Growing and Eating Flowers, Stems, and Leaves

The part of the plant to eat for broccoli is the flower, for kohlrabi is the stem, and for brussels sprout is the leaf. I grow all of these in the hardiness zone five of the Midwest.

The first week of April is the best planting time for all three vegetables in my garden. I either purchase the seedlings or grow them from seeds inside. Also I have started the seeds outside around the first of May. When I start the seed in the garden I make a hole the same size as the container used for starting the seed inside and add the same starting medium. Also I use an insecticide dust on the plants after they come above the ground. This keeps insects and other animals away from the seedling as it develops into a 4 to 5 inch plant.

Broccoli can be eaten during first week of June, with the help of the weather. Broccoli can have a bad taste if the large stem is eaten or after the yellow flowers have started from the buds. The groups of buds is the part ate. Typically the first and largest grouping of the buds tastes the best. After the initial harvest the plants grow several smaller groups of buds which are also ate. Around the middle of July the smaller buds loss the original taste. So I remove the plant and put winter squash seeds in its place.

Kohlrabi is ready to eat from the first day of summer to the 4th of July. The ones in my garden taste best went they're about 1 and 1/2 inch in diameter. Any larger the stem will become hollow and crack inside. I peel off 1/4 inch of the outside to reach the better taste of the inside. After harvest I remove the cut stem and its roots to plant winter squash seed.

Brussels sprouts can appear to stop growing, during the warmer days of summer. But they should be left in the ground, because they start the growth again as the days get cooler. Brussels sprouts need one or two freezes to get their good taste. For the temperature to reach 25 degrees is better than falling just below freezing. For my growing area it might be necessary to wait until middle of October to get the good taste. When harvesting, I remove the bundles of Brussels Sprouts leaves themselves. By not cutting off the stem, new leaf bundles will grow until a hard freeze ends the season.

All three vegetables grown in my garden are rather small. My Kohlrabi grows too around 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter and my Brussels sprouts leaf bundles reach less than 1 inch in diameter. The first time I ever saw the larger ones pictured in catalogs, I was in the hardness zone 4 of Wisconsin. One Saturday morning, at a farmers market, I purchased 4 inch diameter Kohlrabi and 2 inch diameter Brussels sprouts. Vegetable care articles

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6 High Yield Fruits and Vegetables to Grow on a Fence

If you want to grow some vegetables but don't think you have the space, why not look upwards instead? Vertical gardening lets you take advantage of fences, trellises and exterior walls to grow fruits and vegetables in tiny spaces.

Blackberries or raspberries

I grow my berry bushes along a chain link fence which does a great job of camouflaging the alley while keeping my family well supplied with fresh berries. A healthy blackberry bush will produce between 10-20 pounds of fruit a season, a single raspberry bush slightly less.

Grapes

Grapes are another family favorite at our house though do require full sun to grow. Grape vines can be trained to grown along a fence, over a pergola or on a trellis. I usually harvest about 15-20 clusters of grapes per plant.

Lemon cucumbers

I've only started growing this unusual vegetable a few years ago and love the compact size of the fruit which makes it ideal for growing along a porch rail or small trellis. Lemon cucumber plants are very prolific and easy to grow. Last year, our average yield was between 20-30 cucumbers per plant.

Pole Beans

Certain bean varieties are known as "pole" plants, meaning they can be trained to climb upon a fence or trellis for bountiful yields. Pole beans have 2-3 times the yield of bush varieties and have a much longer growing season. Average yield per plant is about 5-6 pounds.

Pickling cucumbers

Our family eats a lot of relish which is why pickling cucumbers are a staple in my garden too. Pickling cucumbers are much smaller than standard market cucumbers which means that they won't break the vine as they grow. Most pickle and relish recipes call for at least 4-6 pounds of pickles per recipe which is why you'll need to plant at least 8 plants.

Apples, peaches, plums, and cherries

While we don't think about growing fruit trees along a fence line, the old art of espalier training makes it possible to grow orchard fruits in tight, compact spaces along a fence or a wall. The yields are fantastic in relation to the space -- for instructions for espalier training fruit trees in your yard, check out the Mother Earth News article: How to espalier apple trees. Need more ideas? check this article called 4 Fruits You Can Easily Grow

A lack of yard space doesn't mean that you can't have a micro orchard or vegetable garden. Thanks to vining fruits, pole vegetables, and tree varieties that can be espalier trained, it is possible to grow food for your family in hardly any space at all.

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Gardening the Back to Eden Film Method Saves Time and Money

Hey Gardeners, if you've already heard about the Back to Eden gardening film than you're a step ahead of the game. I fell upon this film while sifting through YouTube videos on gardening. You can watch the Back to Eden Film online for free. It's a documentary about how you can layer any yard, anywhere in the world without tilling the soil, using wood chips, and have the benefits of using less water.

Some people don't want to do the research or don't pay attention to detail which have created critics of the method. This is not just throwing down wood chips and you're done, however it is simple. If you look at the section on How to Grow Your Own Organic Garden and throughout the movie it tells you that your first layer is newspaper (reduce weeds), compost (the free compost from our Orange Country landfill is great stuff), wood chips of various sizes and topped with chicken manure (or in my case we have a rabbit) - makes for a great garden and keeps the moisture in the ground longer, while also reducing the amount of weeds. However, make sure you plant your seeds or transplants in the soil/compost section, not in the wood chips as the roots won't have a solid enough foundation.

I realized I was sort of doing this method by accident. Since I don't have the 'back' to use a rototiller on my community garden plots I have been layering by default. One of the great things about being in a garden community (online or in person) I learned about free compost from our local landfill which has saved me a ton of money from buying soil in bags. In addition, I've been layering with the free hay bales that we get from our annual Fall Festival. The hay breaks down over time and I use them to surround the plots to reduce weeds. In addition, I was using vegetable scraps and rabbit manure for composting but now I give the vegetable scraps to the worms. I have a worm composting bin which makes a great circle-of-life where what I grow in the garden is what we eat, as well as the bunny eats and his 'stuff' goes back to the garden as compost as well as the scraps are fed to the worms and their 'stuff' goes back as worm casting compost. It turns out I've been doing this layering method for years without knowing that there was a movement called the Back to Eden Film method.

After watching this documentary on the Back to Eden gardening I finally realized why my garden did so well even though I was physically unable to manage my plots for nearly three months. I thought I was surely going to return to a lot of back breaking, ground digging work but to my surprise my garden had very little weeds. In addition, I could only depend on the rain that we had for water, which has been very low in our area for several years, yet my vegetables grew very well. I had covered the compost with hay, except where the plants were growing and the weeds were nearly extinct except for some of the areas that were not covered. However, even those parts which had compost that looks like dirt, as the wood chips are well decomposed at the landfill, only had a few weeds. You can follow this link to Back to eden film main site

I'm going to continue the Back to Garden Film method of gardening in my home containers on my patio and have already created some self-watering containers from buckets I got at the Dollar Tree store since they don't get rained on. I hope you'll try this method out and reduce your use of water and maintenance on your home garden. Let me know what you think or if you've used this method in the comments below.

