Many people believe that we should house all kinds of different livestock together, the way our ancestors may have. Sometimes, it can be beneficial to pasture different types of livestock together, but that only applies to those with abundant land so that each species can have its own space.

However, with today’s small parcels of land, keeping certain livestock together is often a bad idea, especially if you only have a small run for them to share. When there is not enough land, the animals start competing for resources (space, water, food) and can become very aggressive or, at the very least, highly stressed.

Another issue with keeping livestock together is that they should never share the same housing since each will have very different needs. Fencing requirements can also differ; a fence holding one species may not hold or may even harm another. Another factor is that they cannot be fed together since the diet of one species is sometimes detrimental to the health of another, such as how dogs should not eat cat food. This means no on-demand feeders can be used when livestock cohabitate.

These differences in shelter and feeding requirements can make creating a one-size-fits-all solution challenging, even if you have enough room to avoid the inevitable competition for resources.

Here are more specific examples of livestock that may do very poorly when housed together.

Chickens, Ducks, Geese, and Turkeys

Even though people often do, you shouldn’t keep ducks, geese, and chickens together. The problem with this is that for your ducks and geese to be happy and healthy, they need water to swim and bathe in, so they are best kept in an enclosed area with a pond or at least a swimming pool. Chickens, especially the young ones, should never have open water since they are known to drown in it. For the same reason, chickens shouldn’t be kept with large animals requiring a water trough since they may also drown in those.

The other problem is that every chicken needs about 10 ft² of exercise run, while a duck requires more, about 16 ft². When you mix species, those minimum numbers only go up, so you are not actually saving space. Unless they have plenty of extra room, the roosters and drakes (the males of each) are typically aggressive towards the other birds, attacking and injuring them or worse.

Finally, chickens and turkeys also shouldn’t be housed or penned together. Turkeys are much larger than chickens and need even more space. Even still, they usually will pick on, injure, or even kill chickens. If you introduce them young enough, you could prevent that. However, that presents another problem. Turkeys can spread a fatal blackhead disease to young chickens, so it’s not recommended to introduce them to a chicken run until they are all about 6 months old, once they have developed some immunity. But by then, the turkeys will be big enough to start attacking the smaller chickens.

Ducks, Geese, and Other Livestock

Ducks and geese should have water to bathe in, and they will defecate in that water. Especially if the ducks do not have a pond, they will use the water troughs for your large animals as a water source for drinking and bathing. This could breed parasites that could be problematic for your other livestock. A trough should never double as a bath.

Sheep and Goats

Sheep and goats can be kept together in a pasture if the space is large enough since goats browse on shrubs and twigs and sheep graze on grass. However, the problem is when they are contained in a run.

One issue is that goats need better fencing and shelter since they love to climb. Another problem is that the rams (male sheep) and billies (male goats) may try to fight and mate with the opposite species.

However, the main issue with goats and sheep is the food supply. Sheep cannot eat copper; it is harmful to their health, while copper is an essential mineral for goats, found in their mineral blocks and feed. You can feed the goats food meant for sheep, but they will be deficient in copper and may become unhealthy.

Sheep and Bison

Sheep should absolutely never be kept with or even anywhere near bison. This is because sheep carry ovine herpesvirus-2 (OvHV-2), which causes MCF (Malignant Catarrhal Fever). This disease spreads to the bison via direct contact with sheep or is sometimes airborne; the bison cannot spread it to each other. Bison are highly susceptible to MCF and will often die from it, while the sheep will not.

Horse and Cattle

People often keep horses and cattle together, and they can work well together in a large enough pasture but they should never be fed together. The problem is that the medicines Monensis or Rumensin, often added to cow feed, are toxic to horses.

The other problem is in areas with hoof and mouth disease outbreaks. Horses cannot get it, but they will carry and spread it, so if you mix the two together, you might have to quarantine them all.

Pigs and Livestock

Pigs mixed with most other livestock is usually not a good idea. Besides boars being aggressive to most animals, sows with piglets will also be aggressive towards anything that comes near.

The other problem with cohabitation with pigs is that they love to root out plants, destroying all the forage when kept in a contained yard. While chickens love to come in after them to look for bugs where the pigs have dug, the lack of plants means no forage for your grazers and browsers.  Pigs also love to make a mess of the water and create mud, which can help breed certain parasites, making pest control more problematic.

