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Were you aware raised beds are a quite well-liked strategy for growing vegetables. We have found a number of benefits to raised bed veggie gardening.

Using raised beds really do make growing vegetables significantly less difficult, and they can even produce a larger harvest at the end of it all.

Advantage #1 – Use Much Less Space To Grow A Lot More

One of the greatest advantages to growing in raised beds is the reality that you simply can save a whole lot of space over traditional gardening. In the event you plant in rows, as a lot of people do in classic gardening, about half of your garden space is taken up by the paths between rows!

That’s a lot of wasted space. But in case you plant in raised beds, you save a good deal of space, and it is possible to plant a lot more per square foot than you could in rows. This signifies you are able to harvest a great deal far more create from the exact same quantity of space.

Advantage #2 – Less Work Preparing Soil

Yet another distinct advantage is the reality that you can have good soil much more simply than you could in a classic garden. In a standard garden, you have to mix your compost in together with your tilled soil. This signifies you have to very first use a tiller to loosen the soil.

Then you’ve got the back-breaking job of turning the compost into the soil. This can take a very long time, and is quite challenging function. With raised bed gardening, you’ll be able to just use compost as your soil!

You are able to choose to till the soil underneath your raised bed, or you can leave it alone. Most plants will grow without the tilling of the soil underneath. Then it is possible to just fill your raised bed frame with compost and plant directly into it. It’s certainly much simpler than turning compost into existing soil.

Raised beds are typically about four feet wide and 6 feet in length. They’re produced from a wooden frame set on the ground, often on tilled earth. They’re generally spaced about 18 to 24 inches apart to enable for walking between the frames to care for the plants.

Raised beds are normally separated into 1 foot sections, with each and every section holding a certain number of plants based on the size of the mature plant. Very large plants may possibly need to have an entire 1×1 foot square. Smaller plants might be planted four, 8, or even 16 per 1 foot square. It is possible to plant up to 16 radishes or carrots in a single square foot!

In order to divide your raised bed, you would section off 1×1 foot areas. Then you would section those off into smaller sections based on the size of the plants you wanted to grow there. For larger plants like tomatoes or broccoli, you’d just plant one in each and every square foot.

Should you wanted to plant lettuce, you can fit 4 per square foot, you you’d divide each square foot into four equal squares. For radishes or carrots, you’d divide every single section into 16 equal squares. When the space is divided making use of string or small pieces of wood, you plant your seeds or seedlings in the center of every section.

An additional great benefit of raised bed gardening is the reality which you don’t have as many weeds to handle. Because the soil you place on top is usually fresh compost or soil mix, there shouldn’t be as several weed seeds in it as there could be in tilled soil. Any weeds that do make it into your garden are easily spotted and pulled out.

Raised bed gardeners typically find caring for their gardens considerably easier. With fewer weeds and plants that are closer together, gardening becomes a pleasure rather than a chore. It is an excellent approach to get far more create out of the space you might have obtainable, and it’s typically simpler, too.

I work from home and love looking out my office window at our raised beds.

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We can’t get enough strawberries in our house, although we don’t really care for the strawberries we buy at the grocery store in the off season. They just don’t taste the same at all.

For that reason we are doubling the size of our strawberry patch so we can preserve some for the off season, maybe make a few strawberry and rhubarb pies.

1. The Way To Plant Your Strawberries

When planting your strawberries from their original pots they need to be planted to the correct depth or you could cause your strawberry plant to dry up before it takes root or rot from being to deep in the ground. The best guide is to plant them at the same depth as they are in their original pot.

When you look at your strawberry plant, once it out of the dirt, you will see a definite line where the plant was in the dirt from the pot. That’s going to tell you exactly how deep to plant it.

2. Your Strawberry Plants Require Some Things To Be Healthy

Your strawberries require plenty of water but not so much they drown. For this reason it’s wise to make sure you have soil that drains well. This will also keep your strawberry plants from getting diseases related to wet soil and plants.

As the strawberry’s roots get stronger you will need less water but once they start to produce strawberries you will need to increase the amount of water to get nice plump strawberries. Too little water is going to force the strawberries to be smaller and may even be dry.

3. First Season With Strawberries

We found this hard to do but it made for healthier strawberry plants. We pinched off any flowers the first year so that no strawberries formed. Instead all that energy went into making strong healthy plant and roots.

