Posts Tagged ‘garden’

I have heard about companion planting for a long time but never understood what it really was. My thoughts were that companion planting is what you were doing when you planted things together to make them look good. Then I thought it was something like using corn stalks to support growing beans. I guess I was a bit off.

What is Companion Planting

When I read the following article I nearly slapped myself in the forehead as I had heard that before and it just slipped right out of my thoughts. So it’s good to know what it really is and I’ll be using some of the tips in the following article to make it work in our vegetable garden. So on with the definition.

Companion planting is the method of planting specific plants in close proximity to another because one can benefit the other. Now that I have read the article I can remember way back to my childhood and vaguely remember my mother telling me something about planting marigolds in and around the vegetable garden. I imagine I nodded and then went back to my little cars and the area of dirt I played in next to the vegetable garden.

The practice of companion planting has been utilized for decades because my mom told me about it more than 50 years ago. I had just forgot most of what she told me long before ever having a vegetable garden of our own and by then she was no longer around to give me guidance.

Companion planting is a great option for the many organic gardeners today, myself included. Anything I can do that help me without using pesticides.

Like Mom said, plant marigolds in your vegetable garden is beneficial to your plants that are susceptible to aphid infestations.

Plus Marigold plants have gorgeous flowers, and they’ve a natural ability to repel aphids in your garden.

All you need to do is to check to see what pests each of your vegetables or other plants have and if aphids are on the list plant a marigold close to them.

If you find some of your plants are consistently being munched on by these harmful critters get another marigold and plant it close, problem solved and you plants will gain back their health if it’s not gone to far.

Plant Beans For Nitrogen

Add legumes to your plant garden. If you should notice that your soil is lacking in nitrogen, plant several legumes.

The roots of the legume plant are renowned for releasing nitrogen into the soil that they live in, meaning that it is no longer essential to add fertilizer or chemicals to keep your current and future crops healthy.

As I was saying at the beginning I have seen beans/legumes planted with the corn. It gives the beans a pole to climb and in return feeds the soil the nitrogen it needs.

Plant rosemary or geraniums near your cabbage plants and broccoli. Rosemary naturally repels the cabbage fly and geraniums can trap cabbage worms. The addition of these plants in proximity to your cabbage and broccoli plants will provide help to keep them more healthy, free from pests, and free from the dangerous illnesses that pests can cause too.

As you can see, companion planting involves a big range of plants and it can be beneficial to any garden. When you use this method properly, your plants will become healthier and you will really help to stop the need for mostly harmful chemicals and additives to your soil. This guide is only the beginning, so continue to research plants that are favourable to each other. Gardening will get more enjoyable when you follow this healthy practice!

Jane Clayton has been a gardener for 25 years and she regularly practices companion planting. She is the head of her local food gardening club and in addition has won various awards for her vegetable gardening for beginners books.

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Image via Wikipedia

Growing roses really be a rewarding endevour with some good looking flowers in your home garden as a result. The thing is roses are not a flower known to be easy to maintain. What this means to you is that you might need some quality tools and the time to properly maintain your rose bushes. Get it right and you stand to enjoy fresh and beautiful roses in your home garden.

The first step required is gong to be a quality pair of hand shears. Get quality shears that you can keep sharp for best results. Your shears will need to cut through a rose stem with one slick but. We have has shears that just crushed the stems and they went right into the trash. Roses can pick up diseases and a poor cut leaves them open to problems.

I like having protection against the thorns rose have so I like gloves that can keep my hands safe. They have even kept me from snipping my fingers a couple of times over the years.

At one time it would have been the best advice to head off to your local nursery but it’s not always as easy and looking online. We do go to the local nursery a few times during the year, just not during the winter. That’s the time I spend planning and finding new info online.

When I am at the local nursery I like to pick their brain for local climate or info about our growing zone so I pick the right roses for our area.

Once You Have Your Rose Bush

Roses, once they are planted, will require regular watering if you don’t get enough rain to feed them about an inche of water per week. This means you may have to water them by hand or install an irrigation system to take care of the roses.

Water is of course vital to your the continued health of your roses but the ground you put them in is important as well. Any how to grow roses guide would include info about adding compost to the soild to keep it healthy.

