3 Gardening Hacks to Get Your Garden Growing Faster & Leave Your Neighbors Green with Envy

Image Source

There aren’t many gardening hacks you can employ successfully when trying to get your garden to grow faster. There is, however, a ton of bad gardening advice available all over the internet. We are going to focus on 3 specific gardening hacks that will get your garden up and running quicker, get the plants themselves producing faster, and get the harvest done sooner.

There are several reasons people get involved with gardening; some do it to improve the quality of food they eat, others do it to improve the overall health of the family by taking control over the source from which their food is produced, and yet others grow a garden full of flowers just because they like the aesthetic appeal and amazing aromas associated with floral gardens. Regardless of what you are growing, and why you are growing it, one thing remains true; gardening is usually competitive, if you’re not competing with neighbors down the block to see whose garden does better, then you’re more than likely competing with yourself to see if you can improve on last year’s growing season.

Everyone is looking for advantages to use in the garden that their neighbors are unaware of. If nothing else, secret gardening hacks give you something to brag about and share with your curious neighbors when they see how much faster you were able to get from seed to harvest. So, without further ado, here are the three, step-by-step gardening hacks that will get your garden growing faster and leave you neighbors green with envy!

Gardening Hack #1—Feeding the Plants:
I know what you’re thinking; how hard can it be to feed plants, you just throw some fertilizer in a gallon of water and saturate the plants…right? Wrong. While that is part of the process involved with feeding the plants, there is quite a bit more to it than that, otherwise everyone would be doing it, and experiencing the same successful results.

1—1: Soil Test
The first thing you should do to increase the speed with which your garden grows is perform a simple soil test. Soil testing kits should be available at any local nursery, or home and garden store. The soil test accomplishes a number of things that are essential to growing a garden fast. The results of the soil test will be used to determine what the composition of the existing soil is. This information will help you determine what nutrients the soil requires in order to be used as a bed for a garden, and at what levels those nutrients will need to be added. The object here is to neutralize the soil to the point it creates a well-balanced environment for plant growth, and determine what type of fertilizer to use throughout the growing season for optimal results.

1—2: Grab Organic or Inorganic Fertilizer
This is an important factor to focus on as it will determine short-term and long-term results. Organic fertilizers are often considered the best option for growing a garden; however, they are difficult to gauge as the nutrients available in them vary quite considerably. Organic fertilizers also take longer to work in the soil of the garden, yet they will develop healthier soil in the garden bed over the course of time. Inorganic fertilizers work as soon as they are introduced to the garden; unlike organic fertilizers which must be broken down before they deliver nutrients to the soil. So, if you want a healthy garden bed, use organic fertilizer; if you want your crops to grow faster, then use inorganic fertilizer.

1—3: Grab Granular or Liquid Fertilizer
This is just as important as the step above. Granular fertilizer, like its name implies, is manufactured in pellets. This makes it very similar to organic fertilizer in that it must be broken down before it delivers nutrients to the plants, which means it is best used if you want to improve soil conditions over a long period of time. Liquid fertilizers deliver nutrients much faster because they are not compressed into pellets; however, liquid fertilizers require a more frequent application schedule. When using liquid fertilizer, read the instructions on the bottle and adhere to them precisely; over-fertilizing the plants can cause them to “burn” and perish.

1—4: Fertilizer Inspection
Most plants require 16 different nutrients in order to grow from seed to harvest successfully. The three nutrients that require the most attention when it comes to gardening are; phosphorous, potassium, and nitrogen, the macronutrients of the fertilizer mixture. Plants also require several supplementary nutrients such as magnesium, sulfur and calcium, in addition to the following micronutrients; copper, iron, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, cobalt and boron. The fertilizers you choose must have the three macronutrients listed above, or they will not grow. Some fertilizer also contains “plant food.” If you are growing a single plant, or a single variety of plants, then fertilizer with plant food should provide an extra boost. If you’re growing several varieties of plants, then choose a fertilizer that does not have plant food in it.

1—5: Determine Nutrient Ratios of Fertilizer
Each container of fertilizer should have the three macronutrients listed above, in this order; nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium. These three macronutrients are represented by the letters; “N” for nitrogen, “P” for phosphorous, and “K” for potassium. Each container of fertilizer will have a three digit identifier listed on it that will determine the percentage of macronutrients available in that particular type of fertilizer. For instance, a bag of fertilizer advertising 20-20-20, indicates that there is 20% nitrogen, 20% phosphorous, and 20% potassium. These numbers can vary as well, such as 6-12-6, indicating 6% nitrogen, 12% phosphorous, and 6% potassium, etc. This is where the soil test comes in handy. Looking at the results of the soil test, determine which fertilizer mixture will provide the most benefit to your soil and plants.

1—6: Add Fertilizer to the Garden
The application method you use will be determined by the size of the garden and the type of the fertilizer. When it comes to the step in the process, adhere to the instruction on the bottle for application procedures and dilution recommendations. Add fertilizer on the schedule suggested by the fertilizer manufacturer; this will help you prevent over-fertilization and premature crop collapse.