I would have to say it worked great as we had so many strawberries and they tasted like the strawberries we used have at home when I was just a little guy.

If you are using quality top soil or refreshing your soil with compost you likely won’t need to feed your strawberries, however if you feel the need to feed in the spring just give them a watered down solution of high potassium tomato feed.

4. Taking Care of Runners

Runners are great when you’re trying to get a strawberry patch growing but then they need to be controlled. We started our strawberry patch with just one tiny strawberry plant.

As the runners moved across the bare patch of ground we pegged each node, which is an individual plant. I moved each runner in the direction we needed a new plant, just that simple.

Allowing the runners to go wild like that drains strength for them main plant but we were not planning on having strawberries that year.

We even pinched off all blossoms so as to keep the plant stronger so it could spread. In just one year that one little plant took over the entire 4″x10″ raised bed.

5. Using Mulch Around Strawberry Plants

When the strawberry plants were large enough and numerous enough we started putting mulch around them to keep weeds from growing but also to keep water from evaporating. We were careful not to put mulch on top of the plants so we cleaned each plants.

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We first started using containers for vegetable gardening before we had space for a vegetable garden. However, even when we did finally have space we continued vegetable gardening in containers for some veggies like tomatoes and peppers.

I started my first container garden while living in an apartment. Made great use of the balcony. Later, once I was married we rented homes but were never allowed to dig up a garden so containers were used instead.

Today we use containers so we can put them around our property and that way we are able to grow even more, saving us more money on the grocery bills.

Things You Should Know About Container Gardening

We learned a few things that will help you have better results with less trial and error. We did the trial and error for you so you don’t need to.

1. Use Containers That Will Be Large Enough

It’s easy to buy containers or pots for your vegetables that seem like they will be big enough. We found that we made the wrong choices a number of times. Since then we have learned to always buy the next size larger as that always seems to be the case.

I am not talking about containers to start your veggies in. For that you can use regular pots and then just transplant them into the larger containers once they are big enough.

After the first couple of years we had all the containers we would ever need.

2. Containers Need To Drain Well

Yes I have drowned a few innocent little vegetable plants because the containers I used didn’t drain well enough.

I will admit that most of the time it was me causing the drainage problems due to not putting enough stones in the bottom and eventually the holes in the bottom plugged.

3. Add Perilite To Your Potting Soil

Perlite, a siliceous rock is a special volcanic mineral which swells to a dozen times it’s original volume when it is heated to a temperature of approximately 871C, about 1600 F. During the heating process, the mineral particles pop like popcorn and form a granular, whithe snow-like material that is so light in weight it weighs only about 80-128 kg/cubic meter or 5 to 8 pounds per cubic foot.

Now This Is Really Cool

Perlite particles are made up of these tiny pockets of air which make for a lot of pitted surface area that holds water extremely well making it available to your plant’s root system without the need to be continually watering.

4. Plants Need Water

An in-ground vegetable garden can be protected from the heat of the sun and even from evaporation caused by the wind blowing over the ground. One can use different mulches to help moisture from evaporating from teh ground which will save water.

Containers don’t work the same way as they have all their soil above ground in full contact with the wind and sun. They can heat up really fast, cooking the roots and killing the plant. The water can evaporate much faster than most people think.

So between boiling your plant roots and drying them out completely one needs to come up with a solution.

Perilite comes in very handy in containers. Also using a drip irrigation system works well too.

We found that keep our containers on the lawn helped as the breeze blowing across the lawn is considerably cooler than on dirt or perhaps your driveway.

We baked a few veggies on our driveway before we realized the problem.

5. Vegetable Container Gardens Can Be Relocated

This wasn’t the case with my balcony vegetable garden but for our veggie container garden in the places we rented we moved our containers around to take full advantage of the sun. Vegetables love sunlight but our properties had mostly shade. So moving them around made all the difference the amount of produce we had.

Vegetable gardening in containers is fun and relatively easy. We only had to learn the few steps I have shown here. Even at the beginning when we messed up we still had vegetables and felt like we were doing something good and healthy for our family.

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Beginner vegetable gardening can seem like a daunting task.

Where do you start?

First you need to decide where to plant a vegetable garden. If you have property to grow on, no problem and even if all you have is a deck or a patio, this is not really a problem either.

