Creating A Vegetable Garden
The establishment of a garden to grow vegetables will depend on many factors, the main one being the gardener's interest. Growing sizeable vegetables calls for a great deal of skill and time.
Things to consider are the amount of land available, the depth and fertility of the soil, and its aspect. Homegrown vegetables, as well as augmenting the supply of food for the household, provide materials of a high nutritive value and a very rich supply of vitamins. Many foods, especially those of the salad type, deteriorate quickly after harvesting, and the fresher they are at the time of eating the more nutritious they are said to be. Vegetables that arrive at the table by way of the usual commercial channels do not seem as tasty as the home-grown ones.
The properties of the soil are most important when growing vegetables. Most vegetable crops must have a constant and uniform supply of water in the soil, otherwise the quality of the produce is adversely affected. Those soils that dry out quickly, or remain very wet after rain, are not as good as those that are relatively friable and moist. The best type of soil for growing vegetables is a loam. Clay soils are too difficult to work and sandy soils fail to retain enough water for the plants' requirements.
Loam soils contain both sandy and clay particles in suitable amounts, permitting the cultivation of the soil under widely-ranging conditions.
Many vegetable crops have small seeds and this means that a fine seed-bed must be prepared to receive them. Workability of the soil at all seasons is important. Soils facing east to north are more useful than those facing south.
Plan the vegetable garden as you would the floral garden. First determine the position of paths. In a small garden it is better to have the paths running down the centre, dividing the garden into halves.
Then divide the land into beds. The size of the beds will be influenced by the overall size and shape of the area but, as far as possible, make the beds large.
Set aside permanent beds for such crops as Asparagus, Rhubarb, and herbs. Beds that are provided with some shade are useful for salad crops and for seedlings.
In planning for creating a vegetable garden, provide also for a compost heap.
To produce a wide range of fresh vegetables over an extended period of the year demands a great deal of skill to meet the specific nutritional requirements of each crop. An extensive knowledge is needed of the many crop varieties, as well as of the right time for sowing and harvesting. The table given in a later chapter will help in this. Also, many kinds of pests must be controlled. |
|
 |
Flowering Plants for Autumn / Winter -
All the varieties grown in pots , Hanging Basket Plants have been derived from this one species and are superb winter-flowering house plants. , The Vine Leaf Blister Mite The leaves are green , Hanging Basket Plants on top but ash-coloured underneath, and the daisy-like flowers , Growing Lawns in Shaded Areas come in a multitude of brilliant colours, , Spring Flowering Plants some single...
Plants Suitable for Bonsai -
A few of the plants , s Suitable for Bonsai commonly used for bonsai , Moving Your Roses are pine, spruce, juniper, Japanese maple, Atlantic cedar, flowering , Growing Orchids quince and azalea. The evergreen varieties are most frequently used because they tend to have small leaves or needles which are in proportion...
Hanging Basket Plants -
Plants which trail naturally are best: Ivies, Lobelias, pendant Begonias, Petunias, Zebrinas, Chlorophytum (Spider Plant) and Geraniums (particularly the ivy-leaved varieties), with Nasturtiums sown among them to roar away at the end of the summer. , Companion Planting - Bad Combinations Trai...
Caring for Newly Sown Lawn -
Don't make the mistake of sprinkling it daily; but if the upper inch or so of soil , Sowing Seeds in Glasshouses becomes obviously dry, then water , Cactus Pests and Disease it freely with a fine sprinkler adjusted so that it will not wash the surface soil , How To Transplant Seedlings away. Once the seed , Growing Tomatoes has started to germinate, the young...
Lantana (Lantana Camara) -
There are two main forms of Lantana here in Australia: a cultivated form planted in gardens , Growing Palms from Date Stones and also weedy variety found in bushland and pastures. The cultivated form is non-thorny, produces few seeds , When to Plant Roses and is actually compact in shape. The weedy form is pr...
Australian Indigenous Flora -
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow writes today about a topic that is timely for all of us. She writes about the introduction of non-native species in her country, and the effect it has on the landscape , Bonsai Tools and on the life that it sustains....
Fixing shallow hard loamy clay soil -
1 Add soil , Retaining Walls to the surface to increase the depth.
2 Double-dig the whole area. To do this, open up a 60 cm wide trench at one end of the area and remove the top soil , Hanging baskets in the Home down to the clay base. Barrow this soil , Interior Design - Talking Colour to the other end of the area where digging will...
Hedges - Growing a Hedge -
Many gardens , Growing Apples, Pears and Plums from Pips use the growing , Hydroponic Systems - Aquaculture of a hedge , Humidity and House Plants as a foil to the architecture of the house, , Humidity and Plants as a screen to provide privacy, or as a garden , Succulents in the Home division. Short hedges , Coastal Gardening are used to emphasise the points of interest in the building, , The Illusion of Age in Bonsai sometimes by merely repeating a horizo...
Know Your Tree's Soil -
A most important factor and one that determines the success of your garden , Green Vegetable Bug is knowing what kind of soil , Flowering Plants for Autumn / Winter you have and then choosing shrubs , Mulching and trees , Growing Flowers for Drying that will be suited to it. Many plants , Choosing House s will not grow , Water Garden Plants well in acid or alkaline soils, , Flowering Shrubs and Trees so it is wise to take...
|
|
|
|
