Home Vegetable Gardening: Concentrate on Planting

What does it mean to concentrate? By definition it means to focus in on something and ignore the surroundings. In home vegetable gardening the definition is fairly similar, except we do not ignore anything.

Think for a moment the last time you packed for that long vacation to the Caribbean to lay out on the sunny beaches to work on that tan. With all the travel restrictions these days, waiting in long lines at the airport, extra fees for that large red hard suitcase that you have, you make the most of every inch of space in your luggage so you can get through the airport “experience” rather quickly and without extra cost.

You stuff the sandals in pockets in your piece of luggage that you never knew existed, and then of course your favorite blue flowered Hawaiian shirt gets rolled up and stuffed into the sandals. In other words you make use of every inch space that you have.

Getting back to home vegetable gardening, concentration gardening is similar to packing that suitcase and that is to utilize every inch of space that you have available. Lets’ face it. For most of us that grow home vegetable gardens we do not have the land of Farmer Bob, although some people I know have the blue jean overalls and yellow straw hat, but we’ll save that for another conversation.

Because our space is limited and we want to grow lots of vegetables to feed our families, or help out friends, we have to make use of the space we were given. That is why we use concentrated planting in our vegetable gardens. This allows us to use all of the space without sacrificing the amount of vegetables and fruits produced by all of the plants.

To utilize the concentrated planting technique you have to plant vegetables that are deep rooted next to ones that are shallow rooted. For example, you can plant tomatoes next to radishes. When you do this you eliminate the space where weeds can grow and that is always a good thing. The soil retains more of its moisture and of course you get more produce.

Just make sure that when you do concentrate your plantings that you choose plants that will not compete for space and nutrients. Also, concentrated planting makes it difficult to use tools and machinery to pull out any weeds the garden may have, so those that do grow will need to be pulled by hand. If you have a small area that shouldn’t be a problem, and if your plantings are in a raised bed, it makes the efforts quite easy.

Concentration gardening gives us another tool and technique in our repertoire to make the most out of our growing seasons. Here in the Mid-Atlantic region of the country, our growing season starts around mid May and runs through mid October. Albeit a pretty good length of time for a growing season that has varying seasonal temperatures we still need to make the greatest effort to produce an abundant harvest.

If you are not using concentration methods in your garden then there is no better time then the present to start. When done correctly you will get more vegetables and fruit and pick fewer weeds and both equal a happy home vegetable gardener.

About the Author
Mike is the author of the book Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person: A guide to vegetable gardening for the rest of us. He can be reached at his wesbite: AveragePersonGardening.com where you can sign up for his free newsletter and he will send you a pack of vegetable seeds to get your home vegetable garden started.

Vegetable Gardening: The Rabbits Ate My Tomatoes, Now What?

Seven years ago I moved into my new home in the suburbs. I lived in a city where the sight of a rabbit was as a rare as Halley’s Comet. In fact in the city in which I lived, pigeons were more of a problem than any other type of animal you could think of.

So I started my garden in my new home. A row of beefsteak tomatoes, a row of grape tomatoes, peppers and so on made up my plot of land that I designated to grow my produce. With no experience in protecting my garden from rabbits, once my plants were in the ground I figured I was done so I simply walked away.

The next morning I arose to see that both rows of tomatoes (beefsteak and grape) were absolutely decimated. Chewed down to the stem with about an inch of height from the topsoil, the rabbits left near nothing.

After doing some research, instead of buying new plants I learned that the tomatoes will return and that they grow like a weed, meaning, that even though they were chewed down to the stem, tomato plants will still grow even though their solar collectors (their leaves) no longer existed.

But I also knew that if I did not take any preventative measures the rabbits would be back to finish the job. So here is what I did. First, I outlined my garden with landscaping bricks and set them two bricks high. That alone will not keep the rabbits out so I also added a fence. I use poultry fence which is available at any home center. Sixteen inches of height is all you will need for rabbits (at least in my area).

I attached the fencing to some pieces of cedar wood that acted as fence posts, which holds the poultry fence in place. If you are unfamiliar with poultry fence, it is very wobbly, “bendy” you could say, so you will need to attach it to something in order to stabilize it. I used J-T50 staples to attach it to my posts. They are also available at any home center.

The bottom of the fence sits about an inch to two inches lower than the top layer of brick. I am not sure if rabbits can squeeze in, but I did not want to take any chances.

The bricks were the most expensive at about two dollars per brick, and the fence was thirteen dollars for a fifty foot roll. I found the wood on Craigslist for free, so other than the cost of gas to drive a couple of miles to go get it, that part was free, and I already had the staples from a pervious project. So the cost to secure my garden from rabbits was nominal at best.

If you are having issues with rabbits give these solutions a try. It is a cost effective solution without having to spray any chemicals that are developed to “deter” rabbits. Also make sure you buy poultry fencing and not the “so called” rabbit fence. The rabbits can and have gotten through the “rabbit proof” fence in my area in the gardens that belonged to some of my neighbors.

About the Author
Michael is the author of the book Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person, a practical easy to follow guide for the home vegetable gardener. You can follow him on Twitter as well as join his Facebook Fan Page.

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Tips for your Vegetable Garden

If you love to plant a vegetable garden every year like me then you know the amount of work that can go into it. With all of that hard work there are some things you can do to lesson the “pain” of gardening and make it more enjoyable which is what it is supposed to be. Here are some tips and advice that you can start following today.

Timing is Everything
If timed perfectly you can take your growing plants from the indoors to the outdoors without much worry. Timed poorly and move them too soon and all of that growth and hard work will be wiped out in a matter of minutes. So what causes this? Bugs? Your Neighbor? No! One of the worse enemies of a gardener, frost! Frost occurs when temperatures go low enough to where overnight dew freezes. This condition will kill your new plants. To avoid this look up frost maps online at the United States Department of Agriculture to find when the first and last frosts occur in your area and then calculate your timing.

Compost
Compost is organic matter that has decomposed and when mixed with your soil provides many nutrients that your plants will absolutely love. You should be making compost throughout the year and mixing it in with the soil as new batches are completed. You could also buy compost, but where is the fun in that.

Plant Rotation
You should never plant the vegetables in the same location every year. Certain vegetables use more of some nutrients then others and by rotating them (combined with composting) you will never deplete an area of your soil from any one specific nutrient. So if you planted tomatoes in row 1 last year, move them to row 3 this year. Mix it up and your plants will love you for it.

Know your Limits
In my first garden I planted 6 grape tomato plants. Little did I know that they produced hundreds of tomatoes per each plant! I could not pick nor give them away fast enough. I learned the hard way to know my limits and not plant more than I can handle. Again gardening is supposed to be fun and enjoyable not a fulltime job. Plant only what you need and can pick in a reasonable amount of time and you will be sure not to overwork yourself.

Water
Next to oxygen, water is the most important part of any living organism and plants are no different. Yet, even though it is important, most people never give plants the ample amount of water they truly need. You should give your plants a good one hour per week of watering, and I don’t mean nine minutes every day, I mean sixty minutes in a single session. When you water like this, deep pockets of water are created underneath the soil which forces the roots of the plants to reach for them. When they do that the roots become stronger creating a healthier vegetable plant.

So there you have it. Five tips for vegetable gardening where you won’t have to alter your lifestyle in order to use. Simply follow these suggestions and gardening can be relaxing, fun, enjoyable and rewarding.

About the Author
Mike is the author of the book Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person. It is a practical easy to follow book that teaches gardeners everything from composting techniques, aeration and frost conditions, to choosing the right tools and picking the right seeds.