Are you eager to try your hand at flower gardening or vegetable gardening but a little afraid you’ll fail miserably? Ha, we felt the same way and put it off for many years. When we finally did start gardening we soon found that it wasn’t nearly as scary as we had made it in our minds.

A few helpful gardening tips from a good friend of my wife and we were on our way to being gardeners in our own backyard, finally.

I am happy to tell you that we did pretty good for our first year as beginner gardeners and are looking forward to the next growing season. We have started planning and it’s only the first of January.

Note that I haven’t said anywhere that we didn’t make any mistakes because we did but that didn’t take away from the joy we experienced and next year we will do better and grow even more great produce. We don’t get too worked up over mistakes, we just try not to repeat them.

Now I would like to share some of the gardening tips that others shared with us.

1. Plant Hardiness Zone – Know The Plants That Will Grow Best In Your Area.

Nothing about gardening is more depressing than watching your plants shrivel and die and not knowing why. That’s where my first tip comes in. Knowing what you can grow where you live is important so that you don’t try to grow things that require a very hot dry climate when you live in an area that gets a lot of rain.

It’s good to start with flowers, shrubs, trees and veggies that do well where you live and that’s where knowing the hardiness zone you live in will help. When you purchase plants or seed they should have a tag that tells you the growing conditions and hardiness zone. Stick with plants in your plant hardiness zone and you should do quite well.

Just go to your favorite search engine and type in: plant hardiness zone for [your location]. Once you know the zone you will be able to look up plants for your zone.

Make your gardening experience more enjoyable by know what grows best in your area. Once you have the hang of gardening you can move onto some things that need more attention and maybe even a longer growing season, but that’s for another day.

2. Know The Growing Season Where You Live.

Here we have to deal with frost so it’s important for me to know when the threat of frost is over. Knowing that June 10th is usually the last of the frost threats I can plan my planting around that date.

Knowing when the season is over helps as well because then you have a good idea of how many days you have from the time you plant until your season is done. So, if June 10th is the starting day and Sept. 15th is the last day then you just add up the days and you have a good idea of how long a growing season you have. Approximately that is.

Once you know the number of growing days you have you can check each plant or seed package to see the length of time it takes to grow to harvest. Of course this doesn’t apply to plants that have a very short growing season, like radishes or lettuce.

It may seem strange to say know your growing season but it can be really disheartening when you plant too early only to be hit by a frost that kills all you planted. So know when your area usually is safe from frost. Here we usually say after June 10th but that doesn’t mean you can’t plant and prepare before that.

Using June 10th as an example I would still plant before that but I would protect my plants by covering them at night or by having them in containers and move them in and out of the garden shed until the threat of frost has pasted.

3. Know Where You Will Get The Best Sun For The Summer.

I made some major blunders when we first started growing flowers in our yard. I didn’t pay attention to where the sun was going as spring turned to summer and found a lot of my plants that needed sun light were in the shade after their first month.

Take note of the buildings and trees that may block areas of your yard. Know where the sun is going to be tracking across your yard during the growing season and plan for it. Put the shade loving plants in the path that gets shaded at the hottest time of the day. And of course you will want your sun loving plants to get the most of the sun you have.

I love raspberries and bought two stalks but I put them on the opposite side of the yard than I should have. We still had raspberries but after I moved them to the other side of the yard where they will get the sun we will see if they yield a lot more.

4. Proper Drainage And Soil Preparation.

When we started digging up the spot where our vegetable gardening would go we knew the soil was clay and had very poor drainage. We knew that because ducks would land in our yard like it was a pond. But the area we have our garden is the area we get the most light for the summer and it needs to be there.

We hadn’t started composting at that time so we bought peat moss and topsoil, plenty of it and I started removing the lawn in that area. Then I dug the clay out to about a foot deep and started mixing it with the topsoil and peat moss until it became the garden soil we needed, that would also drain better.

