Garden Medley

With food prices going up I’ve been hearing more and more people talk about starting a garden. It’s a great way to get a little more control over your food supply.

It’s also a great activity for the entire family, even fairly young children. How many little kids do you know that don’t love bugs, dirt and plants?

While it can cost a little money to get things started, and there are no guarantees that you’ll see a good harvest, there are many benefits to gardening. At the very least you will get some exercise and family time if you work at it together.

The big benefit for children is that they learn about where food comes from. Too many children these days have little idea as to where their food comes from. A garden helps them to appreciate it more. They may even try vegetables they would otherwise be reluctant to eat, just because they helped to grow it.

Not to mention garden fresh produce tastes better than what you can buy at the store.

Your main investment will be tools. You’re going to need to be able to dig and to remove weeds. I also recommend a compost bin, so that you can make the most of your kitchen scraps. This is far better for your garden than buying chemicals from the store, not to mention more frugal.

Child size tools as appropriate are also a good idea. You will want to set aside a part of the garden for your children to garden on their own, or at least dig around, if they’re too young to be of real help yet. Even at 2 years of age my kids loved trying to plant seeds.

If you’ve ever worried about the chemicals most farms use or winced at the cost of organic produce at your local grocery store, gardening should be appealing. You’ll have control over what you put on your food as it grows.

At this point in the season you may not want to start from seed. But there are plenty of garden centers with plants well started for you, and plenty of time yet to get these going for a good harvest. You’ll get the advantage of not struggling to get your seeds started, but you’ll have to deal with the plants costing much more than seeds.

If you’ve never gardened before, or if you’ve had bad luck at it, try this ebook on vegetable gardening. You can get some great tips on what you need to do. Some factors will depend on where you live, but you can find information to help you garden successfully in your area.

A vegetable garden is a real pleasure when you get a good start to it, but sometimes the weather takes a turn you just aren’t ready for. Things heat up fast and suddenly your perfect garden is wilting and dying.

It’s a painful thing to see, but don’t accept defeat immediately. You may still be able to save quite a bit of your garden.

The first thing is to stay very aware of your garden. This can be hard to do if you end up working extra hours and just kind of miss that the weather has changed and your plants need more water. But do your best.

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Square foot gardening is a way to make the most of your garden’s space. Rather than planting in straight rows, you garden in built up squares of soil that allow you to easily reach all four sides of the square and maximizes the space in your garden.

Start out by building or buying squares that are 4 feet by 4 feet in size. You will be planting in these containers with each plant (or groups of smaller plants) having a 1 foot by 1 foot area. Leave three feet between each container to make access easier.

The advantage to square foot gardening is that you can reach everything. You do not have to step on any plants, drag a hose across them, etc. Since you build these above ground you will have fewer weeds to deal with. The one disadvantage is that they may need more water. (more…)

Planting a vegetable garden is a real delight. You get fresh produce, fresh air and light exercise. And it doesn’t require a huge back yard to do successfully. Even a small yard or deck is sufficient.

The first thing you need to do is figure out how much space you have for a vegetable garden. This will in part determine what you can grow. Some plants take more room or need more sunlight.

With your space considerations in mind you can start looking at the plants you want to grow. If you’re focusing on containers, tomatoes are a popular choice. Some people even hang them in a planter with a hole in the bottom, with the tomato plant hanging upside down out from the hole. (more…)

It sounds kind of gross, but it’s supposed to be really good for your indoor plants.

Take the piece of absorbent material you often see under your meat and put it in about a gallon of water. Leave it there until it reaches the approximate color of pink lemonade.

Use it to water your indoor plants. Do not use it on food plants, because there is the risk of E. coli. And of course wash your hands after handling it.

This provides your plants with a bunch of nitrogen, so you won’t need to go out and buy fertilizer.

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Starting a garden takes dedication. It also takes at least a few basic tools. The exact ones you need depend on the kind of gardening you’re doing… for example, if you’re only growing an indoor garden or container garden you won’t need a full-size shovel, but one is highly practical for most outdoor gardens.

You will want a trowel. Think of it as a small shovel. It will help you to transplant seedlings or plant seeds. It’s good for digging up weeds.

Pick a well made trowel with a comfortable grip. There are all kinds of grips made so that the trowel will be more comfortable to use. (more…)

Whether you suffer through harsh, cold winters or enjoy relatively mild ones, we are coming up on the time when you need to get ready to plant your seeds for your vegetable garden.

If you need another compost bin this time of year is great to add them, if only because there’s not much actual gardening work to do. Build one or buy one, just make sure you can easily add, remove and turn the material. (more…)

I’m not Italian, but I am married to one. But even before then I was a major fan of cooking with garlic. I keep a lot of it in my kitchen and I think it’s the perfect thing to grow in my garden.

To get started just head out to the store and buy some heads of garlic. Break them up into individual cloves and plant. They’ll start sprouting in a few weeks. You can even plant garlic in the fall before the ground freezes (if you live in a place where that’s an issue) and it will grow for you come spring. (more…)

So you’ve decided to take the plunge and grow your own vegetable garden. Maybe it’s because you want organically grown produce without the high prices found at the store, maybe you want to show your kids where food comes from or maybe you just finally have room!

Whatever the reason, you want to read up on what you need to get done and keep things under control. Getting too ambitious with a vegetable garden can leave you overwhelmed and limit your ability to enjoy the produce. (more…)

Getting your garden off to a good start requires fertile soil. However, the demands of your garden year after year mean that fertilizer is a must.

My personal favorite source of fertilizer is the compost heap. Everything that goes into your compost heap is something that could have ended up in the trash. Then you add in the fact that you don’t have to buy the compost and you have a great deal.

However, other fertilizers can be necessary for other reasons. You may not have a compost heap, may have started it too recently or you need something in your soil that compost can’t provide. (more…)