Another problem is that pigs are omnivores known to eat hatchlings of chickens and waterfowl and the babies of rabbits. One final issue with their being omnivores is that if pigs are kept with dairy cows, they often steal your cow’s milk and may possibly injure their udders.

Baby Animals of Any Kind

Never mix your baby animals with those of other species. Young animals are not fast enough to get out of the way of larger animals and will often get trampled and killed. Sometimes, pigs will even eat the young of other animals.

Baby animals also have not developed immunity to disease and parasites, and they more easily get infected and die when housed with other livestock. Finally, animal mothers will usually become extremely aggressive towards other livestock, often even their own species, when they are rearing their young.

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This happens to everyone at some point in their gardening journey. Whether it’s because they think they’ve got everything taken care of because they’re hurling Sevin dust everywhere (hint hint: that doesn’t work on some insects that will destroy your plants) or because their garden has never been hit: it will be. At some point, you will suffer a catastrophic loss in your gardening career. There is nothing that you can do about that except be ready for it.

…And know that you aren’t alone. That there is a way to come back from it. And today, we’ll be discussing the razed earth version of it. Let’s get started.

Fruit and/or Vegetable-Specific Beetles

I lumped these together because there are tons and tons of them. Almost every fruit vine, tree, and vegetable plant has some little bug that wants to get into the fruits of your labor and ruin absolutely everything for you. Some, especially, like to do it close to harvesting time.

There is nothing more frustrating than seeing big, beautiful cucumbers and then holes throughout all of them because the cucumber beetles showed up en masse.

The only thing that you can do with these is to research ahead of time what to watch out for. Each beetle will have a specific behavior that will rat itself out if you’re watching closely. Whether this is a particular pattern when they’re munching your leaves, droppings leaving marks on the plants before they become a real issue, or something else, you’ll learn to recognize these before the beetles can destroy you. 

Aphids

What hasn’t been said about aphids? They swarm plants, destroy them, and are a nightmare to remove. Some subtypes can only be removed by hand and by the time that you realize you have an aphid colony started, there can be thousands of the tiny little buggers. Who has time for that?

In all honesty, I recommend having a colony of ladybugs (true ones, not imitation ladybugs) on your property and near your garden. Depending on the exact type of ladybug you have access to, provide them with a little food to hang around.

Ladybugs love aphids; they’re their favorite meal and you’ll rarely need to deal with aphids if your ladybug population is healthy and happy. However, that does not mean that you can’t use a bunch of insecticides on your plants. Most will kill ladybugs, too.

Cabbage Flies and Their Terrible Children

Cabbage moths flutter around your greens (so not just cabbage, it’s just one of the most commonly hit plants) and lay their eggs in the moist folds and near the roots then skitter off to do god knows what cabbage moths do. When the eggs hatch, their children are hungry.

Their terrible, awful children are absolutely starving and desire to crunch down on the wet greenery around them. And my goodness, they have such a heavy appetite.

Cabbage maggots can kill off a 4′ x 4′ plot of cabbage in less than two weeks. We’re talking about full, nearly ready-for-harvest plants destroyed down to the core in a matter of days.

Don’t go on vacation, friends, because you’ll come back to nothing in your garden if you have an invasion of cabbage maggots. Worse, you may not even notice this is happening if the moths are eating the roots beneath the ground rather than the leaves above.

The best way to get rid of cabbage maggots is to plant your cabbage early. We realize that this means trouble for replanting later on in the season because we all want fresh and tasty cabbage all year long.

Get your initial crop in and out as fast as you can. With additional crops, place your plants through planting cloth. This makes it tough for the cabbage maggots to dig down and disturb your cabbage’s roots, leaving you to deal with cabbages that are visibly affected on top of the ground. Our answer? Fire.

Hornworms

They’re so pretty but so destructive. Tomato hornworms are one of those bugs that will not stop until they’ve completely destroyed your tomatoes. Other than spotting their eggs on the underside of leaves, you won’t find them until you see them slithering up the stems of your plants and causing havoc.

Hornworms have multiple treatments available to kill them off, but again, these will kill off beneficial bugs, too. Honestly, I just hand-pick them off plants (use tweezers) and offer them to my reptiles or my chickens. This helps get rid of the population and it doesn’t take much time: hornworms are not extremely prolific in most areas.

Stink Bugs and Squash Bugs

Let’s get this out of the way: All squash bugs in North America are, indeed, stink bugs. They smell terrible when you smash them. Yet not all of our native stink bugs are squash bugs. They look incredibly similar and, to be entirely honest, it doesn’t matter which one you see: you need them gone. Sitting there and trying to identify the differences is a poor idea at best. Their intricate details are hard to see and both will damage your crops.

