Archive for April, 2009

Garden Supplies For Growing 100 Pounds of Potatoes

Thursday, April 30th, 2009


Potatoes are an easy to grow tubular that requires a little attention and can be grown in a small area. Many claim the harvest over 100 pound of potatoes from a 4 square foot gardening area. All the care required is to add soil to the mound as the plant grows.

Garden seed potatoes aren’t really seeds. They are full-size potatoes that are allowed to start producing shoots in the potato eyes. You’ve probably seen this happen when you’ve stored potatoes in the kitchen for too long. Planting potatoes from the grocery store is a gamble. Some individual potatoes are treated with a growth inhibitor to keep them from sprouting so you need to wash them. Buying bulk potatoes usually don’t have growth inhibiters.

A week or two before you plant your potatoes you’ll want to sprout your seedlings. Put them in a warm location with 60 to 70 degree heat and in the sunlight to accelerate the sprouting process.

The day before planting you will want to cut up the seed potatoes. Cut a 1-1/2 to 2 inch cube containing at least 2 eyes. Leave your cut potatoes open to the air overnight. A callous will cover the cut part and will prevent the seed from rotting in the ground.

Potatoes don’t like a particularly rich soil. If you have some organic matter and the pH is good, the potatoes should be happy. What they do rely on is a steady water supply. If the spring and summer rains don’t offer enough water, water them at least an inch a week.

Gardening accessories like a crib containers, used tires or just mounds allow for gardening to be done in a small space. Dig out a shallow circle 3 to 4 foot in diameter. Amend the soil with compost and peat moss as done in the trench method. Plant 6 to 8 seed potatoes evenly around the circle and cover with 4 inches of soil. Three weeks later cover the vines partially with soil or mulch; run mulch all the way to the leaves and allow it to actually touch the leaves . Continue until the vines bloom.

Potato sprouts will appear in about 2 weeks. When they get about 2 or more inches high (this will take about 3 weeks) add soil to partially cover the growing vines. Do this again 2 weeks later. This process is called “hilling”. Add an inch or two of soil every week so there is enough soil above the developing potato garden to prevent them from sticking out above the soil line because the potatoes will turn green

Harvest carefully, by hand or with a shovel. Generally, you can harvest from 2 to 4 months after planting. Turn the soil over and search through for potatoes at the bottom of the mound. The tubers can branch out and gentle digging at the bottom layer of your container will yield a potato or two. You can harvest the entire crop when the tops die off. All the sprays and fertilizers to grow healthy potatoes: Gardening Accessories

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Short on Space? Grow Your Vegetables in a Container!

Thursday, April 30th, 2009


Container vegetable gardening has so many benefits, it’s hard to believe more people aren’t doing it. Saving space is the greatest benefit of container vegetable gardening. Many people live in apartments or in homes with very little yard space. Container gardening allows you to have a vegetable garden on your porch or patio, or even indoors.

Many people have small container gardens in a sunny windowsill in their kitchen, or in a sunroom or spare bedroom. Some people even grow plants in a closet by using a grow light.

Another major benefit of container gardening is the ability to move plants if you need to. If you’re growing your plants outdoors and bad weather comes, you can bring them inside where they’ll be safe. If your vegetables are getting too little sun or too much, you can easily move their containers to a better location. And you can even move your plants on a whim if you decide they’d look better elsewhere.

Vegetables grown in containers don’t contract diseases as easily compared to plants grown directly in the soil. It’s true that plants grown in containers can still become infected with diseases, but you will find the probability is much less than if you had grown them in your landscape. Potting soil is generally free of disease-causing organisms, so your plants will be safer.

Keeping your vegetables well-fed is also easier when they’re grown in containers. It’s much easier to ensure the fertilizer you use gets to your plants if they’re confined to a small area of soil. When you fertilize plants that are growing directly in the soil, the fertilizer may drain away or be absorbed by other nearby plants. This is not as likely when plants are grown in containers.

Of course, when the soil area is relatively small, there is a chance the fertilizer can be washed out of the soil faster. Because of this, you do need to fertilize more often than you would a traditional vegetable garden. But you can rest assured that your plants are probably getting more of the fertilizer before it does wash away than they would if they were in the ground.

You’ll also be able to extend the growing season of your vegetables when you have them all in containers. You can wrap the pots that your plants are in with blankets or other materials for insulation that will help keep them warm. This way you can easily start plants inside and then move them outside when it gets a bit warmer. The right use of insulation can allow you to keep growing your vegetables outside even after the first frost. Also, you can easily bring the plants inside if it gets too cold for them to be outside, even if they are well insulated.

Another advantage to container vegetable gardening is that it increases the accessibility of the hobby. For persons with physical disabilities and impairments, using containers allows them to enjoy and tend to plants in convenient locations. If a person uses a wheelchair, they can put the pots on a short table to make them easier to tend to. Elderly gardeners who are finding it more difficult to enjoy typical outdoor gardening will find that container gardening offers the same joys but with less work. Even small children find container vegetable gardening to be fun and easy, since they don’t have to have someone till the soil and there isn’t raking, weeding, and hoeing to worry about.

Growing vegetables in pots really makes it easy to have a garden when you don’t have the space for a traditional one.

