gardeen world: Edible Gardening

Showing posts with label Edible Gardening. Show all posts

Small-Space Garden Pot Basics

As long as it gets adequate sun, a small patio can provide enough room to grow a range of crops without demanding much time or labor. Devote the most planting space to the veggies your family loves best. Keep in mind that large plants such as beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes require large pots (two feet in diameter or more). Smaller pots are perfect for peppers, greens, kale, and herbs, and they look great tucked between larger containers. For season-long interest, combine plants with varied flowering times so that some things will be ripening while others will be ready to harvest. In hot weather, water evaporates quickly from the elevated soil in a container. You may need to irrigate your pots every day if temperatures go above 90 degrees.

I half expected these things not to work and out plants would be dead after returning from a holiday vacation. Surprisingly, as simple as these are they worked great. Plants kept with constant moisture. Now we leave them in all the time and just refill the vases. Someone should make a tank that can clip on the outside of the pot. Only note is that you need to fill the ceramic plug completely full with water and immerse the tubes to ensure the capillary action works to pull water into the spike.

When to Plant : Extremely frost sensitive, corn planted in soils cooler than 55 degrees (65 for super-sweet varieties) fails to germinate or has very poor germination. Direct-sow only after night temperatures are consistently in the 50s. Plant in blocks of at least 3 rows, at least 3 feet long apiece, to ensure best pollination. Hand-pollinate by gently shaking plants toward one another if you cannot devote this much space.

Most patios take time, and days of effort, to build. But a small, detached patio like the one pictured here comes together quickly with minimal effort.

Think of the possible uses for this circle of bricks. You can tuck it into a perennial border. Or place it in a remote corner of your garden, where you can linger at day's end over a glass of wine, or on Sunday morning with a latte while perusing the papers.

DIY beehive in a jar

You can get the materials from : amazon

Disease and Insect Pests
Roses are susceptible to a number of disease and insect pests. Roses may survive without a basic pest control program, but they may not be very attractive. A pest control program starts with proper site selection, good soil preparation, good drainage, proper spacing, cultivar selection, and plant maintenance. These all foster healthy roses that are better able to withstand the pressure of disease and insects.

DIY Concrete Ladybug amazon

Boxwood is very easy to propagate. In the spring, take stem cuttings, 6 inches in length, and remove the lower inch of leaves. For best effect, group five to seven stems together, as pictured, to resemble an entire plant. Plunge this group into soil that has been amended with copious quantities of peat moss or leaf mold. Pack the soil firmly around the stems. Keep the cuttings moist, and you will have new, rooted plants in about six weeks.

Both concrete and brick pavers make a simple, handsome border and work well as edging material too. They're ideal when you want a wide border that keeps grass out of the garden, yet allows flowers and other plants to spill over without intruding onto the grass. You're less likely to chop them up with the lawn mower.
How To :
Step 1 : Lay out the edge of the border with a garden hose, using the brick pattern as a spacer. Make curves gradual and smooth.
Step 2 : Dig a 4-in. deep trench about an inch wider than the brick pattern, using a square spade. Cut the edge along the grass smooth and square.

Instead of getting Dad another tie that he’ll never wear, why not give him something for Father’s Day that he will really appreciate? Our Griller’s Herb Toolbox is the perfect accessory for any man who loves grilling, and the perfect complement to everything that goes on the grill!

Stuff it with some great grilling tools, a few grill-friendly herbs like rosemary, basil, and parsley, and you have a mobile grilling toolbox that Dad will love for years to come.

Gather the tools and materials listed below, then click the arrow on the right side of the photo above to get started.

My daughter is eight years old and wanted a garden of her very own really bad. I’m not sure how dedicated she will be to this garden to I decided not to take a huge portion of my backyard for her new found love of gardening. Not yet anyway.

She recently outgrew her homemade tent bunk bed make from cinder blocks so I had no need for these anywhere else around the house. These are just what I needed for my garden planning project!!

What says “I like you” more than a concrete cupcake? They look sweet and are half-baked in a humorous way. In terms of potential holiday table decor and DIY gifts, these little treats — one of many in the new book “Concrete Garden Projects” — have all the ingredients.

Concrete Garden ProjectsPart of the appeal of Malin Nilsson and Camilla Arvidsson’s book is simplicity: Most of the pots, vases, candle holders, stepping stones and decorative figurines in the book were created using the same easy steps: Find an interesting mold, fill it with concrete, let it dry.

If you’ve picked your molds well, the results look great. The pots pictured here were made with jumbo cupcake molds made of silicone, which was firm enough to hold its shape but pliable enough to remove the concrete with incredible ease.

Growing Carrots in Soda Bottles
See more here

Also from ‘This Old House’, how to lay a gravel path. I would use this material for a more casual home, but remember to choose gravel that compacts together for easy walking. Round pea gravel is not easy to walk in!

For creating an attractive border, bricks can be laid diagonally. For this, a trench is dug and several inches of coarse sand is added for drainage. Bricks are positioned at an angle of about 45 degrees in the trench such that they are half-exposed. The trench is then filled with soil and packed down firmly. Similarly, all the bricks are laid in the adjoining beds.

First of all, I had no idea you could grow a rose bush just from the trimmings of another bush. I love all of this new found information — I’ve never been so excited about my garden! Push the bottom ends of your rose trimmings into a small potato to help it retain moisture as it develops roots.

Starting your own seeds at home is an easy way to increase the variety of garden plant options that are available. Our own grow2girl from the Home Depot Garden Club forums shows you how to get started.

MATERIALS

Seed Starter Kit
Seeds

When you're living at 7,750 feet above sea level, with a summer growing season of 80 days, at best, between killing freezes, how can you grow your own food? The answer, as it turns out, is pretty cool: A geodesic dome solar greenhouse.

You can get the molds from Amazon.