I’m not done yet, I also put mulch around the roses to help maintain moisture levels and save on water. I put about two inches of organic mulch. It also cuts right down on weeds giving me time for other things.

Pruning Your Roses

Pruning your roses is critical to having more blossoms and helps to get rid of any non producing growth. Always get rid of any dead or damaged branches. Pruning is also good to keep your rose bush under control and not over grown.

As the weather gets chillier, you need to now know not only how to grow roses but to protect them, too. Cover them as the weather gets cold, specifically when the temperatures drop below 30 degrees to preclude being frost bitten. You may purchase burlap bags to go over all of the elevated parts.
Beautiful roses can be enjoyed anywhere in the country as long as you have the right materials and time to dedicate to their expansion.

Jennifer Ferguson is an avid gardener and rose admirer. If you’d like to get more great and essential tips on roses and growing roses then feel free to visit her webiste and get her free instant email course on growing roses.

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Jenny and I just returned from Saturday morning breakfast at Hynes Restaurant. Great breakfast as usual but I think I over did it on the coffee, again.

I love coffee but too much caffeine and my whole body starts to shake. It makes me feel like something about to happen and I’m not sure if it’s good or bad.

Well spring gardening has been on my mind since I saw the robins and cedar waxwings return to our backyard for the berries.

Last year I wasted a lot of our seeds due to not getting enough direct sunlight for healthy and sturdy starter plants. It was a learning experience and I’ll get it right this year. I won’t be wasting any more of Mike The Gardener’s Seed of the Month Club.

The 2012 Plastic Bottle Garden

I heard a bit about using plastic bottles for a container garden so last year I began keeping plastic bottles so I could give this a try. I will use some to start flowers and vegetable from seed. I may even take a few clippings from around the property and see if I can grow some other plants we don’t have seeds for.

Using them will keep them from the landfill.

Most of the bottles I’ve collected are plastic coffee bottles, mostly decaf and they are all mine. It’s a bit scary to see just how much java I take in through the year. Your welcome Maxwell House.

I have a Youtube gardening tips channel so as I find good videos I add them there. I love Youtube videos and find them helpful for all my hobbies and interests. I have been watching acoustic guitar videos for song I am learning on guitar and have learned so much. Go Youtube.

How to Use Your Plastic Bottles To Start Seeds

I used “how to grow plants in plastic bottles” as my search text and found a few videos that I liked and have added them to my home garden channel on Youtube. The one I like the most, meaning it was the most instructional I have added here.

I did find a couple of videos that were alright but would have been so much better with some instructional audio. I don’t like having to read videos so I didn’t add them here. I did add them to my garden channel so you can see them there.

I liked the video above and it’s giving a great place to start with my plastic bottle seed garden. It looks pretty straightforward so I should be able to do it. I’ll give it a try today or tomorrow to see how it works for me.

My next step is to setup an area in our basement as a starter station and get a grow light.

Each year Jenny and I try to buy something new for our home garden and backyard. We have already added a couple of raised bed gardens, planted a new rhubarb patch and two strawberry patches. Now we’re checking out new patio set to beautify the patio area.

The patio set we’ve had forever has chairs with arm rests, which can be great but I like having my buddies over for a couple of drinks and some guitar jammin’. The thing is we can’t use the chairs with our old patio set because of the arm rests. So the first thing our new patio set has to have is chairs without them. Jenny never liked us taking her kitchen chairs out to the patio anyways.

The fact we live in a city and don’t have a vehicle can be a pain but it isn’t so bad as we have the Internet to do our shopping for a new patio set.

The first patio set I saw that caught my attention was a cast aluminum set that looks just like cast iron. It brought back some great childhood memories but it only had two chairs and we need a set with at least four chairs.

Jenny didn’t have those same childhood memories so she has other ideas. We had no idea there is such a wide variety of patio sets. We would like to avoid buy any plastic, even if it has been recycled and haven’t found any wooden patio sets without arm rests but we have only just started looking for our new patio set.

Back in the early 1900, about 1920 the Japanese Beetle found it’s way here to North America where it’s made a home without natural predators, making it tough to control for home gardeners like myself.

Had a reader leave a comment today asking for help with a Japanese Beetle problem. So as usually I headed over to Wikipedia to find some info about them. Check it out for yourself at Japanese Beetle on Wikipedia.

