This blog is dedicated to teaching people how to grow a vegetable garden. I create all my own material. My blog and videos provide information as if you have never had a garden. My goal is to teach and answer questions, so you can have an outstanding vegetable garden! Gardening is a global event... join the the fun and dig around!
Welcome to my new blog... My First Vegetable Garden. It is dedicated to new gardeners and I plan to blog about and video the entire 2014 gardening season.
I will cover and teach you about every aspect of home gardening that you can think of! Please follow my blog as it will take you from starting your own seeds to harvesting 2 pound heirloom tomatoes and more! Learn how to grow the vegetables on your right...
Search my TWO blogs by entering key garden words...
Starting Mixes, Seed Cells and Seed Starting Set Up
How to Make Soapy Spray for Soft Bodied Garden Insects
Soft bodied insects are just that... soft bodies. That don't have a tough skin so to speak. The soapy water spray essentially dehydrates them by disrupting their systems.
The video explains the basic recipe I use. I find you don't need 4 or 5 tablespoons of dish soap as many recipes suggest. I always recommend starting with less and add more later. You can also add different things to your mix if you wish. That is up to you.
Aphids are the main soft bodied insect I get in my garden. You generally know when you have them as the cover the stems of your plants. They suck nectar out of the plants. Soapy water will do the trick on them.
From experience, I want to say... make sure you test spray your plants with any new spray that you make, buy or borrow. Just spray some leaves and wait 24-48 hours to see if it is safe for your plants. It is also important you don't spray plants generally when the temperature is over 90 degrees or during full afternoon sun. Morning spraying is best.
How to Make a Baking Soda Anti-Fungal Garden Spray
From experience, I want to say... make sure you test spray your plants with any new spray that you make, buy or borrow. Just spray some leaves and wait 24-48 hours to see if it is safe for your plants. It is also important you don't spray plants generally when the temperature is over 90 degrees or during full afternoon sun. Morning spraying is best.
This is one spray that can be used as an anti-fungal and it can be modified in many ways. I just wanted to show you the basic recipe. You can modify it as you wish. If you are like me you have a bit of mad professor in you and different things can be added to it.
It effectively works to prevent and stop fungi from spreading. It will not kill off established fungi on leaves. Those leaves should be removed. It is effective against Powdery Mildew and Early Blight and other similar problems.
Building A Grow-Light Box for Starting Seeds Indoors
You can save a lot of money by starting seeds indoors and growing your own vegetable transplants. You can easily spend 3 or 4 dollars on a tomato or pepper transplant from a nursery. A vegetable 6 pack of lettuce is another 3 dollars. You can start seeds indoors and grow your own transplants! A grow-light box is one way to do this. It provides the right amount of light intensity to bring you healthy garden vegetable or flower transplants.
Seed starting is quite easy but you do have to follow some basic principles. I covered starting mix and preparing the seed cells in this entry - Seed Starting Mix Preparation for Germination: Pre-Moisten, Pack Cells and Bottom Watering. Starting mix, watering, cell preparation and lighting are all keys to high germination, strong seedlings and great transplants. And warmth gets thrown in there too.
Before you can start your seeds indoors you must make sure you have enough light to help them grow. If you don't have enough light, your plants will get 'leggy'. Which is a term for plants that have abnormally long stems (because they are reaching for the light). They are thin, weak and have overdeveloped stems and underdeveloped leaves. This all comes from not having enough light at the right intensity. A grow-light box addresses a plant's light needs and the issue of plant 'legginess'. A grow-light box will help you have a more successful vegetable garden.
Here is another grow-light design for starting seeds indoor. It is an open design.
The second video (below) shows you how to manage the light for your seedlings. The principles hold true for both designs. However the above design is opened and it has a lot of air flow. DO NOT bottom water your plants inside the CLOSED LID grow-light box design. The closed lid design and having pooled water in the container will cause humidity in the box. That is bad for diseases and electricity. Just water your plants outside the grow-light box and place them back into the closed grow-light box after they absorb water into their soil. There should be no excess water sitting in the closed grow-light box design.
A general rule is to keep the grow-light about 2 inches above the plants. You want intense light. You can do this by raising or lowering the light fixture or by raising or lower the plants. Stack a book under them. A general rule of thumb is 12-14 hours of light. If you want to buy a timer the fits in the outlet... you can set it and let the light turn on and off automatically.
