I Grow my Plants for my Well-being!

Living in harmony with nature means to enjoy the benefits of plants and take advantage of their virtues. In addition to their decorative qualities or their taste, plants offer us many surprises! Here is a short guide for gardening at home, or for working in your orchard.

Indoors

Some indoor plants are known as they purify the air in our homes. They act as filters and restore or improve the atmosphere. Among the most effective we can mention palms, ferns, the Philodendron, begonias, banana trees, the ivy, cacti, or azaleas.To maximize their effectiveness, install them in groups of three or four – in individual pots or get large trays. Mix the species and distribute them around the room: you get better results.

In the Garden

To prevent invasions of ants inside the house, plant, near the entrance, herbs such as fennel or marjoram. Lavender and mint are beneficial on this purpose.To keep mosquitoes away, you can rely on plants like lemon trees. You can combine thyme with basil leaves too. Place them on the edges of windows to prevent them from entering, or around your tables to keep them away from summer dinners.Tip: Put the plants in the sun during the day. They will spread more perfume – which multiplies their effects. Watering plants at dusk, will give you the same result.

In the Vegetable Garden

Calendula is reputed to keep insects away insects. You can sow it in the garden confidently. Mix it with carrots, cabbage, and lettuce.By growing sage, rosemary, thyme, or parsley, you keep slugs away and offer a delicate bouquet of flavors to your meals! If you want to enjoy your raspberries and chase the worms that could chew them, plant forget-me-nots nearby as they repel them.Tomatoes, cabbage, beans, or potatoes will be saved if you plant nasturtiums not far from them.

For the vegetable garden next to your house, you can choose the sunniest place, but it must be as well protected against bad weather. A source of water is necessary nearby.

In the autumn, the land must be dug at a depth of 30-40 cm. In the spring, the land is worked using a rake. The land is then divided into plots and an area must be reserved to evergreen vegetables like lettuce or horse radish.

The rest of the land will be divided, according to the vegetables you want to grow, paying attention to the temperature and the light, in the case of the plants, which need them.

Your garden must look like a piece of heaven because you are well aware that is a source of health, as you will never find in a store the fresh vegetables you grow. Besides, a garden can remove your stress, taking into consideration that plants are alive. Have you ever wondered why you feel refreshed after a trip in your grandmother’s vegetable garden? The answer may be metaphorically related to the spirit of the plants that provide beneficial energy to anybody.

Growing a home vegetable garden has many benefits.  For gardening enthusiasts, growing your own vegetables is a fun and rewarding hobby.  For others, it’s a way to ensure you are eating safe produce because you know where it comes from.  Controlling the application of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides is easy; if you don’t want these things on the food you eat, then you can simply choose not to use them.  For this reason, home vegetable gardening is the organic food lover’s dream.

But in addition to these benefits, did you also know that home vegetable gardening is a good way to save money?  For as little as a $40 investment at your local garden center, you can grow over $600 worth of fruits and vegetables in your own yard.  During tough economic times, those numbers can really help out your pocketbook!

It is estimated that the number of U.S. families growing their own produce will increase by approximately 40% this summer.  So what kinds of fruits and vegetables are these families growing?  What are the best plants to put in your vegetable garden?  We’ll evaluate some of the more commonly home grown produce items and review the basics of how to get started growing them yourself.

Tomatoes:Tomatoes are by far the most popular home grown produce item.  They are extremely versatile and easy to grow. They don’t require a lot of care, and will produce well, even under less than desirable conditions.  Tomatoes can be grown in almost any soil type, as long as they receive 4-5 hours of sunlight per day.  Regular watering is preferable, though they will produce fruit even in dry conditions.  Tomatoes can be purchased as small plants from your local garden center, but they are also quite simple to grow from seed.  If growing from seed, you should start your plants indoors about 8 weeks before the last frost in your area.

Squash:Squash is another popular choice for home vegetable gardeners because of its heavy yields.  One squash will easily feed a family of 3-4 people, or if you want to do some canning, 3 or 4 plants will be sufficient.  There are many varieties of squash to choose from.  Summer squash such as zucchini is a popular choice.  Winter squashes such as acorn or butternut squash are harvested later in the fall and have a long shelf life when stored in cool, dry conditions.

Peas and Beans:Peas are a cool season crop that should be started as early as possible in the spring, after the last frost.  Most types of peas are climbing vines, which means you’ll need to provide some type of support such as a small trellis.  Beans are available in both pole (climbing) and bush varieties, depending on how much space you have and what your needs are.  Depending on the variety of peas and beans you choose, some will require shelling, meaning that the outer hull must be removed and discarded before consumption.  Other peas and beans such as snow or sugar peas and green beans have edible pods.

