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vegetables – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Tag: vegetables

  • 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.

  • 5 Common Fertilization Mistakes

    5 Common Fertilization Mistakes

    How much do you know about plant fertilizer? While your level of knowledge depends on your gardening experience, as well as how much research you’ve done on the topic, this doesn’t mean that you don’t make mistakes when applying yours. It’s very easy to use the wrong type of fertilizer, not mix it correctly, or even apply too much (or too little) of it. Since fertilizer is an important part of the growing process, you need to know which mistakes your making so that you can avoid them in the future. Here are some of the most common ones.

    Using Too Much Fertilizer

    Too much of a good thing is definitely a problem. If you use too much fertilizer, you could actually be hurting your plants. As it turns out, over-fertilizing can cause certain compounds in the soil to build up, which will hurt your plants. For example, they need just enough nitrogen in order to survive and thrive, but too much can kill them. Never over fertilize. This is one of those things where the words “too much of a good thing” certainly come true. In fact, if you’ve just fertilized the soil and your plants look as if they need more fertilizer (look for droopy leaves, and so on) this might actually be a sign that you applied too much.

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    Adding Too Much of One Nutrient

    It’s easy to add too much of one nutrient and not enough of the others. Many people focus on the trio of NPK, or Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, while forgetting that their soil actually needs to be a perfect balance of these compounds and others. In order to balance things out properly, make sure to use more than one type of fertilizer. Look for ones that contain calcium, sulfur, or one of the other many micronutrients that your plants need.

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    Your Fertilized Them at the Wrong Time

    This is where doing research on your plants comes in handy. There are numerous resources out there that tell you exactly when this type of tomato plant or that type of cucumber vine needs to be fertilized. You shouldn’t fertilize everything at once, or just “wing it.” Instead, look up your exact varietals and create a calendar or chart that shows when in their growth cycles that they need to be fertilized. Your plants will reward you growing plenty of vegetables if you do this correctly.

    Repeating the Same Patterns

    You need to remember that what worked great one year won’t necessarily provide the same results the next. It’s easy to fall into these habits and come up with a formula of sorts that spells out success. However, your plants might have different needs the next year, based on the air temperatures, amount of sunlight, soil conditions, and even how much water they’ve received. You need to plan everything to match – not just do the same thing over again because it worked that way in the past. Be open to change and everything will work out for the best.

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    Not Testing Your Soil

    The soil that you plant your crops in needs to be tested every year because its condition can change. Since you want your soil to have that perfect balance of nutrients and micronutrients, it helps to know what it’s exactly chemical composition is. This way, you can add in the right type of fertilizer. Otherwise, you might be applying more phosphorus to soil that already has plenty of this nutrient. This isn’t good for the plants or your soil composition. The more that you know about your soil before you fertilize it, the better.

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  • 4 More Simple Ways to Improve Soil Quality

    4 More Simple Ways to Improve Soil Quality

    Growing your own fruits and vegetables is much easier when you have great soil. If yours is filled with too much clay, is infiltrated by tree and shrub roots, or has nutritional deficiencies, then you won’t be able to produce as many of them as you’d like. Or, you could end up with great quantities of fruits and vegetables, but they won’t be very large. Either way, your plants will struggle. The best thing that you can do in order to reverse this is by improving the overall quality of your soil. There are several useful (and fairly simple) methods to do this. Here they are.

    Use a Cover Crop That Adds Nutrients

    Some crops are called “cover crops” because they add nutrients to the soil when they are allowed to break down and cover it. (After they’re grown in that same soil, of course.) These cover crops, including buckwheat and clover, can be planted during the off seasons. They’ll stay alive through winter and early spring, and then, when you’re ready to till your garden, just plow the plants into it. Not only will they act as mulch, but they’ll help enrich your soil.

    Turn Your Perennials Into Mulch

    Adding mulch to your soil does much more than keep it warm, ensure that it stays moist, and prevent weeds from taking root. It also adds some nutrients to the soil. What you can do in order to make your own mulch (or at least, enhance the type that you buy) is chop up any trimmings from your perennials and add them to it. Things like shrub trimmings, bits of perennial plants, and even small branches pruned from your trees all can be added to your mulch. As they break down, they’ll help your soil’s nutritional content.

    Allow It to Dry Out Before Tilling

    Sure, it’s good to plant your crops after rain, because the soil is nice and moist. This doesn’t mean that you should till it at this point though. Instead, wait until your soil has dried out, and then till it up. Otherwise, you risk taking all of the oxygen out of the soil and damaging its overall structure. You won’t be able to grow as much in this damaged soil. It’s best to test your soil by grabbing some of it with your hand and squeezing before you bring out the rototiller. If it crumbles into dust in your hand, then it’s time.