There is no good treatment that I recommend for squash or stink bugs and they are ultimately perennial until taken care of. My suggestion? Let your ducks and chickens run over your gardening area before planting and after the last harvest.

Let them tear everything to pieces and ferret out every bug that they can. They won’t harm your ladybugs (for the most part) and likely won’t bother your mantises, either (mostly), but they will happily eat every squash bug that they can. Over the years, you’ll deplete the population.

While we don’t have enough room here to go over every detrimental insect that can show up in your garden, we hope we’ve given you a better idea of what you’re up against. Remember: you can do it! And Happy Gardening!

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You should avoid the following bad or overly generalized tips because they may ruin your crops. Instead, know your climate, assess your soil, and research your plant (e.g., tomato) and the variety of that plant (e.g., Early Girl Tomato) you want to grow. That will ensure success, at least most of the time; nature can be a fickle friend!

Don’t Worry About Your Soil

Don’t listen to anyone telling you not to worry about your soil; just plant it anyway. If you have good-quality soil, it might work. But for the majority of us with less-than-perfect soil, it’s terrible advice. If you have clay soil, compacted soil, dry and gravelly soil, very acidic or very alkaline soil, and do nothing to amend it, you will end up with few successes and a whole list of failures.

Assess your soil and work on building a healthy soil profile. If you lack organic matter, add lots of compost and well-aged manure to feed your plants and help retain moisture. Next, ensure adequate drainage; if water pools up on your soil after rain, you have poor drainage, so add gravel, sand, or perlite to help it drain better.

You may also need to adjust your pH. Slightly acidic (6.5) to slightly alkaline (7.5) are where most plants grow best. Add dolomite lime if your soil is highly acidic (<6.5). If your soil is too alkaline (>7.5), add sulfur. Then, check the pH requirements of your plants. Blueberries need much more acidic soil, and potatoes also require fairly acidic soil to help avoid potato scab.

Use Sprinklers To Water Your Garden

Using overhead sprinklers like our parents always did is a terrible idea. Especially on tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash, this encourages fungal diseases that can wipe out your entire crop.

Overhead sprinklers are also highly inefficient and should always be avoided in arid or semi-arid regions due to high evaporation. However, they should also be avoided anywhere groundwater is used for irrigation. Groundwater is naturally slightly to very salty and mineral-rich. When you overwater with sprinklers, you add too much salt and minerals to your soil, which is difficult to remedy and will eventually harm your plants. Drip irrigation is best, followed by selective hand watering at ground level with a watering can or hose.

Watering on a Schedule

While watering on a schedule is not a bad idea per se, listening to recommendations like you should water every 2-3 days is a terrible idea. Other common recommendations say that you should water your vegetable garden with about an inch of water per week. Those overly generalized recommendations could leave your plants stressed or dead from thirst or waterlogged soils.

You do need to water consistently, but what that means exactly will vary with your climate, soil, plants, and other local factors. You need to figure out your conditions and only water when it needs it. To see if your garden needs water, stick your finger about ¾” in the soil. If it feels dry, water it. If it feels moist, wait. And if it still feels wet, you have a drainage issue to address.

Generally speaking, plants may need water every 2-5 days in the spring without rain. If you have a wet spring, you may not need to water for weeks, but if you have a hot and dry spring, you may need to water daily. By summer, you will likely need to water daily or every other day, depending on your climate, soil, rain, and whether or not you mulch your garden.

Planting Everything in May

Old-time gardeners often say you should put your garden in the ground in May. That may work well in cool-temperate and temperate climates. However, this is terrible advice if you live in a warm-temperate, especially arid or semi-arid climate. It will leave you without any cool-season crops (peas, lettuce, dill, cilantro, etc.) that will quickly bolt, and warm-season crops (tomatoes, peppers, etc.) that may struggle to produce good yields before the heat of summer hits.

Related: Homesteading To Do&’s: May

In those warmer climates, you need to plant your cool-season crops in late winter or early spring, and then you can grow a second crop at the end of summer for a fall harvest. If you are in a subtropical to tropical climate, you must grow your cool-season crops in the middle of winter when your temperatures are coolest.

