Adding Dill to your Home Vegetable Garden

Visit any website that features food recipes, do a search on dill and literally hundreds, if not thousands, depending on the website you visit, of recipes will appear for this great tasting herbs. The first one that comes to mind is dill pickles, but sprinkling dill in with some olive oil over top of some potatoes is a quick and tasty dish as well. Here is how you add dill to your home vegetable garden.

You can start dill seeds indoors before moving them outdoors; however they do not transplant well. Therefore simply wait until the potential for frost has passed in your area. The best way to plant dill seeds is to sprinkle some in the area where you want them to grow, cover slightly with soil and give them a moderate watering.

Dill grows best in soil that is a bit more acidic. A pH range for your soil in the area where you will be growing dill should be in the 5.5 to 6.5 range. If you are unsure of what the pH range of your soil is, purchase a home soil testing kit from any home or garden center. They cost only a couple of dollars. Follow the instructions on the kit to adjust your soil’s pH level to get it in the range noted above.

Dill likes full sun and moderate watering and high amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, so make sure you keep at least a one inch level of good quality compost at the base of your dill.

When the plant gets to the size of your liking it is ready to be harvested. Then simply harvest as you need. Dill also grows best when you simply leave it alone to do its own thing and only bothered when you harvest. So keep that in mind when you weed around your dill plants.

Besides being a great herb to add to your food dishes, adding dill to your home vegetable garden also has benefits to your gardening ecosystem. Dill attracts a variety of beneficial insects that go after insects that would normally do harm to your garden. So even if you do not consume dill, you should consider adding it to your garden.

If you, like me, follow a crop rotation in your garden, make sure your dill follows your beets and avoid following carrots or plants in the carrot family (such as parsnips). On a side note, dill makes for a good companion to plants in the cabbage family.

As you can see dill is easy to grow once you get the basics down. Simply follow the information above and you will be well on your way to growing great dill.

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, available where gardening books are sold. You can follow Mike on Twitter at : http://twitter.com/mikethegardener or on his website at: AveragePersonGardening.com.

Growing Cilantro

A rose by any other name is still a rose, or so the saying goes, but cilantro by any other name could be called Chinese parsley or coriander. A quick search on some popular food recipe websites and in the matter of seconds I was able to find hundreds of recipes. Cilantro can be used three times, well sort of. You can harvest the leaves and add them to do your dish as an herb, or you can harvest the fruit also called coriander seeds which have a lemony-citrus flavor when crushed or you can harvest the roots which have an intense flavor and are most notably used in Asian cuisine. Which ever way you go, there is no doubting that cilantro should be part of your vegetable garden.

No need to worry about when to start your seeds indoors because cilantro won`t do well using this method. The reason being is that cilantro does not transplant well, so any growth you would have indoors would more than likely be lost once you moved it to the outdoors. Start your seeds outdoors at least one week beyond the final frost. You can then plant cilantro every 3 weeks up until a week prior to the first frost in the autumn months. This will give you a steady supply of cilantro throughout the year.

Cilantro seeds take about 10 days to germinate and grow well in full sun with a moderate watering in soil that has a pH level of at least 6.0 but not higher than 7.0. To test the pH level of your soil, grab a home soil testing kit from your local home or garden center for just a couple of bucks. Once you obtain your reading follow the instructions on the package to raise or lower your soil`s pH level as needed.

When the plant is eight inches tall it is ready to be harvested. You want to harvest the entire plant. If you want to use the seeds of the plant simply let it grow until it goes to seed then harvest the entire plant. Once the entire plant is harvested you can use the roots, leaves and seeds (if you let it grow that far) for a variety of dishes.

Avoid following carrots if you plan on putting your cilantro in a plant rotation cycle and avoid planting cilantro near fennel as the two plants do not make sure good companions, whereas tomatoes make for a great companion plant.

As you can see adding cilantro, Chinese parsley, coriander to your home vegetable garden is easier than you might think. Get some in your garden today.

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, available where gardening books are sold. Sign up for Mike`s vegetable gardening newsletter at his website: AveragePersonGardening.com and he will send you a free pack of vegetable seeds to get your garden started.

A Natural Insect Repellent for your Home Vegetable Garden

Two growing seasons ago some of my plants really got hit hard with an outbreak of white flies. Harmless to humans, they can destroy an entire garden and reproduce at an alarming rate in less than a month. Although they did get one of my plants before I had the chance to bring them under control, I did take some steps necessary to make sure that never happened again. One of those steps I took was making this natural insect repellent. Whereas I wanted to get rid of the white flies, I did not want to use some harmful chemical that would get rid of the beneficial insects and organisms in my garden. Here is the formula I used to help me with these insects and many others.

There are a variety of chemical based insect repellents on the market that work very well, but like most chemical repellents they are meant to “kill” not repel and if they are killing what they say they are going to kill then chances are they are probably “killing” everything else in the garden as well. But what you really want is to “repel” the insects so they do not come to your garden at all.

A good natural insect repellent starts with garlic and hot pepper. As a caution, depending on the type of hot pepper product you use it could cause irritation to the skin and eyes, so make sure you wear gloves and protective eye wear.

