Right from the level of planting a couple of tomatoes in a large pot to the level of indulging in a large scale commercial plantation area dedicated to the gardening of a wide variety of plants like lettuce, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, tall beans etc, vegetable gardening is done on all scales.

Gardeners, while taking up vegetable gardening must be well aware about its significant aspects like the climatic conditions, proper soil analysis and the duration of growth seasons. It is true that the same vegetables that are cultivated in Florida can be produced in Alaska as well. However, both varieties will differ considerably in taste, sizes and duration of growth. The vegetables that are grown in Alaska may take shorter time due to the shorter and cooler growth season in Alaska as compared to Florida’s. With the advancement in cultivation science, it is possible to grow any vegetable in any part of the world with the assistance of methods like hot house effect etc. through which the climatic factors conducive to vegetables growth can be controlled effectively.

Owing to all these factors, unless the gardener is using very advanced and expensive methods of cultivation, he should be well aware of the seeds and plants that can be most easily grown in certain weather and soil conditions. This is where the importance of planning and general awareness comes into picture. Taking a small example, lets pick up a tomato. Tomatoes can be grown in a small pot in your backyard as well as in large array of fields dedicated to tomato cultivation. The difference will lie in the size and juice of the tomato. While the one that is grown in a small pot will be smaller in size, more apt for making dishes, the ones that are cultivated in fields, may find a place in McDonalds Hamburgers because of their large sizes and juicy nature. If one wants to grow large tomato at home, he will need equally large pots with each one dedicated to single tomato plant. Such option may not be very feasible sometimes due to space constraints and the proper care required.

Gardeners can be impatient too. Don’t believe it. We’ll tell you how. As explained earlier, vegetable gardening can be best done outdoors. However, in case, the gardener has had success with a certain plant on the mini level, and has tasted it to confirm as well, he would generally tend to go large scale with the same plant without giving much thought to the pertinent factors. In such case, too much may be attempted in one season and the eventual result can be as disastrous as the entire crop failure. A gardener venturing into vegetable gardening for the first time must consult the other gardeners in the vicinity. It may also pay off nicely to get friendly with the staff at the local garden center. They normally possess huge experience and can come handy in resolving lot of doubts of the starters.



By: Abhishek Agarwal

About the Author:

It is a well known fact in the organic gardening community that red worms create some of the best compost that you can use in your garden. It is actually a very simple process which I am going to oversimplify to get to the main point. The process is that you procure a container, fill it with dirt, some kind of bedding, add water, add worms, and add organic waste and this will set you on the path to having worm created organic compost. The problem with this process is that most people that do this often have the space and the time to make this process work on a continual basis. Some very large organic farms have entire hangers dedicated to the composting process. But what if you live in an urban area? Here are a few tips on how you can make a worm bin that will work in any urban or rural indoor situation.

The first thing you will need to do is go to the store and purchase some plastic storage boxes. They do not need to be very large but they should be sturdy. If you do not have a drill, you will need to borrow one or buy one in order to make ventilation holes. Do you read the newspaper? If so then you have what you need in order to begin the composting process. And finally, aside from dirt, you are going to need some red worms. About a pound of them will do.

Two very important things are air and water. All creatures need air and water to exist and composting worms are no different. The first thing you must do is cut large holes on the bottom of each bin with a keyhole saw. If you are following this particular format, you are going to need two bins because you are going to stack them on top of each other. This gets into separating the two worm end products, which will be talked about later.

Next you need to drill ventilation holes so that the worms can get air. Remember that these holes are not going to be as large as the drainage holes that you just drilled on the bottom of each container. The holes for water drainage should be at least an inch in diameter. Ventilation holes on the other hand can be one quarter of an inch so make sure that you have enough drill bits to choose from. The number of holes should be adequate to properly ventilate and drain the entire bin.

