The Cheap Vegetable Gardener - Page 35 of 49 - Growing vegetables using grow boxes, LEDs, computers, and great soil

alfalfa pellets | compost | fertilizer | peppers | tomato

How to fertilize/side dress tomatoes/peppers in your garden
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

When your fruiting plants are flowering and bearing fruit this is a good time to give them a little extra boost. Though you don’t want to throw any old fertilizer at them at this point. You want them to get the nutrients they need to produce high yields of produce, though you don’t want to shock them with an abundance of nitrogen to stimulate new vegetative growth when you…

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harvest | peas | seed saving | seed storing | seeds

How to save pea seeds from your garden
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Most of the seeds I purchase, I am able to keep for at least a few seasons before running out. The one exception to this rule is peas, which I always have to buy each season. To save myself a couple dollars next year after I had my fill of peas from my garden I let quite a few mature which I will reuse for seeds this fall and…

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harvest | seed saving | spinach

How to save spinach seeds from your garden
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Growing up in rural Washington state, the job market was a somewhat lacking for those under the age of 16. Given this at the age of 14-15 I was sucked into the attractive and lucrative career of spinach rouging, also known as “The Worst Summer Camp Ever” The basic premise of the job was to walk down endless “female rows” in the hot sun and destroying any male…

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cilantro | freezing | herbs | mint | peppermint

How to freeze herbs
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

One of my goals in my garden is to make salsa entirely from ingredients from my own garden. In the past I have come close only requiring the purchase of a couple jalapeÃ±o peppers from the grocery store but this year with much effort and a strangely hot summer for the Pacific Northwest I have all the ingredients growing in my garden. Though unfortunately the ingredient cilantro could be…

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blackberries | freezing | raspberries | strawberries

How to freeze berries
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

A well proven way to save money on your food budget is to stock up on produce while they are in season. Not only do they taste better but they also can be significantly cheaper. Now these “purchases” can be from your local grocery store, U-Pick farm, fruit stand, farmers market, free roadside berries, or even from your own garden. Given the attractive prices of these fruits it may…

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cheap | seed saving | seeds

How to grow seeds in your garden
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Because of a strange heat wave we had in June, I seem to be growing more seeds than vegetables this year. Now as they say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. In that spirit I am planning on increasing the number of plants I will allow to completely go to seed this year. I have always saved cilantro seeds, the first time it was almost an accident my…

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cheap | kids | sprouting

Growing sprouts in a Mason jar
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

My daughter was required to do a presentation which included an experiment using plants for school and of course her mother directed her to me. Given there was not a lot of time until the presentation I suggested that she grows sprouts, given you can go from seeds to a jar full of sprouts in less than a week. Construction You really can grow sprouts in almost anything. We…

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garlic bulbs | onions | potatoes

Volunteer potatoes
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Well I wasn’t planning on growing potatoes this year but looks like I have a couple of volunteers from last year. This could turn out to be a fortunately accident since they are currently growing under my onions and garlic. If they happen to stay low enough might actually get two decent crops in the same square footage. Any predictions?

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growing challenge | onions

How to grow onions and not onion flowers
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Last year, I grew a lot of onion seeds but unfortunately not many large onions I could use in the kitchen. I have learned a few things since then which hopefully can help you not have the same problem. Use small onion sets: Last year I selected all of the largest onion sets in the 100 count bag which from some of my experimentation this year proves why almost…

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butterfly | caterpillar

And then there was a beautiful butterfly…err moth
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Well one of our caterpillar finally emerged from its cocoon. Looks like my identification was wrong (not surprising) since it turned into a beautiful brown moth. As promised my youngest daughter dressed up in her butterfly costume to teach the baby moth how to fly. After a few minutes of doing jumping jacks to demonstrate the moth figured things out and fly away to freedom.

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kids | strawberries

Picking strawberries in the garden
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

In the past couple years we have grown strawberries the story has been my oldest daughter salivating over the strawberries asking, “Is it red enough yet?” This year her desire for strawberries is just as great though with the plant maturing as well as the additional plant we propagated last year she has been easily getting her fill with plenty more ripe strawberries on the plants. Not wanted to…

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aphids | brown spots | ladybugs | peppers

Getting rid of aphids on pepper plants
ByThe Cheap Vegetable Gardener

It can be difficult getting rid of aphids on plants in your garden. Fortunately you can get rid of those aphids with materials you have in your kitchen. First of all I am a little embarrassed that I let the infestation get this bad before noticing. I unfortunately set the grow box to have the sunrise at 1:00am and the lights always were off by the time I got…

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