Grow Your Own Dinner
More people than ever before are beginning to grow vegetables in their garden. Growing your own vegetables can be a very satisfying form of gardening and many people are even turning over some flower beds for the production of vegetables for the family.
Growing vegetables is just as easy as growing flowers and, unlike flowers, you can eat the results. Find a small area to begin with where you can plant your vegetable patch. An area in the corner of your suburban garden would be a great start.
Next you should prepare the soil for planting. Break up the ground and remove all traces of weeds, grass and stones. Add fertilizer and dig it well in, then leave your prepared patch for a few days before digging it over once more. You are aiming to achieve a soil that is fine and free from weeds and stones.
Certain types of soil are better for growing certain types of vegetables. For example, if your soil is rich in nitrogen, vegetables such as cabbage and spinach will thrive better than root vegetables as they generally require a soil that is rich in potash. So for the best results, buy a soil tester to determine the type of soil in your garden.
Before planting, check the labels of your plants to make sure that you are planting at the correct time of year. Easy vegetables to grow are potatoes, lettuce, cabbage, beetroot and spinach. Plant seeds in a greenhouse to give them the best possible start.
Once you have your vegetables planted, your next step is to make sure that your patch remains as weed free as you can. If you do the weeding regularly they won’t be able to get established in your vegetable garden. Weeds will steal the nutrients that your vegetables need to flourish. So a regular weeding regime is an absolute necessity for a healthy crop of vegetables.
When planting, always remember to label the rows so that you remember where you have planted things. It can be difficult to remember a few weeks later when your plants begin to sprout.
Even if you don’t have a garden, you can grow some lettuce, spinach and even herbs for the table in containers outside the kitchen door. It is really good to be able to pick a few leaves for your salads when you need them.
Buying a good book on growing vegetables would be a great addition to your bookshelf and would be a handy reference when you need some advice.
Now you can enjoy watching your dinner grow...
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The Landscape Foundation - Soil Building by Kent Higgins
No matter how carefully the garden has been planned on paper, hard practical work must be done by someone before you can see the dream break into flower.If you moved into your new home during the fall or winter you will probably be pretty discouraged when the snow leaves in spring.Grading - Rough GradeThough most building contracts call for the rough grading to be complete, this may be pretty rough. As a bulldozer is used, the surface is usually packed hard, with bricks, wire and boards pressed into it. Leave it alone until the mud dries out quite well, as working it too soon could ruin the texture of the soil.As soon as you can walk on it without getting stuck, pick up and get rid of all the rubbish. You may find that a few knolls need to be shoveled into low spots. This rough grade should be 3 to 4 inches below where you want the finished grade. Excavate shrub beds and others to 9 to 12 inches below the finished grade.Usually poor earth, either sandy or clay fill, is used to make the rough grade. The good topsoil is either buried or scraped off and sold as topsoil to someone else.ManuringIf you can get well-rotted manure, spread it over the rough grade at 1/2 to 1 ton per 1,000 square feet. Then rent a rototiller from an equipment dealer and work this manure into the top 4 to 6 inches of the rough grade. If you cannot get manure, use five bales of granulated peat and 25 pounds of 6-9-6 fertilizer per 1,000 square feet instead. Dig manure or peat and fertilizer into the bottom of shrub beds, using the same rates as for the grade.Finished GradeNow you are ready to add topsoil to fill up to the finished grade. Try to get rich sandy loam or light clay loam. Avoid the woody black muck from swamps that is often sold as topsoil, and also the very light yellow sand. It takes about 3 cubic yards of topsoil to cover 1,000 square feet with a finch layer; therefore. 12 cubic yards should give you a 4-inch layer. The shrub beds and others need 9 to 12 inches to fill them up to the finished grade. You will probably find that you need 15 to 20 cubic yards of topsoil altogether.To save a lot of shoveling, have the trucker spread the topsoil as he dumps it. You will have to do some hand work, of course. On a large lot where you can use a machine, use a plank drag hitched short on one side behind a tractor to level the earth. On a small lot, hand raking is about the only solution but you can make it simpler - though heavier work - by tying a 3-foot stick (1 x 2 inches) on the rake and using it upside down.FertilizingAs soon as the ficus tree and lawn area is raked smooth , roll it until it is firm. This will show up humps and hollows that need to be raked again. Before you do this raking, scatter 20 to 25 pounds of 6-9-6 fertilizer per 1,000 square feet over the area like putting fertilizer to your ficus tree house plant so that it is worked into the surface three or four days before seeding or sodding.SeedingUse a top-quality grass-seed mixture - it does not pay to use cheap seed. Eighty percent Kentucky bluegrass or Merion bluegrass along with 20 percent red top or Norlea ryegrass has proved most satisfactory in Canada, when sown at 3 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Seed either between May 1 and 15 or between August 20 and September 10; sodding may be done from late May to October. Water the lawn regularly until it is well established.
