If you are new to gardening, radishes might be one of the first vegetables you should try to grow. They are typically not very difficult to grow. They mature and are ready to be harvested in a short amount of time. They are often easy to keep healthy even when facing various weather and soil condition. In fact, you can actually plant them up to six weeks before the last frost of the winter.They can be grown in containers as long as the growing pot is about 12 inches in depth. You can also grow them within raised ...
What Does Organic Gardening Mean?
Indeed, what is organic gardening? Chemically, organic matter is matter with carbon atoms in it-naturally occurring materials. The term "synthetic" refers to any material that is produced in a laboratory, rather than in a living thing. "Organic Gardening" literally means not using synthetically produced items in the garden. The USDA has specific definitions for organic products, commercially grown, but there is no definition of "organic" for home gardeners. The entire issue is fairly murky-with many people saying that "industrially produced" organic food items are no more healthy for the environment than other commercially produced items.At the heart of the organic ...
Growing Tomatoes Indoors – Tomatoes For All Seasons
A lot of people love the idea to grow tomatoes in their garden or backyard. But, there are others who are not capable of doing it because of two factors which are the weather and space. In order to address this problem, they should have the knowledge about growing tomatoes indoors. Growing tomatoes indoors provide you with the advantage of growing and harvesting tomatoes all throughout the year. It does not care no matter how good or bad your geographical location or weather is. It also does not really require a very wide amount of space. Now, the question is, ...
I have quite a bit of experience when it comes to growing green beans. I’ve been gardening for more than 30 years. Over the years, I’ve tried growing many different varieties of green beans. Since I like canning beans to store in my cellar, I’ve narrowed my favorites to the ones that taste the best after being put through the canning process. You might think green beans are all the same, but they all have differences.
Tenderette Bush Beans are by far my favorite type of bean for canning. They are a stringless white seeded bean, have a great flavor and hold their form well when canned. They also produce very large crops. If the plants are kept well picked, the plants will continue to produce a large crop until frost.
Golden Wax Bush Beans are also a good bean for canning. The flavor is good, and since the beans are yellow, they have a slightly different taste than the usual green bean. They produce well, are stringless, and are easier to pick than green ones. They are easier to see on the bush since they are yellow. They also hold their yellow color when canned.
Green beans are a rather easy vegetable to grow. They are packed with nutrition, and loved by thousands people from around the world. Let me ask you something. Are you interested in saving money at the grocery store by growing your own beans? If so, these 4 growing tips will start you on the way to a bountiful crop.
1. Warm weather
Green beans are a warm soil vegetable. Before you plant the beans make sure the chance of frost has passed for the season. You want to have the soil 65 degrees or warmer on a consistent basis. If where you live has long winters, you can begin the plants indoors in peat pots. Once the plants are 4 inches or taller take them outdoors and plant them in the ground.
Let us face it growing lettuce is one of the favorite crops in the garden because it is relatively easy to grow, it grows fast and saves you lots of money compared to buying it in the shops! It is one of the first salad vegetables of the year that can be planted, and so it is one of the first to be harvested in the spring.
It takes well to most soils and you can squeeze it into a small space, also as it has shallow roots it is also suited to growing in containers as well. Planting it.You can plant it as early as 2 to 4 weeks before the last frost as it tolerates temperature changes such as frost very well, although it is not suited to ongoing freezing temperatures, and can run wild bolting in higher temperatures.
So ideally it is suited to growing in the Autumn or Fall seasons. Lettuce can make do with as little as five hours of sunshine per day, and whilst okay in full sunshine is better suited to a shadier area of your plot to stop it bolting, accordingly it is better when picked early rather than late. It will respond well to a small application of fertilizer.
“I thought carrots came in a cello bag from the grocers.”
” Now you are telling me that I can be growing carrots in my own backyard!”
“Amazing!”
“How?”
Nothing could be simpler. In the spring most grocery and hardware stores sprout a large rack of seed packages. Look them over and find one with a picture of carrots on the front. Invest the $1.79 and take them home. When the dirt in your yard, which we are now going to call soil, is dry enough that it will crumble through your fingers; it’s time. Yes, I’m afraid you may have to get some soil on your fingers but you might find that it actually feels sort of good. Open the package of seed and spread it evenly over the bare soil. Come back in summer and you might be growing carrots there.
