Snow peas are a cool weather crop, and is the perfect plant for those who just can’t wait to get the garden going.  They can be planted as soon as the ground is workable.  In our area, where the last frost date is about May 20, I aim to get them in the ground around St. Patrick’s Day.

Snow peas will fix their own nitrogen, so adding too much additional nitrogen to the soil will result in too much foliage and too few pods.  Dipping the seeds in a little nitrogen fixing inoculant would be beneficial if planting in an area that has not been used for growing peas or beans (legumes) in the past.  The nitrogen is actually being processed by microbes associated with the legumes, and if they aren’t provided by adding inoculants, sometimes the plants will be a little slower to start off until the microbes are established.

I plant the seeds in single rows about a foot apart and have a trellis system handy because they will usually grow fairly rapidly.  They enjoy full sun, but if you can give them a little afternoon shade, they might last a little longer into the warmer weather.  They are very tolerant of frost, snow, and freezing temperatures, but do need some slightly warmer weather for good growth.

This year we have limited yard space, so I tried growing the snow peas in containers next to the house.  I planted them fairly close together (6” apart), and am using the eave of the house to attach wire for climbing.  I didn’t get a chance to plant until April 1, and harvested my first pods June 1.

Harvest the snow pea pods when they are about 3” long and still flat.  They get tough once they start to puff out.  They develop from flower very quickly, so check them at least every other day.  They will continue to produce new pods more quickly if the more mature pods are being harvested.

I have found that snow peas stored in an unsealed Ziploc bag in the crisper will keep for at least a week.  I often do this if there are not enough in one harvest to bother to stir-fry. They are also great raw.

-editor
www.HowToGardenBetter.com

Photo Credit: us

How to Build a Tomato Trellis for Easy Harvesting

This isn’t to say that we have nothing more to add, but it gets the nuts-and-bolts of trellis building out of the way. 

Growing beans and peas requires a sturdy vertical support, as the weight of the vine and the fruit can bring down lesser supports.  Squash and cucumbers are a wonderful addition to any garden, but take up too much space in a small garden.  The same type of support can be used to successfully grow beans and peas and raise sprawling crops off the ground using more vertical space in the garden.  Another advantage to trellising sprawling crops is that it raises the fruit off the ground, where they are more susceptible to mold, rot, insects, and rodents.

Plant bean and pea seeds according to package instructions.  As the plants develop, guide the tendrils to the mesh, and they should take off from there.  Occasionally, you may find a few lost tendrils that need to be guided back to the trellis before they set fruit.  Varieties without tendrils can be woven into the trellis mesh or tied up with twine.

Seeds for plants with larger fruit, such as melons, should be spaced several feet apart.  They will also require additional support for their fruits.  Once the plants begin to set fruit, place each fruit in a mesh bag similar to the ones that onions and oranges come in.  Tie the bag to the trellis so that the weight of the fruit is carried by the bag.  The bag may need to be adjusted as the fruit grows to provide proper support.  Although this set-up requires a little more attention during the fruiting process, the benefit of less weeding and extra protection for the fruit offsets the work involved.

-editor
www.HowToGardenBetter.com

Yes, I’ve thought about giving my plants as gifts, but besides just potting it up, it seems a little cheesy to me.  However after reading his article, the ‘gift’ plant can carry much more feeling than just something you ‘picked’ up while you were out as a last minute gift idea.

Not to mention the fact that you can have several going/ready to give, which is always a relief when you can simply pull one of the shelf and add a card, then to rack your brain as to what you can bring over for a house-warming present.

-editor
www.HowToGardenBetter.com

Plant Presents From your Own Garden

Author: Bare Bones Gardener

If you are looking for ways for you or your children to provide cheap presents for the extended family, or just like to give gifts that have a personal element to them, then here is a suggestion or two for you.

If you are looking to make a present for the gardener in the family or someone who has recently moved into their own home, someone in a flat or unit, or a person who can’t manage a full sized yard, or a family member who loves to cook with fresh ingredients, etc. Then why not consider giving them something from your own garden? Here I am talking about plants that you have divided off from your own garden plants.

There are many plants growing in the average garden that can be divided, or that have naturally self layered themselves. Where you could go along and take a rooted section, pot them up and with a bit of dressing up of the planting container, you could produce a really nice gift for someone you care about.

These plants include many herbs as well as perennials or shrubs and even some trees which manage to send out self-layering branches or suckers from the root system. Some perennials or bulbs will increase their size or number of bulbs over time. Chance seedlings coming up in the wrong place for you, can easily also be used. All of these provide you with an opportunity to cheaply create a wonderful present for someone else.