Monica Lehua is a native of Hawaii and now resides in Orlando, Fla. She's taken some of the methods of gardening that she's learned from her family of agriculturalists: farmers and simple home gardeners and tweaked it to fit the central Florida climate. Need more information about muclhing? there are other articles about mulching your garden!

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Growing Plants from American Seed: A Review

As a frugal gardener, I plant the majority of my flowers and veggies from seed. Extra work and extra time goes into this process, but I find it to be worthwhile. While many gardeners who grow from seed choose the high priced, open pollinated seeds from Burpee or Martha Stewart, I often grow the less expensive brand from American Seed.
After years of growing from all kinds of seeds, I find there is not much difference in the final product. As long as the seeds germinate, they are viable and the success of growth will be determined largely by outside factors such as sunlight, the correct amount of water and nutrition. I've compared the final results on several flowers and vegetables and have not seen a notable difference. American Seeds are organic and open-pollinated, no chemicals or GMO's to worry about.

American Seed, though used as the name on the packets, is not the manufacturer of these seeds. This information is displayed on the American Seed website, here. American seeds are distributed by Plantation Products, the same company that handles the seed brand of Ferry-Morse.

Finished Product Results
I've grown Swiss chard, a variety of mustard mixes, onions, radishes and several other veggies from a range of these seed brands and not seen a large difference in the size, quality or yield. American Seed flower seeds do well. The difference is in the price.

Prices for American Seed Packets
In the past I've paid one dollar for 3 or 4 packs with American Seed, as opposed to one dollar and eighty-nine cents to two dollar and twenty-nine cents for the Burpee brand. The Plantation Products website says the seed is purchased from the same sources as other brands. Information there indicates that 59 cents per pack is the standard price this year for many seeds. Varieties not offered in the 59 cents line are often available for 99 cents per packet.

American Seed packets are sometimes sold for 10 cents per pack, according to their site. Large boxes of wildflower mixes sell for two to three dollars. They're available at Walgreens, Dollar General store and various other outlet stores.

Plantation Products handles other brands besides American Seed and Ferry Morse. They distribute the Jiffy line of peat pots, fiber pots and plastic starter cell packs with humidity domes. Jiffy also carries seed starter pellets, and germination and potting mixes. Other brands offered by the company are NK Lawn and Garden and the Mckenzie Organic and Heritage Seed packet lines in Canada.

Give them a try in your seedbeds and take note of the results. You may find growing from American Seed is another alternative to saving money in the garden.

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Tips for Planting Peppers

A Compelete Gardening Guide for Planting the Best Peppers

New varieties of peppers are introduced each year, each featuring a different mature color and unique flavor. Peppers make the perfect addition to any garden and are fairly easy to care for as long as you know what it takes to keep them thriving. There's nothing better than having the choice of any pepper you could possibly imagine, in your backyard. Being able to go outside and cut a few of these ripe babies fresh off the stem is convenient and will make any dish that much better. Pepper gardens are ideal for anyone who loves fresh fruits and vegetables, salads, or making homemade salsa from jalapenos or other peppers of your choice. This quick guide will help you learn what it takes to maintain your own pepper garden. Pretty soon, your friends will be calling you Peter Piper because you'll have the best peppers in town.

 Planting

Do:

• Choose a site with full sun, but consider planting taller plants nearby to provide shade on extremely warm days. Peppers are tropical plants that thrive in the sun, however temperatures over 90 degrees Fahrenheit can scorch your plants, causing the leaves to wilt and fruit to fall off or drop.
  
• Make sure the soil drains well. Standing water encourages root rot and will kill your plant.
• Leave plenty of space between plants. Try to aim for spacing transplants 1 1/2 feet apart in rows at least 2 feet apart. Keep in mind that most hot-pepper cultivars need less room than sweet ones.
  
• Use stakes or other gardening tools to support the plants. This is especially important if you start your plant out in a pot or container, as the fruit starts to bloom and weigh the plant down, it becomes common for the plant to tip over on a windy day.
• Water during dry spells to encourage deep root development and to keep your plants from drying out or becoming scorched. Lack of water will produce bitter tasting peppers. Yuck!
  
• Pull any weeds. This will help reduce damage to the roots.
• Pick any weevils or other pests off your leaves. If pests become a problem consider a natural pest deterrent. Many recipes for these can be found online and made at home using common household ingredients.
  

Don't:

• Plant where tomatoes or eggplants grew previously. Peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants are all members of the nightshade family and are subject to similar disease.
  
• Forget to water.
• Buy Transplants from a garden center. This is of course, completely optional (I bought transplants from Lowes and they did just great last summer) but you will have more choices and better chances of your plant producing more peppers if you plant from seedlings instead. If you do decide to forego seeds and buy a plant from your local garden center, look for one that has strong stems and dark green leaves. Try to avoid any plant that is wilted, brown, or has holes in the leaves. Also try to avoid plants that already have tiny fruits on them, they won't produce as well.

Seedlings When it comes to pepper plants, roots are very touchy. The best way to start your pepper garden from seedlings is to plant them indoors in peat pots about 2 months before the last frost date. When sowing seedlings, aim for 3 or 4 seeds a pot. It is crucial to maintain soil temperature and moisture during this period. Soil temperature should be kept at 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Always remember to water your seedlings. You want the seedlings to be moist, but not wet. This is extremely important. Keeping your seedlings in sunlight for at least 5 hours a day is also key to growing a healthy, strong, pepper plant. If you are planting your seedlings indoors and do not have a window available, keeping them under a light for at least 12 hours a day should suffice. Once your seedlings grow and are about 3 inches tall, it will be time to thin them. This can be done by leaving the strongest plant in each pot and cutting the others off at soil level. Once your plant is 4 to 6 inches tall it is ready to be transplanted and can be moved outside to your garden.

Transplanting To Garden

When it comes times to transfer your plants to your garden, simply follow the above tips (see planting section). Keep in mind that peppers are very susceptible to transplant "shock", which can interrupt growth. To avoid shocking your pepper plants, make sure that the soil temperature is at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit before transplanting. A good rule of thumb to ensure this temperature and avoid shock is to plant 2 to 3 weeks after the first frost. Planting outside on a cloudy day or during the evening is also ideal, as it will reduce the chances of sun scorch. Providing temporary shade for your plant is also never a bad idea if you just can't help but plant on a sunny day.