Peppers:Peppers are another popular choice for home vegetable gardening, especially because they can be a very expensive produce item to buy in the grocery store.  The most important thing to remember about growing peppers is that they require plenty of warm weather.  If you live in a northern climate with cooler, shorter summers, then peppers probably aren’t the plant for you.  Peppers require at least 6-8 weeks of very hot temperatures in order to produce reliably.  Good fertilization is also important for the best yields.  Once the plant is established, be sure to choose a fertilizer rich in phosphorus and potassium rather than one with too much nitrogen.

With a little patience and a green thumb, you too can be well on your way to growing your own vegetables at home.  Home grown vegetables cost less, usually taste better, and you have the satisfaction of knowing you grew them yourself!  So what are you waiting for?  Buy some seeds and get your home vegetable garden started today!

The following sowing and transplanting methods are available to the amateur gardener who wants to grow tomatoes outside without the use of a greenhouse.Tomato seeds can be sowed directly into a seed bed. However, this is by far the riskiest method in temperate climates. It is only suitable for those areas which have a last frost date in MARCH. In all other areas, the soil is unlikely to be warm enough at a time which will allow the tomato plant to develop and fruit. The soil temperature must be at least 15C (60F) at the time of sowing and during germination. It is possible to utilize a cloche or cold frame. This will warm the soil prior to planting and protect the plants in their early stages. Using a trowel, dig a shallow drill 2.5cm deep (1in) deep in the prepared bed. Place two seeds every nine inches in the drill and cover the seeds to a depth of 2.5cm (1in). Water well if the conditions are at all dry.The seedlings should emerge in about 10 days. When they are 5cm (2in) tall, thin to one plant every 45 to 60cm (18 to24in).Sowing tomato seeds indoors is one of the commonest methods and produces good results. Sow each seed (two if you have a surplus) in a 7.5cm (3in) pot, lightly covering them with potting compost. Ensure the compost is moist but not waterlogged. Place them in a warm (up to 27C or 80F) draught free place – the seedlings should emerge in 7 to 10 days time.Immediately this happens, move the plants to a light position (a light windowsill is ideal), but out of direct sunlight to avoid burning the leaves. Where more than one seed has been sown per pot, thin out the least healthy seedling as soon as they are large enough to handle. When the roots start to come through the base of the pot (about 4 weeks after sowing), transfer the plants to larger 12.5cm (5in) pots. The plants will be large enough to transplant outside about 7 weeks after sowing the seed.Sowing tomato seeds outdoors in pots is similar to sowing the seed indoors in pots with the exception that the pots are stored outside whilst the seed germinates. The advantage over indoor sowing is that space is not a limiting factor to the amount of plants to be raised.Timing and position of the plants are the key factors to success. Keep the pots in the warmest part of the garden (against a house wall is ideal) to hasten germination and subsequent growth. The use of cloches will assist greatly in retaining heat. Timing is the most difficult aspect of this method – keeping the plants under cloches and or against a house wall will raise the temperature and permit earlier growing, but it is not an exact science. The basic rules of no frost and a minimum soil temperature of 15C (60F) must be achieved.One combination which can work well is to sow the seeds inside (where they do not have to be in a light position) and the transfer them outside when the seedlings emerge.Just before transplanting the tomato plants to their final position drive a strong stake into the ground 5cm (2in) from the planting position. The stake should be at least 30cm (1ft) deep in the ground and 1.2m (4ft) above ground level – the further into the ground the better the support.Where tomato seedlings have been started in pots, they should be transplanted into their final positions when they are about 15cm (6in) high. Two to three weeks prior to this, the plants should be hardened off.For each plant, dig a hole (45cm / 18in apart) in the bed to the same depth as the pot and water if conditions are at all dry. Ease the plant out of the pot, keeping the root ball undisturbed as far as possible. Place it in the hole and fill around the plant with soil. The soil should be a little higher than it was in the pot.Loosely tie the plant’s stem to the support stake using soft garden twine – allow some slack for future growth.

