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In the average moderate-sized suburban property there is unlikely to be much choice about the soil of your vegetable garden but there will probably be a good deal of choice as to its exposure and convenience. These are important considerations the vegetable garden layout of a productive veggie garden.

Convenience

Always select a spot near at hand with easy of access.  A difference of only a few hundred yards may seem nothing, but if you are depending largely upon spare moments for working in your garden and growing vegetables there, convenient access is very important.  When you’ve had to make a dozen time-wasting trips for forgotten seeds or tools, or gotten your feet soaking wet by going out through the dew-drenched grass, will you understand the benefit of a convenient vegetable garden location.

Exposure

Of up-most importance when planning your vegetable garden layout is consideration of the best exposure that will yield you delicious vegetables all summer over many years.  Pick out the ‘earliest’ spot in a plot sloping a little to the south or east that seems to catch sunshine early and hold it late.  Keep it out of the direct path of the chilling north and northeast winds. 

If a building, or even an old fence, protects it from this direction, your garden will be helped along, as an early start is a large factor toward vegetable growing success.  If it is not already protected, a board fence, or a hedge of some low-growing shrubs or young evergreens, will do this. The importance of having such a protection or shelter is worth considering.

Soil

You are unlikely to find ideal garden soil ready for use anywhere in your garden but you can improve the quality and productiveness of all except the very worst of soils in small home vegetable gardens.  Soil that is almost pure sand, as well as uncultivated heavy and mucky soil can be treated over time so that they yield tremendous crops.  So do not be discouraged about your soil. 

Proper treatment of this is much more important, and a garden-patch of average run-down soil will produce much more for the energetic and careful gardener than the richest spot not cultivated well.  Even with a carefully planned vegetable garden layout, take all the time that preparing your soil will entail before investing any time in planting and cultivating your vegetables.

Warm regards

 Antonio Fontanes

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Antonio Fontanes is from a family of successful gardeners and grows delicious organic vegetables year round. To discover more about the most effective vegetable garden layout, read Vegetable Garden Layout- Where to Place Your Vegetables on my website http://www.vegetablegarden4u.com

For a comprehensive beginners guide to gardening including information about vegetable gardening take a look at Easy Gardening for Beginners.

A recent article from the Sun Herald newspaper in Sydney Australia reflects a healthy move in the right direction for the environment and vegetable gardening there.

It seems that Kindergarten students from the inner city Crown Street Public School are learning about sustainable vegetable gardening practices by growing pumpkins.  These unusual instructional tools are being used in the Kindergarten Garden as part of this school’s participation in Australia’s Second National Junior Landcare Pumpkin Challenge.  This initiative is likely to attract around 15,000 Australian schools and their students to produce their own organic food.

Sixty thousand vegetable garden seeds of the pumpkin variety have been sent to schools and individuals in response to their registration for this event.

Schools and student groups have been directed to visit the Landcare Challenge website every month and record details of the weight of their pumpkin.  As pumpkins grow to substantial sizes they maintain the interest of these young gardeners across the competition.

Back home, we are nearing the time to harvest our pumpkins after their summer growing season.  Pumpkin vegetable garden seeds planted around from March to May are nearly ready for harvesting.  Many of these roast well, or make great winter soups and mash!  

Boston Squash can be grown in small areas and keep for a long time.  Its skin changes to deep orange towards the end of summer.

Burgess Vine Buttercup is one of the most popular and sweeter squashes.   A dark green in color, it has a paler green button on its under size.  Another seed variety that grows on compact vines this is also suitable for a smaller garden.

Waltham Butternut is a better version of the well known butternut squash.  Necks of these butternuts are wider and straighter, there is less seed space and their flesh is thicker.  They store well and stay firm when cooked.  No more watery steamed butternut and they are great in pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Acorn Squash Originally from Ohio, this is another long lasting squash, full of flavor and able to be grown even across short summers.  It can be cooked in a variety of dishes but nothing beats cutting them in half and roasting them slowly.  Try this!

Pumpkin Halloween Seeds, best planted across March are great for making lanterns or for pumpkin pie.  Keep them in a dry, cool spot and they will keep well until the end of the year.

So as the Aussie Kindergarten kids are having fun planting their pumpkin vegetable garden seeds to learn about sustainability in their part of the world, we’re entering our pumpkin and squash harvest season.  If you missed out on planting these seeds this spring/summer makes sure you buy some in preparation for next year.

Warm regards

Antonio Fontanes

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Antonio Fontanes is from a family of successful gardeners and grows delicious organic vegetables year round. Want to learn more about how to grow great veggies? Go to my website www.vegetablegardens4U

The process of creating vegetable gardening compost is the same as creating compost for any garden. Gardening compost is a cheap, healthy organic fertilizer relished by the best veggie gardens. It helps soil hold more water and assists you to produce successful organic vegetable crops. To create organic gardening compost for your vegetable garden, follow these easy steps.