Of course there are a few other things that you could do to increase your success rate. That, of course, would be called gardening and might be quite new to you. You do not need a vegetable garden. Carrots do not grow any better in straight rows. A space between some shrubs or in your flower bed, if you have one, will work. It just needs to get most of a full day of sunshine. Now, those long orange carrots actually grow down into the ground, so the better the soil is the better the carrots will be. They have to push their way through the soil, so if the soil is nice and loose it will make their lives easier. You could spend a few hundred dollars on a rototiller to grow $2 worth of carrots. A fork would be a more economical alternative but any shovel you have around, will work. Just turn over the soil in the carrot’s little space and knock it around a bit to make it nice and loose.
Why not go the next step, we’re talking serious gardening here, and improve the soil a bit. The place that sold you the package of carrot seed will probably have a pile of bags out front. Some of them will say composted cattle manure or something like that. Take one of them home and spread it on the soil before you dig it up and then it will incorporate into the soil. Now the soil is softer and it has nutrients in it that the growing carrots can use. Now spread the seed over your fancy new soil. Use a rake, if you have one, your fingers will work as well or better, to move the top of the soil around so that the carrot seeds disappear into the top layer of soil.
Are you are wondering how you can grow cucumbers when you have limited garden space? Well the good news is cucumbers can be grown in containers. Cucumbers can be successfully grown in containers or bags and still produce the same amount of fruit as those planted in the garden.
Start by choosing seed varieties that are best suitable for growing in containers. Cucumbers grow as vines or bushes, and it is the bush variety that grows well in containers. They will not overgrow the pots and the seed packet usually has information as to whether the variety is suitable for container gardening or not.
Growing cucumbers in containers come with certain advantages. Benefits include that of portability allowing you to move the pots as needed so that they can get at least the 8 hours of sunlight that is needed for good growth. It is also easier to control the weeds in containers than in a garden patch.
Choose your containers well, pay special attention to the size of the pot. Go for a larger container that will allow more water and also allow the roots to penetrate deeper to take advantage of the moisture and nutrients.
Squash is a unique plant to add to your garden’s variety. It is perfect to be grown even if the space available is limited but the weather conditions are an important factor playing a role in its growth and development.
Weather and soil specifications
The ideal time to grow squash in tropical countries is in the wet and dry seasons. It can be planted in variety of soil types but the most adequate would be the compost rich soil. A lot of tilling is not requires in such a soil type. Usually a low humidity and warmer weather is preferred for the squash plants to grow. The ideal temperature needs to be 65 Fahrenheit for the seedlings and the pH should be 5.6-6.5.
Growing your own tomatoes can be both fun and healthy. Keeping your plants organic by using only organic fertilizers and pesticides will result in better health for you and your whole family. Once you have grown your own tomatoes and see the difference in what you get from your own garden vs the grocery store you will never go back. Here are 10 important tips when growing your own tomatoes from seeds.
Don’t Crowd the Seeds When Growing Tomato Plants from seeds, you want to leave enough room for the plants to branch out. To many plants placed too close together will inhibit there growth. Once the seeds grow and the first true leaves appear transplant each plant to 4 inch Pots. You will do this in about two weeks.
Tomatoes Love Light If you are growing your plants indoors you will want to use grow lights. The plants will require 12 to 14 hours of light a day. Place your grow lights about 2 to 3 inches from the plants. Tomatoes love the light so you will want to plant them in the sunniest part of your garden.
A Cool Breeze is Nice Tomatoes love to sway in the breeze. When growing them indoors it’s a good idea to put a fan on them twice a day for 10 to 15 minutes. This helps to promote strong stems.
Tomatoes Love the heatWhen you get ready to plant your seedlings in the garden warm soil is the best method. You can place black plastic or weed block in the area prior to planting. This will heat the soil. You should do this 1 or 2 weeks before you plant. This warm soil will promote earlier production.
Plant them Deep
When you plant your tomatoes plant them deep. Plant them up to the first leaves. Tomato plants will grow roots right out of the stems and this will give a good root system for your plants. You can also dig a small trench and lay the plant sideways. Don’t worry the plant will grow toward the sun and come out straight. I like to use tomato cages to help support my plants once they have grown tall. It’s a good idea to put the cages into the ground first so that you don’t end up puncturing a healthy stem.
Mulch is Good Placing Mulch around the plants is good as it keeps the soil born diseases from splashing up on the stems. Mulch also retains the water and helps to conserve water. Since tomatoes like the soil warm mulch can also cause the soil to be cooler so using a black rubber mulch works better for the warm loving plants like tomatoes. Since I grow only organic tomatoes I use no mulch or only organic materials for my mulch.
