Basic Garden Tips

Lettuce can be grown by the home gardener fairly easy, if you keep a few important points in mind. Lettuce is best grown in the spring and fall. It does not tolerate summer heat or winter cold. It is also very attractive to slugs and snails. With a little protection from extreme heat it is possible to have lettuce all summer long. Tips for Growing Lettuce First , prepare your soil. I like to add manure to the soil to provide nitrogen for healthy growth. Add manure as soon as you can work the soil in the spring (at least two weeks prior to planting the lettuce). Plant seeds in full sun 1/8 inch deep in rows, 6 inches apart. If you plant new seed every two weeks you can have lettuce all summer. However, for mid-summer yield you must protect the lettuce from summer heat. As the weather warms, begin planting in partial shade, somewhere where the afternoon sun will be blocked by the house, garage or tree. If you have taller plants nearby, such as corn, sunflower, etc., ...

The tomato is probably the most popular vegetable grown by the home gardener. ( Technically, the tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable ). Their popularity is probably due to the fact that they are easy to grow, require little care and when ripened on the vine, taste so much better than those from the store. How to Grow Tomatoes ?  I don't know if it is true, but I'm told that store tomatoes are picked green and then placed in a warehouse with some type gas applied to make them turn red . If this is true, what you are getting from the store is a green (unripe) tomato with a red skin. Yukkk! Since tomatoes take awhile to grow, they are generally started from seed indoors six weeks before planting in the garden. To do this, place seeds 1/4" deep in small pots filled with planting mix and keep in a warm place (around 70 degrees). Keep moist but not soggy. Placing a plastic bag over the pots until the sprouts break the soil will hasten germination. Be sure...

If you are an avocado fan you might want to grow this beautiful plant in your home. No, you will not get avocado you can eat but you will have a real conversation piece. Growing Avocado Trees Avocado tree is a tropical plant that grows only in 9, 10 and 11 regions. And, unfortunately, it takes a tree up to ten years to bear fruit. Since we are going to grow indoors, it is unlikely your tree will live that long...tho possible. You would, of course need to make a hole in your roof for the tree unless you have 15-20 foot ceilings. The whole point here is your objective needs to be a beautiful indoor plant, not avocados. Avocado plants are typically started from the seed in the center of the fruit which you can buy at the market. Simply pierce the seed with toothpicks around the middle of the seed and then suspend it (pointed end up) over a glass or jar of water. In two to six weeks, you should have a young avocado plant, ready to pot. However, not all avocado seeds w...