Posts tagged ‘Vegetable’

August 23rd, 2010

5 Tips For Organic Vegetable Growing Success

If you are worried that organic vegetable gardening sounds like it is too much like hard work and too time consuming then all you need to do is follow these 5 tips and you will be well on your way to harvesting your very own delicious organic vegetables in no time at all. Do not be put off by people who say that it is not worth the time or effort because when you harvest your very first crop of vegetables you get a fantastic feeling of pride, and when you sit down to eat them it is even better.

Grow Vegetables That You Like Eating

Now this may sound pretty straight forward for some people but it’s surprising how many people grow vegetables that they don’t particularly like the taste of, just because they are easy to grow or their friend grows them. Although you must always make sure that you choose vegetables that will grow well in your part of the country as well.

Give Your Vegetables The Most Sun

Making sure your vegetables are in a position in your garden that receives the most amount of sun is very important in order to have the healthiest and tastiest veg.

Organic Fertilizers

When you need to use an organic fertilizer it is a good idea to make sure that it is a slow releasing fertilizer, that way your vegetables will get the most benefit from it.

Get Nature on Your Side

Attracting the right kind of insects and other wildlife to protect your vegetables from unwanted pests is extremely important when it comes to organic vegetable gardening. A few of these animals that you want in your garden are, hover flies, garden spiders, frogs, hedgehogs and ladybirds. Some of the things that you can do to attract this helpful wildlife is by planting certain flowers such as pot marigold, Californian poppy, daisy or golden rod just to name a few. Also you could start by putting up bird boxes or you could even think about adding a pond into your garden, if you have enough space of course.

Make Your Own Compost

To make the most out of your soil it is a good idea to make some of our own compost. This is a fairly straight forward process but it does take a fair amount of time, so there is no time like the present to begin.

As long as you follow good advice and don’t make things over complicated, then organic vegetable gardening is a very enjoyable and rewarding thing to do. Visit my website for more advice and tips when it comes to growing organic vegetables, I know that it can be very daunting if you are not sure what you should be doing and that is why I am here to help.

I have been growing organic vegetables for many years and my goal is to get as many people into the garden as I can.
The best thing about organic vegetable gardening isn’t the money that you will save on grocery bills (although that is nice), for me the best thing is the satisfaction that you get when you are eating your very own beautiful vegetables.

To find out more tips on organic vegetable gardening and even take a look at some of my recipes go to http://www.myorganicvegetablegardening.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jane_Douglas

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August 22nd, 2010

Vegetable Garden Anywhere – An Outline For the Beginning Gardener

You don’t have to live in the country, or even on a particularly large piece of land in the suburbs, to grow a vegetable garden. Nor do you need a degree in horticulture to figure out what to plant where. You do, however, need a working knowledge of the basics of what a successful vegetable garden needs in order to get started:

Sunlight. Your yard, deck, porch, or window must get sunlight for several hours each day. Plants require it in order to grow, so observe where it shines and for how long before you do anything else. If you’re one of those unlucky folks whose yard is completely shaded most of the day (or you don’t have a yard at all) and none of your windows are particularly sunny either, you will have to invest in some full-spectrum grow lights if you intend to successfully grow your own vegetable garden. It can be done, it will just take extra care.

Living Soil. You need moist, crumbly loam – a healthy mix of sand, clay, and organic matter that holds moisture but drains effectively. If you have a yard, do yourself a favor and either test the soil’s pH level yourself (there are testing kits you can purchase for a reasonable price), or contact your county extension office about sending your samples to them for testing. Testing your soil will tell you what amendments you need to add to it before planting, and double-tilling (to 2 feet) will give your plants’ roots plenty of room to grow deep.. If you will be container gardening (either outdoors or indoors), find a good quality, organic potting soil to fill your containers with, making sure to allow for drainage.

Water. While tap water will nourish your plants, non-chlorinated/fluoridated rain water is best, so if you have a place to put a rain barrel, buy one and install it. Drip irrigation is your best choice for watering your vegetable garden, as it ensures that the water gets to the roots of your plants rather than just misting the foliage (which can actually spread plant diseases). There are drip irrigation kits available for both container and traditional gardening techniques, and you can even hook them up to your rain barrel with the proper hardware connections.

Seeds (or seedlings from a nursery). Buy organic. Buy heirloom if you can. These seeds or plants have been grown naturally, and will reproduce so that you can harvest your own seeds if you wish in order to plant the following year. You don’t want sterile genetically modified seeds taken from synthetically fertilized plants also dripping with synthetic pesticides. Don’t support Big Agribusiness and their increasing monopoly of the world’s food supply. Patronize the smaller, independent farmers and seed-growers, instead. After all, you are joining their ranks!

Plant Food. Organic fertilizers abound. Bone meal, compost, hydrolyzed fish, rotted manure from horses, cows, or chickens…to name a few. If you started out with healthy soil, you will likely need much less additional fertilizer throughout the year.

Pest Control. You can use barriers, such as fences, fabric row covers, and garden mesh or netting. There are scare tactics, such as motion-activated ultrasonic devices, artificial owls with rotating heads, or balloons and ribbons. Beneficial insects such as ladybugs can be purchased to release into your garden – they love to eat aphids. There are also organic pesticides that can be applied to your plants, such as homemade garlic or hot chili pepper emulsions, or commercial products such as Bacillus Thuringiensis or Diatomaceous Earth. Organic pesticides are made from plant material and do not destroy your soil like synthetic pesticides.

