Many beginner gardeners think that growing their own transplants – starting plants from seed and growing them on until they are ready to plant outside – is too hard. The truth is, if you have the right equipment and information, and you start with easy vegetable varieties, it’s not hard at all. The easiest and [...]
Why start plants from seed? It’s far cheaper than buying seedlings if you want lots of plants You can get many varieties which are not available at nurseries You’ll have seedlings ready at a time which suits you You can grow organic seedlings without paying a premium price for them Seed-starting methods There is a [...]
If you grow a lot of transplants, you’ll rapidly realize that it takes a lot of potting soil! While baby seedlings which have just sprouted do best in a special seedling mix, older transplants need something with a bit of food in it for them, and don’t need a sterile mix. So, you can mix [...]
Once you’ve grown your own seedlings, or bought them at the nursery and brought them home, what’s the best way to get them in the ground and growing well? There are two main parts to this – the state of the transplant, and the state of the place you’re going to plant them into. The [...]
I have my strawberries in the hoophouse this year (keeps the deer off them) and today we ate the first four ripe ones. Mmmmm yummy! And about a month earlier than they would be in the open garden.
Planting already-started plants (called transplants, starts, or seedlings, depending on where you are) is a great way to get a head-start on the season and is especially useful for plants which need a longer growing season than you have. If you have the space and expertise you can start them yourself, but you can also [...]
Direct seeding outside has many advantages for most kinds of vegetables, though it’s not the best solution for all of them. While planting transplants gives you a head start on the season for veggies that need heat, and can help you get the most out of succession planting, some types of vegetables hate being transplanted [...]
Snap peas are the kind with the thick, sweet, crunchy, juicy edible pods (not the thin edible pods – those are snow peas or sugar peas). There are a number of different varieties available, though many people call them by the name of the original commercial variety, Sugar Snap. Growing snap peas is easy, even [...]
As you choose what to plant in your vegetable garden, you’ll need to consider several things. The main factors to think about are: What you like to eat (and how much of it, and when) What grows well in your local climate What will growi n your specific conditions What’s most worthwhile to grow at [...]
There are a number of different ways to make a new raised bed vegetable garden. Some work better on a larger scale, some depend on having soil present already, and some use more recycled materials. Assuming you’ve already found a location with the needed sun and water access, the first question is, what’s already there? [...]
