Tips to Make Money from Your Home Vegetable Garden

I wanted to write an article that goes beyond the basic tips, tricks and techniques for proper growth of fruits and vegetables. I wanted to share some ideas that can help fellow vegetable gardeners take their love of the hobby to earn a little extra cash which could go a long way to pay for much needed supplies.

I posted a request on our vegetable gardening Facebook fan page for ideas on how other vegetable gardeners use their garden to make some money. Here are some ideas that the fans wrote back with.

Roger Marshall, author of the book How to Build Your Own Greenhouse, recommends growing herbs and produce that are typically out of season. Out of season produce will usually command higher prices from local restaurants and shops. Of course being able to provide enough herbs and vegetables to local restaurants takes enough area to grow everything you need, so if you have a smaller home garden this option may not be for you, but for those that do have ample land, this is definitely a great money maker.

Do you know how to can your vegetables? Jar your jams? Pickle your cucumbers? According to Ellen Christian, a working mom blogger, she suggests that if you posses these skills, it creates a tremendous opportunity to sell fresh grown fruits and vegetables to friends and neighbors.

Tia Meer, of Homegrown Delights, LLC based out of Orlando, FL, uses their 600 square foot garden to sell sprigs or perennial herbs such as rosemary, lavender and lemon grass. Tia also starts all of her vegetables from seed and then sells four inch starter plants of vegetables and herbs for one dollar through three dollars. Her final tip was to get in touch with a local co-op where Tia says she has plenty of success selling her produce through them as it eliminates the need for interaction with customers.

Sure none of theses ideas will make you a millionaire (of course I never said they would), but what they can do is help you with the cost of maintaining the fun hobby of vegetable gardening.

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.

3 Tips for Great Peppers in your Home Vegetable Gardening

Peppers are the number two most grown vegetables, behind tomatoes, in the home vegetable garden according to a recent study by the United States Department of Agriculture. Many home vegetable gardeners simply take a pepper seed, drop it in a hole, give it some water and hope for the best. However there are some great tips to increase the produce output of the pepper plants you grow.

After asking around on our vegetable gardening Facebook fan page, we came up with the top tips from fellow gardeners on producing the best results for peppers. Here are those results.

Start Indoors
Nearly all responses came back with starting the seeds indoors at least six weeks prior to the last frost of the year in your zone as per the frost zone map that can be found on our website in the downloads section. This gives the plants a chance to get a “running start” so to speak.

Create Heat
According to many of the home vegetable gardeners we talked to they all agreed that peppers like heat and although they used all kinds of methods for creating heat for the plant, from grass clippings to extra compost, but the most favorable way was putting a landscape fabric around the base of the plant. It prohibits weeds and keeps a steady higher soil temperature.

Sulfur
Out of the one hundred plus responses received from our request I would say nearly ninety percent of them used some method to make sure their peppers received more sulfur. Peppers love sulfur. One tip from Jen Fritz of KittyVista LLC likes to drop in a tablespoon of Epson salt (magnesium sulfate) into the hole where you will transplant your pepper plants. This allows for a timed release of sulfur for your plants. Another popular method which dated back to old time farmers was dropping two matches into the hole before planting.

If you are like most home vegetable gardeners then chances are you will at some point grow peppers. Use these tips above to maximize each pepper plant that you grow.


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.

Grow A Winter Garden Even Under Snow

Okay, so the sun is not out there as long. Avid gardeners don’t let that stop you. Winter doesn’t have to be a time of scarcity. Bring life back to the cold winter months. It’s absolutely amazing to see tiny little green stalks popping out from under the snow.

There are steps that you can take to assure that your garden will look colorful all winter long. Plant beautiful shrubs or trees with vibrantly colored bark with artfully textured twigs. These cater to feed our winter birds, and add color to instead a drab winter garden. Some vines appear to be ice sculptures with the winter freeze. Such architectural delights!

No need to spend a bundle on fertilizer. Compost and mulch is one of the best fertilizers that you can use, and certainly very affordable. Many gardeners place bales of hay on top of their new plantings to keep them warm. Snow is one of the best covers for both carrots and parsnips.

Now of course, you will definitely want to have your winter gardening facing south. Your new winter vegetables will need as much winter sunshine as possible to be a success.

Planting different evergreens work great in the wintertime. They help to shield the plants and not only look absolutely beautiful, but serve as a windbreak. Boxwood shrubs normally stay green all winter, and when planted on the north side of your garden, will also give you added protection for your winter garden.

One of the things that you can do to keep your plants healthy in the winter is to cut back on the watering. This will help to prevent the green foliage from freezing.

Unbelievingly, some live where it’s as low as -25 and still sell fresh produce all year round at their local farmer’s market. Many of these planters plan for the whole year when they plant, and not just for the summer. These growers usually use the wooden frame structure technique. Now, what exactly is this technique? Well, it’s a wooden frame that is topped by other glass or plastic that covers and protects the plants from the elements. Yes, these types of structures are the ones that are often used to start seedlings in the spring. They can definitely now have double uses.

Turnips, parsnips, carrots, beets and leeks are all ideal choices for your winter garden for up until about the end of December, depending on your geographical area of course. Fresh carrots are often pulled out of the snow in December and often, even in January! After that up until about the month of April spinach, Swiss chard, and kale come into play.

Many will attempt potatoes and yams in potted pots on the balcony. Others will try fresh herbs on the window sill.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different ideas. Growing your own fresh produce is so beneficial.

For those that are in the coldest areas of the country, using potted plants are always another great choice. Some go as far as to have a winter garden as planting in their house, rooftop, balcony, and window sills, or next to a trellis stashed away neatly at the corner of the house.

To know which types of seeds to select for your climate and zone, gather one or two planting catalogues and note which seeds will grow and work best with your geographical area.