By far one of the best methods for beginner vegetable gardening is raised bed gardening. Raised beds are above ground level and therefore can be easily adapted to the deck or patio to grow some wonderful vegetable crops.

Choose an area that gets a good amount of sun, but even if you don’t get a lot of sun, don’t worry, as you can still be successful. Mark out where you are going to put your vegetable beds. A square area works better than a long rectangular one. You can make your beds but using 2″ by 12″ boards of the desired length to meet with your garden bed size. Screw them together and you have your bed. Do not use treated wood to make a vegetable garden as the chemicals used to treat the wood will leach into your food.

If you haven’t already, you will need to begin to compost. Composting will produce nutrient rich soil which is essential for your plants. You can get plans online to build a composter bin, purchase a couple of readymade ones and there is even a compact composter you can buy to put under your kitchen sink in an apartment.

Until you produce your own composted soil, your beginner vegetable garden will need to use a good composted soil mix. Steer manure based soils are great as they are not too alkaline and are safe. Try to look for and use organic mixes. Also, before you put your soil in, it is a good idea to cover the bottom of the boxes with straw, hay or even better, alfalfa. This will give your soil good drainage as well as give it a proper base with which to start.

Once you begin to fill your beds, make sure you leave a path where you can get to the vegetables if you walk down the middle of the garden. Try to make the plants no further than 3 feet away from where you can safely walk so you will be able to reach them.

Now you are ready to take an exciting step in beginner vegetable gardening, planting. A good choice is starting with seedlings. Seedlings have a head start in life and will quickly spread their roots and take hold. Plant fairly close together but not so close they will be choking each other out. Also, plant the various vegetables right next to each other. The less room between the plants, the less space for weeds to take hold and grow. This can greatly reduce your work and makes beginner vegetable gardening more enjoyable.

Water your garden well throughout the season and watch as the miracle of growth happens before your eyes.

Nothing is more exciting as when you feel the satisfaction and reward of harvesting food you grew yourself.

If done properly, you can save over $5000 per year on your food bill by growing your own garden. Having a superior guide can help you bypass some of the failures and mistakes you are bound to make along the way if you don’t use one. Our review about the Food4Wealth System introduces you to one such guide. Find out all the secrets used to be fabulously successful as a beginner or even as an experienced gardener.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chuck_E_Davis

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Potatoes are one of the widely grown vegetables in the whole world. Potatoes do not start as seeds. They are planted from tubers. It is also sensitive to many diseases. It is important to know the right ways how to grow potatoes. You can buy tubers of potatoes from centres for gardening. You should buy tubers that are certified by the government. These tubers are also called seed potatoes.

1. The first step on how to grow potatoes is putting a layer of potatoes in a spot that gets hit by sunlight. It should be warmed for at least seventy degrees Fahrenheit.
2. The second step on how to grow potatoes is waiting for the potatoes’ surface to become green. Then let at least a sprout of a half inch in length grow. The sprouts are important because it lets the plant grow in just a couple of weeks. You should remember that the tubers that have the B size don’t need any cutting. The bigger seed potatoes must be cut however.
3. The third step on how to grow potatoes is storing them for a week before you plant them. Let them dry out first so calluses will not form. It should be stored in a room with seventy degrees Fahrenheit temperature. It should also be well ventilated. You should seal it with a box containing holes. Never store them in a container without air.
4. The fourth step on how to grow potatoes is preparing the seed potatoes for planting. Potatoes can only be planted from the first few days of March until the second week of June. You should plant them in the morning when the temperature is fifty degrees Fahrenheit. You should plant them in the ground with a depth of at least four inches.
   Never plant before March because it may cause rotting to the seeds.
5. The fifth step on how to grow potatoes is putting them in rows that are four feet apart from each other. A wide row will allow for better cultivation. Plant the seed potatoes with the cut facing down. The eyes should be the part facing up.
6. The sixth step is mounding so the water will reach the seed potatoes. If you are expecting frost then you should cover them with straw.

The two essential things you have to do to care for your potato plants are watering and cultivating them. Cultivation includes loosening up the soil, removing the weeds and hilling.
Cultivation helps in breaking the ground which is healthy for the plants. Helping aerate the ground is healthy for the potatoes. It also prevents sunburn for the tubers.

