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Gardening For Dummies – Gardening Plants an Endless Buffet to Choose From

January 12th, 2011 Admin

If one were to start listing the names of the garden plant, even a hundred page book will not suffice. Gardening plants include all most all varieties like flowers, herbs, shrubs, fruits, vegetables, and many others. Gardening plants also vary from season to season, some flourish during the spring-summer season and some like the fall-winter period. Whatever kind of a garden you may decide to have you will have plenty of plants to choose from to suit your taste.

You may even opt for gardening plants that can be more than just ornaments in your garden. Infact it is very satisfying to grow plants like herbs, fruits and vegetables. When the time to harvest the produce comes, it can be very exciting and fulfilling. The common vegetables suited for home gardens are peas, corn, cucumber, squash, potatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, lettuce, beet, spinach etc. they are a good choice for larger farms too. Strawberries, cherries, apricots, blueberries, tomatoes, plums and pears are some of the more popular fruits. Herbs are liked by all for their fragrant quality, they add fragrance to cooked food and make the salads all spiced up. Popular home grown herbs are chives, lavender, mint, dill, sage and thyme.

Summer garden’s are a colorful riot and soothe the weary eyes, but it is difficult to maintain a colorful garden during the winter months. It is a challenging task, but with planning and diligent care you can have a lovely garden year round. Rudbeckia is a charming yellow perennial that loves the fall-winter season. Other winter favorites are Japanese anemone, cosmos and Christmas rose.

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Growing a Winter Vegetable Garden in Austin

January 12th, 2011 Admin

Those of you who live in Zone 9 planting areas will be happy to know that the high summer temperatures come with an unseen benefit – a long planting season. While most gardeners are tilling up their gardens before the first frost hits in October, most people in Zone 9 will be able to start a winter vegetable garden mid-month and have a harvest a few months later.

Winter Vegetable Garden Preparation

Winter vegetables require a little bit of forethought and extra attention. If you’ve never planted vegetables before it’s probably a good idea to start an easier spring/summer garden. Winter gardening is considered by some to be very advanced, but in the Zone 9 area it’s actually pretty easy because there is no snowfall and the winter temperatures are relatively mild.

The most important thing to do is to keep your plants safe from the cold weather. You can use a cold frame to protect your plants. It’s constructed out of a PVC pipe frame with greenhouse plastic spread over the top. The cold frame can be set out when you know there is going to be a frost overnight.

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Extend the Garden Season

January 12th, 2011 Admin

All the hopes that were poured into planting those seeds and seedlings back in April and May are coming to fruition now in a bountiful harvest of squashes, cucumbers, lettuces, peas, potatoes, green beans, and onions, plus delightful herb offerings.


My plan for gardening intensively (more plants in smaller areas) and organically, with straw mulch six inches deep, has paid off in virtually no weeding chores and very little watering. My losses to the bugs consist of 2 squash plants, one summer, one winter, to the, what else?, Squash Bug. It is mid-July and the weather has consisted of plentiful showers, hot, sunny days, and not-so-hot, agreeable nights.


My efforts have been rewarded trying some new things in this “first” garden of the growing season. I followed my Uncle Bob’s advice in harvesting onions while the roots were still firmly attached so they would not rot. Propping the cucumber vines onto a trellis prevented them sprawling everywhere and made harvesting easier. A new variety of potatoes fulfilled its promise of resistance to the voracious potato beetle.

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