Always have a Plan B in gardening
15.1 years ago garden planning, indoor seed starting
In college I had a business class, it definitely wasn’t the most memorable since all I remember it had something to do with working with small businesses. There was an important takeaway, which was always have a “Plan B”. The teacher used this term in particular when we were preparing to give presentations to the class, it was fine to use a PowerPoint presentation, though better have some overhead slides “just in case,” which many times became a necessity in the end due to “technical issues”.
This advice definitely applies to gardening as well. In my case, especially if you want to push your planting date for your summer vegetables due to your short growing season. It is great to be ambitious and plan on getting your tomatoes out weeks before your last frost date, though when the inevitable frost comes and kills your plants you need a “Plan B” Last year, I really didn’t have one so I was forced to go to my nursery and blowing my gardening budget on the limited selection of summer vegetable seedlings.
This year I was a little smarter and planted my seeds still ambitiously but also planted a few more a couple week later. This way, if Mother Nature is cruel to my optimism I still have a backup. If she is kind I always have some extra tomato/pepper seedlings to offer to friends and neighbors or create a couple more upside down tomato/pepper planters.
Tags: cheap, garden seeds, outdoor plants, pepper plants, tomato plants, vegetables
And the GrowVeg subscription goes to…
15.1 years ago computer, free, garden planning, giveaway
There were 57 entries so I had my kids pick a number between 1 and 57 and they decided on 51. So the winner is Robj98168 the 51st commenter, please send me an email using the “Contact” link at the top of the page and I will send you the information to activate your one year subscription.
Thank you for everyone that participated and hope to have more contests in the future.
First ever CVG giveaway “ Free one year subscription to GrowVeg.com
15.2 years ago computer, free, garden planning, giveaway
GrowVeg.com has graciously offered us a free one year subscription to their site ($25 value) to give away. To enter simply enter a comment to this post and a name will be randomly selected using some sort of complicated means.
We will pick a winner in a few weeks but if you can’t wait to get started planning your garden go ahead and sign up for the free 30 day trial and if you are lucky you can continue using it for free. Good luck.
UPDATE: Just for some shameless self promotion, if you mention this contest on your site you are free to add a second comment to double your chances to win.
UPDATE #2: Drawing will be on 03/31/09, so if you have not entered time is running out.
EasyBloom plant sensor review
15.2 years ago computer, EasyBloom, electronics, gadget, garden planning, product review
I will admit, I have a weakness for electronic gadgets, when I got wind of the EasyBloom I just had to try it out. The EasyBloom plant sensor is a device with built-in sensors to measure light intensity, humidity, temperature, and moisture content in your soil. It has three basic modes: Recommend, Monitor, and Water.
With the Recommend setting you place the EasyBloom into a location you want to grow something, let it sit there for at least 24 hours, plug it into your computer, and it will provide a detailed analysis of your planting area and provide a list of plants that would thrive in that location.
The Monitor setting allows you to diagnose problems with a particular plant. You first define the type of plant you want to monitor, turn on the device and place it next to the not so healthy plant, water, return 24 hours later, and plug it again into your computer. It will use the data stored in the sensors to give you a diagnosis to what the plant’s ailment might be.. Of course, this will not diagnose various pest or disease issue but can let you know if you have planted a little too early, in the wrong location, or are not watering enough (or too much) based on your soil structure.
Finally it has the water setting which the name should imply, will notify you when you need to water your plants.
To test this thing out I had three locations in mind to take measurements, each of which would provide a huge diversity of readings.
First, I put the EasyBloom in my grow box in the Recommend mode. I have complete control over the temperature and lighting I definitely could confirm the devices accuracy and I expected to see decent diversity of plants recommended. After placing the device in my grow box for almost 24 hours (see missing results below)
Overall the readings were nearly exactly what I expected though I was hoping to get a full sun rating, guess I may need to add an extra bulb to the box. Even with my conditions it did recommend 176 plants that I could grow inside it to maturity, though I am going to demand a rematch after adding a little more light
Second, I brought the sensor and set it up next to my office window. Currently I am growing Lemon Verbena I transplanted from my garden. I wasn’t concerned about moisture content so for this reading I didn’t include the moisture sensor and here were the results that were returned.
After this result I felt a little better about my grow box since it at least it was beating of an eastern facing window sill. With this result the program recommended 92 shade loving plants with Lemon Verbena not being one of them, though I have been providing some supplemental light to the plants.
Finally, I used the EasyBloom on my southern facing fence line plot (where I normally grow my cucumbers and tomatoes) This is where I wondered of the usefulness of EasyBloom to actually give good information about planning a garden in the offseason. Though I can not grow tomatoes outside right now due to cold, would it still let me know that it was still possible. Well here are the readings:
When I put the sensor outside it was raining pretty hard so passed the “weather proof” test. Though it did clear up the next day which is reflected in the “Full Sun” light reading. This was the obvious winner with 3458 plants recommended with the over 5000 in their database.
In conclusion, I will be the first to admit that the EasyBloom would not be on the necessity list for gardening tools, but for a beginning gardener it could provide some valuable incites to help your first few years be much more successful. For nerds/geeks like me it is a pretty cool toy, that I will be sure to be using in testing new lighting and grow box designs in the future.
Tags: cheap, growbox, led, outdoor plants, tomato plants, vegetables
Vegetable Gardening Software Review
15.2 years ago computer, garden planning
When it comes to planning my vegetable garden I must say this is definitely one of my weaknesses. I make a good attempt to map things out on graph paper ahead of time only to decide to add/remove a crop and eventually resort back to my memory and then get a surprise when I find I planted carrots and cilantro in the same place.
Given I am required to spend around 10 hours a day in front of a computer my first thought was to find a solution online in the form of some sort of vegetable gardening software. I tried some trials of several products and got so frustrated I was about to create my own when I came across GrowVeg.com. After signing up for their 30 day trial within 15 minutes I had my gardens planned out and saved for future reference.
Now if when I change my mind on planting preferences I can easily modify my plan to the new desired configuration. When I see easy I really mean it, it completely passed the “I am a man and don’t read instructions” test but there are some helpful video tutorials for those with more patience. I can honestly say it is so easy a 4-year-old can do it. She saw me “playing” with my garden and asked if she could “play” the gardening game as you can see below.
Once my daughter was done with her garden I proceeded to check out some of the other features. The next feature I came across was by clicking on any of the plants it would return helpful plant information from how to plant, how to harvest, and even how/when to apply fertilizer.
Definitely the feature I was most impressed with was the planting schedule it automatically generates after you have added plants to your plan. Not only does it tell you when to plant but also when to expect your harvest. What I love about this is, if you are like me, you can’t decide what your frost date is, you can simply change it in the settings and the schedule automatically updates. Now if you are forgetful like me, there is even a feature to notify you by email when it is time to plant your seeds.
Once you have built your history of garden plans throughout the years, the program will use this information my warning you if you are planning on planting the same type of plant in the same location you did before. This enforcement of crop rotation can significantly help reduce the accumulation of soil borne fungus/disease.
For more information see GrowVeg.com
Tags: cheap, cilantro, garden seeds, outdoor plants, vegetables
Sow what your actually going to eat
16.3 years ago garden planning
It is getting that time a year when we are all getting our seeds in order and start planning what we will be including in your garden. Every year I always tell myself “Take it easy, don’t overdo it” but unfortunately I never listen to myself and look at the many seeds in the packet and end up composting at least half of my crop of spinach, carrots, and lettuce. I hope that writing this down will help me to remember to listen to that little voice when I plant my peas and spinach tomorrow.
Tags: compost, garden seeds, outdoor plants
