Garden Plans For Beginner’s – Getting Your Garden Started

Filed under: Gardening,Plants — admin @ 10:12 pm

This garden plans for beginner’s article shows you key success factors for your garden, and how to lay out and build your backyard garden for maximum production and efficiency.

Success Factors

There are a few key success factors that apply to all our (and your) garden plans:

Success Factor 1: Organic all the way

There is really no other option than ‘organic’ to consider for your home garden, especially if your kids will be helping you. You do not need chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers to have a beautiful and productive vegetable garden. Passive and preventative methods of controlling garden pests such as companion planting, row covers, and crop rotation are very effective in avoiding pest problems. Hand picking or benign sprays such as plain water or a soap and water solution can deal with the pests that do appear. You can add grass clippings, leaves and compost to your garden to maintain fertility. So go organic, the planet (and your kids) will thank you.

Success Factor 2: Make your bed

All of our garden plans use raised beds for maximum productivity and efficiency. Raised beds provide good soil drainage, they provide the extra depth of soil that helps grow strong plants, and raised beds avoid soil compaction; once you make your raised bed you don’t walk on it again. Raised beds also warm up sooner in the spring. Finally, if you are going to add compost or aged manure to your garden, you can put it just in the growing beds and not in walkways.

Success Factor 3: Get your orientation

The best layout for your home garden is to orient the ‘long side’ running east and west; that is, your garden should face south (or as close to it as you can get). This will let you place your plants strategically; you can put taller or trellised crops like cucumbers, peas, pole beans and tomatoes on the north side of your garden, where they won’t shade shorter crops that need a lot of sun. Later in the season, you can use the space in the bed behind the tall crops to provide some shade to crops that don’t like too much hot sun e.g. lettuces, broccoli, cabbage.

Now dig this

Now that you have your garden oriented properly, its time to get digging to make those beds. This does not have to be hard work. We suggest you keep your first garden small, perhaps 6′ x 8′, or about 50 square feet. You can get a lot of food from  garden plans this size.

Here’s how to build your 6′ x 8′ super productive garden; this whole process should take perhaps 1-2 hours:

1 – pick your spot, and use stakes and string to mark out an area about 8′ x 10′, with the long side running east-west. Note this is bigger than your ‘finished size’ of 6′ x 8′ because you will move soil from around the perimeter to form raised beds.

2 – use a sod lifter or spade to remove the sod from this area. put the sod in your compost pile

3 – dig or rototill the whole area to one spade-depth, or about 9-10 inches deep.

4 – shovel a path about one spade-width (12 inches or so) running east and west across the middle of the bed; put the soil on the north side of the bed

5 – rake and shovel loose soil from about one foot around your garden perimeter; put the soil into the 6′ x 8′ finished garden area, in both the south and north beds.

6 – rake the two beds smooth, removing any stone or debris, and pulling any weeds

Timing is everything

Begin digging your garden any time after the soil is dry enough to work i.e. moist is OK, but not soggy. In my area we can usually start 3-4 weeks before our last frost date.

And here’s a special tip to make your later garden work easier: Once you have made your garden beds, let them ‘rest’ for 10 days or so before you plant. Weed seeds will sprout and can be easily removed, making later weeding much easier.

That’s a wrap for this garden plans for beginners article. Get out there and get growing!

Scott Kelland is the owner of award-winning New Terra Farm and author of ‘Bootstrap Market Gardening’ and ‘Grow a Super Salad Garden’. You can get more gardening tips and a http://www.new-terra-natural-food.com/garden-plans.html”>Free Plant Starting Guide from New Terra Farm

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The Healthy Qualities of Hibiscus

Filed under: Flowers,Gardening — admin @ 12:46 pm

People with high blood pressure generally do not experience any symptoms and are not aware that their blood pressure is high. Hypertension can lead to worrying health troubles such as heart failure and strokes.

It is said that blood pressure can be lowered by drinking an extract of Hibiscus flower each day, in the form of tea. Hibiscus tea consists of high levels of antioxidants, such as flavonoids, which are excellent for our bodies and hearts. These antioxidants help our bodies resist the harmful molecules known as free radicals, which can cause cell damage, leaving the body in a sick condition. By taming free radicals, antioxidants help look after the health of the body.

Hibiscus tea can successfully contribute to the weight loss process without making you tired, dizzy or ill. Most people are not familiar with the wonderful weight loss qualities of Hibiscus tea.

The effects of this flower on weight are better if consumed in a natural form rather than processed forms like powders or capsules.

Hibiscus makes a very pleasant red, rose or pink tea, tasting tart and refreshing. It is popular both hot or iced, and is very often blended with rose hips to make a rich colored antioxidant tea. You can make the tea by soaking the dried or fresh flowers in hot water, straining and then adding sugar, if needed.

Jamaican Tea Hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdariffe)

This is a big shrub with yellow flowers with green lobed leaves. Both the flower and the calyces can be used to make a lovely acidic tea. It grows best in a sunny position with a rich, moist, well drained soil, but is unable to tolerate frost. Jamaican tea is also called Roselle.

False Roselle (Hibiscus acetosella)

This large tropical plant has pink flowers and reddish lobed leaves. The leaves and blossom can be used for tea making. In the winter it grows well indoors as a potted plant. It is also called Red Shield Hibiscus.

Hibiscus tropical fruit tea

2 qts water

3 tbs hibiscus flowers

3 tbs mint leaves

3 tbs lemon grass

½  cup pineapple chopped

2 oranges slice

1 papaya sliced

1 mango or other tropical fruit

Bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat and add the hibiscus, mint and lemon grass. Let steep for 20 minutes and strain. Put fruits into a 2 quart jar and pour the tea over them. Refrigerate overnight. Serve the next day with a hibiscus blossom floating in it.

Hibiscus tea for colds

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger root

1 tbsp dried hibiscus flowers

1-2 sticks of cinnamon

Put ginger, hibiscus flowers and cinnamon sticks in 3 cups of boiling water. Simmer for several minutes, then turn off the heat and cover. Sweeten with fresh orange juice or honey.

The sweet, mild flavor of hibiscus blossoms makes the flowers ideal for use in teas, as well as this recipe. Begin preparation of this dish one day before you plan to serve it.

Sweet rice stuffed hibiscus

1 cup raw brown rice

1 tsp herbal salt replacer

½ clove garlic – minced

2 cups boiling water

¼ cup butter

dash nutmeg

1 tsp honey

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup almond butter (optional)

15 hibiscus flowers

1/8 cup green peas, cooked for garnish

The day before serving, combine all ingredients except the almond butter, hibiscus flowers and peas in a large saucepan or pot.

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes. Mix in the almond butter, if desired, to thicken mixture. Place in refrigerator overnight.

Before serving, gather and wash flowers. Gently cut off green stems but leave enough of the base to hold the flower together. Fill with cold mixture and top with one or two green peas. (Makes 15 servings).

If you would like to know more about Hibiscus why not visit my site at http://www.hibiscusflowers.exclusively-unique.com“> hibiscus flowers.

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