Using Pesticides To Deal With Pests

Don’t listen to recommendations about using pesticides to control pests; they are an absolute LAST RESORT. Pesticides are poisons that contaminate our food, soil, and water and create a cycle of chemical dependence that prevents plants from thriving naturally. Pesticides are also toxic to your beneficial pollinators like bees, flies, butterflies, and others. If you kill off your pollinators, you will have poor yields.

Instead, use natural pesticides like dish soap and baking soda (1 tsp of each per gallon of water), companion planting to repel pests, selective removal of diseased plants, and mechanical removal, such as keeping weeds controlled and handpicking off pests when you see them.

Mulching is Too Much Effort

Technically, you don’t need mulch, but the misconception that it’s not worth the effort is way off base. You may not need mulch if you are a highly motivated and dedicated gardener who can afford to spend hours a day weeding, checking soil moisture, and constantly watering your garden.

However, for most of us, spending a small amount of time mulching in mid to late spring will save us tons of labor later. Mulch helps control weeds and minimizes water loss, preventing water stress in the summer heat. It also helps keep those cool-season crops from bolting longer than without because mulch helps moderate the soil temperature. In the winter, mulching around the root zone will help protect your plants from the cold for the same reason.

Everything Can Be Direct-Sown

This is another old-time gardener mistake that people occasionally make, thinking you can just pop seeds in the ground and reap a bountiful harvest. It is also another one that depends entirely on your climate. If you live in a cold or cool-temperate climate, you will never get those tomatoes to ripen in time unless you start them indoors or buy transplants.

However, in warm-temperate climates, you can plant your tomatoes directly in the ground, depending on the variety. On the other hand, never start radishes, carrots, dill, or other tap-rooted vegetables indoors since they transplant very poorly and should always be direct-sown. Do your research on your plants in your climate to see whether you can direct sow or if you should start them indoors.

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However, don’t rush out and reach for the nearest can of bug spray without learning effective pest control. Let’s look at the most common dangerous pest control mistakes so you can avoid them!

Unsafe Handling of Pest Control Products

Many pest control products can be bought anywhere; just take them off the shelf and buy them like a jug of milk. This makes it easy to forget how dangerous they can be. They should be handled in the home as you would in commercial applications, using personal protective equipment or PPE.

How many people don their PPE when applying bug spray in the house? Probably not many. At a minimum, protective gear should include rubber gloves, safety glasses, a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, and closed-toed shoes (no sandals). Optionally, you can also use a respirator mask; cotton masks are never recommended since they absorb pesticides and hold them in contact with your skin. Always read your pesticide label for additional safety recommendations.

Also, some pesticides must be diluted or mixed before application; read the instructions carefully. Improper mixing or failing to dilute products could result in toxic reactions, even if you think you are handling them correctly.

Address the Source of the Problem

Bugs have the same basic needs as people; we all need food, water, and shelter. Usually, this means there is an available food source like open food containers, and you may have leaky plumbing providing water and cracks in your walls or foundations, allowing them access to your home.

Seal any cracks and leaks you find, seal your doors and windows with caulking, and consider installing screens. Check your plumbing for entry points; mice love using plumbing holes to access your home, and you can easily fill those holes with stainless steel wool.

Related: Cheap Ways To Get Rid Of Invasive Ants

Also, bugs thrive in messy homes and yards, so tidy your home, vacuum and sweep regularly, move wood and compost piles away from your house, and keep your yard tidy, and you will reduce the number of pests in your environment.

These issues must be addressed before reaching for pest control products, or they will simply keep returning. Then, you will use many more pesticides than needed, putting yourself and your family at risk because you haven’t addressed the root cause of the problem.

Keep Pets and Kids Out of The Room For At Least 30 Minutes

Most pest control products available to the homeowner are safer than commercial products, where you sometimes have to vacate your building for 24 hours. Many we can buy from the store won’t make recommendations on keeping pets and kids away.

To be safe, however, always keep your pets and kids out of any area where pesticides have been used for at least 30 minutes, even if the label provides no such caution. Always read the safety precautions on the label; if the label specifies isolating the area for longer than 30 minutes, follow the label’s instructions!

Only Treat Pets With Products Designed For Pets

Sometimes, people spray pesticides on pets to eliminate fleas or ticks. Don’t! Pesticides are not meant to be sprayed on your pet, which will lick itself clean, ingest all that pesticide, and possibly cost you a trip to the vet, or so much worse!