First things first you will need to obtain a number of pots either plastic ones left over from additions to the garden population, or from someone you know, or you can go out and purchase a pot plastic/ceramic/terracotta etc., to suit your needs. If the person you are giving the plant to is not a real gardener, then you might consider getting a pot with a waterwell in the base to increase the plants’ chances of surviving.

Next, you need to begin looking for your plant material, so take a careful look around your garden at the soil level. Check out which plants are showing multiple stalks growing out of the ground. Or those sprawling plants where a branch has leaned over on to the ground and taken root along the branch, maybe one where a branch has become buried under the mulch.

Or one where there is a sucker growing from the soil a short distance from the parent plant. Another possibility is seedlings growing in the garden a distance from the parent plant material. Maybe there is a clump of plants or a big patch of bulbs where you can do some dividing.

Many of these plants benefit from being divided up or being allowed some more growing room in the particular area where you have taken away some material.

Different parts of Australia will have a differing range of plant species, which lend themselves to this form of self-propagation. If you can’t find any plants that are doing this in your own garden, why not look at a friends or neighbours garden. Or you could maybe join forces and give a joint present using plants from another family member’s garden. Or another possibility is to buy a plant in a pot that has several plants already established in it.

Divide that up before you use half in your own garden, and still have half to repot and give away. Even if you are not confident about your gardening skills you can still pick up cheap plants at the local market, school/church fair, garage sale etc. Repot them into a bigger or nicer pot for a fairly cheap present.

Another possibility is to multiplant a few different plants into a long or large round tub. This will create an instant garden on the move. Some themes you might consider here is herbs, indoor foliage, bulbs, annuals, alpine/rock, cacti/succulent or even patio gardens mixing annuals and perennials.

It is best to moisten the ground around the plant that you are going to work on well before you do the dividing, as this allows you to remove the maximum amount of root mass during the dividing process.

The first step is to divide the clump or cut away the joining branch to make the separate plant available. Then using a spade, fork or gardening trowel, dig as far out from the potential plant as practicable, because this will give you the biggest root mass possible.

Go down as far you believe you need to, (this will depend on such circumstances as size of new plant, species of original plant material, type of soil, other plant or landscaping material around the area, etc.). As gently as you can dig out the new plant. Shake off any excess soil and refill the resulting hole in the ground if necessary.

Prune back the foliage of the new plant to roughly equal size of the root mass, trying to protect some of the new foliage growth. Repot as soon as practicable, so that the roots do not dry out and die.

Another thing to consider is what sort of pot you are gong to plant into; if it is only a plastic pot then you do not need to prepare it beforehand. However if you are looking at painting it, then do this before you get digging.

When painting up pots, you will need to do some preparation work for the paint to stick properly. Plastic pots should have their surface roughened up with a bit of sandpaper. While some terracotta pots should have a primer applied to the outer surface before you paint them. Try not to get primer or paint onto the inside of the planter, because while most wont, there are still some paints which contain chemicals that may affect or contaminate the soil and plant over time.

Other possibilities for decorating up pots include simply gluing on bits and pieces including stones, tiles, buttons, sticks, shells, ornaments, ribbon, stickers and decals, etc. Other ways of decorating up a pot for the initial presentation is to wrap up just the pot (not the actual plant), using either wrapping paper, cellophane, material, a cheap teatowel or even hessian. Hold these wrappers in place with string, ribbon, bandana, scarf, etc.

Other possibilities for adding value to the potplant is to provide some growing information and name tags for the plant/s included. Other little quirks you might add include a personalised name tag, (Hi, my name is David the Diffenbachia . . . ), or a little watering indicator, miniature hand tools, small amounts of fertiliser, pot ornaments, watering can etc.

So as you can see, creating a very personal gift for just about anyone can easily be within the grasp of anyone. Why not go out into your garden and start thinking about what presents you can be preparing for Christmas this weekend.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/plant-presents-from-your-own-garden-238627.html

About the Author:

The Bare Bones Gardener is a qualified Horticulturist and a qualified Disability Services Worker. He hates spending money on stuff which doesn’t live up to the promises given. So he looks for cheaper, easier, simpler or free ways of doing the same thing and then he passes these ideas on to others.

Garden Blog – http://barebonesgardening.blogspot.com/

Be on the look out for it now, so you will recognize the signs of being ‘infected’ by the growing bug. 

-editor
www.HowToGardenBetter.com

Plant Disease – “garden Creep”

Author: Bare Bones Gardener

One thing you either might have to watch out for or embrace is something I call Garden Creep.

This is the ability of certain gardens, let alone the plants in them, of slowly growing and spreading or even multiplying over time.

Any dedicated gardener can explain to you the visible symtomology of the disease. New garden growths appear almost randomly at times as new outbreaks of gardens pop up in sometimes rather unexpected corners and sections of the area.

