Why?

Well it’s because we had a big delay due to our neighbors having a new fence put in. Part of their new fence was on our property line and that affected one “major” side of our garden, so we delayed a lot of our regular garden activities for about two months while we waited and waited for the fence to go in .. finally, around June 6th the fence started being put in and ever since then we’ve been furiously maintaining our garden and planting annuals and perennials to fill in any bare spots.

One of the regular activities that we were behind on was making up our batches of Alfalfa tea for the garden. We usually start brewing this up in two big garbage cans in the driveway in early May. It takes a few weeks to brew before it’s ready for the garden.

Our Alfalfa/ compost tea is a rich nutrient “tea” that we pour on our garden beds at least twice each season to give our plants a boost. Alfalfa is full of natural growth hormone for the plants and within about a week or adding it to our garden beds there’s always an amazing difference in our plants.

I’m not sure how much water our garbage pails hold, but the garbage cans are about 3.5 feet high and we fill them up to about three or four inches from the top with water after we’ve added all the ingredients. Now, I mulched my garden this year with red cedar mulch but before I did that I gave my garden beds another treat by adding a Little bit of sheep manure compost … there was a little bit of that left so I added perhaps as much as three cups of sheep manure compost to each garbage pail. It’s a little bonus in the Alfalfa tea since I rarely put compost in it.

The ingredients that I usually put in each garbage pail are:

4 cups of Alfalfa pellets
1 cup of molasses
1 cup of Epsom salts

Once all of the ingredients are in the pail I stir it up and then put a lid on it. I try to stir it every day. The ingredients will ferment a bit and it’s very important to stir it up well and aerate the mixture.

Depending upon the ambient temperatures outside it can take anywhere from two to four weeks for the mixture to be ready to use on the garden. For example since I live in Toronto, Ontario when I start up a brew in early May it’s still usually kind of cool in my area at that time of year so it could take three to four weeks. The mix that we just made a few days ago should only take two weeks since it’s starting to get fairly warm.

If you make a batch of Alfalfa tea for your garden I highly recommend that you put it on your garden either early in the morning or late in the evening because it does smell quite a bit. At least it does to me! I do find that if I lightly water the garden after pouring the alfalfa tea on my garden beds the smell dies down very quickly.

To many people this conjures up images of gardens filled with colourful blooms all summer, only to become empty and barren of flower or leaf during autumn and winter. Many more of you will think of landlord’s estate grounds, staffed by teams of subservient garden workers. These workers tend the herbaceous borders requiring constant deadheading, pruning, staking, mulching, feeding, watering and division. Now those impressions may have been the way perennial borders were thought of in the past, today however, perennial borders are somewhat different.

They are actually seeing a bit of a mini revival.

* Perennials, alternatives to large lawns

Homeowners who have become tired of the never-ending cycle of feeding, weeding and mowing lawns, have decided to decrease the size of these green areas.

Instead, replanting them with colourful perennial or herbaceous borders. These may have been lawns that their all grown up children once ran and played on, now devoid of that activity. On the other hand, perhaps the homeowner became tired of having the same mirror image lawn as his neighbour; I can tell you there is nothing like a perennial border to change that situation.

* Perennial form and growth

Planting a new perennial border can really help improve your garden.

The plants overall are much faster growing and softer in form than shrubs. It is also interesting to watch these new perennials grow and develop, often shedding their skin of last season foliage only to replenish it the following spring.

* Layout and Soil Preparation

The first thing I would suggest when creating a perennial border is to become nosey.

When out driving or walking, have a look into others gardens, you may see something you like or an idea you can borrow. Another good way to learn new planting ideas is to visit garden open days or gardening exhibitions. When you have an idea of what perennial plants types you like, you can then select a point in your garden to position a border. Try to determine how much sun or shade your chosen location gets. Do not try to make sun-loving plant like the Michaelmas daisy grow in an area that gets a lot of shade.

* Border Shape

Decide the shape of your border.

Do not make your perennial border too narrow, a wide border will be easier to maintain and look far more awash with lush planting. Go gentle on the curves, we all like a curving border but avoid a very fussy serpentine shape. Try to make the border lengthy, you will be able to accommodate many different-sized and blooming plants. Use a long length of hosepipe or heavy rope to mark out the shape of your border, this allows you to adjust until you achieve a comfortable shape. When your shape is decided, you can mark the ground with marker spray or simply by scratching with a stick.
* Preparing Your Soil

Now its time for soil preparation before planting.

Most new garden beds and borders benefit from additional organic material being added to it and dug in. This is especially true of the perennial border. So, dig over the ground thoroughly and remove all traces of perennial weeds and large stones, leave the small stones as they aid drainage and help to regulate the soils temperature. Dig or till in lots of organic matter to improve the soil for your perennials at this stage as well. If you have a good back and you feel up to it, this organic matter is most effective if dug in to a depth of 12 inches. Choose from the following source of organic matter… garden compost, leaf mould, well rotted farmyard manure, spent mushroom compost, garden centre soil enricher. An ideal situation would be to have half your soil made up of organic matter, a great reserve of plant food.