You will need to get your daily newspaper out now. If you just raked the lawn, all the better. Used shredded newspaper and leaves, get them wet, and place them so that you have about four inches of this material on the bottom. Also, if you have ever raised any kind of bird, you will know that they need grit in order to eat their seeds. Likewise, worms also need a small amount of grit to help digest their food. You can purchase corn meal or sand or if you have some dirt available from outside, throw a handful in the mix and they will be just fine.

If you are using two containers, you will do the following: take the lid from your top container and place it on the ground. Place the second container that does not have worms, but has dirt, on four blocks on top of the lid. Pending of course that you did not drill holes in the bottom lid, this will act as a catchall for excess water that will drain out of the containers over time. This liquid is what you may have heard being called worm tea.

The container with the worms will be placed on top of this with a sheet of cardboard that is soaked on top of the organic material and worms. Finally, to conclude this journey to make a worm bin, place your remaining lid over the top of the cardboard and seal it and check on it every couple days.

Worms actually do each quite a bit of food depending upon how many you have. With about a thousand worms per pound, and with each thousand worms eating half their body weight a day, you will need to add at least half a pound of organic material to your worm composting bin every few days in order to keep them happy, full, and processing compost.

Other things to check that you will learn over time is how moist soil is, and you might also check how many worms have replicated since you began the whole process. Too many worms in one small area can cause them to die if bin conditions and food amounts are not properly maintained.

You are done. You have just created your very own worm bin and now that you know how to make a worm bin, you might think of showing a friend or even making another one and expanding on your composting endeavor. Hopefully, you may use some of the organic compost or even the worm tea that will be produced over time to fertilize any plants or garden vegetables that you decide to grow during the year.



By: Chris Dailey

About the Author:

Farming has been one of the main jobs that people have used over time in order to ensure their survival. Keeping animals for meat and dairy products and growing crops to make bread and to sell; farmers around the world constantly struggle to be self-sufficient in all that they do.

While the popularity of farming has declined in recent years, there is still a great need for it in the modern world. Without farms we would not have the meat that we eat and we would not have milk, cheese or cereals either if farming was to stop completely. However, in order to run a farm there are vital pieces of equipment needed. This equipment is not always cheap but without it, farming simply wouldn’t be possible.

The Equipment Needed to Run a Farm

The main piece of equipment you think about when you think of a farm is a tractor. However, while a tractor is essential to any farmer, there are other pieces of equipment that are often needed, too. Some types of farming equipment needed include:

- Planting equipment

- Soil Cultivation Equipment

- Fertilizers

- Harvesting Equipment

The above are just a selection of the types of equipment which may be needed. With each different type of equipment, there are a number of different pieces of machinery that is needed. It all depends upon the type of farming you do.

If you simply raise animals on your farm then you will not need any harvesting equipment. However, if you also grow crops or if crops are your main source of income then you will need harvesting equipment, as well as fertilizers and pest controllers to keep the crops healthy.

Growing crops can be hard work. You will need a tractor in order to tow the different machinery around. You will then need something such as a manure spreader which will enable you to fertilize the crops. You could not cover a whole field simply by walking around aimlessly with a hand-held spreader. So a big machine such as a manure spreader which attaches to a tractor is what you will need.

As well as a fertilizer, you will also need a soil cultivator machine. This obviously is needed before you use a fertilizer as it helps to prepare the soil for the crop seeds. Then you will need an harvesting piece of equipment in order to cut the crops and take them back to the farm house to prepare them for sale. It really is a lot of hard work and without the right machinery it could take hours and be an impossible task.

Overall, farming equipment is extremely important for anybody looking to run a farm. However, you will need to research the types of equipment that you will need as different types of farming requires different types of machinery. If you are stuck for a good brand of machinery then it would be a good idea to take a look at the John Deere range.



By: Alex Olson

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If planting is your thing, but you have run out of room to do it in your outdoor space, then you’re probably feeling a little disappointed. However, there is a really easy to way to satisfy that green thumb of yours, all you have to do is purchase some lovely planter boxes. They provide you with that extra planting space, plus are nice decorative accents.

