NJ Gardening – Page 3 – Garden Beds-NJ

Is Rototilling Necessary? To Till or Not to Till Your NJ Garden Beds This Spring

Garden Planting, NJ Gardening, Organic Gardening, Raised Bed Gardening / owner

“To grow healthy, productive plants you need healthy, productive soil. It is the organisms in the soil that provide the food plants need, in the form they need, when they need it.” -Dr. Elaine Ingam, SoilFoodWeb.com The first year we had our little backyard garden, we rented a rototiller and went to work processing the soil […]

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Organic Gardening: Updates from the Experimental NJ Gardeners

Gardening for Beginners, NJ Gardening, Organic Gardening, Summer Gardening / owner

What’s happening in your NJ organic garden this July? We cleared the mesclun mix out, after enjoying a full spring’s worth of delicious, fresh salads. My husband took some cutting shears to some of the dead lower leaves on our tomato plants, and removed some yellowed leaves on our eggplant as well. The peas that

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Jersey Tomato Plants: Common Problems

NJ Gardening, Summer Gardening, Tomato Gardening / owner

What NJ gardener doesn’t salivate at the thought of plucking the season’s first, plump red tomatoes from the vine? Unfortunately, while nearly every gardener from the garden state has tried their hand at tomato growing with some measure of success, there are some common issues that we all face. Tomato troubles? Try these preventive methods:

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Harvesting Tomatoes in NJ Zone 6: Q&A

NJ Gardening, Organic Gardening, Summer Gardening, Tomato Gardening, Zone 6 Gardening / owner

If you’re anything like we are, then you probably spent a good part of your summer watering, watching and waiting for those tomato plants to yield some firm, red fruit. And then just when you had all but given up, here comes a sudden windfall of tomatoes! So now you probably want to know what to do

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How to Plant Cucumbers in NJ Zone 6

Garden Planting, Gardening for Beginners, NJ Gardening, Spring Gardening, Zone 6 Gardening / owner

Cucumber plants grow quickly and impressively from seed. The first time you dig a little hole and drop that big cucumber seed in, expect to be shocked when fast comes the day that a mighty cucumber sprout emerges triumphantly from the dirt. From there, your cucumber plants will just seem to lap the other veggies

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How to Grow Vegetables from Seed

Garden Planting, Gardening for Beginners, NJ Gardening, Organic Gardening, Spring Gardening / owner

by Maria G. I wrote a recent entry about how I grew some beautiful lettuces from seed. Today, at a garden center, I came upon a rather expensive shallow pot filled with the same types and colors of lettuce that I had successfully cultivated myself. These ready-to-eat lettuce plants were large, and evidently heavily fertilized. Looking

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How to Grow Strawberries Organically – NJ Zone 6

Garden Planting, Gardening FAQ, Gardening for Beginners, NJ Gardening, Spring Gardening, Zone 6 Gardening / owner

Strawberries are tough to grow for a few reasons. For all the work and planning they require, the harvesting season is pretty brief. Here in Zone 6, we plant strawberries in the early spring, to be harvested by end of May, and June in the case of some varieties. Strawberry plants are susceptible to viruses,

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Q: How often should I water my vegetable garden?

Gardening FAQ, NJ Gardening / owner

A: Many experts suggest that once vegetable garden plants are established they should be watered deeply once per week – about an inch. Two inches if it’s been really hot. I don’t know about you, but I have no way of knowing how many “inches” of water I am spraying on my veggie plants. There

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Seed Viability Chart (Vegetables)

Garden Planting, NJ Gardening / owner

Below find a handy seed viability chart. Not just for NJ gardeners! Plant Years Viable artichoke, globe 1 bean 3 beet 4 broccoli 5 Brussels sprouts 5 cabbage, heading 5 cabbage, Chinese 5 cantaloupe 5 chicory 5 collard 6 corn 5 cucumber 1-2 eggplant 5 endive 5 garden cress 5 kale 5 kohlrabi 5 leek

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Hay or Straw: Which is Right for Your Vegetable Garden?

Gardening FAQ, Gardening for Beginners, NJ Gardening, Zone 6 Gardening / owner

A reader writes in and asks, “What’s the difference between hay and straw? Which one should I mulch my garden beds with, or does it matter?” A: Hay is grass or grain (clover, wheat, barley, alfalfa, timothy, oats or rye) that has been cut to use as animal fodder. A farmer will use a combine to pick

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