The Japanese Beetle is 10 millimeter or a half inch in length but the make up for size in numbers and hunger. They might be cute and you may want to play with them but remember this. They will strip your plant leaves until they look like skeletons.

Seen The Japanese Beetles Grub

I see these grubs when I dig up our flower beds and vegetable gardens. I don’t waste any time with them. I grab them and take them away from the gardens where I quickly put them out of my misery.

That’s guys not eating any more roots in my yard.

Here in New Brunswick, at least at our home, we have been fortunate not to have a huge problem with the Japanese Beetle. I see a few each year, which I just pick off plants and promptly destroy.

I like videos and learn so much faster by example so I went looking and found GardenFork.TV. There’s a bit of playing with dogs going on but the info is helpful and I love dogs. Hope it’s helpful to you and enjoy.

We don’t have a real problem with them and I want to keep it that way so I may put one of those Japanese Beetle traps together and see what we find.

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Guest Post by Rich Brinkley

It’s no secret that a garden takes a lot of time and effort. At the end of the day you want to sit back and look at how beautiful your garden is and look at how your hard work paid off, not laying in bed sore and reaching for the pain killers. The best option for longevity and safety while gardening is using ergonomically designed garden tools.

Ergonomically designed tools are specifically designed to distribute pressure in natural patterns which reduces the amount of pressure applied to one specific area. Not only does an ergonomic tool design distribute pressures, but many designs aim at keeping the hands and feet in the most natural position and form as possible. Up to this point, the idea of ergonomic tools sounds great, but why don’t more people have them?

The fact is many stores, even the ones that have designated home and garden sections, simply do not carry ergonomic gardening tools. Sure they may sell a small hand shovel with a “sponge” grip, but that’s the most basic form of ergonomics and they really aren’t that durable.

I can’t quite tell you the reason why many stores sell the “basic” ergonomic designs or the standard non-ergo designs and not the tools that have made a name for themselves and are proven to enhance your gardening pleasure. Perhaps profits are the bottom line. In any event, your best bet at finding the top of the line ergo designs that have millions of dollars of research into them is online.

Ergonomics For Specific Conditions

There has been an influx of ergonomically designed tools as of late for people who have specific health concerns such as a bad back, arthritis, bad knees and other ailments. The truth is, these tools may cost a bit more (we aren’t talking big bucks here), but they really are worth the investment.

Tools For Gardeners With Arthritis

Gardeners who have severe arthritis can actually get tools that are designed to fit into a special holder that allows the user to use their whole arm and shoulder to move the tool, rather than just the wrist alone.

An automatic hose reel is by far one of the best options for gardeners with arthritis. Winding up a hose can be quite hard on the hands and arms, especially when you have to deal with kinking and coiling the garden hose up to but back into storage. Automatic hose reels are either water or electricity powered. Many of the electric models feature a foot pedal in which you simply press down on with your foot and the hose automatically rewinds.

One product I had seen on the internet just a few days ago was a pair of garden sheers. The main change on them from standard grass sheers is that the handles are extra long. This is great for people who may have knee or back problems and can’t really bend down. The handles are long enough so that you can actually stay in the upright position and do all of your sheering work!

If you have chronic pain or another type of ailment such as arthritis, back pain or knee pain, you should really look into getting the tools that will help you garden without pain. It is a lot easier to find these specialized ergonomic tools on the internet rather than in the corner home department store.

Give your flowers the right amounts of water and sunshine and you stand to have gorgeous blossoms, all summer long. However to make them even more vibrant they require some fertilizer.

When I first started using fertilizers I had no idea how to use them for specific plants. It was quite a challenge as I have multiple varieties of plants growing in our home garden areas. It turns out that one kind of fertilizer isn’t always what your plants need.

Hopefully you have a concern about our environment and the future of our children and have made the choice to go green with organic gardening, like we have chosen to do and will go with all natural fertilizers. Natural fertilizers are made using all-natural components like fish emulsion or even chicken droppings. Wish they were around collecting that chicken poop when I was kid as it was sure hard on the nose and eyes.

As a guy I don’t always read instructions, it’s not always gone well. It’s no different when using fertilizers, you have to get the right stuff for the task at hand. I kind of over did it a few times and my plants suffered for it. So pay close attention to what it says on the package, even if it’s natural too much isn’t a good thing.

