Winterizing Tips for your Lawn and Garden - free article courtesy ...

Your outdoor plants have worked hard for you all summer, making your yard a place you’re proud to call home. Properly winterizing your lawn and garden is an important step toward healthy soil, lush grass, and happy plants next year. Remember to take care of your outdoor accessories, including your lawn equipment, gardening tools, and all of your lawn and garden decor. A little time spent this autumn will make your gardening and landscaping efforts easier and more enjoyable next spring!

Let’s start with the easy jobs - First remember to store all of your lawn and garden decor including fragile planters, gazing balls, and your deck furniture. Unglazed terra cotta planters left filled with soil outside will often break in the freezing temperatures so it is best to clean them and place them in a storage area where they are protected from the elements.

Autumn is the time to find your birdfeeders and to start stocking your winter feeding pantry. Soon your many feathered friends will be flocking to your feeders for that nutritious morsel. Remember to keep your feeders full through the winter as the birds need reliable food sources through the winter months.

Now that you’ve done the easy tasks, let’s move on to the more mundane winterizing chores. Start by simply cleaning up the vegetable garden. After the first hard frost, remove the year’s annual plants and the dead vegetation. You can add this material to your compost pile, but make sure you’re not adding material from diseased or pest-infested plants. You’ll want to pull perennial weeds before you mulch your garden down for the winter.

The best part of fallgarden-grows"> landscape chores is planting the spring-blooming bulbs. Crocus, tulips, and daffodils are a beautiful addition to the early springgarden-grows"> landscape.

In the yard there’s the major job of raking leaves. These are great either in the compost pile or as direct mulch on the garden. Perennial flowers may be smothered by a heavy layer of mulch, however. Also, wait to prune your trees until later in the winter.

After the ground freezes you can mulch your perennial flowers and newly planted trees. Certain shrubs will need to be wrapped in burlap to protect them from wind damage, sun scald, and other winter injury.

Moving on to the mechanical tasks of winterizing your lawn and garden - While you might try to procrastinate on these jobs until spring, you’ll be well rewarded for the maintenance you perform this fall. Drain the gas from your lawnmower and string trimmer. Actually it’s best to let your mowers and trimmers simply run out of fuel. If you don’t want to ‘waste’ that little bit of fuel, add a gas conditioner before the long winter. Be sure to follow directions. Also, take the same care with your gardening equipment such as your rotary tiller.

Clean all of your landscaping equipment before you store it away for the long, cold winter. Wash with soap and water, clean the air filter, and change the oil. You’ll find that first lawn mowing job in the spring a little bit easier if you take time to sharpen the blades now. You can protect that freshly sharpened blade by applying a little spray oil to the blades. You can also apply light spray oil to other moving parts such as cables and the throttle controls.

Lastly, drain all of the water from the garden hoses and turn off the taps. Be sure to store your insecticides, herbicides, and fertilizers in a safe storage area that will not freeze. Make sure these materials are kept away from children and pets!

Going Green Gardening � Fun

Going green is a very popular trend in today’s society and for good reason. You see it in the grocery stores with reusable bags, banks are consistently trying to get their customers to go green by banking electronically and some stores are converting to more online coupons, offers and sales. There are also ways to be more earth-friendly at home. I’m going to cover here plenty of tips on how to go green in your garden.

There are plenty of things you can do to conserve energy, reduce waste, reuse and recycle materials while gardening. Taking a second look at your watering practices may allow you to cut down on utility expenses while also conserving one of earth’s most precious resources. When shopping for plants, select those suited to your region’s moisture conditions such as native plants that naturally thrive in your locale. If you live in an area with limited rainfall, choose drought-tolerant plants for the best success. Group moisture-loving plants in the same area and near the water source. By concentrating the watering chores into one area, you conserve water and reduce maintenance. To save water and use the water that replenishes earth naturally, use rain barrels to collect rain water and then use it to water your container plants or garden. An easy way to conserve moisture in your soil is to cover with organic mulch such as wood chips or other natural materials like seashells or ac!

orns. Reuse those green piles of pest-free plant debris, herbicide-free grass clippings, fall leaves and noninvasive weeds by mixing with a bit of soil and fertilizer to make a rich, organic compost pile. Another easy way to deal with those fall leaves is shredding them and covering your lawn with the thin layer it will produce. Use twigs and branches from pruning to create decorative fences, arbors, trellises and even garden art. Mow your lawn high and often, removing only one-third of the grass blade at each mowing. And don’t throw away those grass clippings. They add nutrients, organic matter and moisture to the soil. In fact , a season of clippings is equal to applying one pound of actual nitrogen fertilizer per 1, 000 square feet. To keep from washing away into storm sewers and polluting our water, make sure to sweep off grass clippings, chemicals and fertilizers from sidewalks, drives and other hard surfaces. And if you want to avoid using chemicals all together, try digging out weeds by hand. You’ll burn more calories and use fewer pesticides. And if this is not an option for you try using environmentally friendly products. One way to do this is by using corn gluten; but if you want to find a spray, look for ones that contain ingredients such as vinegar, soaps and plant oils to burn the tops off of unwanted plants. To bring in some night light try using our own resource, the sun. Use solar power to light up your landscape, power your water fountain or run your irrigation system. In order to bring down your carbon footprint even more, try using electronic-powered equipment instead of gas-powered mowers, for example , because they can produce as much pollution as driving a car 100 miles. Consider permeable pavers or stepping stones when adding new walks to your landscape. And lastly but certainly not least, reuse and recycle your old tools by donating them or turning them into creative lawn ornaments and garden art.

These tips should give you a good start in transitioning to a greener lifestyle. Starting out in your garden will only increase your desire to keep it up and maybe carry over to other aspects in your home and lifestyle. While thinking green in your garden saves you money you can use that savings to decorate it with beautiful lawn décor.

How to grow a verticle upright squash plant and other vines in a small garden space

3 Easy Steps to Growing Plants from Seed

Growing your own plants from seed can be one of the most exciting and worthwhile gardening activities. And of course it is a really inexpensive way to grow the number of plants you need for your garden or containers.

In this article I am going to deal with growing seeds from packets purchased at a garden centre – as this is the easiest way to start. These packets will have a picture on the front and growing instructions on the reverse, including germination times and the best time of year to sow. The instructions are important so do keep the packet safe even if you have used all the seeds!

1. Equipment you need:

- Clean pots or seed trays, with drainage holes and not too flimsy
- Seed compost or multi-purpose compost is just as effective
- Clear plastic bags or cling film or propagator
- Vermiculite – can be used to give the seeds a light covering instead of compost
- Dibber or pencil and widger or teaspoon
- Small watering can with fine rose
- Plant labels – white plastic ones are cheap

2. Sowing the seed:

- Fill your pots or seed trays with the compost to about 1 cm below the rim and water the compost well
- For small seeds, tip them into the palm of your hand and then lightly tap it with your other hand to sprinkle the seeds thinly on to the compost
- For large seeds, push the seed into the compost until it is just covered by its own depth of compost
- Cover the seeds thinly with a little compost – do not cover very fine seeds
- Seal the pots or trays inside a large loose plastic bag or propagator, or cover with cling film
- Place them in a warm, light place – on a windowsill but out of direct sunlight
- Water gently if the compost starts to dry out

3. Germination and pricking out:

When the seeds start to germinate, the first thing you will see growing are the seed leaves – two small round leaves that look very much the same on all plants. Then the first pair of true leaves appear and you can recognise that these tiny leaves are like those on the mature plant. This is the time to move the seedlings into new pots.

