Gardening & Health

Shed Plans for Building a Garden Shed

2012-01-25T20:18:00.000-08:00

If you're like many gardeners, you know the value of having a place to store all of your gardening equipment and tools. Sure you can store all of that stuff in the corner of your garage, but why should you have to when you can build your own garden shed for very little by using free shed plans that are available on the internet.

You can waste a lot of time by wading through tons of site that require you to pay for garden shed plans or you can use sites such as the one above that list the shed plans for free. So why wait? Aren't you ready to build a shed for your garden?

Compost for Healthier Soil

2011-01-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

You hear all of this talk about compost and how it is good for your soil and how it helps you grow healthier plants. But to actually understand how composting works is really exciting.

Most people don't pay any attention to the last person that walked past them, much less the world of organisms that are at work right below their very feet. You can learn all about composting and anything to do with composting at the Composting Guide blog. If you want to know more about composting the Composting Guide is a great place to start.

Wheat as a Cover Crop

2011-01-20T14:34:00.000-08:00

I originally planted wheat as a cover crop in our garden to help prevent soil erosion, build organic matter in our sandy soil and to scavenge any residual nitrogen left over from the previous growing season. It has become one of my favorite plants to grow. Not only for what it does for the soil in our garden, but it gets me through the gray, dreary months of Winter.

I usually plant wheat as a cover crop in late October. This last Fall it seemed like I couldn't catch a break and the winter wheat didn't get planted until early November. The wheat didn't get much of a head start before the cold weather settled in. So this year's cover crop is a little scraggly looking compared to years prior.

The wheat cover crop starts growing during any warm spells we might have during Winter. This Winter we've had very few warm days so the wheat has put on very little growth. I'll have to wait a little longer this Spring before tilling under the cover crop with the garden tiller or else the cover crop won't be contributing much organic matter to help the build soil tilth.

Planting wheat as a cover crop can really grow on you. I enjoy the green plants during the Winter months and appreciate what it does for the soil. So much, in fact, that I've started planting wheat outside the garden perimeter. Not only does it act as a weed buffer and a habitat for beneficial insects, but I'm also getting the added benefit of building the soil so I can expand the garden area in the future and have soil that is full of organic matter and ready to start producing even more delicious home-grown vegetables.