With planter boxes, you can basically plant anything that you want in them since they come in a variety of shapes, styles, and sizes. For example, maybe you just want to plant some smaller flowers, like perennials, then you could go with one that is smaller in size that has a round shape. These would be perfect for placing in the dead spots throughout your outdoor space, like in the corner of your deck or next to a patio door or something. Or, maybe you want to plant some herbs, yet don’t have any room in your garden to do it. A wonderful option for you then would be some mid-sized planters, like ones that have a rectangular shape and are about three to four feet long and two to three feet wide. You could plant all your herbs in them and can even put them right up against your house so you don’t have to walk for when a recipe calls for some.

Basically, with planter boxes there are just a lot of options. Some of the others available include ones that have a vase shape, ones that are designed to be placed right on your window sill, and some that are v-shaped that are perfect for planting smaller shrubs along with partitioning off different spaces in your backyard. For example, maybe you want your patio to be separate from your lawn, well, just put the v-shaped ones at the corners or your patio and then there you have it, a partitioned off space.

In addition to letting you plant as much as you want, planter boxes are also extremely appealing to the eye and can really add to the overall look and feel of your outdoor space. What makes them so stunning is the fact that they are crafted out of a variety of materials that have a fabulous appearance. Like, you can get ones made out of Redwood that feature a gorgeous cinnamon red tone. Or, you can get others that are made from Teak wood that has a fantastic natural golden tone when new that weathers to a beautiful, distinguished silver gray color over time. Along with these two wood options, there are other materials that are also very pleasing to the eye including those made from stone along with plastic infused with color. To check out the different options, just hit the Internet for some online shopping. Breezing through all the choices is easy and when you come across something you like, it is generally at the best prices possible.

So, if you like to plant and have run out of room, turn to lovely planter boxes to give you more planting space. There are a slew of options available, all of which are sure to please.



By: Jesse Akre

About the Author:

If you desire of gaining knowledge about horticulture and if you are determined about it there are lot of knowledge you can achieve yourself without anyone helping you .You can get horticulture related knowledge through books

Irrespective of who the author of the book is, it will definitely have sufficient information about horticulture to start with. There are several institutions that provide licensed courses on cultivation of plants.

There may be some variation in degrees from one institution to another ,but usually the students of horticulture courses will be made to learn all about horticulture for which classes would be conducted and also will be subjected for practical’s where students will be required to get personally involved in the work.

The horticulture programs are designed in such a way so that it prepares the student who are graduates or event students who have just received the degree (high school or college or university). They are well prepared to pursue their careers as a landscapist which involves designing as well the up keeping of the gardening pursuits. This means, the maintenance and improvement of the new and already existing landscapes.

Here in both the situations the person can make money by taking it as a job or doing it as a business on contract basis.

Landscapes can also be re improved or the design can also be changed from time to time to match the present trend and contemporary designs.

There are different programs extended by horticulture courses. Amongst them are an associate’s degree, a common degree and a certificate course in producing an associate degree, a universal certificate, a certificate in production and installation and care.

Most of the horticulture courses place an important and special importance and significance on plant extension and breeding, the plant recognition, nursery, conservation culture, surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots management, illness of plants and infections, the cultivation of trees for the production of timber and the designing, building and upkeep of landscapes.

Other classes may contain practice of woodwork, designing of gardens, scientific study of soil, scientific study of plants, and that studies of the principles of transmitting information and the methods by which it is delivered (as print or radio or television etc. and data processing.

Students who graduate may even be called for

A chemical applicator’s examination:

If you are expecting diploma which is something more than the level of education that college students are assumed to have attained; some educational institutions extend classes in the branch of architecture, dealing with the arrangement of land and buildings for human use and enjoyment, for which there is a Bachelor’s degree.

Graduates will also able to work towards a Graduate level, certificate course of study in designing of Landscape.

There are landscape gardening courses for study that are planned for both a person who pursues an activity in their spare time for pleasure and also for the experts.