- Fill clean 9 cms pots or seed trays with fresh compost and water well
- Gently loosen each seedling from its pot/tray with a widger or the handle of a teaspoon, holding the seedling by its seed leaf
- Make a hole in the new compost with a dibber or pencil and gently lower the seedling into the hole, making sure that all the roots are tucked into the hole and the seed leaves are just above the surface
- Carefully fill the hole to cover the roots
- You can space the seedlings in a seed tray about 3-4 cms apart; otherwise plant them individually into pots
- Water carefully, either by soaking the pot or tray, or using a small watering can with a fine rose
- Place in bright light, but not direct sunlight, and check regularly
- Keep watered, but not too wet
- Once the roots fill the pots or trays, then it is time to plant them either into your containers in the garden or into the garden border.

It’s not as complicated as you might think, but it does require a little thought and care – the equipment must be clean to prevent disease or infection; don’t over-water; provide enough light; handle gently; and check regularly.

And that’s all there is to it!

Beginners Vegetable Gardening : How to Begin an Indoor Garden

Container Gardening Should Include The Herbal Plant Scented Geraniums

Planting an herbal garden that includes scented geraniums is not common to container gardening. Most gardeners think of scented geraniums as a floral plant, not an herbal plant but the species, called pelargonium, is an herb with many uses. This delightful herb has many different aromas and gorgeous colors to delight your senses. The scented geranium is best used in container gardening for two reasons. One, you can control the soil and moisture, and two you can bring it indoors when a frost is imminent.

The scented geranium was found in Africa in the 1600's and shipped to England where it became most popular. The gardener of King Charles I grew a variety of scented geraniums in the royal greenhouse. The Victorians thought they were geraniums rather than an herbal plant but if you look at their asymmetrical leaves you can see the difference between scented geraniums and regular geraniums.

The scented geranium is truly a herbal plant for all seasons. It grows and has a lovely aroma throughout the spring and summer and when the chilly winds of autumn threaten this sturdy herbal plant will gladly co-exist inside with you. Nothing could be better when container gardening includes scented geranium with their exquisite flowers, lovely scented leaves, and sturdy characteristics for year round enjoyment of your senses.

True to their name scented geraniums come in a multitude of fragrances. Seemly, the favorite is the rose scented geranium but others are gaining popularity quickly. Some of the more robustly planted are the apple scented, peppermint scented, wood, like cedar or balsam, nutmeg and citronella (also know as the mosquito buster. ) You can plant a whole container garden with this one type of plant and have a beautiful diversity. Their leaves alone will contrast interestingly to give you a spectacular container garden. The tiny smooth leaves of the nutmeg scented geranium, or Lady Mary, to the large musk scented leaves of the Lady Plymouth.

The rose scented geraniums are gaining popularity for calming and are increasingly used in mediation and for healing purposes. The plant truly releases a delicious rose scent when rubbed against or crushed. Just brush the leaves to release their scent or make a soothing rose geranium tea to help you relax.

There are many culinary uses for the scented geranium to delight your taste buds. Chop up the leaves and mix with your other favorite herbs such as chives or chervil or thyme to make interesting flavored butters or dips and spreads. A really clever way to use the leaves is to line a baking pan when making pies, puddings or cakes to impart a wonderful flavor to your desserts. Use them for desserts, syrups or custards for another unique flavor. You can even make flavored sugar by layer dry, fresh leaves with sugar. Let them sit a few days, remove the leaves and store the sugar in an air tight container. This can be used in teas, baking goods, or as a sugar scrub. They are delightful in baths and infused in water to rinse your hair.

The scented geranium is a great as a room freshener or added to potpourri. Try adding some to your vacuum bag or put them in a mesh bag and add them to your dryer for a new fresh scent for your clothes.

Scented geraniums are grown from cuttings taken from the mother plant. Cut three to four inches just above a leaf. Strip the lower leaves off and place in a rooting medium, such as a mix of sphagnum peat moss. Place your cutting in bright light and keep it moist. When roots have been established it is time to place it in your container garden. Make sure the soil is porous and fast draining.

When the scented geranium is indoors it is necessary to feed it once a week to ensure full leaf growth. Pinching back the plant not only encourages bushy growth but releases a delicious aroma into the air. Keep the soil evenly damp; do not over water them as this will kill them. They can come back from overly dry situations but not wet ones.

Now it is time to add this multi-talented plant to your container garden. Just one word of caution, once you get to know the scented geranium your herbal garden will never be without it.

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.


Tomatoes

Building a Garden Pond and Perennial Flower Bed From Scratch

We had a large newly created yard and I have a love of flowers so I naturally desired a flower garden. The problem was that the fill that was trucked in to create this yard was all chunks of blacktop and concrete with a light sprinkling of top soil to cover the chunks. There was no digging into the dirt without hitting something solid. We couldn't even drive in a tent stake.

The town workers were scraping the sides of the roads after a long winter of sanding icy and snowy roads. They had two loads of roadside dirt they wanted to dump that looked like pretty good dirt so I let them dump it in a pile in the back of the yard.

After staring at the pile for some time, I began to see a fish pond and perennial garden in the dirt. My husband and I started working moving the dirt around to form a bowl in the center and grading the dirt away where the flowers would be planted. A flower bed would be wonderful, but with a pond in the center it will be even better.

Because we didn't know what we were doing, we used a grey plastic tarp for a liner. It worked well for two years. The spring of the third year we replaced it with rubber pond liner which will last many years. We purchased a pump and a filter so we could keep fish.

We had a fairly large pile of limestone rocks left over from an old rock wall. These rocks became the border for our perennial garden. My sister has horses and a nice pile of old horse manure. She graciously brought me a pickup truck load of manure which we mixed in the dirt. There is a recycling plant nearby that makes compost so we got a load of it to help improve the soil.

Another sister was cleaning out her perennial beds in the fall and throwing out a lot of overgrown plants which made great starter plants for me. I filled the back of my truck and brought them home to their new bed. I placed the plants in the ground for the winter. In the spring I divided the plants up and spread them out and had a great start on my flower bed.

Each year since then I add a few plants purchased at flower shows, the grocery store, and nurseries. I’ve also traded many plants with others happy to get different plants than they have. Now, seven years later, I am enjoying seven flower beds created basically the same way with beautiful flowers blooming from April through October.


Beginners Vegetable Gardening : Organic Vegetable Gardening Tips

Garden Design for Novices

Designing your garden and maintaining it can be a very rewarding, satisfying and relaxing way to spend your spare time. Even the most neglected piece of land can be turned into a beautiful, productive garden, full of color, wildlife and places to sit and relax. If you are interested in gardening or are keen to undertake some garden design at home, then this article is for you. If you want to create the garden of your dreams and learn how to maintain it successfully then read on.....

Successful garden design

Planning the best garden begins with deciding what the space is to be used for. It may sound obvious, but many people fail to consider this simple concept. Do you need an area for your children to run around in? Are you interested in growing your own fruit and vegetables? Do you need a shed to house your tools and  gardening equipment? These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself when planning your garden. Having mapped out your goals you need to think about how much time you want to spend maintaining the garden. If you are someone who likes to get stuck in and is looking forward to getting their hands dirty then you may want a variety of flower beds and vegetable beds. If you prefer to look at your garden rather than work in it then you may be happier with a nice terraced or paved area with just a few pots and other items of interest, reducing the need for excessive garden maintenance.

