All About Home and Garden

Fertilizing vegetable gardens is a reasonably easy task, but it's not the only thing you need to do to prepare the soil in your vegetable garden. Before starting to fertilize and perform other soil preparation, make sure that it's truly planting season first. You want to wait until the last possibility of frost has past and the garden soil must dry sufficiently for the best vegetable roots. Then you can get to work preparing and fertilizing your vegetable garden.

Fertilizing Preparation

There is a good all around formula for preparing your soil before planting for the season. Cover your garden with about 1" of fresh loam. Then add over that 2-3 inches of good compost. Add to that a good all around 10-10-10 fertilizer.

Thoroughly mix all this into the garden soil. The combination of organic materials with the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer will make your garden space a haven for healthy root growth. While you're tilling the soil, take time to remove any weed roots. Be sure to dispose of them far away, you don't want them finding their way back into the garden. You can see that there's a bit more to soil preparation than just the fertilizer. The compost adds other organic materials to keep the soil rich

Fertilizing Process

Make sure to take a look at the instructions on the bag of fertilizer. Take note of any specific remediation for particular soil conditions. You'll also need to make sure to apply the correct amount, or you risk damaging your plants' roots. Once you're done with the fertilizer, give the garden a quick rinse and water to start the absorption process into the ground and root systems.

Reapplying the Fertilizer

If you're growing plants with a long growing season, then you will most likely need to fertilize again later in the season. This shouldn't be as involved as the setup/preparation step above, but adding fertilizer will reinvigorate your plants and keep them growing strong. Just dig a small hole or ditch near the plants and drop in a little of the fertilizer. Don't forget to water, and make sure you don't get too close to the roots when injecting the fertilizer.

Ready to Plant?

Once you've got the soil setup and ready to go, there is an easy and reliable way to determine if your soil dampness is good for planting. Take a large handful of soil and squeeze it in your hand tightly. When you open your hand it should form a ball. Take your other hand and press on that ball. The ball should crumble. If the ball won't crumble the ground is too wet, if it turns to dust the ground is much to dry.

You can use the time you are waiting for the soil to get to the best planting texture to test the nutrient level. Many counties have agricultural cooperative extensions and some local nurseries that will test your soil for a modest fee. Nutrients are removed from your garden space every season. You cannot be certain which nutrients need replenishing without proper testing.

Without question good soil is essential to growing the best vegetables. The time spent preparing the soil in your garden space for vegetables will be rewarded. You want the ground to have a crumbly texture. This gives your vegetables the best environment to take the nutrients from the earth and bless you with a bountiful harvest.

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If you wanted a couple of tomatoes, you'd probably just go to the supermarket and pick up some of those red ones. I think of this as more of a hassle, though. You have to get dressed, drive or walk over to the supermarket, spend a great deal of time picking out the best tomatoes out of a pile that doesn't even look so good, wait at the long lineup, pay, and finally haul your groceries back home. But what if you could grow your own tomatoes in the convenience of your own home without traveling back and forth from the supermarket?

In fact, you could do the same for other vegetables and fruits, but because tomatoes are loved by most people and is the most versatile vegetable (or fruit) to be included in your recipes. Because growing tomatoes in containers is cost effective, convenient, and easy, there are many reasons why you should grow tomatoes at home.

It is much easier to start your tomato plants in containers because there is less to take care of. This is an advantage for beginners who don't know about or are new to gardening. In fact, because you are a beginner, you should start with growing smaller tomato varieties, like red cherry or grape tomatoes, since their roots take up less space and are smaller.

Starting out in the garden can cause some problems, such as possibilities for contamination from neighboring plants, harsh weather conditions or bad climate, or bad soil laced with fungi and viruses. It's important to always start with new soil because old soil can be contaminated or depleted of nutrients. Though you can change the soil in your tomato garden, it is a huge time- and money-eater due to the larger area and the labor; however, simply adding new soil into your tomato-growing containers is just so much easier, both on your back and your bank!

Be aware that raising tomato plants require constant maintenance including watering, pruning, staking, and feeding. Because your container tomato plants can be simply placed on your patio or deck, tending to them requires fewer steps from your home to the plants. In fact, these tomato plants can even be planted indoors, with the help of light boxes or just from the natural sunlight coming through the window. When growing tomatoes in containers during the colder seasons, they can simply be brought indoors and maintained with the help of light boxes. If you planted your tomatoes outside in the garden, they must be harvested before the cold strikes or your crops are ruined, and hard work lost. For aesthetic reasons, these portable tomato plants can free up space in your garden for hardier plants like strawberries, for planting flowers, or just left empty if your don't like crowding your back yard. Conversely, having them on your patio makes the place more attractive and lively, sure to bring up comments by your guests and friends.

Since tomatoes are relatively disease resistant and don't attract insects that much, choosing tomatoes as your first growing experience is great for beginners. The challenges that are involved when growing tomatoes in containers are moderate enough to become a great learning process, especially if you decide to grow other vegetables and fruits in containers in the future.

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