Gardening Stuff - Tips & Tricks

Marglobe tomatoes

   So many of you have started gardening recently and I have been asked by several of my family and friends to share my gardening tips and tricks. As promised here they are... Get comfy.

 -disclaimer - I do not get paid to promote or sell any of these products. I just like them.

Mulching

I used to not mulch my garden beds because I preferred to rototill / turn the soil manually each spring/fall to amend. However in the last few years I have learned that this is actually not helpful for the good microbes and the health of your garden soil so now I do mulch but with partially completed compost in the fall. I may turn the soil in the fall after everything is out but not before that. This allows the compost to breakdown over winter and have it ready in the spring. It also prevents it from burning tender plants in the spring. (see homemade compost below) 

Here is some info on that. These are listed in my personal preference from preferred to least preferred…

1. Partially Completed Compost - This is hands down my most favorite. This is the stuff that is almost done composting, but still has some small sticks and stuffs in it. It will add some great nutrients and microbes to your soil, act as a mulch to keep weeds at bay and eventually will be soil itself. Its a set it and forget it kind of gig. If you are lucky enough to have a large compost pile and can add a 2-3" layer of this yearly to your beds - your garden will thank you! Spring and fall are great times to do this in the garden.
2. Wood Chips – at least 6 in deep (8-12 is better – see back to eden gardening on google). Pull them back to plant and leave them pulled back until young plants are well established. Always plant into the soil not the mulch. Cheap way to get them (by cheap, I mean FREE) is if you see a tree service in your neighborhood ask them if they will dump the woodchips in your driveway. Many times they will. Some municipalities also have places you can obtain wood chips for free. Bring a truck and a shovel for this.
3. Straw (NOT HAY – Hay is full of seeds) – Pull back to plant until young seedlings/seeds until they are well established. It does a good job of keeping back weeds.
4. Leaves – Pull back to plant until young plants are well established. Some leaves (Oak for example) are acidic so be aware of this as some plants do not like this.
5. Grass – At least 2-4 in deep. I don’t like grass for two reasons. One it mats so thick that water and nutrients can have difficulty penetrating and two grass tends to hold seeds so you could end up battling rogue grass a bunch. BUT some people swear by it. I prefer to compost it.

SOIL Amending and Seed Starting

Why amend? Well your plants use up nutrients and this can help replenish those. Also over time you may notice your garden beds sinking a bit. This is due to soil loss (when pulling up plants/roots/weeds) and the break down of organic material. 

I mix soil to amend my garden beds (4-6 wks prior to planting) and to fill my pots every spring. 

 

BASE:

This is an equal parts blend. So basically I fill 3 painter’s buckets (5gal) with each of these and then mix them up together for a 1:1:1 blend per 3x10’garden bed. You certainly can use more but I have good soil so it is just an amendment for me.

 

Black Kow Composted Cow Manure (about 50lbs worth)  

Peat (or Coir)     (this bag will last you for AWHILE)                                                                

Perlite  (this bag will last you for AWHILE)                                                                        

THEN I add the following and mix in to the above mixture

Other Add Ins:

Worm Castings (whole bag)   I will top dress my tomatoes and other veg every 6-8 wks in the summer with this (throw a handful around the base of the stem)                                

Homemade Compost: I will also top dress my plants/veggies with homemade compost from my mature compost pile to supplement nutrients. (compost that is not broke down can burn tender plants due to high amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Letting compost break down completely first will prevent this.

Mycos                   (1-2 Tbsp)                            

Powdered Egg Shells:                     
(1-2 cups for the whole garden bed,  1 Tbsp for each tomato hole I plant in)       

I save my egg shells, let them dry and then grind them up in a coffee grinder to powder them. I save them in a mason jar all winter long. By spring it is full. 

This can be used as soil amendment (especially for Tomatoes & heavy calcium feeders like brassicas). If you are fighting with blossom end rot in your tomatoes your soil is likely lacking calcium. I put a tablespoon sprinkled in the hole of each tomato seedling when I plant each time. 

It also can be used similarly to DE (diatomaceous earth) as insect control – see below for more info on that.

 

I use the following for my seed starter mix 

I start most of my plants/flowers/vegetables indoors so this works well and I know it comes bug free. (verses soil from outside)

Compressed Soil:    Just add water and it has everything to have happy seedlings. I like this product a lot. Also for whatever reason it always smells like chocolate to me when I add the warm water. (no complaints there)

Worm Castings:   Adds extra nutrients for a healthy robust seedlings.  I add about 1-2 cups to the compressed soil after I have "decompressed it"

Handful of Perilite  Keeps roots aeriated to prevent root rot

Mix well and use for seed starting. I have had great success with this blend.

