Garden Ideas, Help, Tips and Advice

A lot of what you learn about gardening is really just mastering the gardening basics. After that it is experience and solving problems as they arise. In this section you'll find some of our earliest written pages which are like garden journal entries from experiences in my own garden. They are here to inspire you and give you some gardening ideas to help plan, plant, harvest and solve problems in your own home garden.

Secret to starting tomato transplants indoors - Starting tomato transplants indoors are a matter of light intensity, watering frequency, temperature and simulated the wind. Balance these gardening ideas and you'll have no more leggy seedlings!

Soaker hoses under black plastic mulch - an update - Soaker hoses are great garden irrigation tools and are indispensable when used under black plastic mulch. Here are some observations I gathered over a couple seasons that I am using to revise my original garden soaker hose watering tips.

Pepper Problems from Irrigating with Soaker Hoses under Black Plastic Mulch - On the surface black plastic mulch and underground soaker hose irrigation seem to be the perfect pair when dealing with the demands of pepper plants. But peppers are highly demanding in both temperature and water requirements and our two garden aides can create as many problems as they solve.

Kozy Coat durability - Kozy Coats are a good season extender for plants like tomatoes, but just how durable are they?

Soaker host irrigation tips - I couldn't live without soaker hose irrigation under black plastic mulch for crops like peppers and melons. I even use soaker hoses on open ground for my tomatoes and flowers because they make watering so easy. Having used these for nearly as long as I've been gardening I've gathered together some tips to make your experience with soaker hoses a little nicer.

Tips for cooler nights with plastic mulch - Here's some tips on how to maximize the effectiveness of your black plastic or IRT solar mulch to help you get through a cool night in your garden.

Lessons in Transplanting Tomatoes, Part 2 - Early tomatoes are within the reach of any gardener. In this article I talk about my experiences planting tomatoes on our hard clay soil again this year. With just a little work and attention to small details it's very easy to get some great tomatoes - earlier than your neighbors.

Late start to an early garden - How can you make the best situation in a year where you get a late start to your otherwise early garden? Walking through the greenhouse the other day I had a great idea.

Selecting Garden Seed Varieties - One of my favorite yearly traditions is the arrival of the garden seed mail order catalogs in winter. After enjoying looking at the pictures for a few weeks it becomes time to get down to business and start selecting seeds for the growing season. But how do you choose? Here's some tips.

Second crop from early planting - One of the benefits of planting an early garden is an extended or multiple harvest. On plants such as early varieties of peppers that means harvesting the fruit off a plant and then getting a whole new set of fruit to harvest again!

Solving Tomato Problems - The leaves are turning yellow, then brown, then drying and falling off. Is it a disease? Is it the weather? Is it my watering habits? Is it the variety? Is it in my soil? I've got an early garden tip for next spring that may finally help solve your tomato problems.

Winter observations for season extenders in the early garden - Outside in the cold and snow two recent observations helped me remember the importance of heat storage in the garden and gave me a big idea to improve the milk jug solution.

Fixing those early garden problems - Even with best intentions things don't always go as planned. What I thought was a wasted effort early on turned out to be a fabulous lush green healthy garden by mid-season. Here's how to make up for lost time.

Early planting means less stress during fall harvest - In a normal garden late summer is a busy time as you wind up with some first fruits and prepare for frost. In the early garden most of the work is behind you and you are free to enjoy the Autumn without the stress associated with a huge, single harvest.

Surprise! Unexpected frost! - How to keep your precious garden from freezing when an unforecast frost hits in spring or late summer.

Season extenders for plant protection - For the most part we use season extenders to help get our garden out early while it is still somewhat cold outside, but there is another legitimate use - plant protection. That is, protecting plants that you just can't stand to lose to conditions like cold, wind or hail.

Ideas for clay soil amendments and soil compaction reduction - If you have a garden with clay soil you are going to have a hard time planting early because the soil stays wet so long. Here are some tips to reduce compaction all year long and amend your clay soil so you can get started earlier in the spring.

Amending your garden soil - Many garden soil amendment recipes exist on the Internet, but which ones work and which ones will set back your early garden? More is not better in the world of soil amendment.

Getting through a cold night - We've all had an unexpected cold snap after the plants are in the ground and most crops do OK, but how do you deal with those warm weather plants like peppers and melons?

Getting the garden just right - Many folks work hard on their gardens but the early gardener works smart. A little bit of planning and a little bit of knowledge can help you go from a garden that produces right before first frost to a garden that produces all summer long.

Lessons in Transplanting Tomatoes - Transplanting tomatoes is always a fun part of early gardening. This year I grew my tomatoes a bit leggy indoors and made a big goof while transplanting into the garden. A lesson learned.