This year we had the most rain we have had in recent history so our little veggie garden got tested beyond anything we thought it would need to do and it did well.

Focus on making your soil the best it can be and you will have won half the battle of gardening right there.

5. Learn About Garden Pest And How To Deal With Them.

An example that makes me laugh is about growing zucchini. I would go out each day and look at the zucchini plant and wonder when it was going to get some zucchinis growing but all I could get to grow was beautiful yellow flowers and then they would just fall off in the night.

We I soon learned that my problem was slugs. They love coming out at night for party time with my zucchinis. Once I learned a few methods of getting rid of them I actually got to see the flowers extend into little green zucchinis.

Just putting out a couple of lids, I used peanut butter jar lids, with some beer got those darn slugs so loaded the just drank themselves to death. I also picked a few off at the start and squashed them but I liked the beer idea better.

I used some damp cardboard and placed a few small pieces around the edge of the zucchini. The slugs would crawl in or under the damp cardboard once they were done munching my zucchinis for the night and were waiting for me to dispose of them in the morning.

I was out walking a couple of days ago and noticed that the leaves are starting to turn brilliant colours again which usually means I can kiss summer goodbye for this year.

I was even chilly enough that at a couple of points, when the breeze picked up, I wished I had a pair of gloves and it was still a couple of degrees above freezing.

Well this morning it was minus 1 degree.

It’s a gorgeous morning and the air is clear of everything but sunshine, very bright out.

I will wait a few more hours I guess before heading out for my walk as it’s suppose to go up to 17 today, so later it will be just perfect for walking. The sun will be high enough in the sky not to blind me on my walk and the temp will be high enough I won’t need gloves today.

We have a few vines growing along our property fence so that we can see which vines we like the most before ripping out the things we don’t like. Well there is a vine growing that I see all over Moncton and when they fall colours come out they win my vote for a property fence.

Then there are snowball trees and hydiranges that change from bright white to pink when the temperature drops and they can stay like that for most of the winter if they don’t get blasted with too much high winds.

We don’t have any in our yard yet but we will have a couple of these beauties by next spring so that we can eventually enjoy their beauty without leaving home to see them.

Okay I have started making little life jackets for the vegetables in our veggie garden. I am even thinking about building an Ark now.

June 10th frost kept ringing in my ears as I thought about planting. I remember my dad would talk about a killing frost around the first full moon of June.

So we waited until after the full moon before planting our vegetable garden. The temperature got as low as just one degree off freezing so I think the wait was worth it.

Once we planted our little square foot garden it started to rain and hasn’t let up much since. Now it’s the first week in July and it’s still raining. I think it’s raining even harder than it did in June.

I am sure if it wasn’t for the view of our backyard from my office window I would be completely depressed by this point.

Let’s Go To… Oooops It’s Raining Again.

The rain has put a damper on so many activities this year and the only ones not complaining are the plants. Well those plants that haven’t been washed down stream that is.

Vegetable Garden Draining Well

I started our first 4 foot square garden right in the spot that holds the most water. I thought it was the best location in our yard even though it would need a lot of work to make it drain well.

After removing the sod and digging up to a depth of about a foot I added plenty of peatmoss and top soil which made a huge difference in drainage.

It was bad enough that in the spring we had ducks landing in the water and they were able to swim around like it was a pond. They are in for a bumpy landing come next spring.

We have had a few down pours that all but buried the smaller vegetables like the radishes and swiss chard. Even though they took quite a pounding they came right back after the rain stopped.

I may not have to use those life jackets after all.

Image via Wikipedia

We are about to purchase a chainsaw so that we can cut the shrubs, trees and branches we don’t want in our yard. I don’t have much of a clue about chainsaws and haven’t even used one in more than 25 years. Time to relearn some things so that we won’t destroy our new chainsaw.

Here is a great chainsaw article that helped me.