Please click these links if you want to know more about how to grow potatoes or how to grow potatoes in general.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kenny_Leones

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We have a friend that grows so much in their flower beds and vegetable gardens that we are amazed. We also try to learn new things from the each year. My wife was telling me that they even save their seeds each year and store them for the following season. That sounds like a challenge to me. I figure if I can save orange seeds and plant them later and actually grow an orange tree right in the house, well I think I just might be able to do, but where to start.

Preparing Your Seeds For Storage

Now that I have a variety of seeds from different plants I need to clean and dry them in an effort to preserve the seeds from any kind of molds, mildewing or dampness.

I took each seed and made sure that I keep only the seed and discard the rest of the plant.

The tomato seeds were the hardest to clean up because they had membrane around each seed. They kinda looked like frog eggs before I cleaned them up. If I hadn’t cleaned all that slim off them they would have just rotted I’m sure.

Once I have all but the seeds left I place them on an old screened window we have. This allows air to flow freely around the entire seed so that it dries faster, giving the seed a better chance of survival.

I even kept some potatoes for next years seed potatoes. This is a first for us so we will see how they survive.

Storing Your Garden Seeds

I keep the little containers or packages meant to absorb moisture for the heart medication I take but they come in asprin bottles and vitamin bottles, and use those to keep too much moisture from building in each container over the winter months. Even though I keep the seeds in a low temp area that is dry. Just a precaution.

I like to put the seeds, after I’ve dried them, in a paper bag or envelope, which also helps to absorb excess moisture. Then I put them in a large plastic contain with the little dry packs I talked about. They don’t come in contact with the seeds as they are on the outside of the paper bags or envelopes I use.

Now it’s just a matter of waiting until next year when I start my plants from seed.

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“Pumpkins are everywhere, whether on your refrigerator, your neighbour’s garden, supermarket and farms.

We value pumpkins that we even make use of these in special occasions like Halloweens. In fact, many people are starting to grow their very own pumpkin garden. If you are planning to start your own pumpkin garden then the guides below will surely be able to help you.

Best Place and Time to grow a Pumpkin

Choose the best spot for you to grow your pumpkin seeds, this will be your first consideration. A spot that has direct sunlight and wide space is ideal. Ensure that you grow your pumpkin during warm season and not during winter.

Correct Planting

One of the best ways to prepare your pumpkin seeds before planting is for you to soak them in water a night before you plant them. Soaking them in water will soften the outer shell of the seed making its sprouting easier and faster.

By the time you are to plant the seeds, be sure to cover them with an inch deep soil so as to block the sun’s light and birds from eating them. Keep the soil loose and moist, not wet.

While your garden is still on its seed stage, use a sprinkling can or much better a spray to water the seed, so as not to wash away the soil. Avoid as much as possible from moving the soil as this may cut off the roots that have taken place on the soil. If you have more than one garden plot, then they should be at least 10 feet apart from each other.

Pumpkins are great crawlers, this should be something that you must remember. A single vine of pumpkin can grow to as much as 30 feet while shooting out other vines along its way. This can be easily solved. Training or guiding a pumpkin to crawl to safe places is very important as this will prevent damages to your other plants and properties. Walls, roofs, fences and corns are some of the best spots for pumpkins to grow. Just make sure that your roofs and fences are strong enough for the weight, and that it does not bother your neighbour.

Organic Fertilizers and Water

Compared to artificial fertilizers, organic fertilizers are better for pumpkins. Pumpkins are huge and long plants and therefore require lots of nutrients. They can grow faster and bigger if you put correct amount of organic fertilizer to them.

Water is also very important for pumpkins. In fact, it is composed of 80 – 90% water. The kind of soil where you planted your pumpkin affects the amount and time you water them. A sandy soil requires frequent watering than a soil that is high in clay concentration.”

Trust only one online company if you want organic vegetable seeds. This company will only give you the organic tomato seeds for your organic garden.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_T._Gregory

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Winter time can be an opponent to a gardener or peasant of Vegetables. It does so because Vegetables need much exposure of sunshine to grow and they can be rotten easily in such season. However, today you could practice early vegetable garden planting in overcoming the problem. By practising the vegetable garden planting, you don’t need the stopping of winter time only to start growing your tasty and fresh veggie garden.