It is a good idea to get a paper and pencil out at this point. Maybe a quick sketch can really help you bring your ideas to life. Nothing fancy is needed here - perhaps you could plan where the beds will be and the lawn. If you require a patio area, you could add it to the sketch, or a pergola maybe. You could get help with this part of the equation by a specialist company if you are drawing a blank.

Ongoing garden maintenance

You should remember that it is not just the initial work that will need to be undertaken to create the perfect garden. Ongoing maintenance will undoubtedly be needed. Depending on how you design your garden will depend on how much maintenance work needs doing, and how regularly. If you dream of a cottage style garden then there are always going to be beds to weed, plants to deadhead, trees to prune, hedges to trim and so on. If you are pushed for time, are you really going to be able to carry out all the necessary tasks?

Some gardens don't require a large amount of work. This is especially true of those that rely on non-plant related features such as water fountains and statues. It is possible to create an interesting and unique space in even the smallest garden without using too much greenery. Decking is another great way to enjoy your garden without needing to spend too much time working in it. Add a few pots here and there, perhaps a small fish pond, and you have a contemporary and relaxing environment in which to read a book or entertain friends.

garden services

However , there is a third option. This allows you to have any garden you want without having to do a lot of work - hire a company to do it for you. There are companies who can do garden maintenance for you. They can clean out the pond, water the plants, deadhead the roses, prune the trees, harvest the fruit and vegetables, mow the lawn..... the list really does go on and on and includes all garden design too. This is a fantastic option for those who don't have the spare time to carry out the work themselves but want to enjoy a beautiful garden at home.

However you choose to design, maintain and enjoy your garden, make sure you end up with a space that you enjoy and can't wait to spend time in, regardless of whether that is with some secateurs or a good book and glass of wine in your hand!

The Natural way of growing big vegetables! gardening

Hay Bale Gardening

Hay bale gardening technique is a low-cost and convenient way of growing flowers and vegetables. Growing vegetables in a hay bale garden is similar to the technique used to grow vegetables in a raised bed garden. If you are just getting your bales, give the bales a thorough soaking, and let them begin to break down before you plant your vegetables. Hay or straw bale gardening is another great way have your garden if you have limited space, terrible soil, a bad back or those who are confined to a wheel chair! So much time is saved by not having to weed or hoe or even water as often as well. This project was first researched by a Dr at the University of Minnesota Extension says, "Hay bales provide a well-aerated, disease free growing medium that is perfect for growing vegetables.


The popular method of hay bale gardening is getting more popular in town, a friend told him how to get prosperous crops using nothing but wheat straw, potting soil, a little fertilizer and some tomato plants "Every fall I get some bales and let them sit out all winter to get good and soggy, I plant a few every year and I've had real good luck. Another friend who was in the landscaping business showed him how to use wheat straw to garden "He had all kinds of crops including cucumber, squash and green beans, you can raise almost anything except corn, because it's too tall and the bale will fall over.


Bales first should be situated in a full sun formation, with twine and wire ties kept in tact. Since bales may be used two seasons, synthetic twine can be used to provide the most durable binding. For optimum root penetration and plant growth throughout gardening months, bales should be placed with strings wrapped horizontally and straws set vertically. The next step is hydration, the key to successful hay bale gardening. A form of hydroponics, the hay bale is like a sponge, and you can't let them dry out, or your crop just does not work. While watering the bales twice per day, fertilize them every other day for six days with one-half cup each of a high nitrogen fertilizer. Working with the bales is much easier than working on a traditional garden. You're putting your garden at eye level, you can see your progress, you can weed it a lot easier and harvest easier. (Posted by Denise in Creative Organic gardening). Straw bale gardening is an interesting option for those who have either limited soil, limited space or have difficulty bending over. This is important if you intend to get two years possible out of each bale in your straw bale gardening efforts. Remember several things about placing your bales in your straw bale gardening layout. Straw bale gardening layouts can be placed end-to-end to create long gardens or grouped into traditional bed shapes or even set up as maze types of gardens. How crazy does it sound, growing tomatoes in bales of hay. I planted peppers, tomatoes, flowers and beans in the hay bales in different arrangements that were pleasing to the eye. Somehow I find it oddly interesting kind of like growing tomatoes upside down. In my garden adventures with hay bale and straw bale gardening I have tried several different gardening techniques. While I like growing melons and gourds in the bales both are heavy feeder so I created a hay bale/ straw bale square garden technique to use with these crops. Lay the bales out to form a square with an open section on the inside. Now it's time to prepare the bales for planting. Straw bale gardening has many positive aspects. Valerie Everett I prefer straw bales as they contain less seed and last longer but straw is more expensive so my choice for the garden depends on the best buy I can get or which crop I am growing. For squash plants and gourds I use hay bales. First get bales that still have the string tightly around the bale. And if you know where you want your garden position the bales. For more information and tips on gardening go to www.Teegoes.org

From Zero to Vegetable Garden in 6 Months - Tips So You Can Succeed

Hard-Times Gardening � Sustainable Without Fertilizers

I teach the Mittleider Method of vegetable gardening. It’s often called better than organic gardening, because we use only natural mineral nutrients, and eliminate weeds and pests without pesticides and herbicides. In addition, virtually nothing is left to chance – much different from those who depend on the unknown composition of manure and compost as their only source of food for their gardens.


I’m asked occasionally if the Mittleider gardening method is sustainable in the long run, “since it seems to be based on the availability of modern day fertilizers.” Since some folks feel that today’s fertilizers may not always be available in the future, how viable is this system for ongoing sustainability in the long run?

First, the Mittleider method is NOT dependent on commercial fertilizers for viability. Our experience around the world for over 40 years, however, is that everywhere we have been - including several countries in Africa, Armenia, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Russia, and 23 others - fertilizers have always been available.

The careful use of natural mineral fertilizers increases a family's gardening yield many times - sometimes as much as 10 times what they were growing without them. This is what has allowed America to change from one person feeding 4 or 5, to one person feeding 100 other people. So why would we NOT use them?? And why would we not want to teach people in the developing countries to use them - unless perhaps we WANT them to stay in the 19th century?

We recommend people obtain enough natural mineral fertilizers and seed (a #10 can of 15 varieties of heirloom seeds is available at www.growfood.com) for at least one extra year's garden. Mineral Fertilizers keep almost indefinitely, and they cost very little, compared to the yield they produce. Small storable packages of micro-nutrients are also available at www.growfood.com.

Here’s how you can grow a productive and healthy garden using manure tea. Get a large burlap bag and a 55-gallon barrel. Find cow or horse manure (chicken or turkey is twice as hot, so less will be needed), and fill the bag 2/3's full. Place the bag in the barrel and fill it with water. Let the manure "tea" soak or "steep" for 24 hours, then use the tea to water your vegetable plants.

Replace the bag of manure in the barrel and let steep for 48 hours. Use the tea, then dump the spent manure out and dig into an unused portion of the garden - it has almost no nutrient value, but can improve soil tilth.

