Growing Organic Asparagus

Growing Organic Asparagus

Asparagus grows well throughout the US except the Deep South and a few other areas that experience mild winters. The most efficient way to grow asparagus today is to purchase 1-2 year old roots and plant them in an asparagus bed that has been prepared beforehand. The best time to plant is in early spring when the soil can be worked.

To make an asparagus bed, dig trenches 15-18 inches deep and 18 inches wide, allowing 4 feet between trenches. Line the bottom of the trench with approximately 6 inches of soil and compost or aged manure. Mound up this mixture in the center of the trench and drape the asparagus roots over the mound. Space the crowns 18 inches apart. Space the crowns 18 inches apart. The crowns should be about 6 inches from the surface. Fill in the trench with more soil and compost mixture until the crowns are covered with 1 inch of soil. As the shoots emerge continue to cover them until the trench is completely filled and level with the soil surface. Keep the bed weeded and well watered and allow the plants to grow into ferns the first year. In the fall, cover the bed with dried cow manure and cut off the ferny growth. In the second year, harvest only a few shoots, no more than three, and in the fall dress the bed as before. During the third year, regular harvesting can begin. Each root should produce a minimum of 5 spears.

The importance of soil Chemistry to the perennial garden

Organic Gardening

The importance of soil chemistry to the perennial garden

The chemistry of the soil is one of the most critical considerations for any gardener, but it can be particularly vital when it comes to gardening with perennials. That is because, whereas annuals provide a fresh start year after year, gardening with perennials means that the plants stay in the ground, and the chemistry of the soil can greatly affect all types of perennials.

It is difficult to overestimate how important proper soil chemistry is, since the soil provides all the nutrients the plants need to grow and thrive.

Most types of perennials are quite hardy, but it is very important to prepare the flower bed properly. A properly prepared bed is the first step to enjoying a healthy garden full of perennials. As with all plants, it is important for all varieties of perennials to have plenty of healthy soil, enough water and the right amount of sunlight.

One of the most common problems with perennials is that of an uneven growth pattern. There are many types of perennials, and they all have different growth rates. It is normal for different types of perennials to grow faster or more slowly, but if identical varieties of perennials show very different growth patterns within different parts of the garden, soil chemistry may be to blame. Many gardeners assume that the same garden plot will have the same chemistry everywhere, but this is not always the case. Soil chemistry can vary even on the same properly, sometimes even within the same garden plot.

If you suspect that soil chemistry may be to blame for uneven growth patterns, it is important to have a thorough soil analysis done to either confirm your suspicions or rule them out. A good testing lab can quickly point out problems like an uneven pH level, insufficient organic materials in the soil, or insufficient nutrients. The analysis will also give you a good baseline to go from as you improve the soil with various additives.

The pH level of the soil is an important consideration for the perennial garden. Most varieties of perennials will grow quite well in soils with a pH of 5.5 to 7.0, but some perennials have different requirements. If you do not know which plants will grow best in your soil, be sure to check with your nursery or garden center.

If the pH level is excessively alkaline or excessively acidic, it can be brought back into balance by adding humus. You can easily make your own humus by using a compost bin to break down organic material, or humus can be purchased directly from a garden center or nursery. If the humus is unsuccessful, limestone can be added to make the soil more alkaline, while adding sulfur will help make it more acidic.

After the baseline soil chemistry is known, it will be easier to monitor the quality of the soil going forward. A bed of perennials should be checked for soil chemistry quality anytime a significant change in the quality or number of blooms is noticed. Keeping on top of the quality of your soil, and making changes as needed, is the best way to keep your perennials blooming season after season.

Organic Gardening

Getting Rid of Weeds

Getting Rid of Weeds

Spring is here! This is the beginning of the gardening year and busy period for gardeners. The most common, cool-season annual and perennial weeds are beginning to germinate. Yes, weeds, right along with the daffodils and the tulip bulbs that are appearing.

A few weeds are poisonous. Some are a nuisance and you will need to find ways to discourage or eradicate them.

Home gardeners spend more than 200 million dollars a year on chemical herbicides to kill weeds and unwanted plants. Chemical herbicides pollute groundwater, degrade soil, and are often carcinogenic. Fortunately, there are plenty of effective organic techniques for weed control. Just bend over and pull them up; or walk around the garden with a cultivator in hand. If you can't dig them as soon as you see them, pinch off the flowers so they won't go to seed.

The simplest way to prevent an abundance of weeds is to pull weeds before they set seed, but here are a few home solutions for you.