Night classes are often Obtainable or accessible by means of a program of instructions designed primarily for adult students who participate part-time. A learner who is enrolled in an educational institution or university for horticulture are commonly individuals who have expressed a concern and he quality of having great facility and competence in field related with The cultivation of plants and all the plant life in particular.



By: Abhishek Agarwal

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Though hydroponic growing began thousands of years ago, aeroponics is fairly new to the world of agriculture. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1940’s that scientists first successfully grew plants using air as a medium and it wasn’t until the 1980’s that new technology allowed aeroponics to be viable on a large scale.



Aeroponics may seem simple enough. After all, they sell miniature aeroponic systems through infomercials and on the Internet. But for the more serious hydroponics growers, aeroponics presents some unique challenges. First, it is a more delicate system and any mechanical malfunction or power outage will cause your roots to dry out very quickly. It is also an expensive system. But it also comes numerous advantages which should offset the costs and be more appealing to almost any hydroponics grower.

No Medium – Strictly speaking, an aeroponics system actually uses air as a medium. This has numerous advantages. First, it saves you a great deal of labor. It can be extremely labor intensive to line all of your grow trays or buckets with your medium every growing season. It can also be difficult to clean out your medium to make sure that there isn’t any leftover organic material. Second, it is more beneficial to the environment. With no medium to dispose of, less hydroponic waste gets dumped in landfills. Since most bacteria that can potentially damage your plants usually grow and multiply in your medium, this can be less of a concern with aeroponics. And of course, it can be much easier on your pocketbook over time. You don’t need to worry about purchasing more growing medium every growing season so there is no need to purchase any.

Efficient Use of Water – The plants grow in an aeroponic system by dangling their roots in a growing chamber that is kept at one hundred percent humidity. This is maintained by using misting nozzles that periodically spray more misted nutrient solution into the growing chamber. This means that very little water has to be used because the roots only suck up as much moisture as they need. This means you won’t waste any of the nutrients or fertilizer you use in your reservoir. In fact, one of the reasons NASA became interested in aeroponics as a means to grow food aboard space shuttles is its efficient use of water.

Constant Contact With Air – With more traditional hydroponic growing, you have to sometimes bear in mind that some media hold air better than others which might require the mixing of the media or changing the medium entirely in order for your plants to properly thrive. This is never an issue with aeroponics. Since your roots dangle in the air, you can always be assured they always receive enough oxygen to grow to their full potential.

Faster growing – Some studies have shown that this method of growing can actually help your plants germinate and grow faster. When combined with the right type of nutrients, this can translate into extremely fast harvests and can allow you to enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of your labor much much sooner.



By: Michael Straumietis

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Every spring, whether northern or southern hemisphere, many people begin to think about gardening. Some have been gardening every year since they were old enough to help in the family garden back of the house. Others have begun gardening only recently. Most have questions, though.

How to make an organic garden is a question that arises more frequently these days, as people become more concerned about health issues. They want to know that the produce they are eating is good for their health and safe for their families to eat. They want to begin an organic garden.

Many books have been written about how to make an organic garden, and we cannot compete with them in one article, but we offer here 7 basic steps for beginners.

How to Make an Organic Garden – Step #1

Begin your organic garden by learning your plant hardiness zone. You will need to know your climate, and what organic produce will grow best there. If you live in the United States, you can access the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map on many gardening sites or seed websites. Planting directions on seed packets are based on the average last frost date. The last frost date for your area will be the last spring day when you might have a killing frost.

How to Make an Organic Garden – Step #2

After you have determined your local climate, it is time to choose a location on your property for your organic garden. The area most convenient to your back door may not be the best for an organic garden. Look for a location that never has standing water. Your plants need good soil drainage. Check to see if the plants will be protected from the wind. Will your organic garden be close to water so you can easily care for it?

How to Make an Organic Garden – Step #3

Next, you will need to test the soil for your organic garden. In the U.S., check online for your county or state Home/Agricultural Extension Service. They will guide you in taking soil samples from different areas of the location you chose for your organic garden. Be sure you label each sample of soil as to part of the garden, and send it to be analyzed. This analysis will help you know what to add to the soil for a great harvest. Remember, one of the basic things you will do in your organic garden is to feed the soil so the soil can feed the plants.

