Sweet bell peppers are a garden staple. They can be used in everything from chili and tacos to standard garden salads. You can cut them up and mix them onions and pureed tomatoes to make salsa… and so on. They are very useful, especially when your goal is to be self-sufficient and grow most of […]
Author Archive | Mario Leal
When to Water and How Much to Give
One of the trickiest things about gardening seems like the simplest – the act of watering your crops. After all, you just turn on the hose and spray them down, right? Wrong. While you can use a hose, there are many different methods of watering plants in a gentler manner, and so many ways to […]
How to Keep the Hot Sun from Harming Your Plants
Sometimes you need to find a balance between sun and shade, depending on the conditions in your backyard, as well as the crops that you are growing. However, even if you have plants that require full sun, they may be getting too much light, particularly in the summer months when the weather is very hot. […]
Grow your own salsa!
Salsa is a tasty sauce that works well with tortilla chips, on tacos and burritos, and in other things as well. You can even put it on burgers if you so desire. Salsa has Spanish and Mexican origins, but is made from standard vegetables that you can grow in the United States. Even though there […]
Leaf Miners – The Most Annoying Pest of the All?
If the leaves of your plants have what look like tiny, discolored, white trails popping up on them, then you have a leaf miner infestation. Unfortunately, there are different types of these pests, so they prey on various plants – not just one or two types, like other garden nuisances do. What Exactly Are Leaf […]
Starting a berry patch
If you make room for one thing in your garden besides vegetables, it should be berry bushes or plants. Whether you choose raspberries, strawberries, blueberries or blackberries is up to you – all are tasty fresh off the plant, in desserts and salads, and can be turned into jellies and jams. If you plant more […]
Growing garlic
Garlic grows best in cold weather. It should be planted in the fall, once your standard growing season is complete and your crops have been harvested. Yes, even if you have snowy weather in the winter, you can grow your own garlic. It all depends on which variety you choose. Types of Garlic Hardneck garlic […]
Necessary gardening supplies
Proper gardening requires more than just soil and water. You also need the right tools to do the job. The amount that you spend on them doesn’t matter as long as they fit into one of these necessary categories: Preparing Your soil needs to be the right consistency and have the best chemical makeup before […]
The Classic Square Foot Garden
Square foot gardening gained popularity in the 1980s, and it’s still very useful for people who want to plant a lot of crops, but have little space in their yards for a big garden. Setting up this type of garden is fairly easy, and it makes it keeping track of your crops simple. Let’s go […]
The Basics of Soil Enrichment
Soil is more than a medium to grow plants in; it’s filled with living organisms like fungi and bacteria that are necessary for the health of not only the soil itself, but for that of your garden as well. In order to maintain a healthy balance of these required organisms, you need to take care […]
Patio Herb Gardening
Fresh herbs are great to have any time of the year. You can grow them indoors, as well as outside on your patio. In fact, it’s easy to move them from one place to another so that no matter how chilly the weather, you’ll have a self-sufficient way to season your meals and infuse olive […]