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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Asparagus, a Spring Favorite

Spring is here and with it rushes in the excitement of preparing new meals with the influx of freshly harvested vegatables. A favorite amongst these new veggies being asparagus. Elegant, delicious and full of nutrition, asparagus is ready to return to the dining table and dazzle friends and family.

One of the great qualities of asparagus is the many ways to prepare it. Asparagus can be grilled, steamed, roasted, blanched, cooked on the stove top, and even microwaved. With asparagus in season, recipes are readily available in many cookbooks and on most cooking website lists. As a low calorie vegatable, asparagus makes a great addittion to any spring plate. 

Combined with a pasta it becomes part of the main entree and adds wonderful color to the dish. Bacon included with asparagus will have even the pickiest of eaters devouring every last bite. Asparagus added to a salad makes for a refreshing lunch. Asparagus is here and now is the time to take advantage of this spring favorite.

 

Selection and Storage of Asparagu

Dark green and purple tips are essential to selecting great asparagus. The spears should be firm to the touch while being straight and not bent. The tips will also be closed tightly. The rest of the asparagus will be a bright green color. Any blemished or wilted asparagus should be avoided. When held in two hands the asparagus should easily be snapped in two when bent, seperating the spear from the stalk.

To store once back home, the ends can be trimmed and placed in a cup with just a little water in the bottom. Plastic can be wrapped over the top before placing the cup in the refridgerator. This method will help the asparagus keep for up to a couple of days. Next article is How to Plant and Grow Eggplant

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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 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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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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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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Can I Start Vegetable Plants in My House?

Tips for Starting Vegetables in a Sunny Living Room Window

When you live in an area with a short growing season, starting seedlings indoors is a great way to jump start the garden. Summer vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, beans and cucumbers can be started indoors up to 8 weeks before the start of the summer gardening season which means that you could be enjoying fresh produce as early as July.

While many gardeners start their seeds using a cold frame or greenhouse, it is also possible to start your vegetable seedlings indoors in a sunny living room or bedroom window. This is the method I used for many years before finally getting a green house. I found that a window that gets at least 5-6 hours of sunlight a day is a perfect location for jump starting a garden.

All seeds need is warmth, sunlight and moisture to start the germination process which can take anywhere from three days to a couple of weeks. Quick sprouting vegetables include favorites such as tomatoes, squashes, beans, peas, and cukes which often poke through the ground in 4 days or less. Vegetables that take longer to sprout include herbs and peppers which is why these are often the first plants that I'll start indoors.

Once these vegetables sprout however, they can only remain in the window for a few more weeks or until they reach a height of about 1-2 inches. After that, the starts must be moved outdoors during the daylight hours or place beneath a grow lamp. This prevents the spindly, tilted growth that will happen to all plants which are trying to grow in insufficient light.

On sunny days where the temperatures are nice, seedlings can be moved outside in an area of filtered light. They should be started off with just a couple of hours of sunlight a day in the beginning, with the time gradually increased until they are outdoors all day. (This is known as "hardening" them off.) On the days the temps are below 38 degrees, the plants should stay indoors or can go into a solar greenhouse where they still can benefit from natural lighting without the risk of freezing.

Bringing your vegetable plants outdoors as early as possible not only prevents spindly growth, it's a good way to get them acclimated to the weather. This way they will be ready to go into the ground after the last spring frost.

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Five Summer Gardening Secrets for Drought Areas

The efficient use of water marks summer gardening tips in drought areas. You do not have to give up your summer vegetable gardening just because there are watering restrictions in effect. Five gardening secrets spell out just how you might accomplish this feat.

Reconsider Your Flowerbeds
Do you still plant your veggies in rows? In drought areas this practice no longer works. The Colorado State University Extension recommends that you forgo this practice in favor of planting in blocks. The experts explain that block plantings create automatic shade for shallow roots while cutting down on evaporation.

Mulch around Plants with Shallow Roots
Most vegetable plants and ornamentals have shallow roots. The same is true for trees and shrubs that you planted in the last 24 months. Ground bark, shredded leaves and other organic mulches prevent the soil from drying out quickly after a good watering. Since most vegetables need full sun to grow and produce, this is particularly crucial.