How to Make an Organic Garden – Step #4

Order seeds, using information about your climate and soil. Be sure you order certified organic seed so that you can have an authentic organic garden. A good online seed supply source is Main Street Seed and Supply. You can buy as little as a teaspoon of seed for a small organic garden, or pounds of organic seed for farming. While ordering seeds, be sure to include onions, garlic, and marigold flowers. These plants can be a first line of defense in an organic garden’s pest control program.

How to Make an Organic Garden – Step #5

While you wait for your seeds to arrive, you need to prepare the organic garden bed. If there is grass growing in the location, removed it first. Use a sharp, flat-edged spade to slice out the sod. Shake off as much soil as you can, and remove the grass from the area. Till the soil to a depth of about 12″, and work in organic fertilizer, checking your soil analysis to know what amendments are needed.

How to Make an Organic Garden – Step #6

If you have organic seedlings to plant, water them well the day before you intend to plant them in the organic garden. The best time to set them in the garden is a still, overcast day. If you must plant on a sunny day, take care not to stress the plants more than necessary. Use the seedlings’ pots to determine how deeply to plant them.

If you are planting seeds in your organic garden, follow instructions that come with each type of seed.

How to Make an Organic Garden – Step #7

Apply organic mulch soon after planting. Mulch conserves water, cools soil, and keeps weeds at bay. If you use compost, chipped bark, shredded bark, shredded, shredded leaves, or straw, your mulch will also improve soil quality in your organic garden. Apply 2 to 4 inches of mulch, being careful not to get it too close to the plant stems. Mulch can rot the stems. It can also become a hideout for nibbling little garden mice.

Organic Garden Tip:

Label your plant rows and keep a record of your garden’s progress. Save seed information for everything in your organic garden. A garden journal, with photos throughout the gardening season, will help you know what you want to repeat or change in next year’s organic garden.



By: Anna Hart

About the Author:

Growing your own herbs is easy once you know how, and can add colour and scent to your garden or windowsill all year round. Ceri Thomas, editor of Which? Gardening gives advice on stockists and suppliers, and all you need to grow three of the most popular herbs basil, coriander and rosemary.

Supermarket herbs

Many common kitchen herbs are now available from supermarkets as potted plants, but they can be tricky to keep going. However, the majority of these, such as basil, coriander and parsley, are actually a collection of seedlings crammed into the pot rather than a single established plant. You can use this to your advantage and it can be an easy, convenient way to get a lot of herb plants. Just separate the individual seedlings, and re-pot separately.

Growing from seed is the cheapest method for annual herbs. Cut parsley, coriander and chives to within 5cm of the base before re-potting, and separate the individual plantlets and re-pot each one in its own container. Take care when dividing coriander, parsley and basil, as they all resent having their roots disturbed. If basil has become leggy, you can re-plant it more deeply to encourage stronger growth.

How to grow basil

You can start sowing basil towards the end of March in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill. It’s very sensitive to cold and will blacken at the slightest hint of frost, so make sure your early sowings are protected. Once the young plants reach about 15cm tall, remove the shoot tip to encourage more leafy growth and a bushier plant. When the warmth of June arrives, you can sow another batch outside and move any indoor plants outside to the patio. Make a final sowing in August to give you fresh basil into autumn.

Alternatively, you can buy basil in posts from the supermarket or garden centre. Look for bushy plants with lots of side-shoots and no sign of flowering. You can then make more plants by taking cuttings.

Keep your basil in the sunniest spot that you can find – preferably a south-facing windowsill or patio, once there’s no risk of frost. Water sparingly and remove flower spikes – if these are allowed to mature, your plants will stop growing new leaves.

Pick individual leaves from the top of the plant and feed with a liquid fertiliser afterwards. Then leave it to grow again. If you find that you have a bumper crop at the end of summer, pick the lot and make it into pesto. It freezes really well if you leave out the parmesan, which can be added before use.