Only use a pest control product designed for your pet. Ideally, buy pest control products for your pets from a veterinarian. They will be trained with professional knowledge about handling them safely and should readily offer you free advice on the safe use of their products.

Using Generic Pesticides

Not all pesticides work on all bugs. Using generic pesticides means exposing yourself and your family to unnecessary pesticides that may not work well or at all. Use pest control products that target your particular pest.

Ants are particularly notorious for this. With at least 2.5 million ants for every person on the planet, you will never get rid of them with bug spray. You will likely kill the ones hit by the spray, but the rest will simply find a new route to their food source. Block their access, put away their food, and use some ant bait.

It’s easy to make your own all-natural safe ant bait at home using 1 part borax to 3 parts sugar. Mix it together and add enough water to make a syrup, then heat it to help dissolve the borax and sugar.  Next, pour some bait directly into the path of the ants. They will eat up the sugary bait, bring it back to their mound, and kill the queen with it.

Broadcast Spraying of Pesticides

You should never just spray pesticides everywhere. You will use much more than necessary, potentially risking your family’s health.

Instead, focus your pesticide use on the areas where the pests are most concentrated. Follow their trails to see where they are coming from; that is where you spray the pesticides.

Using Pesticides or Traps in the Wrong Place

Always consider the path your pests take and use pesticides, baits, and traps in their path, but also in an area that will keep everyone safe. For instance, never put a mousetrap in the middle of the floor where you could stumble onto it, or your pet might get their nose in it. Mice will rarely run across the middle of the floor anyway. Instead, place the trap in the cupboard(s) where you have been finding their droppings; that way, no one but the mouse will get hurt.

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Always use pesticides where they were intended. For instance, make sure you only use indoor pesticides indoors. Those for outdoor use are often designed to break down in sunlight and/or rain into less toxic substances.

Using them indoors could be very harmful to you and your pets. Another inappropriate place for pesticides is anywhere near a water source, not just creeks and lakes but also ditches, canals, and even street sewers. Extremely few pesticides are approved for use anywhere near water because of the potential for contaminating our water supply.

Inappropriate Disposal And Water Contamination

Never just dispose of unused pesticides in the regular trash. Also, never pour unused pesticides down the drain, ditch, sewer, or near any water. Inappropriate disposal can end up with pest control products in the wrong hands or contaminating our water supply.

Always dispose of unused pesticides at your local hazardous household waste center, often at the local landfill, transfer station, or recycling depot.

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Baking soda in your garden? Yes, you can use baking soda for many things in the garden. There are also times when you shouldn’t use baking soda. We will explore both.

Baking soda is the common term for sodium bicarbonate, a natural salt used in baking, cleaning, and odor elimination. Its gritty properties make it a great scouring agent, and its slightly alkaline (opposite of acidic) properties allow it to be used for other things.

Let’s take a look!

Ways to Use Baking Soda in Your Garden

Repel or Kill Pests

Sprinkle baking soda in a border around your plants (but not on them) to keep slugs, ants, silverfish, cockroaches, and other pests out. They don’t like the baking soda and won’t cross it.

You can also kill slugs by sprinkling it directly on them. To destroy ant mounds, sprinkle a couple of cups of baking soda on the mound. Follow this with 1 cup of vinegar. This will kill most ant mounds, although you may need a follow-up treatment to eliminate it completely.

Related: Easy DIY Garden Pest Killer You Can Make At Home

Kills Weeds

You can sprinkle baking soda directly on weeds to kill them; apply it to their entire surface. This works excellent for weeds that like to grow in cement cracks, making them difficult to remove. You can even use this on crabgrass: water it, then generously sprinkle baking soda on top, and in a few days, it will die.

Eventually, the baking soda will wash away, and new weeds will grow in its place, so you may need to treat it again. You also don’t want to do this right next to your garden plants since it could kill them, too; newspaper and mulch are safer weed control methods for that.

Treat and Prevent Fungal Infections

Baking soda is an excellent home remedy for treating fungal diseases like powdery mildew, black spots, blight, and leaf scabs, which thrive in humid environments. Mix about 1 tsp of baking soda and a few drops of liquid dish soap in a quart of water. Mix it well and use it in a sprayer to treat the infected areas and prevent new spots from appearing. For blight, use it on your tomatoes as a preventative treatment.

Baking soda increases the pH (decreases acidity) and makes it less hospitable to fungal spores. This will treat some fungi but is more preventative for most types. It is best to remove badly infected leaves and then treat the rest so that they will grow healthy without the fungus.