Remember to plant your plants a little further apart when using this method, because they will be competing for less available nutrition. In addition, every watering should be with the manure tea for your plants to be healthy and thrive. You should expect to grow a smaller garden, and spend some time finding manure.

If manure just isn't available, consider saving kitchen scraps and human waste. Many countries do it all the time, so it's not the end of the world. And all clean, healthy plant residue should be saved and properly composted for re-use in the garden - again preferably as manure tea.

The Food For Everyone foundation teaches the Mittleider method of organic gardening. Know as the poor mans hydroponics you can increase your yields five to ten times. Tomatoes, vegetables, herbs, berries you name it these nutrients will produce the best results.






How to Plant a Vegetable Garden : Weed Control Tips for Your Vegetable Garden

7 Reasons To Grow Your Own Organic Vegetable Garden

During the last decades there has been a change towards mechanization and homogenization of farming, which uses pesticides, additives, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers and mass-production techniques. All this is clearly affecting mankind's health, and new diseases are spreading rapidly amongst humans and animals (bird's flu being the most recent one).

The World Health Organization produces reports to show how the use of chemicals and other products on food, coupled with the manufacturing processes involved, are actually a threat for our health.

If you have space for a few pots or even a small piece of land, it is a wise decision to grow your own organic vegetable garden. Today I'm presenting you with seven reasons for doing this:

1. You will have no additives in your vegetables. Research by organic food associations has shown that additives in our food can cause heart diseases, osteoporosis, migraines and hyperactivity.

2. There will be no pesticides or synthetic fertilizers used. These chemical products are applied to obtain crops all the time regardless plagues or weather conditions, and affect the quality of the vegetables. Besides, pesticides are usually poisonous to humans.

3. Your vegetables will not be genetically modified (GM). Antibiotics, drugs and hormones are used on vegetables to grow more and larger ones. One of the consequences of this practice are vegetables which look all the same and are usually tasteless. Besides, we end up consuming the hormones that have been used on the vegetables, with the potential risks for our health.

4. Eating your own organic vegetables will be much more healthy for you. They will not contain any of the products or chemicals named above, and they will be much more natural than any ones you would find at the supermarket. Your health will not be at risk because you will then know that nothing has been added to your vegetables.

5. Your own organic vegetables will be much more tasty. The use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, hormones and antibiotics make vegetables grow unnaturally and take the taste away from them. With organic vegetables, your cooking will be enhanced as their flavour will show fully.

6. Organic farming is friendly to the environment. Because you won't use pesticides or other equally harming products on your vegetables, you will not damage the soil or the air with the chemical components.

7. When you grow your own organic vegetables you are contributing to your own self-sustainability and the sustainability of the planet. Small communities have been founded where members exchange products that they grow naturally, thus contributing to create a friendly and better place for us all.

In the end, eating organic products only means that we do not add anything else to them than they would naturally have. As you can guess, additives, fertilizers, pesticides or hormones are not components of naturally grown food. To better care for your health, grown your own organic vegetables -and a few pots is all you need.

Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Install from Start to Finish

How to Create a Butterfly Garden

People who love to garden also tend to enjoy watching butterflies flitting about. After all, butterflies are just as pretty to look at as the flowers that they visit. gardeners can entice even more butterflies to visit their gardens by creating gardens specifically for butterflies.

It’s quite easy to create a butterfly garden. You may even find that you already grow some flowers that attract butterflies. With just a little effort you can create a beautiful haven for these lovely winged creatures, and the butterflies will appreciate your efforts.

If you’re starting from scratch and will be creating a new planting bed for your butterfly garden, you’ll first want to learn how to properly create a planting bed for your plants. You can find information on preparing raised planting beds at http://www.freeplants.com

When deciding where to locate your butterfly garden, choose a spot that is not isolated from other plants. Butterflies will be more likely to find your garden if there are other flowers nearby to lead them to your butterfly garden. But if your butterfly garden is the only patch of flowers in a vast sea of grass, butterflies won’t have much reason to be in the area. If you have a border of flowering shrubs and other butterfly-enticing plants are scattered around your yard, the butterflies are much more likely to spend time in your garden.

The butterfly garden should include a variety of plants that attract butterflies, and those plants should be in a variety of colors and heights. Consider planting azaleas, rhododendrons and lilacs for height. Fragrant ‘James McFarland’ lilacs seem to be especially attractive to butterflies. Weigela, with its flowers like dainty trumpets, is another good shrub for attracting butterflies.

No butterfly garden should be without Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa). Not only will the bright orange blossoms attract many butterflies, but the plant will also provide food for caterpillars. Without the caterpillars there would be no butterflies. Dill and parsley also provide food for butterfly caterpillars. If you’re lucky, you may even have Monarch butterflies laying their eggs on the milkweed and you can watch the entire life cycle, from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly.

Many other commonly grown flowers will attract butterflies, including hollyhocks, purple coneflowers (Echinacea), Black-eyed Susans (rudbeckia), cosmos, huechera, zinnias, beebalm and cleome. Buddleia, also known as butterfly bush, is a must in any butterfly garden. If you have room for this large plant, Mexican sunflower (tithonia) will attract many butterflies and hummingbirds with its sunny orange blooms.

Plan your butterfly garden so there are blooms all season long. The rhododendrons, azaleas and lilacs will provide a spring snack for butterflies, followed by summer-blooming plants such as the buddleia and asclepias. In the fall, butterflies will sip nectar from asters and ‘Autumn Joy” sedum.

In addition to providing food for butterflies, your butterfly garden should also provide a resting place along with shelter from the wind and cold. Include flat rocks in your garden where the butterflies can sun themselves. It’s even better if the rocks have shallow depressions where water will puddle and provide a place for butterflies to gather for a drink.

A small log pile will provide shelter from the weather for butterflies. You can also purchase butterfly shelters that look rather like tall, narrow birdhouses with several slots for entrances. These may attract butterflies, but in my experience wasps tend to move in, discouraging any butterflies from entering.

One final thing that every butterfly garden should include is a comfortable bench placed where you can sit and admire the beautiful butterflies. After all, you’ve created this garden not only for the butterflies but also for your own enjoyment.

How to Plant a Vegetable Garden : Tips for Pest Control in a Vegetable Garden

Growing Tomatoes In Containers Successfully

Modern urban living should not deprive you of the joys of home gardening. If you enjoy eating vegetables, you will derive even greater satisfaction in consuming your own homegrown vegetables. Growing tomatoes in containers has always been popular among home gardeners. It gives apartment dwellers a chance to own a garden despite living in small spaces.

Have you ever wondered why do people grow tomatoes in a container even when they have a yard or garden? Well, the answer is simply for better control, flexibility and convenience.

Tomato plants grow well on warm temperature, adequate sunlight and good quality drainage system. Occasional fertilizers add a booster to the plant' s nutrients and promote the production of big, juicy tomatoes. Similar to planting in the ground, it is advisable to grow tomato plants indoor carefully and transplant them only when they are strong enough. In transplanting, you should bury as much of the plant stem as possible. This promotes good formation of the roots, which results in an excellent base foundation for your tomato plant.

growing vegetables in containers allow you to control the state of your growing medium. Once you have discovered your success secrets through your gardening experiments, you can just rinse and repeat it in all your future gardening projects. You can choose total soil-free gardening, organic gardening or a mixture of both. A recommended recipe for good container gardening soil mixture for vegetable growing is 40% compost, 40% peat moss, and 20% perlite.

