Homesteader Depot

Tag: growing

  • How to Grow the Perfect Cucumbers

    How to Grow the Perfect Cucumbers

    Cucumbers are the perfect vegetable even though scientifically, they’re considered to be a fruit. No matter what you classify them as what matters is that they are extremely tasty and rather versatile. They taste great on salad, can be eaten alone, and are used in dozens of recipes. In addition, there’s nothing quite like a cucumber that you grew yourself, in your backyard garden. Although the kind grown outdoors tend to have spines and bumps on them, making them not-so-pretty to look at, they taste good. In order to produce a garden full of tasty cucumbers, you need to know what to do.

    Start Them as Seeds

    Cucumbers survive the act of transplantation well, so they can be started as seeds in small pots or in larger seedling containers. You can either put them outdoors or in a greenhouse, depending on the overall air temperatures. If it’s too cold, the seeds won’t sprout. It has to be a consistent 68 degrees Fahrenheit in order for them to grow properly. If you have the luxury of growing your seedlings indoors, under a grow light, then this won’t be an issue. The best thing is that cucumber plants grow fairly quickly, so if you have a shorter growing season, they will still bear fruit.

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    Thin Your Seedlings

    Once your seedlings start to grow, you’ll need to thin them. There should be only one per small pot or section of your seedling container. Choose whichever one looks the strongest and remove the others to give it plenty of space to grow.

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    Plant Them Outside

    Once the weather warms up for good, it’s time to move your cucumber plants outdoors. They do grow well in containers and grow bags, as long as those pots are large enough. Choose ones that hold at least seven gallons of soil, and note that you’ll need one of them for each plant. Fill the pots with potting soil (which has properties that promote drainage and prevent root rot) and then plant your cucumber seedlings in them. If you’re placing your cucumbers in the ground, choose a location that gets plenty of sunlight.

    Since cucumber plants turn into vines, they’ll need room to grow. Now is the time to put a trellis or cucumber frame behind them. As the plants start to vine out, encourage them to grow up the trellis or frame. However, if you’re growing them in pots on a porch, you won’t need these extra accessories, as the cucumbers can be “coerced” into growing over the porch rails.

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    Watering and Care

    Cucumber plants are prone to powdery leaf mildew, so keep an eye on those leaves. Make sure that the soil is kept moist, particularly once they start to grow fruit. Fertilize your cucumber plants at least once per season, or more often if you’re growing them in a pot or grow bag. The nutrients in that soil will vanish fairly quickly, so you’ll need to fertilize them at least once a month. If you see signs of powdery leaf mildew or other problems, make sure to deal with them quickly, as you don’t want your plants to get damaged. Other than this, cucumbers are fairly easy to care for. They’ll produce plenty of slightly spiny fruits throughout the growing season.

    Picking Your Cucumbers

    Remember to keep an eye on your cucumber plants. Once your cucumbers have reached a length of around five to six inches (or larger or smaller depending on the variety) and are nice and green, a clip from the plant. This will encourage the plant to keep growing, producing even more cucumbers for you to enjoy.

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  • How to Correct Nitrogen Deficiency in Your Soil

    How to Correct Nitrogen Deficiency in Your Soil

    Did you know that your plants need nitrogen? Obviously, they need four other things as well: soil, air, sunlight, and water, but they also need plenty of nitrogen. This element is found in the air, as well as the soil. The nitrogen in the air doesn’t really help plants at all. In order for them to absorb it, the element must be in their soil. It occurs there naturally, but over time, especially if you use containers or grow bags for your plants, the nitrogen will begin to get used up. The end results are plants that don’t really thrive. They’ll begin to turn yellow and wilt. Thankfully, you can correct this deficiency.

    Know The Signs

    When your plants need more nitrogen, they’ll let you know. They’ll stop growing. Their leaves will begin to wilt and turn yellow. They just won’t look healthy anymore. Although all of those could be signs of other problems, such as not watering, overwatering, or keeping them in containers that are too small, if the plant is otherwise healthy and being taken care of properly, then the main problem is a lack of nitrogen. The sooner you add this element to the soil, the faster your plant will spring back to health.

