14 Organic Vegetable Gardening Tips

Gardening is one of those pastimes that is more than a hobby - it's personal! And to complicate it, Mother Nature doesn't always help you out. How, then, do you succeed with your vegetable garden? It's never a sure thing, but these gardening tips and bits of advice might help.

1. Keep a journal. Record when you plant, how much you planted, how much you harvested, any bug or disease issues and what you think you might do differently next year. Then next year, refer back to what you wrote. You'll be surprised by how much you can forget in a year if you don't write it down.

Raised bed of lettuce, tomatoes, 6 different types of basil, marigolds, zinnias, garlic chives, zucchini. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Keep a positive attitude. That total fail with your tomatoes this year? It will make a good discussion piece with other gardeners. And next year can only be better. Hopefully.

3. Tis better to cover your tender plants before the heavy rain and hail starts, not during. Keep your eye to the sky and take weather forecasts seriously.

4. Every year is different. Don't ever think you've got this thing in the bag, because if you do, you're jinxing your next crop.

5. Plan for moderation. When planning out your garden during the winter, reduce the size and number of plantings you think you want. Looking at those seed catalogs makes you go overboard - I know from experience!

6. It starts and ends with your soil. (I would double-bold that if I could.) The health of your soil is more important than you might realize. Healthy soil makes healthy disease-resistant plants that give a good yield.

Also, it's soil, not dirt.  :-)

7. Kitchen gardens are placed near the kitchen for a reason. Gardeners who break their backs digging, hoeing and weeding, don't want to walk too far to pick a few things to go in the dinner.

8. When seed packs say not to plant outside before the first frost date, they mean it.  But sometimes you can get away with starting before the approved planting date by using row covers, cold frames, or Wall O' Waters. It's up to you if you want to take your chances.

9. If you're planting a seedling, peat pot and all, tear off the bottom of the pot. The pots are supposed to decompose but that can take a while and you don't want your seedlings to become root-bound.

10. Pole beans aren't the only thing that can climb a trellis; so can cucumbers, melons and squash. Think vertical - especially when you're space-challenged.

11. If you have raised beds, you can use an old window or door screen to cover small seedlings so they're protected from birds, bunnies and bugs.

Powdery Mildew on a tomato plant. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

12. Worms in your garden are a good sign. Slugs are not.

13. Your tomatoes will never taste exactly the same from year to year; it's going to depend on the weather and water conditions.

14. Water your vegetables in the early mornings. Midday watering can mean evaporation in the hot sun, and can sometimes burn the leaves if they get wet, and nighttime watering might give your plants powdery mildew problems from being moist all night.

These vegetable gardening tips should give you a leg up, but they're only the beginning. For more, get yourself a gardening app for your phone or iPad, read gardening books and magazines, talk to experienced old-timers, and get out there and experience it firsthand. There's nothing more rewarding than growing a successful garden!

How To Plant Tomatoes

It's almost tomato planting season! In some areas, you may be able to put tomatoes outside right now. Here in Central Ohio, Mother's Day is the traditional date, but my seedlings are growing nicely in the window in preparation for moving outdoors. So today I'm sharing some tips on how to plant tomatoes, America's most popular home-grown crop - and possibly my favorite!

It is wonderful to be able to eat and serve your own succulent tomatoes from the garden.  They have a sweet and rich flavor that store-bought tomatoes almost always lack. However, they are not always as simple to grow as you might expect.

How To Plant Tomatoes Outdoors

Cherry tomatoes.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tomatoes are a climbing plant. You can grow them either in containers or in the ground, but they need to have a trellis or other support to climb.

They also like warmth and plenty of direct sunlight. They will grow in most parts of the USA from zone 3 and in the UK and Europe, but in cooler climates you should choose a suitable variety and be sure to plan a sheltered, sunny spot for them. Do not plant them outside until you are sure that there will be no more frost. Planting in containers has the advantage that you can easily move them into a greenhouse or into the house at night, if cold weather threatens.

It is possible to grow tomatoes from seed, but most people start with small plants from the nursery. Check plants carefully for any signs of disease. If you see any, go to a different nursery.

Soil pH should be from 6.0 to 7.0. You can check this with a soil testing kit from any nursery. If your soil tests outside of this range, either add product to alter its acidity level or plant your tomatoes in containers in compost of the right pH.

If planting in the ground, dig plenty of tomato compost into your soil, then dig a hole about a foot diameter for each plant. The holes should be 12 to 18 inches apart according to the variety of tomato (the label should instruct you on this). 

Put in the bottom of each hole a little compost followed by broken eggshells or calcium product from the nursery. Set the plants into the holes and fill with compost. It's fine to cover the lower branches of the growing plant, but at least 3-4 branches should be above ground.