However, don’t use it in hot, sunny weather, or you may burn your leaves.

Cleaning

Baking soda is a fantastic all-purpose, all-natural garden cleaner. Use it to scrub stubborn residues from plastic plant pots, potting benches, plastic or wooden garden furniture, statues, and birth baths. It can also clean and eliminate odors in garbage cans, garden bins, and compost containers. Simply wet your cloth, sprinkle on the baking soda, and scrub it clean. Then, rinse it with plenty of water to remove the residue.

You can also use it to remove stubborn salt deposits from clay pots by making a thick paste with baking soda and water. Then, rub the paste onto the pots and let it sit for 20 minutes. Next, give it a quick but thorough scrub and rinse very well.

It also works great to clean your dirty garden hands, providing scouring action to remove those stubborn residues.

Sweeten Tomatoes

Tomatoes will taste sweeter if they are not grown in too acidic soil. If your soil is highly acidic (has a low pH), you can remedy this by sprinkling a little bit of baking soda around the base of your plants, raising the pH and making them sweeter.

This will also help protect your tomatoes from blight if you live in a humid environment. However, don’t use this if your soil is neutral or alkaline; only use it in acidic soils, and don’t treat them more than twice during their growth cycle.

Related: 10 Tomato Growing Tips For Beginners

Treating Poison Ivy and Sunburn

If you get poison ivy or sunburn while working in the garden, apply a paste of baking soda and water to relieve the itch and soothe the burn. You can also add ½ cup to your bath after a long day in the garden to soothe your body and any itching or burning at the same time.

When Not To Use Baking Soda

Excess Baking Soda Can Harm Your Plants

Since baking soda is a salt, it should never be used excessively around your plants, or it can dry them out, causing wilting and stunted growth, and could eventually kill them. Baking soda also increases the pH of the soil, making it more alkaline and less acidic.

This can be beneficial if you have overly acidic soil. However, you should use it very sparingly if your soil is already too alkaline, or you will make it worse.

Discourage Fungal Infections Rather Than Relying on Baking Soda

While using baking soda to treat and prevent fungal infections is a fantastic idea, you shouldn’t only rely on it because too much can harm your plants. Fungal infections are caused by three things: the presence of the fungus, plants that are susceptible to the fungus, and environmental conditions that allow them to thrive. Apart from choosing resistant cultivars, the environment is another factor you can control.

Moisture and poor circulation are the two environmental conditions that create most fungal infections. Change your watering practices, improve soil drainage, and reduce planting density or do other things to improve air circulation, and you will have fewer fungal infections.

Don’t Use Baking Soda in Your Compost

Some people suggest using baking soda as a compost odor eliminator, but this terrible idea can actually make it worse. Adding it to your compost will harm the organisms that break it down, slowing the process and increasing the odors.

If your compost is smelly, you likely aren’t using the correct dry-to-wet or carbon-nitrogen ratios. Adjust your inputs, and you won’t need to control the odors.

Baking Soda Corrodes Many Metals

Baking soda can corrode or rust many metals, although it is perfectly safe for stainless steel. On other metals, like cast iron, it can scour the protective surface, causing it to rust. It should also never be used on aluminum, copper, or silver, or it will cause corrosion and discoloration.

If necessary, you can use baking soda to scrub stubborn residues from garden tools. However, rinse the tool with plenty of water afterward and dry it thoroughly to prevent rusting.

It Does Not Keep Cut Flowers Fresh

Some people believe using baking soda in your vase will keep flowers fresh. However, acidic water is best for cut flowers, and since baking soda raises pH, this becomes counterproductive. While it will help with some fungal infections and may keep the water clearer, it is unlikely to actually extend the life of your cut flowers.

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1. Poor Ventilation

Proper air circulation is critical in all greenhouses, regardless of your environment. We often build greenhouses without considering good ventilation because they are designed to protect plants from the elements, so why would you invite the elements in?

Proper ventilation is important in spring as plants grow and the greenhouse heats up. The lack of ventilation at this time creates the perfect conditions for diseases to thrive. Later, in the summer, ventilation is critical to prevent your greenhouse from getting too hot and stressing your plants, or worse.

Plan ventilation systems when designing your greenhouse by adding roof vents, exhaust fans, or louvered windows that can be opened to allow airflow. If your greenhouse is already built, simple oscillating fans and leaving the door open will help until you can install an exhaust fan or roof vents.

