Vegetable Gardening Has Been Saving Us Money

Kitchen garden at Bolen residence

Image by Gardening in a Minute via Flickr

We started our first vegetable garden in containers. That was before we had a home with a yard big enough to have a vegetable garden in the ground. Since that time we have noticed that people all over the country are starting their own vegetable gardens. Probably for the same reasons we started gardening, to save even a little on the grocery bills.

Back when we first started gardening was not a hobby, that came later when I realized it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

Gardening has been around since, well forever so I don’t think people decided to start gardening just on a whim. There is obviously more to it than that. People are gardening vegetables these days to combat rising costs knowing that they aren’t getting any pay raises to compensate for cost of living increases. Plain and simple.

Another huge factor is lack of job security and households where only one individual is working outside the home.

Like I said at the beginning our first veggie garden was a container garden. We wanted to grow some vegetables so we could save a little and eventually we bought a home with a big yard and now have an ever growing garden. However that little container garden produces piles of tomatoes, potatoes and strawberries.

Surprise, Surprise We Grew Veggies

We weren’t really certain we could grow anything outdoors. I like house plants and have no trouble growing them indoors but in here they don’t have to survive the elements, but we did fine, even though I made a few mistakes.

Mistakes Are Part of  The Learn Process

I have always seem to learn things the hard way but that’s me. It’s mostly self inflicted of course as I tend not to read instructions and try things without learning how first. I’m still alive and doing fine. Container gardening wasn’t really that hard to learn. My biggest mistake was not using containers big enough for the task. That mistake was easily rectified by getting larger containers and re-potting. Lesson learned.

After a few years of gardening vegetables in containers we found the home of our dreams, it even has two lots, one we turned into a small garden which seems to get a bit bigger each passing year.

But summer is gone all too soon and then a winter that’s way too long, so…

We Started A Herb Gardening In The Kitchen

We had already been container gardening so starting a container garden in the kitchen wasn’t a big step but it had huge results. Now we have fresh herbs all year long and love them in most every thing we eat. The only issue we had with our kitchen herb garden was that our kitchen windows don’t get enough sunlight during the winter so we moved the herb garden to the living room window and all is well again.

It’s Organic Vegetable Gardening Or Nothing

From the time I was 8 years old I suffered migraine headaches that would make me so sick and cause such pain. That was the same year I moved to live on a farm. It took me almost 40 years to find out the cause of my migraines, it was pesticides. My dad used pesticides on everything in our huge vegetable garden and it nearly killed me. Needless to say we don’t use pesticides in our garden and we wash all the produce we purchase very thoroughly.

Gardening has become such a great hobby now and it’s a hobby that feeds us healthy and tasty garden produce.

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My Window Herb Garden
Image by leesean via Flickr

The positive aspects of herb gardening is the fact that it won’t need a lot of room. Actually a bit of space on the windowsill that receives some sun light every day will work. When you’ve discovered a little place the rest is usually rather uncomplicated.

Once you identified the ideal spot for your herb garden you will need to make a couple of decisions.

1. Exactly what herbs will you grow. We made the selection based upon on what we like to eat.
2. Are you going to start this herbs from seed? Maybe you might prefer to speed up the process by buying starter herbs.

A Great Suggestion When You Use Containers To Grow Herbs

It is really crucial you use pots which have good drainage. The correct drainage is going to help you keep from drowning your herbs the way I did on the first attempt at indoor herb gardening. I learned that one the hard way with some other indoor plants.

You can head to your community gardening shop where I am sure you can find the ideal planting container for the windowsill herb garden.

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Serious Facts On Herb Garden Seeds

herb garden - Kline Creek Farm - 08192006
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Growing an herb garden is a smart way to develop your gardening talents while making a handy crop for your house. Most herbs can be grown in little spaces and in conditions that other plants wouldn’t survive.

Herb gardens can benefit your home in many ways. Adding green, growing things to your environment can make your house more pretty and more at ease to inhabit. Herbs can help cut odours from the air in your house and even add fresh and captivating smells to your living space.

Best of all, growing herbs lets you season your food in a natural and healthy way. Fresh herbs are full of flavor and can help you cut down on other seasonings like sale and butter. By growing your own rather than relying on dried herbs from the supermarket, you stay in control of what your family eats and where it comes from.