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    Test Your Soil and Then Add To It

    One of the best ways to improve your soil quality is by testing it, and then adding in what it appears to be missing. There are test kits on the market that can tell you what your soil is lacking. They are easy to use, as most involve placing a scoop of soil in a test tube and then adding some chemicals to it. If you want results that are more detailed than that, you can purchase the type of test kit that you need to send out to a lab. You’ll get your results in a few weeks.

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    After you find out what your soil is lacking, you can add that exact compound to it. For example, if it lacks nitrogen, just add some organic fertilizer that contains nitrogen to it. The test results might also include some suggestions for improvement, and give you the names of a few products that you can use. However, this depends on the exact test. No matter what, you’ll know exactly how to improve your soil in order to grow the best crops possible. That’s what every homesteader wants.

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  • 8 Items to NOT Include in Your Compost

    8 Items to NOT Include in Your Compost

    Creating a compost pile is always a good idea. You’ll get to reuse food scraps that would otherwise end up in the trash, and then eventually in a landfill. On top of this, compost piles create new, fresh soil that contains plenty of nutrients. Your plants will love it. However, before it gets to that point, you need to understand the basics of composting, which involve knowing what you shouldn’t put into a compost bin. Many of these items are downright harmful to your compost and will cause a number of problems. Avoid adding them to the pile at all costs.

    Citrus Peels

    While fruit waste of all kinds can be added to a compost pile, you should avoid adding in those citrus peels. They take way too long to decompose and can affect the overall balance in your pile. Your goal is to make soil, and you won’t be able to use it for much when it contains whole chunks of orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit peels in it.

    Animal Feces

    It’s understandable that you want to do something with your cat or dog feces besides putting it in the trash. However, if you add it to your compost pile, you risk contaminating it with parasites and microorganisms. You don’t want them getting anywhere near your plants, especially if you grow your own vegetables.

    Onion Peels

    A good compost pile contains a balanced combination of food scraps and other waste that break down slowly over time. In some cases, you might want to add some worms to your pile in order to help this process along. Onion peels will hurt, rather than help, here. Not only do they slow down the decomposition process, but they also hurt your worms.

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    Sticker Labels

    You’ve no doubt seen those annoying sticker labels that appear on fruits and vegetables. Yes, they serve a purpose – helping the cashier code in the right items during checkout – but they don’t do much else. You can’t even add them to your compost pile, because they won’t biodegrade. They’re actually made of plastic, not paper.

    Paper That’s Coated or Glossy

    When you’re adding items to your compost bin, you do need to balance out those fruit and vegetable scraps with some paper. However, it needs to be the right kind of paper. You can’t use glossy or coated paper. Those enhancements are made of plastic, which prevents the paper from breaking down properly.

    Tea Bags and Coffee Filters

    While used tea leaves and coffee grounds absolutely can be added to your compost, the items that you use to make that tea and coffee cannot. Your tea bags and coffee filters need to be placed in the trash unless you’ve determined that they’re made of natural materials. Many consist of synthetic polyester fibers that won’t break down properly, if at all.

    Meat Scraps of All Kinds

    The meat of any sort can’t be placed in a compost bin. This means that you can’t include any beef trimmings, leftover cooked chicken (or uncooked chicken), fish bones, or anything that came from an animal. The problem here lies not so much in getting those items to biodegrade (they will, along with everything else around them), but in the smell that they give off while doing so. All of the animals in your neighborhood will end up rooting through your compost bin looking for food.

    Used Charcoal

    It can be tempting to dump leftover charcoal in your compost bin, but you shouldn’t do it. This material actually contains a lot of sulfur, which can upset the overall balance of your compost. It’s even worse if your charcoal has been treated or soaked in fire starting liquid.

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  • 11 Simple Ways to Practice Sustainable Gardening

    11 Simple Ways to Practice Sustainable Gardening

    How much do you know about sustainable gardening? These useful tips might just fill in any gaps in your knowledge! The more you know about these practices the better. Do you think that you’ll use some of these in your garden this year?

    1) If you own cats or dogs, brush them and then sprinkle some of their hair around the edges of your garden. Sure, it might look weird, but it will keep any critters away. They’ll smell your predators and steer clear of your vegetables.

    2) Place a laundry sink in your yard, near where your vegetable garden is located. A bucket underneath will collect the water that runs through it as you hose off your newly picked fruits and vegetables. Then, you can use that water in your garden.

    3) Don’t use a machine to pull up weeds. Instead, get on your hands and knees and pull them the old-fashioned way – with your hands, or, if you need to, with a hand tool. You’ll have a better appreciation for your garden and the earth this way.