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Getting Rid Of Slugs
At one time or another, every gardener battles the problem of pests eating their prized petunias, or dazzling daffodils. Pests come in various forms, but if you ask most gardeners, they will agree that one of their biggest pet peeves about pests is slugs!
How do you know if your garden is the victim of these pests? There are several signs: holes that are eaten in leaves, often irregular sizes; slime trails around your plants or on the soil and leaves; young plants or seedlings that have been stripped bare or eaten to the ground.
Slugs particularly like young plants and delphiniums, so if you have these in your garden, chances are you will have slugs as well.
So how do you get rid of these pesky munchers? There are several ways to take back control of your garden and keep it whole and beautiful:
" You can manually pick them off your plants at night, as this is when they are most likely to be having their feast.
" You can spread gritty, or sharp materials around your garden like broken eggshells.
" If you live in a rural area, you can use various farm animals to help you: ducks, frogs, turtles and chickens will all eat slugs.
" If you have potted plants, you can grease the rim with salt and a bit of Vaseline.
" For the organic gardener, you can use a predator to hunt and eat the slugs. One such predator is the Nematode worm. These worms only enjoy the warmer weather, so it's best to not use them in early spring or fall.
" You can use bait to capture the slugs in containers to dispose of later. Effective bait includes empty grapefruit halves, beer, yeast, potato, and dog food. Once you have captured them, you can try feeding them to the birds, or putting them in your unsuspecting neighbor's backyard. (just kidding!)
" If you want an effective way to kill slugs once you've captured them you can put the container into your freezer (tightly sealed of course), and then compost them once they are frozen; however, the cook in your house may not appreciate touching a handful of slugs when they were reaching for a pound of hamburger for tonight's dinner!
Slugs can be a bothersome problem, but also a common one. There are various methods for getting rid of them, and a quick trip to your local nursery will get you the information you need on which remedy listed above will work best with your type of garden. [http://www.care-gardening.com/]Gardening Care: Looking for Gardening Tips and Information? Look no further! We have an extensive collection of articles and resources at your fingertips. Visit our Gardening Articles section for great advice, or visit our Gardening Resources section for extended information
Visit our Gardening Articles section for great advice, or visit our [http://www.green-fingers-gardening.com/]Gardening Resources section for extended information. |
What is an Organic Garden and Do I Need One?
There has been an outcry over the past few years to ban pesticides and grow plants and vegetables more naturally, without interference from man-made materials like synthetic fertilizers; thus, organic gardening has become much more popular - almost the 'in' thing to do if you do any type of gardening.
First, let's define organic gardening. When you choose to go organic, you are choosing to plant with the help of nature, not synthetics. You will not use any pesticides, synthetics, or other man-made materials. You WILL use raw products that nature produces to replenish the soil, like vegetable and fruit peelings, grass clippings and fall leaves.
Organic gardening takes careful planning and knowledge, specifically in relation to pest control. You will need to know the life cycles of certain pests and which ones are likely to destroy your plants. Organic gardeners usually allow for a certain amount of damage resulting from pests. Some pests do their damage for a short time, then move on. Did you know that in some parts of the world, farmers use black widow spiders to eat the harmful pests from their crops, such as grapes? The spiders will eat the pests but not the grapes!
There are other so-called pests that are actually beneficial to your garden. Lady bugs will eat your aphids, and birds love a grub buffet. Spiders, snakes and even lizards can help keep your garden free of plant-eating insects.
Most people choose to create an organic garden because they do not wish to pollute the air with pesticides, which are known to contain harmful cancer-causing ingredients. These pesticides not only kill pests, but also deplete the soil of vital nutrients. That is why most experts agree that the fruits and vegetables we eat are less nutritious today than in years past. Pesticides are also deadly to wildlife, pets and humans.
A good solution to pests in your garden is to use a variety of different plants. Not every insect will be attracted to every plant, so an infestation will be unlikely. You can also consider natural organic pesticides, which are less harmful to the environment.
Organic gardening is all about creating and maintaining rich, nutrient-rich soil and replenishing it with nature's resources. Compost and organic gardening go hand-in-hand. If you care for the environment and Mother Earth, you may want to consider planting an organic garden, as opposed to one that uses pesticides.
Growing and maintaining an organic garden takes planning and patience. If you can accept the fact that you will have pests on occasion, you will have a pleasant, organic experience! |
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