Water them, then place a paper collar around the stalk at ground level to deter crawling pests, and cover with a cloche if your climate is cool. After a couple of weeks remove the cloche and collar, cover the soil with a layer of mulch and set up whatever supports your plant variety needs.

Tomato plants love water and need 1-2 inches of rain per week. If you get less than this, be sure to water them often.

State fruit - Tomato (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How To Plant Tomatoes Indoors

Tomatoes can also be grown inside the house in containers, but they need lots of direct sunlight so you will need to position them carefully. They should get at least 6 hours of sunlight per day in order to grow well and produce good fruit.

Additional Tips On Planting Tomatoes

If you are growing tomatoes in the ground, be sure to rotate them to different parts of the garden each year. They are very prone to disease and moving them around will help to stop the common tomato diseases from becoming established.

For the same reason, if you are growing them in containers it is best to discard the compost and clean the container, as well as burning the remains of the plant, at the end of each season.

Warning: although tomato fruits are safe to eat, other parts of the plant can be poisonous. Protect from young children and pets.

Good luck with your tomato plants. I hope you have a bountiful and delicious crop!

7 Gardening Mistakes to Avoid

For gardeners, nothing in the world stinks more than working your butt off in the hot sun to care for and maintain your garden, only to have something go terribly wrong due to an unexpected problem or oversight. You worked hard for your crops so the last thing you want is for something to go wrong and destroy all of your hard work. 

Don't let any of these mistakes happen to you! Be prepared with this list of 7 easy-to-make gardening mistakes to watch out for:

1. Planting in the wrong place – Always take care to look closely at the growing needs of all of your intended crops. Make sure to read the sun, water, and weather requirements for each of the fruits and vegetables that you want to grow, and plant and place your garden beds or planters accordingly. Better yet, you should take careful stock of your available space before you even decide what to plant, examining the soil, drainage, and even how and where the sun hits best during planting and growing months. Taking a little time to survey your yard beforehand can save you a heap of trouble down the road.

Transplanting plants from starter pots to the garden (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Buying diseased or unhealthy plants – If you're the type that just wants to buy starter plants for your garden and pop them in the ground, make sure to pay extra special attention to the plants you're buying. The gardeners who took care of these plants before you might not be as diligent or as careful as you are, so take a close look at the quality and color of the plant's leaves when making your choices. Also make sure to look closely for insect damage, especially if you're bringing new plants to an existing garden bed. The last thing you want to do is introduce pests to a clean, insect-free garden that you've worked hard on.

3. Not preparing the soil – Or even trying to fix a preparation mistake too late! This goes hand in hand with the first potential mistake; you should make sure that your soil is prepared and ready to take in all the new plants you'll be planting in it. Soil testing kits are cheap and easy to use and can be found at your local gardening or home improvement store. Soil varies greatly by region and each type of soil needs something different to make it suitable for your plants. If you plant without preparing, be incredibly careful because doing work on the soil while new plants are establishing their root systems can have a disastrous effect on their growth and general health.

4. Not watching your watering – Each plant has their own needs and requirements when it comes to watering so you should be especially careful if you have a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in your garden. Overwatering can drown your plants' roots which will cause them to rot and kill your plant. On the other hand if you don't water enough your plants will get dehydrated, sometimes causing even more damage than if you had watered too much. (I made this mistake back in the fall when we had moved into our new house, and for the first time all summer, we didn't get rain for several weeks. I forgot to water my newly transplanted strawberry plants, and several of them died.) You should work to find a good balance and make sure to group plants with similar watering needs together to make things easier on yourself. If you're worried about watering yourself you can always purchase an automatic irrigation system which will take care of the work for you.

5. Not accounting for space – Of course you want your garden to bursting at the seams with fresh fruits and veggies to enjoy, but if you pack it too full then you're going to end up in a lot of trouble down the road when instead of tiny seedlings you've got an overcrowded garden full of growing plants. Always make sure to zone your beds and take into account what size the plants will be when they're grown as you plan out your available space.

6. Planting an overly invasive species – Reading your plants' tags can give you good insight on what growing them will be like. Sure a plant that's hardy, grows well in most climates, and spreads easily sounds like it'll be a snap to take care of, but if you're not careful you could end up seeing your tiny garden bed spread well beyond the confines of its walls. Always make sure to read your tags closely and keep any potential rampant growers well in check.

Wild garlic mustard is a common invasive weed in some areas. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

7. Taking the wrong approach to weeding – Without a doubt you're going to end up with weeds in your garden. I'm not saying you're a bad gardener, it's just an inevitability of nature that these tenacious plants will find a way in and stay there as best they can. When you're preparing your space, make sure not to use any harsh chemicals that are going to sit in your soil and make the space just as inhospitable for your garden as it is for the weeds. While you don't need to be inspecting your bed with a magnifying glass every hour of every day it's a good idea to at least check your bed at least once a day for any offending invasive species before they get out of control and start taking over your garden.