    4) Instead of using pieces of plastic in order to mark your plants, just grab some twigs. Shave off a section of the bark and write on it with an environmentally friendly marker. The best thing about this is that the twig will end up decaying over the course of the season, helping the composition of your soil.

    5) Repurpose old pieces of concrete that you find lying about. They make great stepping stones and even garden borders. Plus, they add a little rustic look to things, thanks to their broken edges.

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    6) Create a hot sauce spray in order to keep pests off of your plants. Certain ones will not appreciate the flavor of the spray that ends up on the leaves. (Note: this takes care of many critters as well.) Just mix some ground cayenne pepper, Tabasco sauce, and water in a spray bottle.

    7) Rather than buy twine to use as garden ties, just use some old pantyhose. You can even cover growing melons and other trellised vegetables in it, and then tie the pantyhose to the trellis. This is a great way to reuse something that would otherwise end up in the trash.

    8) Make your own mulch out of old tree limbs, pieces of branches that you’ve pruned off of your hedges, or anything else that you remove from your perennials. As long as it’s small enough, and you can guarantee that it won’t sprout seedlings, it’s safe to use. This is a great way to use yard waste.

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    9) Turn vegetable trimmings into stock. Rather than throw the ends of things right into the compost bin or the trash, place them in a freezer bag. When you have enough in the bag, make stock with them (all that you need is some water, those veggies, and a pot over low heat). Then, skim your stock and place the vegetable bits into your compost pile.

    10)  When you’re planting your vegetables, create a furrow on either side of them. This will hold water for some time, and allow that water to go straight to the roots of the plants. It’s like creating a mini irrigation system in your yard.

    11) Save items throughout the year and use them for other purposes in your garden. For example, you can use leftover rags (ripped into strips) as markers or ties. You can turn old popsicle sticks into plant markers. There are plenty of things that you can reuse as long as you get a little creative. This is one of the hallmarks of sustainable gardening.

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  • Why Do You Need a Greenhouse and Things to Look for

    Why Do You Need a Greenhouse and Things to Look for

    Many avid gardeners have considered putting a greenhouse in their yards. There’s just something about having the ability to grow tropical and warm-weather loving plants year-round that really appeals to them. If you’re one of these people, then you need to read this primer about greenhouses. It contains just about everything that you need to know about them.

    What Is A Greenhouse?

    Let’s start by defining exactly what a greenhouse is. These are structures of various sizes that have clear walls and roofs. Some of the fancier greenhouses have glass walls, although you can use clear, plastic polycarbonate sheeting as well. A greenhouse is designed to provide a respite from the outdoor weather. It’s warm year-round so that plants easily grow inside of them. The clear walls let in plenty of sunlight, although the greenhouse might be built with an electrical system and some grow lights as well. This really allows the owner to control the overall temperature indoors. Some have a hydration system built-in as well, but it really is easy to use a hose, if you want a simple do-it-yourself greenhouse that your custom made on your own.

    Greenhouse Sizes

    One of the best things about greenhouses is that they come in various sizes. This means that you really can have one that fits your yard perfectly. You aren’t limited to the large commercial sized ones. Some come as small as a basic coat closet and hold seedlings. They work well if all that you want to do is plant seeds and allow them to grow slightly before the soil warms up in the spring. If you want something that can handle multiple plants and allow them to grow year-round, then you’ll want one that’s larger than that. Again, it all depends on the plants your overall vision for your greenhouse.

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    Pick a Good Location

    Location matters, even with greenhouses. Yours should be located in an area of your yard that receives plenty of sunlight. Otherwise, your plants won’t grow properly – even if you have a grow light installed inside. You never want to have your greenhouse placed in a shady area of your yard. In addition to this, you need to run electric lines to it and possibly even water lines. If you can, place your greenhouse within ten to twenty feet of your own house, in order to make these things easier to install.

    What about Amenities?

    You need to think about your greenhouse as if it’s actually a house. By this, we mean that you need to consider which amenities you want it to have. Your two main options include lighting that will give your plants a boost and promote growth, even when the weather isn’t very sunny outside and a filtration system that waters the plants. Yes, you could use a portable grow light and a hose, but you also have the option of running electric lines and setting up an irrigation system. It all depends on your budget and just what you want to use the greenhouse for. There’s nothing wrong with installing a simple one that lacks these amenities.

    Building Your Greenhouse

    Just like with the amenities, you have two options to choose from here. You can either build your greenhouse yourself, which includes developing plans and literally making it from scratch or purchasing a commercial greenhouse. This latter option might involve having the greenhouse trucked to your yard and installed, or having a kit arrive in the mail that you need to build yourself. Either way, you end up with the perfect greenhouse for your needs.

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