Starting A Vegetable Garden
With supermarket shelves empty in some parts of the world, growing your own veggies is an obvious and important move for food security. It also offers many other benefits such as helping reduce the environmental impact of the foods we buy and eating healthier, more nutritious food.
Vegetable gardening is full of creativity and people are always looking at ways to be more self-sustainable, environmentally-friendly, and to save money.
A look around online and on social media can throw up a plethora of vegetable gardening hacks. Many are very popular and proven ways of benefiting your plants, with others maybe open to a bit more debate.
If you are looking for new and unique vegetable garden ideas, then there are some fantastic solutions around that repurpose the plants themselves or turn household items into useful gardening tools.
Plastic bottles and cups of many sizes can be repurposed to give protection to young plants
(Image credit: Getty/Petra Richli)
8 great vegetable garden hacks to try on your crops
kitchen garden. If you are thinking about starting a vegetable garden then consider adding some of these tips into your planner for the season as they are all budget-friendly and organic measures for growing plants.
All of the hacks are suitable for if you have a large space, a small vegetable garden, or are just growing crops in pots on a patio or balcony.
1. Save homegrown seeds
Saving your own seed from homegrown vegetables is increasingly popular among growers as savvy gardeners look to save dollars and become more self-reliant. Not only does it allow for knowing exactly what and where your plants come from, which is ideal for organic growing, but it helps attract pollinators to the garden. The beneficial pollinators will love the flowers in the areas where crops are left to go to seed.
Anja Eckert (opens in new tab), a homesteader and creator of Our Gables Home, claims saving seeds is her favorite hack when growing tomatoes. She says: ‘Every year, I take a few seeds of the first nice tomatoes we get, put them on a piece of paper towel, and dry them thoroughly. Then I store them in a little homemade sleeve in a dry and cool place.
‘With this hack you are also ensuring that you have seeds of those tomatoes that grow well in your particular microclimate and situation.’
As well as tomatoes, other great vegetable crops to save seeds from include peppers, beans, cucumbers and peas. Biennial crops such as beets, leeks and carrots need to be left in the ground over winter to harvest seed from the following summer.
Collecting seed allows you to grow your favorite varieties
(Image credit: Getty/Jeffrey Coolidge)
2. Use mesh bags to protect crops from pests
Small mesh drawstring bags can serve a few uses in the garden. These bags can be bought cheaply online – such as these white mesh bags on Amazon (opens in new tab). They are often used as packaging for jewellery, and are reusable. While they can be used to cover seed heads to collect any seed, they also offer a way to protect vegetables from pests. Hugely popular online videos, such as on TikTok, show gardeners placing the mesh bags over the fruit when growing bell peppers, chilies, tomatoes, or eggplants and pulling the drawstring to close.
However, Dr John La Puma (opens in new tab), MD, a regenerative organic farmer and New York Times best selling author in Santa Barbara, California, questions the success of the methods shown on social media. He says: ‘Mesh drawstring bags to protect from pests work primarily for plants that don’t need a lot of sun: lettuces, radishes, cole crops like kale. Not for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant.’
Mesh drawstring bags prevent pests from nibbling on your crops
(Image credit: Alamy/ThamKC )
3. Create a milk jug cloche
Merissa Alink (opens in new tab), founder of Little House Living, recommends a clever vegetable gardening hack that utilizes plastic milk jugs. She says: ‘If it looks like frost after you’ve planted your plants outside, you can use milk jugs to protect them. Cut the top off a milk jug, and use it to cover the plant. This will keep it warm, moist, and free from frost and act as a DIY greenhouse until your plants are large enough to be on their own.
‘Just be sure to remove the milk jug before the temperatures get too warm or you will roast your plants,’ adds Merissa.
Using milk jugs opens the door to being able to plant crops out slightly earlier and have them grow in a protected environment. It also helps to protect young seedlings from pest damage as part of slug control methods.
Milk jugs offer other potential vegetable garden hacks too, including slicing them in half to use as seed trays and using them to water plants by poking holes in the top to turn it into a watering can.
