4 Lessons In Gardening: Planting, Crop Rotation, Tools, & Clothing

1. Planting Methods: There are several methods for planting. Choosing any of these methods depends on the vegetable, the size of your garden, and your preference. Three methods of planting, namely, single rows, wide rows, and hills are explained 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 practice, 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 planting zucchini and cucumbers.
2. 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 reduced. Specific diseases and insects attack specific 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 emerge from the soil and attack the new plants.
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 poor harvest.
C) The roots of legumes (peas and beans) have bacteria that absorb 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 spinach, which needs 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 problem can be overcome by taking the following measures: (1) choose disease-resistant vegetable varieties, (2) keep your garden clean of debris, and (3) watch for insects and diseases. If a plant becomes infested with insects, pick them by hand; if a plant is infected by a disease, pull it from the ground and discard it.
3. Gardening Tools: Many gardening tools are available. The basic tools you need are a shovel, trowel, steel rake, tomato cages, and 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 essential for supporting tomato plants. You can also use them to support running plants such as cucumbers and peas. Without them the plants will fall on the ground and their fruit will get into contact with the soil and rot. A hose or a can is used to water the plants in the garden and containers.
4. Proper Gardening Clothing: In the course of gardening, your footwear and clothes are likely to be soiled. You walk on dirt or mud, your clothes get in contact with plant leaves and stems, and your hands are soiled. You are also exposed to the sun. Your shoes collect mud and will soil the floor if you walk directly into the house. Therefore, you should have a pair of old 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 gloves. Some are washable and can be reused.

How To Make Compost...What You Need To Know

Compost is an organic matter, usually garden debris, that has been allowed or encouraged to decay. To be a successful organic gardener, you will want to take advantage of the benefit of using a compost. It is useful in improving fertility and texture of planting beds and is an important constituent of greenhouse and potting soils. Its nutritive qualities depend on the fertilizers and other nutrient-containing materials added to the compost pile as it decomposes.

The value to the average gardener of a composted supply of humus is hard to beat, and most amateur gardeners today compost in some form. Compost to which nutritive elements have been added is used as rotted manure is used; compost that isn't enriched is used as humus only.

The best-quality garden loam for all purposes includes one-third humus. It makes the soil spongy, airy and light, and retentive of moisture. Sandy soils lacking humus allow rainfall to wash the nutritive ingredients down and out, and a clay soil without humus will bake so hard it is almost impervious to water and to the rootlets trying to work their way toward food and moisture.

Anything organic left to the elements will compost (decompose). Leaves, grass clippings, plant tops, straw, old hay, and sod are some of the materials you can use to make compost.

Many gardeners have made it a practice to add humus in the form of raw organic materials - weeds, for instance - to the soil without composting them, by digging them into borders and around plantings.

The practice does add humus to the soil, raw organic matter causes soil bacteria to speed up their activities. This robs the soil of nitrogen and often causes the leaves of the growing plants around to yellow. It is better for the plants to remove weeds to the compost heap and return them to the soil when they have become compost. Leaf mold and peat moss are two forms of organic matter that can be added to the soil without composting, as they are already composted.

There are several methods to build a compost pile. A simple leaf pile, or a series of them located at convenient points around the garden may be encased in 15 ft. or so of snow fencing wired into a circle. In time, about two years or more depending on your weather, the leaves will turn into compost without any effort on your part. Miscellaneous leaves composted provide an excellent source of supplemental potting humus, but little in the way of nutrients. Beech and oak leaves are acid, and after composting are excellent additional humus to place around acid-loving broad-leaved evergreens.

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Chemical Fertilizer opposed to Natural Fertilizer

A prevalent subject matter among the gardening specialists and home gardeners these days is the furor on organic fertilizer vs. chemical fertilizer.

Now each fertilizer surely has its pros and their cons, but before we investigate deeper into that, let us first make a few definitions.

What is organic fertilizer?

Organic fertilizers are substances containing nutrients resulting from the remains or by-product of an organism. Examples of natural fertilizers are cottonseed meal, blood meal, fish emulsion, and manure and sewage sludge.

