The GOLDEN RULE

I like to use natural top soil to start my garden seedlings in. I usually don’t use potting soil because it generally does not produce the results I want. I usually fill a large, deep baking pan I have with top soil and bake it for thirty minutes at 350 degrees. This sanitizes the soil and makes sure that no weeds or grass come up in your soil. I usually start on this project in the winter and I fill up a couple of large plastic barrels with lids with the sanitized soil.

I fill my trays up with my potting soil and then I plant my seeds. After I have planted the seeds in the sanitized top soil I sprinkle the top of the soil with powdered cinnamon. This keeps away fungus that can cause damping off.

I cover each seedling with a clear plastic cup that I wash and reuse. This protects the seedling and keeps the moisture in. It also keeps away cold and wind. I do my seed starting on a screened in porch.

If you want to root a plant or cutting in water, add a aspirin or two to the water. Buy a cheap bottle of aspirins and grind the aspirin up before you add it to the water. This will aid in water absorption and will help the cutting to start roots. You can often use this method to start cuttings putting out roots that would not do so otherwise.

If you plant your seeds outdoors sprinkle flavored powdered gelatin in the soil with the seeds. This will feed beneficial bacteria and provide needed nitrogen to your plants as they come up.

Transplanting Tomatoes Or Pepper Plants

When planting any type of tomato or pepper plant, pinch off all but the top leaves of the plant. Dig a hole deep enough to have the leaves left on the plant just above the surface of the ground when planted. Always add a cup of water to the prepared hole and then set the plant into the hole and put a tablespoon of powdered flavored gelatin in the hole as near to the roots of the plant as possible. A teaspoon of cinnamon also goes in the hole.

Then carefully fill the hole with dirt and pack the dirt down tight. The gelatin will feed and encourage helpful bacteria and the cinnamon will keep away fungus and cut worms. Try it this way and I promise you that you’ll be rewarded with faster growing and healthier plants.

The Lint From Your Dryer

Instead of throwing away the lint your dryer filter collects save it in a tightly covered container and till it into your garden to help hold moisture in your garden.

You can shred your daily newspaper and add the shredded paper to your compost bin. It will help you to have healthy compost and it will help to retain moisture in your garden.

Left Over Apple Peelings, Banana Peelings Etc.

Take all of these peelings and vegetable scraps and run them through your food processor. Put the ground up vegetable scraps around tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, pumpkins and etc. to feed your growing plants. Peppers especially love this and will grow and produce bumper crops of peppers when you feed them this way.

Gardening Tips, Suggestions And Information

1. Never add mulch to plants your going to winter over until after the first frost has occurred. If you add it sooner, you may be providing insects with warmth and shelter from the cold.

2. Plant the vegetables in your garden that your family likes to eat. Why plant asparagus if no one eats it.

3. The easiest plants to grow for the new gardener include beans, tomatoes, radishes, Swiss chard, peppers, corn, cucumbers, and potatoes. Anyone should be able to grow these very easy to grow vegetables.

4. If you want to harvest your vegetables in a hurry plant radishes, sweet peas, beans, squash, and cucumbers.

5. Plant your cucumbers so they can grow up a fence or trellis and you will grow far more cucumbers than if you try to plant them on the ground.

6. Plant pole beans around the base of a tee-pee bamboo frame and the pole bean plants will grow up the tee-pee frame and you can easily pick and enjoy your pole beans.

7. Be sure to use tomato cages or sturdy stakes to provide support for your tomato plants. If you don’t provide support for your tomatoes your tomato plants won’t produce nearly as many tomatoes and they may catch diseases.

8. Radishes, Swiss chard, beets, and carrots can be planted up to four weeks before the last frost. They are quite hardy.

9. Its important to plant varieties of vegetables that grow well in your area. Ask, for instance what variety of radishes seem to do well in your area down at your local farm and garden center.

10. Always plant several marigolds around among your tomato plants to keep away garden pests. This works especially well with tomatoes and squash.

11. To always have gardening twine available in the garden put a ball of gardening twine in a clay flower pot with a hole in the bottom. Bring the end of the twine out the hole and turn the pot over. Put it in a convenient place in the garden and you’ll always have gardening twine available when you need it.

12. Do you have a problem with aphids. Use a strong insecticidal soap to get rid of them.

13. When you boil or steam vegetables don’t throw the water away. Use it to water, vegetables you are growing in containers after the water has cooled. I bet you’ll be surprised how growing vegetable plants respond to this type of water.

14. Always put left over tea, tea bags and coffee grounds under your azalea plants. You will end up with healthy azalea plants and your flowers will be bright in color. You can dig a hole near the plants to bury left over tea bags.

15. The quickest and best place to dry herbs is on a few sheets of newspaper on the back seat of your car. The herbs will dry out quickly. You can usually have dried herbs in 1 – 2 days.

16. Don’t be afraid to grow your own kitchen herbs. Most herbs are easy to grow and you’ve never tasted anything as good as your own homemade pesto sauce. I grow purple heirloom sweet basil and it is so delicious. It also gives a wonderful smell to my garden.

17. You can grow plants like rhubarb and asparagus and they will come back year after year. All you have to do is keep the weeds out and fertilize them. I add heavy mulch once they are up and growing and this keeps the weeds out. Rhubarb pie is so delicious. I like it mixed with just picked strawberries.

18. When you plant things like radishes or carrots mix the seeds with powdered flavored jello like this. To a pack of radish seeds add three tablespoons of powdered flavored gelatin. Then plant the seeds and powdered gelatin together just like it is all seeds. This way your radishes won’t be to thick when they come up and the gelatin will provide the radishes with needed nitrogen. You can try an experiment and the radishes planted with gelatin will be much healthier than radishes planted with out gelatin.

19. Always plant marigolds in your garden, especially near tomatoes and cabbage because the marigolds will keep garden pests away from your plants and garden.

20. Plant one long, wide row in your garden for crops like radicchio, white beets, bock-choy, bulb fennel, celeriac,and escaroles. Plant a few of each of these in this mixed row and you can sample a lot of varieties of taste from this row. When you grow a row of these veggies mixed and planted together this way you can keep up with the vegetables and you get to try a wide variety of tastes.

21. Do you stir fry. You should if you don’t. If you do try picking things like immature broccoli, tiny baby squash and tiny baby eggplants to use in your stir fries. You won’t believe the wonderful flavor of these tiny baby vegetables. Don’t be afraid to pull baby green onions to add to the mix. You can come up with some wonderful flavors this way.

22. Try to plan to harvest your vegetables in the morning when the veggies are packed with nutrients You can preserve the flavor and nutrients of leafy green vegetables by chilling them in the refrigerator but don’t put onions or tomatoes in the refrigerator. If you do, they will lose some of their flavor.

23. If you harvest your squash on a regular basis as tiny baby squash you’ll be rewarded with twice as many squash as you would have if you allowed the squash to mature. They are so delicious when the seeds in the squash are very small.

24. Weed early and often. And once your vegetables start growing mulch your plants heavily to keep the weeds out. Don’t let your garden get over run with weeds or you will lose control of your garden.

25. Water your garden wisely. Never water your garden when the sun is on the garden. Water before the sun comes up or after the sun has set. Consider watering with a good quality sprinkler after the sun has set or late at night. Your garden will get a lot more water this way and it will be a few hours before the sun comes up to dry up the water.

A great deal more here, in the original source article.