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 Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:44 am
I know that earth day is sometime this week, and as a result my college has stuff planned all week. So regardless of wether it's a one day thing or not (which day is earth day? I heard there's free public transit that day)
I'm trying to do a lil extra this week.
#1. I bought a plant yesterday, a baby spider plant, her name is spickey, and the money goes to the environmental wildlife program. This is a big step for me, I'm terrible at tending to plants. This is suppose to be a sturdy plant so, hopefully it'll be easier than the last ones I had.
#2 taking the bus today. It's twice as long of a trip, requires I take two buses and lots of walking, but it's a nice day and I woke up early so I'm gona do it.
#3 falls back into the plant section. I'd like to try starting my veggie garden. As suggested by a friend. Growing them in pots indoors and then when it's warm enough, transplanting them in the garden.
So what veggies should I start with? What do I need to know about growing them in pots and what cheap items can I use as a pot so I don't have to buy. Anyone else planning something special for earth day/week
Update: So I drove to the bus stop (10mins of driving vs 30 or 20 total vs 1hr total) But the rest of the week I will probably just bus it. And bike to work.
I picked up seeds for carrots, zuchini, green beans and tomatoes. I need to find something to use for pots, maybe the dollar store, and do I need to buy special soil or can I like, dig up the soil in my garden???
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Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 1:46 pm
I have recently become much more active in the garden and as such have been spending a lot of time tending to vegetable plants and herbs. I started off nearly everything in trays and pots, gradually moving them to bigger containers as they outgrow their old ones and then finally to the ground when they are sturdy enough. I have found that as a beginner with edible plants it is beneficial to grow herbs as well as vegetables. With herbs you are mainly concerned about foilage, the leafy parts of the plant and I have found that trying to keep leaves on a plant is easier than trying to keep a tomato for example. That way on days when the vegetables aren't looking too hot you usually can look over at your herbs and say to your self "Well that's alright, at least my parsely is looking good!" For me it is a motivator. I keep my herbs in pots so I can move them to a more sheltered area when the weather isn't going in their favor. They will like to be in different areas and like different amounts of water depending on what herb you buy (same goes with most plants).
Most gardeners would not recommend using the dirt from your backyard unless you have very good dirt. You will need to identify the type of soil that is in your yard before you can know if it is right for your plants. Even if it turns out to be the right soil some people might suggest buying soil anyway to avoid any naturally-occuring parasites that may be living in the dirt in your back yard. I have hard tightly packed clay for dirt in my yard so unfortunately I cannot use the dirt I can get there for free.. most plants that I want to grow do not do well in it. So what I do is I buy the absolute cheapest bags of potting soil I can find. Those have been doing pretty well for me so far. I wouldn't suggest buying those fancy potting soil blends that cost $10 a bag for starting off with, although others may disagree. I am a really frugal person so if I want my soil to be richer I just use homemade compost. XD
I hope you find some of this helpful!
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Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 3:01 pm
Make sure you have a lot of sunlight in your backyard, all of those plants need full sun. Carrots and tomatoes need really good & loose soil, zucchinis do as well but they can do fine without really good soil, and I'm not sure about green beans. Just like Stostina I have clay soil, but that's easy to deal with if you have a horse stable/farm/whatever near you where you can pick up manure (which is what I do). I just till it up with my soil and it's fine from there smile
Spider plants are almost impossible to kill without pouring gasoline on it and lighting it on fire xD You don't have to do much, just give it decent soil and make sure not to overwater.
There are a lot of things you can use to start plants if you're doing to replant them. I've used yogurt cups, egg cartons, egg shells (got bored lol, looks kind of cool, though) hmmm just about anything you can think of that can hold soil.
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