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The third week of June is still a busy time for planting, as it is not too late to plant dahlia tubers, lily and glad bulbs and to start growing tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and zucchini. You can grow short-season crops like carrots, lettuce and beans from seed planted this week but look for healthy transplants of cucumbers, tomatoes and squash at the nursery to give these heat-lovers a head start. Corn can also be planted by seed this week.

Get snippy with your lavender and rose plants once they finish a first flush of blooms and you’ll be rewarded with more flowers in a second flush of blooms.

Is it true that tomatoes should be planted extra deep?

Budding gardeners always bloom with the fertilizer of knowledge. When you add tall tomato plants to a garden bed or pot it helps the plant to build more roots (which makes a stronger plant) if you dig a deep hole or even a long trench and bury the stem of the tomato plant so that at least half the length of the stem is covered with soil. But first remove the leaves from the bottom half of the long stem. When foliage is removed the bump that is left is called the node, and this is where the new roots will sprout. When you dig a trench you can lie the tomato plant sideways into this shallow ditch and curve the top half of the plant upward so it remains above ground. Now here’s a warning: burying plants extra deep will kill most seedlings, perennials, trees and shrubs. Rhodies and azaleas especially hate to have a lot of soil or mulch on top of their fine roots. Tomatoes and potatoes are exceptions to this rule and like to be planted deep.

How often should one turn a compost pile?

Dig in whenever you get the energy or need the exercise. For the fastest conversion of garden garbage into garden gold turn once a week, but laid back gardeners can take a slower route to riches and just let it rot naturally; compost will be ready in three weeks the fast way but it can take up to nine months if you just let it sit. Adding coffee grounds, old compost, grass clippings, sawdust and leaf mold to the pile will help it decompose faster and although egg shells and other slow-to-rot ingredients may take months to break down, the general rule of green thumb is that the smaller the pieces that go into the pile, the quicker they decompose. Turning the pile adds air which speeds up the process. Get rid of your free weights, give up the gym membership and learn how to build biceps the natural way – with a pitchfork in your hands. You and the garden will both grow stronger.

What killed clematis?

Wilt disease look  like great problem for clematis. This fungal infection strikes quickly and there is no cure. But there is hope. Clematis that die from wilt disease have been known to come back from an underground root as long as three years after the funeral. To prevent clematis wilt do not bump or cultivate around the fragile stems of clematis plants. If you damage a stem near ground level the fungi that live in the soil may find an entry into the clematis vine. If you have kids or pets that share the garden protect those skinny clematis necks with a low barrier of twigs or wire fencing that can surround the base of the vines.
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Vegetable Garden Weed Preventer

Preen Vegetable Garden Weed Preventer is the organic way to stop weeds before they start! Just sprinkle around established vegetables, herbs, and fruits once a month to prevent weeds from returning to your garden. Children and pets can play in the area immediately after application.

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Garden Gypsum

Part of the Organic Traditions line from Espoma, Garden Gypsum is pelletized for easy application. Gypsum help loosen hard heavy clay soils. Gypsum also helps cure turf burns from ice-melters and pets. Comprised of 100% organic nutrients, Garden Gypsum is pure plant food with no fillers or sludges. It will enrich your garden with the best the Earth has to offer.

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Garden Hopper Work Seat

Durable work seat with smooth rolling wheels. Large, easy to reach storage compartment. Built in beverage holder. Fully assembled.

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If you are just studying how to plant an organic garden, it may seem a little intimidating. For many people, organic fertilizers and pest controls can be very foreign, and the thought of taking on a garden without the use of chemical products can be daunting. Rest assured, organic gardening is easy. All you need is some soil, some seeds, and a bit of perspective.

How to Plant an organic Garden

The basic varyence between organic farming and gardening and conventional practices is perspective. Conventional gardeners sometimes tend to see a garden as a project – like building a deck or mowing a lawn. organic gardeners, however, comprehend just how much is going on in that soil and view their garden as a thriving ecosystem. As a result of this perspective, most principles of organic gardening are based on nurturing the soil and all the organisms that live in it.