To start your herb garden, you will most probably need to buy plants or seeds. Herb garden seeds are quickly becoming the more popular choice because of their portability and availability, as opposed to starter plants which you must buy in your immediate vicinity.

Herb garden seeds can be ordered online and dropped at you thru the post, dumping the necessity to spend an afternoon poking thru massive amounts of plants in a nursery. This method also allows you to grow plants that you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to find in your area, resulting in a more well-rounded and exotic herb garden.

Shopping online for your herb garden seeds also permits you to do research on the plants that you’ve an interest in as you are shopping. If you see herb garden seeds online for a plant you aren’t familiar with, you can simply look up the growing information for that plant in another browser window. Fitted out with this understanding of the herb garden seeds you are perusing, you can plan out your complete garden beforehand and buy only the seeds you need.

Purchasing herb garden seeds online is also less costly than purchasing plants. When you buy a packet of herb garden seeds, you get many seeds. They may not all germinate or survive, but you get so many for such a small price that it is still very cost effective. When you buy an already-started plant, you get only one – if that plant dies, you are forced to buy another.

Starting your herb garden with seeds instead of seedlings can be a wise investment in your future gardening plans. You will get the rewards of raising plants from little seeds while enjoying the many benefits that come from growing your own herbs.

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Save Money Grow Your Own Home Vegetable Garden

Vegetable garden at Ham House Estate. In the t...
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I see more and more people today turning to vegetable gardening as a means to save money and have organically grown vegetables. The labour you put into your vegetable garden will produce healthier and less expensive vegetables for your table.

We started vegetable gardening a few years ago. We didn’t save a whole lot of money the first couple of years as we started small but had to buy garden tools to make the tasks easier. After the first couple of years we increase our garden to a 16 foot by 4 foot veggie garden and once the gardening was done for this year I increase it a bit so now it’s more like 16×8 and come next spring I may just increase it by another 4 feet wider.

Home Grown Vegetables Just Taste Better

We tend to get used to buying vegetables and perhaps don’t pay enough attention to organically grown. I get bad headaches, to the point of migraines. It took me many years of suffering before I finally put it together. I was being affected by the poisons on the vegetables and fruits we purchase. Not any more though.

Our veggie garden isn’t big enough to provide all year long so we do buy vegetables but now we wash everything with special soap. By the way, I have not had any migraines since we started washing our vegetables.

Where To Plant Your Vegetable Garden

We started growing vegetable in containers so finding a location in the sun was easy because we just moved them if they didn’t seem to get enough. Once we decided on an in-ground vegetable garden we had to find the best spot to start it. One that had good drainage, although we modified the soil to fix that little problem, and also a lot of sun over the summer.

We live in the centre of Moncton so we don’t see too many wild animals in our garden, unless you are referring to our son. Okay that was a joke, sorry buddy. But seriously, we don’t get any deer or rabbits, but we do have to deal with neighbourhood cats.

The Need For Good Topsoil

Before we started planting anything in our garden we dug it up to about a foot deep and then ammended the soil with peatmoss and topsoils. This was because our soil is heavy dense clay that grows little more than ugly weeds.

Adding organic matter to the soil releases nitrogen, minerals, and other nutrients plants need to survive. The most popular and best type of mulch you can use is compost.

We have a compost bin that allows us to recycle our kitchen and yard waste giving us great top soil for our vegetable garden while cutting back on what we put into the landfill.

Planting Your Vegetable Garden

I have already mentioned the need for lots of sunlight. So you have a plot picked out and prepared. Now it’s time to plan your planting and that means making sure your vegetables get enough of that available sunlight by planting the tallest vegetables to the east end of the garden.

Your tall plants will get early sunlight but will not block your other veggies once the sun moves past high noon and starts heading west. I managed to get this in reverse my first year, as a result we didn’t get a huge harvest, but a great learning experience.

When To Plant Your Veggies

You have now done all your home work and preparation. The next important step is to be ready to plant at the right time and that’s going to depend on whether you start from seeds or plants that are already started.

We usually don’t plant here in New Brunswick Canada until the threat of frost has past which is usually early June.