One of the advantages of having a container garden is that it frees you from weeding and messing with garden dirt. However , container vegetables will require extra care in watering and fertilizing. Tomatoes grown in containers have constrained root coverage and their growth is limited by the amount of water and nutrients in the container. During summer, you may even need to water your container vegetable plants up to twice daily to prevent it from drying up. Give your water thirsty tomato plants ample water and you can expect a delightful harvest.

If you are looking for an easy way out to watering your tomato plants, you can install automated drip irrigators for your containers. The installation is considerably uncomplicated and the price is not costly. The approximated price of an automated drip irrigation system set up ranges between $50 to $100. You could be easing yourself of a lot of hassles if you have a lot of container plants to take care of. It is surely a worthy investment that will pay off well in the long run.

One of the methods frequently used to lessen water evaporation is to apply mulch to your containers. This also aids in keeping weeds down if you are using compost or garden soil. Both pine bark mulch and black plastic mulch work great.

When your tomato plants start to blossom, it is time to increase the fertilizers to twice its usual amount. This helps to encourage fruit production and results in better yields. Always keep your fertilization rate constant.

Having your tomato plant blossoming with delicious-looking tomatoes is a wonderful feeling. However , it is advisable to pick your tomato fruits once they are ripe as this encourages the plant to produce a new fruit.

Growing tomatoes in containers is undeniably a very flexible and productive gardening practice. Be free to exercise your creativity with your container gardens, as tomatoes are generally hardy plants.

Growing vegetables on your balcony - Part 1

2 Ways to Safely Transplant Rose Bushes of Any Age

You will occasionally want to move a rose bush from one location to another, but fear shocking the bush too much and having it die. However , here are two effective ways to minimize the shock to the bush so you can successfully move it to another, more suitable place in your flower garden.

The first, and simpler way, is by driving a spade down vertically to its full length of blade about twelve or fifteen inches from the bush and repeating the process in a circular form until all lateral roots have been cut. This should be done in June or early July and the bush should be moved two or three weeks later.

Dig a sloping hole leading to the vertical spade-cuts on one side, remove some of the surface soil round the bush to reduce weight, drive the spade under the plant, and gently lift it in a ball of earth. The ball can be made more adherent by wetting and dabbing the outside of it. Slide it into its new hole by way of another sloping cut, fill the spaces round the ball with friable soil and water it heavily. The bush must be pruned and all leaves carefully clipped off to reduce loss of moisture and consequent shrivelling.

You see, by cutting any strong root at a reasonable distance from a plant, it forces the growth of many smaller ones of the feeding type. Roots feed only through their terminal points, and so the greater the number of small fibrous roots the better a bush can feed from the soil.

The second, and less simple way, is to prepare the rose for the move by digging a trench in early spring in a semicircle round the bush at a radius of a foot, or slightly more, from the stem, depending on the size of the plant. This will cut the roots in that part. Fill the trench with loam that is of good quality but does not contain fermenting manure of any type. A network of fibrous secondary roots will form and permeate the rich new soil. After three months, about Christmas time, complete the circle in a similar manner. In the autumn, about four months later, the bush can be lifted with a good ball of earth held together by a mass of fibrous roots.

The rose bush has been safely root-pruned in either method of transplanting, and will reduce shock ensuring the plants survival. You may be wondering why you would need to use that second, more involved method, when the first method is so simple. Well, the only time it is necessary is when moving a very large old rose plant.

So now you have 2 great methods for successfully transplanting rose bushes. Although you don't want to do it very often, feel free to get your flower garden just the way you want it! Happy planting.

Vegetable

5 Most Popular Flowers for Your Garden

When planting a garden there are many questions which you must ask yourself before you begin. Where are you going to plant it, do you have the garden equipment to do so and how big do you want your garden to be? When do flowers bloom and what are their heights? These are all very important questions, however they mean very little if you have not yet decided which types of flowers you want to plant. There are many to choose from and don’t le anybody tell you which ones you can and can’t plant. gardens are unique and fascinating to look at because each one is unique it its own way.

There are endless possibilities of flowers to choose from but if you are unsure of which types of flowers are known to look best in gardens, keep reading and you will find out. The following is a list of the five most popular types of garden flowers chosen by gardeners from all over the United States:

1. Cosmos - These flowers have the ability to grow anywhere from 12 inches to 4 feet tall. Cosmos are perfect for cutting gardens and are often picked out of gardens and used in flower arrangements.

2. Marigold – Marigolds can be found in yellow, orange, red or a combination of all colors. This type of flower blooms in 45 to 50 days from sowing and very rarely requires additional water than what the rain provides.

3. Morning Glory – Morning glories have heart shaped leaves and are available in a variety of colors including white, blue, red, pink and lavender. This type of flower has the capability to become more than ten feet high.

4. Zinnia – Zinnias are traditional, old fashioned flowers which are constantly blooming all season. If there is not a lot of rain, this type of flower will require watering on a consistent basis but try to get water on the foliage (leaves) as this can cause mold which can potentially cause the plant to die.

5. Sunflowers – There’s no better flower for your garden than the sunflower. Sunflowers have yellowish-orange petal with a black circle in the middle. These flowers can grow to be as tall as 6 feet or possibly even higher depending on the flower itself.

In order for your garden to flourish successfully, you will have to maintain it and keep it healthy on a daily basis. Watering cans, pruning shears, gloves and spades are all types of gardening equipment which will assist you in keeping your garden in good condition. These pieces of equipment are very important and are relatively inexpensive.

The types of flowers you choose will have a large impact on the overall outcome of your garden. The list above was provided as a guideline for novice gardeners who area unsure of which flowers may be most adaptable to a garden atmosphere.

Which flowers you choose will ultimately be your choice and regardless of the kinds or colors of your flowers, your garden will be a wonderful piece of work for everyone to admire.

How to Plant a Flower Garden

Everything You Need To Know About Home-Growing Strawberries

From home-grown fruit plants come harvests which can best be appreciated by someone who has actually eaten them. One's first taste of a truly fine strawberry will soon point up the tremendous gap which exists between such a fruit and the run-of-the-field stuff sold at the supermarket.

The most important of all garden fruits is the strawberry. It more nearly resembles a vegetable in its culture than does any other fruit. It is not surprising that in many truck-gardening areas growers switch from vegetables to strawberries and back again almost at will. Although the strawberry plant is a perennial and beds can be made to last for more than one year, best commercial practice calls for a new planting each year. The plants are grown in rows and for the first season need the same cultivation as vegetable crops. The next season they produce their best fruit. They can be left for four more years, but true connoisseurs usually plow them under.

In the so-called hill system of growing, the mother plant is kept pruned of all runners. This is the method by which the home gardener can produce the largest and best-flavored berries. The plants are usually set 12 inches by 24 inches apart in the bed and kept free of weeds. Usually, a rather heavy mulch is maintained on the bed. The plants are watched constantly to prevent runners from rooting. While very large berries are produced, production per square foot is probably lower than when other methods are used. As can be imagined, the labor required is considerable. About 100 plants are as many as most home gardeners care to cultivate when the hill system is used.

