Veggie Gardening Roundup

Everyday I scour the internet, reading various articles on gardening.  I have decided to do a weekly round up of some of the best ones I find each week that I believe will be helpful to you.  Check these out.  A lot of great information here.

1. Have You Thinned Your Vegetables? In this article, written by author Marie Iannotti you are sure to find some great information on thinning your vegetables.  Thinning your vegetables is an important step in the gardening process to make sure your vegetables have the space necessary to grow to full maturity.  The article has a link to a list of which vegetables you should be thinning. 
2.  Time for garden container planting  Nestled among the pages of the Sharing Nature's Garden blog, are some wonderful container gardening photos that you are sure to find helpful, especially if you are limited on space, and container gardening is your thing.
3.  Strawberry Planting Ideas From An Irish Goat Farm - If you were thinking about adding strawberries to your gardening plans, be sure to check out Shawna Coronado's article these strawberry planting ideas she picked up from a trip she took back in 2010.  (She's always going to the coolest places)

 

5 Tips to Keep Your Gardening Vision Going

If you are new to home vegetable gardening, welcome aboard!

You are about to embark on a wonderful, yet challenging journey.  

There are probably a million things that are going through your head right now and that's OK.  That is to be expected.

I have compiled a short list of 5 tasks to keep in mind as you begin this home vegetable gardening journey.  

Now you may be thinking (as you go through these 5 tips), that these are too simple to forget.  But, it's the simple things that seem to drop off or out of our minds when we start getting busy.  Be sure to print this post out and hang it on the fridge, book mark this blog post, or whatever you do that will get you to refer back to it.  These tips help me and I am sure they can help you.

For you experienced home vegetable gardeners out there, maybe reading these will spark a refresher in your mind or a "ah yes, I need to work on that more," moment.  I have been doing this for over 30 years and every now and again (more now than again), I have to step back and get focused in on my home vegetable gardening tasks.  

Again, I hope these help you as much as they help me.

Make a Vegetable Garden Plan and Stick to It

The Garden Tiger Record Book

I will be the first to admit this tip took me a while to get good at because it always seemed the most tedious to me. But what I find is, it saved me time, and headaches.  By drawing up my plan of what I will be growing, how much and where, I find myself getting a lot more done in a shorter period of time.

This single tip, let's me know how many seeds I should start indoors (for those plants that I do start indoors), when to start them, how much space I should set aside for the variety of plant that I am growing and so on.

You can use anything from graph paper (remember that stuff), an excel spreadsheet, or an online garden planner.  Mother Earth News magazine has a great online planner.  You can get fairly detailed with it.  

There are other types of planners such as the Garden Record Book from Cabin Tiger, which is the one that I use, or you can simply use some paper.  Whatever works for you is the best solution, but you must get started.

Stay Positive
A couple of years ago, someone wrote on our Facebook wall that their neighbor came over one day and something to the affect of "it's a waste of time to start your garden from seeds."  Needless to say she became aggravated.  You simply don't need that kind of negativity around, however, you simply can't avoid it sometimes.

A good solution to this would be to invite that neighbor back over during the course of the gardening season and show off, brag or whatever you want to call it, your gardening successes.

Your positivity could change the mind of a neighbor, a friend etc., and they could jump into home vegetable gardening as well. 

You will quickly come to find out that no two gardening seasons will ever be alike.  The weather changes, animals move into your neighborhood and there are a whole slew of other factors that will make one home vegetable gardening season to the next seem like centuries apart.

If you don't stay positive, you could literally talk yourself out of gardening altogether.  For example, two years ago I grew about 300 pounds of cucumbers.  A banner year I must say so myself, however, last year, was not so great.  I simply did not fair well at all.  A lot of my starts were drowned out from the heavy rains early on and rabbits devastated the second batch I tried to grow.  Even though my cucumbers were terrible, my peppers (and other veggies) did great, so I focused in on that.  

Had I kept my mind on those cucumbers (or lack thereof), I would have driven myself crazy. So , STAY POSITIVE!

Increase Your Knowledge
Isn't the internet a great place?  At your fingertips you have access to a slew of information on home vegetable gardening.  From gardening blog posts (such as this one), podcasts, online gardening videos and so much more. 

