Advanced Garden Nutrient Formulas

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Advanced garden nutrients are the way to go when it comes to expanding the size and vibrance of your garden.  There are many ways that one can go about this, but the easiest way is to simply change the formulas that you use when growing.  Other methods include switching from a soil-based garden to a hydroponics one, but this transition is difficult and complicated.  Since those alternatives are unsuitable for the average gardener, simply purchasing the right kind of nutrients is a lot easier, as it is really easy to implement in an existing vegetable garden design, as there are no structural changes to make.

Many gardeners do not differentiate between the vegetative and the flowering stages of their plants.  All fruits, vegetables, and flowers have those two stages, although for the former types the second part is known as fruiting.  During the first stage, the plant is growing taller, but is not producing the desired output that one engages in gardening for.  You want this stage to last for awhile though, as the longer you allow the vegetative process to last, the more output you will get when the flowering stage occurs.

When your plants are ready to flower, it is important to change up the nutrients at this point to something developed specifically for the flowering.  When a plant is growing vegetatively, you can use basic nutrients, as nothing truly complex is happening (at least relative to the next part).  But at the point of glory, when the plant begins to flower, you need to make some alterations in order to see the most vibrant results.

A lot of gardeners think that the more nutrients there are, the better the mix must be.  But in the flowering stage, there are some important factors you must take into account.  For example, you want to drastically decrease the amount of nitrogen you are giving your plants, in order to allow the plant to concentrate on reproducing.  After all, that is what the purpose of fruit and flowers are; so that these organisms can spread their seed through the Earth.

As long as you purchase an advanced nutrient formula that is specially formulated to enhance the growth of flowers, then you will get to experience benefits that you have never seen before.

Using Crop Rotation in Your Vegetable Garden Design

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Vegetable garden design techniques have changed throughout the years, and have become more efficient based on today’s more crowded environment. Despite the progressive lessening in the space available for vegetable gardens, changes in design have kept output stable.

When it comes to actually setting up the garden, you need to take in to account the need for crop rotation. This technique is necessary to keep the soil healthy and prevent it from being drained too quickly. Improper crop rotation will lower yields for subsequent years.

Crop rotation functions by segmenting your garden and then moving different types of plants around year after year. It is not necessary to rotate the crops more than once a year, as you can realize the full benefits with only an annual rotation.

Vegetables can be classified in to several different categories. First there are the heavy feeders, which utilize a lot of energy (mainly nitrogen) because of their high, leafy output. This category includes corn and lettuce.

Next comes the middle ground feeders, which use less energy than heavy feeders but still need a fair amount. Smaller vegetables like tomatoes are considered to be part of this category.

Light feeders use the least nitrogen out of all the categories. If you only used light feeders and did not use crop rotation, you would probably be fine for many years. In the light feeding category, the plants are very basic and are essentially only the food, like carrots.

Crop rotation would not work if not for the last category, which is the soil building group. These unique plants leave more nitrogen in the ground than they take out. The smallest of plants constitute this class, including beans and peas.

When you rotate crops, the heavy feeders follow the soil builders, medium follows heavy, light follows medium, and builders follow light. This ensures that the heavy feeders get the most nitrogen, and keeps the light and middle ground feeders from using more than they need.