Milk jugs can also protect the bases of plants from getting eaten by pests
(Image credit: Alamy/ Janet Horton )
4. Upcycle containers for sowing seeds
Seeds are traditionally started in purpose-made plastic trays, but there is a range of other unconventional options for sowing seeds. Growers regularly sow seeds into the cardboard rolls at the center of toilet paper and the entire pot is then planted out complete with seedlings. Eggshells can also be filled with seed compost and sowed into before being planted out to decompose in the ground.
Jennifer Schutter (opens in new tab), a certified Master Gardener and editor of Plantcarefully, recommends the hack of using yogurt containers as she claims they are ‘perfect for germinating seeds’. She says: ‘Just clean out your yogurt container, add regular potting soil that you can find at the store, and poke a few holes in the bottom to help the water drain out.
‘You’re going to loosely place the lid back on after you’ve planted your seeds. Just water thoroughly and put the container in bright light. The lid helps create a mini-greenhouse, it works better than just about anything you can buy from the store and really helps keep the humidity up. If the yogurt container had an opaque lid you can just use some cling wrap or even a plastic bag.’
Seeds germinate in eggs and the entire shell is planted into the ground
(Image credit: Getty/Thitaree Sarmkasat / EyeEm)
Jennifer Schutter (opens in new tab) is a Certified Master Gardener with a field specialty in horticulture. She teaches as a Master Pollinator Steward and is the editor of Plantcarefully. She has taught courses on the Fundamentals of Home Gardening and on Propagation, Entomology, and Pests.
5. Use plastic forks for pest control
Lorraine Thompson (opens in new tab), a gardens expert and the founder of Best Florist Reviews, offers a unique gardening hack to help deter animals from causing havoc in your vegetable garden. She advises using small disposable plastic forks that can be purchased cheap – such as the Ecovita Compostable Forks available at Amazon (opens in new tab) – or easily got from food outlets or with takeaways.
Lorraine claims: ‘If you have problems with animals like squirrels and raccoons digging up your plants, try sticking plastic forks into the soil around the base of your plants. The forks will make it difficult for the animals to dig, without harming them.’
There are other deterrents that can be sourced from around the home to help scare animals away. This includes using aluminium plates, such as those that come with pies, or CDs that are strung up and blow in the wind to repel birds and other animals.
Small plastic forks can be dotted around plants to stop animals digging them up
(Image credit: Alamy/Sipa US )
6. Go for a DIY watering system
Plastic bottles or glass bottles offer a unique way to slowly water plants in a simple and effective manner. It can be either used in the ground or to water crops in pots as part of a vegetable container garden.
If you are using a glass bottle, such as a wine bottle, then simply fill the bottle with water and then make a small hole in the cap or cork using a nail. The alternative is to screw the lid on and then loosen it very gently. Flip the bottle upside down and bury it into the soil and the water should slowly trickle out of the bottle.
For plastic bottles, make small holes in the neck or the cap and bury it. The advantage with plastic bottles is that you can cut off the bottom and then fill it up again when out watering.
Holly Crossley, Homes & Gardens’ Senior Content Editor (Gardens), recommends making sure the bottle is stable and won’t fall over – especially if you are using this method to water plants while you’re away on vacation. She adds: ‘A DIY watering bottle can keep plants hydrated for a few days in a small or medium planter, making it perfect for a weekend getaway or a few days away.’
You can get Self Watering Spikes at Amazon (opens in new tab) that attach to most of the common plastic bottles and have adjustable dripping times to be able to water plants over variable amounts of time.
Plastic bottles can provide a slow-release watering system for any kind of plants
(Image credit: Getty/ULD media )
comfrey fertilizer – while household waste items can also be used to benefit plants and help them grow big and strong.
You can use eggs in the garden as fertilizer, crushing them up and mixing them into the soil to add calcium to the soil, and coffee grounds can also be sprinkled around plants as they are high in nitrogen and also repel pests such as mites and aphids. Some people even claim that oatmeal is a good fertilizer. Epsom salt, a common item found in cupboards, can also be used as a feed as it is high in magnesium. Lorraine Thompson advises to ‘mix one tablespoon of Epsom salt into a gallon of water and use it to water your plants once a month’.