Chainsaws provide many years of service for very little upkeep. Taking the time to service your chainsaw will help ensure that your equipment will not let you down. For safety reasons, make sure you only service your chainsaw when it is fully cooled, with the spark plug disconnected. If you are working with an electric chainsaw make sure it is unplugged first of all. You should also wear gloves and protection for your eyes.

For safe and effective operation having correct chain tension is necessary. As the chain wears, significant stretching will occur. After five to ten cuts a new chain may need to be readjusted. Separation from the guide bar or binding into the wood can occur if the chain is loose. Premature chain and guide bar wear will be caused by a tight chain. A chain that is well adjusted will move easily and smoothly when pulled by a gloved hand. Binding or sagging by the chain should not occur. The chain tension should be checked and adjusted if needed before every use.

A manual or automatic chain oiling system is used in most chainsaws. Friction and heat builds between the chain and guide bar without oil. The oil also helps the individual links in the chain operate smoothly at high speeds. Check the oiling system prior to every use.

Tighten all of the screws and fasteners. This process should be done before every use. Before using your chainsaw each time you need to inspect the fuel system.

After every 10 hours of use you need to clean or replace the air filter. By replacing the air filter on a regular basis your chainsaw will be able to run cooler and use less fuel.

The sprocket tip should be lubricated after every 10 hours of use. You will know that lubrication is complete when a small amount of grease appears at the edge of the guide bar near the sprocket.

For every 10 hours of use the guide bar should be turned. Flip the guide bar over to promote an even wear pattern on the bottom and top of the bar. Inspect the spark plug after every 10 hours of use and cleaned or replaced as necessary.

For every 10 hours of use the spark arrester screen should be inspected and cleaned and replaced when necessary. The spark arrester screen prevents sparks from leaving the exhaust port and hurting the operator or falling on flammable materials.

The fuel filter should be replaced after every 20 hours of use. Poor performance can result if the filter becomes clogged.

To ensure the maximum performance perform the following procedures as needed to prolong the life of your chainsaw. Take your chainsaw to an authorized dealer if the carburetor needs adjustment. The chain blades should be sharpened periodically as they become dull.

Keith Kingston is a professional web publisher, offering information on chainsaws

Image via WikipediaWhen you think about vegetable gardens, chances are that you usually associate them with warmer weather. However, there is no need to feel sad when the weather gets colder, because you can bring your love of vegetable gardening inside with an indoor vegetable garden.

Indoor Winter Vegetable Gardens Require Space and Patience

The first thing that you need to do before you begin your indoor winter vegetable garden, is to figure out where in your home you would like to place it. Make sure that the area you choose has a constant temperature, and gets at least a few hours of sunlight each day.

It should be noted that there are two ways that you can create an indoor winter vegetable garden. The first way is to simply get some large pots, and get vegetable plants like carrots or tomatoes that have a not very complicated root system.

The second way that you can create an indoor winter vegetable garden is to build a box about four feet long and 3 feet deep, fill it with soil, and cultivate larger vegetable plants. However, if you do choose this method, make sure that you have a good drainage system, because otherwise mold with grow in the soil, thus making the vegetables not edible.

Of course, all of the planning cannot even take place without the actual plants! One thing that you can do for your indoor winter vegetable garden is to take a couple of plants from your summer vegetable garden and transfer them indoors so that they can continue growing.

Something else that you can do is grow the plants from seeds, starting in the summer, and then nurturing them until they are ready to harvest in the winter. For this, you can purchase them from your local gardening center, or you can get the seeds from various vegetable plants that you have already grown.

If you are lucky enough to live in a warmer climate, then you have the option of growing your vegetable garden all year. However, it also poses a bit of a challenge too, because vegetables are only able to be harvested for a certain amount of time each year.

For more information on the kinds of gardens you can grow in the winter, search the internet. There are many reputable gardening sites on this topic. You can also go to your local gardening center and ask for advice. With the proper research and planning, you are sure to cultivate an excellent garden.