Best Garden Resource

Vegetable Gardening

April 10, 2010 - Posted by admin- 3 Comments

Gurney's Vegetable Seeds – $20 Off $40

I’ve mentioned vegetable gardening in some of the other posts, but here I’d like to introduce vegetable gardening to the people who are just thinking about having a vegetable garden, but have no experience with it. Given economic conditions, it makes sense to grow some of your own food. It’s also a healthy way to feed your family.
What I would recommend is to start with the crops that are easiest to grow and as you get the hang of it, you can work up to more difficult crops. The easiest crops to grow are cherry tomatoes and bush beans. They both will give you lots of good harvest and are delicious. Carrots and radishes grown from seed are also very easy and even young children enjoy growing these and they love to pull them when they’re ready. Remind them to grab the stems down at the base, so they won’t break off the foliage. When you get your seed packets follow the directions on the package for planting and always prepare your soil first . ( See soil improvement and raised bed gardening for ideas). You also want to choose a spot that gets at least 6 hours of sun per day. There’s more information about planting techniques in the post “What kind of garden do you want”.
Master Gardening has a lot of helpful items for your gardening needs. They carry compost bins, a variety of raised beds and many other goodies.

Another crop that’s relatively easy is summer squash or zucchini, providing you have enough room. (They spread quite a bit) Chard is also very easy and it will even tolerate some shade and looks good in ornamental gardens.
Try to grow things you love to eat, and don’t plant more than you can use or give away. I also like to plant those vegetables that are usually very expensive in the stores. One such luxury veggie is asparagus. The added benefit is, it’s a perennial that comes back every year and the older it gets, the more prolific.

Melons are also pretty expensive in the stores and all you need is a little space for these. There are some smaller varieties if your space is limited.
Speaking of small spaces, you might want to consider a small lettuce garden. You can grow your own salad fixings on a patio or deck or even a window box. Prolong the harvest by just filching from the outer leaves.
Strawberries are another perennial that you can container grow or use in a hanging basket. They prefer partial shade. If you do plant them in the ground, watch out for snails, They love them. Try putting a tin pie pan with beer in it out at night. They crawl in and drown. ( AWWW!)
The one crop I wouldn’t recommend that you grow is corn. It leaches all the nutrients from the soil, takes a lot of space, and when it’s ready to harvest, you can buy it at the market 4 for a dollar. Not worth the trouble.
Getting back to patio plants, breeders have developed many compact varieties that grow well in containers. One such is petite patio tomato .
You can also grow peppers, and bush baby zucchini, to name a few.
Growing your own garden is very rewarding, not to mention, you’ll save a lot of money on those expensive vegetables at the store. Try keeping a journal of what you planted where and when, then record your successes and failures at the end of the season. There’s not a gardener alive that hasn’t had failures, so don’t be discouraged. Just use the journal each year as a way to learn about your different crops.
Best of luck to you!
This book from Amazon is a great guide for you to follow.

What Kind of Garden Do You Want

November 13, 2009 - Posted by admin- 9 Comments

Your garden is a reflection of your personality. Some gardens are charming and haphazard and others are so well planned that they are very formal and maybe too perfect for some. I tend to like something in the middle (not too formal and not too messy). Of course, it also depends on your site. If it is hilly, you need to consider terracing, if it’s very flat and uninteresting, you can section it off in various areas for different points of interest. It’s desirable to avoid straight lines. Curves are more pleasing to the eye. You can take a garden hose and lay out your bed by curving it around. Another way is to use rope or mark it with white gypsum (which also can be worked into the soil to soften it). If you plan for a lawn, keep in mind you might want to define the edges with bender board, bricks, or cement for easy mowing and trimming.

For some design ideas, I recom-
mend this book: Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love

First, you need to plan the larger element of your garden, such as trees and shrubs. If you like lots of shade, then you need to plan for a few trees. Remember to research the trees you choose so you are aware of the size they will become. Also you’ll want to consider whether you want evergreen or deciduous trees and shrubs. A combination of both is a good choice. Deciduous where you want the light and sun to come through in the winter and evergreen where you want the greenery when nothing else is happening in the landscape. There are many deciduous trees that have riotous color in the fall, which is a wonderful sight. You can add flowering shrubs for color also, or just do a big flower bed. (These are a little more labor intensive, but very rewarding).
 
For lots of good ideas, and references for trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and annual and perennial flowers, I recommend the Sunset Western Garden book below.  There’s also Sunset books for other areas, (Central and Eastern U.S.).

When it comes to deciding what to plant where, if you haven’t a clue, you may need some professional help. Either that or buy a book with design plans and plant suggestions. Even the most seasoned gardeners, make mistakes, but smaller plants are easy to replace, where large trees are more of a problem if they aren’t right for the site. Try to plan your landscape with the size of your house and lot in mind. Keeping everything in scale to go with the site is best.

Another way to add interest and design is to create mounds and also to build planters either near the foundation of your house or along a drive or just at a corner of your lot. There are many products to create planters, such as bricks, planks, rocks, etc. Then you can add a really good soil mix to the planter for successful gardening.
You might like to read this book about the White House garden that Michelle Obama created:
Click Here!
Let’s talk about vegetable gardening. One of the best vegetable gardens I’ve had was a raised bed about 25 feet long 3 feet high and 4 feet wide. It was in place when I bought the house and the previous owner had loaded it with some really rich soil. I planted corn, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and squash. The plants grew up and over the sides and almost went into the neighbors yards. It was amazing. I couldn’t really take credit, except for the planting and watering. Well, you don’t have to build a big planter box to have a great garden. Just make sure the soil is rich with nutrients and you have a fence to keep the critters out. ( If you have gophers or moles, you might want to dig down and place chicken wire beneath the soil to keep them out.)

My father always liked to use steer manure in his garden (PHEW) and my grandpa used chicken manure. They both had great gardens. If you use manure in your garden, be certain you work it into the soil and turn the soil a few times well ahead of planting, as it could burn tender new plants. A clue about watering veggies, try to irrigate the soil, but don’t overhead water . They don’t like it . You can plant in little mounds and dig a little trench around each plant for the water. For a really good video on organic gardening:
Click Here!

At the end of the growing season, when you pull out your plants, try covering the soil with straw or hay for the winter. It keeps the weeds down and protects the soil. You can also use old flattened cardboard boxes. These will break down over the winter and will improve the soil.