Coffee grounds can be mixed directly into the top inches of the soil
(Image credit: Kinga Krzeminska/Getty Images)
8. Grow vegetables from scraps
Sprouting vegetables from scraps that may normally get thrown in the trash is a fantastic way to get extra life from your home grown vegetables. And there are many crops that are perfectly suitable for starting from off-cuts, including growing lettuce from scraps, or the likes of celery, leeks, and onions. Many crops are sprouted indoors for getting a quick harvest of flavorful sprouts or leaves.
Simply place the cut base of the vegetable in an inch of water and they will quickly start to grow. Beth Murton (opens in new tab), Homes & Gardens’ Head of Gardens, advises: ‘Make sure to place the cutting in a light place, such as a bright windowsill, and change the water every couple of days – especially if the water changes in color. In a few days there will be signs of growth and you could have something to harvest within a few weeks.’
Once roots have shown on the cuttings, the sprouted vegetables can be planted out in the garden, or transferred into pots, to grow on into new plants. Not only can vegetables be sprouted after being used in the kitchen, but store-bought herbs can be harvested and replanted in soil to grow on. For the more adventurous, pineapples can be grown from tops and growing avocados is possible by using the stone.
Lettuce can be sprouted from scraps to give a harvest in under two weeks
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Beth has been writing about homes and gardens for over 20 years, contributing to a number of leading magazines, including Real Homes, 4Homes, Period Living and Grand Designs. In 2020, Beth took on the role of launch Editor in Chief of Gardeningetc.com, a website dedicated to gardening and outdoor living. At the start of 2023, she moved to Homes & Gardens as the Head of Gardens, bringing her passion and knowledge for all things outdoors to our team.
There is such a wide range and variety of vegetable garden hacks that you can pick and choose from. It all comes down to how you want to garden, and what you want from your growing. There are tips and tricks for gardeners of all abilities, growing vegetables on plots of all sizes.
One of the fun things of growing vegetables is that you are free to experiment and try new things. There will be successes and there will be failures, but the main thing is to enjoy the adventure of growing homegrown food.
Source: homesandgardens.com
Veil of Dust: A Homesteading Game Fully Launches on Steam – RPGamer
Developer Calamity Bay Games has fully released Veil of Dust: A Homesteading Game for PC on Steam. The story-driven farming RPG entered Early Access in June 2022, with the full version now available for $14.99.
Veil of Dust is set in Eastern Oregon in the 1860s and stars siblings Áine and Shane Callahan, whose journey to reach the Willamette Valley with their father ended prematurely. The siblings now seek to survive and build up their homestead while keeping Áine’s magical abilities secret. Veil of Dust includes farming, foraging, hunting, cooking, and crafting elements. Players will also engage in combat against magical monsters as they investigate the source of the creatures’ appearances.
Source: rpgamer.com
9 Vegetable Blunders Made – Signals AZ
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Article audio is made possible by CAST11 Prescott Podcast Network. A Talking Glass Media production.
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This week, Ken Lain The Mountain Gardener of Watters Garden Center in Prescott tells us about 9 vegetable blunders made. Learn about the most difficult vegetables to grow, do’s and don’ts for gardening, which vegetables are the most profitable, why vegetable plants are growing but not producing vegetables, how to get the most out of your vegetable garden, and more!
As we progress into the vegetable planting season, the potatoes, garlic, kale, and lettuce are already planted. The summer edibles will take center stage with the last frost quickly approaching.
Garden success often depends on things out of our control, including rainfall, temperature, and soil type, to name a few. Here are the personal mistakes I wish readers to avoid as we plant the spring gardens.
Mistake #1: Starting Too Early
Gardener and impatient are used in the same sentence. The planting season starts in March, but frost is expected through April. Ensure early garden plants can take the freeze-thaw cycle the Central Highlands are famous for. Leafy plants like broccoli, cabbage, peas, and parsley love this early spring weather.