Maintaining Growth & Health

As mentioned before, pepper plants are especially susceptible to root rot, however evenly moist soil is essential to good growth and health. This can be the trickiest part about caring for your pepper plants because you don't want to water your plants too much and kill them, but it can also be easy to under-water your plants. Since pepper plants thrive in sunny areas, under-watering can be a death trap as well because sun scorch is a very common problem. In order to avoid these types of issues, you can invest in a thick mulch. The good news? Mulch is fairly inexpensive and most places like Lowes carry it and will even have great sales during the summertime, where you can purchase a decent size bag for $2. Other materials that will work are straw or grass clippings. All 3 of these items will help lock in moisture and keep soil temperatures warmer.

Harvesting

Most sweet pepper varieties will become even sweeter as they mature. Watch for change in color to determine when they are ready to harvest. Peppers generally will change from green to bright red, yellow, orange, or sometimes even brown or purple. Mature hot peppers, offer an even greater variety of color and feature the best and spiciest flavor when fully grown. A good rule of thumb is to watch for how dark the pepper gets. The darker the pepper, the hotter and tastier it will be. Earlier in the season it is important to harvest peppers before they ripen. This will help encourage the plant to keep bearing; a mature fruit can signal a plant to stop production. Once you have harvested your fruit a few times early on in the season, your plant should continue bearing fruit and as the season progresses you should have an abundance of mature fruit as long as you follow these tips and tricks. My pepper plant was still bearing fruit in October or November. 2013 was a great year for peppers. I had homemade salsa many times thanks to my jalapeno plant, and many salads with banana peppers, fresh from the garden.

When harvesting your peppers, never pull or pluck your peppers from the plant. Instead cut them. This can be done with pruning sheers. When a frost is predicted, pick all fruit or pull plants up by the roots and hang them in a cool, dry place indoors. This will allow for the fruit to ripen fully.

Preservation

Peppers can be preserved by freezing (without blanching). Hot peppers can be dried.  Done with peppers lets move on to Growing Perfect Tomatoes!

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How to Plant and Grow Eggplant

If you can grow peppers, you can grow eggplants. That's how easy they are grow. If garden space permits, try growing a few of many different varieties of eggplants; small and oval, large and oblong, white, orange or green fruit color, or just stick with the delicious and versatile purplish-black variety most of us are familiar with. I always recommend that my clients try growing one plant in their garden, and then they'll be hooked on the ease and beauty of homegrown eggplants.

When to Plant
Eggplants love warm weather and produce their best in zones that offer them a long and warm growing season. If you're starting plants from seeds, start the seeds 6 weeks before the last predicted frost date and keep seedlings in a location that has a constant temperature of above 75 degrees.

If you are starting with plants, wait until the soil is warm and outdoor air temperature is above 75 degrees before planting in the garden.

Prepare Soil
Choose a sunny location where no 'nightshade' vegetables have been grown in past two years. Nightshade plants are eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes and peppers, and by moving their planting location each year you'll reduce the risk of certain types of pest infestation. Then take a soil sample to your local county extension office or garden supply center for a soil test. Eggplants need a pH level of between 5.5 and 6.5 to best production. Work in about 2 inches of compost into the soil along with a slow-release balanced fertilize.

How to Plant
Set plants out 18-24 inches apart in prepared soil. The tender young plants are highly susceptible to flea beetles and other garden pests and will need covered in some way to protect them until they reach about 12 inches tall. An easy covering method is to cut the bottoms off of plastic gallon milk jugs or 2 liter soda bottles and place one over each plant to create a mini greenhouse. Leave lids intact and unscrew for ventilation on hot days. Remove and discard covering when plants reach 12 inches.

Eggplants can also be grown in containers and placed up off the ground to protect them from being infested with flea beetles.

Harvest Time
Eggplants are ready to be harvested when they reach their recommended mature size and when flesh is soft enough to press thumb into, but firm enough for the flesh to bounce right back into shape. Under-ripe fruits are too hard to make a thumbprint and over-ripe fruits are too soft to bounce back into shape.

Use a sharp knife or hand-held pruning shears to cut the stem away from the main stalk, leaving the eggplant cap intact.
Next article: How to Plant a Vegetable Garden

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7 Reasons to Save Garden Seeds

You can save money, grow better vegetables, be more self-sustaining and eco-friendly when you save seeds from your own garden. Saving garden seeds is nothing new, but it's a new concept to many novice gardens that I advise. Big box garden supply centers and even the local dollar stores have made purchasing new seeds each year easy enough, but there's still good reason to save garden seeds, 7 reasons as a matter-of-fact.

Save Money
Buy once, plant for decades. One seed purchase could potentially be an investment that will last for centuries if you also raise future gardeners in your blood line. The seed price of an expensive plant variety is easily justified when you consider how much money you will be saving by saving the seeds at the end of each growing season and re-planting them in succeeding years.

No Seed Shortage
When you save your own garden seeds, you're not at the mercy of the seed industry which may decide to discontinue your favorite tomato or squash variety. You won't have to worry about a pest infestation at holding sites that could limit the amount of specific seeds available from the seed industry either. Save your own garden seeds and you'll have what you want in the amount you need.

Plant Adaptation
When you save seeds from plants that have been grown in your region, in your own garden, you know the plant has already adapted to your region. The seed industry chooses to sell seeds that are adapted to growing in most all regions, not specifically yours. That's understandable from the money-making standpoint of a business, but for a home gardener like myself, I want seeds and plants that will grow best in my southern climate.

Quality Control
When you save your own garden seeds, you can select them off the best producing plants in your garden. The seed industry harvests seeds from inferior plants as well as premium plants and mixes them together for a hit-or-miss garden for home-growers.

Crop Traits
By saving your own seeds, you can select the seeds only from the plants that offered something special; the biggest squash, sweetest tomatoes, hottest pepper or odd-shaped eggplant and use those seeds from unique plants to influence crop traits in future gardens.

Heirlooms
Unlike modern hybrids varieties, heirloom varieties are not bred for their high yield and long shelf life, but rather for their flavor. Explore growing heirloom vegetable varieties and save seeds to keep modern gardening connected to the gardening times of our ancestors.

Have Fun
Saving garden seeds is a fun way to introduce young children to the joys of gardening. Grow, harvest and dry flower and vegetable seeds with kids this season, then plant the seeds next growing season with those kids so they can observe the circle of life and have fun doing so.
Next Article: Time to Plan Your Spring Garden

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Prepare for Your Spring Garden

Before you can start your spring garden, you've got a lot of prep work to do. The better you do at prepping your garden areas, the better the end result will be. So get out in the garden before it's time to plant, and get ready for warm spring weather right now.

