Why grow a vegetable garden when I can just go to the store?

I can go on all day about the benefits of growing your own produce.

For now, I'll highlight the most important reasons for a vegetable garden and go into more detail in the next few days.

"Earth laughs in flower."-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nutrition.
Food grown in your own garden is far healthier than store bought produce. As the gardener, I have complete control over my veggies. They are not irradiated and have not been sprayed with chemicals.

Money.
A packet of seeds from Mary's Heirloom Seeds costs $4. With that one seeds pack I might be able to grow 20 pounds or even 50 pounds of food. Seed saving is free.

Survival.
Food prices are on the rise and the world has been plagued by natural disasters. Flooding in Australia, China and parts of the United States as well as earthquakes in Japan have pose a serious threat to food sources around the world. Fuel costs are also on the rise which means even higher food prices in the future.

Stress Relief.
Working in the garden allows me to let off a little steam or let my mind wander. I hear the bird chirping and the lizards in the yard scurry away as I approach and I feel good.

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden."-- Thomas Jefferson

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” --Marcus Tullius Cicero

Today my additions to the garden are Black Beauty Eggplant, National Pickling Cucumber, Jack B Little Pumpkin and Cal Wonder Bell Pepper . I'm starting them from seeds so they aren't "in" yet but they are on their way.

I started by first soaking the seeds overnight. After 24 hours they are placed into prepared growing flats and labeled. In a few weeks the seedling will be ready to be hardened and placed in the ground.

Victory Gardens

The term Victory Garden became popular in the 1940s during World War ll.

Faced with food shortages due to labor and transportation issues, the US government called upon it's citizens to provide their own fruits and vegetables. It is estimated that nearly 20 million Americans answered the call.

This initiative not only conserved fuel but generated food which had become a scarcity in both the states and abroad.

Today, there is a renewed interest in Victory Gardening.

With rising fuel and food costs and concerns about overall health, the home gardens and Victory Gardens are back!

I enjoy the "Back to the Basics" feeling of gardening.
Whether you garden for self-reliance or just for fun, you can grow a garden just about anywhere. A few acres can support a small community or a large family but even a few containers can get you started on the right track.


Here are a few examples:

1940s Victory Garden

Modern Victory Garden

California Victory Garden

Florida Victory Garden

From container gardening to square foot gardens, from butterfly gardens to Victory gardens...
Get out there and get dirty!

Time to enjoy a long weekend!

Tomorrow is July 4th, Independence Day. There are many reasons to celebrate, most importantly the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the battles fought and lives lost so that we may be free from tyranny.

This weekend I'll be celebrating and exercising my freedoms!

My goal for my garden is to become less reliant on store-bought produce and herbs. I do enjoy my weekly trips to the farmer's market but I would still like to be more self-sufficient. Saving money is one reason to grow your own food but taste is what I really notice. Growing up, my Gran always had the most delicious homegrown tomatoes.

Today I am planting herbs: Cilantro, Echinacea Purpurea, German Chamomile and Oregano. In a later post I'll explain how to make your own plant markers. For now I've posted a picture below.





Planting Herbs:

Planting and growing herbs can be very simple. Use good soil, sprinkle seeds over desired area, gently cover with 1/2 inch of dirt (a few specify NOT to cover) and lightly water. Keep soil moist as containers dry out quickly. Harvest when ready.

Cilantro growing in soil that reaches 75F will bolt and go to seed. This means that the ideal growing conditions are cool but sunny. Cilantro will only last about 8-10 weeks before flowering. Once it does flower, it will make seeds which can be harvested as Coriander seeds or they can be replanted to grow more Cilantro plants.

Echinacea, also known as coneflowers, enjoy a sunny location with fertile soil. If your soil isn't particularly fertile, work in a little compost and supplement with a good organic fertilizer. Well-drained soil is a must.

German Chamomile prefers well-drained sandy soil and self-sows freely. Sow seeds indoors on surface of soil (do not cover). Transplant outdoors in early spring just before last frost.

