Planning and planting a successful vegetable garden

Nothing tastes better than vegetables picked fresh from your own garden. There’s a certain satisfaction to serving and eating food that you yourself have grown and harvested.

Planning your Vegetable Garden
Advance planning is a must as there are many factors that can affect the success and anageability of your vegetable garden as well as your enjoyment of it.The traditional method of vegetable garden design was to plant long, orderly rows. Most home gardeners now opt for planting in beds rather than rows. Also, if you raise your beds about 8 to 12 inches, you will have improved drainage and the soil will stay warmer in colder weather, such as early spring.Many vegetables also thrive in containers, so you don’t even need a garden in order to get those garden-fresh veggies.

Planting your vegetable garden
Preparing the Soil Putting some extra effort into preparing your beds before planting will save you a lot of time and effort in the future.

Companion Plants in the Vegetable Garden
There are some plants that, when planted close together, will benefit each other. Potatoes – inhibit growth of tomatoes and squash Beans – inhibit growth of onions Broccoli – inhibits growth of tomatoes Carrots – inhibit growth of dill This isn’t to say that you can’t grow these plants together in the same garden, just don’t grow them right next to each other.Organic Vegetable gardening is very different from conventional gardening. Healthy soils usually produce healthy plants provided you incorporate the right Ingredients into your preparation there is no reason why you should not produce healthy abundant plants.Before doing anything else, you need to have

drawn up detailed plans about how you are going to perform your organic vegetable gardening chores; obviously the type of soil that you use will be a major consideration as far as your plans to grow vegetables organically are concerned. You will need to mix the soil well and do so at least three weeks before planting, the soil must have been well prepared to take the seeds and even maybe the ransplants.

While irrigating the soil, care should be taken to make the soil thoroughly wet at least
once in a week unless it has rained, which will ensure that the soil is moist especially around the root zone.

WHAT TO PLANT In general, vegetables that grow best in cool weather are leafy greens, root crops and various members of the cabbage family. Beets, carrots, peas, chard, endive, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, turnips, radishes, spinach, oriental vegetables like Chinese cabbage and bok choy and transplants of late cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts may be planted in early August for fall harvesting.

When choosing cultivars for harvesting in the cooler temperatures and shorter days of fall, look for characteristics Check seed catalogs for other recommended cold tolerant varieties. Shallots can be planted after the first frostyou have quite a bit of growing time left for vegetables that are planted in August.

HOW TO PLANT When planting seeds for your fall garden, keep in mind that conditions are different for summer planting. Provide constant soil moisture for good germination and to get your plants well established. Plant seeds deeper than in the spring so they will be in a moister and cooler layer of the soil. To increase seed germination, water the planting area with a fine mist 30 minutes before you plant. This lowers the soil temperature and creates the conditions that cool-season crops prefer. If the weather is unordinarily sunny and hot, a good technique to regulate soil temperature is to water the bed well and cover with several inches of straw, then water again. You can remove the straw after a few days and plant your seeds in the cool soil.

If you’re ready for still another gardening project this year, why not try planting a fall vegetable garden. If you’re lucky, and Mother Nature cooperates, you could be eating vegetables fresh from the garden along with your Thanksgiving Day.

What is Organic Gardening – The Basics for Gardening Organically?

What does it mean to have an organic garden? Does organic gardening mean you have to put up with insects eating your plants or unattractive flower beds? The short answer is that organic gardening means not using synthetic products, including pesticides and fertilizers. Ideally, organic gardening replenishes the resources as it makes use of them. Like feeding depleted soil with composted plants, or planting legumes to add nitrogen to an area that had been planted with heavy feeder.

Why Organic?
Organic gardening is gaining popularity as people realize the many benefits to themselves, the environment and other living creatures. Growing organically simply means not using synthetic or chemical fertilizers, insecticides or pesticides. Instead, organic gardeners stick to fertilizers made from animal or vegetable by-products and get creative when dealing with unwanted pests — often utilizing beneficial garden insects or plants that deter the unwelcome visitors.

Not only does gardening organically cause less harm than conventional-type gardening, it actually has many benefits.
• Organically grown food has been shown to help defend against cancer with its higher essential vitamins and nutrients.
• By eating organically grown food, you ingest fewer chemicals.
• Organic gardening feeds the soil rather than depletes it.
• Most organic gardeners use compost, which reduces the amount of waste going to landfills.

This guide to organic gardening will help you to plan, start and maintain your organic garden. Organic gardening focuses on the health and feeding of the soil, not the plant. By growing and alternating a wide variety of plants, the organic gardener can create a mini “eco-system” that will maintain a healthy balance.

“Organic Gardening” : provides information on creating and maintaining a healthy, natural garden that is free of harmful chemicals.

Organic Gardening Ideas

Organic gardening is the way of growing vegetables and fruits with the use of things only found in nature. Organic gardening is the exact same as regular gardening except that organic gardening does not use chemicals that may have an adverse affect on your health. Organic gardening starts with the soil. Gardeners must add organic matter to the soil regularly in order to keep the soil productive. One thing that makes even gardeners that are very serious about organic gardening reach for pesticides is insects on their plants. The best way to defend plants against insects is to take preventative measures. A variety of plant types is a good idea to keep pests of a particular plant type from taking out the entire garden.

Other ideas are sticky traps, barriers, and plant collars. To avoid plant disease in organic gardening, choose disease resistant plants and plant them in their prime conditions. Weeds can be an annoying and frustrating part of organic gardening. Organic gardening may take a little more time and care than regular gardening, but after gardeners get the hang of it and figure out all the quirks of their garden, it is definitely worth the extra time. Few pursuits are as rewarding as growing your own organic garden. Organic gardening produces healthy, more diverse ecosystems which are better able to resist significant pest damage…naturally!