What you’re looking for in fertilizer is usually nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Each provides specific requirement for your flowers and plants. But how much to use, well that’s on the package as well and is why it’s important to read them. What does each provide for the plant?

1. Potassium assists the plant grow a wholesome root growth.
2. Nitrogen assists in the growth of healthy leaves and stalk and is good for young plants.
3. Phosphorous will promote gorgeous, large blossoms. You can use fertilizer higher in phosphorous just before the plant begins to bloom and all during the blooming season.

Fertilizers come in liquid form or granular form based on the needs or requirements you have.

Usually the liquid fertilizer needs to be used every couple of weeks. This is because the liquid will tend to dissipate quickly and won’t last as long as the granular fertilizer will. It will dissolve over time and may only be needed once a month.

There is a lot of competition in the garden fertilizer industry so your likely to find a lot to choose from so I would suggest you hit your local nursery where you will be able to ask questions before making a purchase.

If you don’t have a local nursery you may have to go further or do what I do and that’s to check online. Also if I can’t find anything locally I head to Amazon, so take a few minutes and head over to check out Garden Fertilizers on Amazon.

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Jenny and I were more than a bit intimidated when we first started gardening but at the same time so stoked  as beginner gardeners.

I can remember worry that I was planting my plants in our veggie garden like dad use to do and he’s not around to ask question to any more.

A few starter plants didn’t make it into the garden in the best of shape, after trying to extract them from their starter post, our first time around. Well the good things is I didn’t kill anything in the process and eventually my thumb started turning green.

I wasn’t actually sure how deep to plant each plant and remember re-digging holes more than once before accepting the depth and planting the poor things. Maybe we got them a little too deep or shallow but they survived and we learned as we went.

Even though we learned a lot by trial and error we also had help from online readers and friends. I have listed a few things that will help you get past those initial fears of planting plants correctly in your gardens.

1. Now Where Should I Put These Plants

Our first blunder has to be digging our vegetable garden where it was going to be shaded until about noon every day. Where the heck was my brain. I think I remember enjoying the shade while I was digging it up. DUH!!

Fortunately the trees along our east property fence are our trees. We plan to remove the trees that are blocking the garden. We would move the garden but really it’s the only place in our backyard that has the space for our garden. So glad we have control over those trees, as they are getting bigger every year.

To make it even tougher that section of our backyard is also the lowest in the yard and hold water enough we get ducks landing in our yard come spring. I have put a lot of work into drainage for our veggie garden but any new gardens are going to be raised bed gardens because my back hurts.

2. How Deep And Wide For Starter Plant Planting

Even though Jenny and I both had gardens while we were growing up we didn’t actually create or maintain them. Yeah we had to do some weeding but that wasn’t our issue when we first started vegetable gardening. We were just a bit intimidated but not enough to give up.

I work from home here in Moncton and use the Internet to make money online so when I’m stumped I head to my office and check online for answers.

I seemed to worry a bit about digging holes to transplant potted starter plants. Was the hole to small, too wide, too deep, was it not round enough. Okay that last one was an exaggeration but you get my point.

The thing is it was pretty simple to just plant it to the same depth as the container but I figured it had to be tougher than that, but it wasn’t. Gotta stop second guessing myself.

I have learned that when transplanting tomatoes I can plant them a little deeper and put dirt up the stalk a bit to help grow bigger root systems for healthier tomatoes.

3. From The Container And Into The Ground

Okay this one was pretty simple but of course I had to be in a rush to get my garden in so I could start watching it grow. This led to a few starter plants being partly destroyed getting them out of those little containers.

Once I learned I could just squeeze the size a little to loosen the roots a bit and then I turned them upside down with the stalk between two finger for support and slowly pulled them out of the container.

4. Getting Your Plants Finally Planted

Once I have the plant root ball safely out of the container I gently spread the roots out without breaking them if at all possible. This will help them to spread out through the earth easier after being balled up in a tiny pot.

I like dig the hole a little deeper and put a small pile of dirt in the middle to drape the roots over to keep them spread out as I fill in the dirt around the plant. I also try to push the dirt into all the spaces so there are no air pockets.

6. Caring For Your Plant After Planting

Excellent, now you can transplant plants with confidence but you’re not quite finished yet. Your plant may go into shock before the roots can get established so you need to give your plant a good watering, allow it to drain well and repeat.

