Buzzoodle


I have permission to send some bottles of Great Big Plants http://www.greatbigplants.com to people that blog or write about gardening. Please let me know if you are interested in this – no cost or obligation, but you must have a gardening website, community or blog. Thanks

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Moira


I have a large garden that I work very hard on, and I hate to see my plants half-eaten by bugs. I do not grow any vegetables or fruits, but I do have three dogs that spend a lot of time around the flowers. Does anyone know any pesticides that are not harmful to the environment or other animals?

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expertvillage

At the end of the season, remove fallow plants in your garden to avoid pest control problems the next year. Learn how, plus get a great tip for organic garden pest control, in this free gardening video lesson. Expert: Gale Gassiot Bio: Gale Gassiot makes her own organic compost or “gardener’s black gold.”

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Will you share any organic repellents that will keep wild rabbits out of the garden. My plants are “topless”!!

I have a large hay field close to the garden so there are plenty of nesting areas. I love to watch the sweet rabbits but just want them to live my garden alone. Any ideas (beside killing them) would be appreciated. Thanks!

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expertvillage

An expert shows how to plant seeds for an organic garden, with tips on how deep to plant the seeds, how far apart to space the plants, how much to water, and more, in this free gardening video lesson. Expert: Gale Gassiot Bio: Gale Gassiot makes her own organic compost or “gardener’s black gold.”

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? Erin ?


I want to start gardening but I am not so sure what is best for the climate here in Arizona.

Wayne

loumcneillis


My girlfriend and I are wanting to plant a small garden (maybe 6×8). We would like to plant some corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, bannana peppers, strawberries and some cantalope. It’s more of just something to do, but we are gonna eat the vegetables. My question is this: Can all these plants grow in the same type of soil? Are there any precautions that need to be taken? Is it too late to plant any of this stuff? We live in lower Michigan. Any helpful hints are appreciated.

Eric

SoupsOn


I’m wanting a new book or two on gardening, and one that has a bit of focus on houseplants and overwintering plants indoors. I’m also thinking about one with details on starting from seed and propagating. Which books are the most informative, with in-depth information and tips? I need something that will be useful to me in a cold climate.
Any links to good sites are also appreciated. I’m looking for a book, a hard copy, something that I can read in bed or when the internet’s out.

Julian

Pawel Kalkus


g juicy organic tomatoes is not hard to do. The hardest part about it is going to be keeping the insects from destroying that tasty fruit when it comes time for the plants to bear.

Home grown tomatoes are the absolute best. There’s no doubt in my mind about it. The only thing that makes them better is when they are grown organically without the use of pesticides. The first thing you want to do when growing organic tomatoes is to find a good seed. The local nursery or garden center will have some valuable information to give regarding the variety of tomatoes that grows best in your area. Don?be afraid to ask them questions. They are happy to help you!

Now, you’ll want to plant the seed perhaps an inch deep in loose compost. You can do this anywhere from 5 to 7 weeks before the last frost hits your area. You want to make sure that the soil stays damp while you are awaiting germination. You will notice that seeds germinate around the 10 day mark ( possibly day or 2 earlier or later ). After the seeds have germinated and grown 2 more leaves other than the germination leaves, you can transplant the seedlings to a different container by themselves. Plant band or cup can make a good container.

The location you choose outside for the plants should be carefully considered. Organic tomatoes prefer aerated soil that contains a lot of rock minerals. The soil needs to drain well and should also contain a lot of compost. Fallen leaves are a good suggestion to use as compost.

After about 7 weeks, your plants will be ready to transplant into your outdoor bed. You want to make sure that you include a handful of compost to each plant when you transplant it, and do so with great care to minimize the shock. You should place the plants about 18-24 inches apart and plant them deep. The role of stake is to support the plant as it grows by tying it around. This keeps them off the ground. Use a soft yarn to tie them off.

Feed the plants once about every three weeks when waiting on them to start bearing. Once the fruit sets, you’ll want to feed the plants about once a week or so. Water them on a daily basis, but not too much. Too much is just as bad as not enough. Keep the soil moist and you’ll be fine!

Chris

Hal Lewis


Heirloom tomatoes are a variety of tomatoes grown from seeds that are usually over 50 to 100 years old. They are non-hybrid, open-pollinated cultivar tomatoes.

The use of the word heirloom can mean that the seeds have been passed down through generations, from farmer to farmer or parent to child and they are still growing today. Or it could mean any seed older than 50 or 100 years old; the jury is still out on this definition with many debates raging on for the use of heirloom to describe the wide variety of tomatoes.

What everyone does agree on is that an heirloom tomato needs to be an open-pollinated plant. This means it is pollinated by the wind, insects or birds, not man. And cultivar means that it is a plant species is being cultivated and given a specific name and that it can repopulate itself again in the same manor and retain all its characteristics.

There are several names of heirloom tomatoes available today which recently as ten years ago became available. There are over a hundred heirloom tomatoes and list grows every year as long as the tomatoes adhere to the standards put forth by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) or the cultivated plant code.

Many of the most popular heirloom tomatoes are Brandywine, a large, pink fruit, red outside, clear inside, it has been said to have been grown from a seed passed to a farmer in an Ohio farm and then traded to several large seed companies who preserved it’s heirloom status.

In addition to Brandywine tomatoes, there is the Cherokee Purple, one of the only known ‘black’ or deep rose colored tomatoes; the Green Zebra, a small green tomato with either yellow or reddish stripes depending on when you pick them. They are rather tart and are often man-made therefore they can not be an heirloom tomato, although it is often categorized as one.

Black cherry tomatoes are tomatoes everyone should be familiar with. They are the smallest of the heirloom tomatoes and come in a cluster on a fine like grapes and are sometimes referred to as grape tomatoes.

The Hillbilly and the Big Rainbow are similar heirloom tomatoes because of their yellow, large fruit with red swirls of color; however their origin is unknown so verification into the heirloom society is iffy at best. One of the best stories behind an heirloom tomato is the Mortgage Lifter tomato. A man by the name of “Radiator Charlie” who owned a radiator business during the Great Depression lost his business and decided to breed his best four tomato plants into one giant tomato that tasted better and sweeter than any one of them individually. He was able to come up with the best tomatoes and advertised that they could easily feed a family of six. He began selling his plants for a dollar a piece and that was when a dollar was a dollar and so after four years, he was able to pay off his mortgage. People began calling the large tomatoes the Mortgage Lifter after that and “Radiator Charlie” was able to retire after a few more years.



Lara