Gardening Pleasures

Archive for the ‘Vegetable Gardening’ Category

Building your own small greenhouse can be an enjoyable and economical especially if you are clever with tools. Select well-drained and level ground for your greenhouse. If you will be using it mainly in summer for plant propagation, it can be situated in partial shade to reduce heat buildup.

The north side of your garden, with some shade from a tree is an ideal location. If there is no partly or moderately shady area available, you can use white paint or shade cloth on the inside ceiling to regulate the amount of sunlight that comes into the interior of  your greenhouse.

If you will be using the greenhouse for young transplants or growing plants on to maturity and fruiting, your greenhouse should be put up in an area with the highest sun exposure available in your garden. Also, situate it where there is good air flow and reasonable water drainage. Do not construct your greenhouse in low lying areas surrounded by tall buildings or woods.  When deciding where to put the greenhouse be sure to consider how convenient the access to water and electricity is going to be.

Take into consideration the time you have for working in your greenhouse when choosing the kind of greenhouse you want and how big it is going to be. Although it’s not true that a greenhouse requires continuous attention, don’t be overly ambitious and buy something that will be more than you want to handle.  New owners of greenhouses often think they will spend far more time there than they actually can or that the greenhouse will not require as much maintenance as they do.

The greenhouse environment can be sustained often with minimal maintenance if using automated controls that operate the ventilation, heating, humidity, artificial lighting and watering. If, however, you don’t want (or can’t afford) to install an automated control system, begin with plants that don’t require specialist care.

There are many prefabricated greenhouses on the market or you can build one by using simple frames. For safety sake, make sure that a certified plumber and electrician installs any automated systems.

Greenhouse kits are widely available in various materials, styles and price ranges. Be sure to check with the local planning department if the greenhouse you choose requires planning consent.  Most won’t, but a really large one situated next to your neighbour’s kitchen window just might. Better safe than sorry.

If you are an avid DIY’er, your new greenhouse can be constructed for a relatively small outlay of cash.  A lean-to greenhouse can be built against a garage or a house, thereby taking advantage of the existing wall, but don’t forget to consider head room and sitting space.

There are some major advantages to purchasing a greenhouse kit. Details like humidity, ventilation and leakage have already been dealt with in the design. Whereas someone constructing the greenhouse from scratch must remember to consider all elements just to avoid problems in the future that could result in the greenhouse not functioning as it should.

Here are some tips to help you design and build your own small greenhouse:

1.  Begin with a design that uses materials that are readily available. Attractive greenhouses can be constructed using recycled materials such single glazed windows or reused lumber.

2.  Adapt the design to accommodate the climate in your area so you won’t have to make further adjustments later.

3. Use a design that makes use of standard-sized building materials. Specialist sizes always cost more.

4.  When planning the design of your greenhouse, take into account the type of gardening you enjoy and plan to do.  Growing rare specimen plants or hydroponic gardening is very different from growing the run of the mill vegetables and flowers for the garden.

5.  Considering the climate in your area, plan into the design any timers and thermostats needed to regulate the precise levels of heat or light you want for the plants you will be growing.

6.  Design and implement a back-up arrangement for operating heating or lighting equipment in case of power failures or extreme weather conditions.

7.  If you are building a wooden greenhouse, you can use cedar, redwood or cypress, but remember that you will have to regularly treat or paint the wood. For cost-effectiveness and economy, use pressure treated wood for the framing.

8.  Greenhouses often have glass panes installed, but polycarbonate plastic, fiberglass, plastic film or acrylic panes or sheets can also be used.

Greenhouses have come a long way over the past ten years both in terms of price and materials used.  A greenhouse is vital to a keen gardener for extending the growing season and the types of plants they can grow.

With the costs of food rising all the time, it’s possible to save money and improve your family’s health at the same time, simply by growing some of your own vegetables. It’s always good idea to choose vegetables your family likes and those that cost a lot in the grocery store.  Don’t grow the ones that are really cheap unless those are your favourties.  Plan carefully and you will have vegetables to harvest early in the season, as well as in the middle and during later parts of the growing season.

Vegetables generally require at least 6 hours of light each day, with some needing 8 hours. Some quick growing veg like lettuce and radishes can be grown between the rows of other planting, like beetroot or corn, which take longer to mature. This way you make better use of the growing area you have available.

Throughout dry periods, vegetable gardens will need extra watering. Depending on what you are growing, most vegetables benefit from at least an inch of water each week, especially when they are fruiting.

It’s always necessary to watch out for insect pests. The earlier you discover a bug problem, the easier it will be to deal with it, but be careful about using pesticides when the vegetable are close to harvest unless it’s absolutely necessary and always read the label.

Organic gardening, using natural remedies rather than chemicals, and is often the healthier and more environmentally-friendly option. Part of the organic cycle is, of course, recycling the vegetable waste onto the compost pile once you’ve harvested your crop.

It is important to protect your vegetable garden from animals looking for a tasty meal. Surrounding your garden with a fence can keep out dogs and some other animals – birds, rabbits, moles and mice are another matter. Other types of protection for your crops will have to be devised to thwart these critters.  The damage done by animals during one growing season can equal the cost of a fence and other protective devices. And, of course, a fence can serve a second purpose as a frame supporting peas, beans, tomatoes, and any other plants that need support.