Organic fertilizers are obviously rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, the three major nutrients desirable in plant growth. Organic fertilizers depend on microorganisms found in soil to break them down and release the nutrients.

What is chemical fertilizer?

Chemical fertilizers are synthetically produced plant nutrients from inorganic materials. Since they are unnaturally made, many chemical fertilizers contain acids that can be destructive to the soil's population of microorganisms. In this viewpoint, chemical fertilizers have the capability to inhibit plant growth.

Chemical fertilizer vs. organic fertilizer

Fertilizers are produced to target soil nutrient insufficiency, which is a common problem among home garden owners. One clear benefit chemical fertilizers have over organic fertilizers is the fact that they contain all three of the major nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). Organic fertilizers can only either have high content levels of one of these three or have all three nutrients in low levels.

For its part, organic fertilizers are a much cheaper and cost-effective option to chemical fertilizers. Any home gardener can create his own variety of organic fertilizer by composting or mixing cow, sheep, or poultry manure with other organic matters. Chemical fertilizers on the other hand will have to be bought from a gardening store or horticulturists.

A noted aspect of organic fertilizer is its slow-release capability. This slow release of nutrients in organic fertilizers can be both helpful and potentially risky to plants. Slow release of nutrients means that there is less danger of over-fertilization. On the other hand, this could also mean that if the need for urgent supply of nutrients arises, organic fertilizers would not be able to provide the desired supply. In contrast, chemical fertilizers can prove vegetation with an instant supply of nutrients when the circumstances call for it.

Several chemical fertilizers have high acid content. Acids in chemical fertilizers, like sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid, lead to high soil acidity which would in turn result in the destruction of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, the microorganism that plays a key role in supplying a growing plant's nitrogen needs.

Plants surely do not know the difference between organic fertilizers and chemical fertilizers. Their tiny root hairs will soak up those microscopic nutrients, not considering where they come from or how they were made. But even so, with today's rising ecological concerns, some people question the good judgment of using chemical fertilizers as a nutrient source.

$64 Tomatos

Watch your budget. It is easy to go overboard if you dont plan!

HometownAnnapolis.com, Business - Avoid the $64 tomato by planning, not using gimmicks

By ELIZABETH LEIS, Staff Writer
Hard-core gardeners like Jerry Miller receive a deep satisfaction when their gardens bloom. But they've learned every piece of satisfaction comes with a cost.

Mr. Miller, who lives near Sandy Point State Park, spends about $500 a year on his garden, soon to be resplendent with hydrangeas and a Japanese maple tree.When gardeners start out, they can underestimate that the pretty hobby means not only purchasing plants, but investing in weed control, tools and landscaping.

Still, after 37 years of gardening with his wife, Pamela, Mr. Miller has a good sense of his budget. His yearly cost includes a plan of attack for driving away animals, like the moles driving long tunnels into his yard. He's resigned himself to the deer, which mosey over from the park."We counted 15 one day, having a salad buffet," Mr. Miller said.William Alexander, who has spent a decade nurturing his garden in New York, can sympathize with the cost of driving away animals, having spent many a restless night fighting various beasts."I think the sooner you come to terms with this the better you off you are going to be - you are not going to keep animals out of your garden," he said. "You may be smarter, but they have more time. That groundhog has nothing to do but figure out how to get in."

After spending $8,500 for initial construction costs, $400 on an electric fence, plus a myriad of money in other maintenance, Mr. Alexander wanted to see how much it all cost.The result was he realized his tomatoes cost him an average of $64. His book, "The $64 Tomato," is part memoir, part cost-benefit analysis.Of course, he also has learned some lessons he's willing to impart on other gardeners."Start small and stay small," he said. "Keep in mind of the rule of 32. Any project is going to be three times as long and cost twice as much as you were planning.""Grow what you really love and can't get fresh from the market," he said, recommending homegrown heirloom tomatoes.