 

Gardening Methods:

I use the Stake & Prune method for tomatoes. Here are a couple of videos you can watch on that:                     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvX9x-BFG34   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH0uegIOoK4 &

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmKK136KH7Y

 

I also use The Square Foot Gardening Method with Succession Planting: 

be aware – square foot gardening is not just about spacing. It is specific about soil blend (see the 1:1:1 ratio listed above) and pruning methods so your plants are not starved for nutrients and not shading/choking each other out.  There is a book called The Square Foot Gardening Method by Mel Bartholomew that teaches all of those things. Good read.

Keeping Track of Things & Knowing When... to do things...

The Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener's Handbook: Make the Most of Your Growing Season y Ron Kujawski

I love this book.  It is an easy to follow week by week to do list. It breaks things down from your last frost date.  So if you move, it is still applicable. I find it very helpful as a checklist of what to do and when, thus the whole experience is less overwhelming. It tells you when to start your seedlings indoors, when to transplant, when to plant, how to manage pests, and LOTS of great tips.

This is another wonderful tool that I keep tucked right in the book above. Clyde's Garden Planner! It is a sliding calendar of when to plant what based on frost dates. One side is Spring the other Fall planting dates. You will know just when to start your tomatoes and peppers indoors and when to transplant!

If you aren't sure when to start seeds indoors, when to transplant, when to harvest - these tools will make this MUCH easier 

Organic Pest Control:

These are non-toxic and organic methods only. I do not use any chemicals.  

Please Note:  These can affect pollinators (protect our bees!!!) so I apply in the evening when they are not busy and when it won’t burn the plants in the sun. Also I avoid applying on the actual flowers of the plants so our polinators are safe there too.

NeemOil             

BT (AKAThuricide)     - works great for cabbage worms and hornworms      

BeneficialNematodes   

Food Grade DE aka Diatomaceous Earth –   you can use eggs shells too, but DE tends to be more effective. Remember you will need to re-apply if it rains.

 

BUG SPRAY - 

As far as wearable bug sprays go, TerraShield is my hands down go-to personal bug repellant. Made with essential oils and safe for skin.
I find it works very well.

Gardening Channels I follow:

The Gardening Channel with James Prigioni 

Roots And Refuge 

Huw Richards 

MIGardner  

Groups: 

Find a local gardening group on Facebook. You will be amazed what you find and learn.

Seeds: 

MANY seed companies will send you a FREE Seed Catalog if you go on their website and request it. I currently have around 12 different ones sitting next to me. 

They serve a couple of purposes. 

• They all tend to have great tips and tricks for different things.
• It helps to pass the winter months as I dream about my garden.
• It helps me visualize what I want to grow or what I want to seed swap for.

Speaking of Seed Swapping....

This part is so great if you are on a budget. Join a local seed swap group or two on Facebook and swap seeds.  

Few tips:

• Purchase a few varieties of seeds. (think heirloom varieties)
• I recommend posting that you have 1 seed type available at a time for trade and see what that brings. This will keep the confusion down on what needs to be mailed out. Most people will respond with "I am interested and I have.... to swap" You can get pretty much anything you are looking for this way. 
• Example: "I have 6 packets of 25 seeds of Giant Noble Spinach for trade."
• For larger seeds (corn, beans, melon, squash, you get the idea) be sure to pack in bubble wrap. Also mark the envelope NON MACHINABLE
• I find thank you cards that you can purchase in packs of 6-10 at the dollar store work great for these swaps. I just put my seeds in a mini zip lock and a couple slips of bubble wrap and I am good to go.
• Make sure your seeds are dry when you send them. Nobody wants moldy seeds.
• Read your seed swap group rules. Some groups have rules about numbers of seeds, mailing procedures and such.

BE WARNED: Seed Swapping is FUN and Dangerous. I started with 8 sets of seeds, I currently have close to 300... Yes that happened this winter... I store them in baseball card sheet holders that I snagged from my husband LOL (Thanks honey!)

The up side to that is I now have some really cool varieties of tomatoes, flowers, peppers and much more that I am looking forward to growing this year. AND I didn't pay for much more than postage on the majority of them.

So there it is... Lots of info and lots of resources to keep your garden and your experience growing.

 

Someone I know and respect often signs off with the following and it seems appropriate here. 

    "Bee Good To Each Other and Keep Those Hands Dirty"...               

                                                           ~Angela