Clean Up

Remove any debris from your garden areas. Branches, rocks and trash may collect in these areas during winter. Throw out all that stuff, and rake up any remaining leaves left over from last year. Clear out all your drainage ditches while you're at it. Plants need proper drainage, so don't neglect this step.

If you're working with an existing garden, now is the time to repair any damage to fences, posts, trellises or raised flower beds. Replace boards and re-bury stakes as needed. A healthy garden starts with a strong foundation.

Prep the Soil

Rake or till the soil in your garden areas. Soil needs to be loose and well-aerated if you're going to use it for planting. Old mulch can be removed first or worked into the soil. This is the time-consuming part, but also the most important. Garden areas should have rich, dark soil by the time you're done working the ground.

Make sure your garden areas are level. If needed, add more soil to areas with heavy erosion in order to level out the ground. Pull up any weeds you find and throw them away. The garden should be clear, level and ready for planting before you put any new seeds or bulbs in the ground.

Remove any dead stems or foliage from existing shrubbery and plants that are already in place. Get out the pruning shears, if needed, to remove dead areas of evergreens and other landscaping in your outdoor spaces.

Protect Your Work

Lay new mulch on bare spots in your flower and vegetable beds. The new mulch will help prevent the growth of new weeds. Leave at least 2 inches of clearance between mulch the the base of tree trunks and plants.

Once your garden is prepped and ready for spring, you're ready to work on planting. Start seedlings indoors and plant bulbs in the garden in the first weeks of spring. By mid-spring, your seedlings will be ready to transplant and your bulbs should be showing signs of growth. By the time spring is over, your garden will come to life.

Next article: 10 Spring Blooming Plants for a Woodland Garden

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10 Great Free Gardening Apps for Your IPhone

It's spring once again, and all of us are getting our green thumbs out of our mittens and are starting to plant and plan our gardens for this spring. Thanks to smart phones, gardening has never been easier. There are gardening apps to help you decide what to plant, when to plant them, how much water they need, and how to store vegetables once you pick them. Below are some of the best FREE gardening apps available right now to help you with your planting!

Gardening: Ultimate Guide
While this gardening app doesn't offer very much in terms of tools, it has lots of information that is great for beginner gardeners who need help with the simple stuff. Short articles like "40 Gardening Tips" or "14 Gardening Tricks" would be useful for those without a lot of experience planting and would like some tips before they start.

Vegetable Planting Calendar
This gardening app is a list of every vegetable imaginable as well as when, where and how to plant it. The list is quite comprehensive and includes over 90 vegetables, some of which you might never have heard of. It's also easy to use and includes a handy "What's my frost date calendar" feature. These developers also offer a paid gardening app for growing Chili Peppers.

Home Gardening - Growing Flowers and Food in Your Backyard
The free version of this gardening app is full of informative articles about general gardening and flowers. They include topics from "Feng Shui in the Garden" to "Beware of Toxic Mulch". While this gardening app is more information than function, many of the topics are useful for planning or maintaining your garden.

Organic Gardening Plant Planner
In this gardening app, you created a virtual garden based on your location. You can then select plants and get lots of information about them, such as seed planting depth and planting time. For harvest-able plants, you can input the planting date and it will tell you when they should be harvested. It will also give you reminders about your virtual garden, such as when you are supposed to plant something. The information includes mostly edibles, but has plants as well. This gardening app would be best suited to those who have a bit of experience growing vegetables and planting.

Grow Your Own
This is another gardening app for those of you that are true beginners at growing fruits and vegetables. Not only will this app help you grow the 20 plants that come with the free version, but will help you decide on which plants to grow based on your abilities, time and space available. This gardening app will also tell you if there is frost or a drought in your area so that you can adjust accordingly.


FREE Grow Your Own Herbs from Garden Organic
Not only does this gardening app includes information on going organic, but also includes a comprehensive listing of herbs. The app tells you when to plant them, difficulty, growing tips and when to eat. One of the best gardening apps for those trying out organic planting for the first time, as the tips can also be used on vegetables, berries or fruits.

Gardening Reference Guide!
Although not as comprehensive as some of the other gardening apps, Gardening Reference Guide provides photos, water and soil information and bloom time for an encyclopedia of plants. This app has a bit more information about plants than others on this list.

Our Rose Garden
This gardening app comes to us from the people at the University of Illinois and covers all things roses, from pests to planting. This is a great guide for anyone who has or wants roses in their garden. The app also includes links to YouTube videos about rose care.

Harvest Landscape Calculator
This handy gardening app takes the guesswork out of how much soil, mulch or stone to purchase for your next big project. It calculates how many bags you need based on area and what soil depth you are planning. It even tells you how many pickup truck loads it will be, so you know ahead of time if you will need to make two trips. This gardening app is perfect for those of you that tackle large landscaping projects often, or are planning one over this season.

Garden Time Planner
This gardening app gives you a large number of flowers, vegetables and herbs with information about their ideal growing conditions. This app is great when you are choosing plants and deciding where to plant them. This app also includes real-time weather information and frost dates. More apps

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10 Awesome Gardening Tips and Tricks

I love gardening! If you're anything like me, you can't wait for this nasty winter weather to take a hike so you can be outside all day in the warm summer sun planting your favorite flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Heck, I already started putting my gardening stuff out earlier this week when the weather was in the low forties. Guess I'm eager to plant. With warm weather approaching, its almost time for Spring cleaning, which means getting your garden in order. The following 10 gardening tips and tricks will have you gardening like a pro in no time!

1.) Get Rid Of All That Nasty Dirt Under Your Nails

One of my least favorite things about gardening is waking up the next day after a shower and still having dirt under my fingernails. Fortunately there is a trick that works great to prevent all that garden gunk from accumulating under your nails as you work in the garden. Simply draw your fingernails across a bar of soap. Doing so will effectively seal the undersides of your nails so that dirt can no longer collect beneath them. Wow! Such an easy solution for such a common gardening problem. Finished gardening for the day? No problem! Use a nailbrush to remove the soap, and your nails will be sparkling clean again. Gone are the days of gardening all weekend and then showing up to work on a Monday morning with nails full of dirt.

2.) Water Your Plants Like A Pro

The next time you boil or steam vegetables for dinner, think twice before pouring the water down the drain. Instead, use it to water your potted patio plants. You'll be amazed at how the plants respond to the vegetable soup surprise! In addition, when watering plants in your garden be sure to apply water directly to the soil surface. If you're doing this correctly, the water should slowly soak in, rather than run off. This can be done most effectively by using a watering can or a open-ended hose at half pressure. Furthermore, knowing when to water your plants and how much water they should get is crucial to maintaining a successful garden. Don't worry too much if you kill a few plants along the way, practice makes perfect and eventually knowing how to properly water each plant in your garden will become second nature.