2. Watering Incorrectly

People often water incorrectly, either watering too much or too little. We may not realize how fast greenhouse plants dry out compared to those in the ground. Even if your greenhouse plants are in beds rather than pots, the greenhouse is hotter than outside and it will dry out faster.

Alternatively, some people are too attentive to their plants and overwater them. This can lead to the growth and spread of plant diseases.

The best solution is to check your soil before watering. Put your finger about an inch (2.5cm) into the soil and feel it. If it’s dry, water it, but water deeply. Don’t just mist the surface; that’s not good for root development. If your soil is still moist, wait another day or two. If it’s still wet, you were probably overwatering, or you have a drainage issue. As you learn about your greenhouse, you will learn when it should be watered.

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3. Soil Health

Nutrient-rich soil is essential for healthy plants but is often overlooked. You should either improve your soil yearly or change it out completely about every two years.

Improving the soil is what organic gardeners do naturally. But even if you use synthetic fertilizers, you should still improve the soil. Fortunately, it’s easy to do; just add organic matter. This can be aged garden compost, composted manure or fine bark, or using worm castings. These will create a healthy soil profile, add nutrients, retain water better while reducing water stress, and reduce your dependence on fertilizer inputs.

If you use pots, repot your perennials every 1-2 years at most, and use fresh soil. The old soil can be repurposed by working it into your compost or garden. In a year when you are not repotting, mulch the surface with compost.

4. Not Enough or Too Much Sunlight

Sometimes, we choose a spot in our yard for our greenhouse because it’s flat, close to a water source, or for other reasons of convenience when we should be picking the location based on the needs of the plants.

Most garden plants require a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight daily. If your yard is naturally shady, orient your greenhouse so that the roof receives the maximum light possible, and consider using full transparent glass on the roof to maximize the light. Another option is to install supplemental LED grow lights. These are great to give your plants the full spectrum light they need when they cannot get enough from their environment.

However, if you live in a very hot climate with lots of sun year-round, you should use opaque polycarbonate roofing to diffuse the intense sunlight so your plants don’t overheat so easily. Depending on your exposure, you may still want to supply LED light so that your plants get enough light in the off-season.

5. Too Much or Too Little Fertilizer

Plants need light + water + nutrients to thrive, so it’s important not to skimp on any of those. Many gardeners understand that but then overfeed their plants. This can lead to weak growth and plants that fall over or are susceptible to diseases. So, ensure you follow the instructions on your fertilizer package carefully. They come in many different strengths and styles, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer to how much and how often you should feed them.

Underfeeding, on the other hand, creates poor growth with low yields. Again, ensure you follow the feeding schedule on your fertilizer.

When you use organic amendments, plants need much less food. However, many people don’t feed them when they use amendments, thinking they are enough. In the garden, it often is. But in the greenhouse with limited soil, it depends on the plants and the season. So, it’s a good idea to still feed them, especially during the spring when they are starting to grow and later as they flower and start producing fruits. You can still use organic fertilizers. Homemade aerated compost, manure, or seaweed teas will instantly boost your plants when needed.

6. Not Mulching

Mulch is one of the most commonly omitted essential factors with some thinking it’s just unnecessary extra work. However, nearly all plants benefit from mulch, especially those in pots and beds. The mulch moderates the soil temperature, keeping the roots cooler in summer and warmer in winter. It reduces evaporation from the soil, reducing water stress and making it so you don’t have to water your plants so often. Mulch also significantly reduces the need for weeding. Mulch not only makes for happier plants but that “unnecessary work” actually makes your job much easier!

Ideally, use a layer of compost mulch to nourish the soil and plants and some leaf or aged bark mulch on top. A really good system uses compost, followed by 2 layers of newspaper that will smother weeds as they try to grow, followed by the leaf or bark mulch on top. Leave mulch on perennials for the winter. The mulch from your annuals can be saved or tossed in the compost at the end of the season.

7. Overcrowding

When we get our greenhouse up and running, trying to fill them with as many plants as possible can be tempting. However, plants need room to grow and spread their roots, branches, and leaves. Overcrowding will limit their access to water, light, and nutrients, and you don’t want your plants competing with each other since this will stress them all.

Overcrowding also restricts the airflow around them, trapping humidity and creating conditions for plant diseases like powdery mildew and others to thrive.

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Your chosen method will depend on your plants, their size, and the materials you have on hand. The best frost protection methods are those that reach down to ground level and cover the top of the plant to trap the most heat.

