28 Gardening Tips Your Mali Won’t Tell You | Free Gardening Tips

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Last Updated: 18.10.2023
Harpreet Monga
Written by
Harpreet Monga, a seasoned content writer and gardening enthusiast, has crafted over 150 articles at India Gardening. She expanded her writing journey with freelancing at the Times of India. Her passion for writing shines through her contributions to various book projects. Harpreet's commitment is to sow stories that resonate with readers, fostering a deep connection to the natural world.

Ever wondered why your gardener is always successful in maintaining your garden? Here are some awesome Gardening Tips Your Mali Won’t Tell You!

Master gardeners have years and years of experience in learning about plants and how to take care of them in a better way. That’s why gardening tasks are so easier, fast, and efficient for them. However, you can learn to take care of your plants the same way with their best-kept secrets tips. Continue reading this article to know some of the most useful free gardening tips!

Check out our article on amazing vinegar uses in the garden here.


Gardening Tips Your Mali Won’t Tell You!

1. Regularly Till the Soil

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This is one of the things Mali always does in the garden to make plants flourish. Tilling is an age-old, proven method of loosening the soil and keeping the plants healthy. It improves aeration, balances the soil, and prevents insects and weeds.

It should also be done in container plants.

2. Protect Succulents in Monsoon

Most succulents plants can’t withstand the rains of the monsoon season. If you live in a monsoon prone area, we recommend you to shift the succulents in a shaded place.

3. Use Neem Oil

Using neem oil is a brilliant way to get rid of stubborn insects and pests from your garden naturally. Also, neem oil is organic, easily available, and doesn’t cause any harm to the environment and health, unlike synthetic pesticides.

4. Grow Native Plants

Native plants are equipped with natural protections and living conditions of the location. This makes them drought, disease, and pest resistant and requires very little care.

Fun Fact: Mogra, Ratrani, and Bougainvillea are some native plants in India.

5. Remove Sucker from Tomatoes

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Vegetables like tomatoes tend to overgrow with foliage and give birth to sucker. Pruning suckers is important to maintain the health of the vegetable plants and help them produce more.

6. Add Fish in the Soil

Fish fertilization is a popular technique to improve the fertility of the soil by supplying nutrients in it. All you have to do is make a hole, put a small fish, and cover it with soil. It also results in a good harvest.

7. Keep the Flowering Plants Root Bound

Keep the potted flowering plants slightly root bound, it will allow the plants to produce more flowers. The reason being under-potting helps the plants produce more flowers.

8. Deadhead the Plants Regularly

Deadheading is removing the dead flowers from the plants, It makes the plants look neater and helps it redirect its energy for producing more flowers.

9. Grow Heirloom Seeds

Vegetables grown with heirloom seeds taste a lot better than hybrid ones, and they are also more nutritious. They are considered a bit more challenging to grow and doesn’t produce as much as a hybrid, that’s why farmers prefer growing tasteless hybrid vegetables.

10. Identify Unknown Plants with Google Lens

Finding it tough to identify a flower or plant in your garden? Don’t worry, just take a picture in your smartphone and pass it through Google Lens to identify the plant and learn more about it in brief.

11. Use Humic Fertilizer

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This fertilizer contains humic acid that helps in transporting nutrients from soil to the plant. Studies show long term use of humic acid improves the properties of soil.

Tip: Watch this video to learn how to use humic fertilizer in the garden.

12. Pinch Growing Tips

Pinching the growing ends of the plant is effective in making them bushy and fuller. When you clip the growing tip of the plant, it forces it to grow two new stems below the leaf nodes.

13. Choose Buds Over Flowers

When buying a new plant from nursery or online, choose plants with more buds than flowers. Plants with buds bloom for longer than the ones with flowers and grow well in the garden.

14. Fertilize Citrus Trees with Buttermilk

Buttermilk is a wonderful fertilizer for citrus trees. It boosts the acidity in the soil, which results in more flowers and fruits. It can also be sprayed on leaves for fungal diseases.

15. Sow Seeds at Right Time

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The climate of India is suitable and favorable to grow a variety of plants and vegetables in your garden. You can get a lot of information online or from a nursery in this regard. Check out this seed sowing calendar here.

16. Keep Your Tools Clean

Not cleaning gardening tools on time can attract rust, prevent the spread of diseases, and reduce their efficiency. Wash them regularly with dish soap and vinegar.

17. Prune at the Right Time

Pruning keeps the plants healthy and diverts the plant’s energy in the right direction. Generally, most flowering plants and fruit plants should be pruned between winter through summer or when they are in the dormant stage.

18. Grow Succulent From Leaves

Gardening Tips Your Mali Won't Tell You

It is easier than propagating succulents from stem cuttings and saves you time and money. This technique works fine for most of the succulents including Sedum, Echeveria, Jade Plant, and Haworthia.

19. Use Rooting Hormone for High Propagation Rate

Using the rooting hormone is a brilliant way to propagate new plants from stem cuttings faster and efficiently. It encourages the propagation process and fosters strong root development.

20. Grow Cactus Plants from Seeds Instead of Buying Them

You can easily obtain the seeds from a friend or purchase from a nearby garden store or online. Also, you can grow a variety of cactus that are not available as plants.

21. Mulch Plants in Summer

Mulching conserves the soil moisture and reduces the need for watering. It also provides a protective layer over the soil, thereby promoting good garden health.

22. Use Banana Peel for Flowering Plants

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Banana peels contain essential nutrients like potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, and magnesium and act as a natural fertilizer for flowering plants. Cut them in small pieces and mix in soil when planting or mulch the plants with them to provide plants with nutrients.

23. Avoid Using Black and Dark Colored Pots Outdoor

Dark colors, especially black absorbs heat and can make the pot really hot in Indian summer, and this can harm the tender roots of your plant. You can replace these pots with light-colored plastic or terracotta pots.

24. Don’t Use Garden Soil for Potted Plants

Garden soil is heavy, contracts easily, and can cause the choking of the roots. This can make your plant die. Plants in pots need a moist, well-draining, and aerated soil to grow. Always use a potting mix.

25. Make Compost at Home

Making compost at home is easy and can enrich your vegetables and flower garden. All you have to do is collect organic waste and make compost in a bin.

Tip: Watch this tutorial to learn how to prepare compost in brief.

26. Store Seeds in Refrigerator

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The humidity and warm temperature of the Indian climate is not suitable to store seeds outdoors. The best way is to transfer the seeds in an air-tight container and store them in the refrigerator.

27. Use the Leftover Coffee Powder

You can use the coffee powder in mulch, as a pesticide, and as a fertilizer. It is also useful in increasing the acidity of the soil, especially for acid-loving plants like daffodils and hydrangeas.

28. Limewash the Base of Trees

Harsh summers and sunlight can potentially harm your trees. That’s why it is essential to limewash their base as it helps in deflecting the sunlight and lowering the temperature of the tree.

Tip: Watch this video to learn how to limewash the trees properly.

Watch the Video Below

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