The variety used is important, since not all strawberries do well when grown in this way. The Alpine variety “Baron Solemacher” grown from seed will produce perhaps the finest-flavored berries of all. These have the aroma which makes wild strawberries such a delectable treat.

Where it will grow, the English 'Royal Sovereign' produces superb berries by this system. These are of enormous size, deliciously rich and sweet.

The matted-row system is exactly the opposite of the hill method. The mother plants are set 24 inches apart in rows 36 inches apart. After fruiting, the mother plants are encouraged to produce all the runners possible for twelve inches on either side of the row. Any forming outside these limits are cut off. This produces a matted row about 24 inches wide, with a twelve-inch lane between the rows of plants.

One advantage of the matted row is that it provides plenty of plants for setting new beds. The best way to produce these is to use one of the new peat-and-fiber pots in which to root them. These pots come in three-inch round or three-inch square sizes, just right to produce a husky plant. The pot is filled with a rich composted soil and plunged under a likely-looking runner. By late August the rooted plant can be cut from the parent plant and used to plant a new row. Although fall-planted rows require protection for one additional winter, they are usually more productive than spring-planted rows. They can even be allowed to bear a light crop the first spring.

It is a well-accepted rule, however , that all spring flowers should be removed the first season following planting. This keeps the plant from fruiting. Once the spring bloom is over, the June bearers (which produce only one set of flower buds a year) will not bloom again.

The row system of planting is a compromise between the matted row and the hill system. Here, plants are set 24 inches apart in rows 36 inches apart. One runner is allowed to set in the row on either side of the mother plant. In theory, each runner is about eight inches long, so the finished row is made up of plants spaced eight inches apart. Sometimes a second set of runners is allowed to root at right angles to the row. This leaves the mother plant with four runners surrounding it. This is called the hedge-row system, since the bed resembles a series of triple hedges.

Strawberries can be planted in the fall if pot-grown plants are available. These are easy to plant, since they are set just as deep as they grew in the pot. Plants in clay pots will have to be knocked out (removed from the pot), but if in peat-and-fiber pots, they are planted pot and all. Bare-root plants can also be set in fall, but few nurseries have them available at that time. Plants available in spring are usually sold bare-root. They come tied in bundles. Before untying, cut the roots to a uniform length, about four inches below the soil line.

Cut off any dead or weak leaves, leaving only three or four of the new, healthy, young leaves to form the new top. Now the plant is ready to be set. In the average garden there is not much choice of location. The strawberry does not like heavy soils, and if only a clay loam is available, it should be treated as mentioned under soil. A gardener's loam as mentioned in that entry is the ideal toward which to strive, although strawberries will do well in lighter sandy loams.

One of the most important steps in planting is to set the plant so the dividing line between the roots and the top or crown comes exactly at the surface of the soil. The crown should never be buried nor should roots show above the ground. Firm the soil around the roots so the crown will not be pulled below the surface when the plants are watered. If dirt works into the crown, it may rot.

Regular weeding is important, as strawberry plants make poor competitors for vigorous weeds. Do not cultivate deeply close to the plants and rooted runners, as these are shallow-rooted. In regions where the thermometer can be expected to drop as low as 12 above zero regularly, a mulch is necessary. This is not, as many suppose, to keep the plants from freezing. On the contrary, it is to keep them frozen in early spring and prevent alternate thawing and freezing, which tend to pull the plants out of the ground. Being shallow-rooted, strawberries cannot resist the heaving action of frost.

In the South, a straw mulch is still desirable, largely to keep down weeds. It is of little value, however , if straw full of grain or marsh hay full of weed seeds is used. Clean, grain-free straw is the ideal material, if it can be had. An excellent substitute, much more readily available in most city and suburban areas, is excelsior. Most retail stores will be glad to give the home strawberry grower all he can use.

The mulching material is dumped right over the plants. By the time it settles, there should still be about three inches of it over the leaves in the North. In the South, the tips of the leaves should be showing. In spring, when the daffodils are just showing yellow in their buds, pull away the mulch from the tips of the leaves so they show through. The new leaves will grow right through the mulch, which later will keep the berries clear of the soil.

Topsy Turvy

Growing Basil Plants And How To Use The Basil Leaves

Growing basil plants in your garden or container garden will yield you a bountiful crop. The basil leaves can be used in a variety of ways in your kitchen. Experiment with many varieties of the basil plant. With several basil varieties you will have different flavors and therefore more interesting culinary dishes. Basil Plants are easy to grow and the basil leaves will add a real spark to your meals. Try growing cinnamon basil to make into a sorbet. And you don't have to just grow the basil plants in the garden; growing basil inside on a sunny windowsill in a container garden is fun too.

If you are planting basil herbs in the ground, basil likes soil that is well drained and high in nutrients. The basil plants require full sun and a warm atmosphere. Do not mulch around the basil plants until the ground has completely warmed. Your basil plants will attract butterflies, another benefit to growing basil.

If you are growing your basil plants from seed, start 6-8 weeks before the last frost. It will take approximately two weeks for the seeds to germinate. Basil plants should be around 12 inches apart. Basil attracts slugs and snails so put a ring of eggshells around the base of each plant. There is one disease that is devastating to your basil plants. It is called fusarium wilt of basil and arrived in North American some time in the 1990's. The symptoms are sudden wilting, dropping of the basil leaves and stems with dark streaks. As soon as you notice these symptoms quickly dig up the basil plant, the soil around it and the roots and discard it so not to infect your other basil plants.

Basil Plants are wonderful companion plants. It is thought that basil plants repeal whiteflies and improve the flavor of asparagus and tomatoes. When planted with roses it will improve there growth and repel insects. It will even repel mosquitoes if you rub it on your skin. A really nifty trick at a picnic is to place stems of your basil plant over the bowls of food to stop flies from landing on your food.

The very best time to harvest your basil plants is right before their buds bloom and late in the day. Basil is programmed to produce flowers after six leaves are on the stem. You can stop them from flowering by cutting off a few of the leaves. Let some of the basil plants flower they will add color, flavor and texture to vinegars.

Cut some stems from the basil plant and place in a glass of water in your kitchen. They will last a long time, they're convenient for cooking and some may take root to start another plant. By placing your basil harvest in perforated plastic bag at room temperature it will last up to 2 weeks.

You can dry your harvest from your basil plants by spreading them on trays, covering the herb with cheesecloth and allowing them to dry for a few days in a dark and airy spot.

Sweet Basil is the most commonly grown basil plant. The herb has large green leaves with pretty white flowers. It is one of the most bountiful plants and is used for making prestos.

The basil plant with wide thick and crinkly leaves is the Lettuce Leaf. This basil is a little sweeter and is excellent in salads.

Dwarf basil has small , narrow leaves and is less pungent then its cousins. Both the basil leaves and stems can be used from this basil plant. Put them in your recipe at the last minutes as the flavor will not withstand longing cooking times.

Licorice and cinnamon basils have dark leaves and flowers. They are quite a spicy member of the basil family.

Opal Basil is the purple variety. They're not as robust as the other basil varieties but they are beautiful and add color to tossed salads. The purple basils make great vinegars.

Lemon basil, as the name implies, has a strong lemony scent. Their leaves are small and a lighter green than the other varieties. You can use this herb in fish dishes, salad dressings and desserts. It is another basil plant that makes good vinegar.

Cinnamon basil has a cinnamon flavor and aroma and makes great tea. It can be used along with lemon basil in making potpourri.

