May 2006
Monthly Archive
Wed 31 May 2006
When it comes to growing tomatoes almost every part-time home gardener who has attempted to grow tomatoes has his or her own tips or tricks of the trade.
I am no different. I have been growing tomatoes for about 12 years now, and it seems that every season I lean something new. Whether it is a new-technique or a new variety to try out.
So I have accumulated some basic ideas or tips that may help you grow your tomatoes more hassle free and more successfully.
Try The Ponderosa Tomato First let me say that I like Large tomatoes (1 to 2 pounds in size) so I prefer the Ponderosa, which is pink in color and has a wholesome old fashion tomato taste. It has very few seeds and is low in acid content. They take a while to grow but in my humble opinion they are worth the wait.
Try The Supersonic Tomato Another favorite of mine is the Supersonic tomato, which comes in several varieties.It has good size, great tasty flavor and the crops are abundant. The fruit is red, and this tomato is easy to grow and a very reliable producer.
You can generally find the seeds or seedlings for these tomatoes at your local nursery or garden supply store or on any of the numerous internet seed provider sites.Like Cherry Tomatoes? Try the Sweet 100 If you like the smaller cherry tomatoes for snacking or in your salads try the Sweet 100.
As its name implies it is very sweet to the taste and can yield up to 100 or more fruit to the stem (or approximately 500 cherry tomatoes to the plant). Now that’s what I call a lot of tomatoes. It is quite a producer!
Gardner Bill’s Tomato Tips
Well, here goes:
First be sure that you do not crowd your seedlings
When you are starting tomatoes from the seed, give them a lot of room to spread out. You will inhibit the plant’s growth if they are too close together. Be sure to transplant them when they get their first leaves and then put them into 4 inch containers for about 2 weeks.
Second be sure that you provide sufficient light.
Tomato seedlings will need either strong, direct sunlight or 14-18 hours under grow lights. Place the young plants only a couple of inches from florescent grow lights. Be sure to plant them outside in the sunniest part of your vegetable garden.
Thirdly be sure to put a fan on your seedlings.
The plants seem to need to move and sway in the breeze, which helps develop strong stems. Use a fan on them for 5-10 minutes twice a day.
Fourth, preheat the soil in your garden by covering the plants with black or red plastic for a few weeks before you plant them
Fifth, be sure to bury the plants deeper than they come in the pot, all the way up to a few top leaves. not to drive your pole or cage into the stem.
Sixth, Mulch after the ground has had a chance to warm up.
Seventh: Be sure to remove all bottom leaves when your plants get 3 feet tall. This will help to keep the diseases away from them.
Eighth: Pinch & Prune.
Ninth: Water your plants deeply and regularly in the beginning.
Ask For Help
Finally one’s ability to grow great tomatoes is in large part based on the growing climate in your locale.
Don’t be too proud. Ask your local garden store or nursery. Check out specific varieties on the internet. You can even join a garden club in your area and get firsthand help from some of your neighborhood tomato pros.
If you have small children, get them involved in the making of your tomato garden and in the maintenance and harvesting of the crops. They will love it after a while when they begin to realize what is involved in growing fruits and vegetables. They will gain an invaluable appreciation and insight into where our food comes from and the work it takes to make it right. Good Luck….
Fri 19 May 2006
“Oh give me a home where the cacti roam” and I will show you a Desert Garden.
Whether you live in an arid semi-dry desert area or whether you want to create that Southwestern Desert landscape look in a portion of your backyard, you should know a few basics about Desert Gardens.
Generally a Desert Garden is an area that receives less than 10 inches of rain each year. The soil is generally rock or clay (caliche) and has very little nutrients. The temperature and weather have a wide range of extremes and there are plenty of gusty winds.
The above described Desert condition applies generally to most of the desert areas in the American Southwest.
Desert gardeners reap benefits which gardeners in the north yearn for. Long growing seasons mean active gardening for nine to twelve months of the year. Semi-tropical plants survive in protected areas. An assortment of flowers, grasses, cacti, shrubs, vegetables and trees thrive in this environment, providing exciting design ideas for a desert garden.