Oregano is a perennial warm-season herb, hardy to frost and light freezes. Sow seeds indoors just beneath surface of soil. Transplant outdoors after danger of frost has passed. Prefers very well-drained soil.

I like to recycle as often as possible. I've used a containers from my salad and poked small holes in the bottom for drainage. I added dirt but not to the top. Sprinkle with seeds and add more dirt if necessary. Water gently.

Here's a picture of the Cherokee Purple tomatoes from a few days ago. After they were all settled in the dirt I put them out in the sun.

Summer in the Garden

Growing vegetables in your garden is amazing! Being out in the sun with fresh air makes me feel alive. This morning I was cleaning up in the garden, moistening germinating Cherokee Purple seeds and picking cutworms from my large tomato plants and Cucumber bush. It was such a refreshing feeling!

Lately I seem to be obsessed with tomatoes. I've spent hours reading about natural remedies for pests and disease and there is STILL so much to learn. The internet makes learning so easy. However, the local library has so much to offer! I've started a list of remedies that have worked so far.

For white fly: Mix liquid soap and water in a spray bottle. Spray every 2-3 days for 2 weeks.

For powdery mildew and fungus: Mix organic neem oil and water in a spray bottle. Follow the directions on the bottle. Do not get this in your eyes!

For Ants: Sprinkle Cinnamon or Cayenne pepper to form a barrier.

Purple Tomatoes!!!

Have you ever sliced into a purple tomato? I'm not talking about a rotten, left on the ground and forgotten tomato. I'm talking about sweet and juicy, homegrown purple tomatoes. There are several type of purple tomatoes, including the Black Cherry, Cherokee Purple, Black Giant, Chocolate Stripes. My favorite is the Cherokee Purple tomato.

A Cherokee Purple is a unique, deep purple (almost black) beauty of a tomato. The Cherokee Purple is beefsteak in style with dense, juicy flavor.

Today I planted seeds for these wonderful plants. As these babies grow and mature I'll share more photos and tips.

My first TIP: Soak seeds in water overnight before planting.

Also, to help cut down on cutworms and tomato hornworms, cover the stem with an aluminum soup can. Cut the bottom and the top off an aluminum can and slide it over the plant. Secure into the ground gently. This should be down when the plant in approximately 4 inches tall or when you transplant into the ground.

Maturity: 80 days
Vine: Indeterminate
Type: Heirloom

Mary's Top 5 Veggies and How to Grow Them

1. Tomatoes

2. Peppers

3. Cucumbers

4. Eggplant

5. Spinach

I prefer container gardening for quite a few veggie varieties for several reasons. Container gardening allows you to control soil quality and water use, garden through the winter, have tasty cooking herbs close to the kitchen, and be able to move your garden around as needed.

You can use anything from hanging baskets, crocks, washtubs, ceramic or clay pots to wood boxes, or plastic buckets. You will want your container to have the ability to drain off excess water. Be sure to get some good quality soil (probably from the gardening center) that drains well and put a layer of gravel at the bottom of the container to aid with drainage.

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Getting Started***Updated***

I use a mix of several items from the garden center and home. Here’s my recipe:

4  large bags organic garden or potting soil

1 small bag Perlite (optional) 

1 small bag Peat Moss or Coconut Coir (improves drainage)
1 cup organic bone meal (high in phosphorus)
1 cup organic blood meal (high in Nitrogen)
1 cup crushed eggshells (for Calcium)
Compost: 1 large bag store bought OR equivalent homemade 

You may also need:

Spray bottleOrganic Neem Oil (for insects and diseases)

Tomatoes

Tomatoes take 50-80 days to harvest.  You can plant tomato seedlings after the last frost. Seeds can be started indoors just before the last frost.

Tomatoes love sun, and lots of it. Determinate or bush tomato plants work best for tomato container gardening. Soil should be rich in organic matter. Compost works best mixed in with the soil, and is a great organic fertilizer. Tomatoes tend to do well in soil that is a little acidic.