Basil plants are an excellent addition to your garden, container garden or kitchen garden. Any dish you choose to include basil leaves in, will only taste better.

Happy gardening!

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Indoor Plants : How to Grow a Vegetable Garden Indoors

Growing Potatoes in Containers

Growing Potatoes in Containers

click here for more information

Turn Your Patio Into A Voluminous Vegetable Garden

My first apartment was a second-story condo in an urban complex, far displaced from the groomed suburban landscapes and sprawling gardens I had grown up with. My only connection to the outdoors was a small porch, surrounded by brown siding and a fading carpet of artificial turf.
To add a little color to the patio, I adopted a few small tomato plants from a friend who had started his garden indoors, and planted them in large pots near my railing. To my surprise, they started to grow. Soon I had filled the 5’ x 10’ space with more than a dozen ceramic pots, plastic containers, and beach pails filled with peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and pole beans. Before I knew it, my porch was a curtain of green and my meals regularly featured home-grown vegetables.
Well-planned patio gardens allow gardeners to make the most of a small space while maintaining a degree of control not available to those who plant in the ground. If a plant is not getting enough sun, it can be moved. If it is not draining properly, more holes can be added. Healthy plants prevent pests, and some, such as slugs, are not even a factor. Watering is more efficient, because it must be done by hand, making a patio garden ideal in a drought situation. And at the end of the year, even inexperienced gardeners can enjoy a bounty of vegetables thanks to the built-in advantages of garden containers, which include regular drainage and nutrient-rich soil.
Herbs also make great container plants, as they survive in generally drier conditions. Pots offer the opportunity of bringing herbs inside when the weather gets colder. However , many herbs are fast-growing, so it’s best replant the container each spring.

Starting a patio garden is not difficult. Here are a few tips:
1. Start with 4” plants, which can be found at most nurseries. With a little creativity, just about any vegetable can be planted in an above-ground container, however , the most common seem to be tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, beans, and spinach
2. The size of a plant can vary depending on the variety of seedling used. Make sure containers are large enough to accommodate a full-sized plant. Most tomatoes will need at least an 18” square container. Peppers, however , are perfectly happy in smaller pots.
3. Cover the holes at the bottom of the container with small rocks to improve the soil drainage.
4. Part-fill the container with compost. A slow-release fertilizer can be added at this stage to distribute nutrients as the compost dries out. Fill the remaining space with a nutrient-rich planting soil.
5. Water the plants and let them drain. Take them out of their pots and arrange in the container, packing in tightly. Fill in any gaps and firm all the plants in place. Keep the soil below the rim of the pot for easier watering.
6. Water the container well and move it to its final position. Arrange plants according to their needs. Tomatoes prefer a south-facing porch with full sun, while spinach and lettuce are happier near the house in partial shade. Make sure the place where you want to plant gets at least six hours of direct sun every day.
7. Trellises, cages or poles will be needed for tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and other vines. Patio gardeners can also take advantage of permanent features, such as fences and railings, to support their plants.
8. Containers need to be watered at least once a day in summer. They also require regular fertilization. A fertilizer dilutor can be clipped on to the hose to feed plants as you water.
With just a little time and imagination, any drab patio can become home to lush green vines, red peppers, juicy tomatoes, and succulent cucumbers. Why not start today?

Vegetable Garden Layout Ideas and Planning For a Very Small Garden

4 Gardening Lessons Revealed: Planting Methods, Tools, Crop Rotation

1 . Planting Methods: There are several methods for planting.

Picking any of these methods depends on the vegetable, the size of your garden, and your fondness. Three methods of planting, namely, single rows, wide rows, and hills are clarified as follows:

A) Single Rows: In this method, seeds are sown in rows or lines that are spaced equal distances apart. The distances between the rows and between the seeds within the rows differ from vegetable to vegetable. If you want the rows to be straight, which gives a pleasant appearance to your garden, stretch a string between two stakes and sow the seeds along it. If you think this is too much work, use a stick to mark a line on the ground and try to make the line as straight as possible. With some training, you will get it straight.

B) Wide Rows: In wide row planting, seeds are sprinkled at equal spacing in both directions over a wide area. The width of the row varies from 6 to 16 inches. The row's width is limited by your arm's reach to the area in the middle of the row while standing at the edges. We find that wide rows are convenient and productive for peas and beans. In addition to giving high yield per unit area, they cut down on weeds. Wide rows are also good for starting leaf vegetables like lettuce and spinach. When the seedlings emerge, they can be thinned and transplanted elsewhere. Double rows are a special form of wide rows.

C) Hills: In hill planting, 3 to 5 seeds are sown close to each other. They need not be sown on a formed hill, as the name implies.

This method is used for example when planting zucchini and cucumbers.

2 . Gardening Tools: There are many gardening tools available on the market today. The basic tools you'll need are a shovel, trowel, steel rake, tomato cages, and a water hose or can. The shovel is used to till the soil, mix potting soil, move soil around, and cut the weeds if they grow big. Some gardeners use a fork instead of a shovel to till the soil, but we don't.

The choice is yours. The trowel is used for cultivating the weeds, transplanting the seedlings, mixing soil or fertilizers, and filling containers with soil. The steel rake is used to grade the soil and to compact the soil over the seeds. Tomato cages are indispensable for supporting tomato plants. You can also use them to support running plants such as cucumbers and peas. Without them the plants will collapse on the ground and their fruit will get into contact with the soil and eventually decay. A hose or a can is used to water the plants in the garden and within containers.

3. Crop Rotation: Crop rotation is the practice of planting each vegetable in a different location each year. The advantages of crop rotation are:

A) The chances of transmitting diseases and insects to next year's crop are very much reduced. Certain diseases and insects attack certain vegetables. These diseases and insects move from the plants to the soil, where they winter. If the same vegetable is planted in the same spot the following year, the diseases and insects will surface from the soil and attack the new plants once again.

B) Each vegetable absorbs trace amounts of specific minerals from the soil. If the same vegetable is planted in the same spot year after year, the minerals the vegetable needs to grow healthy plants will be depleted, resulting in a meagre harvest.

C) The roots of legumes (peas and beans) have bacteria that soak up nitrogen from the air and fix it on the roots of the plants and in the soil. To take advantage of the nitrogen they fix in the soil, the legumes should be followed by a leafy vegetable, such as lettuce and or spinach, which both need nitrogen-rich soil. This is one of the techniques organic growers use to grow vegetables without the use of chemical fertilizers. It may be impractical to rotate every crop each year if your garden is small.

This difficulty can be overcome by taking the following measures:

(1) choose disease-resistant vegetable varieties, (2) keep your garden clean of rubbish, and (3) watch for insects and diseases. If a plant becomes teeming with insects, pick them by hand; if a plant is infected by a disease, pull it from the ground and dispose of it.

4. Proper Gardening Clothing: In the course of gardening, your footwear and clothes are likely to be soiled. You walk on dirt and or mud, your clothes make contact with plant leaves and stems, and your hands are soiled. You are also exposed to the sun. Your shoes accumulate mud and will soil the floor if you walk directly into the house. Therefore , you should have a pair of aged shoes set aside for gardening. Put them on before going into the garden and take them off before entering the house. Leave them in the garage or put them in a bag until you use them again.