Gardening can be hard work, but this isn't meant to make it sound off-putting. On the contrary, now that you're armed with the knowledge of what not to do in your garden, you can plant a beautiful garden with confidence that you won't make these mistakes yourself!

Video: Container Gardening with Succulents

This short video offers some great tips for choosing and planting succulents in containers. From selecting the correct pot based on your climate, to choosing succulents that will grow outdoors or indoors, Tricia shares some helpful ways to have success with your succulent container garden.

The books that she recommends are listed below the video for your convenience.

Growing Succulents
Learn how to grow succulents in containers, indoors or outdoors. More info in our blog post http://groworganic.com/organic-gardening/articles/make-your-own-s...


Recommended Resources for Growing Succulents:
   

Tips for Growing Succulents

Succulents can be a visually interesting addition to your garden, and they are especially great as borders or for walkways. There are many different varieties, with different foliage colors and shapes, and many varieties are very low maintenance and easy to grow. They can also do well in container gardens and indoor pots, so they are a very versatile addition no matter what kind of garden you have.

They are fairly maintenance free and can add color to pots where you are growing larger trees. They also make a nice looking ground cover that may reduce the amount of weeds depending on the type of succulent you choose.

Pink flowers of a succulent plant growing in Orange County, CA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Placed in multi colored pots, succulents can look quite impressive with contrasting colors in designer gardens and courtyards. They are excellent for smaller pots where they can add color and life to patios and decks provided they get sufficient sunlight.

They also make an ideal plant for the busy apartment dweller where there is only minimal outdoor area and not enough room for larger plants.

They can also withstand winds that might damage other plants grown in these conditions. They are the ideal plant to have in window boxes and come in many different varieties, colors, shapes and sizes.

To ensure that your succulents get the very best in growing conditions, particularly if you are growing them in pots, you will need to buy good quality specially formulated succulent mix. This is generally the same type mix that you would also use for growing cacti.

Slow release fertilizer will help them to remain healthier by supplying them with necessary nutrients throughout the year, and the best time to give them this fertilizer is in spring.

They will grow better when exposed to the full sun as they don't like frosts. Over the summer months you will need to give them sufficient water and that will generally be once or twice a week.

Over the winter months if planted outdoors they should get enough water to only need watering once a month. Obviously you will need to adjust this depending on the climate they are growing in but that is a general guideline to follow. When you water your succulents you should avoid wetting their foliage if possible.

Advanced Garden Tip: Propagating Plants from Cuttings

One of the most cost effective ways of getting plants for your garden is from cuttings off of other plants.

Many people avoid trying to grow plants from cuttings assuming it is too difficult, but if you know what to do it isn't quite as hard as many people believe.

When you take a cutting off the plant that you want to grow, make sure it is approximately the length of a pencil.

Image via Flickr

You will then need to remove all but the top two leaves on the cutting. If the cutting is from a large-leaf plant you should also consider removing another leaf from the top to ensure there isn't too much leaf for the cutting.

You will find where to cut the plant by looking at the stem. Where there is swelling on the stem, these are called nodes and this is where the growth of the plant occurs. You should always cut below a node when taking your cutting.

Once you have a good cutting you should treat it with a suitable natural hormone formulation. There are different types of hormone formulations specifically for the various types of plants and you will need to match the correct hormone with the plant cuttings you are growing. Your garden center can help with this.

Dip approximately 1/2 inch of the bottom of the stem into the correct hormone and then insert the stem into a suitable rooting medium. This rooting medium can be a mixture of pumice and sand for good results. Compact the mix lightly around the stem to hold it in place.

If you cut the top off a clear plastic 2-liter drink bottle it will act as a mini hot house once turned upside down and placed over the plant.

This will help raise the temperature inside and stimulate growth. After about a month your cutting will have roots and you will be able to remove it and pot it as you would any other plant.

Questions? Need clarification? Check back Thursday for a video demonstration of this process.

Preparing Your Garden for the Winter

Well, here we are again - frosty nights are already settling over some areas, and sadly enough for us gardeners, winter is on the way. But wait, don't put away those tools just yet! There is still some important work to be done to properly put your garden to rest for the year.

Image by slack12 via FlickrSome people believe that when the weather starts getting colder and the leaves start to fall, it is time to put away the gardening tools and wait until next spring to work on their garden again. Wrong. Winter is an important time to maintain your garden's health and assure yourself a good crop for next year. You may think that might take to long to prepare your garden, but the truth is that it takes less than one day to prepare your garden for the upcoming winter.