The first of May is our local last frost. You will find the most extensive vegetable selection when you shop early, but have a plan to protect them if a late frost is predicted. Otherwise, you will be back at the garden center buying more plants. Vegetable Calendar for Mountain Gardens.
Mistake #2: Garden in the Wrong Spot
A vegetable garden should be conveniently handy. In days zucchini grow to the size of bowling pins, or rabbits break through your fence and finish the peas. Daily visits are needed later in the summer.
Vegetables require 6+ hours of sun per day. Too little, and the fruits are small without flavor. A hose or water can is needed until summer monsoon rains arrive. The closer the garden is to water, the easier it is to irrigate.
Mistake #3: Going Cheap on Soil and Plant Food
Plants use up garden soil as they grow. Starting off with poor Soil ensures a struggle all season. Refresh annually with Barnyard Manure and Premium Mulch at the start of every planting season. Containers and Raised beds need fresh Potting Soil that revitalizes pots. Earthworms are always a good sign.
Use water-soluble Flower Power twice monthly for a fantastic vegetable harvest. Watters Fruit and Vegetable Food is even better for more extensive gardens.
Mistake #4: Picking too Slow
Enjoy your vegetables while at their peak. A plant won’t set more cucumbers or peppers if its branches are already full. Herbs, like basil and cilantro, benefit from frequent harvesting.
Mistake #5: Planting Too Many
Planting more than you can eat or even care for is common. Start with varieties you enjoy or can not purchase fresh locally. Learn how to grow them and expand your repertoire. It is best to enjoy success with a smaller garden than struggle to keep up with a large one.
Here’s my list of the Easiest Vegetables to Grow in the Garden.
Mistake #6: Laps of Spacing
Seeds of lettuce, carrots, and beets are planted close and thinned as you harvest. Plants set out as seedlings, like tomatoes and peppers, or large plants, like corn and beans, need much more space at maturity. If squashes, pumpkins, and cucumbers are in your garden, they require even more room.
Square Foot Gardening – To make the best use of space, interplant early vegetables like spinach, radish, and lettuce underneath or around those that require a longer growing season.
Mistake #7: Deferred Maintenance
Different vegetables have different needs. Tomatoes need water at ground level. Overhead watering can encourage diseases and blights. Vegetables like corn, lettuces, and broad-leaf plants like squashes are more tolerant of overhead irrigation.
Weeds take water and nutrients from your vegetables. They also provide cover for bugs carrying disease and eat your garden. Your hoe may be the best tool in the shed.
Mistake #8: Letting the Animals In
The need for a sturdy fence cannot be overstated. Deer, javelina, rabbits, and gophers can wipe out a garden overnight. Planting vegetables is like ringing the dinner bell.
Mistake #9: Not Dealing with Problems Early
Monitor your plants regularly. Yellowing leaves or spots are best corrected before the entire row is infected. Catch insects early before they take over. Problems like blossom end rot are remedied simply by removing the affected fruit.
Vegetable gardening is an ongoing learning experience made up of lots of small successes and some failures. Begin with good soil, quality seeds, and regular garden practices, and success follows.
Until next week, I’ll be helping gardeners plant better vegetable gardens here at Watters Garden Center.
Join the garden for fun! Free garden classes are offered every Saturday from 9:30 to 11 at Watters Garden Center where we go deep into growing better. Check out this spring schedule posted at: WattersGardenCenter.com and look for the ‘Garden Class’ link. You can also visit the garden center for a program.
April 7 at 3:00 pm – Lilacs and Better Fragrant Gardens
April 14 at 3:00 pm – My First Herb and Vegetable Gardens
April 21 at 3:00 pm – New Flower Introductions for 2023
2023 April Garden Class Schedule
Until next week, I’ll be helping gardeners grow better here at Watters Garden Center.