Also, have special clothes for the garden. If you don't, your ordinary clothes will be soiled no matter how careful you are. To protect your hands and fingernails from collecting dirt, use a good pair of garden gloves. Some are washable and can be reused again and again...

Please feel free to forward a copy of the "Gardening Online Newsletter" to any of your friends and associates.

Happy Gardening,

Survival Gardening Tips: Planting an Edible Food Garden at Home

Which of the Hundreds of Tomato Varieties Should I Plant?

Tomatoes are such a staple in the modern diet that it is hard to believe there was a time when this versatile fruit was once thought to be poisonous. Thankfully this member of the nightshade family has been known for centuries now to be a delicious and healthful addition to our diet and is now one of the most popular garden vegetables.

For many people, tomatoes are the most challenging, yet desirable, vegetable crop to grow. But a ripe, juicy homegrown tomato is so delicious and nutritious, people will go to great lengths to produce as many as they possibly can in their gardens. One look at the pale, hard, orange baseballs that grocery stores pass off as tomatoes will also explain why so many gardeners eagerly await the first ripe tomato from their gardens.

Considering that tomatoes are a tropical fruit native to South America, it’s amazing that we can grow them at all in northern climates. Yes, the tomato is technically a fruit since it grows on a vine. There are literally hundreds of tomato varieties out there to choose from but there are only two types of tomato vines; determinate and indeterminate.

Determinate tomato varieties grow more as a bush, growing only to a certain height and producing most of their fruit all at once. Determinate varieties are most suitable for gardeners who are interested in canning tomatoes since the crop will ripen over a relatively short period of time. Determinate tomato varieties are also a good choice for gardeners with limited space available, and some determinate varieties are well suited to container growing and are an excellent choice for the patio garden.

Determinate tomato plants should never be pruned, as this will severely limit the number of blossom sets the plant can produce, thus reducing the number of tomatoes on the plant. However , an indeterminate variety will continue to grow and will keep producing fruit for the entire life of the plant, or up until frost. Each new set of blossoms will grow farther up the vine as the plant grows. Indeterminate tomato plants also require a bit more care to keep the plants manageable in the garden.

In order to keep these big plants from sprawling all over the ground and creating an impenetrable mass of foliage, indeterminate tomato varieties should be pruned and trellised. A tomato plant that is restricted to producing on only two to four main stems will still produce plenty of fruit and the tomatoes will tend to grow larger than those on an unpruned plant.

To prune an indeterminate tomato plant, simply pinch off the little shoots, or “suckers” that grow out from the main stem in the crotch between the stem and each leaf branch. Each one of these suckers can grow to become another big stem and would grow its own tomatoes and eventually grow its own suckers. But you don’t want your tomato plant to waste time and energy by growing all those suckers. By pruning off most of them, the plant will devote more energy to producing ripe, juicy tomatoes.

Since you’ll want more than one main stem for tomato production, allow the suckers nearest the bottom of the plant to grow. These will have more blossoms and will be easier to trellis than suckers that sprout higher up on the plant. Pruning will also improve air circulation through the plant which can help prevent disease problems, especially in humid weather.

Once you decide whether to grow determinate or indeterminate tomato varieties, it’s time to peruse the garden centers or seed catalogs to find the seeds or plants that will produce your prized fruit. Although a few of the more enlightened garden centers are now selling a wider variety of tomato plants, many still offer only a few of the old standby hybrid varieties such as “Big Boy” and “Early Girl”.

You’ll have more varieties to choose from if you decide to start your tomato plants indoors from seed. Imagine growing tomatoes with names like “Cherokee Purple” or “Mortgage Lifter”. Add more color to your favorite tomato salsa recipe with yellow “garden Peach” tomatoes, “German Pink” or “Green Zebra”. For stuffing tomatoes, try “Striped Cavern”, and for salads grow some “Christmas Grape” tomatoes.

If you plan on preserving tomatoes to enjoy over winter, you will want a meatier tomato such as “Martino’s Roma” or “Amish Paste” for sauces. “Wisconsin 55” and “Ace” are two varieties that are especially good for canning or freezing. There are even varieties that have a lower acid content for the folks who can’t eat a high-acid tomato, and varieties that have more Vitamin C than oranges.

Tomatoes are one of the most versatile garden vegetables. There are as many ways to prepare tomatoes as there are tomato varieties. Whether you like to eat them fresh out of the garden like an apple, or you make your own spaghetti sauce or tomato salsa, whether the variety you grow is red, orange, yellow, purple, white or striped, tomatoes are the most useful and tasty garden vegetable.

How To Control Pests And Diseases On Your Fruits And Vegetables

Double Your Crops

Is there too much digging and not enough harvesting going on in your garden? Try these ideas to make your garden work harder for you without breaking a sweat!
Rotation:
When one crop comes out of the ground, quickly turn the earth andplant s omething else straight away. This could be late summer lettuce or over-wintering salad varieties. Some beans can be successfully planted in the autumn, in particular broad beans, along with late cropping cauliflowers and other brassicas.
Make small cloches to protect the young plants from autumn weather. Cut a clear plastic bottle in half to produce two min-cloches!
What you plant as a second crop will depend heavily on your region, climate and availability of seed. However , when this crop comes out in the Spring, there will be far less weeds than if you had left the patch fallow all winter.
Don't do this every year as the earth will need feeding and resting, but even a small garden can be divided into rotatable patches, and if you get double your crops from one space, you won't need the extra space every year. Pile on as much green manure as you can and keep your fallow patch weed free.
Companions:
Plant your crops close together so those pesky weeds don't get a chance to grow. Companion planting enables you, not only to save space in the garden and control the weeds, it will also help with pest control. A line of onions next to a line of carrots confuses the onion fly and the carrot fly!
Plant your good companion plants close together but avoid putting large crops of the same species too close. Plant a tomato plant here and there round the garden, then if one plant gets a disease, it doesn't easily spread to the other plants. The same with cabbages. The cabbage white butterfly, dreaded enemy of brassica growers everywhere, won't be so attracted to your garden if the cabbages aren't neatly planted in rows.
Raised Beds:
Not only good for controlling the weeds and saving space for those extra crops, but also great for controlling aching backs! The raised bed system in principal means you don't walk on your beds, and therefore they should be no wider than a couple of metres, preferably less. You need to be able to reach everywhere on the bed without stepping onto the soil at all.
Once dug, fill with your plants and hoe regularly. When your first crop is harvested fork over the soil lightly. It shouldn't need any heavy digging again for some years.
Permanent Patches:
Keep permanent patches in your garden. A small herb patch or corner in your vegetable garden will attract bees and also give you and your family lots of new tastes, natural medicines and even cosmetic preparations.
Herbs will establish themselves fairly quickly and will thrive with regular picking. You honestly won't know what to do with all those wonderful fresh herbs, that would otherwise cost you a fortune in the supermarket.
Another great permanent patch to create is asparagus. Most new gardeners are put off growing this wonderful vegetable because of all sorts of crazy reasons. I've even heard it said that it's a "luxury crop" - whatever that may mean! Asparagus is extremely good for you, is ready to pick during the 'hungry gap' in the vegetable garden, and best of all, with very little attention, it will produce more and more every year. Create a permanent asparagus bed and indulge in the luxury!

Hydroponics Gardening - How to Grow Flowers and Vegetables with Minimal Time and Effort