When the nighttime temperatures drop to less than forty-five degrees Fahrenheit for more than four days in a row, or frost is forecasted for your area (usually around late October or November) you know its time to begin preparing your garden. You should begin by evaluating your garden design, check which plants grew well in the past season, and which plants did not do well. Fall is a good time to decide which plants will remain in your garden next year, and which ones should go.

It is also a good time to decide which new plants you want to grow for the fall season. To make your garden more colorful and healthy, be sure only to plant the more hardy plants during the fall so that they can withstand the winter. Some plants that will do fine being planted in fall are: rudbeckia, Aster Novi-belgii, Anemone Japonica, panicle hyandea, endive, escarole, and Brussels sprouts. You can find all of these and more in gardening magazines or your local nursery.

After you have finished this you should begin cleaning up your garden. Begin by pulling out weeds that may have cropped up, and raking fallen leaves. Weeds and rotten leaves can carry insects and diseases that might be harmful to your garden. You should also rid your garden of spent annual plants, and harvest your vegetables and other plants that cannot withstand the winter weather. After fall has come and gone, the leaves will be off your trees and you can see any dead and rotten branches. Trimming off the unwanted branches from your trees isn't necessary to your garden's health, but may help later on by not dropping branches on your plants and not blocking too much of the sun.

Image via WikipediaIf you have younger trees you should consider wrapping them and supporting them with stakes to help them survive the winter wind and cold. Putting mulch over your garden for the winter can be a helpful way to protect plants from sudden temperature changes and heavy snow. For mulch you can use about five inches of shredded bark, pine needles, leaves, or a variety of other materials. However, be careful not to mulch too early, because some insects may still be alive and able to take shelter in it for the winter.

Once you are finished with your gardening tools you should clean them and make sure they are in a safe place where they won't rust and you know where they'll be for next year. Before winter comes you should always set out slug repellent, as slugs are one of the worst bugs to have in your garden. Sluggo is a great all-natural OMRI certified slug killer if you have an infestation you want to get rid of before the winter, so they won't make a quick snack of your spring greens! And of course, if you have a pool or fountain in your garden, be sure to take out any fish that you have in them and bring them inside. There’s nothing sadder than a fish frozen in a block of ice!

Seven Small Sustainable Garden Tips

If you have a tiny yard and would like a simple but well-maintained garden, you only need two things - determination and know-how.  Here are some tips on how to keep your small sustainable garden looking spruced up and glamorous.

Image by Chiot's Run via Flickr1. Deadhead.
Keep your border free from wilted flowers and dried leaves. Deadheading or removing dead flower heads will encourage the plants to produce more blooms for longer. Many perennials such as geraniums and dahlias, and some annuals, benefit from having spent blooms removed.

3. Pinch out tops.
Certain plants - especially foliage plants like Coleus - respond with a spurt of growth when their tops are pinched out. Pinching out makes the plant much bushier and so more blooms are produced. Fuchsias are prone to becoming leggy unless they are pinched out.

4. Fertilize lightly.
A minimal amount of fertilizer will further boost the growth of your vegetation. (However, too much can minimize fruiting of your vegetables, as the energy will be directed into the foliage rather than the fruits, so hold off on fertilizing, or reduce the amount, once plants become ready to start setting fruits.) If you water your yard frequently, you have to fertilize it more regularly because of nutrient depletion. A fortnightly application of liquid fertilizer is sometimes more beneficial than granules as it is more readily absorbed by the leaves. Container plants will be considerably healthier with a half-strength solution of liquid fertilizer applied regularly.

5. Weed out.
This is one of the best ways to preserve the beauty of your small garden.  Remember, weeds compete with your plants for both nutrients and moisture. If the weeds are not close to seeding, leave them on the bed to rot down for mulch. This will add nutrients back to the soil, and also provide a cover to prevent future weeds from springing up, so it's a great tip for your sustainable garden.

Image by Cpt. Obvious via Flickr6. Water well.
One good tip when it comes to watering your garden is to give it a thorough soaking once a week (while making sure there is no run-off to cause erosion). Deep watering will encourage the growth of deeper roots that will be able to withstand dry spells weatherwise. Watering more frequently and shallowly will lead to shallow roots which constantly need to be watered, so it's a vicious cycle. Drip irrigation or a soaker hose is a great way to do this (see below, or visit http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html for some resources).

7. Say NO to chemicals.
Chemicals are dangerous to humans and animals, pollute the soil and groundwater, and and often kill the natural predators of the pests in your garden, so avoid them if at all possible. There are many organic alternatives that work just as well. (For some organic and natural suggestions, visit http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html.)

With these simple tips, your small garden will soon be the envy of your neighbors.

A Few Small Garden Resources: