The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

1st Blog-Iversary

15.7 years ago Uncategorized 9 Comments

Exactly one year ago I wrote the first post for The Cheap Vegetable Gardener.  Over this short time I have had a tremendous response, more than I ever had ever imagined.  I wish the January spike (below) would continue into 2009 but much of this was traffic was significantly elevated my the following honorable mentions:

• Hack-a-day (PS2 controller thermometer)
• Hack-a-day (Automated plant growing)
• Top listing on reddit.com/frugal for a few days
• MAKE: Blog: LED light grow box

Thank you to everyone who has read the blog this past year and actively participated with your kind comments.  Without your feedback I probably would have gotten bored and stopped writing many months ago.

Thanks,
The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

How to investigate the pests/diseases attacking your plants

14.2 years ago aphids, disease, free, pests 7 Comments

Though there are many sites that contain this information, my experience in the past you have to go through a series of detail on colors and attributes of the insect/fungus and without a degree in botany or Entomology I really have little idea what they are asking for.  Gardeners.com’s “Pest and Disease Detective” on the other hand allows you to simply select the specific plant and the area that is being attacked (leaves. stems, flowers, fruit, roots) and it will show you thumbnails to quickly identify the pest/disease that is harming your plant.  With a simple click you go right into the description and details how to terminate the problem. 

Simple but effective just the way I like it…

The Cheap Vegetable Gardener has moved

9.5 years ago new start, Uncategorized 2 Comments

So after decades of living in home in suburbia with a minimal amount of land this month I have moved to a new location where we have 1 acre of land to work with. 

Great news is there is awesome potential for gardening here, it also means I have to start over from scratch leaving my previous more mature plants behind…

Though this definitely provides me with some additional space for a garden there are a good portion of our land has some mature trees so still a good portion of space that is devoid of good light for vegetable gardening.

I started by planting a couple apple trees and as a last minute decision I also picked up a pear tree…

Now for the apple trees I did my research and made sure the varieties I got were compatible (Honeycrisp and Ginger Gold) to use as pollinators for each other by ensuring there was not a dreaded black dot when looking at the compatibility chart below I took a picture of at the Grey Barn Nursery where I also bought my trees.

The pear tree (Bartlett) on the other hand I was not as careful by just buying the one so looks like another tree purchase may be in my future.

I also planted a blueberry bush this time spending a bit more money for a mare mature plant given the little stick version I bought at my local home improvement store probably took 4 years to get this size and was just starting to produce.  Hopefully this way I might even get some berries to snack on this year (if the birds/squirrels/raccoons don’t beat me to them)

Also found a good fence line to plant some raspberries knowing moving was in the future last summer instead of throwing the sprouts that would pop up in my yard or sneak into my southern facing area for summer veggies into the compost I carefully removed them and put them up into pots which I transplanted into my new location…guess this is a bit of bringing my old garden with me in a way.

So for my actual vegetable garden I am sticking with cinder blocks since they are cheap and I can easily expand the garden as I have more time and plants to fill it (not no soil on blocks on the right going to expand there soon.  I also continued my habit of filling the cinderblock holes with strawberry starts.

One great thing about having a bit more space I can now buy screened compost by the yard and let it sit in a pile for a while, much cheaper than my previous buying bunch of bags of mystery compost opening them up and wonder if they mislabeled bark as compost….

For my planting I am going with the tried and true Mel’s Mix (1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss (or coconut coir), 1/3 vermiculite) which I load up into my garden cart (another new purchase) and add to my planting areas.

So a pond is also an addition to our new property, though I like the look/sound of this reality of maintenance has me a bit nervous so guess you may be hearing a bit about this in the future.

One other potential addition in the future to our property will be chickens we haven’t pulled the trigger on this yet though I have bought the wood for the chicken coop…the building of said coop has not made it as the next priority of projects since we moved in…not sure how chickens and cheap vegetable gardening may go together exactly but sure they will come up 🙂

Encourage Green Fingers (of the Tiny Variety)

11.7 years ago cheap, guest post, kids, square foot gardening Leave a comment

There’s nothing quite like letting a child grow their own vegetables to encourage a fussy eater to try new foods. Kids love to get out in the garden and plant their own veggies (preferably getting as dirty as possible in the process). The only frustration that you might encounter is that seeing results can be a bit of a waiting game, especially for those kids who plant seeds in the morning and expect the fruits of their labor to be ready for consumption within just a few hours! Here’s our top tips for growing vegetables with kids.

What you’ll need …

• Seeds are the starting point for any green fingered adventure. No really! If money is tight, there are numerous ways to get your hands on free vegetable seeds. Just be sure to involve your kids as this will make the whole thing seem even more exciting.
• You’ll also want to get hold of some kid friendly gardening tools. The grown up versions are just too heavy for little hands, not to mention potentially very dangerous.
• A dedicated area of the garden just for them. That is unless you could live with tiny hands pulling up your prize radishes before they’re ready to go and tiny (but surprisingly heavy feet) stomping all over your baby lettuces.

What you should grow …

As mentioned kids like nothing better than instant gratification. There’s not a whole lot of that around in the pursuit of gardening. Although you might very well derive a sense of inner satisfaction from seeing a freshly laid row of seeds, kids often fail to see the attraction. The next best thing to instant gratification is perhaps continual gratification, so draw yourself up a schedule of what is going to ready first and plant accordingly. Once you’ve been going at it for a while, you should be able to come up with a schedule that yields regular results.

1. 1. Cress. We all know cress is not the most exciting thing in the world, but it grows super fast and because of that it’s always a great place to start. Nothing else is going to give you something that’s ready to eat in around a week, plus kids can grow funny cress hair in broken egg cups. What’s not to love?
2. 2. Beans. Another thing that gives kids those quick results they yearn for is beans. They’ll love making a little “tee pee” using bamboo stakes tied together in a pyramid shape. The vine will start to grow within about ten days. It can be fun for kids to watch how quickly the vine shoots up (measure every few days to monitor progress), not to mention the possibility of them starring in their very own version of Jack and the Beanstalk.
3. 3. Cherry tomatoes. Nothing says instant gratification than a food you can eat right off the plant. Go for a variety of different colors to up the fun stakes and without too much delay your kids can start enjoying these sweet, healthy snacks. Just don’t be under any kind of illusion that even one of the cherry tomatoes will reach the kitchen.
4. 4. Potatoes. Growing potatoes can be immense fun with children since when it comes to harvesting time it can rather feel like digging for buried treasure. “I don’t like digging for treasure” said no child ever! It’s undoubtedly a lot of fun, but you must always make sure that children don’t eat the toxic leaves, sprouts, and fruit stems of the plant. For this reason, unless supervision is guaranteed, save the potato growing for older children.
5. 5. Pumpkins. What child would ever pass up the chance of growing their very own Jack O Lantern? Not many, that’s for sure! We love the tip provided by Erica over at Northwest Edible Life who advises that a child’s name carved into the green skin of a softball sized pumpkin will scar over and retain the carving as it grows to maturity. The result is rather fabulous personalized pumpkins.
6. Why not try introducing your children to the delights of growing their own vegetables? It may or may not solve a fussy eating issue, but even if it doesn’t, at least you will have both had fun trying. Isn’t that what parenting is all about?

Author Bio
Linda Forshaw is mum to five year old Freya. As well as being a regular contributor to college resource site Degree Jungle, Linda is a full time writer and blogger specializing in education, social media, and entrepreneurship. Contact her on Twitter @seelindaplay

How to build a raised vegetable garden

15.3 years ago garden planning, raised garden 30 Comments

Building a raised vegetable garden is a very easy and with the right planning can also be very inexpensive.  First you need to answer a few important questions before you get started.

The first you have to pick a location.  There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing the location; sun, water, convenience, and competition for nutrients.

SUN – You want to pick a location where the plants will get adequate sun for success.  If this is an area where you will be growing summer vegetable a southern facing location should be used.  For other cooler crops East/West facing should suffice.

WATER – You want a place that is convenient to water your plants.  If you have to unravel/coil up 200 feet of hose every time you water you most likely will begin to have under watered plants during the summer months.  If a hose is not really even an option the method of filling a couple five gallon buckets and bringing them to your garden is great exercise.

CONVENIENCE — The more often you walk by your garden the more likely you will not forget about (or neglect it)  If it happens to pass it on your trip from my car to your back door you most likely will notice suffering plants or potential additions for tonight’s dinner to harvest.

COMPETITION FOR NUTRIENTS — Make sure your garden is not too close to other planting such as established plants or trees.  This will force both sets of plants roots to compete for water and nutrients where both may end up coming up short.

Now you know where to build your garden next is to determine the best materials to build you garden out of.  Personally I like cinder blocks since they never have to be replaced, relatively inexpensive, have ability to hold solar energy and as an added bonus have great little holes to grow strawberries in.  Now on the negative side I will be the first to admit they are not the prettiest thing to look at and don’t really make the most comfortable bench to sit on.

Below I have included some of the pro and cons of various building materials.

Building Material	Cost per linear foot	Tools required	Pros	Cons
Cinder Blocks	$0.97	None (other big muscles)	Extra plating area in holes	Hard to sit on, not as aesthetically pleasing
Chiseled Wall blocks (2 high)	$5.96	None (other big muscles)	Most aesthetically pleasing	Expensive
Bricks (3 high)	$1.36	None (if dry stacked)	More aesthetically pleasing than cinder blocks	Expensive, and mortar may be required depending on height
Wood — Cedar (.75” X 8”)	$1.60	Drill (screws)	Looks good, natural appearance	Wood is organic so eventually will decompose.  Some assembly required

Third step is actual construction of your raised garden bed.  I agree with Mel Bartholomew’s recommendation (from Square Foot Gardening fame)where he suggests limiting the width of the garden bed to no greater that 4 feet.  This allows for easy watering, weeding, and harvesting of your vegetables without any serious reaching.  This also works out good since lumber normally comes in 8 or 12 foot increments so very limited waste.

For all methods I recommend digging about 2 inches around your perimeter of your planned raised garden bed.  This first will give you a visual idea of your new space but also give the blocks/bricks/wood a good foundation to prevent slipping.  Speaking of foundation the weight of block/bricks is enough to keep the dirt in place, though with wood I would recommend creating a 4 foot 1X1 as a cross support every 4 feet to help spread out some of the load as you add soil.

Finally it is time to fill your your garden bed with some great soil.  If you happen to be luck enough to have this in your backyard go ahead and fill it up.  For the rest of us this is a great time to start your garden off to a good start.  I recommend a recipe of three main parts (compost, filler, and “fluff”) of equal quantities.  Compost should be self explanatory, great organic material thriving with life.  For filler I recommend materials like coconut coir, peat moss, or even some good topsoil.  For “fluff” add a material such as perlite or vermiculite to add some moisture retention and some great aeration for your plants roots.

Now all my recommendations above all mention a height of less than 12 inches.  There are some good reasons for this given there are not too many vegetables you can’t grow in less than six inches of good quality soil.  Assuming you are lucky like me and have an abundance of clay in your backyard this means significantly less soil to purchase when filling.  Now this is harder on the back bending over so for someone with limited mobility you can bring up the garden bed to a more comfortable height though there really is no reason to fill the garden bed with 2-3 feet of soil.  This is an area to be creative, maybe some free fill dirt for the first couple feet, aluminum cans, anything that can take up space and not use your precious garden soil.

Now if your selection of tools are limited or you just want to get some beds up quickly to start growing some vegetables, there are a many commercial raised garden kits out there.

Winner of $100 Gift Certificate from Home Depot

15.4 years ago contest, free, Home Depot 75 Comments

There were so many great entries I couldn’t just pick one and with no budget to select multiple I settled using random.org. 

And the winner is lucky number commenter 33…Chandra.  Please send us a email using the “Contact” link at the top of the page within 72 hours otherwise I will select another random commenter.

We have partnered with The Home Depot Garden Club to offer a $100 Home Depot Gift certificate to a lucky reader.

To enter the contest is simple, just respond with a comment on how you would spend $100 at Home Depot with a home/gardening project and we will pick our favorite and send you out a gift certificate. 

If you don’t have any ideas, here are some things I would do with the money (unfortunately I am not eligible) that may would help:

• Create a nice cold frame to extend my growing season
• Add drip irrigation to my garden which I neglect to water
• Install a rain barrel (they have complete kits there)
• New and improved grow box
• Shelves and lighting for seedlings next season
• Summer vegetable plants (peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc) for those I was a little too ambitious with earlier this season.

None of these sound good to you?  Feel free to check out some of the DIY Projects at The Home Depot Garden Club or many of their content and tools on their site.

Entry Deadline: 5/21/09 12:00 PM (Pacific)