Vegetable Gardening in the North

Garden Plans - Creating Yours

2014-04-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

Garden plans are part of vegetable gardening, putting your garden plan on paper will help you determine what you will be growing and where to plant it.

Garden plans should include crop rotation and companion planting

When creating your vegetable garden keep in mind if you want to grow an organic vegetable garden companion planting and crop rotation will play an important role. Of all the vegetables you will be growing in your garden Rhubarb and Asparagus are the most common perennials. If you are growing these you need to find a spot for them before planning the rest of your vegetable garden.

To plan your garden take a look at your yard, maybe even draw up a rough plan of your property with your house, patio, etc. in the plan. This will give you a better idea of where to place your vegetable garden and how much room you will have for your garden.

When you have selected the location for your vegetable garden, keeping in mind the amount of sunshine the location will receive, the soil and the level of land. Read more on this my organic vegetable garden page.

Now to create your garden plan use a piece of paper to draw it out, think about what vegetables you like to keep in your fridge and decide which ones you will be growing in your garden. Lettuce, peas, beets, chard, carrots, radishes, potatoes and green beans are fairly easy to grow. You’ll have to decide whether you have room to grow all the plants you want in your plan.

When you have decided what vegetables your want to include in your plan and how much room to will have to grow them, then take a look at companion planting to make sure you get the best out of every harvest. As an example Peas and Carrots grow very well together.

A Vegetable Garden will save $ and provide you with Healthy Food

2014-04-19T14:43:00.001-07:00

A Vegetable Garden will save $ and provide you with Healthy Food

Growing your own Vegetable Garden can save you money and give you the peace of mind of knowing what you are putting into your body.

With recent recalls such as salmonella, E. coli and Listeria on the vegetables sold in the food industry these days I am happy that I can provide my family with our own food.Your own vegetable garden is one of the best investments you can give to yourself and your family; anyone can grow a vegetable garden whether you live in an apartment or a home with land to grow. Vegetables do well in the ground, in containers, raised beds, greenhouses, and even mixed in your flower gardens.

Growing your own food not only saves you money at the Grocery store but it puts you in charge of what is going into your body. You decide whether you want to spray your vegetables or grow them organically.

There are many benefits to growing your own vegetable garden. It’s also a great way to get children involved. Have them pick a vegetable and a spot in the garden so they can learn to how to start a seed, plant it in the garden, care for it and watch it grow. I do this every year with my grandchildren.

I’d like to share my experience and research with you so you too can enjoy the benefits of a homegrown harvest. The is nothing like walking out the door and picking a fresh tomato of the vine, or some lettuce, radishes and onions for a salad.Even in the cooler climates you don’t have to have a greenhouse to grow your vegetables even in the cooler climates; there are all kinds of crop protectors out there. I’ll let you know what I’ve tried and what has worked best for us.

Growing my own garden for years has not come without a lot of trial and error. I love to experiment with new things and that has left me surprised and disappointed at times, but at the end of every season we have a freezer full of homegrown vegetables and that makes it all worth it.

Planning your Vegetable Garden

2013-01-24T15:01:00.001-08:00

Save money....grow your own vegetable garden

2012-03-25T19:13:00.003-07:00

Growing your own Vegetable Garden can save you money and give you the peace of mind of knowing what is going into your body.

With recent recalls such as salmonella, E. coli and Listeria on the vegetables sold in the food industry these days I am happy that I can provide my family with our own food.

www.my-vegetable-garden.com

Gardening Tools

2012-03-23T16:42:00.001-07:00

Vegetable Gardening in the North: Is Spring here?

2012-03-23T15:12:00.001-07:00

Vegetable Gardening in the North: Is Spring here?: March 23, 2012 Still quite a bit of snow on the ground. This year is going to be so different for me, we have bought a piece of property ...

Is Spring here?

2012-03-23T15:08:00.002-07:00

March 23, 2012

Still quite a bit of snow on the ground. This year is going to be so different for me, we have bought a piece of property so will be building, moving and starting all over again. It's exciting, but at the same time a little scary.

Going outside today I see that my lavender bed is finally free from snow. The soapwart is starting to green up and the odd flax plant is starting to grow.

The property is still full of snow......I'm patiently waiting to be able to plant of pot up some of my favorite plants from here to there.

It's going to be a different year. Probably won't be able to grow much, but look out cause next year I will be blogging and posting on www.my-vegetable-garden.com everything I'm doing to get my garden growing on the new property.

Happy Spring to you all!

Greenhouse Gardening

2012-03-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

Do you need a greenhouse to start your vegetables in? You can buy a greenhouse kit or make your own. You can put hoops on your raised beds and cover them with plastic....http://www.my-vegetable-garden.com/garden-greenhouse.html

Organic Gardening

2012-03-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Want to learn how to start your own organic garden? Grow your own vegetables that are free of pesticides?

I love fresh vegetables, it's great to be able to walk out your door and pick your own carrots, lettuce, tomatoes etc. and know that they are fresh. How fresh are the vegetables you get at the store....really? How long did it take to get them to the grocery store from where they were picked. I'm betting not as fresh as we would like them to be.

Grow your own and have the confidence of knowing that your veggies are fresh as fresh as you can get them.

Organic Gardening is worth more than you would think.

www.my-vegetable-garden.com

Do you have trouble with deer in your vegetable garden?

2012-03-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

Do you have trouble with deer in your vegetable garden, wanting to get to your vegetables before you do? We would like to hear your stories. If you would like to share your stories or tell us how you managed to keep them out of your vegetable garden please let us know.