I will plant things ahead of time so that we have starter plants for those veggies that require longer growing periods but for things like lettuce, radishes, carrots and potatoes to mention a few we plant directly in the garden.

We do plant some veggies a little earlier than we should but if there is a call for low temperatures we cover the areas of the garden that need protection from frost.

Vegetable gardening started out as an interest and way to get healthier produce but today, a few years later it’s now become a hobby and we look forward to it each year.

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Kitchen garden at Bolen residence
Image by Gardening in a Minute via Flickr

A basic herb garden is not hard to create and it can be created in a remarkably small amount of space. no matter whether you live in a loft or you’ve got a yard that’s ideal for planting making a basic herb garden is straightforward.

There are 1 or 2 things that you’re going to need to start for making a basic herb garden. The first thing is to decide what type of basic herb garden you want. Do you want a container herb garden or are you looking for something a bit grander like a kitchen garden or a backyard herb garden.

Once you have decided the type of garden that you want to create you will need to decide if you want to create your garden from seeds or from already existing plants that you will transplant. When you have determined the kind of planting you would like to do for your basic herb garden.

There are a few supplies that you are going to need for your herb garden . Naturally, these supplies change dependent on which kind of herb garden you are making. The list includes all the supplies necessary for both gardens. Some of the supplies will be the same so that the list is mixed for being passing. The items you will need are: soil, fertilizer, seeds or herb plants, containers, and a spade.

If you happen to be using a container or boxes to make your herb garden, prepare the container by putting the soil in it. Then dependent on the sort of manure you are using add the manure to make the growing environment. You may or may not depending on the type of soil you get want to wet the soil down before planting. If you are, using seeds follow the planting instructions for the types of herbs you are planting. If you happen to use already established plants follow replanting instructions. These are typically listed with the plant, but can be discovered online if required.

For kitchen gardens weed and till the area to break up the soil and remove any large objects like rocks. Then add in the top soil and fertilizers and plant the seeds or transplant following the same as above instructions. Ensure that you glance at the lighting wishes of your herbs and put them in areas that receive the correct quantity of light and shade to guarantee correct expansion.

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My windowsill herb garden
Image by litlnemo via Flickr

The positive aspects of herb gardening is the fact that it won’t call for a whole lot room to grow. Even some space on a windowsill that receives some sunshine on a daily basis should do the trick. Once you have found a little spot the rest will be rather simple.

After you found the best spot for your herb garden you will have to make a couple of choices.

  1. Exactly what herbs will you grow. We made our decision based upon on the foods we like the most.
  2. Will you grow the herb garden from seed? Maybe you might prefer to speed up the process by purchasing starter herbs.

It is really essential you use pots which have good drainage. The correct drainage can aid you to NOT over-water your herbs the way I did on the first attempt at herb gardening indoors.

We had to use small pots so we didn’t mix herbs together. Each herb has it’s own little pot as our windowsills are very narrow but they grow just fine that way too.

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Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne Herb Garden
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If you are a nature lover, one thing that you love to look at is the color green and talking about green- it’s abundant, it’s everywhere, it’s the color of nature, it’s a plant! If you are planning to convert the vacant yard into a bountiful healthy aromatic garden, then it will be fun. Growing herbs is not only for remedies, it can also be used in some culinary purposes and it beautifies your surrounding or it can refresh your time.

If you want to try gardening as a hobby, a thyme garden is a very good start for you. Later on, you can figure it out that it is worthy especially if they grow abundantly. Like any other ventures, your first move in aiming for a herbal gardening is looking for the possible site wherein you can let them grow, whether you decide to put in the vacant space at your backyard, or in a large pots or recyclable containers. All of these are possible. Try to do soil examination first if it is suitable for your herbs. Soil should not be too dry or too wet because the roots cannot absorbed proper nutrients and water necessary for their growth. If the area is elevated, try to do some terracing to allow the water to stay and to flow normally. Too elevated areas are prone to surface run-off thus causing the top soil to be eroded, the top layer of the soil contains the most nutrients needed by the plant. If you don’t really have good land areas, you can just plant then in large pots or raising beds.