Snake the Soaking Hose
Summer vegetable gardening and the installation of a soaking hose underneath the mulch should go hand in hand. Rather than creating a run-off, you are sending the water where it is needed: to the roots. When you employ this method, set your alarm clock - or your automatic watering station - for an early morning wake up. Watering just before sunrise is an ideal time since it allows surface water to dry off before the sun has fully risen, which prevents burns.

Quit Watering the Kentucky Bluegrass Lawn
A little bit of water is worse than no water. Commit to watering deeply when permitted. If you live in one of the drought areas where only brief intervals of watering can be done once or twice a week, let the Kentucky bluegrass go dormant. Avoid mowing the lawn and cut down on using it. Yes, it will go brown.

Yet, if you have true Kentucky bluegrass, it should come back when the watering restrictions are lifted and you are once again permitted to water. The trick here is to prevent the formation of a shallow root system, which is often the case with frequent short-term watering. A lawn with a deep root system can withstand the occasional drought.

Protect Against Wind and Weeds
Nothing dries soil out more quickly than summer wind and growing weeds. The former takes the moisture right out of the ground while the latter will compete with your desired plants for the available moisture. Maximize your plants' survival potential by weeding frequently.

By the way, choosing the right vegetables to grow in drought areas is just as important as protecting their roots. Tree Hugger experts suggest the planting of okra, peppers, Swiss chard and Armenian cucumbers.

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Five Vegetables Your Kids Will Love to Grow (and Eat!)

For families that rely on vegetable gardens to help with grocery costs, it's never too early to teach our children the basics of growing their own food. When my children were still toddlers, I had them "helping" with sowing seeds, watering and harvesting. As they got older, we added tasks that required a bit more skill, such as transplanting, pruning and staking.

Teaching your children to garden gives them the skills they need to grow their own food as adults. Making this chore fun starts by growing kid-friendly vegetables that they will enjoy tending as well as eating. Here are five of my children's favorite garden veggies.

Gold nugget cherry tomatoes

Fresh tomatoes are an acquired taste, which is why I started my children on the mild-tasting gold nugget cherry tomatoes as toddlers. This tomato variety is easy to grow, easy to harvest, super prolific, and starts fruiting as early as July. My children prefer gold nugget cherry tomatoes plain or halved and tossed with fresh basil and a vinaigrette.

Zucchini

Another super easy vegetable for the beginning gardener, kids especially love zucchini because of how huge the plant and fruit can get. We harvest the zucchinis when they are size of a banana. My children's favorite way to eat them is baked into quick breads, as part of a shish kabob or grilled on the barbecue with a smattering of olive oil and garlic salt.

Snap Peas

Peas are another family favorite, and even though they do take up quite a bit of space, we always find room for them in the garden. What's particularly enjoyable about growing peas is how fun they can be to harvest them since it's a little bit like playing hide and seek in the vegetable patch. My children prefer eating peas raw out of the garden though will eat them steamed with a dab of butter and fresh thyme for dinner.

Lemon cucumbers

Most children enjoy growing cucumbers but the variety my children enjoyed the most are the lemon cucumbers which are lemon in shape, size and color. Lemon cucumber plants are very prolific and the fruit itself has a nifty kaleidoscope pattern when sliced on the diagonal. These are delicious eaten plain or sliced and tossed with a splash of lemon juice and fresh dill.

Parisian Carrots

I only started growing these myself about five years ago, but they quickly became a favorite with my teen who loved both the globe shape of the Parisian Carrots and its sweet flavor. This variety of carrots are ideal for container gardens or rocky soil and are easy to grow as radishes. My teen eats these straight from the garden, but they are also delicious cooked then drizzled with parsley butter. 

The secret to getting your children interested in gardening is by including vegetables that are fun to grow, fun to harvest and delicious to eat. These five vegetables are winners with my children and should work for your kids too.

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Growing Onions Successfully From Seed

Fall is coming soon. Your onions still don't look like onions. It's almost harvest time for everything in the garden. Those onions you planted from seed are just little wisps blowing in the wind. You followed the seed packet directions to the letter. What happened? Why is growing onions from seed so hard? What could you be doing wrong?

Planting onion seed in the garden rarely works.

I'm not sure why those people who package the seeds tell you to do it. You see, planting onion seeds in the garden doesn't give them time to grow. You'll have much more success when planting bulbs. Since they have a head start on growth, they'll be ready to harvest on time. Yes, it's that simple. But what if you want to start your own seeds, rather than buying bulbs someone else nurtured?