This problem is also seen in certain plants as well. When they have managed to obtain a foot hold in an area, where the available space for them, is inadequate for their realistic size. You will find these plants spilling outwards or upwards into space they were never intended to occupy. This causes constant problems for entryways & walkways, as well as air space occupiers like power lines. These planbts then have to constantly attacked and kept back within their territory, often at great cost in time and money to their garden owner.

Lawn areas and sometimes even pathways in it’s way are encompassed and/or swallowed up. It even can escape from your area onto and around footpaths and along road verges.

It appears I reckon to be a possibly viral disease that affects both the gardens and their gardeners alike.

It means that these garden areas extend over a period into every little space they can infect and take over, sometimes far outside the originally intended boundaries of the initial garden/s.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/plant-disease-garden-creep-238671.html

About the Author:

The Bare Bones Gardener is a qualified Horticulturist and a qualified Disability Services Worker. He hates spending money on stuff which doesn’t live up to the promises given. So he looks for cheaper, easier, simpler or free ways of doing the same thing and then he passes these ideas on to others.

Garden Blog – http://barebonesgardening.blogspot.com/

I haven’t mixed them in with my other plants just yet, but I will give it a try as space opens up.

The ebook that is mentioned does not load for me, perhaps it moved and Joey doesn’t know that yet. Nevertheless, enjoy the content and start your herb garden today. It goes great on home-made pizza!

-editor
www.HowToGardenBetter.com

Need Herbs, Try Planting Them Yourself

Author: Joey Singer

In any recipe calling for herbs, use fresh herbs. Preparing the herbs for your dish is easy. The more tender herbs like mint, parsley, basil and cilantro can be gathered in a bowl and snipped with scissors. This is the fastest and safest way to chop the herbs. If your recipe calls for the more hardy herbs like oregano, rosemary, or thyme you should use the stripping method. Hold a branch of the herb upright in your fingers and run the fingers of your other hand down the stalk stripping the tiny leaves free. The flavor will be more intense if you have gathered the herbs from your herb gardens or container gardens because they will be absolutely the freshest herbs available.

The best way to have fresh herbs is to plant and grow them yourself. No longer is there a designated “herb garden”. They can be found in your flower beds, along walkways or in pots on your porch. Many ambitious gardeners are finding new ways to incorporate herbs into their garden beds and their container gardens.

Many gardeners are unaware of the beauty of flowering herbs and never consider planting them within their flower beds. Some herbs that have beautiful flowers are purple coneflower, catmint, bee balm, yarrow, pinks, lavender, pot marigold, borage, feverfew, and nasturtium which is particularly lovely in fresh salads.. Many other herbs, such as parsley are excellent next to flowers of all sorts because of their spectacular foliage. When planting red or blue flowers, place purple basil around them for an artful arrangement.

Another area to consider is to use herbs as ground cover. The herbs that are suitable to this are the low growing oregano, chamomile, woolly and other creeping thyme, mint, and rosemary. Not only will it look pretty but it will be absolutely fragrant. Just be careful of the mint family, they tend to take over everything.

One of the best ways I have grown herbs is in containers. In fact, I like container gardening so much I wrote my eBook “Container Gardening Secrets” (available at ContainerGardeningSecrets.com), so everyone could enjoy this type of gardening. The beauty of a container garden is that it is portable and can be changed at a moment’s whim. When there is no more room in your garden, start a container garden which you can place on your door step or patio. Use them to fill in bare spots that come up during the gardening season or put them on a sunny window sill in your home for easy harvesting. Best of all you can bring your herb containers inside over the winter months and continue to harvest for months to add to your tasty meals or to be used for medicinal purposes.

Another way to employ pots in your garden is to plant invasive herbs such as mint into a pot and then plant pot and all into the ground. This is an easy trick to keep those “creepers” from taking over your garden beds.

Plant a container garden near your door with the cherry pie scented blue flower heliotrope and other fragrant herbs such as rosemary, thyme and basil. Every time you walk by you will be greeted with there delicious scent.

Some herbs that have grown on rocky hillsides over the centuries such as thyme, oregano and lavender are perfect for cracks in flag stone paths or walls and rock gardens. They thrive in hot dry areas with good drainage. Some believe that those herbs grown in these conditions produce much better flavor.

Now is the time to plant your herbs, whether it is in a garden bed, a cracked wall or a container garden. Use your imagination. Consider color height and texture when planting your gardens. Not only will it be visually pleasing but your cooking will improve too!

Happy Gardening!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/need-herbs-try-planting-them-yourself-880540.html

About the Author:

Learn about garden snails and how to plant a garden at the Starting A Garden site.