Happy home gardening and do share your experiences with our reader through commenting below.

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Guest Post by: Liz

One certainly doesn’t have to be in Italy to enjoy fresh Italian herbs and vegetables during the summer months. The secret to much of Italian cooking is the strong emphasis on fresh ingredients. Sure we can get fresh produce at the market – but even that doesn’t compare to dashing out the back door right before dinner to grab some new born fresh basil or parsley for that special chicken dish you’ve been raving about.

Anytime I write about what to put in an Italian garden, I always stress to only include items which you already know you will use. For example, it’s one thing to use flat Italian parsley, but unless you like the slightly bitter taste, you might be better off sticking to regular curly parsley.

Therefore, don’t think about what an Italian garden "should" have, but what you "want" your Italian garden to have. Here are five key ingredients to get you started on creating your Italian garden.

Parsley

Parsley is a staple in any garden and rightly so. Even if never used in a recipe, it makes a perfect garnish and breath freshener! Surely you didn’t think restaurants used it just because it was pretty next to that garlic and onion laden steak?

Parsley comes in two popular varieties – flat or curly. The flat is also called Italian Parsley and is frequently used in many Italian dishes and sauces. However, the flavour is more bitter than it’s cousin the curly variety and is more frequently used as an ingredient rather than a garnish or raw ingredient, such as in a salad.

Parsley enjoys cooler weather and does well in partial shade. Just this past week (and it is currently winter) I was surprised to see I had a bunch of parsley growing right outside in one of my pots!

Oregano

Although the most popular oregano is Greek oregano, it can still find its way comfortably into an Italian garden. Oregano became most popular in the US after WWII when soldiers stationed in Italy came home raving of the "special" ingredient used in their pizza sauce overseas. The key ingredient which was previously lacking in the American version was… oregano.

Oregano plants can grow up to 20 inches wide and do not do well in rich soils, therefore be careful not to over fertilize this herb. It enjoys moderate water as it is not a thirsty plant and perks up quickly with a good watering if it goes too long without it.

Rosemary

Rosemary is an excellent Italian herb used in many meat dishes such as roast chicken or lamb. Rosemary also acts as a natural bug repellent and I have planted them closer to the house for this very reason. However, these fragrant plants can be used as bushes to outline your garden, whether as a hedge or as a decorative corner. The choice is up to you!

If started by seed, rosemary can take just less than half a year to grow into a mature plant. Plant the seedlings during April and by the summer months you should be enjoying the benefits of its aromatic fragrance not only as the wind gently blows, but for any cooking as well. Once it has reached maturity, it will become one of your easiest herbs to maintain as you only have to water it during very dry periods.

Rosemary can be frozen or dried for future use. To freeze it, cut the sprigs in 3 inch lengths and gently wash away any dirt then pat them dry. Freeze on a tray in the freezer then once frozen, place in freezer bags, seal well and don’t forget to label them.

Basil

Basil is an easy herb to grow and in this case "should" always be in an Italian garden. It grows well when planted next to tomato plants and is therefore called a companion plant of tomatoes. I tested this theory this past summer and planted basil on one side of my garden as well as between my tomato plants.

To my enjoyment, the basil did exceptionally well near my tomatoes. It seemed as if it they did not go to seed as quickly as the ones on the other side. Could this have been due to another reason such as I may have happened to simply water these better – or was it due to some moderate shade the tomatoes provided? Could be a combination of all three – but I can tell you this year I’ll be putting them next to the tomatoes again without a doubt.

Basil if planted from seed can take 2 months, so planting from a seedling is much easier. The problem is finding "organic" seedlings. It is extremely important that basil never be planted when it is still cold and when the possible slight overnight frost can occur. Basil is a fragile herb and this caution cannot be expressed enough.

Basil is a great herb that can be frozen and used for future use during the winter months. Simply wash the leaves and let them air dry after you pick them. Once dry, lay flat in some plastic storage bags and remove any air and place in the freezer. Some people recommend freezing the leaves on a tray first, then place in a plastic bag – this is a good method too as it prevents the leaves from sticking to each other.

As an interesting note, basil can be used in a variety of ways, from scrambled eggs with tomatoes and basil for breakfast to being added as an ingredient into an ice cream gelato maker to make basil gelato or sorbet for dessert. Who knew basil was so versatile?