Mulch will be important around tomato plants. Since tomato plants prefer full sun, the soil will dry out.

You will most likely need to stake or cage your tomatoes. Again, depends on the variety. Bush tomatoes may need to be staked or caged for support. But, indeterminate tomatoes, or vine tomatoes, will need support since they continue to grow all season. A trellis works nicely with vine tomatoes.

Tomatoes take 50-80 days to harvest. Just pick them when they have turned their full color. You can pick them early and let them ripen in the windowsill. But, the tastiest tomato is vine-ripened.

Keep an eye out for tomato hornworms. They are the large, beautiful green worms that blend nicely with the stems. Also look out for cutworms. You may only know they are there by their dropping. But look closely and you'll find them.

Sweet Peppers

Sweet peppers are a warm season crop, needing a lot of warmth to ripen on the plant. Make sure if you start seeds indoors, you will need to do so 8-10 weeks before they are ready for transplant.

Spacing these plants will depend greatly on the variety. Generally, pepper plants need 18-24 inches between plants, and 24 inches between rows. Here’s a great tip with bell peppers: plant a little closer together for more successful plants. Reducing the spacing between plants helps prevent sunscald on the fruit and prevents weeds.

Water your sweet pepper plants regularly. Mulching around sweet pepper plants will help control moisture loss, too. Fertilize sweet pepper plants when transplanting, and then again after the first fruit is produced. Be careful not to over fertilize. Blossom end rot can be caused by inconsistent watering and over fertilizing.

Focus on overall plant health and fruit production with fertilizers. Stick with something low in nitrogen. I use something with seaweed or fish emulsion: these are low in nitrogen.

Cucumbers

Cucumbers are ready to harvest about 55-70 days after planting.

Of course, cucumbers need lots of sun—full sun, in fact. Cucumbers, also, like warm weather. If you have a limited growing season, start cucumber seedlings indoors early, so you’ll be ready to plant when the warm weather arrives. Wait till soil temperatures have reached 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cucumbers like soil rich in organic matter, well drained, and around a neutral pH (around 6.5). These all really go hand in hand, anyway. Just add some compost to your soil or your planter, and it should take care of the three soil preferences of cucumbers. Cucumber plants are flexible with the pH level. They’ll do great as long as the pH level is around 6.5.

Cucumbers can be planted in containers, rows, hills, or raised beds. One plant produces a lot of cucumbers.

Containers

Cucumbers grow as bushes or vines. Bush varieties grow well in containers. Vine cucumbers will need a trellis, and there’s more space for those in a garden out in the yard.

Rows

You can plant rows of cucumbers once soil temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Space rows 6 ½ feet apart, and plants should have about 2 ½ feet between them. But check your variety, if growing a smaller cucumber plant, you may be able to add more plants in a smaller space. There are some varieties that only need 8-10 inches between the plants.

Since cucumbers are a warm season crop, seeds do pretty well sowing directly into your garden. For row gardening, plant cucumber seeds about 6 inches apart. When the seedlings become established (have their second set of leaves- not just seedling leaves), you can thin seedlings to suggested planting space. By planting seeds 6 inches apart, you can count on getting enough cucumber plants.

Hills

Vine crops are often grown this way, like cucumbers, squash, and melons. The idea of hill planting is to start the root system in the center. From there they grow outwards, not competing with each other for water or soil nutrients.

Again, hill planting is for your vine cucumbers. Hills need to be about 3 feet apart. Plant about 5 or so seeds in the hill. Once seedlings have established, reduce to only three plants. Instead of pulling up the seedling, just cut it off. This will prevent any disruption to the root system.

Remember, vine cucumber plants are better trellised. These plants have healthier vines, and harvesting is easier since you can see the fruit.

Raised Beds

You can plant any type of cucumber in a raised bed. The benefit of using raised beds with cucumbers is soil drainage. Raised beds, in general, will provide well drained soil.