If you want to learn more about the grow-light bulbs here is a link to +Praxxus55712 . YouTube Channel. This video talks about different sized CFL bulbs for plants. It is very helpful. EZ Answers to Lighting Questions.
Gardening is not about perfection. It is about enjoying, learning and changing methods. The best thing you can do is to just get gardening, have fun and see how it goes. I will be doing an ongoing series for 2014 called: How to Have A More Successful Vegetable Garden. The key word is more... each year we improve a bit. The series will follow my general path in the garden which typically starts with getting ready to grow plants indoors in my grow-closet come January.
Gardening is not about perfection. It is about enjoying, learning and changing methods. The best thing you can do is to just get gardening, have fun and see how it goes. I will be doing an ongoing series for 2014 called: How to Have A More Successful Vegetable Garden. The key word is more... each year we improve a bit. The series will follow my general path in the garden which typically starts with getting ready to grow plants indoors in my grow-closet come January.
Seed Starting Mix: Seed starting mixes or mediums should be sterile. You don't want to use soil from your garden for seeds, seedlings and early transplants. You don't want to bring in soil diseases or a fungus. 'Damping off ' diseases are a cotton like fungi that will cover the stems of seedlings and kill them.
The typical ingredients for seed starting mixes are vermiculite, perlite and peat moss. They are typically heat dried and sterile. You can buy them in various mixes. I often make my own to save money and my process can be found in this video. It is 5 or 6 parts peat moss and 1 or 1 1/2 bowls of perlite. Nothing has to be exact.
Preparing Seed Starting Mix: Never start planting seeds with a dry seed starting mix. Most starting mixes come 100% dry. I prefer them. Some are wet with a wetting agent. Why they don't say water, I don't know. I prefer the dry mixes because I feel they are most sterile.
Because they are dry.... you absolutely need to pre-moisten the starting mix before using it. Just add warm water and mix the water in evenly. You want the starting mix to be moistened through but not the point you can squeeze water out of it. You will add more water later. A dry starting mix actually resists absorbing water. It will float on water as seen in the video below.
Thumb Packing Seed Cells
Fill the Seed Starting Cells: The first mistake I made was how I first filled the cells. The moist starting mix fills them up easily. It is really a fluffy mix. The first round of filling them really makes starting cells that are too loosely packed with starting mix or medium. Seeds can fall down deeper into the cell because of the 'fluffy' medium and this can effect germination.
You want a tightly packed cell that has well packed medium. It will help with germination and it is better for root growth. Fill the cell once (first round) and pack the medium down with your thumb into the cell. Fill it again (second round) and you have a great base for starting seeds. The starting mix really can't be overly packed. The video shows you the process for preparing the cells for seeds.
Bottom Watering: Bottom watering is very important for germinating seedlings and small transplants. If you water from the top (like in the video) you will splash out seeds, small transplants and run the risk of spreading diseases. And it is just more difficult and time consuming to water from the top. Watering from the bottom just means filling the tray or flat the seed cells sit in. They will draw water up from the bottom. With time you get pretty good and knowing how much water to use. Whatever is not absorb in 20 or 30 minutes... just poor out into a bucket. You don't want them sitting in water.
I really enjoy gardening. If you enjoyed this entry and videos and would like the series to continue please give it a G +1 or a thumbs up. That is how I monitor interest and it helps me focus on my next project.
You can save a lot money off the cost of the pre-made starting mixes and potting mixes. An 8 quart bag of seed starting mix will cost about $4-$5 in the stores. You can make the same size bag (8 quarts) for about $1.50. The main ingredients in starting mixes are typically peat moss, perlite and vermiculite. You need peat moss and either one of the second ingredients. You can use all three if you want.
They key is to buy the materials in bulk and save yourself the money. A 3 foot cubic bag or 85 liters of peat moss only costs $10-$15 depending where you live. It comes dry and pressed. The generally ratio I use is 5 parts peat moss and 1 part perlite. You can use more or less depending on how creative you want to be. Perlite and vermiculite can be found on-line in bulk. Add in some organic fertilizer and you just made a great seed starting mix and saved yourself a lot of money.
