Weeds that Indicate Soil Conditions - BC Farms & Food. Cat’s Ear, also called False Dandelion, has tall yellow flowers similar to dandelion, and rounded, hairy leaves (unlike dandelion).
Cat’s Ear typically indicates dry, free draining soil, but will also grow in moist areas. Dandelion typically indicates heavy, compacted, acidic soil, but also grows in fertile well-drained areas. Dandelion's long taproots bring up calcium and other minerals from the subsoil. These can enrich the garden as dandelion decomposes. Daisy (Bellis perennis) indicates dry, well-drained soil with low fertility. Plantain indicates acidic, compacted, low-fertility soil. Buttercup indicates acidic, poorly-drained soil. Horsetail indicates light, sandy, slightly acidic soil, and grows in moist conditions. Chickweed grows in neutral, moist, sometimes heavy soils. Purple Deadnettle, a member of the mint family, often indicates neutral, nutrient-rich soil.
Sheep Sorrel indicates acidic, low fertility soil. Guide to Growing Vegetables. Some general considerations for growing vegetables: Sowing Tips When sowing seeds, a good general rule of thumb is to sow to a depth of approximately twice the thickness of the seed.
Some smaller seeds require light to germinate and should not be sown too deep; otherwise they may never germinate or break through the surface of the soil. Conversely, large seeds planted too shallow may not develop properly. Keep seeds well-moistened while awaiting germination and check regularly. Renee's Garden Seeds. DIY PVC Grow Light Stand. Regarding grow light systems, there are many options available to you, at different sizes and styles.
Unfortunately, most of these can come with a steep cost. The ones I researched online were in the neighborhood of $150-200 or higher. While these were of pretty good quality, it made me look for more inexpensive options. So I offer you a basic DIY grow light stand made entirely of PVC (with required metal hardware). I was able to build one of these for less than $60, including the light fixture itself. How to Grow Bell Peppers. August 5th, 2008 66Email 460 users recommend If rainbow colors are your thing, plant some bell peppers.
Grow Your Own CSA: HeartEye Village CSA Micro-Farm. By Tracy Sweely Background: At Fantastic Farm Enterprises we feel that the Urban CSA is the next logical step in the expansion of the local food movement.
We are not only encouraging the elimination of the “middle-man” between growers and consumers but we are encouraging the elimination of the middle! Why not have produce grown within neighborhoods to feed those residing there? Community gardens are an extremely important neighborhood food production model. This component of Fantastic Farm Enterprises provides an overview for starting a CSA based on the experience of those operating the HeartEye Village CSA in Lafayette Colorado (www.hearteyevillagecsa.com). In the late summer of 2008 the owner of a property in Lafayette, Colorado decided to transform a ¼ acre area of the property that had been used intermittently as a garden space into something that would be more beneficial to the neighborhood and surrounding community. Setting up the Business: The Budget: Garden Plan:
Learn, Grow, Share! - The Lord's Acre. Home - Harvest to Table. Create a New P-Patch Community Garden - Neighborhoods. Location - The site should be vacant and on a relatively quiet street.
If near a busy street, there should be ways to screen the site while still being accessible to the public. Some ideas can be found at: Growing Green: An Inventory of Public Lands Suitable for Community Gardening in Seattle, Washington. Soil - Take a soil sample! What is the structure? What is the nutrient content? Weeds that like acid soil: dandelions, mullein, wild strawberries. Size - Ideal overall size of a P-Patch Community Garden is 4000 square feet.Individual plots model P-Patch's should run no less than 15, 100 square foot plots, but a greater number is desirable to assure sufficient volunteer maintenance capacity for the whole garden. Terrain - The lot should be reasonably flat. MP906 Community Gardening Toolkit. Page: « First ‹ Previous Next › Last » Editor’s noteIn April 2015, we updated many Web addresses in the online version of this publication.
Download the April 2015 updates (PDF)) or go to page 7 for the updated addresses. Eat Greater Des Moines. Weed Identification Guide. Weeds – Identification with Pictures. Weed control in the landscape is a tough business.
You have to know a lot about the weed in question just to get started! As in most situations, a picture is worth a thousand words. Go through the sites below, then choose your method of weed control. Remember: healthy, vigorous lawn grass is the best weed deterrent. Broadleaf weed killers (click for sources) Pre-emergent weed preventers (click for sources) Always read and follow the label. Websites with Weed Pictures Preen has terrific weed photos and a map that shows the most common weeds where you live: Weed ID from Preen The University of Georgia has pictures of weeds at the Turfgrass Weed Management.
The University of Minnesota has a nifty identification feature: Is This Plant a Weed? PBI Gordon Corp. sponsors an excellent weed identification website at WeedAlert. The University of California has great drawings of plant parts that are easy to understand: Weed Photo Gallery. NCSU TurfFiles Decision Aids - Turf & Weed ID. Home Page: ATTRA: National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.