Maybe the growing season in a specific area is shorter or a gardener wish to stagger crops so that he has fresh products to enjoy from early summer until late fall. Whatever the objection might be for early vegetable garden planting, you can achieve your reason by starting to grow seeds indoors.

What to Grow in Vegetable Garden Planting?

While the snowflakes is still on the ground you can start almost any sort of crop indoors for vegetable garden planting. Warm weather crops that need a longer growing season will do better if they are started early indoors.

Winter season crops need to be mature before the summer comes, which also makes them good candidates for indoor growing. When hesitated about whether to start a crop in this manner, you can either discuss it to your local nursery or extension office or just get a pack of seeds and give it a stimulus. It doesn’t take much buck or time to try out this way of early vegetable garden planting.

Where to Grow in Vegetable Garden Planting?

In your early indoor vegetable garden planting, one of the most relevant things is the exposure of sunshine. In consequence, what you need is sunny window. The exposure of the sunshine is really needed for small seedlings to grow well.

If you notice that your seedlings are becoming awfully long and spindly, it maybe shows that they are not getting sufficient natural light. In this case, you can also consider of supplementing it with fluorescent lighting designed for this early vegetable garden planting.

How to Grow in Vegetable Garden Planting?

You have several selections for your early vegetable garden planting in terms of the sorts of soil and containers that you utilize. The most up to date trend for lots of home gardeners is to begin seeds in trays of peat pellets. These pellets will grow when you add water to them. Then you can locate your seeds right into them.

The way is by far the least difficult technique to start early vegetable garden planting. However, it can also be one of the pricier two parts loam to one part sand and one part organic substance, and mix it together in a wheelbarrow. Fill your pots and put your seeds. Now your early vegetable garden planting is complete.

Finally, remember to water your seedlings until they need to be brought outside in spring season. In consequence, we can see that early indoor vegetable garden planting can be an alternative of getting fresh and good veggies all the time along. As a result, for the vegetarians, eating Vegetables all the time is not a problem again.

Are you still at sea of knowing more about vegetable garden planting? Just look around and click the links your best answer herein! By: Millard Gordon

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This year we are wise to the fact that snails and slugs are a menace and we are prepared for war. Beware if you live in a moisture laden area of the country as they love the dampness. Even in relatively dry areas snails and slugs can be found early in the morning.

Plant sweet herbs and watch them thrive, but keep an eye open for holes on the delicate leaves. Those slimy, fat creatures appear when you don’t expect them. The trail of slimy goo left behind becomes a sign for every other snail around to follow to the feast.

When you attempt to track down the snails, they have already returned to their little hideaways to make babies – thousands of them. To make matters worse, this happens over and over again. They hatch in 10-20 days, and come out starving! Voracious eaters, they can be full grown and making their own babies within 6 weeks.

Look for their eggs – they look like tiny clusters of whitish jelly-filled BB-sized balls. Quick! Shake salt on them as fast as you can. They will be destroyed before they hatch.

Snails and slugs live for several years, getting larger each year. Obliterate them quickly. They will continue to destroy your garden if you don’t take immediate measures.

Gardening in backyard greenhouses will definitely help keep those slimy visitors away from your precious plants. If you have a stand-alone or even a leanto greenhouse with vegetables and herbs you will fine fewer instances of the ugly creatures.

Slithering in when you’re not looking, they will lay their nasty eggs inside your greenhouse.Wherever you see that shiny trail, follow! Look under leaves, under pots, anywhere moisture collects.

Whenever you find any, you have many weapons you can use.

Oat bran does not do well in their digestive tract and will kill them when they eat it.

Broken eggshells will kill the slugs when they crawl over the sharp edges.

A bowl full of beer will drown them.

If you plant certain herbs they will repel snails and slugs. Growing in abundance in your greenhouse, the slugs will make a fast exit. Rosemary, lemon balm, mint, lavender and thyme will all help to chase them out.

Keep on top of the problem, you will never have to resort to poisons. In the confines of a greenhouse, herbs will usually do the trick. If you get a serious infestation and need to take drastic measures, use all the above solutions at the same time. If you do that, you can avoid ever using poison.

If all else fails, buy a greenhouse and get a hedgehog or a duck. Or, just stomp on the little slimers.

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