Just following this link and you can post your story at the bottom of the page.

Tell us your Deer Stories

Learning how to Compost

2012-03-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

If you want to start composting then follow this link. You'll find information compost bins,
what to put into your compost and the benefits of starting your own compost. Learning how to compost

vegetable gardening website

2012-03-07T17:15:00.002-08:00

The website is coming along well. Getting lots of important pages up have a look.

Working on a Vegetable Garden website

2012-02-22T17:30:00.000-08:00

It might take awhile before it's up and running, but I am working on creating a vegetable garden website. I hope to have a page where others can share there gardening experiences and have all kinds of wonderful links for people just starting out. I'll share the link to the page with you when it's up and running.

Straw Bale Gardens

2012-02-19T11:43:00.001-08:00

If you are interested in straw bale gardens check this website out
http://strawbalegardens.com/

Rose hips and excellent source of vitamin C

2011-10-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

It's time to get out and pick those rose hips at least it is in my neck of the woods. The best time to pick your rose hips is after a good frost. Once you have picked your rose hips you can use them to make puree, jelly, or wine. I like to make the puree and then use that later to make BBQ sauce.

These berries have so much vitamin C in them that 6 - 8 berries will give you your daily requirements.

After you have picked your rose hips, wash and remove the tassels. In order to preserve as much vitamin C as possible you need to process the hips as soon as possible.
If you are going to be making syrups or jellies extract the juice by partly covering the hips with water, bring to a boil and allow to cook for approximately 15 minutes. Extract the juice by putting into a jelly bag and dripping over a container. You can make jelly with the rose hips alone or add other fruit to it.

For pulp I use a sieve to remove the seeds and skins. This can then be used for making jams. I have also made a rose hip ketchup that was really quite good.

Some people also dry the rose hips. I have not done this but the process is simple. Cut the rose hips in two and remove the seeds. Then dry in a food dehydrator or in the over at 140 degrees. Dried rose hips can be added to your baking, cereals, salads etc.

You can find some recipes in the recipe section of this blog.

Enjoy your rose hip harvest!

Deer Tolerant Plants

2011-10-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

If you have deer problems, here are a few plants that are deer tolerant.
Lady's Mantle,
Butterfly Weed
Foxglove
St. Johns Wart
Lavender
Daffodil
Poppy

Happy Gardening ♥

Harvesting the crops

2011-10-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well once again I had good intentions on keeping this blog up to date............yesterday I harvested the rest of the beets, some more carrots and the ever growing broccoli. Tomorrow I'll be pickling the beets.

The Garden's almost planted

2011-05-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

The Garden is 3/4 planted and then the rains came. I'm hoping to get out there soon and finish planting, but with all the rain we have had it's pretty wet around here. They have another rainfall warning out for today. Hopefully it will rain it self out today and the sun will shine again soon.

The old and new greenhouse

2011-05-23T10:02:00.001-07:00

The old greenhouse had lived it's life and was taken down in the spring. Today we have a machine in to clean up the area and to level off an area closer to the vegetable garden for the new greenhouse. This is an exciting day!
I'll have to post some pics later.

Zucchini and Cucumbers are getting bigger every day

2011-05-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

The Zucchini and Cucumbers that I started are growing more every day. I'll wait until June 1st to plant them out in the garden. Just in case we get another frost. Actually everything in the greenhouse is doing well and I'll start planting the garden tomorrow.

Today I got my flower pots ready to go outside, planted some hanging baskets and have some ready to plant in the flower garden. Tomorrow should be a busy day.

Cold weather today

2011-05-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

It wasn't even warm enough to open the greenhouse up today. It poured rain most of the day,
I know we need the rain, but it could have been a little warmer.

Raking the Garden

2011-05-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a challenge this spring getting anything done in the garden. Rain, rain, and more rain. We have managed to till the garden a couple of times, today I raked it out and got things tidied up and the water figured out. Then came the rains again. Hoping for some nice weather soon. I'd like to get out and plant my onions and potatoes without getting covered in mud LOL!

Everything in the greenhouse is growing well and next week I'm going to purchase my tomato and pepper plants.

Happy Gardening all!

Herbs and Vegetable seeds planted this weekend

2011-04-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here is were I start some of my seeds. This weekend I managed to get a few things started. Oregano, Stevia, Corn (peaches & cream), butternut squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. Also in a large outdoor planter I planted radishes, lettuce and round carrots (something new).

It has warmed up some, the lowest temperature in the greenhouse in the last few days was plus 5.

So with the temperatures rising its time to get real busy and get a few more things started. Happy Gardening all!

Getting the greenhouse going

2011-04-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

With a lot of help yesterday we torn down the old greenhouse, so this year I am using my little one. I filled pots getting ready to put some things out there. Put new batteries in the thermometer and tested the high and low temperatures in there yesterday.

It got as high as 20 yesterday, I was in and out of it with the door open. This morning I check and we had a low of -1. So I guess that tells me I either have to put a heater in at night or what until it warms up some more.

Gardening, weed pulling, turning over dirt, and raking

2011-04-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

Got lots done out in the yard and garden up until today. Just to darn cold to go out there today. I got the little greenhouse all cleaned out and ready to go, more of the garden turned over and lots and lots of raking done.
A day off today and maybe the sun will shine enough to warm things up a bit tomorrow......now time to light the wood stove, make a cup of tea and watch a movie.