Crop Rotation/Succession Planting/Cover Crops. Don’t plant the same thing in the same place twice in a 3-year period (5 years is even better). If you’ve grown something that depletes the soil of a particular nutrient, plant something there next time that replaces that nutrient. Ration your seeds and plant them at 1-3-week intervals, so that you don’t have a glut of produce (lettuce, for instance) all at once and then nothing later. Instead of letting your garden lie fallow during the winter, plant a cover crop, which helps prevent erosion and feeds your soil until it’s time to till it under and plant again.

There are no shortcuts to a bountiful harvest. Preparation is the key to getting a successful vegetable garden growing and seeing it through until harvest time and beyond.

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August 21st, 2010

Vegetable Garden Design – A Year in the Garden

Through the use of an effective vegetable garden design scheme you will have a vegetable plot to supply most, if not all of your vegetable needs through out the year.

What a lot of people getting involved in the vegetable gardening field don’t know is that you have to work at it all year round. You may only be harvesting crops in spring, summer and fall but you will be out in the late fall and through out the winter preparing it for the coming year.

Through the utilisation of proper vegetable garden design you will have chores to do all year long and this is turn will reward you hopefully with a bumper crop year on year. Some of the chores that have to be attended to in the late fall / early winter are-

Dig the ground to get hard lumps to the surface – the frost will break it down for you.

Rake up leaves – you can store these in a compost plot (make a frame out of chicken wire and 3 or 4 posts, then pack the leaves into it and now you leave it for a year or so), this will give you mulch for the garden.

If you are planting for a spring crop now is the time to plant your

carrots
Broad Beans

If you have an undercover area now is the time for you to plant

Lettuces
Radishes

If this is not your first year you may have crops which are ready for harvesting, these will include

Cabbage
brussels Sprouts – just in time for the turkey
Lettuce
Carrots
Leeks
Potatoes
Pumpkins – now where’s that carving knife?
Radishes

If you are only starting off then in your first winter you are going to be preparing the soil for your crops. The winter brings a time for organisation

Get digging – the winter frost will have broken up the large lumps you left in the fall, now is the time to dig them back into the bed. If you have plantings done in the fall you can cover them with polythene or straw to protect them from a frost.

Get all your tools sharp or purchase any new ones you need. This a good time to walk your plot with you vegetable garden design in your hand and picture your crops growing. If this is not your first year then walk your plot and remember what went right and what went wrong in previous years and plan your attack for this year.

As for planting, it is now time to sow your seeds for

Shallots
Rhubarb
Garlic

If you have an undercover area now is the time for you to plant

Leeks
Cabbage – for your summer harvest
Cauliflowers – these are also for your summer harvest
lettuces
Radishes

If this is not your first year you may have crops which are ready for harvesting, these will include

Cabbage
Cauliflowers
Your Broccoli will be sprouting
Lettuce
Carrots
celery
Leeks
spinach
Parsnips
Radishes

Now we are into the spring and everything is brightening up and with the weather picking up so do the chores round the garden. This is when we start to get everything going.

-You dug the beds in the fall and then again in the winter, now is time to check that they are ready for the seeds.
-cover fragile plants with nettings to protect them from pests.
-check the fall and winter planting for spacing out.

As for planting, it is now time to sow your seeds for

Spring Onions
Radishes
Beetroot
Carrots
Broad Beans

If you have an undercover area now is the time for you to plant

Onions
Peppers
Celery
Indoor Tomatoes

There maybe a need here for nursery beds for being on some early plantings

Brussels Sprouts – the fall plantings
Lettuce
Leeks
Cabbage – both fall and winter

As Spring progresses you will have to

start the hardening up process for the young plants you had undercover for the fall and winter
Ensure the soil doesn’t become dry due to lack of rain
keep the weeds down by hoeing regularly
put up supports for climbers
keep thinning out as you go

planting is still going on, now we have

Cabbage
Onions
Potatoes

Have the spring frosts passed? Good time for the

Peppers
Celery
Sweetcorn
Tomatoes the outdoor kind
Beans

We still need the undercover for

Cucumbers
Tomatoes

One more thing to do harvest your crops

Broad Beans
Leeks
Lettuce
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Radishes
Rhubarb

Summertime and the living is easy – sorry just started signing there, getting back to the garden. Even though Summer is a time for harvesting you still have chores to do. These include

Add fertiliser to areas where you are sowing new cropsWith Beans and Tomatoes you need to put in supports to keep them growingkeep a look out for pests and diseases and act straight away if you see any signsThis being the hottest time of the year keep watering your cropsDon’t forget that some plants like Tomatoes and Beans are repeat growers so pick them as soon as they are readyTowards the end of summer clear away crops that have finished and prepare the ground for your next planting

Summer maybe a time for harvesting but there is still sowing to do, this will include

Carrots
Lettuce
Onions
Turnips
peas for fall
beetroot

Did we mention that Summer is a time for harvesting, well it is and this includes

Broad Beans
Shallots
Sweetcorn
Tomatoes
Beans
Potatoes
Garlic
Cauliflowers
Beetroot

Now we are back to the fall and it all starts again but now you have a vegetable garden design that works and hopefully you have enjoyed all the work. With time it will all come easier to you as you get used to the routine and the chores won’t seem so much like chores.

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