1. Heinz white vinegar poured directly on the weeds. To kill weeds in the garden or between the cracks in the sidewalk and driveway.
2. Pour salt on weeds on a dry, sunny day kills weeds. Avoid getting salt on any plants you want to thrive.
3. Give your weeds a stiff drink of Vodka. Mix three tablespoons vodka and two cups water in a trigger-spray bottle. Spray weeds well, without getting the alcohol solution on other plants. The vodka dehydrates the weeds.
4. You can find corn gluten based products for an organic approach as well. Follow the label directions for application rates and where to use.
5. Use boiling water in order to scald the foliage and roots.

Making seed compost

Seed Compost In order to produce compost for seed starting, a further step is necessary. Take a portion of the compost to make a new, small pile in the spring, and keep it covered fro up to a year. Compost should be two years old and thoroughly decomposed. For best results, sieve the soil through screening before using. If your mail-order plants arrive too early, try... heeling-in - the idea is that you make a trench, stand the still-wrapped plants in it at about a 45-degree angle, and heap soil over the roots. To protect heeled-in plant roots from freezing, it's wise to cover the soil with a layer of mulch. If you have only a few comparatively small plants and bulbs, unwrap them as usuall to check and adjust moisture levels around the roots, rewrap, and put them in the refridgerator. This will keep them until ready to plant.

Popular perennials for the garden

Popular perennials for the garden

Perennials are one of the most popular types of flowering plants, both for the beginning and experienced gardeners. Gardeners of all types and abilities enjoy the beauty, hardiness and ease of planting of these find plants.

In addition, perennials come in every color of the rainbow, and in all shapes and sizes, making them a great choice for any garden. What makes perennials special, however, is their ability to come back year after year. While the actual life span of a perennial will vary from species to species and planting to planting, some types of perennials have been known to last for decades.

Perennials can be used anywhere in the garden, and anywhere around the home as well. Many varieties of perennials are great as landscape plantings, and their ability to regenerate makes them perfect for areas of the garden that are hard to reach. Using perennials to line a driveway, surround a flagpole or accent a front porch is a great idea for any gardener.

In fact, the hardest part of perennials for many gardeners is choosing the right ones. There are so many different perennials at your local garden center that it can be difficult to choose the right ones. This article attempts to help with that problem, by providing a brief overview of some of the most popular perennials for the home garden, as well as some brief care tips.

Name: Achillea

Common name: Yarrow

Needs: Full sun, moderate water (less watering once fully established)

Name: Anemone

Common name: Japanese Anemone

Needs: Partial shade, regular watering

Name: Aster

Common name: New England Aster

Needs: Full sun, partial shade in hot climates, regular watering

Name: Astilbe

Needs: Partial to full shade (some sun OK in cool climates, regular watering

Name: Chrysanthemum

Common name: Shasta Daisy

Needs: Full sun, partial shade in hot climates, regular watering

Name: Coreopsis

Common name: Threadleaf Coreopsis

Needs: Full sun, moderate to little watering

Name: Delphinium

Needs: Full sun, regular watering

Name: Echinacea

Common name: Purple Coneflower

Needs: Full sun, moderate watering

Name: Geranium

Common name: Geranium

Needs: Full sun or partial shade. Must have afternoon shade in hot climates. Regular watering

Name: Helleborus

Common name: Lenten Rose

Needs: Full sun in winter; partial to full shade in spring, summer and fall. Regular watering

Name: Nepeta

Common name: Catmint

Needs: Full sun, moderate watering

Name: Paeonia

Common name: Peony

Needs: Full sun, partial shade in hot climates, regular watering

Name: Papaver

Common name: Oriental Poppy

Needs: Full sun, regular to moderate watering

Name: Penstemon

Common name: Beard Tongue

Needs: Full sun; light shade in hot climates. Regular watering.

Name: Phlox

Common name: Summer Phlox

Needs: Full sun. Flowers may fade in hot climates. Needs regular watering.

Name: Redbeckia

Common name: Black-Eyed Susan

Needs: Full sun. Regular to moderate watering.

Name: Salvia

Needs: Full sun. Regular watering.

Name: Sedum

Common name: Autumn Joy

Needs: Full sun or partial shade. Moderate to little watering.

Name: Veronica

Needs: Full sun. Regular watering.

Making compost for your organic garden

Making Compost for your Organic Garden

Leaving the garden bare over the winter can result in a loss of nutrients and soil erosion during the spring thaw. This is why it is essential that every organic gardener maintains a compost pile. All of the waste produced in the garden, the scraps and leftovers from the kitchen, and leaves and grass clippings from mowing can be recycled into a wonderful fertilizer for the garden. Start by building a compost pile in specific layers rather than at random will work best for you. Start with woody material at the bottom to allow air into the pile. Follow this with a layer of green materials such as grass clippings, weeds, and kitchen waste, and then add a layer of manure. Follow up with a layer of brown materials, such as dried leaves, straw, or dry plant debris. Repeat this layering process until the compost bin is full. You will need to wet the pile, but not soaking wet. Cover if necessary if pile is too wet from a rainy season. Turn the pile often to keep the pile cooking.