As you go through the following steps to plant your own organic garden, keep in mind that all gardening is a studying process. The more time you spend in your garden, the more familiar you will become with how the various elements interact with each other, and this will help you anticipate and solve predicaments before they occur.

Planning

A little planning timely on can save you a lot of trouble over time. A few things to admit as true that before you get started include:

• Choose your site: If you have limited space, you might not have much choice in where you put your garden. However, if you do have a choice, try to discover a gently sloping, south-facing hill. This will offer the most sun exposure and frost protection.
• Choose your seeds: To be totally organic, your garden should thoughtlly begin with organic seeds. Even better, an rising number of seed companies now offer heirloom seeds. These varieties of plants have not been genetically tampered with or altered for mass production, and are generally well-suited to small organic gardens.
• Plan your layout: Traditionally, gardens are simply a plot of land that has been cultivated into rows or patches of specific crops. While there is nothing mistaken with this approach, there are many other probable variations as well. As you plan what crops you want to grow and where, admit as true that the principles of companion planting, raised beds, or square foot gardening.
• Prepare for weather: If you live in a climate that suffers extremes of heat or cold, it is best to prepare for the weather while your garden is in the planning stages. Northern gardeners might want to admit as true that building cold frames for their more delicate crops, and southern gardeners can protect plants from the extreme heat of summer by planting susceptible crop in shaded areas or saving cold weather crops for autumn planting.

Soil prepararion

The soil is the most very important part of any organic garden, so it is worth your time to make sure it is properly prepared. Begin by using a rotary tiller to break up the sod and loosen the soil, then take the following steps to create a thoughtl garden soil.

• Remove weeds: removal any weed roots or leftover chunks of sod at this point will save you a lot of hand weeding later on.
• Add soil amendments: It doesn’t matter how nice your soil looks, it can benefit from the addition of some compost or manure, and other fixes that might be needed to balance out a less-than-thoughtl soil texture. It can as well be useful to buy a soil test kit so you can get rid of any nutrient predicaments before you plant.

Planting the Seeds

You might need to start very delicate plants, like tomatoes, indoors to be sure that they have a long sufficient growing period to generate and ripen fruit. Other seeds can be son directly into the bed whenever the soil is ready.

Always start a few additional seeds in case of mishaps. This way, if the neighbor’s dog digs up all your seedlings or an unexpected frost hits, you will still have a few additional organic seedlings on hand and won’t need to resort to buying nursery seedlings to replace the ones you lost.

Treat legume seeds, such as peas and beans, with an innoculant before planting. Because legumes are nitrogen fixers, they really enrich the soil as they grow. Innoculants are organicly-occurring bacteria that enhance your legumes’ ability to do their job.

Once the seeds are planted, mulch heavily. A good thick layer of mulch prevents weeds, keeps roots cool and moist, and contributes valuable organic matter to the soil.

Gardening is pleasure

Gardening is supposed to be fun. Organic gardening, especially, will be more fun when you comprehend that you are working with nature, not against it. Garden pests and plant disease can frequently be prevented by careful planning and management, but sometimes despite your best efforts, you might lose crops. If you encounter a few bumps along the way as you are studying how to plant an organic garden, chalk it up to experience and work to medication the state next year.

Fiskars Garden Caddy & Seat

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At some point in time every gardener must deal with pest problems.

Pests are not only irritating but can spread diseases and destroy crops. From time to time we are all faced with the decision whether to swat, scratch or scream when pests come to visit.
Through advertising we have been taught to pick up a can of insecticide, hold our breath and spray. But now we are beginning to learn about the personal and environmental risks associated with the use of toxic chemical insecticides.
But there are plenty of natural ways to keep bugs off of your plants – that is, there are lots of ways to keep the bad bugs off while attracting the good ones.

Beneficial Insects

Many insects in your garden are not harmful at all. Good insects such as ladybugs, lacewings, wasps, dragonflies can be gardeners’ allies, helping to control the numbers of bad insects. Organic pest control strategies include getting good bugs to work for you in the garden.

