Tag: how to grow vegetables

  • Vegetable Garden Fails & Successes – GF Video

    Vegetable Garden Fails & Successes – GF Video

    My vegetable garden fails were pretty obvious this year, and in the video below we give you a garden tour. Watch the vid then read through our thoughts below.

    At least the sunflowers and the kale are growing!

    Garden Fail

    The garden heated up quickly this year and I found that any of the greens or mustards that I got as transplants bolted very quickly. I was surprised how quickly they did. Maybe those plants were already stressed in the plant pack trays and I couldn’t do anything about it.

    Garden Fail

    My bed of salad greens, which is the shadiest bed in the yard, turned into weeds. I think the compost I got was full of weed seeds. Boom, a bed of weeds. I think I will use the string trimmer on this bed and then replant.

    Garden Fail

    The sunflowers are doing well. I even transplanted several from the other garden beds. They key to transplanting sunflowers is to dig out a large root ball and water them often after replanting. They also like fertilizer. I did sow the sunflower seed too early, so a lot of them did not germinate. But I re-seeded and that batch has taken off. I made sure to have the taller varieties in the back of the bed. It should be a good cutting garden soon.

    The sugar snap peas (watch our how to grow sugar snap peas video here) are doing well. They are just now browning out after a good season of producing lots of Labrador snacks. I tried the Sugar Anne variety with not great success. I really like the Super Sugar Snap peas. You learn how to build the trellises we use in a video here.

    Garden Fail

    Our string beans are just starting to flower. I really like the Rattlesnake Pole Beans I get from Fedco Seeds, or you can save your own string bean seeds. they don’t get stringy or woody and can stay on the vine a few days after ripening. They are on the same kind of simple string trellis we use for the peas.

    What are your garden fails? Let me know below. Meantime some more cool posts are below.

    Can You Transplant Snap Peas?

    Simple Techniques To Garden Almost Year Round In This Book

    How To Grow Mushrooms From Plug Spawn – GF Video

  • Seed Starting How To & Email Reminders GF Radio

    Seed Starting How To & Email Reminders GF Radio

    How to start seeds using a heated seedling mat starts the show, using plastic sheeting to build a hoop house within a greenhouse, and using a heating cable buried in the ground starts GF Radio this week. You can watch our seed starting videos here.
    Eric has a healthy respect for electricity, and despite Eric reminding everyone to change the batteries in the smoke alarms, he forgets himself. You should change your smoke alarm batteries every 6 months.
    You can use the calendar in your computer to email yourself reminders to do these things, like flip your mattress, clean your fridge coils, etc.
    The buildup of dust in your computer starts us on a tangent talking about how to clean your computer, Mike gives some computer cleaning suggestions. Keeping your computer on your desktop instead of on the floor will keep the insides of the computer cleaner.

    USB powered outlets are new on the market, and for home offices this might be a good idea. Eric wonders how much vampire power is used by these USB outlets, and you need a deep outlet box to accommodate these USB outlets.
    Valentines day comes up, and mike wants to know why can’t he be romanced. Having Valentines Day at home is a theme at GardenFork.
    If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV is a quote from this Holstee.com Manifesto poster that Eric likes. “This is our life, do what you love, and do it often”
    The website redesign comes next, be prepared for more changes as we redesign the site.
    Mike is going to buy a used Ford F150, and Eric gives tips on buying a used car or truck.