Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

After the last frost you can plant seeds outside.
Http://www.almanac.com/content/frost-chart-united-states
Beans, leafy greens, herbs, and root vegetables can be planted in partial shade or full sun. The rest of the crops should be in full sun.
Consider starting tomatoes, soy beans, and peanuts inside before April to help ensure you get food from them since they take longer to produce than many other crops.
Search perennial(meaning they don’t die in the winter) vegetables/crops for your zone. Some probably include asparagus, rhubarb, sun chokes, runner beans, mint, chives, plus many more.
Some trees that would probably grow in your zone inlude mulberry, grape, apple apricot pear peach plum fig kiwi almond english-walnut hazelnut pecan sugar maple, plus probably more.
If you don’t have a lot of space, plant one of each ultra dwarf(only gets 4-6foot tall) or dwarf(only gets 8-10foot tall) food tree that will produce in your zone. Only get self fruiting/self fertile food trees/food bushes, meaning you only need 1 and not 2 to produce food.
Http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/#
Only get plants/seeds labeled organic non-gmo. Don’t use any toxic chemicals on your plants. Only irrigate with rain water or at least purify tap water from all toxins before use on plants. Any product you use with the plant make sure it’s labeled organic. Consider also testing soil for toxins before planting.
Start non-tree food plants from seed, it’s easy, usually results in a better plant, and it’s much cheaper. Let some of your plants go to seed and save their seed.

Dig at least as deep and wide as the top of the plant will get to loosen soil. If soil is hard and clayey mix in lots of potting mix.
Preferably add and mix in composted food scraps/plant materials, worm castings, minerals/nutrients, beneficial fungi, beneficial bacteria, red wiggler worms.
Moisten the area.
Plant seeds about an inch apart. Keep seeds moist.
Transplant sprouts far enough apart according to plant’s recommendations (preferably so they do not over lap other plants when full grown)
keeping soil covered with mulch, chopped dead/fallen leaves, untreated organic non-toxic non-moldy wood chips(not walnut wood because its toxic to some plants), hay, dead grass, moss, or low-growing ground cover/cover crop(ex:herniaria glabra green carpet rupturewort) helps keep moisture in soil, and help prevent weeds.
After sprouts are 2week-1month old water deeply so water gets deep into soil, and infrequently so the top of the soil drys in between watering to try to encourage deeper roots so it doesn’t have to be watered as often and it’s less likley to fall over. When watering, water at dawn. Don’t water the top part of the plant, only water the soil/roots. Water an inch past the furthest root/branch not just by the stem.
Consider plastic tube drip irrigation with automatic timer and rain sensor solar powered.

Plant a variety of crops mixed together to help prevent pest and mold problems and to try to help plants do better.
Preferably don’t plant similar crops next to each other.
Don’t plant the same type of crop in the same place 2 years in a row.

Don’t kill spiders, don’t wreck their webs, don’t harm beneficial bugs.

Consider having soil beds 4foot wide (2foot wide if against wall or fence) or so you can reach the center, and walking path in between 1foot wide. Don’t step on loosened soil. If following all above guidence you might be able to keep soil bed loamy and loose enough that you do not need to loosen or till the soil agian.

Great job:D

GardenersCardiff answers:

I think it can be very beneficial to grow your own food. A lot of foods are processed and preserves and additives make them more likely to add to the weight gain issues of America.

A lot of people who gained weight are uneducated about what the right amount of food they should be eating is. A serving of meat is 4 ounces, but have you looked at restaurant menus? They rarely serve anything under 8, and most of the time it’s 10 or 12 ounces!

Once I learned how restaurants were doubling and tripling portions..and that I could eat a days worth of my allotted calories at one meal, even if I thought it was a healthy one, I turned to doing more things at home- including growing my own vegetables.

GardenersCardiff answers:

No. Most vegans especially Western style vegans live in cities and do not even know the first thing about agriculture. In fact, the ratio of people who eat meat and raising their own animals against those who do not is greater than the ration of vegans growing their own food against those who don’t.
A family that raises animals and grows plants to eat is far more environmentally friendly than any consumer vegan no matter what the latter claims to the contrary.

Winter vegetable farms exist. It’s just a matter of knowing how.