Cucumber plants are easy vegetables to grow. There’s not a whole lot of work to do while you’re waiting to harvest: trellis vine cucumbers and water. Watering is key, and you need to water deep to reach all the roots. Cucumbers absorb and need a lot of water!

If you are ever going to use an organic fertilizer, the vegetable garden would be the place to do so. Cucumber plants really absorb water, soil nutrients, and fertilizers around them. Chemicals are the last thing you want in your homegrown food.

Eggplant

Eggplants are ready for harvest when the fruit is glossy, firm, and full colored and not streaked with brown. Time from planting to harvest is 100 to 150 days from seed, 70 to 85 days from transplants.

Grow eggplant in full sun. Eggplant is not particular about the soil it grows in but will grow best in well-drained soil rich in organic matter. Eggplant prefers a soil pH of 5.5 to 6.8. Add aged compost to planting beds before planting. Warm the soil in advance of planting with a black plastic cover.

Eggplant is sensitive to cold. It grows best where day temperatures are between 80° and 90°F and night temperatures between 70° and 80°F. Eggplant is best started indoors 6 to 8 weeks before transplanting into the garden. Set transplants in the garden no sooner than 2 to 3 weeks after the average date of last frost in spring, or when daytime temperatures consistently reach 70°F. Sow eggplant seed ¼ to ½ inch deep spaced 4 to 5 inches apart. Thin plants to 6 inches apart if the weather does not allow transplanting before plants grow 5 to 6 inches tall. Set eggplants into the garden 18 to 24 inches apart. Space rows 24 to 36 inches apart.

Eggplants require evenly moist soil to ensure the best and fastest growth. Do not over water or allow the soil to dry out.  Eggplants can grow 2 to 6 feet tall, depending on the variety.

Container growing

Eggplant is easily grown in containers. Plants will grow in pots at least 12 inches across and as deep. Choose a smaller growing variety. Container grown eggplants are easily moved out of cold weather; so you can extend the season in spring and autumn by moving plants indoors when frost threatens.

Spinach

Spinach takes 4-6 weeks from seed. You can begin harvesting whenever the leaves are large enough for your taste.

Spinach prefers a well draining soil with a neutral pH. Because it is such a fast grower, it is also a heavy feeder. An organic fertilizer high in nitrogen, the first number on the fertilizer package, will help produce dark, healthy leaves. Fish emulsion and soy meal are good organic choices.

You can start spinach indoors or direct seeded in the garden as soon as the soil is workable. Spinach grows quite quickly, so don’t start plants indoors more than a 2-3 weeks before you plant to transplant them out. Spinach also matures and goes to seed quickly, so it is better to re-seed every couple of weeks than to try and plant a large crop to harvest over time. Sow the spinach seeds thinly in rows spaced about 1 -1 ½ ft. apart or simply scatter the seeds in blocks. Cover lightly with soil, firm in place and water well.

Keep the soil moist until germination

Growing Spinach in Containers: If space is tight or pests are many, you can easily grow spinach in containers. Even a relatively small 10-12" pot or a windowbox will do. Plant as you would in the garden, however you will need to water more frequently, since containers dry out faster.

Summer is Sizzling!

I am so excited summer is finally here, although it has felt like summer here in Florida since March!

Mary's Heirloom Seeds has provided me with an amazing assortment of seeds to plant this year.

I'll be experimenting and posting and fast as I can.

My garden has flourished in the heat but has required daily watering since south Florida has been in a drought. In May I transplanted my cucumber and it seemed like it doubled in size overnight.
My bell peppers and jalapeno peppers have been inching along and REALLY enjoy the heat.

I have only one complaint...cutworms on my tomatoes. I wish I knew when I started that they would devour all the beautiful green leaves on my Marglobe tomatoes... Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. The next planting is July and I'll have a "do's and don'ts" list.