3.) Boost Your Soil's pH

One of the easiest, most cost efficient ways to acidify the soil of your plants that need it most, such as blueberries or rhododendrons is to save leftover coffee and tea grounds and sprinkle about one quarter of an inch of the grounds, once a month. Doing this will help keep your soil's pH levels on the acidic side, and is also more eco-friendly than using store bought methods to boost levels.

4.) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

One of the easiest, cheapest, and greenest ways to garden is to recycle items and re-use your everyday waste. Items such as toilet paper rolls or coffee filters work great for potting seedlings in your garden. Since these types of items are biodegradable they can be planted directly in the soil. When it comes to reducing and re-using did you know that you can save certain seeds to re-grow next year? Or how about the fact that certain vegetables can be grown from older discarded veggies? Just a few examples are onions, green onions, and avocados. There are all kinds of online guides that show how to do this.

5.) Make Your Own Potting Mix

Soil can be expensive, and a lot of times most store bought soils contain lots of harmful chemicals and carcinogens. In addition, there are a lot of soils out there that are bad for the environment, as well as insects, and wildlife that may come in contact with your garden. As a vegan I know that I try to avoid using things like pesticides in my garden, as the bee population is already in danger, and other animals and insects can actually be very beneficial to helping your garden grow. Something I struggle with is trying to find a soil that is vegan friendly. I never realized until recently just how many soils contain things like feathers, blood, bone, etc. Making your own potting mix is a great solution to all of these types of problems. You won't have to worry about it having harmful ingredients, it could potentially cost less, last a lot longer, and in most cases is probably even better for your plants than any store bought soil would be.

6.) Drying Herbs Quickly

One of the quickest and easiest ways to dry herbs from your garden is to wait for a sunny day and lay a sheet of newspaper or paper towel down on the seat of your car, arrange the herbs in a single layer, and then roll up all the windows and close the doors. Your herbs will dry up in no time! Even better? Your car will smell great! Who needs air fresheners, when you have the power of fresh herbs?

7.) Make Your Own Garden Markers

I don't know about you, but for me, gardening is really therapeutic and once I get started I get really excited and sometimes a bit carried away. When this happens, it can be hard to remember sometimes what seedlings you planted where. Sure, you could run to the store and spend a ton of money on those cute garden markers you saw in the gardening section. But why waste all that money when you have plenty of materials at home that can be just as useful? Making your own garden markers at home is fun and will save you a lot of money in the long run. Besides, it can be fun to decorate each marker in its own unique way. Some items that work great for making markers include stones, clothespins, popsicle sticks, etc. Simply write on them with a black permanent marker and decorate and place in your garden as you see fit.

8.) Fertilize From Scratch

Fertilizers or soils already containing fertilizer can be quite costly. If you are looking for a way to save money and have your garden be more eco-friendly then why not make your own fertilizer at home? One of the best homemade fertilizers is epsom salt. Simply combine 1 Tbsp. of epsom salt for every gallon of water. Sprinkle on and around plants to keep pests at bay. Epsom salt is extremely rich in magnesium sulfate (two minerals that are both crucial to a plant's health), making it the ideal homemade fertilizer and pesticide.

9.) Keep Birds Out Of Your Garden The Natural Way

Birds are notorious for stealing items out of the garden, especially when it comes to berries. Two inexpensive, natural, and perfectly safe ways to keep birds and other pests out of your garden is to buy netting from your local hardware or gardening store to wrap around your strawberry plants. This will render birds and rabbits unable to reach the plants, making it impossible for them to take off with the berries or snag a bite. A second way to keep birds out is to paint stones as strawberries and place them around your plants. The birds will stay away from your ripe strawberry plants because they will think the newly ripened berries are stones.

10.) Quickly Washing Your Harvest When it comes time to harvest your vegetables, try investing in a laundry basket. Collect all of your produce in the basket and then rinse off right there in the yard with a hose. This method makes washing your harvest easier than ever, and the basket acts as a strainer, allowing you to wash everything quickly. Goodbye dirt, debris, and heavy lifting. Hello, easy clean food! Need more gardening tips visit home page for more information!

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Top 10 Gardening Apps for New and Experienced Gardeners

Spring is finally in the air and that means gardening season is just around the corner. Digging in the dirt has gone high tech. Both novice and experienced gardeners alike can garner some useful tips and hints from the top 10 gardening apps currently available on Apple and Android formats. Before planting that first seed brush, up on traditional gardening techniques and useful innovations with just the tap of your smart phone screen.

 

Top 10 Gardening Apps Pocket Garden allows users to browse hundreds of varieties of vegetables to guide your pre-season planting activities. One of my favorite functions of this gardening app is the tool which allows users to track planting dates. The feature also offers germination and harvesting advice based upon both the type of seed planted and the date it was placed into the ground. The Rain Harvest app is extremely helpful for folks who utilize either a home irrigation system or a rain barrel attached to a drip hose to water plants. The app allows users to calculate how much water fell onto the roof during a recent rainstorm, and factors how much water has accumulated and can be used to water plant. The app calculates in either millimeters or inches. 

 

The Landscaper's Companion is a favorite for growers who focus upon shrubbery and trees in addition to plants. A searchable library boasts growing information about more than 25,000 types of plants, trees, and shrubbery. Practical Preppers app encompasses all things off grid. Users can learn how to create a water catchment system, solar powered energy system, as well as cultivation aids. 

 

Scott Hunt, the engineer who designed the app, has been featured on a host of television series and news broadcasts. The Gardening Toolkit is extremely helpful for novice growers or those who just can't seem to get their thumb green enough each gardening season. The app teaches users the best place and time to plant crops and offers tips on how to have a successful crop as well. The Vegetable 

 

Gardening Guide gives great tips and instructions on how to grow and harvest crops just like all the other apps on the top 10 list, but is also provides incredibly detailed illustrations or the growing process with useful links as well. The Organic Gardening Magazine app also offers wonderful photos as well as in-depth gardening articles and tips for cultivating GMO-free crops. The "good" and "bad" buys report is particularly useful. Garden Squared is a growing layout app which guides users through the bed dimensions process and other important structural growing techniques. House & 

 

Garden app is a computerized version of Conde Nast's growing indoors and out magazine. This app is perfect for the homesteader who both grows food and raises livestock. Into Gardens takes users from the backyard to the dinner table. British garden designer James Alexander-Sinclair teachers users how to be incorporate what is grown into meals the entire family will enjoy.