Tim Hamilton, a marketing director at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, said he understands where Mr. Alexander is coming from when dealing with garden investments. But the cost of lumber, soil, fertilizer and water doesn't have to break the bank."It's a hobby, No. 1," Mr. Hamilton said.He spends around $40 a year on items like green chiles and potatoes, and only spent $100 to set up the garden five years ago."There are a lot of gimmicks you don't really need," he said.Mr. Alexander said he and his wife exchanged large format garden books in their first years, which can quickly become what he labels "garden porn."

Now he recommends sticking to three reference books.Gene Sumi, a horticulturist at Homestead Gardens, said those books can be found at the library, and are a good way to sort through the advice would-be gardeners receive."You don't have to have a big budget," he said. "But there is an initial outlay, especially if a person buys a rototiller."Those tiller's can cost $150 to $200, while other tools like a scythe blade can cost between $50 to $60.Mr. Alexander said he bought a scythe, which he used exactly once.

Another financial mistake was buying a hand-pushed mower, although he was glad he spent under $100 instead of the pricier models."I found reason why a traditional mower is popular, which is because you can go forward and backwards. A hand-pushed mower in small spaces is impossible."

Mrs. Miller said her best strategy to make her husband stick to a budget is by keeping him from buying plants too early."We're always lulled by those wonderful days in March," she said. "I exert all of my influence to get him to wait, because it will always get nasty and cold. Save money and wait until you know it will stay warm."Another hidden cost? Labor. Mr. Alexander also learned that gardening as a family hobby doesn't always fly, which may mean hiring someone when things grow out of control. In his case, it was a helper who was a dead ringer for Christopher Walken."My kids couldn't have been less interested," he said. "I knew I had 22 beds. ... I figured the kids would want two beds. They were 5 and 8 at the time. We gave them a book and garden tools. They couldn't have been less enthused if we had given them a pick to go into the coal mine."

Linda Droneburg, an avid gardener in Cape St. Claire, said she is hoping her grown children will one day become interested. But the garden is largely an enjoyment for her and her husband, and she estimates they spend a couple hundred dollars on their gardens. more

How To Establish An Herb Garden

Herbs have been around since time immemorial and served different kinds of purposes. They have been used to treat illness and flavor cooking; they were even believed to have magical powers. Do you want to have your own herb garden? Here are a few ideas on how to establish an herb garden.

Plan your garden.

Consider the herbs you want to plant. Think about their types. Would you like annuals, biennials or perennials? How much space will they occupy in your garden? If you want, you can purchase a book that can give you the right information on what specific plants you are planning to grow. List or draw your garden on paper first.

Separate the annuals from the perennials so when the time comes that you have to pull out the annuals, you won't be disturbing the perennials. Perennials can be planted on the edge of your garden so when it is time to till your garden they won't be in danger of getting dug up. Another thing to remember is that you have to place the tall plants at the back and the shorter ones in front. Also, provide your plants with enough space to grow. Proper position will help you in this area.

If you would rather keep herbs out of your garden (and some are quite invasive) you could have herb pots. These are large containers with three or more outlets for the herbs. Fill the pot up to the first outlet and plant it before continuing on with the filling and planting process. Usually, the herb that requires the most water is planted in the bottom hole, while the variety that requires the least, goes in the highest hole.

Some Design Ideas

You can consider having a square herb bed. You can have your square bed divided into four by two paths crossing at mid point measuring 3 feet. You can border it with stone or brick. A wooden ladder may also do the trick. You can lay it down on your garden and plant your herbs between its rungs. You can also choose to have a wagon wheel bed.

Planting here is like planting with the wooden ladders. Plant your herbs in between the wagon wheel's wedges. Get Your Plants Growing Of course, different plants have different needs, but many of them require alkaline soil.

This is the reason why you have to determine the herbs you want to plant in the planning stage. This can more or less help you find out how you should care for your plants. If you germinate your herbs from seeds, remember to follow the directions on the packet for soil, watering and temperature.