Indoor onion seed starting.

If you want to start your onions from seed, you have to start early.

This is the main reason starting onion seeds in the garden doesn't work out. It takes several months of growth to get onion bulbs. It takes the rest of the growing season to get full grown onions. You have to start your onion seeds indoors in January or February in order to plant the resultant onion bulbs (sets) in the spring.

It takes patience to start onions from seed.

It takes a lot of time and patience to grown onion bulbs from seed. Onion sprouts are extremely delicate. You really have to baby them and watch them closely. They can't have too much sun or too little. Over-watering is also a concern.

You will need a lot of seeds at first.

If you like both small green onions and large full grown onions, you'll need to sprout a large number of seeds. I've grown 160 bulbs before and not had enough onions to last through fall and winter. It may sound like a lot. Remember, the green onions you harvest for summer salads are quite small. The good news is that after several seasons, you will have onions popping up naturally in your garden. The longer you grow onions, the less seeds or bulbs you will have to buy.

Use loose potting soil.

You'll need to pull your bulbs cleanly from the soil for outdoor planting. Therefore, your soil should be looser than normal. One trick I use is adding cornmeal to the potting soil. Make sure to use GMO free cornmeal to avoid organic seeds being contaminated. Sand can be used as well.

Let your onions go slightly dry between watering.

Wet soil causes fungus growth. It also tends to hold seeds too tightly. The soil you start your onions seeds in will need to be damp for initial sprouting. After that, allow your soil to mostly dry before watering. This forces deeper root growth and healthier onions.

Sometimes nothing works.

Starting onions from seed is a fussy process. Not everyone is up to the task. I spent a lot of years planting ready grown bulbs, while learning to propagate my own onion seeds. There will be years when your seeds simply aren't successful. Don't despair. There's always next year. If this happens to you, just "suck it up". Go buy some organic GMO free seedlings. Most good greenhouses carry them. One failure doesn't make you a terrible gardener. In fact, the learning experience can make you a better one.

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How Urban Chickens Can Benefit a Yard

5 Ways that Backyard Chickens Can Improve the Health of Your Lawn and Garden

Why do you want backyard chickens? If you are like most people, farm fresh eggs is the primary reason for having a small flock of chickens. Eggs from chickens that are allowed to free range in the yard are tastier, larger, and so much fresher than eggs purchased at the store. And because you control what the chickens eat, you know exactly what's going into those scrumptious eggs.

I'm in my 6th year of raising backyard chickens and along with a steady supply of organic eggs, my yard has also benefited in many different ways. Here's how.

Free chicken manure

Chicken manure is one of the finest organic manures around and is super easy to work with too. Whenever I clean the hen house, both the manure and their straw bedding goes straight to the compost bin where it turns into nitrogen rich compost in 5-6 weeks.

No pests

I used to have a horrible time with box elder bugs, earwigs, squash beetles, slugs and other vegetable garden pests until we got chickens. My chickens will graze on creepy crawlers all day long which keeps our vegetable gardens, flower beds, and the rest of the yard pest free. For organic gardeners like me, this is a huge time saver!

Great for the soil

Chickens are also quite effective at aerating and turning over the soil. In the early spring before my veggies go in the ground, I'll turn my chickens loose in the garden beds where they do an amazing job of loosening up the dirt while removing weed roots and weed seeds.

Will attract other birds

Every since having chickens, I've noticed a huge increase in the wild birds that come to my backyard as well. Wild birds take care of pests that my chickens can't reach such as aphids, mosquitoes, and various tree insects. Some species such as starlings, sparrows, and finches will even gobble up those pesky elm seeds and other weed seeds that cover my yard in the spring.

Improve the grass

It's not just my vegetable garden that benefits from free range chickens but the lawn does too. Chickens will aerate the lawn, remove thatch buildup, tackle lawn pests and weeds, and even improve soil texture. Thanks to my backyard chickens, the grass in my yard is the healthiest looking it has been in years.

 

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Five Ways a Back Yard Can Stretch Your Budget and Save Money

How to Save Money and Generate Income With a Back Yard

For cash-strapped families like ours, a back yard becomes more than just a place to hang out on the weekends. A back yard can help stretch a family's budget by providing us with the space and raw materials needed to earn money and become more self-sufficient.