I would advise adding grit at this stage as well if your soil is very heavy, sticky or poorly drained. Digging in a good quantity of sand grit or gravel will open up your soil and allow channels for drainage.

After all this is done, you must allow the soil to and its amendments to settle for around a week or two before planting.

This gives you ample opportunity to select and source the plants you would like to inhabit your newly created border.

Duration : 56 sec

Like any thing you can think of, whether it be people, pets or plants, their basic needs must be met to ensure a happy, healthy life.

Plants, of course, are alive, and so have both general and specific needs, depending upon the variety of plant in question.

In this article, we’ll learn about the different parts of plants – root, stem, leaf and flower – and how they work together.

Roots

Most often overlooked and neglected, the root system of any plant plays a critical role in overall plant growth, health and vigor.

The root system is responsible for supplying a plant with water, vitamins and minerals, all necessary ingredients that promote and maintain healthy vigorous growth. As the nutrients around the plant are consumed, the roots will continue to grow out and down, searching for new sources of food and water.

Gardening Tip: Adding a granular or slow-release fertilizer to the soil before you plant will ensure a steady supply of nutrients throughout a plant’s growing season, especially important for vegetables and flowering plants.

Gardening Tip: Growth above ground mirrors growth below ground. For example, if your bell pepper plant is 1 foot tall and 1 foot wide, its root system is 1 foot deep and 1 or more feet wide.

Gardening Tip: Always follow the directions for any gardening product (fertilizer or pest controls). Although if you’re not sure, using less is always safer than using too much. Using the right amount however, will help ensure consistent results.

Roots and Soil

As you may have guessed, the type of soil in your garden plays an important role in overall plant health and vigor.

In general, most plants like a loose, well-drained soil with lots of organic material. Organic material can be peat moss, shredded bark, composted or decomposed plant material, some form of manure (generally cow manure), or even worm casings or rice hulls to name a few.

Potting soil is usually some combination of the above list and may have little or no actual “dirt” in it. Organic material helps to maintain moisture content levels in the soil and helps to prevent soil compaction.

Stem

The stem, stalk or trunk is the “super highway” of the plant. It starts at ground level and supplies the food and water from the roots to the leaves and flowers or fruit.

Leaves

The leaves of a plant take the food and water from the roots through the stem and with the help of sunlight will turn the water and nutrients into energy. That energy is then sent back through the stem to the entire plant, including right back down to the roots. Natures example of Solar Energy at work.

Flowers

The flower or fruit of a plant is responsible for the reproduction of the plant. Whether it’s strawberries, lemons, tomatoes, pansies or pine-cones, their sole purpose in life is to reproduce more of their own kind.

Humans have found over time that various plants either taste good, have a nice scent or are pleasant to look at and have therefore selected out of millions of varieties just a few types to cultivate.

The Gardening Tips and Advice found throughout Your Healthy Gardens are written with the beginning gardener in mind. However, as time passes and the seasons change more and more detail will be added to help any home gardener improve their gardening skills.

Now is the time to start garden prep by choosing where you want the garden and opening up the sod. smothering the area where you will have the garden is a good first step or you can plow the sod open and till it in next spring. plowing is a lot more effective than tilling for killing grass.

You will also need some tools. Get a couple of hoes, my favourite is the shuffle or stirrup hoe. You can find these at any box store. they are lighter and easier to use than the standard concrete hoe most people think of when they think about hoes. You will also need a wheel barrow or garden cart, a potato fork (looks somewhat like a pitch fork but fatter), a shovel, a spade, a couple of trowels.

You will need seeds. My favourite place to get seeds is Johnny's Selected Seeds in Maine. http://johnnysseeds.com
Start with easy things to grow and pay attention to the fact not everything grows in every season. Lettuce for example is best planted in the spring, it likes cool damp conditions. Tomatoes and peppers like it hot. A good seed catalogue will tell you such information. You will likely want to use seedlings for a lot of things such as tomatoes. Do not buy these at places like Wal-Mart. Go to a local nursery and tell them you are just starting out and you will get a lot of advice. One caveat, most nurseries (and box stores) are NOT organic and do not know much about organic growing so ignore all advice to use chemicals. But you will find healthier seedlings at most local places than box stores.

Good luck

Adding compost to the soil when planting your tomatoes will help. You can also make some compost tea and water the plants with it or spray the leaves for foliar feeding.

Visit our website for more gardening ideas at-

http://www.gardening-at-the-crossroads.com/

Good Luck and Happy Gardening from Cathy and Neal!

Regards,
Dan