Create a Micro-Climate for Your Desert Garden
A helpful step in creating a successful and thriving Desert Garden is to use and create a micro-climate to aid your plants.
You can create shaded and cool areas by building walls with a North face.
Look around your neighborhood at the areas between your house and the wall or fence; look at areas near sidewalks and pavements. Be aware of which way the wind generally blows in your area. The walls, and pavements can add more heat for your plants and they can also help channel water and wind.
You can create a small oasis by placing plants that love moisture in a group. They will collect and can be used to absorb the rain water and other water runoff and thereby create a cool spot in your garden. The color you use can greatly determine your micro-climate.
For example if you have rocks that are dark in color or a wall that is dark these items will retain the heat which the white colored rocks and walls will reflect the heat. Isn’t that cool and neat?
Got Cactus?
The Cactus plant, which includes hundreds of varieties, thrive in soil that is alkaline in nature. Cacti are generally very hearty plants that grow and adapt to practically any environment. If you have the right set of conditions your cacti will not need any care. Now that’s my kind of plant!
Making a Cactus Bed
The basic way to plant your Cacti bed is to start digging about 3 feet in depth and then remove the soil. Be sure to mix sand and gravel in order to create a filter like medium. You can even add rocks of all sixes and pieces of broken pots to increase your drainage.
You want to avoid having the soil accumulate too much water because if your cacti bed is too wet they will spoil and rot. If your soil has a lot of sand then you need to add organic materials like peat moss and potting soils.
Get Creative
You can get quite creative in your Desert Garden landscape design by adding various types of surface rocks or boulders including the beautiful black lava rocks. The use of rocks in your Desert Garden will help create a warmer area for smaller and more fragile plants.
Test Your Soil’s Drainage
A great way to test the soil for drainage is to dig a small bucket sized hole and fill the hole up with water and then start your clock and time how long it takes for the hole to empty out of water.
Between 2-4 hours is ideal drainage time. If it exceeds that then you should add more sand or gravel to your site.
Get some Yucca in Your Garden
The Yucca and Joshua tree are great additions to any Desert Garden and are essential. You can plant them anywhere in the hottest or most cold or the least productive place in your yard or garden. They grow just about anywhere you set them down. They can grow between 10 to 15 feet, and will add that real Southwestern Desert look to your garden.
We hope these ideas are helpful in the planning and designing of your Desert Gardening. Have fun!
Mon 15 May 2006
If you live in an Apartment or Condominium or Townhouse where the back yard is a balcony or small patio/cement slab area then you can qualify to become a Patio Gardener.
Patio Gardening is basically making a transition from an indoor and outdoor environment by placing your plants in outdoor living areas.
You can do this simply by using some window boxes on your balcony or they can become much more elaborate by installing trellised vines to enclose a porch or wooden patio fenced areas. You can also use hanging baskets and other containers filled to a wide variety of perennial and annual flowers to bring your garden atmosphere to your smaller patio spaces.
Less Space? Use More Color & Variety
Regardless of the amount of space on your balcony or patio those small areas can be arranged to become a wonderfully lush environment that will give you peace, pleasure and a sense of relaxation. All it takes is for you to carefully choose the plants ( including your favorite vegetables, herbs and even fruit trees) that you like and pot them in containers of all shapes and sizes.
Perhaps you’ve longed to have a garden, but your city apartment offers minimal possibilities. Even the smallest balcony can become a peaceful oasis with the addition of carefully chosen and well-placed plants. Also, many vegetables, fruits, and herbs thrive in containers.
Patio Plants Provide Privacy
A great idea is to pot some of your favorite plants in your front yard or plants that you enjoy generally and put them where you can see them on a daily basis such as your patio and balcony and window areas.
By arranging your plants around your home you create a sense of intimacy and privacy. The plants help psychologically to reduce your stress levels, and help insulate you from the noisy environment in the streets of our busy cities.
