Remember to Label Your Plant Pots

Gardening should be all about trial and error, there is no reason why every gardener shouldn’t try his or her hand at growing all manner of different flowers and fruits. The beauty of gardening is that if you do it right then you’ll have a lovely new plant, and if you do it wrong; well, at least you learnt something new along the way. The key to this practice of trial and error is that you label and record your plants and your procedures.

There are so many different gardening tasks and projects that can be done in your potting shed or on trial beds in your vegetable plot. If your going to undertake a trial be sure to have a pen and note pad with you at all times and list out all the steps you do in each trial. Remember to have plant labels to hand and keep your work space as organised as possible

To effectively use plant labels it is important to note all the vital information; be sure to include the plants name, be it Latin or common name. Also include the date at which the trial took place and also include the factor which you have altered for that particular trial.

Examples of gardening trials include; variations of plant pot potting mixtures, variations of fertiliser types, variation of fertilizer amounts, variations of growing times, variation of plant pot sizes.. As you can see the list of gardening trials is endless. As a gardener you if have to explore what areas you want to explore.

The reasons for gardening trails would be to create the most ideal and most economical growing conditions for your particular plants. Personally I try to record as much information as possible around the garden, from recording the growth of newly planted beech saplings over many years, to recording the condition of various plants after heavy frosts. Note taking is crucial to learn and develop an understanding of how plants grow and respond to external stimuli and external factors. The benefits of accurate plant labels mean that quick and accurate reading and identifying of plants can be made and this will certainly benefit beginner gardeners at developing their range of plant names.

You can carry out a gardening trial any time of year. Winter is a great time to record the effects of cold weather on your plants. To get started with a trial, begin by preparing your plant labels, once written up and in place you should note in your notepad the purpose of your trial and date at which you will start. Continue to assess the growth and changes to plants over the course of the trial and by the end you should be able to determine a result and conclude on how next to approach your garden.

Over a number of years you will be able to develop an extensive amount of data and information on plants, climate, soil, fertilisers, pest control options and more. These notes would be the envy of every gardener.