One significant way that my yard stretches our family's budget is by giving us a place to raise food crops. Nearly 80 percent of the produce our family eats is raised right in our back yard which has made a huge difference in lowering our grocery bill. The extra produce we can't eat or home preserve is bartered to neighbors or sold at a neighborhood grocery store.

Here are four more ways that a backyard can stretch a budget and generate some extra income too.

Raise chickens or other small animals

Many cities have eased up on zoning restrictions to allow the raising of chickens for eggs which saves money on many fronts. Having chickens means a steady supply of farm fresh eggs (which can be either eaten or sold to the neighbors), free chicken manure for your garden beds, and free organic pest control. If you don't like chickens, small scale bee keeping or fish farming is also allowed in many cities.

As a place to dry clothes

While having a clothesline may seem like a waste of yard space, I discovered that this resource provides more than fresh smelling clothes and a monthly savings of $20 on my electric bill. Line drying clothes prevents fading, preserves the life of the garments and means you can skip additives like fabric softener or bleach. A clothesline also provides a place to air out sleeping bags and comforters instead of sending them out to the dry cleaners.

For making soil amendments

Anyone who gardens knows that compost, potting mix, and mulch can get very expensive. Not so if you have a yard and the space to make your own soil amenities. I have a 10 x 10 corner in my yard that produces nearly 5 cubic yards of chemical-free compost each year for a savings of $200. This keeps good material out of the landfill and means I spend less on weekly trash pickup than many of my neighbors.

A place for activities or home businesses

With a yard, you have a free place to throw a party for the kids or a get-together for co-workers and friends. It also gives you the space needed for indoor/outdoor home businesses such as a day care or dog watching services, firewood splitting, small appliance repair and outdoor furniture fabrication. Some of my neighbors even use their yards as outdoor classrooms for teaching art, wood working and gardening. 

As costs continue to rise, a yard is a wonderful asset for anyone looking for ways to be more self reliant. These are just a few of the simple ways that our family and some our neighbors are making the most out of our yards.

 

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Benefits of Conventional Vegetable Gardening

Raised beds have their uses. They save stretching and bending. Still, conventional gardening is cheaper, low maintenance and more versatile. If you have no physical limitations, conventional, straight in the ground gardening is an option with many benefits. All it takes is a shovel, a little compost and a willingness to get your hands dirty.

Cheaper

Conventional gardening saves money in several ways. Here's just a couple examples.

No beds to build

Building garden beds takes time and money. Certainly, you can use re-purposed and/or cull lumber. Still, it's not that easy to find it in exactly the size you need or want. Lumber can be quite pricey if you're talking about the type that holds up well to the weather. Skipping the bed build and planting directly in the ground saves you money.

Buy less soil

Gardening requires nutrient dense soil. Raised beds have to be filled at least 10 or 12 inches above ground level. That dirt can cost you a fortune. With conventional gardening, you can simply amend existing soil with compost or planter's mix. It will take some effort to "dig it in". Still, the money you save will be well worth it.

Permanence

Most conventional gardens are located in the same spot every year. This provides the following benefits:

Less planning

After the first year, there is much less planning in a conventional garden. After all, the location is already set. You remember where everything was last year. You know how well it did. You know what needs to be moved and where it should be moved to. It's a done deal, with less prep time than you have when using raised beds.

Less preparation

Raised beds have to be constructed. Ground must be dug under them. As mentioned before, there is a ton of soil to bring in. Filling a 4x8 garden bed takes at least a half yard of soil. That's a lot of wheelbarrow loads. Then, there are the amendments. With conventional gardens, you can simply till in last year's produce or compost and be done with it.

Versatile

Works well for any vegetable

Not everything grows well in raised beds and containers. On the other hand, people have been growing all kinds of different vegetables in conventional gardens for centuries. If it's a plant, you can pretty much put it in a conventional garden and it will thrive. Not so for those raised beds. Some things simply don't do well there.

Natural disaster

Raised beds don't hold up as well in storms. For instance, if part of your conventional garden floods, you don't suffer a huge loss. You just lose the plants. With raised beds, your whole bed and all the soil in it might be lost in a flood and have to be re-built.

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