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10 Gardening Apps for IPhone and IPad

There really is an app for everything and your garden is no exception. Here are 10 gardening apps that will help plan and cultivate your crops.

1. Garden Pro - This app catalogs over 7,000 plants! It gives growing information, and will even remind you when to water! There is a "to-do list" function, and you can even document your own garden with notes and photos. This app is 99¢!

2. Garden Tracker - Garden Tracker lets you map out your garden on a grid you design, and then track its progress. A feature I really like is that you can choose different types of gardens, like backyard or container. It is $2.99 in the App Store!

3. Organic Gardening Magazine - This app is free, but it enables you to purchase and read copies of Organic Gardening Magazine on your handheld device!

4. Gardening Toolkit - This app will help you determine what to plant in your climate zone! This is a good one for beginners. It is $1.99 in the App Store!

5. Rain Harvest - Now this app is really interesting if you have a rain barrel or collect rain water. It calculates how much water you should be able to collect off of your roof. This app is free!

6. Grow Planner Gardening App - This app is specifically designed for iPads, and lets you plan, map and track your garden. It is $9.99 in the App Store

7. Garden Time Planner - The Garden Time Planner app tells you when to plant based on your region. It advises you when to harvest, and will even alert you when your next planting or transplanting date is. The best part is it is free!

8. Garden Minder - This app is from Gardener's Supply Company, and even though the app is completely free you get $10 off a $20 purchase just for downloading it!

9. Vegetable Planting Calendar - This app tells you when to plant, what plants can withstand frost, and gives basic planting instructions. It has a very clean, simple interface and is free!

10. Garden Compass Plant/Disease Identifier - When gardening goes wrong, this app will help you determine what blight has struck your plants. You just snap a picture and a team of Garden Advisors will analyze it.
This spring a great garden may only be a click away!

need more options chek out these other articles about Gardening Apps for Smartphones

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10 Clever Ways to Cut Your Vegetable Gardening Costs

Unique Ways to Use What You Already Have to Save Hundreds of Dollars in the Garden

I grow my own vegetables for a lot of reasons -- for our family's health, the exercise, and of course to save money. Saving money begins with not spending it which is why I'm always looking for clever ways to trim my vegetable garden costs. One way I save money is by making my own compost instead of buying it from a garden center. Here are 10 other tips for lowering gardening costs by using what you have instead of buying new.

Make my own hot house caps

Hot house caps warm the soil for seed germination and protect tender seedlings from the frost. I make my own from plastic gallon milk jugs which I've been collecting all winter. These can be turned into hot house caps simply by cutting the bottom off and placing directly over your seedlings.

Use egg cartons in lieu of peat pots

Egg cartons are perfectly sized for starting seeds and will break down in the soil once the seedlings are ready to go into the ground.

Save seeds

Whatever vegetable seeds I don't use this year, I'll save for next. Most commercial seeds are good for at least 3 years with some varieties lasting as long as five years.

Recycle potting mix

Used potting mix might be drained of nutrition but still has value. I recycle my used potting mix (what's left in the pots after the plant has died) by pouring it into the compost bins which helps make the finished compost light and fluffy.

Animal bedding to improve soil texture

My soil is a bit on the clayey side and needs amenities like peat moss to improve the texture. Peat moss is expensive however which is why I use the soiled straw from the hen house and the soiled bedding pellets from our rabbit hutch to improve the soil instead.

Recycle trays and pots

I wash out and reuse the black pots and trays that plants come in which saves money too. Most of my pots and trays are ones I've salvaged from my neighbors recycling bins.

Make watering globes from wine bottles

For watering container gardens or newly transplanted vegetables, I turn old wine bottles into watering globes by simply filling them up with water and inverting them in the soil.

Use broken pots

Instead of throwing away my broken terra cotta pots, I partially bury them in the ground and use them to contain my herbs plants.

Fashion support stakes from water shoots

Water shoots are those fast growing branches found on apple trees that grow straight up wherever the tree has been pruned. I've discovered that water shoots not only make tasty treats for the rabbits, they can be dried and used as plant stakes for peppers, bush peas, and other small vegetable plants that need support.

Use offbeat containers for growing lettuce

I have a terrible problem with snails and slugs in my yard which is why I can't grow lettuce in traditional beds. What I do instead is plant lettuce seeds in odd beat containers such as old watering cans and leaky galvanized buckets which are placed on elevated platforms to keep them out of the reach of snails.

When the goal is to save money, it's amazing what can be done with ordinary items found around the house. Using what you already have is the most basic way of trimming costs and an easy way to trim hundreds of dollars from your gardening budget. need more information? we have an article called Organic Vegetable Gardening the Lazy Way: My Lazy, Cheapskate Gardening is Environmentally Friendly

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Top 10 Gardening Apps for 2014

Depending on where you live, spring is finally here, nearly here, or if you're way up north somewhere, seemingly nowhere near here. But even if you live in Calgary, the gloom will soon be replaced by the bloom, and a boom in gardening apps-- many of them absolutely free-- will help you get the most out of your garden this year. Here are ten of the best out there, in no particular order.

Garden Plan Pro ($9.99): This great iPad app is brought to you by the makers of an award-winning planner used by more than 100,000 gardeners. It's the best way to plan that bumper crop of fruits, veggies and herbs. Utilizing data from more than 6,500 weather stations around the world, this app makes recommendations for planting and harvesting based on where you live.

Gardening Guide (free): Free courtesy of Mother Earth News, this app provides pretty much all the gardening information you need at your fingertips. It offers advice on optimal harvesting, storage and even cooking.

Bugs In The Garden ($0.99): Those pesky pests can really stymie the best-laid plans of many a gardener, but with this Android app, you'll be able to quickly and accurately identify a wide variety of garden variety insects. Identify beetles, moths, aphids, caterpillars, grubs and more. Knowing your enemy is half the battle, and Bugs In The Garden lets you know what's bugging your garden.

Gardening Toolkit ($1.99-$3.99): This iPhone/iPad app from Applied Objects is an outstanding tracking tool, replete with virtual journals and to-do lists to help you plan the perfect garden.

101 Recipes ($0.99): Nature's Garden brings you this deliciously informative app brimming with healthy and delectable recipes.

Garden Tracker Bumper Crop ($4.99): This app lets you size and plan your perfect garden plot and then track your post-planting progress. You select and place squares, and schedule different treatments, such as fertilization and harvesting, for each. Also tracks yields so you can gauge the success of your various planting endeavors. Available on iTunes.

Tomato Match (free): This FREE app from the publishers of Fine Gardening magazine is all about helping gardeners find the perfect tomato variety that best suits their geographic and climatological needs. Get it on iTunes.

