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How To Maintain Your Vegetable Garden
Keeping a healthy garden requires regular attention and monitoring throughout the growing season. The basics of sun, water, and nutrients are the easy part. When planting seeds or transplants matching the growing requirements to the garden’s microclimates is one key consideration. I take this one last opportunity to assess soil temperatures. If I find they are a little below recommended temperature it helps me anticipate growth patterns. Get your soil thermometer here! I LOVE this one. Guide On What To Plant General Garden Maintenance Regular maintenance is ongoing. Soon after planting, mulching is beneficial. Mulch will help prevent weeds and helps keep moisture in the soil. When the seeds are…
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What Vegetables To Plant In Your Garden
Now that your space should be all ready to go , what to plant is the next step. The choice of what to plant can be overwhelming. My first few years I was so overwhelmed with planting that nothing did well. The choice of plants depends largely on the tastes of the family and the amount of growing space. If space is limited, you should consider planting crops that will be most productive. Which vegetables you decide on; however, is entirely up to you. It really depends on your personal taste. If you missed other installments of this series, check them out here: Selecting A Location Garden Soil Preparation Plotting…
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Plotting Your Garden
This article is part 3 of a series for beginner gardeners planning their first garden. Here are links to the 2 other parts to the series in case you missed them: Part 1: Selecting A Location Part 2: Garden Soil Preparation There are many folks who have never picked up a garden hoe that are planting a vegetable garden for the first time. I have found planting and growing your own vegetables is a relaxing hobby, saves money, and provides nutritious foods which can even be pureed for toddlers. Growing your own veggies and fruits will give you comfort in knowing exactly what is on your fresh foods. You will…
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Gardening For Beginners: Selecting A Location
When I started my journey of gardening I had never been around a garden. I wondered why have a garden? I did not grow up around any type of gardening but I knew it was something I was interested in starting. I am a self made gardener and taught myself by trial and error. I did and continue to do lots of reading, researching, and talking to other gardeners. I was part of a Food Bank garden farm and would weekly pick up my share until one day I thought “I can do this”. Raising my children was at the top of my list however, I knew when they all…
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Must Have Garden Tools For A Gardener
Having spent several years in the garden, tending to fruit trees, and maintaining a little over an acre of land, there are basic tools which make the job easier. Many of the tools can overlap with a variety of uses for upkeep and long term success of all aspects of gardening. Gardening is a process which has continued learning opportunities. It requires patience, endurance, creativity, and can be a taxing and difficult job without having the tools to make it enjoyable and fun. I learned that concept the hard way until I invested in essential tools to make a long lengthy day into a fun manageable hobby. I find gardening…
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A Guide To Starting a Fall Garden
Most gardeners turn in for the autumn and winter months as a break from the work of a long summer garden. They wait until spring to start up again. That has been my pattern over the last several years. By the time the last tomato has been picked and preserved, I am ready for a break. I saw the fall season as a new opportunity. The weather is cool and pleasant, most days, and what is a better time to be outside enjoying the season. Each fall I would get out my clipboard and start planning my garden for the spring. Reviewing what was planted and rethinking next year planting…
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Using A Food Mill
Food mills are an old fashioned kitchen tool that was used by many in the kitchen. My mother had one which we still have however, I really did not know what it was but saw her use it often especially when she was making her scratch tomato sauce and spaghetti. It was not until I decided to can tomato sauce that I discovered just how useful, simple and uncomplicated a modern day food mill can operate. Our backyard garden has given us so much produce the food mill has become a weekly (if not more) kitchen tool for meal prep. The food mill forces foods through a perforated disk which…
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Simple and Easy Ways to Freeze Your Garden Harvest
Stock your freezer with your vegetables and fruits you have harvested. Freezing is a good alternative to canning if time is limited. I have done both. When I had a houseful of kids, freezing was my preferred method of preserving my harvest. HOW COLD IS FREEZING COLD Freezer temperatures vary, so they should be below 0 F to assure to inactivate bacteria. You want to retain vitamin content and quality as well. Careful attention to how frequent the freezer is opened is important. The temperature can rise and be several degrees higher therefore using the back of the freezer is best. The less the freezer is opened the better. FREEZER…
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How To Make Quick Garden Row Markers
As I plant may garden each season I have a process which entails preparing my rows, digging the holes for the seeds and moving to the next row. I just go until all the seeds are in the ground. I have a carpenters apron and put seed packs in the pockets so I can move through the rows. The problem for me is always remembering what I planted on what row. Seems elementary to keep track of it, but I get going and think I will remember but get distracted with being outside, the birds, the insects, and just thinking. Having been snake bit about remembering, I…
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Grow and Cook Pumpkins
When the pumpkins start turning orange, we know fall is not far off and that means football. We are football fans. My husband played football and my son did as well. My daughters were on the sideline cheering on their brother and Friday night football was a fun family time. Of course not everyone loves football but pumpkin harvesting also means changing of seasons, cool weather, and fall festivities. There is a lot of good food wasted when untold numbers of nutritious pumpkins get turned into jack-o-lanterns. Pumpkins make a very good custard and put into a pie shell you have pumpkin pie. During the early years the pumpkin…
Home Grown is Best
