Every gardener wants a beautiful, healthy landscape that they can look upon with pride.  Some people try to accomplish this by relying on chemical fertilizers to feed growing plants and using strong pesticides to wipe out voracious insects.  Other gardeners prefer to take a more natural approach to cultivation.  The good news is that creating a yard full of strong, healthy plants, shrubs, and trees is quite possible without using artificial chemical helpers.  The key is to get the basics right.  Choosing the right plants and taking care of the soil will go a long way towards ensuring success.  Let’s take a look at these two elements of a productive and attractive garden.

It’s important to choose plants that are appropriate for your garden site.  Certain plants are more suited to hot, humid locales, while others do best in moderate climates.  The length of the growing season may also be a consideration when you are deciding what to cultivate.  It’s always a good idea to select plants that are native to your area, where possible.  The amount of light and shade in your yard will also be a determining factor in your choice of plants.  If you intend to grow vegetables and fruits, you need to be able to situate the garden where it will receive full sun all day.  But if the garden area is in partial shade most of the time, you will have to work within that limitation and choose greenery that thrives in dappled or indirect sunlight.

Before you plant anything, you must build up the soil and transform it into an excellent growing medium.  Experienced gardeners know that soil isn’t just dirt. It’s a complex eco-system that is teeming with activity.  A balanced soil contains about 25 percent air, 25 percent water, 45 percent minerals and inorganic matter, and 5 percent organic matter.

In addition, fertile soil holds an astonishing range of life.  Insects, earthworms, fungi, bacteria, yeast, protozoa, algae, nematodes, actinomycetes and other micro-organisms all reside within healthy soil.  Most of the lifeforms are too small to notice with the naked eye, but they have a vital role to play.  These organisms spend their lives breaking down organic matter into the basic elements that plants need for growth.  In fact, you can’t have good soil without maintaining a large population of microscopic creatures.

The best way to build up the soil is to add organic matter and plant nutrients in the form of natural raw materials.  Compost, manure, organic fertilizers, and cover crops are just some of the options you have for improving the soil.  The process takes some time and work, and has to be repeated every year, but its importance can’t be overstated.  Every good garden begins with the land.  Plants grown in balanced, nutrient-rich soil are more productive and more resistant to disease and insects than poorly nourished plants.

The difference between a successful garden and a disappointing one is not a matter of luck.  Some factors such as temperature and weather patterns are out of your hands, so it’s important to take the steps that are within your control.  If you select the right plants and build up the soil, you are much more likely to wind up with the beautiful flower beds, home-grown vegetables, or eye-catching landscape that you want.