Garden Plate (free): Another great free iTunes app that gives you plenty of delicious, nutritious and ethically judicious vegetarian recipes. Vegetarians, vegans, gluten-free eaters or just anyone looking to eat healthier won't go wrong with this app.

Fertilizer Calculator ($2.99): Available for multiple Apple devices, this app makes keeping track of when you've fertilized your plants a breeze.

AmpleHarvest (free): What to do when you've grown more food than you need? With StoneRaven LLC's free iPhone/iTouch app, you can connect with local food pantries and donate healthy, home-grown garden food to people in need.

other articles about gardening apps: 10 Handy Gardening Apps We Really Dig!

Gardening Apps Take Hobby to New Level

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Six Easiest Vegetables to Grow for Beginning Gardeners

After a few years of squeezing a tomato plant here or trying to hide bean plants from the rabbits there, I finally made up my mind in 2013 to start a "real" vegetable garden - all vegetables, no flowers, fenced properly so that no rabbits could make a salad of it. Once I made that decision, the next question was what to plant. Here are a few of the vegetables I chose for my first vegetable garden, as well as some I'll be trying in my 2014 garden.

Tomatoes - If you have patience, you can start tomato plants from seeds in the early spring, but purchasing one or two plants in May (when someone else has done the hard work) will yield dozens of full-size tomatoes depending on the type. Cherry tomato plants will yield even more - I harvested over 400 from mine in 2013. Key to growing tomatoes: full sun (six to eight hours a day) and consistent watering.

Beans - Beans are easy to grow from seed by the direct sow method - plant them directly in your garden, water and watch them grow. Pole beans will require a trellis or some sort of support mechanism, while bush beans grow exactly that way - as a bush. If planned correctly, gardeners can get two bean harvests in a season, one in mid-summer and one in mid-fall.

Zucchini and other squash - Squash seeds can be started indoors before the planting season begins, but they also work well with the direct sow method, which is how I grew mine. Squash, particularly zucchini, is a prolific producer of fruit - make sure you know your neighbors well, because you'll probably be supplying them with extras from your garden.

Radishes - One of the easiest vegetables to grow, and another one you can get multiple harvests from. Radishes are a cool-season vegetable, meaning you can start them outside in the garden a little earlier than other vegetables. They are also a fast grower, with most varieties maturing in 20 to 30 days. Since they're cool season vegetables, you can sow another round of seeds in September and still have another crop before frost.

Lettuce - Lettuce is also a cool-season crop, so you'll get multiple harvests. For continuous harvests in spring, early summer and fall, sow seeds every two weeks. Depending on the type of lettuce you grow (leaf lettuce or head lettuce, for example), days to maturity can be short.

Cucumbers - Complete your salad with some east-to-grow cucumbers, which can be planted via the direct sow method. You'll again have to choose your type - vining types will need a trellis or room to sprawl, while bush types can be grown in more compact spaces. Your garden will produce cucumbers for many weeks, and you may once again be visiting your neighbors with extras.

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10 Handy Gardening Apps We Really Dig!

Your garden is looking promising. You are hoping for a bumper crop this year, but as you know, setbacks happen. You forget what you planted, plant at the wrong time or end up fighting an army of unidentified pests. You know what you need? A gardening app! Get a jump on your garden problems by downloading a few of these apps.

Garden Squared: A great garden begins with a good plan. Garden Squared is an app that helps you plan and track your garden from beginning to harvest. From square foot gardens, raised beds or patio container gardens, get the information you need to plant each plot.

Leafsnap: Forget what you planted? It happens! Use Leafsnap to identify a plant by its flower, leave or seeds. Snap a photo with your phone and submit to the app for instant results.

Garden Pro!: This little app currently costs $4, but it is a worthy investment! Garden Pro! Is a comprehensive reference app that helps newbie and experienced growers manage their gardens. Access an exhaustive list of veggies, flowers, and delectable herbs. Discover both the common name and botanical names and when the plant blooms. This app also gives you tips on water and light preferences.

Garden Compass Plant: Tired of losing plants to disease? You've got to try this app. Snap a photo and send it to app team. They'll diagnose your problem and provide you with a solution. Best of all Garden Compass Plant is free!

iGarden USA: Don't know when to plant in your climate zone? Don't leave the home improvement store without consulting this app. iGarden USA allows user to contribute too. You can suggest plants to other users in your planting zone and share pictures.

Garden Time Planner: Designed by Burpee, the Garden Time Planner is really a one-stop shop for gardeners. This app alerts gardeners, letting them know when to sow, when to transplant and when to expect to harvest vegetables and herbs, according to their garden region. The app generates a task list and it notifies the user when to sow or transplant next. Also in the app is a database of plants and handy links to how-to gardening videos.

iGrowit: This app has awesome graphics! Download iGrowit and get tips on preparation, planting and sowing and even tips on how to eat them. What's so great about this app? You can plug in your zip code and get detailed information about plants in your region. It's only .99!

Essential Garden Guide: Designed for the iPad, the Essential Garden Guide helps you learn the secrets of how to grow a gorgeous backyard garden. This app combines 15 years of contributions from knowledgeable sources including renowned agricultural institutions and extensions. This app is a wealth of great information for gardeners.

Gardening Toolkit: Enjoy hundreds of photos, look at lists of plants, get a watering guide and store your own photos. With the Gardening Toolkit, you'll always know, month by month what to plant, water and feed.

Rain Harvest: Wondering how much rain falls in your yard during a typical rain storm? You need this app! Rain Harvest is a rain harvesting calculator. Put this resource to use and determine when you need to water your garden to make up a rain deficit. 

there are some other articles about gardening apps, try use the search widget on the right hand side searching for gardening apps.

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Tips for Growing Black Krim Tomatoes

Last summer I grew my first batch of Black Krim Tomatoes starting from seeds. I was pleased with the results for the most part.

Black Krim tomatoes are an heirloom variety of tomatoes that originated in Russia. They are slightly black in color but are more of a deep dark purple on the top and a dark red toward the bottom of the fruit. They take about 80 days to get fruit when you start them from seeds.

I was very happy with the amount of plants that germinated from the seeds I used and once I planted them in the garden they grew very well making nice thick plants and producing a large amount of tomatoes on each plant.

The Black Krim is very tasty with a rich flavor that is a multipurpose type of tomato. I use them raw and fresh sliced on salad or on a sandwich. But I also used them for canning and I was very happy to can with them since they added a rich color to my sauces. I did not use them alone in a sauce; I always used them with a variety of red tomato. Someday I may try to can just the Black Krim in a sauce and see what I get.

