The Gardener's Handbook

This ebook has provided you with many of the basics required to have a sucessful home garden. Whether you wish to start a vegetable garden or a perennial garden, you are now well prepared to jump in and get  started. Now, all that is left is for you to begin determining  and experimenting which plants are most suited to your taste and style and to find which grow best in your conditions.

Do not be discouraged if some of the plants you decide to plant in your garden do not grow successfully. No gardener has 100% success with every flower she or he plants. Rather, chalk it up as a learning experience and move on to different types of plants for your garden. Or, if you really have your heart set on growing that particular plant, give it a try again in a different location. Sometimes, you will be amazed by how great a plant does when moved from one spot to another.

Now that you have gotten your feat wet with gardening, you will find that there are so many other aspects of gardening you can explore. You might decide to try your hand at creating a rock garden or a garden that incorporates various types of bushes, trees, and perennials. In fact, such a mixture is the surest way to ensure your garden provides you with color and interest throughout the entire year.

Table of Contents

CHOOSING A LOCATION

 Getting Enough Sun for Your Vegetable Garden

 Making the Garden Spot Suit Your Flowers

 Making Your Flowers Suit Your Garden Spot

 Other Elements to Consider

 Choosing a Spot that Looks Good

Consider the Purpose

Use What You Already Have

Cover Up Problem Areas

Make it Suit Your Overall Look

 Laying Out the Outline

 

PREPARING THE LAND

 Removing Weeds and Grass

Use Your Shovel

Make Some Sod

 Loosening the Dirt

Use Your Handy-Dandy Shovel Again

Let a Machine Do the Work with a Tiller

Using a Garden Rake

 Amending the Ground

 Look at Nutrients

Adding Nutrients to Your Dirt

A Look at pH

Amending the pH

A Look at Texture

Testing the Texture of Your Dirt

Improving the Texture

Using Horse Manure

Other Organic Additives

 Another Option for Preparing Your Garden Bed

 

PLANTING YOUR GARDEN

Selecting Healthy Plants for Your Garden

Nursery Quality

Foliage

Plant Shape

Insects and Disease

Roots

Stem

Weeds

Root Ball

Flowers Vs. Buds

 Choosing Between Plants and Seeds

 Planting Seeds in Your Garden Bed

 Planting Plants in Your Garden

Choosing the Best Time

Preparing the Plants for Transplant

Digging the Hole

Removing the Plant from the Pot

Helping a Root Bound Plant

Plants in Peat Pots

Watering Your New Plant

 

MULCHING YOUR GARDEN

 Chipped Hardwood Bark Mulch

 Cedar Mulch

 Softwood Bark Mulch

 Compost as Mulch

 Crushed Corncobs

 Hay

 Spent Hops

 Buckwheat Hulls

 Cocoa-bean Hulls

 Peanut Hulls

 Pecan Shells

 Lawn Clippings

 Leafmold

 Leaves

 Pine Needles

 Cypress Mulch

 Manure

Wood Chips

 Mushroom Soil

 Peat Moss

 Sawdust

 Straw

 Groundcover Plants

 Crushed Rock, Pebbles, and Gravel

 Black Plastic Sheets

 Clear Plastic

 Landscape Cloth

 Aluminum Coated Foil and Plastic Sheets

 Rubber Tire Mulch

 Choosing the Mulch that is Best for You

 Applying the Mulch

 

KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR PLANTS

 Keeping the Information That Came with the Plant

 Using Stakes

 Keeping a Garden Journal

 

MAINTAINING YOUR GARDEN

Watering Your Plants

Weeding Your Plants

 Deadheading Your Plants

 Staking Your Plants

 

GETTING RID OF INSECTS

 Spittlebugs

 Ladybugs (or Lady Beetles)

 Fungus Gnats

 Viburnum Leaf Beetle

 Identifying Leaf Galls

 Natural Pesticides

Insecticidal Soap

Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt)

Neem

Horticultural Oil

Pyrethrins

Sabadilla

Rotenone

 

GETTING RID OF FUNGAL GROWTH

 

WHEN TO HARVEST VEGETABLES

 Asparagus

 Beans

 Beets

 Broccoli

 Brussel Sprouts

 Cabbage

 Carrots

 Cauliflower

 Corn

 Cucumbers

 Eggplant

 Garlic

 Kale

 Kohlrabi

 Leeks

 Lettuce

 Muskmelon

 Onions

 Parsnips

 Peas

 Potatoes

 Pumpkins

 Radishes

 Rutabaga

 Swiss Chard

 Spinach

 Squash

 Tomatoes

 Turnips

 Watermelon

 

LONG LASTING PERENNIALS .

 Bellflower (Companula)

 Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)

 Blanket Flower (Gaillardia)

 Catmint (Nepeta)

 Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

 Fringed Bleeding Heart (Dicentra Formosa and Dicentra eximia)

 Fumewort (Corydalis lutea)

 Gayfeather or Blazing Star (Liatris)

 Pin Cushion Flower (Scabiosa)

 Pinks (Dianthus)

 Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia)

 Red Valerian (Centranthus)

 Spiderwort (Tradescantia)

 Spike Speedwell (Veronica spicata)

 Stonecrop (Sedum)

Tickseed (Coreopsis)

Yarrow (Achillea)

 

PERENNIALS THAT ARE EASY TO GROW

 Allegheny Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia)

 Blazing Star (Liatris spicata)

 Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro)

 Hosta

 Meadow Rue (Thalictrum aquilegifolium)

 Peony (Paeonia)

 Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)

 Sea Thrift

 Siberian Iris (Iris siberica)

Turtlehead (Chelone lyonni)

 

STARTING PLANTS FROM SEED

 Deciding When to Start the Seeds

 Gathering the Proper Equipment

 Getting the Potting Mix Ready

 Planting Your Seed

 Covering Your Seed with Potting Mix and Setting it Up to Grow

 Giving Your Seed Light, Heat, and Air

What to Do When Plants Appear

Transplanting Your Seedlings

Thinning Out the Seedlings

 Putting Your Seedlings Outside

 

CREATING YOUR OWN COMPOST

Worm Composting

 Backyard Composting

 

SUMMARY