Not only do I read quite a bit myself, but I like to share some good eBooks on our Facebook page.  Twice a week I will search over on Amazon for good gardening books that you can download for free or a very low cost.   Just click here and you will see new titles pop up all the time.

You should always be focused on learning new gardening ideas, techniques, tips and tricks.  The more knowledge that you have, the more fun home vegetable gardening will become.

Brush Off Failure
This goes hand in hand with staying positive.  You are going to fail at something in your garden.  That is a fact.  It is a fact because there are elements that you can't control.  Insect infestations, drought, and so much more.  Eventually something is going to be a disaster in your garden just like my cucumbers were for me last year.

Understand, that every home vegetable gardener will fail at something in their gardens.  Just brush it off, write down what happened (again tip #1) so you don't repeat that problem again in the future (I'll get to this in the next tip) and move on.  
 
Don't Repeat History
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  That famous line, credited from Spanish poet and philosopher George Santayana, is just as true in home vegetable gardening as it is in life.  

You need to learn from your past successes and mistakes.  The only way to do that (to bring this post full circle), is to look back on the plans you made (tip #1) in previous years.  Stick with what has been working and tweak what has not.  

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein is given credit as saying the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  So stop trying the same thing every year that has been failing for you.  Try something else, or try it a different way.  

For example, let's say you have been wanting to grow a certain type of tomato plant and you keep choosing a location in your yard because that is the only spot you think it will grow, yet it does not fair well.  Try planting it in a pot, and moving it to another spot in your yard.  Something along those lines.  You get the point.  




These are only five and I am sure you can add even more.  I would love to hear what tips you have that keep you going in your home vegetable garden.  Be sure to comment below and let me know.

Marking your vegetable garden

Keeping your vegetable garden organized will go a long way to a successful home vegetable Garden.

One of the best ways to keep your home vegetable garden organized is to properly mark what you are growing.

When the seedlings are young, I like to use wooden craft sticks that are available at any craft store, or online at places like Amazon.

In the photo shown above, a box of 300 Jumbo craft sticks runs about five dollars sometimes even less if you catch a good sale.

Once you have your Jumbo craft sticks you want to write on them with something that's a little more "permanent" than a pen.

I like to use a fine point sharpie marker.  The reason I choose a fine point is because the wooden sticks will absorb the marker and make the marker ink spread out just a little bit.

Sharpie markers are available pretty much anywhere like Walmart, target,  Amazon, your supermarket, and any craft store.

As you can see in the picture above, I have marked my blue Hubbard squash using this described method.  

The marking is nice and dark as well as permanent.  And that is key because you don't want the marking to run, especially when you water the plants.

You won't however use the same wooden sticks in your garden.  While you certainly can use them, there is nothing wrong with that, I prefer using something a bit larger to mark each garden area.

For my outdoor garden markings I like to take 4 foot wooden posts and using my table saw cut them down to quarter inch strips.

As you can see in the picture above, what I do is take my tablesaw, move the fence over to a quarter of an inch and then slide my post through which gives me the perfect size. 

As a disclaimer I have removed the Saw Blade protector so that I could take this photo.

Before I insert the garden stake into the ground, what I will do is write on it using my sharpie marker with what is planted in that area.

As noted in the picture above that particular area has corn planted in it.

Inserting the garden stake into the ground is very easy, as shown in the picture above, you can see, all I do is use a hammer and just lightly tap on it.  

6 to 8 inches deep is all you will need to keep the garden stake stable.

If you have a different method please write in the comments below and let me know what you use.   I would love to learn all the different ways that marking your garden areas can be done