Every pest has a natural enemy, the key to successful pest control is to identify the pest and it’s natural enemy, releasing the Beneficial Insect early when pest levels are low and let nature take it’s course. Beneficial Insects attack and destroy only insects; they will not bother people, plants or pets.

Ladybugs and praying mantises are voracious predators of many garden insect pests, including aphids, whiteflies, spider mites and mealy bugs. It is excellent solution for natural pest control. This insect is a very hungry one, all too happy to eat aphids, fruit flies, grasshoppers, moths, crickets, and house flies… but that is not all that they eat.
They also tend to eat those beneficial insects like lacewings and hover flies. It is possible to buy cases of ladybugs or praying mantis eggs, if you want to include this hungry insect in your garden.

Many of the pests we are trying to kill are developing a tolerance to chemicals thus making them harder to stop while the Beneficial Insects nature intended to control pests are being killed off.

But there is an alternative, a natural alternative, beneficial insects. Prior to the introduction of toxic insecticides in the 1940’s the use of beneficial insects for pest control was standard practice.

Both the California citrus crop and the Hawaiian sugar field were saved with the use of beneficial insects.

Every pest has a natural enemy, the key to successful pest control is to identify the pest and it’s natural enemy, releasing the Beneficial Insect early when pest levels are low and let nature take it’s course. Beneficial Insects attack and destroy only insects, they will not bother people, plants or pets.

Most people start using beneficial insects because of safety concerns and then after they realize they are easier to use, give better long term results, and are priced competitively.

When people stop using toxic chemicals natural predators such as ladybugs and green lacewing start to make a comeback, butterflies and birds are more plentiful. In no time at all the backyard has been transformed into a natural garden.

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Beneficial Insects for your Garden

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If February is reasonably mild it would even be worth trying a few sowings of carrots (the variety Amstel, for examle).
Sow thickly but in very shallow drills with a minimum amount of soil to cover.

If germination is good, severe thinning will be needed, but the extra seeds will allow for the inevitable losses.

Even varieties which are suitable for early sowing will benefit from covering the soil with a cloche a week or so before sowing. Peas in particular will respond to cloche protection and growth will be advanced quite a few weeks. ‘Feltham First’ is the variety to go for.

Like you, the slugs will be eagerly awaiting the first appearance of those early crops so do sprinkle some slug pellets around to allow these vital early plants to reach maturity.

Shallots can be planted if the weather is good. Put them in, 6in (10cm) apart and 12in (30cm) between the tows, leaving the top half protruding from the soil.

When potato tubers arrive or are bought from the local garden centre, sprout these in a light, frost-free situation.

It is possible for an attack of green fly to appear on the tender new shoots so dust these with insecticide as soon as any of the pests appear.

TIPS FOR VEGETABLES GARDENER

1. A garden fork or a digging fork is one of weeding removal tools. The tool has short tines that are used for loosening and turning soil.  With this weeding tool you remove weeds without cutting their roots.
2. To weed amongst other plants, the border fork is used which has thinner times with short closer-spaced tines. For removing weeds like dandelion which has taproots fulcrum weeder is very effective as it has a long thin handle and a split tip. It is also effective in removing fibrous roots of weeds like ferns and marigold.
3. The Cape Cod weeder has a scraping head, triangular in shape and is also used in weeding activities. The L-shaped blade is very effective since it is able to scrape the bottom parallel to the ground.
4. Cultivators are large machinery used to plant or remove weeds while aerating the soil soon after the crops have sprouted. Closely related to the cultivator is the harrow tool. It tool is effective in cultivating the soil surface.
   At the same time cultivators can be used to create shallow trenches for planting bulbs and seeds.
   5. The kirpi is another weeding tool with a curved blade and a wooden handle. It is effective in removing tough roots and for raking out roots deep in the ground.

There are many other tools used in weeding works and their supplies at Green Garden Tools depending on level of weed removal required.

Below is COUPON of GreenGardenTools.com for purchasing of WEDDING TOOLS .