Plant needs sunlight, water, air, and fertilizer in order to ensure that you can have bountiful crops. Put them in an area where the exact amount of sunlight can let in. Water them regularly and try to cultivate them once in a while. Water them at least twice a day and if you think that the amount of rainfall is not enough. Your herbs also need air to grow. They breathe through their leaves and air is very crucial in pollination, especially if you have a flowering herb garden, butterflies and other insects can easily trace it through their scent.  And enough fertilizers are necessary for them to grow, better go into organic fertilizers because they are pure in composition and do not contain excessive chemicals.

The benefits of a well maintained garden is really worth it. Make sure to plant appropriate plant on your garden because some plants are temperature sensitive. Wedding weeds from your vegetable plant is also crucial, weeds compete on the nutrients and water, attract harmful pests and a carrier of diseases, making your plant sick. These are only some dos in caring for your herb garden. Proper care for growing herbs is the secret of a successful herb gardening.

Kathryn D. Burrows has a Chinese herbalist relative and has taken a deep interest in herbs and herb gardening. She started growing herbs in her own backyard for fun and realized that it was so much more than a hobby.

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Grow Natural Healing Herbs

The flower of a cultivated chives plant
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If you’re not the type of individual that wishes to spend their time coping with an elaborate fruit or vegetable garden, you might think about planting and maintaining a house herb garden. While the product might not seem as substantial, you will still enjoy the constant availability of fresh, delicious herbs to flavor your meals with.

Did you know that herbal treatments can heal just about anything that is wrong with you? Have you heard of organic healing herbs? The accumulated toxins inside your body must be cleared in order for it to function well. Your entire body needs to become healed to regain energy. There’s one efficient way of clearing your entire body from these unwanted toxins and it’s called entire body Detox or body detoxification utilizing organic herbal treatments. However, it’s not taken as a single step, but a continued procedure so that the organic capability of your body is supported for the efficient dispelling of toxins each and every day.

That was just 1 example of why so numerous individuals develop their own herbs at house. Should you wish to start your personal home herb garden, there are some things you need to consider.

Very first you will want to select the herbs that you will plant.
You may have a hard time doing this because of the huge scope of herbal treatments obtainable. But the finest method to select is to do what I did; just look at what you have in your kitchen. By planting your own collection of these herbal treatments, you are able to save cash on buying them in the grocery shop whilst having the added benefit of freshness. Some from the herbal treatments you may begin with include rosemary, sage, basil, dill, mint, chives, and parsley among others.

When selecting an area to put your herb back garden, you should remember that the soil ought to have very good drainage. If the dirt gets watered and stays completely saturated, you have no chance of ever growing a healthy plant. One of the best ways to fix the drainage problem is to dig a foot deep in the soil, and put a layer of crushed rocks down prior to replacing all the soil. This will allow all that water to escape, thus saving your plants.

Whenever you are ready to begin planting herbal treatments, you may be tempted to buy the more expensive plants from the shop. Nevertheless, with herbs it’s a lot simpler to develop them from seed than it is with other plants. Therefore you are able to save a bundle of money by sticking with seed packets. Some herbs grow at a dangerously fast rate. For example, if you plant a mint plant in an open space then it will take more than your entire garden in a matter of days. The very best method to prevent this problem is to plant the much more aggressive plants in pots (with holes in the bottom to permit drainage, of course).

When it comes time to harvest the herbal treatments you have labored so hard much more than, it could be fatal to your plant to take off too a lot. If your plant isn’t well established, it isn’t healthy to take any leaves at all, even if it looks like it is not utilizing them. You ought to wait until your plant has been well established for at least several months before taking off any leaves. This wait will definitely be worth it, simply because by growing unabated your plant will produce healthily for years to come.
The moment you’ve harvested your delicious home grown herbs, you will wish to use them in cooking. Why else would you’ve grown them? Well very first the process begins with drying them out. This is easily achieved by placing them on a cookie sheet and baking them 170 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 to 4 hours. Right after they’re sufficiently dried to be used in cooking, you are able to consult the nearest cookbook for instructions on utilizing them to effectively flavor a dish.

If you wish to store your herbs for later usage, you should keep them in a plastic or glass container. Paper or cardboard will not work, because it will absorb the taste from the herbal treatments. Throughout the first few days of storage, you ought to regularly check the container and see if any moisture has accumulated. If it has, you must remove all of the herbs and re-dry them. If moisture is left from the very first drying procedure, it will encourage mildew whilst you shop your herbal treatments. Nobody likes mildew.

