It turns out Carrie Underwood's passions extend beyond the stage. The singer owns a 400-acre "backyard" on which she houses a chicken coop, an orchard, horse stables and a garden and greenhouse. While I don't have the space for chicken and horses, I wish, I do have the space for a garden and this singer inspired me. So, I went out and tried to channel my Carrie Underwood gardening skils. Here are the tips I followed.
Videos by Wide Open Country
1. Make Sure Your Plants Have Good Drainage
If you are like me perhaps you thought plants all drained the same. I just assumed that was something that they did on their own and that they didn't need any help from me. Well, plants in a pot or in a garden do need a little help from you. You want to buy soil that helps your plants have good drainage. Carrie Underwood's gardening team got her a soil that had extra forest products, like bark, to help her plants with drainage.
2. Loosen The Roots
When you buy a plant in the store its roots are tightly bound together. That is because it has been compact in the pot it was sold in. When planting it in your garden, a larger pot, or your greenhouse you want to lightly rake over the roots with your hand. Doing this helps loosen them and it signals to the plant that it should stretch out its roots once in the soil.
3. Know Your Directions
Something interesting that I learned from Carrie Underwood's gardening video is that the direction your plant matters. For citrus trees that have been grafted, you want to point that graph point away from the sun. Citrus plants in particular do not like that part of their stalk getting direct sunlight. That was an oddly specific tip that I would have never known.
4. Strawberry Secrets
I finally figured out why my strawberries never made it in my garden before. Apparently they have a crown in the center of them and that can not be under the soil. If it is the plant will rot and die. So when planting strawberries, follow in Carrie Underwood's gardening footsteps, not mine, and make sure the crown of the strawberry plant is above the soil.
5. The Perfect Seed Technique
When planting root veggies from seeds there is a special technique that can help ensure your seeds are evenly dispersed. Open your seed packet, tilt it slightly forward and gently tap the bag. This allows the seeds to fall out slowly and in a controlled manner. Which helps prevent over seeding a specific area.