Recommended varieties of basil

Sweet basil, often sold as ‘Sweet Genovese’ has the classic basil taste. Greek basil is compact and bushy with tiny leaves, so there’s no need to chop them before cooking. ‘Green Ruffles’ has the classic basil flavour with a crinkly leaf texture, while ‘Thai basil’ is spicy and hot.

‘Cinnamon basil’ has a flavour rather like aniseed sweets, or for a fresh lemony tang try ‘Mrs Burns’ Lemon’. For ornamental use in window boxes or edging beds, try ‘Purple Ruffles’ for its crinkly purple leaves.

How to grow coriander

Coriander doesn’t like being moved, so it’s best sown where you want it to grow, either in the ground or in large pots. Sow in late spring or early summer, and in August sow some more in pots on the windowsill for a supply during autumn and winter. Well-drained soil in a sunny spot is essential for growing coriander, and if you’re growing it indoors on a windowsill, give it plenty of light and don’t over water.

Coriander is annoyingly quick to flower and set seed before it has produced much leaf, so it’s best to sow little and often. Watch out for fine, feathery leaves – a sure sign the plants are about to flower.

Keep picking mature leaves as and when you need them. Regular cropping should delay flowering, but once the plants do flower, allow them to set seed. The seed is ripe when it stops smelling unpleasant. Collect it and use in cooking, keeping some to sow for another crop.

Recommended varieties of coriander

If you want the leaves choose ‘Cilantro’ and ‘Leisure’, which are slow to form seeds. If it’s seed you’re after, go for Moroccan coriander.

How to grow rosemary

Rosemary is widely available as established plants in garden centres for planting in spring. For more plants, take cuttings from young shoots in spring or summer. Rosemary is slightly tender and needs a sunny, sheltered position in well-drained soil; it does well in chalky soils. If you are growing it in a container, add some grit to the compost to aid drainage and don’t over water. After flowering in March, trim into shape and feed.

You can pick leaves from this evergreen all year round. It’s a good idea to dry some leaves at the end of summer if you want to use lots of rosemary over the winter, or add a sprig to olive oil for salad dressings.

Recommended varieties of rosemary

The Common rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is the hardiest form and most used in cooking. ‘Miss Jessopp’s Upright’ is a more vigorous and upright variety and makes a good focal point in a herb bed.

The Prostratus Group are low-growing forms ideal for the top of a wall or rock garden. Corsican rosemary has a more pungent scent.



By: Annie Deakin

About the Author:

When you think about gardens, what comes to mind? Lush, green lawns? Vibrant flowerbeds bursting with a kaleidoscope of color? Or maybe exotic plants for as far as the eye can see? Once upon a time, those things were some of the only characteristics of a garden. To have a garden, you had to have land to spare. But not anymore. These days, even if you live in an apartment you can have a garden. Container gardening lets you enjoy all the benefits without needing the space.

Whether you choose to grow flowers, herbs or vegetables, you can be successful at container gardening. If you follow these tips, you’ll be enjoying all the benefits of a garden in no time, no matter where you live.

Tip 1: Not just any container will do

Experienced green thumbs will tell you that a garden can be grown in any container. Although that may be technically true, some containers will offer more chances for success, particularly if your thumb is of another shade. Inexpensive plastic may be a natural go-to for those who don’t want to break the budget on their gardens, but those containers can deteriorate easily in the sun, and they are not built to last. However, if you are looking for something temporary and lightweight, this can be good option. Terracotta pots are more durable but will require you to water the plants in them more frequently, as terracotta dries out much more easily than other materials.

You may want to get creative and use something unconventional, like a teapot, to plant a small container garden. This is a great idea, as long as you remember to ensure it has a drainage hole in the bottom. If your chosen container doesn’t already have a hole in it, you can always drill one.

