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| image by epSos.de via Flickr Creative Commons |
It can be hard to find good veggie gardening resources, especially if you don’t know very many people who have experience with growing vegetables. I thought I’d share with you my collection of favorite gardening things that has taken me three years to gather. Hopefully this list will save you some time and trouble!
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| image by jspatchwork via Flickr Creative Commons |
Websites (local)
- Travis County Planting Calendar from the county webpage
- Vegetable Varieties and more from Texas A&M Horticulture
Websites (non-local)
- How to avoid Monsanto seeds by Garden of Eatin’
- Seed Organization by I Wet My Plants
- Planting Guide by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
- Build a DIY Lighting System by You Grow Girl
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| image by maureen lunn via Flickr Creative Commons |
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| image by Carl E Lewis via Flickr Creative Commons |
Books
- Neil Sperry’s Complete Guide to Texas Gardening – a great guide to local gardening; not exclusive to vegetables
- Grow Great Grub – barely looked through this but I love it already; great resource for veggie growing with gorgeous pictures
- Rodale’s Vegetable Garden Problem Solver – my absolute go-to book when something isn’t right in the garden
- Seed To Seed – seed saving how-to book
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| image by Abby Lanes via Flickr Creative Commons |
Tools
- Jiffy Self-Watering Greenhouse and Jiffy peat pellets – my favorite seed starting method. DO NOT buy these online; go to Walmart or Home Depot and get them for half the price.
- Miracle-Gro Organic Potting Soil – Don’t get me started on cheap potting soil! My old soil ended up not wetting. At. All. And nearly killing my tomato seedlings. This stuff is great and has been moist in an open bag on my patio for a month.
- Mater Magic – great fertilizer for tomatoes and other veggies such as peppers.
- Soaker hose of any kind with a faucet timer/programmer. Makes watering the garden effortless and consistent.
Ways to share your garden
- Flickr – picture sharing
- Folia – log and track your garden, ask questions, and follow other gardeners (follow my garden here)
And here is what is on my gardening wish list:
- Soil test kit – can you believe I’ve never tested my soil? I really need to do this!
- Rooting hormone – so that I can take clippings from friends’ plants and start my own
- Siphon mixer – for easy mixing of fertilizer while watering in one. Would this work with a soaker hose? Not sure.
- Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening
- Grocery Gardening
- Square Foot Gardening – yes, I am doing square foot gardening and have yet to buy the book. Oops.
- Alaska Fish Fertilizer – have heard great things about this; once my bottle of fertilizer runs out, I’ll get this one next
What gardening favorites do you have?