Compost Rejects

Cooked kitchen waste and meat scraps produce a strong ordor and will attact animals.

Diseased plants or pest-infested plants.

Manure from dogs and cats may contain diseases.

Weeds with a high seed content.

Grow your garden, kids together

Grow your garden, kids together By DAN GILL LSU AgCenter Published: Mar 9, 2006 Parents often struggle with trying to provide something for their children to do. Why not turn off the TV and start a gardening project? You can introduce your youngsters to the joys of gardening and at the same time exercise their bodies and brains. To be successful during spring and summer, you’ll need to plant seeds or use plants that will thrive in our hot, humid climate. A good selection of flowers, vegetables and herbs can be grown. Whatever you decide to grow, be sure to start with a well-prepared bed, or, if gardening in containers, use a good potting soil and the proper size containers. To prepare a garden bed, remove any weeds or grass from the area. Next, dig the soil to a depth of 8 inches. For small children this can be a physically difficult task, and your assistance will be required. But you can try to find tools that are designed for kids to use and get them involved. Next, sprinkle a complete granular fertilizer following the label directions and then spread a 2-inch layer of organic matter over the area and dig it in. Most often compost, aged manure, peat moss, leaves or grass clippings are used as a source of organic matter. Thoroughly incorporate everything into the soil of the bed by turning it in with a shovel. Children might ask why you need to add fertilizer and organic matter to the soil. The simple answer is that the fertilizer provides nutrients needed by the plant. You could compare a fertilizer to vitamins. Just as getting enough vitamins is important to our growth and health, fertilizers provide nutrients that make the plants healthier and more productive. You can also mention that although we call fertilizers “plant food,” plants actually make their own food through a remarkable process called photosynthesis. In this process, plants absorb the energy of the sun and use it to create the food they need to live and grow. As for the organic matter you add, it helps to put nutrients in the soil, creates air spaces and aids in drainage of excess water from the soil. The air spaces allow oxygen to be present in levels needed to maintain a healthy root system. A loose soil also helps the roots grow through it easier. Most kids are familiar with the recycling of aluminum, paper and glass. You can introduce them to the recycling of organic yard waste through composting. Compost is a valuable soil amendment you can easily make yourself with grass clippings, leaves and vegetable and fruit peelings from the kitchen. The LSU AgCenter has excellent free information on establishing a compost pile. Contact your parish’s LSU AgCenter Extension office or visit www.lsuagcenter.com to obtain copies. For container gardens, choose commercial potting soils that are light and drain well. Make sure the containers you use have drainage holes to allow excess water to drain away when you water. Choose larger containers, since they will need watering less often and you can grow a wider variety of plants in them. Use your favorite water-soluble fertilizer or a slow-release formulation. Follow label directions and repeat as indicated. You can start your plants from seeds or purchase transplants from local nurseries. Why not try both ways? Some of the flowers that will grow well in the summer include: marigold, zinnia, sunflower, cosmos and balsam. Better yet, those flowers and vegetables such as peanuts, yard-long beans, hyacinth beans and luffa are very easily grown from relatively large seed that children can handle easily when planting. Other flowers that grow well in summer are salvia, periwinkle, portulaca, verbena, gomphrena, wishbone flower, melampodium and pentas. Vegetables you can be successful with include eggplant, hot peppers, okra, sweet potatoes, banana pepper and Gypsy pepper. For the plants, such as beans and luffa, that need something to climb on, you can make a teepee in your garden out of bamboo stakes. The bonus is the kids get to sit inside. A few herbs also would be fun to plant. Choose plants such as basil (the spaghetti sauce herb), oregano (the pizza herb) or spearmint (the toothpaste herb). You might also consider planting a butterfly garden. Children are enthralled by the different stages (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly) in the life cycle of these fascinating insects. In the caterpillar stage, they are voracious leaf eaters, and plants that they like to eat are planted in the butterfly garden for them to feed on. The adult female butterfly will lay her eggs only on those plants that will properly nourish her offspring (so you don’t have to worry about butterfly caterpillars eating your other plants). Many gardeners say that an adult introduced them to gardening when they were children. Gardening is one of the best ways to put children in touch with nature. Why not take some time to open a child’s eyes to the wonders of gardening this summer?

home gardeners 5-10-5 replacement

What can the home gardener make from refuse, etc., to take the place of 5-10-5 and nitrate of soda?