Tip 2: Cleanliness is next to godliness

Before you get up to your elbows in potting soil, it’s important to sterilize the container in which you will plant your garden. This is particularly important if you have purchased second-hand planting containers; the plants that grew there previously may have had a disease that can affect your plants, too. All you need is an environmentally sound, all-purpose cleaner; just rinse and pat dry before planting.

Tip 3: Plan, then plant

Much like traditional gardening, the placement of container gardens will depend on what you plant. Do your research! Some plants will require full sun, others partial shade, and still more might flourish in just about any conditions. The good news is this: unlike traditional gardening, if you find that your container garden isn’t flourishing in the chosen spot, you can pick it up and move it!

Knowing this ahead of time can do more than help you determine where you will place each container. You also can roadmap where you will place each plant within each container. For example, you wouldn’t want to plant tall-growing plants around the edge of a container with shorter ones in the middle. Similarly, plants that trail over the side of the container should be planted, obviously, on the perimeter of the container.

Tip 4: When in doubt, fertilize!

Plants love to be healthy. If you want to get full and beautiful flowers out of your container garden, it’s imperative that you keep up the soil’s nutrient levels. To do that, you’ll need to fertilize – a lot. It wouldn’t hurt to fertilize every time you water. If you are growing vegetables, manure tea is an effective fertilizer, even though it doesn’t sound very appealing. Manure tea is essentially water extracted from manure, with soluble nutrients. It increases the organic content of the soil, which, in turn, improves drainage and helps the soil hold on to the nutrients.

Tip 5: You can lead a plant to water

Container plants need to be watered more often than a standard garden, particularly during extreme heat and dryness. Watering container plants is a daily affair. Keep adding water until you see some spill out through the drainage holes in the pot. Then stop! Go any further and you’ll be in soggy soil territory. If you aren’t the type to dedicate some time each day to watering, consider getting a self-watering device. These contraptions have a reservoir at the bottom that keeps your plants hydrated for a few days at a time.

Container gardening can afford you the chance to have a beautiful garden without a lot of space. And your thumb can be a little less than green. With a little bit of time and planning, container gardening could be just the form of expression your thumbs having been craving – no matter what color they may be.



By: James Mitchell

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Vegetable and flower gardeners love to get a jump on the spring planting season by starting their own plants from seed. There are several benefits that come from doing so, including a much wider variety of plants that are available only through seed, as well as a cost effectiveness that will not be found from purchasing started plants. One of the biggest reasons that gardeners fail with starting their own seeds is not that the seeds do not germinate, but that they are grown under poor light and do not thrive. These baby plants do well when grown under artificial grow lights.

Some plants take a long time to reach a plantable size outdoors from seed, while others need only a short time. You can find out how many weeks to start your seeds before your area’s last average frost date by looking at the information on the back of the seed packet.

You will want to use a light, loose seedling mix to start your seeds. You will also need several small containers for seed starting. You can reuse food containers if you poke holes in the bottoms of them, or you can use plastic four-inch pots. Moisten the seedling mix so when you grab a handful and squeeze some water drips out. Fill the pots with the starting mix, tap the container up and down on the table to remove any air pockets, and fill so that there is a little empty room left at the top. Use your finger to smooth the surface, and then it is ready to plant. Plant your seeds approximately as deep as twice the diameter of the particular seed. Some little, fine seeds should simply be pressed into the top of the soil and not covered, whereas other seeds require darkness to germinate, and should be covered well with soil. You can find out what your seeds require in gardening reference books. Use a fine sprayer to spray water on the top of the planted pots, then cover them with plastic loosely, and keep them out of direct sunlight.

The seed packet will also tell you how many days it takes for the seedlings to emerge. After you see they have germinated, remove the plastic and grow them on under bright light. HID lamps are excellent for this purpose, because they most closely resemble sunlight than any other type of light bulb. They offer the correct color spectrums that plants need. HID lights will need a lamp ballast to control the flow of electrical current in the bulb. Keep the light 2-4 inches over the plants, and as they grow raise the lights to keep them at the proper height.



By: Susan Slobac

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