I have been vegetable gardening for a very long time. In that time I have come across a lot of things I should have been doing, and many things I should not have been doing. For example on the “do not” front, I should have stayed away from chemical fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers (some not all) might assist your vegetables in the short term, but in the long run they will actually harm your soil.

Your soil is a living ecosystem with bacteria, enzymes, worms, other insects and fungi. They all work in the food chain to improve your soil’s conditions. For example, bacteria feed on decomposing organic material, and then worms feed off the bacteria. Think of it as the whole “circle of life” thing going on beneath your feet.

Here are some things you can do to start improving your soil conditions.

Compost
Compost is the result of organic material breaking down. It breaks down through bacteria and other microscopic creatures feeding off of it. The end result is dark black rich mulch that contains valuable nutrients and minerals that your soil needs. You can use <!–more-memberlock–>grass, leaves, twigs, food scraps and even cotton clothing (with metal and plastic removed) as a source for compost. Once it turns into the black mulch mix it in with your soil with a rake or pitch fork.

Avoid Chemicals
Chemical fertilizers help in the short run but harm in the long run. They can wipe out colonies of microscopic organisms in the soil and also send creatures such as worms and nematodes packing for a better place to live. Your soil needs these creatures in order to improve its conditions. If you remove them with these chemicals you may never get them back. When done properly, nature can provide your soil with everything it needs.

Aeration
Many experts say that tilling too much could actually damage your soil, the only problem is they never define what “too much” means. Larger worms in your soil such as night crawlers are deep burrowing and create large tunnels which allow for better water drainage and better systems for your plants roots to grow into. However, many people do not have overloads of night crawlers in their soil so tilling the land is good practice. What is too much? Who knows, but in my experience turning over the soil once every two and a half to three weeks is good practice. It creates for better drainage and allows more air to get deep into the soil so the ecosystem can flourish.

Watering
Obviously you must water your plants if you want them to survive but more importantly you want them to get stronger, specifically their roots. In order to do that you do what is called “deep watering” which is a fancy term for watering your garden for a lengthy period of time (45 minutes to an hour). This creates deep pockets of water in the soil that your plants roots need to dig for. The more they dig the stronger the plant.

Successful vegetable gardening doesn’t happen in one growing season. It is culmination of many seasons of composting, aerating and building up the ecosystem underneath. The stronger you can make that ecosystem, the harder they will work for you. When this happens you will experience great tasting vegetables and fruit for many years.

It is Monday morning and it is raining cats and dogs. You think to yourself that the buckets of water that are falling out of the sky are a good thing. Good because your vegetable garden really does need a good watering. So you grab your hot cup of coffee, stair out the window and watch as much needed rain falls onto your plants that you are hoping will produce a lot of vegetables.

Later that week, Thursday rolls around faster than a cherry red Corvette on a straight away leading you to wonder where did the go? You check you calendar and have marked on there that it is time to water the vegetable garden.

Instead, you choose not to because, after all, on Monday the rain was tremendous. This scenario is the trap that we as gardeners can fall into if we are not careful, and that is not watering the plants enough. Many studies have shown that vegetable plants, especially those still in their infancy, need plenty of water.

Also, by watering more, creating a watering technique called <!–more-memberlock–>deep watering, what you are doing is creating an environment underneath the top layer of soil where the roots of your vegetables will have to dig deep. That in turn will strengthen their roots and make them healthier plants

If you tend to only water once per week or water for short period of times throughout the week, then you are doing a disservice to your home vegetable garden. All is not lost though as it is easily fixable.

If you don’t own one already, invest in a soaker hose. You can get them for around thirteen dollars at Wal-mart. Just look in their gardening section. A soaker hose looks like a regular hose except there is not end to attach a spray nozzle onto. Instead the water seeps through pores in the house at a slow rate which allows for better watering.

Simply attach your soaker hose to your water source like you would any other hose, and the situate the hose up and down rows throughout your garden.

The soaker hose accomplishes a couple of things. For starters, because the water is being dispensed at a slower rate, this allows for the water to drain better through the top layer of soil. Secondly, as many experts agree, it keeps the water off the foliage of the plants and directs more to where it is needed and that is at the root level.

Finally water first thing in the morning for 30 to 45 minutes every 4 days or if you are in a climate where it is hot and humid, then for every 3 days. More importantly do not let your plants, especially the young ones, go very long without water. It could stunt their growth and potentially kill them.

Follow these tips on watering above to make sure you are doing it right. Watering is not as complicated as some make it out to be, but when done wrong it could limit the production of their gardens.

While growing tomato plants you need to pay as much attention to watering as you do with pruning, preparing soil and fertilizers. Over-watering your plants can lead to fungus and quick death of entire tomato garden. Keeping them dry and thirsty for too long will have similar results. You need to find the right balance by paying attention to the weather conditions in your area.

Tomatoes love the moisture, but at the same time, they can’t stand Read the rest of this entry »