1—7: Stay on Schedule
Plants consume nutrients rather quickly; it’s what helps them grow and produce edible vegetation. Your plants will become familiar with their feeding/fertilizer schedule, so it is important that you adhere to it. Again, the amount and frequency with which the fertilizer is applied will be determined by the species of plant being grown and the recommendations of the fertilizer manufacturer.

Gardening Hack #2—Selecting the Right Plants:
One of the first rules of gardening is; grow what you like to eat. It makes no sense to grow a garden full of vegetables that nobody in the house likes to eat. If you grow plants you like to eat, you will spend more time and give more attention to the garden, which should translate into better success. On the flip side of that coin, if you grow a garden full of vegetables you do not have a flavor for, then you are less likely to see them through to harvest.

2—1: Select Plants & Varieties
Not only should you select plants you like to eat, you should also take a few moments to research the different varieties of each plant. All plants grow at various rates, as do different varieties of each plant. As an example, Glacier tomatoes are normally ripe and ready for harvest around the 50 day mark, whereas most other varieties of tomatoes take an average of 70-90 days to become ripe and ready to pluck from the vine.

2—2: Grow Greens
Several varieties of greens grow rather rapidly. Microgreens take an average of 14 days to be ripe and ready for harvest. Lettuce normally takes about a month to become ripe and ready to be plucked from the garden. If you like greens, then there are several you can grow in a very short amount of time. Research what grows best in your region and get those greens growing.

2—3: Vegetable Selection
Plenty of the vegetables most of us would include in our gardens, grow extremely fast. Some of the vegetables you can grow in 2 months or less include; peas, snap beans, broccoli, radishes, beets, cucumbers, squash, okra and some onions. Do a little research on varieties and add as many of them to the garden as you would like to grow.

2—4: Fast Growing Flowers
Quite a few people grow flowers, either as stand-alone gardens, or to fill empty spots in the vegetable garden. If you have an interest in growing flowers, then a few of the fastest growing species are; Pot Marigolds, Cosmos, Mexican Sunflower, Yellow Flag, Black-eyed Susan, Snapdragons, Purple Coneflower, Marigolds, Poppy, Horsemint, Indigo Spires, Calliopsis, & Mums.

Gardening Hack #3—Give Growing Plants a Helping Hand:
Gardening involves quite a bit more than just testing the soil, selecting plants, and adding fertilizer, you must also take measures to spend time in the garden with the plants, as part of maintaining them and ensuring they make it to harvest. Plants are like any other living thing; they require assistance in the early stages if they are going to have a successful growing cycle.

3—1: Start Seedlings Inside
Most gardeners cannot wait for spring to arrive; it signals the start of the growing season. Depending on which region of the country you live in, it may be necessary to start your seedlings inside, 1-3 months before spring is scheduled to start. Seedlings can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks to get going and show sprouts. Sprouting them indoors and then transplanting them into the garden once the spring weather has arrived, and they will come to harvest 4-6 weeks earlier than if the seeds had been sewn directly into the garden bed. If you are unfamiliar with starting seedlings, then you must do the research on each species of plant you would like to put in the garden once spring arrives, and follow the directions for getting the seeds started.

3—2: Gab in the Garden
Recent studies indicate that plants actually respond to vocals; talking and singing. While some people might consider it borderline crazy to speak to plants, these studies show that plants grow faster and stronger when they receive ample attention from human vocal inflections. So, when you’re in the garden, watering, weeding, pruning, or what have you, talk, sing, or hum a little tune for the plants to appreciate; they will return the favor come harvest.

3—3: Let There Be Light
Plants require plenty of light, natural or artificial. Plants also adhere to a growth cycle that is directly tied into the amount of light it is given. If you are growing plants indoors, then you want to use either HPS (High Pressure Sodium) lights, which provide light from the red/orange end of the spectrum, or MH (Metal Halide) lights, which provide light from the blue side of the spectrum. HPS will cause the plant to grow long and leafy, whereas MH cause plants to grow shorter and more compact. If you are growing plants outdoors, then do the research on how much light they require; some plants perform well in direct sunlight, while others perform better in shady areas.

NOTE: Under controlled, indoor gardens, the growth cycle of plants can be manipulated for faster growth and production. Plants will continue to absorb light and convert it during photosynthesis, as long as light is available. Therefore, if you leave the lights on 24 hours a day, the plants will continue to grow. In order to get them to flower, you change the light cycle to 12 hours on, 12 hours off; this can be an excellent method of growing a garden faster than anyone else on the block.

3—4: Add Used Coffee Grounds
Several studies have shown that adding coffee grounds to the soil of your garden is beneficial in a number of ways. Caffeine, which is found in coffee, has been shown to speed up the growth cycle of several species of plants. Coffee grounds are also rich in nitrogen, which as we discussed earlier, is a macronutrient necessary to the successful growth of plants in general. Do not pour hot coffee directly on the plants; add the coffee grounds to the soil and mix them in gently.

If you follow the suggestions and recommendations contained in this Special Report, then you should end up with the fastest growing garden in the neighborhood. You may not consider yourself a “competitive” gardener, but once you master these three gardening hacks to get your garden growing faster than your friends, they are going to try and outperform you the following year. So, get out there and get your garden growing; your neighbors are waiting!