Ah, to this day I still remember my first gardening experience. It was such a disaster that I didn’t think I would ever want to garden again. I almost decided to turn my casual hobby into the most rage-inducing topic you could possibly bring up to me. It all started a few weeks after I moved in to my first house. I was excited just to have my own grass to mow, since I had been in apartments and condos for quite a while. In between plans to paint walls and renovate the inside to exactly how I like, I thought it would be a good idea to start a fruit garden so that I could have some fresh produce and put my yard to use. At that point I didn’t really know anything at all about gardening. But still in my spunky youthful years, I decided I didn’t need help. How hard could it be to start a garden and grow stuff? After all, it happens in nature all the time and nobody even has to do anything. I already had a grassless patch in my yard where it looked like the previous owner had attempted a garden. But any attempt they had made turned out to be an utter travesty. The area was full of rocks and weeds, with no signs of any agreeable plants. I spent several hours of work spread over several days to clear out the entire area, leaving nothing but dirt. At that point, however, I didn’t realize the difference between “dirt” and “soil”. I was dealing with barren, hard, nutritionless, and unforgiving land. I made some attempt at making my garden look nice; although I think even Martha Stewart would have had difficulties. I took some stained boards that were sitting in my basement (quite convenient, no?) and used them as a border for my garden, to keep out all the pests that couldn’t jump more than a foot (I figured I would be safe from lawn gnomes). I used the pile of rocks I had collected from the garden to make a creepy shrine looking thing in front of it. I don’t know what I was thinking when I did that. I went to the store that very day, and picked out whatever looked tasty. Strawberries? Sure! Watermelon? Yeah! I hacked away a hole in the rock-hard ground and poked the seed in. After that, I think I watered it faithfully every day for several weeks before realizing that it was not going to grow anything. But even after I had that realization, I continued to water in hopes that my seeds would pull a last minute sprout on me. But I knew there was no hope, and I was heartbroken. After all those hours of pulling up weeds and tossing rocks into a pile, I had no fruit to show for my labor. So, feeling dejected and betrayed, I logged onto the internet and searched for a guide to gardening. I quickly ran across a site that led me to realize the true skill required for gardening. It was then I learned about soil consistency, nutrients, ideal watering conditions, seasons, and all those things. After I read up on my area and how to grow fruits, I learned exactly what to do. I learned how to get the ideal soil, when to plant the seeds, how much to water, etc. Just a night of browsing the internet and printing off sources, and I was totally ready for the next planting season. If you’re in the position I was, and you’re just itching to start a new garden… I urge you to learn from my mistake. Make sure you do plenty of proper research on the types of plants you’re trying to grow, along with the climate. Spend money on good soil, good fertilizer, and good garden tools. Hopefully you don’t have to go through the emotional disaster that I went through.

We get pleasure from our gardens in many ways. Perhaps you like the simple life with simply flowers to look at, a table and chairs and lawn space for the kids to play. You may get pleasure from breeding your own plants and flowers and maybe even passing these onto friends and family or even selling some at local markets etc. However, one of the pleasures that a lot of people get from their gardens is through growing their own vegetables. There is something quite rewarding about making Sunday dinner in the full knowledge that some or maybe even all the vegetables on your plate were taken fresh from the garden that morning. Just going outside on a Sunday morning into your own garden and picking your own carrots, peas, cauliflowers, brussels sprouts and potatoes can leave you with a great sense of satisfaction.

Certainly if you go to the shops to buy your vegetables they will never be as fresh as the ones you pick yourself from your own garden. Many of the vegetables you pick ready for including in your Sunday dinner are also very tasty to eat in their natural state. In fact I have often found myself nibbling on peas while I have been picking them for dinner. They taste great fresh out of the pod. If you have a greenhouse, why not have a go at growing your own tomatoes and other things like peppers and chillies. In fact, it’s great to be able to wander outside and just pick yourself a fresh tomato to eat whenever you like.

There is another advantage to growing your own vegetables too and that is that you know exactly what went in to creating them. You can be 100% certain whether or not pesticides and other chemicals were used on your crop. This is great knowledge to have, especially if you have children and want to be careful about exactly what you are feeding them. No matter what the labels say in the shops, this is something you may never be 100% sure about when you buy vegetables from the shop.

There are some sprays you may want to use to keep pests and diseases at bay but even so, you are in control. Make sure you read the labels and you can be sure exactly what you are spraying on your plants. Wherever possible though, try and go for a natural solution. For example, when growing tomatoes one of the most common problems is white fly. You can reduce their impact quite a lot though by growing French Marigolds close by. This is because the Marigold’s pungent odour will mask the scent of the tomato plants and therefore they will not as easily attract the pest. There are other companion plants you can use to keep different pests away from your other vegetables as well.

If you are concerned about disease then it is within your control to select the variety of vegetable to grow that will flourish in your environment and also be resistant to disease. It is this control that allows you to do anything you want in your garden. So, if you have a spare piece of ground in your garden, why not consider growing a few vegetables for yourself. You will be rewarded time and again if you do.