#179: Mike interviews Helen Yoest the author of Plants with Benefits

http://averagepersongardening.com/podcast/179MikeinterviewsHelenYoesttheauthorofPlantswithBenefits.html In this week's episode, Mike chats with Helen Yoest, the author of the book, Plants With Benefits: An Uninhibited Guide to the Aphrodisiac Herbs, Fruits, Flowers & Veggies in Your Garden. Helen Yoest is an award winning freelance garden writer, scout and stylist for some of the nation's leading shelter magazines. Her work regularly appears in Country Gardens, Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, Southern Living, Carolina Gardener, and many others. In this episode, here’s what we’ll cover: Gardening with Confidence Wildlife gardening Plants with Benefits Plants as an aphrodisiac Powerful plant combinations Historical plant data Plant a row for the hungry Garden writers association Items mentioned in this episode include: Gardening With Confidence Plants With Benefits Helen Yoest's writings Gardening with Confidence® — 50 Ways to add style for personal creativity Helen on Facebook Helen on Twitter Helen on Pinterest Plant a row for the hungry Garden writers association About this week's Guest, Helen Yoest: Helen Yoest is a curious gardener – curious about plants, soil, design, and how others use these to create their gardens at home. She is also curious about what plants do for us today in the here and now, but also about their history and lore. Plants have a colorful past. Featured in The New York Times: Sometimes Asparagus Is More Than Asparagus. Full story in the print version, January 30, 2014. Helen Yoest at her Raleigh, N.C., home. Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times As an award winning freelance writer and garden stylist, Helen has traveled the world visiting public and private gardens so she can step into the dream that was once just an imagination. Her work has appeared in Country Gardens, Better Homes and Gardens, Southern Living, Martha Stewart Living, Carolina Gardener, and many others, including her work as the national gardening expert for Answers.com. Helen is also the author of Plants With Benefits: An Uninhibited Guide to the Aphrodisiac Herbs, Fruits, Flowers, & Veggies in Your Garden (2014, St. Lynn’s Press) and Gardening with Confidence, 50 Ways to Add Style for Personal Creativity (2012, GWC Press). Helen curates garden art, serves on the board of the JC Raulston Arboretum, is past Regional Representative of the Garden Conservancy Open Days tour and opens her garden annually, and is an honorary member of Pi Alpha Xi, the national honor society for floriculture, landscape horticulture and ornamental horticulture. Helen lives in Raleigh, N.C., tending to her half-acre wildlife habitat, her husband, and their three beautiful children.
Previous Podcast Episodes #178: Mike interviews P. Allen Smith Giving us His Best Garden Tips and Talks Heritage Chickens #177: Mike talks Fertilizers, Soil Amendments and School Gardens with Cindy Rajhel #176: Mike talks Small Space Gardening with author Stacey Hirvela #175: Mike talks with Gary Oppenheimer of AmpleHarvest.org #174: Mike talks with Vincent Suozzi Creator of the Ring Weeder

Getting my Cherokee Purple Tomato Season On

Cherokee Purple Tomato Plant in my Garden

A lot of people thought I was crazy when I transplanted my Cherokee Purple Tomato plants outdoors in April here in zone 7a.  I checked the weather for the next 10 days on my iPhone weather channel app, which is a free download in your app store.  The app is also available for your Droid as well.  

With that said, the app showed that the weather for the next 10 days was going to be great, with some rain sprinkled in, and the overnight temps were not going less than 40 degrees, which is fine.  The roots should set up nicely!

The Cherokee Purple Tomato is an heirloom variety tomato.  That means you can save the seeds and plant them in subsequent seasons and grow the same exact plant.  I like to pick the first good tomato (of any heirloom tomato plant actually), and save it specifically for the seeds.  

Cherokee Purple Tomatoes: Photo courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_purple

The simplest way of doing it, is to extract the seeds from the tomato onto a paper towel, and just let them dry out.  Once dry, put them in a coin envelope (or a similar small envelope), mark the envelope "Tomato: Cherokee Purple", seal the envelope, and store the envelope in a cool, dry location until the following season.

The Cherokee Purple tomato is not actually purple.  It has more of a reddish-purple coloring to it, and is part of the "black" tomato group.  It is an indeterminate variety, meaning, it can grow at varying heights.  It is known to grow up to as much as nine feet!  

Cherokee Purple Tomatoes: Photo courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee_purple

The shape of the Cherokee Purple tomato fruit itself, is similar to beefsteak.  Very large and round where a single tomato can weigh up to a pound.  Although your average weight of each fruit will be a bit less.

The Cherokee Purple tomato's juiciness and size makes it perfect for any sandwich which is my favorite method of consumption.

With proper care, even watering, full sun and bi-weekly feedings with an excellent organic fertilizer such as compost tea or fish emulsion and you can expect your Cherokee Purple tomato plants to mature in as little as 80 days, yielding to you an abundance of these wonderful tasting and dense fruits.