Make a compost pile of straw, weeds, grass clippings, leaves, and other plant parts. In making a compost pile, is it more advisable to pile up on top of ground, or to dig a pit and gradually fill it in? In dry climates, a slight depression is best, but elsewhere, pile should be on level ground. If you have any questions on composting, please ask.

Spring is here?

Crocus It is always a joy to see the first signs of spring. It's still cold here in New Jersey and we have been having alternating warm and freezing days. In spite of that they have popped up anyway. These bulbs are four years old and still going strong multiplying every year. Sometimes I miss out seeing them because I have them covered with leaves to protect them through the winter. It is still too early to take off the leaves that are surrounding them, but they are in an area along side of the house that gets a lot of sunlight and is also protected from the wind. Tips - What can be done with spring-blooming bulbs which come through the ground in winter, due to a warm spell? If they are planted very shallowly, cover with a layer of soil, leaves, or whatever plant litter is available. However, some bulbs make early foliage naturally. Should tulips, crocus, daffodils, and hyacinths have mulch over them in fall? Not necessary except in extremely cold sections unless you are in an area subject to frequent alternate freezing and thawing. Damage is then from "heaving" of roots and bulbs from the soil. Under these conditions cover after the ground has frozen hard, with leaves, compost, march hay. This keeps ground uniformly cool and prevents damage to roots by heaving. Uncover gradually when growth appears. Crocus

Why you should consider organic gardening

Organic Gardening

Organic gardening is one of the fastest growing facets of gardening, and more and more people are discovering that it is possible to enjoy a beautiful, thriving garden while still keeping the use of chemicals and pesticides to a minimum. One reason to avoid the use of chemicals and pesticides is that long term use of such chemicals can deplete the soil and leave it unable to sustain further growth. In many cases beds of perennials suddenly stop blooming for no apparent reason, and the culprit is often found to be the overuse of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Concern for the health of the gardener’s family members, pets and the environment as a whole is another reason many people choose organic gardening methods. Runoff from many commercial pesticides and chemical fertilizer can leach into ground water, damage wells, and cause problems with fish ponds and other parts of the landscape. In addition, a well planted and well landscaped home interior has been shown to improve the value of the home, and when that garden is an organic one its value is further enhanced. A beautiful organic garden can be a great way to provide a cost effective enhancement to any landscape. Pest control is one of the places where organic gardening can actually be superior to chemical methods. Instead of using harsh pesticides to get rid of garden pests, it is often better and more effective to use beneficial insects to get rid of harmful ones. Harmful insects are often unable to compete once more beneficial insects have been brought in to the organic garden. One of the most common pests encountered by gardeners, and one of the biggest reasons they use chemical pesticides, is aphids. These common garden pests can be organically controlled by spraying the infested stems, leaves and buds with a diluted mixture of soapy water, then an application of fresh, clear water. This technique has been used by organic gardeners for many years, and it is effective even against heavy infections of aphids. Selecting the right plants is also important to success as an organic gardener. Choosing the right fertilizer is an important consideration as well, since there are organic equivalents for just about every type of chemical fertilizer. When choosing plants and fertilizers, be sure to research the best plants and organic fertilizers for your own area. If you have an organic gardening club in your area, you may want to join in order to swap tips about the best types of plants and fertilizers. One great element of any organic garden landscape is a good ground cover. Planting ground covering plants in areas where grass has a hard time taking hold not only enhances the beauty of your home, but it provides better soil drainage and water retention as well. Many homeowners have discovered the power of using native species as natural ground cover. Flowering vines are another popular centerpiece of many organic gardens. Flowering vines are great for enhancing the beauty of fences, walls, sheds and other structures, since they can easily be trained to grow along these structures. These any many other plants and flowers can enhance any organic garden and make it the showcase of the community. Growing an organic garden is a great way to protect your home, your family and even the environment.

Organic Gardening

There are a few annuals that will stand early planting.

organic flowers Mail-order Seed Companies Offer Colorful Variety Gilroy Dispatch (subscription) - Gilroy,CA,USA... you haven't gotten around to thinking about what new flowers and vegetables ... specializes in a broad assortment of holistic garden supplies and organic pesticides ... There are a few annuals that will stand early planting. Sweet-alyssum, scabiosa, candytuft, sweet peas, cosmos, cornflowers, larkspur, Shirley poppy, pricly poppy. For indoor propagation of flower seeds - Use a sterile starting medium, adequate sunlight or a growing light, steady mositure, good air circulation , and suitable temperature.