Dehydrating food is a great
way to preserve many fruits and veggies from your harvest for a very
long time. It is also a great way to taste some things that you have
been eating your whole life, a bit differently.
Here is a great solar dehydrating project from the blog The Sifford Journal
that outlines how you can utilize the sun by building your very own
dehydrator with some simple materials found at any home center.
Here are the Step by Step instructions
Here are the printable plans
We have been posting a number
of features on tomatoes lately. And why not! Tomatoes are the king of
the garden. More people grow tomatoes in home vegetable gardens then
any other fruit or vegetable.
Check out this tutorial of getting more water to your tomato roots for better growth that we found on "A Sonoma Garden".
This is as about as simple as it is going to get when it comes to
watering the roots of your tomatoes. With some simple supplies and a
few minutes of your time, you can create this set up in no time.
Here are the Step by Step instructions
Tomatoes are without a doubt
the king of the home vegetable garden. Tomatoes, depending on which
survey you read, are about 4 to 1 favorites over the next in line,
cucumbers or peppers, as to which fruits and vegetables are grown most
at home.
Who can argue about this tomato fact? Tomatoes are easy to grow in
almost every climate, and with over 2,000 tomato varieties to choose
from, you are bound to find some tomatoes that you will enjoy eating.
Not only are tomatoes easy and great to grow at home, the health
benefits of tomatoes are wonderful as well. Packed with the healthy
carotenoid, Lycopene, which, in a recent study, has been shown to reduce
the risk of stroke and cancer, the tomato should be a staple in your
garden, if it is not already.
To grow your best tomatoes ever, let’s talk about what you will need in order to accomplish this fairly easy task.
Of course, just like with any other fruit or veggie, tomatoes need a
great foundation. In this case the foundation is your soil. Be sure to
work in compost, seasoned manure etc. throughout your offseason. If
you are new to gardening and you are growing tomatoes for your first
time, you can always pick up some great seasoned manure at your local
home or garden center for about two dollars a bag.
Mix these ingredients thoroughly into the soil as they contain all of
the nutrients your tomatoes will need to grow and produce wonderful
tasting fruits.
Tomatoes love the sun. Choose a spot that receives a minimum of 8 hours
per day, more if possible. The more sun your tomato plant receives,
the better your tomato plants will produce.
Keep the soil your tomato plants are planted in moist but not saturated.
Do not overwater your tomato plants. Too much water around the tomato
plants’ roots may cause root rot. Be sure that the garden beds, pots
or containers you use, drain properly. To increase drainage, mix in
some peat or coir with your soil. Either of these products will make
your soil friable, allowing excess water to drain, but keeping enough
for your tomato plants’ needs. If you are growing tomatoes in
containers, make sure there are enough drainage holes to allow excess
water to escape.
If your growing season is short, and you are growing your tomatoes from seeds, then you will need to start indoors. Visit the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map,
type in your zip code and you will be able to obtain your area’s frost
information. Knowing when the potential last frost date in your area
occurs will go a long way as to when you can start your seeds indoors.
Tomatoes grow well spaced out in as little as twelve inches apart,
however, if you have more room to spare, then by all means spread them
out.
Most tomato varieties need some kind of vertical support so that they
are not flopping over onto the ground which could cause other issues
you’d rather not have to deal with. While there are a wide variety of
methods, the two easiest ones are tomato cages and tomato stakes. Cages
are available for a few bucks a piece at your local home or garden
center. Tomato stakes can be anything from long pieces of wood, to
fancy stakes from the store. The choice is yours. I use tomato cages.
I always have. To me, they are just easier to maintain.
Your tomato is ready for harvest when it has reached its full color.
Since tomato varieties come in all kinds of color from red, orange and
yellow, up through, purple, black and brown, you really should know
which variety that you have, so you know when to pick.
On a final note from my own experience. When growing smaller varieties
such as cherry, grape and pear, one or two plants can produce enough
tomatoes to feed a family of four, so plan accordingly. One year I
planted six, yes that is six, grape tomato plants, and ended up with so
many I literally could not keep up with picking all of them, or know
enough people to give them away to, have enough canning recipes (or jars
for that matter) to use all of them.
Here is a sturdy trellis that
can be used for all kinds of vining fruits and veggies. One of the best
parts of this DIY trellis is that, because of the hinges at the top, it
is adjustable to your garden bed size.
So regardless of whether you have a 4 foot by 4 foot raised bed square
foot garden, or something larger, you can easily adjust this for the
size you need.
Because, it is made out of some basic supplies, you may already have
some of the items needed to build this sitting in your shed, basement or
garage. I know I do.
Here are the Step by Step instructions
If you live in an area like I do where the rabbits (and other pests) are
a plenty, then you already know the pain of trying to keep them from
eating your garden.
Normally you would put up some poultry (or other type) fencing to keep
them out, attaching the fencing to posts. What happens is, over time,
that fencing will break down and have to be replaced, which could be a
pain.
Here is a great project where you can section off your fencing, and over
time, only replace the sections that are worn down, as opposed to
having to replace the whole thing, or doing any fancy fence mending.
Here are the Step by Step instructions
Do you like to can the food
you grow? If so, then you probably already know about your storage
needs and of course rotating your food so that you are consuming the
varieties that have been around the longest.
Here is a great idea from LDS Intelligent Living!.
A slanted storage shelf that you can build yourself with some supplies
found out any home or garden center for just a few bucks.
There is plenty of room to store all of your items and the best part,
because it is slanted, as you remove jars from your shelves, the
remaining items will slowly move their way down to the front. You
simply add the new supplies to the back!
Here are the Step by Step instructions
I have had a few different sources tell me that when
you trellis certain items, that their yields will be
greater. Peas are one of those items.
If you are not sure how to build a trellis for your
peas, then look no further.
Here is an easy one for you to tackle if you have a
few pieces of would, a ball of string and some
basic skills. An excellent trellis for the peas you are
going to grow.
Click here to view the steps to build this template
There are a number of safe methods you can use to keep pests
and disease from destroying your home vegetable garden.
Here are 12 really good ones from Hope Gardens.
In a few minutes, with some basic low cost items, you can be on
your way to having the best vegetable garden you ever thought
possible.
Click here to view 12 Organic Garden Remedies
