Gardening

	Home | Contact Us Jump to... 72 Hour Kits Chart Your Progress Chemical Emergency Communications Cooking Source Death Dry Packing Earthquakes Employment / Career Extras Extreme Winters Family Escape Plan Financial Fire Fire Starters First Aid Food Storage Gardening Heat Heat Waves Helpful Hints Hurricanes Important Papers Important Phone Numbers Insurance Light Lightning Nuclear Disaster Personal Hygiene Physical Preparedness Prepare by the week Pressure Canning Recipes Review Questions Sanitation Sewing and Clothing Shelf Life of Food Shelter Snakes / Animals / Insects Spiritual Preparedness Sprouts Storage Areas Stress Management Surprise Theft Tools Tornado Utilities Water Wills and Trusts       Gardening When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, Adam’s first “JOB” was to till the earth. (he was a gardener) Spencer W. Kimball in the October Conference 1974 stated: "The Lord planned that we would be independent of every creature, but we note even many farmers buy their milk from dairies and homeowners buy their garden vegetables from the store. And should the trucks fail to fill the shelves of the stores, many would go hungry." DO YOU KNOW..... where to plant seeds? how to plant seeds? when to weed? how to rotate crops? what kind of seeds store well so that you can use them next year? where to store your extra seeds for next year? Proper storage in cool, dry conditions slows down metabolic activity, preserving seed energy until planting time. The best place to store seeds at home is in the refrigerator. Seeds must be put in a sealed container, airtight. Seeds and seed packets must be dry when stored; otherwise they will provide a source of moisture during storage. Moist seeds in sealed containers will deteriorate even faster than dry ones that are left in unprotected storage. Two teaspoons of powdered milk or silica gel added to the containers of seeds will absorb any excess moisture. Place milk or gel in a small piece of thin fabric. DO NOT use dry milk or silica gel when storing seeds of corn, okra, or beans, as overdrying may result. To test questionable seeds, run a germination test. A few weeks before planting, sandwich 10 seeds in a paper towel and keep it moist (not wet). If at least 7 seeds sprout, the seeds are approximately the same as new seeds. Plans and Preparations Before you begin there are a few steps to follow to help you succeed: 1. Plan your garden on paper 2. Select a good gardening sight 3. Prepare the soil 4. Plan only as large a garden as you can easily maintain 5. Grow vegetables that will produce the maximum amount of food in the space available 6. Plant during the correct season 7. Harvest vegetables at their proper stage of maturity 8. After your seeds have sprouted, use a product such as Preen to help reduce new weeds from developing. Grow only those vegetables that your family will eat!!! Your garden site should provide: a sunny exposure adequate moisture fertile soil Avoid putting the garden: in a low spot at the bottom of a hill at the foot of a slope bordered by a solid fence Plant your vegetables away from: buildings trees other objects which would shade them Your plants need at least 8 hours of sunlight each day. Plant your garden as close to your back door as possible. This will help you keep a watch on your garden and make it more convenient for working in your garden. Growing More with Less Space A garden is usually planted in rows about 3 feet apart, but if you have little space for a garden there are ways to save space. 1. A front flower bed doesn’t have to just be for flowers!!!! Plant a vegetable garden instead of flowers. 2. Utilize south facing windows and porches for container gardens. Intercropping involves planting different vegetables side by side to take advantage of the different times of maturity, heights, spreads or rooting depths.     An example of this involves planting corn, beans and squash. A few weeks after sowing corn seeds, you plant pole beans close to the corn rows to use the corn stalks for support. Then you plant the squash. The squash stays close to the ground. The beans grow up the corn through the squash. Succession Planting is another way to enlarge your gardening space. When your crops that are harvested early have been harvested you plant your next crop in the space that is now open.     Example: Plant broccoli in early spring and after harvesting plant tomatoes. Vertical Gardening involves growing plants upright rather than horizontally.     Example: You can vertically grow vine crops, tomatoes, peas and beans on wood, wire or string trellises, or in cages. Besides having more plants per square foot, you will also have cleaner crops to harvest. Container Gardenting involves growing your garden in containers, such as buckets, flower pots, and wooden boxes. Just remember your container needs to be large enough for the crop you are growing and you need drainage holes in the bottom. One Garden Plot: Three Garden Seasons 1. The Spring garden contains cool-season crops that are planted and harvested from late winter to late spring. Spring garden plants grow best with cool air temperatures and are raised either for their leaves, stems or flower buds. Peas are grown for their immature fruits. The crops produce their vegetative growth during spring's short, cool days. If they are planted too late in the spring, summer heat reduces their quality forcing some to flower and form seeds and others to develop off flavors, bitterness, poor texture and low yields. (bold, indent) Spring gardens include peas, greens, the cabbage family, lettuces, carrots, and onions. 2. The Summer garden can be planted as you harvest your spring garden. Summer garden plants need warmer temperatures during days and nights. These plants need to be planted after the danger of frost has passed (usually after Mother's Day in Utah).     The plants for a summer garden include beans, corn, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, etc. 3. The Fall garden includes the last succession planting of warm-season crops such as corn or beans. It also includes cool-season crops that were also grown in the spring garden. (This information has been taken from "Home Vegetable Gardening in Kentucky")