The best chance a gourmet has of getting delicious fruits and vegetables is to raise them himself and this is the best chance he has of keeping in good health too.
photo credit: Sistak

Good home-grown vegetables are both aesthetically better and more practical in terms of use. These are the reasons people who want to raise vegetables they cannot buy and then cook them in ways that will bring out priceless flavor.

It goes without saying that, just as the most brilliant cook can do only so much with stale and tasteless vegetables, so the most delicious vegetables any man ever grew can be quickly spoiled by bad, or even by merely unimaginative, cooking.

The usual fate of the stale vegetables we now buy is to be overcooked. In short, they never had much life, they lost in shipping most of the life they had, and the cook then cooks all the life out of them.

Now Lets start with your garden

Remember that the spot where you plant must have plenty of sun. You can build your own soil if you have to. But you can, not supply sunlight, except maybe by cutting a branch off a tree to let sunlight through or by taking down a board fence. If you live in a small town or in the open country and have a choice of sites, a good piece of ground is one that slopes just enough to drain easily.

If it slopes south or, better still, southeast so much the better. Dig a hole a foot deep and see what kind of soil you have. Normally the top few inches will be much darker and much more crumbly than what lies below. This is your topsoil: it is dark because it contains “humus” decayed vegetable matter. The subsoil below it may contain minerals but it lacks humus.

Put an ounce or two of each in a small container and find out from your County Agricultural Agent or from the Department of Agriculture in your state capital where to send them for analysis.

The analysis you get will tell you whether you need the three elements plants need most, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Results of the analysis can also show whether fertilizer and rain are significant factors in your garden.

Also it may be able to determine whether your soil is too acid and needs calcium. If it does, you should spread agricultural lime on it, not quicklime. Commercial lawn fertilizers and garden fertilizers are available which combine nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

If you can’t get your flower bed soil professionally tested, there are now on the market inexpensive “soil kits,” which are advertised in garden magazines and at Amazon.

Technorati Tags: container gardening, gardening, plant care, plants, vegetables

There are no hard and fast rules towards developing a perfect garden. However, a little bit of planning and programming can always increase the range of its beauty.
photo credit: Thou Talor

The reason you need to plan is because you cannot just plant any vegetable. You need to analyze the area you are planting in to determine if your crops can thrive there. Thankfully, there are tons of plants out there, so no matter what kind of environment you have, you will have a lot of options.

To start it off, the category we’ll go with is sunroom crops. These plants are especially popular among new gardeners. They are fairly easy to grow and you only need to follow a few simple tips to be successful.

For those who are focused on growing inside, then ferns are the best choice. They can live for a very long time, even with minimal care. That is why this category is also favored by new gardeners.
photo credit: Thou Talor

Next are the regular vegetables and fruits. This includes celery, lettuce, peas, and squash, as well as pumpkins and a variety of peppers.

It takes a fair amount of work to get such a well varied garden. You need all the essential tools, as well as knowledge about growing techniques. With a lot of work and investment, both with time and money, you can grow a high quality garden that all can enjoy.

In order to effectively tend a garden, you have to be careful with all your plants. In addition to regular tasks, you must also do activities such as trimming in order to keep the appearance of your plants at its peak.

If you need further help in deciding what to grow or need help on growing related tasks, you can consult many resources. First and foremost, you must start off by reviewing the plants you want to grow most, because there is a very good chance you will be able to.

Technorati Tags: choosing plants, container gardening, gardening, planting

Garden problems: Where is summer?

photo credit: traveling.lunas

I don’t know if you’re having a challenging summer like me but over all I have no summer. I live in a zone 5 climate and should be having 80-degree days and humid 60-degree night temperatures.

Instead, I am lucky to have two days of sun in a row; the nights are cold dropping down in the low 50’s and there’s too much rain. Most gardens around here are either not growing or they are more than a month behind in time.

When I realized that this was not going to be the best summer I moved my gardens under glass and switched most of my other plants to containers. I now have one of the largest container gardens I have ever had. The plants that need a more controlled climate and warm nights are in a greenhouse or on enclosed patio. (Normally open at this time of year.)

It’s been a learning experience, growing most of my garden under glass, but at least I have a garden.

But I must admit the herbs and perennials are doing ok out in our cold damp summer. They aren’t quite as showy as some years but they are growing and disease doesn’t seem to be affecting them.

So how are your gardens doing and have you had to make changes to adjust to any climate problems?

Technorati Tags: container gardening, gardeing under glass