Houseplant Soil - Building a Basic Mix

There are three basic elements of a soil mixture for indoor plants, each available in different forms, and each needed in varying proportions by different types of plants. The following is a basic recipe that should be varied depending on a plants requirements. For example, for plants that like soil "rich in humus," you would double the quantity of humus. For a "sandy soil mixture," double the amount of sand.

1 part soil - the "base" of most soil mixtures, often called "garden loam." Soil may be acid, neutral, or alkaline; clay-like or on the sandy side; high in humus content, average, or low. If soil is acid, add horticultural lime for plants that need it. If it is heavy with clay, add more sand; if sandy, add more humus. (Your County Agent will tell you how to have your soil tested for acidity or alkalinity, or you can test it with one of the available kits.)

1 part humus - to condition the soil, make it lighter and more porous, help hold moisture. Humus may be prepared and packaged, or scraped up from the forest floor. Peat moss, partially decayed leaf mold or compost, and manures - always well-rotted - are humus materials. Add less humus if soil is highly acid or already humus-rich.

1 part sand or substitute - to improve drainage, aerate soil, separate minute particles so roots have air to breathe. Use coarse builder's sand, not fine-grained or salty seashore types. Or substitute bird gravel, chicken grits, commercial brands of pelletized volcanic rock, coarse or fine vermiculite. Add extra sand to heavy clay soils.

Sift all ingredients through a screen with a mesh at least as small as a half inch, to remove stones and other undesirable foreign matter. Add fertilizers like bone meal or superphosphate according to each plant's needs.

To illustrate the "grain of salt" with which this recipe should be taken - most cacti and other succulents are potted like potting indoor plants in a mixture of three parts coarse sand or finest gravel with one part soil. Some growers add humus, some don't. Many add lime to neutralize acid. But the epiphyllums, orchid cacti, need a good proportion of humus.

Try to know your plants' needs, and suit the soil mixture to them. When plants are growing well, resist the temptation to experiment with some other soil mix, no matter who recommends it. It may be just the thing for your neighbor's plants, completely wrong for yours. When you do change soils, do it temperately and tentatively - try it on one or two pots before you take chances with more.

In case you are unaware there is much more on the topic of potting indoor plants. Visit plant-care.com.

Three Insider Secrets for the Home Vegetable Gardener

There is no magic formula to growing great tasting vegetables in your home vegetable garden. Just like anything else in life it takes time, patience and of course effort. Combine all three of these and you are sure to yield so great results.

However, just like a lot of other things in life there are secrets, tips and tricks in home vegetable gardening that will make your life easier, especially for those that are limited on time and or space. Here are some insider secrets that you can implement today in your home vegetable garden.

Companion Planting
This is the process of planting one vegetable in between or near another vegetable. Companion planting has a number of benefits. The most obvious is the use of space. This technique allows you to utilize the space in between bigger vegetables. Another benefit is to attract certain variety of helpful insects that will actually attack harmful ones. For example, white flies can be devastating to a tomato crop, but the trichogramma wasp will actually eat white flies. By planting something near tomato plants that attracts the trichogramma wasp you can virtually eliminate the white fly naturally without the use of chemical pesticides. There a number of great resources, such as the USDA and our own website, that give you companion planting suggestions.

Crop Rotation
This is the process of alternating the location of where you plant a vegetable from season to season. In other words if you plant tomatoes in row one this year, you might want to consider moving them to row three next season. Crop rotation serves a couple of important purposes. Each vegetable uses a certain amount of nutrients, some more than others. For example, tomatoes use a lot of nitrogen. By the end of the growing season the area where the tomatoes were planted will have smaller amounts of nitrogen. The following season you will want to plant a vegetable (herb or fruit) in that spot that will not require as much nitrogen and move the tomatoes to a spot where the soil is high in nitrogen. You get the point.

Raised Beds
Looking for better drainage in your soil and the ability to have your soil warm up faster in the spring? Then raised beds are the way to grow, er um, go. There are a number of methods for raised beds. They range from simply building up the height of your rows, to actually boxes and filling them with dirt. Whichever method you go with is fine, just make sure you do not use any type of pressure treated lumber if you decide to go the box route.

Many home vegetable gardeners simply plant their seeds and go. This is fine, but don’t you want more vegetables for all of that hard work you put into it? Me too. That is why I combine, companion planting, with crop rotation and raised beds. Give it a try with your home vegetable garden. You will wonder why you didn’t try these methods sooner.

About the Author
Mike is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC where you can sign up for their Seeds of the Month Club and receive 4 packs of vegetable, fruit and herb seeds every month.

Get Your First Month Free when you Register for the Seeds of the Month Club

You asked for it and we have responded. Now you will receive your first month 100% when you register for the Vegetable Seeds of the Month Club. This is a great opportunity to give your club membership a try before you decide to buy. Visit the Seeds of the Month Club webpage at: http://www.AveragePersonGardening.com/seed_subscription.html and join today!

