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in Gardening Tips, Soil
Key Ingredients of Garden Soil
What makes good garden soil? Here are some key ingredients: Air and water in the soil Half the volume of soil is air and water which fill the spaces or pores between crumbs of soil. Plant roots and soil microorganisms breathe in oxygen from the soil air. Plant roots absorb minerals dissolved in soil water. […] More
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Your Vegetable Garden Soil
Garden wisdom: “Don’t try to grow a 5 dollar plant in a 50 cent hole. For the best results, grow a 50 cent plant in a 5 dollar hole.” Growing vegetables starts with the soil. Soil is a mix of fine rock particles, water, air, organic matter, microorganisms, and other animals including worms. Soil is […] More
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in Seed Starting, Tips
Seed Starting Supplies
It is easy to grow your own plants from seed. By starting your own seedlings you can choose from hundreds of varieties that are not available in garden centers. The cost of plants will be far less than those sold in nurseries. You can also have transplants ready to go into the garden at any […] More
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in Tips
Ready Your Garden for Spring
Spring is coming soon! Here are some early spring tips for your garden. Warm Your Garden Before Planting Pre-warm cold soil before sowing or transplanting warm-weather crops into the garden. Black or clear plastic sheeting is a simple and inexpensive way to warm the soil and get a jump on the growing season. Continue […] More
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Vegetable Crops for Beginning Gardeners
Beginning vegetable gardeners can be easily intimidated by the scores and scores of vegetable seed varieties available from even the smallest seed retailer. There are hundreds of vegetable varieties available in garden centers and online each year. What to plant? Taste, quality, speed to harvest, total yield, ease of harvest, plant habit, disease, and pest […] More
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Vegetables to Seed Start Indoors
Snow on the ground. Heavy winter rain in the garden. Last average frost date weeks away. No problem. You can start the spring vegetable garden indoors. If you know the average date of the last spring frost in your garden or region, you can make a schedule for starting vegetable crops indoors and get growing […] More
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Planning Succession Crops
Succession planting will allow you to plant several times throughout the growing season for a continuous supply of fresh vegetables. To plan succession crops you must know two things: • The number of weeks of growing season in your garden. The length of the growing season is the number weeks between the last frost in […] More
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Succession Planting–Be An Expert
Succession planting means growing different crops in the same space one right after the other in the same season or planting the same crop in different parts of the garden in succession at different times. Succession planting results in a succession of harvests–a long continuous harvest season. Two Examples of Succession Planting A row of […] More
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in Gardening Tips, Tips
Common Mulches for Vegetable Gardens
Here are commonly used organic and inorganic mulches for vegetable gardens (for the benefits of mulching see : Organic mulches: • Compost. Decomposed and partially decomposed organic materials. Compost is both a mulch and soil conditioner. A 2- to 3-inch layer of compost will control weeds though not prevent weed growth. Incorporate compost into the […] More
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Mulch for Vegetable Gardens: The Benefits
Mulch is any material laid on the surface of the soil. It can be organic, such as compost, shredded leaves, or lawn clipping, or inorganic or synthetic, such as coarse sand, gravel, or plastic. During the growing season, mulch can slow evaporation, inhibit and control weeds, and regulate soil temperature. In winter, mulch can protect […] More
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Organic Fertilizers and Soil Amendments
Organic fertilizers and organic soil amendments come from natural sources–plants, animals, and rocks. An organic fertilizer is a natural soil amendment that adds plant nutrients to the soil, most often nitrogen, phosphorous, or potassium. (NPK analysis is the concentration of major plant nutrients–nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K)–in a fertilizer as a percentage of […] More
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Vegetable Plant Nutrients: Sources and Deficiencies
When vegetables and other plants lack essential nutrients or elements they will not look themselves; they will look unhealthy and they may even die. The symptom of a nutrient deficiency can range from yellowing and poor growth to flower and fruit failure. Nutrient deficiency symptoms in plants can be confusing. Many plant nutrient deficiencies share […] More
Stephen Albert