Gardening

GROWING your own vegetables is both fun and rewarding. All you really need to get started is some decent soil and a few plants. But to be a really successful vegetable gardener — and to do it organically — you'll need to understand what it takes to keep your plants healthy and vigorous. Here are the basics. "Feed the soil" is like a mantra for organic gardeners, and with good reason. In conventional chemical agriculture, crop plants are indeed "fed" directly using synthetic fertilizers. When taken to extremes, this kind of chemical force-feeding can gradually impoverish the soil. And turn it from a rich entity teeming with microorganisms insects and other life forms, into an inert growing medium that exists mainly to anchor the plants' roots, and that provides little or no nutrition in its own right. Although various fertilizers and mineral nutrients (agricultural lime, rock phosphate, greensand, etc.) should be added periodically to the organic ga...

These days, more and more people are discovering the joys of playing in the dirt—though grown-ups might prefer the term “gardening.” Food gardening is especially hot, with nearly 20 percent more households hopping on the food-growing train during the past five years. Renewed interest in gardening may be due in part to the local food movement. Locavores are interested in having greater access to healthy, high-quality food, knowing where their food comes from, and supporting the environment and the local economy. Gardening (especially organic gardening) certainly fits the bill! Gardening has also been shown to have significant health benefits. For starters, it encourages people to engage in other behaviors and activities that promote wellness  . For example, gardeners consume more fruits and vegetables than non-gardeners  . When gardeners choose to grow food organically, they’re reducing their exposure to pesticides and potentially eating produce with a h...

One of the most mystifying things that can happen in your garden is when a plant gets a disease. How did it happen? Will it spread? Will all my plants die? How can I get rid of it? The most important thing to understand about disease prevention is something called the disease triangle (drawing, right). Disease can only happen when three things coincide: you have a plant that can get sick (a host), a pathogen (like a fungus, bacterium, or virus) that can attack the plant, and environmental conditions (like humidity or drought) that promote the disease. If any one of these things is not present, the disease will not happen, so prevention involves knocking out at least one side of the triangle. Rather than waiting for a problem to pop up in your garden, consider the best defense against disease to be a good offense. What follows are 10 ways you can eliminate at least one side of the disease triangle and keep your plants healthy. 1. Examine plants carefully before buying Good...

A healthy garden requires regular maintenance throughout the growing season. Most plants require sun, water and nutrients to produce well. Gardeners must mainly worry about nutrients and water if they plant in a bed with the proper sun exposure. General plant upkeep combined with pest and disease prevention usually doesn't require a large time investment if you dedicate yourself to doing the garden chores weekly. A neglected garden requires more effort and time to return to good health. 1 Mulch the garden bed soon after planting. Use a 2-inch layer of wood chips, straw or pine straw in flower or vegetable gardens. Use a plastic mulch in warm-season vegetable beds. Mulch prevents weeds and helps keep moisture in the soil. 2 Water the garden regularly, providing the amount of water necessary for the specific plant varieties. Most vegetables and some flowers require approximately 1 inch of water from irrigation or rainfall per week. Check soil moisture at lea...