Garden advice, tips & tricks for the home gardener

Water cress is a tasty delicacy enjoyed by many and it’s nutritious for your body. You can easily and cheaply grow water cress in your garden, here’s how.
Buy some water cress at the grocery store and put some pieces in a glass of water to root them. Then plant the water cress in a shady spot in your garden. Some gardeners like to sink an old pie tin or other shallow container in their garden and plant the water cress into the container.
You can keep a steady supply of water cress this way. Eat some and root some for re-planting.
You can also buy water cress seeds to get water cress started growing in your garden. Buy a packet of water cress seeds and sprinkle the seeds in a garden spot that is mostly composed of compost or peat, not dirt. The compost and/or peat will hold moisture better, and water cress thrives in a moisture rich environment. Do not cover the water cress seeds. The seeds will sprout and be ready to eat in about 2 weeks.

Plain dirt usually isn’t good enough to grow healthy vegetables and flowers in. The dirt needs a little help in the form of added soil amendments.
When you till up the soil for a garden, add some compost, manure or gypsum to the soil and till it in.
These soil amendments will help the soil drain better, prevent soil compaction and add nutrients to the soil for the vegetables and flowers to take in during the growing season.
A side dressing of compost during the garden growing season benefits the current year’s garden and future gardens. The compost decomposes and enr

If you plan to have a garden, whether it’s a vegetable garden or a flower garden, in a spot where a garden has never been before, you need to do some prep work.
Mark off the spot where you plan to put the garden with wooden stakes and string. Next, lay down some plastic on the grass, covering the entire new garden spot with the plastic. Weigh down the plastic with some rocks or dirt to hold it in place. Leave the plastic on the grass until you are ready to till up the soil for the garden.
This will weaken the grass and make it easier to till in and kill the roots so you won’t have as much grass growth in your new garden, which would compete with the vegetables and flowers for food and water.

This blog is all about gardening, from vegetables to flowers to pest control & disease control.

I have many years of experience in gardening and I will be blogging about my tried and true gardening tips and tricks. I’ll offer gardening advice and answer questions.

Let’s get busy and grow something!