Find a shaded part of your vegetable garden protected from hot winds for your gardening compost pile. Make sure it has a cement or solid sand base. Edge your pile with cement blocks or timber planks and divide it into three bins to make the composting process efficient. Each bin should have a floor area of around 12 square feet and be about 3 feet high. One is for new material, another for material to be turned and the other for completed compost.

Begin the pile by spreading your compost material 6-8 inches high. This material can include grass clippings, leaves and other garden waste. Dust with agricultural lime and a handful of complete fertilizer containing nitrogen.

Cover with a layer of garden soil and repeat this layering process until it is about 3 feet in height. Turn the heap every two to three weeks with a digging fork or shovel to assist with the decomposition of your gardening compost. Turning allows the pile to cool and aerates providing the microbes working in it some fresh air. Not all microbes (bacteria and fungi) need air to survive, but those in your compost pile do.

Water a little after turning but make sure not to over water as compost heaps work best with the right amount of moisture. To this end, cover the compost bins with Hessian or even an old piece of carpet to avoid the effect of heavy rain.

Watch the temperature of your compost pile as it can get very warm and should not exceed a temperature of 150F. Your finished compost should be ready for use after about three turns in around 8-10 weeks when it’s warm. The composting process will take longer in cooler weather.Distribute the compost 2-3 inches over your vegetable garden and turn it into the topsoil.

To save the time it takes to establish a compost pile of your own, you might consider buying a ready made compost bin (ranging from around $100- $300) or in a smaller garden or even a patio garden, a less expensive compost pale (approx $29-$39). Whether you build or buy your compost piles, know that gardening compost is the cheapest and most environmentally friendly organic fertilizer for your vegetable garden.

Warm regards

Antonio Fontanes

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Antonio Fontanes is from a family of successful gardeners and grows delicious organic vegetables year round. Want to learn more about how to grow great veggies? Go to my website www.vegetablegardens4U

Keeping weeds cleaned out of the rows and between the plants in the rows should always be approached as soon as seeds or plantlets are planted to keep them to a minimum. Where hand-work is necessary, do it immediately.

As weeding requires constant care in vegetable cultivation I suggest that you buy a wheel hoe. The simplest types will not only save you a good deal of time and energy but they weed better than you can by hand. You can grow good vegetables, especially if your garden is a very small one, without one of these tools, but you will never regret the cost of this investment.

When you follow these practical suggestions as part of your vegetable cultivation you will reduce weeding to a minimum.

Get at this work while the ground is soft. As soon as the soil begins to dry out after a rain is the best time. Under such conditions the weeds will pull out by the roots, without breaking off.

Immediately before weeding, go over the rows with a wheel hoe, cutting shallow, but just as close as possible leaving a narrow, plainly visible strip which must be hand-weeded. The best tool for this purpose is the double wheel hoe with disc attachment, or hoes for large plants.

Make sure that that every inch of soil surface is broken up, not just the weeds pulled but. It is just as important that the weeds just sprouting be destroyed, as that the larger ones be pulled up. One stroke of the weeder or the fingers will destroy a hundred weed seedlings in less time than one weed can be pulled out after it gets a good start.

Use one of the small hand-weeders until you become skilled with a wheel hoe. Not only may more work be done but your fingers will be saved unnecessary wear. With a wheel hoe, the work of preserving the soil mulch becomes very simple. The skillful use of the wheel hoe can be developed through practice during your vegetable cultivation. The first thing to learn is that it is necessary to watch the wheels only. The blades, disc or rakes will take care of themselves!

For more information about the importance of vegetable cultivation in a successful vegetable garden read my article ‘The Benefits of Effective Vegetable Cultivation’ on my website www.vegetablegardens4U

Warm regards

Antonio Fontanes

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Antonio Fontanes is a well seasoned vegetable grower from a family of experienced gardeners. Want to learn more about how to grow great veggies? Go to my website www.vegetablegardens4U

A Patio Vegetable Garden, Easy to Establish and Enjoy

Recently my mom moved into apartment living and found herself living above her beloved earth. Not even this has prevented her from growing a regular supply of fresh vegetables, just as she did in our family home. Now she grows vegetables on her small patio and has more than she can eat.

These are her tips for anyone thinking of establishing a patio vegetable garden.