Herbs are some of the easiest plants to grow. You just have to provide them with an effective drainage, sunlight, enough humidity or moisture and fertile soil. Even with just minimally meeting these requirements they will be bound to produce a good harvest.

Gardening tips for daffodils, the no-brainer bulbs

I dont know could I grow this?

Gardening tips for daffodils, the no-brainer bulbs: "Gardening tips for daffodils, the no-brainer bulbs
March 30, 2006
EASY TO GROW. Daffodils are no-brainer bulbs to grow. Give them well-draining soil, adequate moisture, a low-nitrogen bulb supplement such as 5-10-12, cool growing conditions and lots of sunshine. Best of all, voles and deer ignore them.

EASY TO SHOW. Exhibiting daffodils in a show is also relatively simple. About 24 hours before showtime, cut your daffodils and store them in a cool, dark place or a refrigerator that is not self-defrosting.

To groom your daffodils for judging, use your forefinger and thumb to gently smooth the perianth (collectively, all the sepals and petals of a flower) and cup, says gardener Lorraine Ingles. Use a cotton swab to clean pollen from the cup and to remove any unwanted spots. Re-cut the stem if it's curled or split at the base. Wet and smooth down the spathe (leaflike bract that encloses flower), but do not remove it. Round out the flower cup with your fingers.

Want to know more? Visit the American Daffodil Society at daffodilusa.org. "

Dont Jump The Gun

This hit home as I have already planted some early crops only to have big time frost a week later

WiscNews.com : Portage Daily Register Online: "Experts: Don't jump the gun on spring gardening
By Ann Marie Ames

A sunny March day might get the sap running in the veins of some Wisconsin gardeners and yardwork buffs. Local experts caution, however, that gardeners should exercise patience, as the weather is still unpredictable.
'Remember that anything that you plant right now has to be able to take a freeze,' said Rob Gehm, a grower and manager at Portage's Link's Greenhouse. 'We'll definitely get more freezing weather yet, although it's so nice out today.'"more:

Starting Your Seeds Indoors

A great way to jump-start your garden and save cash is to begin your plants indoor before planting time. You will also be certain of the conditions the plants were grown in, unlike plants purchased in garden centers. There are a few tricks to understand to make your seedlings prosper.

To start, you must select suitable containers for your seedlings. The superior ones to use are wood pulp pots or peat pellets. It's less trouble for you and healthier on the seedlings, since you can plant them straight in the earth. But you can use any small containers, like egg boxes or yogurt containers. Just make sure there are holes at the bottom for drainage.
You must also fill the pots with suitable dirt. Any well-drained soil will do, but it is best to use sterilized, store-bought soil instead of soil from outside. This way, you can be sure it doesn't have in it any fungus or illness which could be risky for young plants. And you do not want to bring all the insects and worms from outside into your house!

You can now plant your seeds in the containers. Follow the instructions on the seed packages for depth. You do not need to put many seeds in a pot. Just a few will do.
You should now water your seeds. When you are done, cover the pots to conserve moisture and place them in a hot place. Keep them out of direct sunlight. They do not need any sunlight at this stage anyway, but keep an eye out to make sure they have enough water.

Once the seeds have germinated, they will need more sunlight. Move them to the brightest spot you can find, preferably a south-facing window. You will have to be even more careful now and water them often, since small pots cannot hold a lot of water. Also, the seedlings are fragile at this stage, so do not drown them or cause them to break by watering too fast.

If the seedlings get too big for their pots before planting season, you can move them to bigger pots to make sure they stay healthy and strong.

When you have a week or so to go before moving them to your garden, bring them outside during the day to harden them. Do not put them in direct sunlight at first and bring them back inside during the night.

And finally, when your plants have grown enough (with at least four leaves) and the weather is warm enough, you can move them to your garden.

If you did not plant them in pellets or wood pulp pots, you will need to remove them from their pot with a blunt tool, like a table knife, while you support the plant with your fingers. Dig a hole slightly deeper than the height of the pot; lower the plant in the hole and firm the soil gently around the stem. Water them carefully and your garden is ready to go!