What are top things that you do or have learned about gardening that you would most like to share.
For me (no particular order):
1. the value and pleasure in making my own compost, recycling what our own yard provides.
2. Raising earth worms and watching them get established in beds and throughout the yard.
3. The diversity of plantings and success that can be achieved via container planting.
4. The benefit of selecting morning sun only locations for hot summer plantings.
5. The value of high density interplanting techniques.
6. The value of succession planting.
7. Importance of using mulch.
8. The use of synthetic soil in raised beds that are not in contact with the ground, where tree roots are a problem
9. Developing a year round garden.
10. Developing season extending strategies which give summer veggies 8-9 months per year
11. Harvesting immature garlic during the winter, after stored garlic has declined in quality
12. Discovering the benefit of a cold frame.
13. Falling in love with arugula as a 12 month crop.
14. Searching for the perfect gardening tool (Ez hoe near the top of the list).
15. Discovering bulk perlite (4 cubic foot) to loosen synthetic soil.
16. Making wildlife friendly plantings including fruiting shrubs for birds and host plants for both butterflies and their larvae.
17. Growing crops inside one or two of the chicken runs. The soil gets worked and fertilized by the birds fall through spring plus enjoys a 6 foot fence. The chicken's summer forage area is located in a shady wooded area. I only grow smooth skinned and or taller growing plants in these areas (corn, sweet peas, trellised smooth skin cukes, watermelon, indeterminate tomatoes.
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hendi_alex
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 3604
- Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:58 am
- Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina
Living into my "retirement" years.
I think I would have made it
, without gardening. As it is, there has been so much emphasis on exercise and diet. Let's take the boring one first, exercise.
I'm fairly good at getting out for walks during the winter. If, there isn't unsafe footing. If there is snow to shovel, I can do that. But, in gardening season! There's all that stretching - with purpose.
Diet. Is there really much of anything more important for our health? Gardening puts so much emphasis on fruits and vegetables! My gardening has gone on a long time. I benefited from growing up in a home where my mother was something of a health nut
. That's stayed with me in the best way through my gardening and it's influence on what I eat.
Steve
I think I would have made it
, without gardening. As it is, there has been so much emphasis on exercise and diet. Let's take the boring one first, exercise.I'm fairly good at getting out for walks during the winter. If, there isn't unsafe footing. If there is snow to shovel, I can do that. But, in gardening season! There's all that stretching - with purpose.
Diet. Is there really much of anything more important for our health? Gardening puts so much emphasis on fruits and vegetables! My gardening has gone on a long time. I benefited from growing up in a home where my mother was something of a health nut
. That's stayed with me in the best way through my gardening and it's influence on what I eat. SteveWhat I have gained from gardening
1. An appreciation and sense of achievement when growing and eating fresh herbs and produce. And realizing how much people are missing out on flavor and nutrients when they get their produce from the store. Also eating more of what I grow, but still learning how much to plant so I can use it all.
2. Growing my own vegetables I am both shocked at the prices at the market (and it has tripled sarince ethanol was introduced to gasoline), and a little bit ashamed now when I actually have to buy a tomato, ginger, or green onion since I usually have it on hand right outside my door.
3 I have learned to crank up the organics in the garden, adding more compost than in previous years.
4. The value of planting nectar (alyssum, fennel, lavender, verbena, dill, basil, just about anything that stays in bloom a long time and has small tubular flowers), and biocidal plants like marigolds and mustard to attract beneficial insects, feed the soil web, and reduce the need for chemical pest control
5. The value of a soil test. Rather than adding fertilizer and lime on a schedule, I did a couple of soil tests and learned, I needed only to add nitrogen, no phosphorus (probably for years), and no more lime or chicken manure.
6. Soil tests do not directly measure nitrogen, but I can tell by the size of the greens and roots that I have a lot left over. So I have learned the value of planting a scavenger crop after planting a high nitrogen user like corn to scavenge the excess nitrogen.
7. That less pesticides, more nectar plants, means more beneficial insects doing a much better job of controlling the pests than with chemicals and a lot cheaper too.
8 Inter cropping to make the most out of the space I have.
9. Drip irrigation, self watering planters, mulch (I use newspaper, it is what I have the easiest access to), organics, water barrels and looking at the plants and seeing if they can go another day to save water. Plants that get watered daily stress out faster than plants that get a deep drink less often.
10. Once in a while trying something new in the garden like broccoli and jicama. Finding out I still don't like radishes.
11 Learning that I actually get bigger plants if I spaced them for their mature size even though the garden looks empty when they are small. I actually planted shorter crops between the longer crops so it would not look quite so empty.
