Quick Planting Tip

I was asked when the best time to plant certain things was. Here is the best rule of "green thumb"! 

  Plant potatoes, cold crops like broccoli, cabbage, ect, any root crop like beets, turnips ect, spinach on or after St. Patricks Day. You can remember that by the potato famine that happened in Ireland!

  Plant everything else on or after Mothers Day, at this point most areas have had their last frost. But this isn't an exact science as God always has the last say, but it tends to work for me here in west Virginia!

  These were passed down by Grammie and I'm sure there are other old wives tales on when to plant. Such as my Grammie always went by the farmers almanac and always had a great crop! So if you have any others that were passed onto you please share them!



“A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 8:5-8

"Amazing,Hydropnic's"

  Have you ever needed a way to water those plants when you are away on vacation? Or have you ever just wanted to mess around with hydroponics? Well look at what my mad scientist neighbor did here! My friend Jason and his hydroponics are amazing! He has such a talent for these types of things and I wanted to share this one with you, so that maybe it would strike up the creative juices.

Day 1

1 Week later

It is amazing how this thing works, very smart feller if I may say so! Here below is a drawing of how he put it together! He said he just used a cheap pump and trash can!

Drawing

Front view, after 2 weeks!

I hope you experiment with this and let us know how it goes! You may have some ideas of improvement! He told me this would be an awesome way to water your plants when you are on vacation. Wait a minute that may be why he showed this to me and brought that up! I do ask him to water my plants sometimes when we go out of town, lol! No, we would do that for each other anytime, I think! LOL!



“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ― C.S. Lewis



Linked with:
Teach Me Tuesday
Frugal Tuesday Tips
Tuesday Garden Party
Barn Hop 67
Make A Move Monday
Farm Photo Friday!
Garden Life

Finding that perfect plant!

   Now that you have located the perfect spot for your garden and prepared the soil. Its time to find the seed or plants of what you have chosen to plant. I love going to my local greenhouse nursery (not the big box store) and look for plants that are ready to put into the ground but normally I start browsing through the seed catalogs really early. Usually in December or January they start showing up in the mail box. My wife gets so aggravated when the start showing up. She always tells me, "everything in those catalogs you can view online". But there isn't anything like looking though, reading about the plant and just learning. A good catalog will have all kinds of information about the plants and other items they sell. You can also get hard to find and unusual plants from catalogs as well. You will have to make a decision, are you buying plants or starting them from seed? That's up to you!

 Here are some links to some of my favorite:
http://www.botanicalinterests.com/
http://www.southernexposure.com/
http://www.tomatogrowers.com/
http://www.burpee.com/

"Q&A before you start tilling"

   Before you start planning what you are gonna plant in your garden you need to determine a few things to be successful. Things to think and survey before you start planning your garden.

1. What planting zone are you in?   http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html
2. When is your last spring frost and your first spring frost? West Virginia's are approx. April 20/Oct. 20. This may very do to the elevation or area you are in. 
3. Where will I get the best sunlight? Full sun all day is the best, but if you don't have that, pick a spot that gets full morning sun.
4. Do you have a good water source? Plants need lots of water and city water isn't the best for them because of all the chlorine and fluoride in it. If possible collect water to water your plants and it will save you money.
5. What type of soil do you have? It ranges from sandy to clay soil.
6.  What is the PH of your soil? Plants are like people, they don't all like to lay down roots and eat the same thing.
7. A few things you can do to get the soil ready is to, work in compost or manure in the fall, leaves and straw help as well. If you can attract worms to the garden, they are awesome little creations of God's. They will do a lot of the work for you. Just work into the soil table scrapes minus fats, meats and oils and they will move right in and start to work.
8. How big is your garden gonna be? Gardens range from pots on your deck to raised bed gardens to full size conventional acre size gardens. If you have never gardened before start small and don't do more than you can handle.
9. From experience, protect your garden from children playing and you wonderful pets. This past year I had so many volleyballs hit my plant I thought for sure they would all die and Maple well she was a little puppy, need I say more?

Now after you figure out where your garden is gonna be. you can start to plan it out and order your seeds or plants. Have fun and God Bless!