Group Your Potted Plants

Ideally, bring potted plants indoors into a cool room overnight, never next to a heat source, and move them back out the next day. If that isn’t possible, push your pots together for group protection in a protected corner or against a building to protect them from the wind.

You can also wrap the pots in blankets and cover the tops with a tarp, plastic, or a light blanket; just be careful not to smother young plants under something too heavy, and be sure to remove the covers during the day. If possible, potted plants should also be watered first since water moderates temperatures and protects them from cold winds.

However, never water if it is already freezing, or you will damage their roots.

Leaf, Pine Needle, or Straw Mulch

Mulch is a fantastic way to protect plants from frost. You can save dead fall leaves, collect pine needles, or use purchased straw. Spread the mulch over the root zone to protect their roots.

You can even gently bury smaller plants in mulch if it’s nice, light, and airy so you don’t smother them. When putting mulch on top of plants, ensure you never leave it on top for more than three days in a row. If you have a longer cold snap, remove it during the day and reapply at night so your plant can still photosynthesize when needed.

DIY Frost Tents

For larger plants, you don’t need to purchase frost tents or blankets when you can make your own using materials you have lying around. One method is to use plant stakes or poles that are just taller than your plants when inserted in the ground.

Place 3 – 4 stakes or poles around the plant a little ways away from it, but not too far; it depends on how bushy your plants are. Then, drape something over top of it, letting it hang over the poles and down to the ground.

You can use frost-cover blankets, tarps, clear plastic sheeting, bedroom sheets, blankets, car covers, garbage bags, bubble wrap, or burlap. People often wrap plants in blankets without making a tent with poles, but that may seriously damage the leaves and branches.

Also, the best frost protection occurs when your cover goes down to the soil level. Even if the soil is cold, it will always be warmer than the nighttime air, so when your cover goes down to the soil, it will trap any heat radiating upwards from the soil under the cover and protect your plant.

For plants under 2 feet tall, a tomato cage covered with a garbage bag works great and can be easily set up in under two minutes. Save the bags and re-use them for garbage, or keep them ready for your next frost.

It’s important to take frost covers off during the day if it starts to warm up. Plastic covers especially can damage your plants because it will heat them up too much, and the sudden temperature change can sometimes do more damage than just leaving them out in the frost and hoping for the best.

Homemade Hot Caps

Hot caps are like the cloches or mini-greenhouses you may have seen before. However, instead of buying those expensive clothes, make your own out of 2L plastic soda bottles or larger water jugs with intact lids. Simply cut the entire bottom off the bottle so you can put it directly over the plant. Be sure to leave the lids on at night to keep the heat in. If the lid is missing, wrap a piece of plastic on top, securing it with an elastic band. This is convenient because you can leave the bottles on during the day if you remove the lids to allow excess heat to escape.

If you don’t have plastic bottles, other quick substitutes include large bowls, cardboard boxes, buckets, plant pots (put something over the drainage holes to keep the heat in), and food serving covers. These items should all be removed the next day when it starts to warm up since there are no ventilation holes and no light can get through. You can even throw a tarp over the top for extra protection if it’s really cold.

Hot Water Bottles

Another method of using old plastic bottles is using them as hot water bottles. Fill them with hot water at night, no more than about ¾ full, so they don’t break when the water freezes and expands.

Alternatively, leave them in the sun during the day; you can even paint them black so they warm up even more. Then place them around your plants at night, under a frosted tent preferably, but even without a tent if the frost is not too severe. Then, the heat will dissipate into the air directly around the plants.

When it gets really cold, and the water freezes, this releases heat into the environment, so don’t worry if they freeze. However, be sure to warm them up the next day if you expect another frosty night.

Old Christmas Lights

If it’s really cold, you can use those old incandescent-style Christmas lights. Wrap them around your tender trees, then place a frosted tent over them. Those old lights put off a fair amount of heat that will be trapped under the frost tent.

Be sure to use a quality outdoor extension cord to handle the weather and the energy demand since incandescent lights can draw a lot of power. If you use indoor or poor-quality outdoor cords and overload the cord, you could risk a fire or lose power and wake up to frozen plants!

LED lights are not a great substitute since they put out little heat. However, if that’s all you have, choose your highest wattage, plug them in for an hour, and feel them. If they have any warmth, it will help, particularly if they are placed under a frosted tent.

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The post 6 DIY Projects to Protect Your Plants From Frost first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.