12. The value of sunscreen, long sleeves, chap stick, drinking water, and gloves when working long hours in the hot sun
13. Still planting too many heads of lettuce and cabbage at the same time. Need to plant fewer, more succession, and tolerating the empty space for a bit.
14 Much better to plant what is relatively easy to grow and expensive to buy and buy carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic which are cheap; relatively hard to grow and I cannot grow enough for a continuous supply. Planting 3 tomatoes (more than enough for me), kale, swiss chard, trochunda beira, hot peppers, eggplant, citrus trees,and squash, which give me abundant and repeat harvests over a long period of time. Corn (takes up a lot of room and time, but it never gets wasted), beets, spinach, baby bok are seasonal but worth the space for me.
15 Fennel is not a team player, but it is a workhorse in the garden with edible licorice flavored bulbs, leaves and seed and attracting and providing habitat for many of the beneficial insects of the garden patrol. It is also an aphid trap plant. If you don't see any aphids on it you don't have any. I haven't seen aphids anywhere in my garden for three years.
16 Finding the right cultivars to suit your location and taste.
17 Trading seeds and produce and making friends
1. An appreciation and sense of achievement when growing and eating fresh herbs and produce. And realizing how much people are missing out on flavor and nutrients when they get their produce from the store. Also eating more of what I grow, but still learning how much to plant so I can use it all.
2. Growing my own vegetables I am both shocked at the prices at the market (and it has tripled sarince ethanol was introduced to gasoline), and a little bit ashamed now when I actually have to buy a tomato, ginger, or green onion since I usually have it on hand right outside my door.
3 I have learned to crank up the organics in the garden, adding more compost than in previous years.
4. The value of planting nectar (alyssum, fennel, lavender, verbena, dill, basil, just about anything that stays in bloom a long time and has small tubular flowers), and biocidal plants like marigolds and mustard to attract beneficial insects, feed the soil web, and reduce the need for chemical pest control
5. The value of a soil test. Rather than adding fertilizer and lime on a schedule, I did a couple of soil tests and learned, I needed only to add nitrogen, no phosphorus (probably for years), and no more lime or chicken manure.
6. Soil tests do not directly measure nitrogen, but I can tell by the size of the greens and roots that I have a lot left over. So I have learned the value of planting a scavenger crop after planting a high nitrogen user like corn to scavenge the excess nitrogen.
7. That less pesticides, more nectar plants, means more beneficial insects doing a much better job of controlling the pests than with chemicals and a lot cheaper too.
8 Inter cropping to make the most out of the space I have.
9. Drip irrigation, self watering planters, mulch (I use newspaper, it is what I have the easiest access to), organics, water barrels and looking at the plants and seeing if they can go another day to save water. Plants that get watered daily stress out faster than plants that get a deep drink less often.
10. Once in a while trying something new in the garden like broccoli and jicama. Finding out I still don't like radishes.
11 Learning that I actually get bigger plants if I spaced them for their mature size even though the garden looks empty when they are small. I actually planted shorter crops between the longer crops so it would not look quite so empty.
12. The value of sunscreen, long sleeves, chap stick, drinking water, and gloves when working long hours in the hot sun
13. Still planting too many heads of lettuce and cabbage at the same time. Need to plant fewer, more succession, and tolerating the empty space for a bit.
14 Much better to plant what is relatively easy to grow and expensive to buy and buy carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic which are cheap; relatively hard to grow and I cannot grow enough for a continuous supply. Planting 3 tomatoes (more than enough for me), kale, swiss chard, trochunda beira, hot peppers, eggplant, citrus trees,and squash, which give me abundant and repeat harvests over a long period of time. Corn (takes up a lot of room and time, but it never gets wasted), beets, spinach, baby bok are seasonal but worth the space for me.
15 Fennel is not a team player, but it is a workhorse in the garden with edible licorice flavored bulbs, leaves and seed and attracting and providing habitat for many of the beneficial insects of the garden patrol. It is also an aphid trap plant. If you don't see any aphids on it you don't have any. I haven't seen aphids anywhere in my garden for three years.
16 Finding the right cultivars to suit your location and taste.
17 Trading seeds and produce and making friends
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applestar
- Mod
- Posts: 30541
- Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
- Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)
I just posted this link in another thread, but may apply here too.
- pre-germinate seeds to get a head start and to maximize planting space in a small garden by sowing only viable and germinated seeds. Nice even sunflower row, peas, corn, etc.
Subject: 2014 pre-germinating/sprouting experiment Peas, Corn, Curcs
- pre-germinate seeds to get a head start and to maximize planting space in a small garden by sowing only viable and germinated seeds. Nice even sunflower row, peas, corn, etc.
Subject: 2014 pre-germinating/sprouting experiment Peas, Corn, Curcs