Don’t forget to keep your statues, bird houses and bird feeders for the winter garden, as they make a magnificent addition to your winter fashion wardrobe. Gates decorated with wreaths also add a festive theme to your garden entry.

Grow your own vegetables all year round. It’s not as hard as you think. You will be amazed at not only the amount of money that you will save, but the absolute fantastic taste difference.

By: Louanne

Louanne has a passion for gardening. You may find several gardening tips and gardening resources at ez-gardening-tips.com EZ-Gardening-Tips.com Top gardening directory and gardening articles.

Planning Next Summer`s Vegetable Garden

It`s never too early to begin planning next summer`s vegetable garden. In fact, sales of greenhouses and seed starting supplies usually begin in late December and early January, and by the end of February, most retailers have a variety of seeds for sale on store shelves. If you want to plant a vegetable garden this coming summer, some advance planning will ensure that you are able to get all the seeds you want before they sell out, and you`ll be able to start them in time to have healthy young plants ready for transplant into your garden in early or late spring.

The first part of planning your vegetable garden is deciding what to grow. How much space do you have for planting? Someone who lives in the country and has a large plot of land will certainly need to do more advance planning than an apartment dweller with a small deck or veranda. Remember that even if you`re limited by space, there are many types of vegetables that grow well in patio containers. Also be sure to consider your local climate. For areas with longer summers, you`ll have more options of plants you can grow, plus a longer season in which to grow them. However, gardeners living in cooler climates shouldn`t discount the variety of cool weather vegetables they can cultivate such as spinach, peas, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, and beets. You should also honestly ask yourself how much time and energy you`ll want to put into your vegetable garden. If you`re someone who works long hours and you`re tired at the end of the day, you may not want to spend an hour or two every summer evening weeding and caring for a large plot of land. If this is the case, start on a small scale. You can always plant a larger garden next year, if you want.

Next you`ll want to obtain seeds and seed starting supplies. Read each seed packet carefully to determine when to start the seeds. If plants take 2 weeks for germination plus 4-6 weeks before they can be transplanted, and the last expected frost date in your area is May 15, then you should sow the seeds indoors around the last week of March.

Finding a good place to start your plants from seed will be very critical to their early growth and development. An ideal location is a warm sunny window facing south or west. If you don`t have such a window, a small indoor greenhouse might be a good investment. Indoor greenhouses can be as small as just a couple shelves that occupy only the top of a table or workbench, or they can be as large as a floor unit, standing four or five shelves high. Small indoor greenhouses can usually be outfitted with heat lamps or grow lamps to encourage germination and rapid early growth of seedlings.

Before transplanting seedlings to the garden, be sure to map out where you`re going to plant everything. Pay attention to the space requirements of each vegetable, keeping in mind that some need extra space for air flow around the plant, while others need to be close together to promote pollination. Also remember that you don`t have to group all similar plants together. If you have 5 or 6 tomato plants, for example, space them out around your garden, mixing them in with other types of vegetables. Inter-planting crops can help discourage insect infestations and other pests.

Preparing for a vegetable garden requires time, patience, and a lot of pre-planning long before the weather even warms up. These early steps may take time, but the effort you put in now will pay you back dividends over the summer in the form of a bumper crop of healthy produce.

By: Ellen Bell

Home Products `N` More offers free shipping on a variety of mini greenhouses and other indoor greenhouse kits. Visit us today at HomeProductsnMore.com

4 Tips on Raised Bed Home Vegetable Gardening

I was watching the history channel the other day on cable television and as luck would have it they were showing a program on the history of raised bed gardening. I was fascinated to see that gardening via raised bed methods dates back in some history books to ancient civilizations. Some cultures would raise up their gardens so the excess water would drain away from the roots of the plants which they found helped grow healthier plants. Sometimes, and even I am at fault for this, we think that methods we use today were invented or started by our generation when in fact they are just variations of methods developed a long time ago.

After seeing this program I wanted to get some ideas and methods that other vegetable gardeners use in their own raised bed vegetable gardens, so I asked around. One reply to my posting on our vegetable gardening fan page on Facebook was from a gentlemen by the name of Michael Phelps. No, I don’t believe he was the Olympic gold swimmer but hey you never know.

Mr. Phelps said he has been gardening via raised bed methods for over 2 decades and here are the tips he suggested to increase your harvest`s success.

Adequate Drainage
Just like the ancient civilizations you want to make sure your raised beds allow for excess water run off. Just like pots have holes in the bottom to allow the water to exit, make sure your raised beds allow for the water to leave as well. Excess water around the roots of your plants will cause root rot and your plants will die.

Adequate Water
Mr. Phelps recommended that your plants in the raised beds have adequate water for their needs. He said because they are raised, water has a tendency to run off more quickly thereby increasing the chances of soil drying out faster than normal. He recommended that the use of a moisture soil tester has helped him tremendously and they are available at your local home or garden center for just a few bucks.

Keep the Soil Loose With Compost
Composting is one of the best things you can do for your soil. It adds much needed nutrients and keeps the soil airy and light which allows for the soil to be more loose in turn giving the roots of your plants better chances to grow. There are all different methods for composting. Search our website and pick one that is right for you.



Sustainable structure
You can build a raised bed a number of ways, but Mr. Phelps recommends using composite decking because “it does not degrade”. Who can argue with him? When you build a raised bed as a structure as opposed to “mounding up” dirt, you want it to last for many years and if you can pick a material that is safe for your garden and does not breakdown, then that is a great way to go. Composite decking is more expensive than traditional pine or cedar wood for this very reason. However, you will find, that will be money well spent.

Maybe you never thought of gardening in a raised bed or maybe you never even heard of the art. After this information you have the tools necessary to give it a go and try raised bed vegetable gardening for yourself.

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.