This article was written by Ken Lain. He can be found throughout the week at Watters Garden Center, 1815 W. Iron Springs Rd in Prescott, or contacted through his website at WattersGardenCenter.com or Top10Plants.com.
Get more gardening tips from Watters Garden Center in the Mountain Gardener Column on Signals A Z.com.
Advertise your deals with Talking Glass Media iDealios.
Learn more:
Source: signalsaz.com
Pioneer woman Abigail Root to be honored as part of week-long … – Daily Herald
Homesteading is a lifestyle that includes growing, preserving, and producing food; providing your own electricity with solar, wind, or water; and making your own fabric and clothing.
It is a lifestyle that requires commitment, patience and self-sufficiency. It can be a challenge, but also a rewarding experience for the right person.
The Downers Grove Historical Society, in partnership with the Downers Grove Museum, has planned a week’s worth of entertainment and family-friendly educational events during this year’s 2023 Founders Day Celebrations.
Whether you enjoy local history, golf, biking or walking, there is something for everyone.
The event series takes place April 29 to May 6. Thanks to numerous sponsoring organizations, most are free.
On Saturday, April 29, enjoy “Farm-to-Table: Heirloom Gardening” at the Downers Grove Museum from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
You can also play in the Pine Hollow Golf Tournament’ starting at 11 a.m. at the historic Belmont Golf Club.
Then at 3:30 p.m. the same day, the recently renamed Belmont Golf Club will be honored as the 2023 Historic Site of the Year.
Celebrate the historic Tivoli Theatre and its owners at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 2, at the Tivoli Theatre.
Owners Willis and Shirley Johnson will be honored as the 2023 Downers Grove Historical Society Historians of the Year followed by the premiere screening of “History Happens Here: The Tivoli Theatre,” a documentary about the Johnson family. Tickets are $5 or free for historical society members. Refreshments will be available for purchase.
On Wednesday, May 3, learn about creating a sustainable life when the Downer Grove Public Library hosts local homesteaders who will discuss “Homesteading in the Burbs” at 6:30 p.m.
Stop by Alter Brewing at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 4, to attend “Our Precious Grove” for a chance to learn strategies to protect our oak trees, presented by Friends of the Edwards House and Pierce Downer Heritage Alliance.
On Founders Day, the historical society will be honoring Abigail Root as the 2023 Founder of the Year at a graveside ceremony at 11:30 a.m. May 6 in the Main Street Cemetery. Abigail was one of the early pioneer wives and mothers who helped carve out the community of Downers Grove. She was a farmer in her own right as she tended the farm during her husband’s absence during the Civil War and after his death. She also will be honored by the DAR as a daughter of a Revolutionary War soldier as Abigail’s father fought for American independence in the Revolutionary War.
There’s a lot more happening on Saturday, May 6!
Join the Lyman Woods Wildflower Walk at Lyman Woods for a hike in Lyman Woods or get moving with the Windy City Walkers for Walk the Grove, a self-guided 5K or 10K walk starting at the museum at 9 a.m.
Or if you would rather bike, just show up at 9:30 a.m. at Fishel Park for the Family Bike Ride. Both the walks and the bike ride will go past historic sites in Downers Grove and finish at the Main Street Cemetery in time to honor Abigail Root at 11:30 a.m.
Rounding out the activities on May 6, the Downers Grove Museum will host Country in the Park on the museum campus from noon to 3 p.m.
Enjoy the popular petting zoo, educational booths, live Civil War era music and historic children’s games. All three Museum campus buildings will be open that day.
More information about these events and registration details can be found at www.DGHistory.org.
Source: dailyherald.com
Gardening help in the palm of your hand: 5 apps, phone tips – The Associated Press
Gardening is a way of growing vegetables. It can be organic, farming or modern.
Getting the soil right and selecting the right vegetable for your area are key to organic gardening success. The best way to do that is to test the soil before planting.
You’re in your garden and notice a beautiful, new-to-you flower that has popped up somewhere unexpected — pull it or leave it?
Or perhaps an unfamiliar garden pest has ravaged your tomato plants.
