Paint it green, with care

People have developed lot of interest and now most of the gardeners are also well equipped with information. But our endeavour is always to keep you update and lead you to the best of garden practices for best results. There are a few misbelieve in gardening. Let us discuss these today. Many a time, I see a mound of soil made around the tree. When I ask about it, the answer that I invariably get is to give support to the tree so that it does not fall down. It is not correct. A tree has substantial weight and is not dependent upon the kind of ‘support’ that you are providing by making mud mounds around the main stem. In fact, we are doing more damage than good. In such cases, the moisture gets conserved and is continuously in touch with the main stem. This causes rotting or fungal infection. The roots do not get proper breathing and because of continuous contact with moisture there is rotting of roots. This causes poor anchorage leading to the bending or uprooting of plants. Moreover, the mounds become potential place for breeding of insects and pests that disturb soil and weaken the anchorage.

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Another (mal)practice is the application of salt to plants. Takers for this practice are increasing every single day, through word of mouth. This is mostly being done in case of lemon plants. But mind you, it is wrong. This practice will in fact end up killing your plants. Have you ever heard of any fertilizer that has sodium chloride as one of its contents and still applied? No. The application of salt may cause reverse osmosis, a physiological process in plant cells that causes death of the plant. Stop this practice.

Exposing of roots is another prevalent practice (especially in case of rose plants), which needs to be undone. Some of the gardeners open plant roots to ‘feed’ the plants and also to expose them to air and sun. This is not correct. Firstly, in the process of exposing the roots, the first casualty are the plant feeder roots that are confined to the top soil layer. It is like a person without mouth. The plants fail to take nutrition and it tells on the health of the plant that may even die. Repeated planting and dying of plants in the beds affects uniformity of the bed and also the blooming pattern. Secondly, the plant roots are generally by nature photo-negative, that means they like darkness and move deep down the earth. Had there been a need for sun or light, the nature would have provided the roots at the top of the plant. You do not need to expose roots to provide light. So far as the feeding of the plants is concerned, you do not have to do spoon feeding by exposing the roots. The fertilizers are easily available in the market to help your beloved plant out.

(The author is a Panchkula-based horticulturist and landscapist.)