Select an apartment with a patio facing the right direction to attract as much sun as possible. If your patio faces the wrong direction you are unlikely to enjoy the best success growing vegetables. If you have no choice about your patio's position, move your vegetable pots regularly so that they are exposed to the maximum sunlight available. If your patio is largely shaded, find another well positioned spot on your apartment’s grounds and suggest the establishment of a communal garden.

Start with vegetables that you enjoy and that are easy to grow. Mom loves tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, spinach and beans but started with tomatoes and spinach. Review your success after the first season and the consider extending the variety of vegetables you plant the following year.

Select pots large enough to accommodate your mature vegetable plants. Investigate how large each vegetable will grow to give it the best chance to reach its growth potential and its highest yield.

Make sure that your pots that are mobile enough to move to get the best access to the sun. This is one of the real advantages of a patio vegetable garden. Position pots according to the sunlight requirements of each vegetable.

Always invest in the best soil. Along with access to extended sunlight, this is a fundamental requirement for a patio vegetable garden, in fact any garden. This is the same advice mom gives land-based vegetable gardeners. Patio garden soil is financially advantageous too as you need less of it! Include plenty of compost in each pot.

Make sure that your pots are well drained. Mom places pieces of broken terra cotta pots on the base of her pots for the best drainage. Small rocks serve the same function.

Water your vegetables regularly as pots tend to dry out easily. Allow enough room above the soil in the pot to hold water before it drains down.

Invest in the best organic fertilizers, some slow release, others with a more immediate effect. These perpetuate healthy soil despite the regular watering necessary for pot based vegetables.

Invest in sturdy trellises or poles for vegetables that climb.

If you’re a retired gardener with limited space or if you're a busy urban dweller with limited time but a hankering for fresh vegetables, you’ll find that these tips will help you establish a healthy patio vegetable garden that will be the envy of all your neighbors!

Warm regards

Antonio Fontanes

For theteam@MightyDigitalDownloads.com

Transforming Lives, One Person at a Time

Antonio Fontanes is a well seasoned vegetable grower from a family of experienced gardeners. Want to learn more about how to grow great veggies? Go to my website vegetablegardens4U

Hi, I’m Tony and this is my first blog post at MightyDigitalDownloads. I going to write about something that my family have been passionate about over generations – growing and eating fresh vegetables.

My grandfather had a vegetable garden that fed families for miles around over many years.  Much of what I know about growing vegetables comes from countless hours with him in his favorite place in the world – his veggie garden.

Grandpa was always at war with vegetable pests and generally won!  Before his time in many ways, he developed or adapted means of pest control that didn’t interfere with the eco balance of his garden and made sure that his veggies were healthy to eat and tasted good.

He would often say ‘If we could garden without any interference from the pests, gardening would be a simple matter’. But life in a vegetable garden is not so simple.  The most productive veggie gardeners watch out for these little creatures that can cause havoc if we don’t take effective measures for vegetable pest control in our garden.

In a healthy vegetable garden these pests need to be reduced or eliminated by strict garden cleanliness. Heaps of waste can become lodging places for the breeding of insect pests. Well cared for compost does not cause harm, but uncared waste can invite trouble.

There are a number of effective and natural ways to keep pests down in your vegetable garden. Earthworms constantly stir up the soil and this keeps soil open to air and water. Many of our common birds feed upon insects. Sparrows, robins, chickadees, meadow larks and orioles are all examples of birds which help in this way. Some insects feed on other and harmful insects. Some kinds of ladybugs do this good deed. The ichneumon-fly helps too.

Toads are wonderful sources of vegetable pest control because of the number of insects they can consume in one meal. The toad deserves very kind treatment from all of us. Every gardener should try to make his or her garden into a place attractive to both birds and toads. A good birdhouse, grain sprinkled about in early spring and a water-place, are invitations for birds to stay a while in your garden.

If you would like to ‘employ’ toads to keep your pest numbers down, fix things up for them too. During a hot summer day a toad likes to rest in the shade. By night he is ready to go forth to eat but not to kill, since toads prefer live food. How can you entice toads to stay? One thing is to prepare a retreat, quiet, dark and damp. A few stones of some size underneath the shade of a shrub with perhaps a carpeting of damp leaves are likely to attract toads.

Inviting toads and birds to linger in your veggie garden is an inexpensive way to provide effective and natural vegetable pest control there.

For more information about organic ways to control pests in your vegetable garden, read my article Eco -Friendly Vegetable Pest Control in Your Garden Part 2 on my website www.vegetablegardens4U

Warm regards

Antonio Fontanes

Antonio Fontanes is a well seasoned vegetable grower from a family of experienced gardeners. Want to learn more about how to keep your garden pest free and grow great veggies? Read my article Eco- Friendly Vegetable Pest Control in Your Garden Part 2 on my website vegetablegardens4U