I also tried to freeze the Black Krim but again I did not freeze them in a package alone. I always added them to a pack of red tomatoes that were mostly roma tomatoes. They did a good job at freezing as well. When I thawed them I used them in cooking and they kept their flavor very well after being frozen.

What I was not happy with was that the bugs liked my Black Krim tomatoes as much as I did. Who can blame them since the Black Krim is so tasty. I found that if I did not pick them just before they were perfectly ripe that the bugs would get to them. This was frustrating since I wanted the Black Krims for myself. The bugs started on the bottom of the tomato so I did not see them until I picked the fruit. The bugs were also very good at eating the entire inside of the tomato and leaving the outside.

I suggest if you grow the Black Krim that you pick them just before they are ripe and finish up the ripening indoors so the bugs don't take over yet you can still have organic tomatoes. You can read more about growing tomatoes here.

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How to Grow Potatoes in Tires

Planting Potatoes in Used Tires Helps the Environment as Well as the Gardener

That time of year comes around and April showers begin to dampen the soil. All the gardeners have talked and guessed on a week that they think the last frost has come and gone, allowing them to plant their potatoes. The old, more common method is to dig a trench in the ground, plant part of a potato with roots in it (or a whole potato with roots), and cover it up. Then, water and compost the bed, gradually raising it up around the base of the plant as it grows. This process takes around 70 days before the potatoes are ripe and ready to harvest.

There is a more convenient way of growing potatoes, though, that is less time consuming, environmentally friendly, and causes less strain on the body of having to bend over. Growing them out of old, used tires. Just mix some good soil and manure about 50/50 and lay a tire on the ground in your new garden. Place a few potato pieces in it (make sure they have been sitting in the dark, growing roots) and cover them with compost. As the plant starts to grow above the tire, stack another one on top of it and gently add some more compost, gradually raising up the bed. Soon, you will have a stack of tires filled with soil, compost, and if done correctly, a bunch of potatoes!

Once your potato plants have produced flowers they have started to die and fall off, it is time to harvest them. You may want harvest one of your stacked beds a little early just to see if they may be ripe sooner than expected. The time to harvest may vary depending on the area and climate. Some people like to eat small potatoes, too. Just take off the top tire and work your way down until potatoes will start to come falling out. You can also add more potato pieces with roots as the stack gets taller, or even cut holes in the tires for the plants to grow out of.

While some people use different mixtures of soil and compost, I have found manure to be essential in the soil where I live. I try to mix it at least half and half, and there are other mixtures as well as different organic food you can add to your compost to help potato plants to grow, such as fish carcasses. So, get out your old used tires and get ready to harvest buckets full of potatoes this Summer!

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Spring is Almost Here, Time to Get Out the Gardening Catalogs

Every year it seems like it is time to replant and decide if we are going to have a produce garden or not and if we are going to keep the flower garden the same or not. There are those of you who live in big cities and apartments and you are saying oh I wish I had the room to garden. Good news, you can, just not on as big a scale as urban and country folk.

For those who have limited space

There are potting gardens and these gardens can be any size you want. You can even grow vegetables in flower pots. The vegetables that grow the best in flower pots are tomatoes, beans, herbs, carrots and other small vegetables. I would not try to grow corn; however I am not saying you cannot try. There are even dwarf fruit trees that do very well in pots. Dwarf fruit trees such as; banana, oranges, apples and even pomegranate. These dwarf trees grow from four to eight feet in height which make them ideal for patio or balcony. They need to be able to be moved inside in the colder regions.

Flower pot gardens can be planted in any size pots, but care must be given to the size and number of planes to be grown in the pot. Potted gardens are only limited to the imagination. There are water gardens, hanging gardens, even "fairy" gardens and terrariums.

Planting full size gardens

When deciding what to plant in a flower garden, it is best to use a catalog so you can see what the flowers will look like; however, you will want to compare prices. For example; a four foot by six foot butterfly/hummingbird garden with 29 plants sold as a planned garden can costs $32.99 plus $12.95 shipping; whereas you can buy the plants individually from the same company with a savings of about $5.00; here how it works. The garden plan with 29 plants works out to be $1.14/per plant. That sounds like a really good deal. Now let us look at the real price of each plant:

• · 1 Rainbow Butterfly bush $3.99

• · 1 Orange trumpet vine 3.99

• · 10 Hardy Perennial lilies 10/6.49

• · 1 Ever-blooming coneflower 2.99

• · 10 Blazing star lilies 10/2.99

• · 3 Blue columbine 3/2.99

• · 3 Dwarf Daylilies 3/5.99

Total: $29.43

These same plants bought individually works out to cost $1.01/per plant. Because the total is under $30.01, shipping is only $10.95. Therefore that is another saving of $2.00. It is very important to check out what is a better deal. Would these same plants, be cheaper at the local garden center? I am not sure. You would have to shop around to see which is the better value. These figures came from the Michigan Bulb catalog spring 2014.

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Vegetables That Are the Best Value to Grow in Your Garden

What Vegetables Will Save My Family Money

Why do you have a vegetable garden? For some of us, it's the joy in growing our own food. For others, it's a great way to exercise or to enjoy the outdoors. While all these are wonderful reasons to grow vegetables, for many of us, it's a way to grow wholesome nourishing foods for our family while saving money too.

When the goal of a vegetable garden is to save money, it makes sense to plant veggies that are the best value in terms of yield and cost per pound. Here is how I determine what vegetables will save my family the most money.

What do they cost in the store?

Unless you've got a couple of spare acres for planting, most of us have limited space for growing vegetables. What I decide to plant is often tied in to current prices at in the grocery store or the farmer's market. Produce like green beans, peas, tomatoes, leeks, spinach, peppers, green onions, broccoli, and herbs rarely drop below $2 a pound which is why they are staples in my garden.

Relationship of yield to space requirements

What should also factor into the decision is the amount of produce that can be grown in a small amount of space. Cucumber, turnips, zucchini, carrots, beets, and yellow crookneck might be cheap in the store, but have amazing yields for the small amount of space they take up.

Trade in value

Most of us have probably traded vegetables with the neighbors as a way to get rid of surplus food items. I have rhubarb plants which have trade-in value with my neighbors who give me everything from flats of bedding plants to firewood in exchange for several pounds of freshly harvested rhubarb. Expensive veggies that you don't like but can be sold for $4 a pound or higher have value as a commodity that can be bartered with the neighbors.

Vegetable that are easy to preserve

The last factor I use in determining value is if the vegetable can be frozen or home-canned. I love leaf lettuce for example, but in terms of a leafy green vegetable that we can eat year round, spinach is the better choice because it can be frozen or home-canned. Veggies such as green beans, peas, tomatoes, asparagus and peppers are all easy to freeze and will save a family money long after gardening season is over.

 

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