How To Attract Beneficial Insects To The Vegetable Garden
Yesterday’s post was about how to identify beneficial insects, now we need to know how to get them in the vegetable garden. Attracting beneficial insects can be a very tricky quest, but there are many ways to lure them to the pests that are hampering the garden. The best way to attract beneficial insects is to provide an environment suitable to the tastes of what you are attracting – providing favorable food, water and shelter. Continue »
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How To Identify Beneficial Insects In The Vegetable Garden
Some gardeners may get the urge to zap any insect they may see in the vegetable garden. Before ridding the insect from your garden, you may want to do some research – the critter just might be helping your vegetable garden. There are some insects that defend your precious vegetables by eating or infecting the naughty bugs that are out to destroy all your hard work. These beneficial insects are the unsung heroes of the vegetable garden. Continue »
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How To Easily Make Your Own Potting Soil
If you love to grow vegetables by container gardening you may want to make your own potting soil instead of the store bought brands. Making your own potting soil might seem like much more work than just tearing open a bag, but there are a few advantages of making it yourself. Continue »
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How To Read A Seed Packet
Most gardeners may feel very comfortable understanding all the information that comes on a seed packet, but there are some novice gardeners that might be confused with all the symbols, abbreviations, and pictures. All the information that is contained on a seed packet is very vital towards the success of growing that particular plant. Seed packets will differ from one distributor to another, but most seed packets offer a brief description of the plant, how to sow the seeds, when to sow the seeds, and what type of environment the seeds need to germinate and grow. Here is a breakdown of a seed packet and what information it may give: Continue »
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How To Measure The Drainage Of Your Soil
If you have a new garden area in mind, there are several tasks you should perform before sowing that first seed. The first task is to take soil samples, and perform a soil test. The second task should be to measure the drainage of the proposed area. Continue »
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How & When To Pick Butter Beans
If you are in the southern part of the United States, then you have probably had butter beans a time or two. Butter beans are also called Baby Lima Beans in other parts of the country, but whoever named them butter beans got the naming right, in my opinion. They have a light, fresh, buttery taste that is nothing like a Lima bean.
Butter beans can grow on a bush or as a climbing vine. Bush varieties are ‘Henderson’s’, and ‘Fordhook’. Some vining varieties are ‘King of the Garden’ and ‘Florida’. I typically grow the ‘Henderson’s’ bush varieties in my garden. Continue »
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How To Keep Rabbits Out Of Your Garden
There is nothing worse than working hard to plant, water, and maintain a beautiful crop of vegetables, only to go out one day and find a herd of rabbits that have destroyed most of it. Although rabbits are cute and adorable, they can be ferocious when it comes to dining on your vegetables.
Here are a few things you can do to keep Bugs Bunny out of your vegetable patch. Continue »
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How To Overcome Gardening Frustrations
There are many times that the vegetable garden doesn’t go as hoped. There could be pest attacks, too much rain, too little rain, and on and on. There can be many obstacles in the way of having a great crop of vegetables.
Every gardener at one time or another has had their share of disappointments and failures in the garden. I have shared a few that I have had this season. Some were somewhat out of my control, some were not. A good case in point was the mistakes I made this year pertaining to my yellow squash. Continue »
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How To Prevent and Treat Sunburns
Being out in the sun is almost impossible to avoid for a gardener. Most of the time gardeners are out in the sun up to five hours or more. This can cause sunburns – some possibly severe – if proper precautions are not taken. Sunburns can be very painful, and have long-lasting effects to the skin.
A sunburn is an injury to the skin. Long term exposure to the sun’s rays kills the outer skin cells, and damages the small blood vessels near the surface. This is what causes the redness, swelling and pain. Repeating this damage over time can cause the skin to lose its elasticity, causing wrinkles and can lead to cancer. Continue »
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How To Get Rid of Japanese Beetles
Japanese beetles can be an unforgiving pest in your garden. These shiny, incandescent-looking beetles can destroy whole plants very quickly, and are hard to battle if infestations become severe. Using a few different tactics you can control these eating machines, and save your precious vegetables, roses and other plants. Continue »
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