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The Benefits of Soil-less Hydroponics Gardening

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009


Hydroponics gardening will improve your lifestyle by offering you with fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers all throughout the year. One of the famous systems is the NFT system development by Dr Alan Cooper with covered plastic channels. In this system, the plants are growing through holes in the covers and their roots are suspended in the nutrient solution.

One of the major benefits of a hydroponics system is that it can greatly shorten the necessary amount of time required to produce healthy crops. Whether a vegetable, flower, shrub or even trees, it can be produced without having to cultivate, weed and mulch the garden. Other important maintenance like watering and fertilizing can be taken care of by the automated system.

With the soil-less gardening, the quality of the soil will no longer be a problem with growing your crops. Hydroponics gardens can also be based in any place, irrespective of the soil or climate.

You will eventually notice that vegetables and fruit grown with the hydroponics system have a superb flavor and texture compared to the conventionally-grown counterparts. Because the crops will not be deficient in nutrients you will notice that they develop quicker and are healthier because they have more resistance to plant diseases than crops raised in the soil.

Because of the mentioned benefits, you will be efficient to grow a good number of plants in a small area bringing out better yield than ordinarily possible. As an added benefit, there is no delay as well as there is no soil to be sterilized which usually is required in between planting seasons to optimize the soil quality. This leads to continuous production, simplified farming approach, less wasted energy, and higher profitability.

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Square Foot Gardening Tips: February

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009


Patti Moreno, The Garden Girl & Mel Bartholomew of Square Foot Gardening, discuss what gardeners are doing in the month of February. Don’t forget to

Hydroponics Garden: A System for Better Yields

Monday, April 27th, 2009


A hydroponics system can effectively shorten the expected amount of time required to produce healthy crops especially fruit. Moreover, shrub and trees can be produced without the need to weed or mulch. In addition, watering and fertilizing are taken cared of by automatic digital systems of the hydroponics gardens.

Because of the amount of time saved by using a hydroponics system, one can concentrate on pruning and training crops. This also allows you with more time to spend on other activities in the garden.

More importantly, the quality of the soil will no longer be the major concern with growing your plants as nutrients are controlled and monitored with the medium used in the garden. You will eventually see that vegetables and fruit produced with the hydroponics system will have better flavors and textures due to the right amount of nutrients present in its medium. The crops will not waste much energy producing large root systems as all the nutrients they demand are brought to them directly through a system of tubes.

Because the plants will not be deficient in any nutrients you will notice that they grow quicker and are better with more resistance to disease than crops grown in the soil. Therefore, you will be efficient to raise a great number of plants in a small area producing a far higher yield than normally possible.

With hydroponics gardening, one will be provided with a healthier lifestyle because of the fresh produce and flowers from your gardens. Seasonal fruit-bearing trees are now producing fruits all year round with this method and those willing to introduce themselves with hydroponics can successfully operate a productive hydroponics unit at home, find out more with hydroponics system and you will sure find its advantages are great to a better lifestyle.

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Indian Sandstone is a Beautiful Way to Embellish your Garden or Family Home.

Sunday, April 26th, 2009


Indian sandstone is a form of sandstone which is cheaper and still very stylish and serves as a great product for paving, decoration and of course, tiling in your home. You can use Indian sandstone inside and outside your home and it’s a very good material for decoration and can be used commercially as well as domestically.

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock and Indian sandstone is a simple form of this. Sedimentary rock is a form of rock which has formed over a long time and has built up in layers which creates a beautiful effect.

Sandstone is used a lot in homes but Indian sandstone is probably the most popular form of sandstone.Indian sandstone is a lot cheaper than other materials however, it still offers a good look to it and is very stylish.

Indian sandstone can be made into many different things such as bricks, blocks, cobbles and pebbles and even tiles for your home. Indian sandstone is mostly used as tiling for your home but it can also be used to make walls, sculptures and statues as well.

Indian sandstone is suited to water quite well and therefore Indian sandstone is used a lot for water features. Indian sandstone is very appealing because you can choose from various colours, textures and styles for the tiles in your home.

When Indian sandstone is used as tiles it’s usually coated with a protective layer so that it doesn’t wear down at all. You will need to make sure that you buy the right sort of sandstone for your needs because Indian sandstone can wear down quickly.

Flooring tiles are the most common use for Indian sandstone tiles but they can also be used as wall cladding.In the UK, Indian sandstone bricks are widely used as paving materials and they look great in just about any home.

A lot of the time, Indian sandstone is made of bricks when it is put on walls – flooring is also sometimes made from bricks. Indian sandstone is a very compact material and this means it’s ideal for flooring – it’s also very strong so it’s good for walls too.

There are a variety of colours available for Indian sandstone but the most popular colours are usually a soft ochre brown or a light beige.Indian sandstone is very popular and one of the most appealing things about it is that it is much cheaper than other materials available.

You can buy Indian sandstone for about 14 GBP per square metre which is cheaper than most other rock or slab materials. If you want to use Indian sandstone for your home or garden then you definitely should. It’s a great material and is certainly worth the purchase.

Indian sandstone is a great material because it’s tough and durable as well as being cheap and great looking. In the UK, Indian sandstone is a very popular product to be used for flooring, walls and tiling outside or inside.

You should definitely consider buying Indian sandstone for your home because it’s a beautiful material that is strong and durable.Make sure you do your research before you buy any Indian sandstone but you should find that it’s ideal for your home.

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