The use of vines and trellises around your balconies and patio fencing will help insure that your garden world will protect you from the outside world and give you that added sense of security and joy that comes only from seeing your favorite plants thrive in and about your home.
Sun 14 May 2006
What Are Water Gardens?
So you want to be a water Gardener? Well what the heck is a Water Garden, anyway?
You guessed it. A water garden is a garden area that uses water as part of its landscape design. Such water environments like a pond or stream. The water gardens use plants that float or stay submerged under the water or plants that grow along the edges of the water boundary (mosses or some lilies).
The nice thing about establishing a water garden in your yard is that soon you will be able to grow a potential wide variety of elegant water (aquatic) plants.
Water Gardening Is Popular
If you take the time to walk around your neighborhood you will probably see that your neighbors are water gardeners and don’t even realize it.
If you see small ponds with waterfalls, koi ponds, etc. then there are water gardens in them thar houses.
Many cultures embrace water as a necessary ingredient in their environment like the many Asian cultures such as Japanese, Chinese, Philippine and Southeast Asian peoples.Water, whether standing in a pond or moving as in a waterfall or stream, has a peaceful and serene effect on most people. It is relaxing to sit and watch and hear water in motion.
Water Gardens Are Easy to Install
The nice thing about a water garden is that it can be built in 2-3 days and if you do it correctly they will give you many years of joy and pleasure. You can spend very little money or you can go crazy and spent a fortune. The choice is up to you.Most people when they establish their first water garden start small. Remember you can install a shallow water garden for small birds and salamanders and frogs or you can create a large and deep water garden for a more varied selection of plants, fish and other wildlife.
Location, Location, Location
Remember that your water garden requires a minimum of three to six hours of sun a day for best results. Be sure to locate your water garden away from trees and shrubs.
Basic Ingredients For Your Water Garden
Be sure your water garden is accessible to an electrical outlet for any pumps, filters and lights that you want to install in and around the garden itself. Your water garden foundation is critical. The preformed, plastic liner design is the easiest for first time water gardeners. The plastic liners allow you to shape the size of your water garden so you can get a more natural look.
If you are going to have a professional landscaper to do the work for you, it will be expensive and you will probably wind up with a concrete basin water garden.
Another ingredient you will need will be a pump and filter to re-circulate the water and keep it clear.
Once you set the theme of your water garden you may wind up adding some patio furniture, bird feeds, statutes, lights, colorful and unusual rocks, fish, and speakers for your piped in music and other features to enhance the beauty and design you have created.
Be sure to ask for help from your local nursery or garden supply salesperson. They are very helpful in advising you on your garden design and may even recommend other stores you can visit to acquire supplies that they don’t carry. You can also use the internet for some more basic research and help.
Be sure to draw out your garden design on paper. Some people use a water hose or rope to lay down a rough outline of the garden. This is helpful to give you the physical dimensional look of the garden.
Enlist Your Family’s Help
It’s always fun to have your small children 6-10 year old to help you in the water gardening weekend. They will get great joy in seeing an interesting project take shape right in front of their eyes.
Be sure to explain to them before hand what you are doing and why. You don’t want to come home one day and find your kids made their own water garden mud hole in your favorite vegetable garden or petunia patch! Enjoy the project and enjoy your water garden for years to come. Good Gardening to you all.
Tue 2 May 2006
Step 1. Clean up the lawn and the area under trees, shrubs, and evergreens. Remove this lawn and garden material to the un-spaded garden areas for spading in as soon as weather permits.
Step 2. Lower your mower blade to a height just above new grass growth. Mow and collect the clippings, which go on the soil as a mulch for perennials, shrubs, and evergreens.
Step 3. If thatch buildup is extremely heavy, either rent a de-thatching machine or have your local landscaper do the job. There are several roto-rake blade attachments available that cut, de-thatch, and bag all at the same time. They’re good; I have one and love it. But they don’t fit all mowers. (more…)