grow and grow very strongly, producing branches that, if not controlled, can cause problems.
Therefore, at the end of winter you have to do the following :
- Cut dry, diseased or weak branches.
- Remove those that intersect, that are giving the plant a “wild” appearance.
- Cut back those that are growing too much.
And throughout the year you have to remove – whenever possible, of course – withered flowers and dried fruit.
With all these tips, you will surely have a wonderful garden.