Remove the bottom Leaves Once the plants grow to about 3 inches tall remove all the leaves from the stem up to about 1 inch from the soil. This will help prevent fungus from developing at the base of your plants. Spraying your plants weekly with compost tea also seems to be effective at warding off fungus diseases.
Prune/Pinch Gives More Tomatoes Pinch and remove suckers that develop in the crotch joint of two branches. The crotch joint is where the branch joins the stem or two branches split. They won’t bear fruit and will take energy away from the rest of the plant. But go easy on pruning the rest of the plant. You can thin leaves to allow the sun to reach the ripening fruit, but it’s the leaves that are photosynthesizing and creating the sugars that give flavor to your tomatoes. So take it easy with those pruning shears.
Timely Watering Tomatoes like regular watering. You never want the plants to begin to wilt before you water. Timely watering is a must. Water the plants deeply and regularly especially while the plants are developing. If you miss a watering don’t over water to compensate. This will cause root rot and eventually kill your plants. When fruit begins to ripen cutting back on the watering will cause the sugars to concentrate and give a sweeter tomato. Don’t cut back too much though or the plant will drop it’s blossoms and fruit.
Getting them to Set Tomatoes There are two varieties of tomatoes determinate and indeterminate Determinate tomatoes are varieties that grow to a fixed mature size and ripen all their fruit in a short period, usually about 2 weeks. Once this first flush of fruit has ripened, the plant will begin to diminish in vigor and will set little to no new fruit. Determinate tomato varieties are often referred to as “bush” tomatoes, because they do not continue growing in size throughout the growing season. They are generally smaller than indeterminate tomatoes, with most growing to a compact 4-5 feet. Pruning and removing suckers from determinate tomatoes is not recommended. Despite their compact size, staking or caging is still recommended, since the concentrated fruit set can contribute considerable weight to the branches. Many paste or Roma tomatoes are determinate varieties. Some others bred to be determinate include: Celebrity, Mar-globe and Rutgers. Growing determinate variety tomatoes makes good sense when you want a large amount of tomatoes all at one time, to make tomato sauce for example. Indeterminate tomatoes are actually vines that continue growing in length throughout the growing season. Also referred to as “vining” tomatoes, indeterminate tomato varieties will also continue to set and ripen fruit until killed off by frost. Tomato growers seldom allow tomato plants to actually vine. Indeterminate tomato plants will require substantial staking or caging to support what can become a large (6-10′) heavy plant. However, tomato plants can easily be grown as a hanging vine. This eliminates the need for support, keeps the fruit up off the ground and permits the plant to grow in an open manner, allowing sunlight to reach throughout the plant. The majority of tomato varieties are indeterminate including most heirlooms and most cherry types. Other indeterminate tomatoes include: ‘Beefsteak’, ‘Big Boy’ and ‘Brandy-wine’. Early producing varieties like, ‘Celebrity’ and ‘Early Girl’, are also indeterminate. However since they tend to mature earlier and die back before the end of the season, they are sometimes labeled semi-determinate. Heirloom tomatoes are all indeterminate varieties and the plants get so large and heavy they can break the stakes holding them. You can get indeterminate type tomatoes to set fruit earlier by pinching off the tips of the main stems in early summer.
Growing spinach is not hard and is probably the most nutritious of all leafy greens grown in the home garden. The fact that spinach is super cold hardy makes it a number one crop to grow winter, spring, and fall. As for the summer well you will need to substitute a heat tolerant crop but that is not a problem you can choose from several such as spinach chard, garden sorrel, or lambsquarters all will work well as a substitute.
Spinach varies in size and shape of it’s leaves as well as the texture of the leaves. The savoyed or semi-savoyed types are the ones that have the dark green leaves that are all wrinkled. They are extremely cold tolerant and are some of the best type to grow in the winter. As the weather gets colder their leaves become more crisp. Smooth leafed spinach leaves are usually a lighter green than the savoyed spinach but they tend to grow upright and are easy to wash and clean. Smooth leafed spinach is a fast grower and you can harvest the crop as baby greens or let it grow to maturity.
A lot of people love the idea to grow tomatoes in their garden or backyard. But, there are others who are not capable of doing it because of two factors which are the weather and space. In order to address this problem, they should have the knowledge about growing tomatoes indoors. Growing tomatoes indoors provide you with the advantage of growing and harvesting tomatoes all throughout the year. It does not care no matter how good or bad your geographical location or weather is. It also does not really require a very wide amount of space. Now, the question is, “How does growing tomatoes indoors being done?”.
