Tag Archives: Gardening

Herb Garden Kits – A Practical Way to Start Your Garden

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Nowadays most things are available in kit form, including everything you need to start a new herb garden indoors or outdoors, on the patio or in the garden itself. And alongside herb garden kits you will find a myriad of other garden kits including strawberry garden kits, salad garden kits, flower garden kits, and mushroom growing kits. This is the perfect way to start your very own cottage garden.

When you shop around, you will find that some kits come with seed trays and peat pellets, while others are supplied with garden stackers as well, which are ideal for people who have very limited space. The bottom container of stackers sits snugly on a base tray for drainage, and then each consecutive container stacks over the next in such a way that you are left with pockets for planting herbs or anything else that takes your fancy. These are ingenious and also very attractive, and some can even be hung.

Some kits that are intended for the windowsill (usually the kitchen sill) come with pots, trays, peat and seeds, for example parsley, basil and chives. These may or may not be biodegradable.

But it is not just the means of growing plants bought in a kit that differs. Herb kits are also available with a variety of different types of herbs to choose from. For instance, an indoor culinary herb garden will come with an assortment of herb seeds like parsley, thyme, coriander (cilantro), basil, dill, oregano, sweet marjoram, onion chives and garlic chives, savory, mustard and sage. These are, of course, great for cooking with.

Or perhaps you would prefer a kit that has herbs you can use to make various herbal teas. Herb seeds that would be included in a kit of this kind might include lemon balm, catnip, rosemary, peppermint, chamomile, fever few, lavender, lemon grass, marigolds, lemon bergamot (Monarda citriodora), angelica and anise.

A medicinal herb seed kit, on the other hand will probably include things like Echinacea, milk thistle, peppermint, chamomile, yarrow, St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum), burdock, fever few, lemon balm, valerian, and perhaps even cayenne. Be sure to do some research when growing medicinal herbs though, because they have very specific uses.

Usually herb kits will contain many more seeds than you will be able to plant in a garden stacker or in containers. But you do not have to germinate the whole lot at once. The beauty of peat pots is that you can pop a couple of seeds only into each pot and then transplant the seedlings when they are big and strong enough to survive. Then you can start the whole process again, and be assured of having fresh herbs on hand month after month.

What is Square Foot Gardening

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Square foot gardening is the idea of growing plants in such small containers. This method is mostly used by plant growers who sell baby plants which will be transferred to people’s homes.

Normally, square foot gardening uses an open-bottomed box that will be filled with proper amount of soil and will be divided into sections using a grid. To be able to grow multiple types of crops, each grid will be planted with different kinds of plants. The number of plants that we can plant will depend on how many square grids we will create with our box.

Because we are using just a small space for this gardening, we may want to plant just the ones that don’t require too much space. Herbs are perfect for this kind of gardening. Plants like tomatoes might need a full box for each seedling. Basil, mint, and oregano together with other herbs can be placed in just one box. Strawberries on the other hand can be planted on four in one box. Climbing and tall plants like the beans and maize can also be planted but always keep them within the ends of the box and not in middle grids.

It is advised to use plant beds and boxes that are smaller. This way, we can easily get our crops from the middle sections. Larger ones may require us to step on the plants when harvesting the crops.

Square foot gardening only needs less work compare to other gardening methods. Other conventional gardening uses heavy tools just in order to loosen the soil, but in this case, the soil remains loamy and loose. Weeding task is also easier for it takes only seconds to weed an entire box. Plants will also be more productive, because the soil has more nutrients for each plant to have without having much competition from different growing plants.

This gardening method also saves more water. The plant boxes can hold water so it does not require frequent watering. Also, the water will be spared directly into their roots so less amount of water can be wasted.

What’s best with this method is that it is pesticide and herbicide free. Just natural insect repellents are needed, and no chemical and synthetic products. This kind of gardening is absolutely organic so it maintains the naturalness of the crops and keeps both the plants and the gardeners healthy.