Four Points to Consider When Composting

There are a tremendous amount of benefits to creating and using compost for your home vegetable garden. Compost adds much needed nutrients and minerals to your soil to enhance the environment in which your plants will grow, it allows for better water drainage, and increases the volume of your soil. Here are some things you should consider when starting your own compost pile.


Location
Location is a key factor that you should consider before you even put the first items into your compost pile. I am not talking about where in your yard the compost pile will be, but more specifically whether or not your local town or city will even allow it. If you live in a rural part of the world, then chances are you will be allowed. However, if you live in a city, with lots of people, then you need to check the laws in your local area to make sure they are ok with it.

Ingredients
Now that you know you can actually have a compost pile at your house, what should you put in it? A good compost pile is made up of many ingredients of organic material. You want a good mix to ensure that all of the nutrients your plants and soil will need are included. Grass clippings, leaves (from various tree species), twigs, pine needles and so forth make up for great organic material. You can use your food leftovers, but because of the possibility of rodent intrusion, I bury my food scraps about eighteen inches beneath the top soil in my garden. My compost pile is solely for the material previously mentioned.

How Much
In short; as much as you can make and have the space for. In fact, the more the merrier I always say. Your plants can use a constant supply of compost throughout the growing season. This will lead to better tasting vegetables, healthier plants and better soil. A typical compost pile can break down in about three months, so I can keep three piles going so I can harvest fresh compost on a monthly basis all year round. If you can maintain a practice such as this, you will reap many benefits as well.

Work the Pile
Some purists believe you should leave the compost pile alone, while others say to check the temperature of the middle of the pile and when it reaches over 155 degrees Fahrenheit, use a pitchfork and turn the pile over. I have successfully created compost using both methods, although the `turning the pile` over method will create usable compost faster. The choice is yours.

Sun, water, soil and compost, the four basic items your plants will need to grow and thrive in your home vegetable garden. If you can master the art of creating good compost, your plants will reward you with tasty bountiful harvests for years to come.

About the Author
Mike is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC where you can sign up for their Seeds of the Month Club and receive 4 packs of vegetable, fruit and herb seeds every month.

Top Four Mistakes a Home Vegetable Gardener Makes

It does not matter whether you have been vegetable gardening for twenty plus years or twenty plus minutes, you will invariably make some mistakes along the way that will lead to a less than hoped for production in your harvest. Here are the most common mistakes that I have seed many people make.

Wrong Seeds
Sure I like to eat oranges, bananas and kiwi just as much as the next person, but lets face it, I have no chance of growing any of them here in New Jersey. Just like someone who lives in an area of the world where the temperatures are always hot, they will more than likely lack the ability to grow cool weather crops such as spinach or lettuce. Plant the seeds to the vegetables that are indigenous to your area. You will have a greater chance of success.

Too Much Water
As crazy as it sounds, yes you can over water your plants. When you over water your vegetable plants you can cause root rot, an environment susceptible for fungus growth, and also wash away valuable nutrients your plants need like nitrogen. Most plants require moderate watering and what that means is the ground is moist but not wet. You can simply pick up the first couple of inches of your dirt and if it is crumbly or sandy then it is too dry and if water comes out when you squeeze it, then it is too wet. If you do not want to go that “unscientific route”, then spend a couple of dollars at your home or garden center and pick up a soil moisture sensor. You will get a much better reading, and they come with instructions to help make sure your plants are getting ample amounts of water.

Not Composting
One of the easiest and best things a home vegetable gardener can do to ensure optimal growth of their plants is to add a fresh supply of compost on a constant basis. Compost is nothing more than taking organic material such as grass clippings, leaves and your left over dinner, and allowing nature to take its course and break it down into what is called compost. There are a variety of methods for composting that go beyond the scope of this article, but you need to add compost to your soil throughout the year. Compost adds the many nutrients your plants will need to grow thrive and survive in a safe, affective and environmentally friendly way.

Late Harvesting
This is one I have been guilty of myself and that is not harvesting my vegetables when they should be. Of which, for me, are my zucchini plants. On Tuesday they could be ten inches long (I like to pick them when they are about twelve), and two days later when I go back they are near twenty inches. With zucchini if you let them get too big they will develop way too many seeds and that takes away from a lot of the “edible” portion. The same holds true for many other vegetables. The longer you wait to harvest the more flavor the fruit or vegetable will lose and even worse it literally rot right on the vine.

Home vegetable gardening is meant to be a fun and rewarding hobby but like all other activities it has its share of opportunities to make mistakes. Now that you know the common ones, you can fix these and move on to making some new ones, well, hopefully not.

About the Author
Mike is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC where you can sign up for their Seeds of the Month Club and receive 4 packs of vegetable, fruit and herb seeds every month.