So should you enjoy herbs or gardening, or both, then you ought to most likely think about setting up a house herb garden. It might need a little bit of function at very first to set it up for optimal drainage, and pick what herbs you want to develop. But right after the initial hassle, it is just a matter of harvesting and drying all your favorite herbs. Having a home herb back garden can be rewarding and exciting.

For much more info on home herb garden, goto http://ezherbgarden.com.

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window herb garden
Image by Broken Piggy Bank via Flickr

Growing your own herbs can be fun, rewarding and it can save you a lot of money. Any professional chef or even part time, for fun chefs can tell you that the most costly ingredients in any dish are the herbs. Even though you’ll only use a pinch of this herb or a dash of that herb, buying the entire container of herbs adds up to one hefty grocery bill. That is why a lot of people choose to grow their own herbvs. Window Herb Gardens Colors and Flavors Any Window.

Window herb gardens require only a pot to put the herbs in, of course the seeds, some fertilizer or just plain dirt, some water and a lot of love and attention. It isn’t hard to grow herbs. As long as you pay attention to them and give them lots of water when they look a little dry, and you put them in a window that gets a lot of sunshine, you’ll soon see that your herbs will grow big and strong without you really needing to do anything at all.

Adds Color

The best part about having a window herb garden, except for the fact that you’ll have a healthy supply of herbs for all your cooking needs, is that you will add color to your windows. Beautiful greens and whites, some yellows and other lush colors is what you get when you finally successfully grow all your own herbs in your window herb garden. First, you need to grow them.

Getting Started

If you don’t have a green thumb and you have no idea about growing herbs in pots, even weeds, then you should do a little research first. Some stores may sell pre planted herbs that all you have to do is add water to have them grow. But you should be able to research on the tips and tricks you need to grow your favorite herbs on the internet.

Then, all you need to get is a pot or trough, some soil, herb seeds, water and sunlight and then you can just relax and watch your herbs grow in your window herb garden. You’ll always have a healthy supply of your favorite herbs so that no matter what herbs you need to cook with, you’ll always have them.

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DSC_5695
Image by letsgetridofny via Flickr

While the acrid the desert may be, there are broad varieties of desert plants that survive in arid conditions. These plants are strong, living on little nourishment, a great deal of light, and conditions that would wither or destroy most living things. However, just because these plants can endure in a terrain many creatures don’t, desert plants don’t necessarily make suitable house plants inside your herb garden.

But, those who can raise their own desert plants indoors get the rewarding experience of nurturing them a type of plant that many people don’t usually get to see up close. These plants can serve as conversation starters, as well as adding a unique atmosphere to your home.

If you are looking to keep desert plants in your house, there are a few important things that you need to keep in mind all the time. Plants like the Apache Plume, the Arizona Poppy and the Blue Phacelia require a great deal of sun and heat. While they can survive the cold spikes of the desert night, these plants need conditions that resemble the desert in order to survive. If you intend to keep any one of these plants in your dwelling, you should take care to give them a great deal of light and be careful of over-watering them.

When you think of desert plants, the most notable desert plant to come to mind is the cactus. Native cacti can grow to many feet tall, and usually do not endure home life very well. Many require special greenhouses with artificial lighting to survive. Don’t be concerned, there are cactus species that can be grown indoors for your pleasure. These include the Acanthocalycium klimpelianum, the Acanthocalycium spiniflorum, the Acanthocalycium thionanthum v. variiflorum and the Acanthocalycium violaceum, as well as a few other varieties. All of these cacti tend to be tiny, round in shape, and have one or several blossoms at the top of the plant.

In planting them in your herb garden, like desert wildflowers, cacti require tender care in order to endure. Unlike common belief, you can’t just neglect your cactus and water it whenever you want. They need a set amount of exposure to the sun, and planned feeding. Without this, your wildflower will wilt and die. Cacti are among some of the most challenging plants to keep in a home, so you will need to approach their care with caution.

By having a decision to follow through with the selective work of owning a desert plant, you will be able to adore your plants for a long time to come inside your herb garden.

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