Growing vegetables successfully requires a combination of some basic knowledge and a good deal of trial and error to see what will grow in your patch of soil. As the blogger at Gardenly described it starting seeds is much like baking in that everything must be properly timed and organized whereas planting out is more like cooking where there is room to improvise. I found these 15 tips over at the Ba-BaMail website.
When growing a vegetable garden, there?s a lot of information to absorb. If you visit a local garden supply store you?re sure to get overwhelmed by all the expensive products and equipment you think you need. The truth is you don?t need half of it if any at all. Here are 15 insider?s tips for growing a successful vegetable garden. Some of them are so logical you can?t believe you didn?t think of them yourself.
1. Use nature to fight bugs – You don?t need to use chemicals to keep bugs away from your crops. Planting marigold flowers not only yields attractive flowers, but it keeps pests away from tomatoes and cabbages. Purchase lady bug and preying mantis eggs sacs from a garden supply store to fight garden pests organically. ?Release them in the garden during the spring. Similarly releasing spiders can also be beneficial as they can eat your human weight in bugs. ?You can also put up build houses to encourage birds to nest in your trees. These also help control the insect population of your garden.
2. Control weeds with newspaper, dried leaves, and mulch – Don?t let the weeds dig their roots deep into your vegetable beds. It can become hard to control them once they are embedded and their roots can get tangled with your vegetable plants. Get ahead of this problem by laying mulch around your plants once they have developed medium sized roots. Another solution is to surround the soil around the plant with bunches of dried leaves, preventing any small weeds from growing. It also helps to lay sheets of newspaper before you lay mulch or topping soil. This way weeds or grass can?t come through the mulch.
3. A tip for large pumpkins ? If you want to grow a large pumpkin its best to restrict one or two pumpkins per plant. After you picked off the other pumpkin flowers, pump your plant with lots of nutrients and water. You can purchase nutrient fertilizers to ensure your pumpkin has the opportunity to grow large and healthy.
4. Use hanging baskets to grow cherry tomatoes ? This tip works for gardeners and even those who don?t have much ground or live in apartments. By growing cherry tomatoes in a hanging basket, the tomatoes will be easy to pick as they grow downwards on the sides of the basket. Make sure the plants are well watered and to always pick off the tomatoes to ensure they keep producing fruit.
5. Grow cucumbers with a trellis – Giving your cucumber plant space to crawl up a fence or onto trellis is beneficial for growth. They will yield far more cucumbers this way than growing them on the flat ground.
Read the rest at Ba-BaMail
Image source: Normanack