We can also place the plant box anywhere we like. If we are artistic enough, we can even decorate our gardens with playful designs by placing the boxes in unusual areas like above the table, n a divider, or any other tops.

Those are all the ways and benefits of this interesting gardening method. Now we can start our own square foot gardens from our homes and back yards.

What is Square Foot Gardening

Posted on by

Square foot gardening is the idea of growing plants in such small containers. This method is mostly used by plant growers who sell baby plants which will be transferred to people’s homes.

Normally, square foot gardening uses an open-bottomed box that will be filled with proper amount of soil and will be divided into sections using a grid. To be able to grow multiple types of crops, each grid will be planted with different kinds of plants. The number of plants that we can plant will depend on how many square grids we will create with our box.

Because we are using just a small space for this gardening, we may want to plant just the ones that don’t require too much space. Herbs are perfect for this kind of gardening. Plants like tomatoes might need a full box for each seedling. Basil, mint, and oregano together with other herbs can be placed in just one box. Strawberries on the other hand can be planted on four in one box. Climbing and tall plants like the beans and maize can also be planted but always keep them within the ends of the box and not in middle grids.

It is advised to use plant beds and boxes that are smaller. This way, we can easily get our crops from the middle sections. Larger ones may require us to step on the plants when harvesting the crops.

Square foot gardening only needs less work compare to other gardening methods. Other conventional gardening uses heavy tools just in order to loosen the soil, but in this case, the soil remains loamy and loose. Weeding task is also easier for it takes only seconds to weed an entire box. Plants will also be more productive, because the soil has more nutrients for each plant to have without having much competition from different growing plants.

This gardening method also saves more water. The plant boxes can hold water so it does not require frequent watering. Also, the water will be spared directly into their roots so less amount of water can be wasted.

What’s best with this method is that it is pesticide and herbicide free. Just natural insect repellents are needed, and no chemical and synthetic products. This kind of gardening is absolutely organic so it maintains the naturalness of the crops and keeps both the plants and the gardeners healthy.

We can also place the plant box anywhere we like. If we are artistic enough, we can even decorate our gardens with playful designs by placing the boxes in unusual areas like above the table, n a divider, or any other tops.

Those are all the ways and benefits of this interesting gardening method. Now we can start our own square foot gardens from our homes and back yards.

3 Important Qualities of an Organic Gardener

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Gardening is not as simple as planting seeds into the soil. It takes a lot of effort and perseverance to grow plants that are healthy and sturdy. In this article, we have a look at three qualities needed to become a successful organic gardener.

The first important quality of an organic gardener is to be knowledgeable. There is a lot of scientific knowledge that one will have to acquire when learning about organic gardening. For example, it is important to understand the dynamics of soil acidity. If the soil becomes too acidic due to factors such as rain then that can have a negative impact on the growth of the vegetables and fruits. Since an organic gardener will also avoid the use of chemicals such as pesticide, it is important to understand the dynamics of a natural ecosystem. One is more likely to face annoying pests such as caterpillars and groundhogs. Before you start a garden, it is important to have preventive measures in place to reduce the level of damage these pests and rodents have on the garden.

The second important quality of an organic gardener is to be attentive. It won’t do a lot of good for the plants if you only maintain them once every few days. Organic plants need to be taken care of everyday. You need to make sure the plants are receiving the right amount of water. You are also need to make sure there are enough nutrients in the ground. If you anticipate bad weather then you also need to make preparations to ensure the plants do not incur any major damages. You need to make sure you have enough time to maintain the garden. Depending on the size, you may be spending anywhere between half an hour to over two hours to maintain the organic garden.

The third and last important quality is to be physically fit. Gardening takes a lot of work. It can also put a lot of strain on your back as you will be spending a lot of time with you back bent. A lot of the strain can be reduced by using ergonomically-designed gardening tools. A lot of gardeners actually comment on how they burn a lot of calories when they work on their gardens on a regular basis. Before you start gardening, it is important to do basic stretching exercises. Make sure your muscles are loosened up so you do not cause any unnecessary injuries on your body.