Careful planning, choosing the right plants for your conditions, installing the right protection for your plants and keeping a vigilent eye on yoru plants as they grow will all add to improving the yield from your vegetable garden.  Yes, it can be hard work but the dividends can be very tasty.

For as long as there have been gardens there has been some degree of garden envy. Whether the garden contains flowering or non-flowering plants or vegetables, there always seems to be one garden that is more beautiful, prolific, greener, more colorful, or yields more food.

If you find yourself looking over the garden fence and envious of others, chances are that if you take the time to learn about plants, their optimal growing conditions - preferred soil conditions, placement in sunlight or shade, the amount of water required - you, too, can create a summer garden that will rival the best in your neighbourhood.

Gardens require time, effort, energy and planning to become the absolute best. And, depending on your lifestyle, your efforts may be best put into making small improvements each year,  rather than a massive overhaul that may put you off forever.

That being said, there is some useful information below to help you to make your summer garden the best it can be.

As one of the first things to do, check whether there are any regulations that may affect what you do with your garden.  Once you know what you can and cannot do, test the pH of the soil to ascertain the soil acidity you currently have and if any adjustments need to be made to your planting plan.  Some plants do not like an acid soil while others do not get on well in an alkaline soil. For example roses like a somewhat acidic soil while hydrangeas will give you different colour blooms depending on the ph of the soil – somewhat acidic soil gives blue flowers, neutral to alkaline gives pink flowers and a high ph (very alkaline) will give you purple or a mixture of colours on the same plant.

You should also understand that every decision you make about your garden will affect the yield and output to some degree.  And, there are always events that are beyond your control, regardless of how carefully you plan. Some years we have record rainfalls in one part of the country while other parts experience drought. The next year it could be the other way around.  When planning what to put in your garden, think about what grows naturally in the area and include plants that will tolerate a certain amount of drought.

Each plant has its own needs that must be met for optimal growth and yield. If those needs are not met, your chances of having the best  flowers, the most vegetables or the greenest leaves can be vastly reduced. If having the very best is not part of your plan then your garden won’t require as much time or effort as it would take to grow ribbon-winning vegetables or flowers.

Avoid using pesticides as much as possible as they can be harmful to beneficial insects, animals and humans. Instead try to use pest control methods that are natural and humane, particularly if planting vegetables your family will be eating.

Grow a garden that makes sense for your lifestyle.  If you don’t have the time to weed, feed, water, etc. plant flowers that don’t need lots of care and attention.  Also plant within the constraints of the conditions and space you have for gardening. If you have only shady conditions, choose flowers, plants and vegetables that thrive in those conditions rather than choosing those that need lots of sunlit conditions you don’t have. Don’t forget however, you can have some very nice specimen plants that may not like your soil conditions but that will grow happily in a pot.

More importantly, bring into your garden those plants that you love. The pleasure you get will often determine how much effort you are willing to put into taking care of your garden.  The more you enjoy the results, the more likely you are to enjoy putting in the effort necessary to get those results.

As you start planting vegetable gardens it’s important to know how the garden will be laid out. The layout of your own garden will depend on what vegetable you want to grow, the planting space and if you would like to opt for companion planting. Here are some helpful tips on how to layout your own garden and start planting vegetables.

Sit Down and Plan

Before choosing a layout you need to decide on what type of vegetable you would like to grow and where you would like to plant them. Here are other factors you need to consider for your garden layout:

* Garden Space * Amount of Light in the Space * Drainage System * Soil Amendments * Type of Vegetable * Additional Space (if needed)

You should also think about whether you want to grow one type of vegetable like lettuce and tomatoes or if you want one type of vegetable with different kinds. Researching about the amount of light a certain vegetable needs and the amount of space that each need to be planted are both helpful facts to find out.

Make a list of vegetables you want to plant and find out the plant requirements of each and compare it with the garden space you have. This should give you an idea of where you want to plant certain vegetables in your space.

Choose your Garden Layout

There are three basic vegetable garden layouts and they are: rows, beds and “potager” style.

The most popular rows style of layout requires planting seeds in a row which could either mean planting one type of seed in a row or different seeds in a row.

The bed type of layout is similar the rows style but in a smaller level. This layout allows access to the plant beds from the exterior of the garden or as you walk through the garden path instead of coming from inside of the plant bed. This is particularly convenient to avoid stepping on the beds which tends to pack in the soil and makes it difficult to dig and aerate in the spring or fall. Plant beds are great ways to maximize a garden space and you can even use raised beds for easy gardening.

The most decorative style of layout is the “potager” which means kitchen garden in French. This layout is described as geometric which allows you to layout your garden in circles or arrange plants by color or even food type.

Consider Companion Planting

The idea behind companion planting involves planting different kinds of plants together so that they help each other grow. A perfect example of this is planting beans, corn and squash together which were commonly done by Native Americans. While the corn gives the beans a place to climb, the beans gives its three companions nutrients in the soil and the squash serves as a shade to the roots of the plants beside it. This not only prevents weeds from growing, it also saves up on water.

Other great plants for companion planting are onions, which scares slugs and aphids away, tomatoes, which grow well with carrots and basil, which improves the taste of tomatoes. Another example is horseradish and potatoes which when planted together give your potatoes protection from disease.

In planting vegetable gardens, this concept is certainly worth considering and if you want to get more information about it, you can do some research online or in your local library.