7 Reasons You're Still Overweight (and How to Get Slim Fast)

By David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding - Posted on Mon, Feb 08, 2010, 1:08 pm PST

Eat This, Not That
by David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding a Yahoo! Health Expert for Nutrition

Why do some people pack on the pounds effortlessly? It’s not always genetics and it’s not always gluttony, and you can’t always blame it on lack of exercise. Indeed, becoming overweight is often a result of some simple—and easily correctible—bad habits, especially when it comes to dining out. (I know. I used to be a chunky kid.)

As we began researching Eat This, Not That! Restaurant Survival Guide, we discovered plenty of egregious examples of super-fattening foods in both America’s supermarkets and our chain restaurants. And we learned that if you simply know what to order and what to avoid, you can shave off pounds effortlessly. For example, does On the Border really need to stuff more than a day’s worth of calories into its Dos XX Fish Tacos? (Remember when fish was healthy?) And shouldn’t Chili’s warn parents when a selection on its kids’ menu comes with 82 grams of fat, like its Pepper Pals Little Chicken Crispers does?

If you know these secrets, the power to eat what you want and still stay slim is in your hands. That's why we created the Eat This, Not That! iPhone app!—it’s like having your own personal nutritionist at your fingertips.

In the meantime, here’s the hard truth: There's more contributing to America's obesity problem than just fattening food. The restaurant industry has spent decades studying human behavior and figuring out all sorts of subliminal ways to make us want to order and eat more. And a lot of those psychological tricks have become ingrained in our behavior.

In a study in the journal Obesity, researchers looked at the habits of people dining at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Those with the highest body mass index (BMI)—a measure of obesity—shared many of the behaviors listed below. Know them so you can take charge of your waistline—and your health.

#1. Overweight people use larger plates.
When offered two plate sizes, 98.6 percent of those with the highest BMI took the larger of the two plates to the buffet. A bigger plate tricks your eye into thinking you’re not eating as much when you stuff more food onto the surface—and into your mouth. Use a smaller plate, get a smaller belly.

Bonus tip: The same principle holds true for drinks, as we've found while researching the upcoming Drink This, Not That! The larger the cup, the bigger your gut. Check out our list of The 20 Worst Drinks in America and The 40 Best and Worst Beers for two eye-opening lineups of belt-busting beverages that'll drown your diet aspirations. (It's baffling that some drinks can pack more than 2000 calories!)

#2. Overweight people eat while looking at food.
Of those with high BMIs, 41.7 percent took seats that overlooked the buffet, instead of sitting in a booth or facing in a different direction. The sight of food tends to make our minds think we have more work to do, eating-wise. Keep your food stored in the fridge or stashed in the pantry, not out on the countertops.

#3. Overweight people eat with maximum efficiency.
While Chinese buffets offer chopsticks, 91.3 percent of obese patrons opt for forks. That just makes it easier to shovel in the food.

Bonus tip: For simple steps to live a longer and healthier life, read through Dr. Oz's 25 Greatest Health Tips Ever. His tips will dramatically improve your life.

#4. Overweight people clean their plates.
Of those patrons who were the heaviest, 94 percent cleaned their plates so there was nothing left. Ignore Mom’s advice—let a little linger, or take it to go.

#5. Overweight people chew less.
Researchers actually monitored the chewing habits of the buffet-goers and discovered that the heaviest one-third among them chewed their food an average of 11.9 times before swallowing. The middle one-third chewed an average of 14 times, and the leanest one-third chewed 14.8 times.

Bonus tip: Whatever you do, don't chew on these 20 Worst Restaurant Foods in America. Some of these secret meals pack days' worth of salt, sugar, trans-fat and saturated fat! Learn exactly which ones so you can steer clear.

#6. Overweight people dive in.
The leanest people in the study typically took a lap around the buffet first, to plot out what they wanted to eat. But the more overweight group charged right in; doing so means you may fill up on some less-appealing items, then have to go back to snag that one nosh you have to have but missed the first time.

#7. Overweight people skip breakfast.
A simple habit, but missing this crucial meal raises your risk of obesity by a whopping 450 percent! Start your day with some lean protein and fiber—which will jumpstart your metabolism and keep you full. (An egg sandwich is actually a great choice.)