    Test Your Soil

    Another thing that you can – and should – do is test your soil. There are soil testing kits that are commercially available. Some just involve scooping some soil into a tester and following the instructions. They’ll tell you the results right away. However, if you want something a bit a more accurate, you can purchase a kit, scoop up some soil from around your plants, and then send it out to be tested. There’s usually a self-addressed stamped envelope in those kits. It will take a few weeks, but you’ll get the results either emailed to mailed to you. These types of tests are best done early in the growing season. If you wait until your plants are in danger to do them, then it might be too late by the time the results come in.

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    Add More Nitrogen Naturally

    There are several ways to add nitrogen to your soil without having to resort to the use of chemical fertilizers. For example, you could add some old coffee grounds to the soil. They contain plenty of nitrogen. Although it will take some time for them to produce as much nitrogen as your plants need, it will work. You just have to be patient. In some cases, these slow-release methods are preferred to the quick ones.

    Adding compost to the soil is another option. Compost contains plenty of nitrogen. Like coffee grounds, its effects take time, but it does work, especially if it contains manure. (Yes, it’s a bit smelly, but your plants will really like it.) In addition to those two methods, you can also plant crops like peas and beans that will add nitrogen to the soil. They just naturally provide this element as they grow.

    Use Fertilizer

    Standard (read: chemical) fertilizers tend to have some sort of nitrogen in them. Look for initials NPK on the package, and pay close attention to that first number. It’s the one that tells you just how much nitrogen is present. Balanced fertilizers will help the health of your plants, but those with a large amount of nitrogen in them will provide the right kind of benefits much faster. With that said, the nitrogen will leach away quickly and you’ll end up having to use more sooner rather than later. No matter what, your plants will improve.

  • Why are my Vegetables not Growing?

    Why are my Vegetables not Growing?

    You’ve planted your vegetables, and have tended to them properly (you think, anyway), but they still aren’t growing. Instead, you have tomato plants without flowers, tiny zucchinis that wither on the plant, and cucumbers that just won’t grow. Something went wrong, and it’s time to find out what. There are a number of issues that can cause your vegetable plant plans to go awry. Here are some of the most common problems.

    Everything Is Planted too Close Together

    This happens to the best-intentioned gardeners. You start off with tiny seedlings that are transplanted into the ground or a series of grow bags (depending on the plant and how much space you’re working with.) It’s easy to place them close to one another because they’re so small. You didn’t even think to consider how large they’ll get as they grow. The problem here is that since they’re too close to one another, they don’t have any room to grow. They don’t develop properly and will choke one another out as they compete for the same sunlight, water, and root space.

    You Don’t Bother to Weed

    Your plant beds need to be taken care of, and this includes weeding them regularly. It’s easy to think that those weeds won’t cause any damage, but they will. Weeds take up space, hog the nutrients in the soil, and introduce pests to your plants. As a result, your vegetables simply won’t grow properly.

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    They Were Put Into the Ground Too Soon

    Cold weather can damage your plants. Some types of seeds, such as tomatoes, won’t even germinate in temperatures that are below 50 degrees. If you want your vegetables to grow, you need to pay attention to the weather. Starting your seeds too early or in the wrong conditions can leave you with sickly plants that don’t produce anything. On top of this, if you plant the seedlings before the last frost of the year, they could die or become damaged by the cold. The results will be plants that don’t really do anything because they just aren’t healthy enough.

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    You Didn’t Plan Your Garden Properly

    Gardens need to be planned. Certain crops pair well together, while others simply don’t like each other. For example, the three sisters – corn, beans, and squash – will thrive if they’re placed close together because they protect each other and provide the right growing conditions. In order for your garden to be the best that it possibly can, you’ll need to do some research on the vegetables that you want to plant, and then plan everything out accordingly.

    Fertilizer? What’s That?

    If you don’t fertilize your plants, they won’t have the nutrients that they need in order to grow. There are many different types of fertilizer, so you should have no issues finding the best organic or non-organic one for your needs. As we mentioned above, you need to do a bit of research in order to see which types of fertilizer work best for your vegetable plants, and then apply them using the instructions on the package.

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    There’s Not Enough Sunlight

    Anyone who’s ever tried to plant vegetables in the shade knows what will happen. Without plenty of sunlight, those crops just won’t grow properly. In order to determine the best place for your garden, spend some time looking around your yard at all hours of the day. The spaces that get the most sunlight will be the best place for your plants. Very few vegetable plants will actually survive and thrive in low light conditions. Your garden placement might be to blame for your lack of output.