Author: mygardendreams

Tomatoes are pretty easy to grow and take off until maturity. But sometimes simple mistakes can hugely affect their growth. For a beginner gardener looking to grow tomatoes, you want to get it right from the start.

Water your tomatoes regularly, especially during dry spells, and be sure to monitor the moisture level of the soil. Stephanie from Backyard Gardeners Network said tomatoes grown in pots tend to have blossom end rot more than tomatoes grow in the ground because it’s harder to keep the moisture level constant.

You can grow tomatoes in pots, or in the ground. But the best place is usually on the ground where you don’t have space issues. Tomatoes grown in the ground require little care

We grow sturdy, healthy seedlings by adhering to growing practices we consider good for the earth.  We are certified organic.  It runs in our blood.  Visitors to our urban farm often see our work in progress, and we can actually show them the high quality products and processes we use to grow our plants.  Healthy plants resist pests and disease.   We know it for a fact!

Healthy seedlings start from high quality seed.  We obtain our organic seed from many places, but they are all from reputable seed houses that we know and trust.

For our Seedlings we use:

High quality potting mix that contains natural, rock-based fertilizers

Beneficial mycorrhizal fungi innocultion of our plants’ roots

Fall is garlic planting season.  Our favorite variety, German Extra Hardy, is an easy to grow variety that produces large bulbs with cloves that are easy to peel and offer a pungent heat.  Our planting method is as follows:

Mid to late October, lay out your garlic bed.  Break your bulbs of garlic apart into cloves and then lay them out 6″ apart either in rows or in a diamond pattern.

Poke each clove into the soil until the tip about 2″ below the soil level.  Throw about a teaspoon of bonemeal in with the clove and then cover with soil.  This will help with the establishment of a healthy root system.

Mulch for winter with thick straw or leaf mulch.

The tasty feel of beets is reason enough to grow them in your garden. Beets are staple in most gardens and come loaded with antioxidants. It’s one of the easiest vegetables to grow and is ranked among the ten best garden vegetables.

Avoid adding fertilizer with too much nitrogen like 34-0-0 fertilizers with 34 percent nitrogen, it will lead to a lot of leafy growth. Too much leafy growth leads to little root development.

You also need to plan for harvesting. Beets are usually ready between 55 to 70 days from planting. You need to plan for harvest within two months of planting.