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How To Grow Your Own Carrots

It is much better to grow your own vegetables from home, not only do they taste much better, but they are also much cheaper and healthier. Once you start growing your own vegetables, you will never want to go back to buying them from supermarkets.

You shouldnâ€™t worry about growing your own carrots from home as it is quite an easy and quick process, as long as you have a little time to prepare your carrot seeds and to plant them.

Step One

The first step to growing carrots is to sow the carrot seeds. This may sound a little complicated, but trust me, once youâ€™ve got the hang of it, it wonâ€™t ever be a problem again.

You should first make sure that you are planting your carrot seeds at the right time of year, it should say on the back of the packet when it is the best time to plant them. Most varieties of carrots are usually planted in March, if you wanted to get a start on your vegetable growing earlier than this, you can buy the Scarlet Horn or Nantes variety which can be sown in as early as February.

Before you begin sowing your carrot seeds, you are going to need to prepare your soil. You should prepare quite a large patch of soil; to make sure that it is healthy for your carrots to grow in you should dig it up and remove any weeds, stones and debris.

Step Two

You are going to need quite a lot of space to sow in your carrot seeds, the soil also needs to be quite deep so that the carrots have plenty of room to grow.

You should sow the seeds directly into drills. You should aim to sow them half an inch deep and 15cm apart.

Step Three

You need to keep your carrots healthy and fresh; to do this you should water the compost on a regular basis. If you start to notice that your carrots are wilting, this means they are not getting enough water. Give them a good soaking and this should rescue your carrots from any problems.

Step Four

It will usually take around 12-16 weeks for your carrots to grow properly. Once you believe the carrots are big enough for your use, they are ready to harvest.

Before careful when you pull them out of the ground, if it is a little tough to pull them up you can use a fork to help break up the soil around them.

Jenny started growing vegetables from her home and has really enjoyed it. She gets all her gardening equipment from http://www.gardenhealth.com/

Seven Beginners Tips For Growing Delicious Tomatoes

by Trish

Thanks to the delicious and simple nature of home grown tomatoes, they are a popular choice for those attempting to grow vegetables for the first time. Though the activity isnâ€™t particularly complicated, it does require care and patience. And if youâ€™ve never grown vegetables before, it also requires that you educate yourself on a few tomato growing basics. Here are seven beginners tips for successful tomato growing.

Choose the Right Tomatoes

The first step towards growing delicious tomatoes is of course planting the right seeds. Donâ€™t blindly head into your local garden store looking for tomato seeds, do your research on the different types available. Different tomatoes not only have different tastes, they also require different conditions to flourish.

Leave Ample Space

One of the most common beginners mistakes when it comes to growing tomatoes is failing to provide sufficient space. If you plan on growing your tomatoes upright, you should aim to leave approximately two feet between each plant. If you plan on growing your tomatoes along the ground however, four feet between each plant is more suitable.

Provide Ample Sunlight

Another absolute requirement of successful tomato growing is sunlight. Tomato plants require a minimum of seven hours direct sunlight each day. If you attempt to grow tomatoes in an area that doesnâ€™t meet this requirement, youâ€™re going to be left with lots of foliage but very little fruit. The production of fruit is an energy intensive process for plants and that energy comes from the sun.

Donâ€™t Plant More Than You Need

Donâ€™t underestimate just how many tomatoes can be harvested from a single tree. If you plant more than one tree for each person in your family, you can expect a lot of waste. And that figure includes a few free tomato flavoured gifts for your neighbours. Itâ€™s also worth noting that the more tomatoes you plant, the more maintenance your tomato patch is going to require.

Use Fertilizer, in Moderation

If you want fast results, fertilizer is very much recommended but it must be used in moderation. If you use more than the recommended amount, your tomatoes might grow faster but in turn, theyâ€™ll be far more prone to disease. Itâ€™s also important to choose your fertilizer carefully. You should limit your search to those which have been specifically designed for use on tomato plants.

Keep an Eye on Water Levels

Even more important than fertilizer is ample water. If rain has been a little scarce of late, you need to get the hose out. Tomatoes need calcium to grow and they get that calcium by absorbing water from the ground. A lack of water therefore leads to a lack of calcium and a corresponding lack of tasty tomatoes.

Donâ€™t Pick Too SoonÂ

Finally, a common trait among tomato growing beginners is a distinct lack of patience. If you want to enjoy beautiful home grown tomatoes you canâ€™t pick them too early. Tomatoes are generally ready to enjoy between sixty and eighty five days after planting. Ripeness is indicated by both an even, all round colour and a slight tenderness. If your tomatoes are hard to the touch, you need to keep waiting.

Jamie Kirk is a writer, and occasionally writes on cheap conservatory across UK. He recommends comparing stunning conservatory prices by clicking on the mentioned link.

Glorious Annuals

by Tricia

Annuals are usually grown to provide color. Since they are only temporary plants in many gardens – if they are always treated as such, they tend to thrive anywhere. Annuals permit gardeners in cold areas to briefly ignore the prospect of inter bleakness and inject a touch of tropical summer color into their gardens.

Annuals are subject to all the normal climatic considerations – wind, salt spray, and summer heat – but they are remarkably resilient plants that carry on flowering under most conditions, except severe cold.

Tender annuals must be planted in spring, after the last frosts, with a view to summer and autumn flowering. However, the so called hardy annuals are often planted in the autumn and left to over-winter for spring flowering. Pansies, Sweet William and Iceland poppies are among the best known hardy annuals. It’s true that the majority of my Pansies (provided they survive the heat of summer), Sweet William (pinks, dianthus) and Iceland poppies often do survive our Canadian zone 6B/ USD zone 5B winters.

With careful planning- depending upon your zone of course, it’s possible to have blooms almost all year round. I tend to have blooms outdoors in my garden from perennials, annuals, bulbs and rhizomes from Mid-March well into November; and indoors my plants such as Thanks Giving and Christmas Cactus, Jasmine and amaryllis give me blooms inside through November to March.