Or you experienced the deflating discovery of a gray-white crust on the soil in your seed-starting tray.
Where do you turn for help when you’re on the go? Technology, of course.
The latest crop of gardening apps and cellphone features may surprise you with their expert garden-planning and planting advice, pest and disease troubleshooting, instant plant and insect identification, and even integrated artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
Free, reliable apps like the ones below will place an abundant harvest of valuable information at your (green) fingertips.
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Seek by iNaturalist
Created by a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society, this crowd-sourced, image-recognition app is as straightforward as can be. Snap a photo of a plant, insect, animal or mushroom — or even just point your camera at it — and get its taxonomic classification (from kingdom to species), common name, seasonality, a count of how many observations of it have been recorded on the app, and a short description, typically pulled in from Wikipedia.
Results are based on visually similar images provided by users from around the world, and if the app can’t identify your photo, it solicits IDs from other users.
You can also find lists of plants, insects and animals in your area, add your observations and connect with experts.
And if you’re up for a game, you can earn badges for observing different types of species and participating in challenges. Find it in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. Free.
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From Seed to Spoon
Scroll through the illustrated menu of fruits and vegetables, and add what you’d like to plant to your virtual “Grow Box.” Then get seed-starting, transplanting and harvesting dates for those plants, customized for your location as assessed via GPS.
The free version of the app also provides information on each crop’s frost tolerance and sun, water and fertilizer requirements, plus seed-saving instructions, companion planting advice, common pests (including organic treatment suggestions), recipes and links to video tips.
Each plant-profile screen also includes links to recommended products sold by Park Seed, which owns the app. The premium upgrade ($4.99/month or $46.99/year) provides real-time answers to your questions from an AI “Growbot,” a personalized planting calendar and more. Find it in the Apple App Store, on Google Play and at app.seedtospoon.net. Free, with an optional paid premium upgrade.
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PictureThis
Snap a photo, and the app will ID your plant and provide a plethora of information about it. You’ll instantly see its health assessment, scientific classification, worldwide distribution, common uses, harvesting time (if applicable), propagation methods, and sunlight, soil, water and fertilizer requirements. You’ll also get answers to frequently asked questions about the plant, and can seamlessly share your photo and plant description with friends via text.
After exhausting an initial allotment of free IDs, you’ll be prompted to watch ads or share the app to earn more unless you upgrade to the premium version ($29.99/year). Concerned about an ailing plant? Take a picture, and the free version will tell you what’s wrong. You’ll need premium to see recommended treatments. The upgrade also provides comprehensive plant-care guides, 24/7 access to a team of botanists and unlimited plant IDs. Find it in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. Free, with an optional paid premium upgrade.
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Google Lens
This tool uses image recognition technology to quickly and seamlessly identify plants, trees, shrubs, animals and insects on the go. It also pulls up Google search results about the subject.
Access it directly from the Google app or via the Google Search bar in your mobile browser on Android and Apple devices. Then tap the camera icon to the right of the search field, take a photo with your phone’s camera or select an image from your photo library. Lens can also be used to identify other objects, places, and even products for online comparison shopping. Free.
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Apple Visual Look Up
This AI-powered feature for iPhone and iPad will ID plants, flowers, weeds, insects, birds and other animals depicted in any photo. Using an Apple device running iOS16 or iPadOS16, you can access the feature by tapping an image in your Photos library, then tapping the “info” button beneath it (the letter “i” in a circle with stars above it).
The tool also works directly from the Mail, Messages and Notes apps (lightly tap an image to expand it, then tap the starred “i”) and in the Safari browser (tap and hold any photo). The app will display details about the image, including a “Look Up” option alongside a leaf, paw print or bug icon, depending on what the tool has detected (other categories include art, landmarks and books).
Tap the icon for Siri Knowledge details about the subject and similar images found online (if there isn’t a star above the info button, Visual Look Up isn’t available for that photo.) Free.
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Jessica Damiano writes regular gardening columns for The Associated Press. She publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. Sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.
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For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.
Source: apnews.com