Gardening Basics For Dummies 3e

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Easy-to-grow vegetables: If you plant at the right time of the year, these vegetables are almost foolproof: broccoli, bush beans, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, peas, potatoes, squash, Swiss chard, and tomatoes. The aim of watering plants is to provide them with enough water to survive but not so much that the soil becomes waterlogged. The best way to achieve this is to water your plants slowly to allow the water to reach deep into the soil. Ideally, the soil should feel moist at about 2-3 inches (5-6.5cm) beneath the surface. The wonderful thing about gardening is that, with so many potential plants and vegetables to grow, you can paint your green patch pretty much any color you see fit. You’ll see that we have given the garden decent-sized paths and mixed in a few herbs and flowers, too. Frankly, if we had grown this garden in our very first year, we would be thrilled! In planning the garden this way, we have made it much easier for you tosucceed.

Organic fertilizers: These fertilizers derived their nutrients from something that was once alive. Examples include blood meal, fish emulsion, and manure.Grow your own organic food. Not only does this help to reduce the distance your food travels before it hits your plate, but it also helps to save water and fossil fuels.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac offers an excellent online garden planning tool that makes your garden planning fun and easy. With this tool, draw your garden plan on the computer and drop in your preferred vegetables, and it automatically calculates the proper spacing for each type of crop! This way, you don’t waste seeds or crowd your plants. The Garden Planner automatically pulls in the frost dates for your specific location, identifies easy vegetables, and even identifies companion plants. Then you can print out your plan, and the tool reminds you of your seeding and harvesting dates for everyvegetable! In larger farming operations, different nutrients cycle through the soil as different plants grow. This is what they mean by “fertile” soil — nutrient-rich bounties of growth for new plants. Bierman PM, et al. (2005). Nutrient management for fruit and vegetable crop production: Nutrient cycling and maintaining soil fertility. https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/197962New Zealand Christmas tree ( Metrosideros excelsa): A New Zealand favourite, this great tough tree, with bright red flowers in summer, is just right for a garden near the sea. Heat-loving vegetables: These vegetables can take the heat: beans, corn, eggplant, melons, okra, peanuts, peppers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and watermelon. Rotate your plants each year. Avoid planting the same plants in the same location year after year, especially if you grow vegetables in raised beds (any planting area that’s raised above the surrounding ground level). Rotation prevents pests and diseases that are specific to certain plants from building up in your garden. Yes, we know. All the pots and soil and nutrients seem pretty overwhelming and there’s loads of pointy objects. It’s all a lot. But get past that initial impression, and gardening is as wholesome as it gets.

In short, some are Hufflepuffs, and some are not. (Also, ten points to your house of choice if you read the title of this section without hearing Christina Aguilera’s voice.) When choosing plants for your garden, select the plants best suited to your climate. Know your U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) hardiness zone and use this chart to determine the time and length of your growing season. Of course, the climate is changing, and apparently, warming up, so you may be able to move a half or 1 zone colder and still be safe. Zone You might need to add nutrients manually if your garden isn’t already part of an annual crop rotation cycle (and if you’re reading an article about gardening basics, that’s not altogether likely — although if accomplished farmers are also tuned in, welcome!) Common heath ( Epacris impressa): The dark green, short pointy leaves and clusters of narrow little bell flowers along the stem, which are sometimes pink, sometimes white, are a Victorian classic.Mulch: To help keep in precious moisture, cover the soil around your plants with the finished humus from your compost or an organic mulch, such as matured manure, pea straw, pine bark, seaweed or sugar cane. Inorganic mulch, such as pebbles or granitic sand, should be use sparingly in a sustainable garden. Use the following table to convert U.S. and metric measurements. In each case, the conversions are approximately equal: 1 centimeter ≈ 0.4 inches

An insectary: A garden plot, or even a series of pots on a balcony, with at least seven different plant species of varying heights attracts various beneficial bugs to your sustainable garden. Good candidates to plant include amaranthus, coriander, cosmos, dill, lemon balm, parsley, tansy and yarrow.

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Because plants need the sun to grow, many of them, including most fruits and veggies, need a good amount of direct sun during the day. Mmmm. Tasty, tasty sunbeams. Plant trees. Planting trees helps to store carbon from the atmosphere into the soil. Trees can also cool your home in summer and let in the winter sun. If you don’t have room for trees at your place, volunteer with a local landcare group. Berg G, et al. (2014). Beneficial effects of plant-associated microbes on indoor microbiomes and human health?