Get your ingredients for this natural insect repellent together. You will need five to seven cloves of garlic, one to one and a half tablespoons of a hot pepper powder or extract, cayenne works very well in this recipe, and 3 cups of hot, but not boiling, water.

Grind up the garlic in a food processor or blender and then add in the hot pepper extract product that you have used. Finally pour the hot water in and mix it up really good to combine the ingredients. Pour the mixture into a container such as a Tupperware bowl and set it aside for three days (yes three days) to allow the ingredients to steep thoroughly.

Once the three days are up, and using a strainer to separate the ingredients from the liquid, pour the liquid into a spray bottle that you will use to spray in the garden.

Finally you are ready to use the natural insect repellent. Although you could, it is not necessary to spray the repellent directly on the plants. Spray around your plants which create a barrier for them. Reapply after every rain or heavy watering.

As you can see it is a very easy recipe to follow and will do wonders for your garden and sanity by repelling those pesky insects that can wreak havoc on your crops.

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, available where gardening books are sold. Sign up for Mike`s vegetable gardening newsletter at his website: AveragePersonGardening.com and he will send you a free pack of vegetable seeds to get your garden started.

Growing Chives

Chives make up the smallest member of the onion family. It is a native plant to Europe, North America and Asia. The name chive is derived from the Latin word cepa which translates into onion. Beyond adding chives to soups, stews and of course on top of sour cream, chives give home vegetable gardeners an incredible tool and that is, chives have insect repelling properties that can control garden pests.

As you will see in a moment chives are easy to add to any home vegetable garden, herb garden or simply to grow some in a pot on your window sill all year long. Here is how you can add and grow great tasting chives to your garden.

The seeds of chives are fairly small and therefore do not require to be planted very deep in your garden or in the pot that will sit on your window sill. Just lightly cover the seeds with some dirt. Their seeds will germinate in about fourteen days, sometimes sooner depending on the region of the world you live in.

Chives like the soil neutral to slightly acidic. Make sure your soil`s pH level is above 6.0 and at or below 7.0. In order to test the pH level of your soil you will need to use a soil testing kit available from any home or garden center for less than a few bucks. Once you obtain the reading, follow the instructions on the test kit instruction package to raise or lower your soil`s pH based on your findings.

Chives can grow in either full sun or partial shade and require moderate watering, so make sure you keep the soil moist for your chives. Space your seeds out about eight inches to give your chives plenty of room to grow and spread.

If you live in a warmer region of the world you can harvest chives all year round. Simply cut the plants about an inch above the soil. For those in a cooler climate if you wait too long too harvest chives can die in colder temperatures. You can simply just harvest the entire plant when the reach a size that is ready to use.

Chives make good companions for carrots and tomatoes whereas they make bad companions for beans and peas. Never precede or follow any member of the onion family with chives in a crop rotation cycle and never allow your chive plants to reach the size where seeds will drop. Your garden could become inundated with chive plants.

As you can see it is fairly easy to add this great herb to your backyard, porch or patio garden.

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, available where gardening books are sold. Sign up for Mike`s vegetable gardening newsletter at his website: AveragePersonGardening.com and he will send you a free pack of vegetable seeds to get your garden started.

Home Vegetable Gardening: Growing Swiss Chard

Swiss chard is a wonderful addition to any home vegetable garden. With the many varieties there are to grow, you can literally add a wide range of colors and flavors to salads and many other recipes. Here is how you can properly grow Swiss chard in your home vegetable garden.

I like to start Swiss chard indoors about two weeks prior to last frost of the season. This gives my seeds ample time to germinate. If you plan on starting your seeds outdoors wait at least a week after the final frost of the season. Bury your seeds no deeper than a half inch, with the soil being no cooler than fifty degrees Fahrenheit and no warmer than eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit.

Swiss chard likes the soil pH level to be as near neutral as possible. Keep your soil around a pH reading of 7.0 or as close as you can get without going over 7.0. To take a reading of your soil’s pH level you can simply visit your local home or garden center and pick up a basic soil testing kit for just a couple of bucks.

Regardless of whether you started the seeds indoors or outdoors, space your Swiss chard out at least eight inches to give them and their roots plenty of room to grow. Your watering of Swiss chard should be moderate and even and they grow best in full sun.

You have a couple of options for Swiss chard when they are ready to be harvested. When the leaves get to be eight to ten inches you can simply cut the leaves off and eat them or you can cut the plant off at the stem about an inch above the soil level. The second option will allow the plant to continue to grow giving you more harvests throughout the season.

Swiss chard makes a good companion plant for cabbage, legumes and lettuce and bad companions for Swiss chard are beets and spinach. Also avoid following the bad companion plants in a plant rotation cycle.

As you can see growing Swiss chard is fairly easy. Just make sure you follow the steps above and you will be well on your way to a wonderful Swiss chard crop.


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, available where gardening books are sold. Sign up for Mike`s vegetable gardening newsletter at his website: AveragePersonGardening.com and he will send you a free pack of vegetable seeds to get your garden started.