A Good Question and This Week's Growth

Last week someone posted a good question:

"Can you provide some tips behind your success at gardening."  

H.G. said:

"Start with a farm (garden) that has good soil! Take a soil test (#1 most important thing).  Add compost but not too much, 1-2 inches a year.Follow soil test recommendations.  Weed and pick off insects weekly at the VERY LEAST!  Cover bare soil with something. Straw, newspaper, whatever. 

Squash and Cucumbers

Sunflowers

Basil

Onions

Water every three to four days.  Skip irrigation if rainy. Rotate away from same crops every year (peppers and eggplant should be considered the same). Hope and pray no disease come in (do a lot of this).  If you rotate religiously or if it never rains, disease will be minimal.

Eat veggies when hungry!  HG"

Hope this helps and if you have any questions, please post them below!  

Here are a few more pictures of this past week's growth!  Enjoy and we look forward to seeing you all in a few days! 

Kale

 

Gooseberry

Green Beans

 Garlic

Peas

Peppers

We hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend.  We are very thankful to all of you who have served our country!

FREE GARDENING ADVICE from H.G.: #2 - Planting Your Tomatoes and How We Plant Ours

Plant all your tomatoes in April unprotected. Then they will probably get killed by frost and you can buy tomatoes from SIW. This will leave room in your garden for flowers!!!!

OR...

Plant 2 to 4 plants (never more than 4) every 24 days starting May 1st (covered on coldest nights) or May 15th uncovered. This will give you tomatoes from early July until frost. *Problem: If you do multiple plantings, you will be required to keep weeding your garden ALL summer vs giving up on it after you have overdosed on tomatoes in July. The later has it's advantages: You can go to the beach in August and not worry about your garden anymore AND SIW will supply all your tomato needs until frost! Hmmmm....a conundrum!"
 

In case you're curious, we will have 9,000 tomato plants this year.  Each row of a tray (there are 10 rows in a tray) holds 200 seeds!!!!  With the grand total of 2000 seeds per tray!  The greenhouse will be bursting out all over very soon!

Remember, if you want to watch the progression of this crop, come on over to our "crop progression" page. 

If you have any questions, please post your comments below and H.G. will get back to you ASAP!

HAPPY SPRING! - Two ways to plant seeds

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For all of you who who are anxious to get started in the garden and love the nitty gritty of planting, there are two different ways to begin seedlings: "Direct Seeding" or what Marv calls "Threading." 

Direct Seeding is one seed at a time in each little container of the tray as Marv is doing here with these ZINNIA seeds.

Can't wait to see those beautiful flowers popping up!

Then there is "Threading" which is when you fill up a row in the tray with hundreds (200 to be specific) seeds...

and then scoop out several from a row. Take them apart one at a time.  The roots will look like THREADS.  

Then you poke a hole...
















and "spot them" into the hole and....

  

Voilà that seedling is happily in his home!

Hope you have a great first day of SPRING!

FREE GARDENING ADVICE FROM H.G. - Tip #1 (Growing Your Own Tomato Plants)

I know it's hard to believe but the first day of spring is only 15 days away!  Hmmm.....

Since biking isn't an option this week, we'll have to come up with something a little less physical.  Have YOU begun planting seedlings in your home?  Are there any kids out there with school projects to try and plant seeds?  We'd love to see YOUR pictures.  Please post them in the comment section below.  And, there is still the chance for a kid to win a prize by guessing what plant is growing in the Kids Corner.   Here's a clue: We had to plant it in October and Italians usually love this produce!  In the meanwhile....

This year H.G. is going to offer a few gardening tips to help you in your own gardens.  Feel free to post your questions in the comment section and he'll get back to you as soon as possible!  Or, if you'd like any free advice on any particular produce or problem in your garden, ask away!  (You can come back and easily read all of his advice by clicking on the label to the right called "Gardening Tips" and all of his advice through the year will come up!)

So, this is what H.G. has to say about growing tomato sprouts....

Start seeds in a germination chamber  (anywhere that you can keep the temps between 75-80).  A basement room  near heater always stays warm this time of year.  After 48 hours (important) move seeds to a cooler spot.  On your window sill during day (if sunny) then some warm place around 65-70. Under a grow lamp is ideal but for the hard core a window sill will work. Once they come up you will need to keep them in the brightest spot in the house. A greenhouse works a lot better!!!!! Read on seed packet when to start. All seeds are different. 

The Wilmington Flower Market is open right around first planting (Mother's Day) and it is a lot easier to just go there and buy whatever you need without the hassle of struggling with them on your window sill. AND, it supports a great cause.