Tomatoes

We frequently think of tomatoes as a vegetable, but technically it is a fruit. No matter how you classify them, they make definitely make their way on our list of the Top 5 for an Italian garden.

Since tomatoes come in so many varieties, if you truly want an Italian garden, you have to think of Italian foods. Tomatoes are most commonly used for sauces therefore you want tomatoes that are meaty and juicy at the same time. Roma tomatoes are a good option, however there are other "Italian" tomatoes which are similar to Roma tomatoes but on a larger scale. You may have to look online for a source that sells these by the plant or seed.

My husband and I grow a variety which comes directly from his Aunt in Sicily. She shipped the seeds a few years ago and now we save the seeds and grow them each year. We don’t know the official name of the variety so we creatively call them Sicilian Tomatoes.

Italian tomatoes tend to produce later in the summer months, so if you are craving tomatoes for earlier months you will be better off planting a variety of tomatoes and enjoy them all summer long!

When all is said and done, growing an Italian garden is not difficult. In fact, odds are most of the plants you already grow are listed in this article. For more unusual Italian plants look for items like fennel, or Italian varieties of zucchini.

The options are many, but remember to always choose foods that you will actually use with your cooking. If you know you do not like it – don’t grow it… no matter how Italian it may be!

This article was contributed by Liz who enjoys gardening and has strong memories of helping her mother in the backyard garden as a child. Only until recently has she picked it back up again and was happy to experience the same excitement and joy she had as a child when gathering vegetables and herbs for the dinner meal.

Today she owns and operates an Italian cooking website where she stresses simple recipes and ingredients. She also writes reviews of various kitchenware products used in Italian kitchens such as a stainless steel meat grinder for making Italian sausage and gelato machines for making the perfect Italian dessert. She enjoys sharing her experiences with others and encourages others to use simple and fresh ingredients whenever possible!

What a timely guest blog post by Robert Loyst.

“Our garden hose has seen better days and over the years we’ve had it. It had been run over many times but the last time my son’s girlfriend drove over the nozzle and almost flatten it and I couldn’t get it un-flattened so it needs to be replaced.” – James Mann

It is understandable that garden hose maintenance might not be on the top of your high priority list, but if you want to consider yourself a great gardener, you need to have quality, dependable equipment.

One of the most important parts of any garden setup is the garden hose and with a couple of tips and methods, you can increase the life and performance of your hose.

Protecting the Garden Hose Nozzle

I can’t tell you how many times I have been at a friends house and been just appalled at the condition of their garden hose nozzle. The first signs that the hose isn’t being stored correctly is the presence of scratches or deep gouges on the nozzle. These marks are typically from someone dropping the hose on the ground after they are done using it.

Dropping your nozzle on the ground in such a manner will not only destroy the nozzle tip, it will also loosen the handle that you press to spray. A loose handle may simply break off or be limited in its travel, which will not let the right amount of water out(decreased water pressure).

Not only does the handle area get damaged when a hose nozzle is dropped or dragged on the ground, the actual connection where the hose nozzle and the hose meet will become loose, worn and will most likely develop a leak.

A perfect example of this is the hose that we have at work. If you simply turn the water pressure all the way up, the whole nozzle simply pops right off. You cannot have this in a real gardening situation.

Hose Reel and Hose Placement

A very common thing I see in many garden situations is the wrong location of a hose reel or hose storage area. Hoses are made of rubber, which is extremely vulnerable to sun and heat exposure.

You should always locate your hose in an area that is going to get a lot of shade. Obviously if your hose connections are in the sunlight you will need to cover your hose with a cloth or some other type of shelter or look into getting a hose reel cart that will allow you to move your hose out of the sun for storage.

NOTE: Just because your hose may not show that much sign of heat/sun exposure, you have to know that hoses are made of several layers of rubber and other materials. The outside layer may be slightly dry, but you will never know truly the condition of the inner materials.

My recommendation is that you purchase a hose reel cart that will kill many birds with one stone. They enable you to easily wind the hose up after each use which will protect against internal hose fractures, they allow you to store your hose in the shade, which will protect against heat damage and can be unwound in an orderly fashion, again which will relieve stress on the hose.