Gardening Basics For Dummies 3e

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Most veggies are annuals (planted each year). If you’re planning on growing “perennial” crops such as asparagus, rhubarb, and some herbs, provide permanent locations orbeds. Consider your water sources. If they’re not close to your garden plot, it will be important to figure out a system for transporting water to your garden. Community gardens provide another great alternative for people with limited space to get their hands dirty — or for those who’d rather not get their hands dirty alone.

A raised bed is easier to work. Because raised beds are elevated, you don’t have to bend down as much. You can make them taller than 10 inches if you really don’t want to stoop, and you can make the edges wide enough to sit on while you work. Plant trees. Planting trees helps to store carbon from the atmosphere into the soil. Trees can also cool your home in summer and let in the winter sun. If you don’t have room for trees at your place, volunteer with a local landcare group. Home gardeners who choose to grow food organically reduce their exposure to pesticides. Crinnion W et al. (2010). Organic foods contain higher levels of certain nutrients, lower levels of pesticides, and may provide health benefits for the consumer. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20359265/ Get the kids into sustainable gardening. At home, at school or in the community, if kids learn the right way from the beginning, they’re sure to keep gardening sustainably into the future.If you’re growing plants outdoors, try to choose a spot that optimizes all those things that plants need — light, water, nutrients, and good soil.

Vegetables for shadier gardens: If you have a garden plot that receives fewer than six hours of direct sunlight, try these vegetables: beets, carrots, kale, lettuce, potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, scallions, spinach, and Swiss chard. Well, what are you waiting for? Start getting those fingers green! Whether you have your own plot of land or need to pursue an alternative approach to gardening, this handy-dandy guide will have you elbow deep in compost in no time at all. If you’re food gardening, what do you most like to cook and eat? There’s no reason to grow a 5-pound zucchini if you don’t love the stuff. Grow things that are yummy to you. (And stop trying to grow Sour Patch Kids. That’s not how they work.) In larger farming operations, different nutrients cycle through the soil as different plants grow. This is what they mean by “fertile” soil — nutrient-rich bounties of growth for new plants. Bierman PM, et al. (2005). Nutrient management for fruit and vegetable crop production: Nutrient cycling and maintaining soil fertility. https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/197962

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Common heath ( Epacris impressa): The dark green, short pointy leaves and clusters of narrow little bell flowers along the stem, which are sometimes pink, sometimes white, are a Victorian classic.