Here are the ways on how to compost:

1. First thing you must do is choose a container on where you will make your compost. It will be very convenient if you will dig a pit on your backyard. In this way, the smell of the rotting materials is far away from your house.
2. Make sure to sort your garbage. The non-biodegradable wastes including the bottles and plastics which have nothing to do with your compost. The food left over, dried leaves, and all the decaying thrashes you see are the needed elements. Discipline yourself to separate this garbage and make sure to put them all in your compost pit in an orderly manner.
3. The biodegradable wastes have their own function in making your compost pit a success. Green materials such as newly cut grasses, weeds, manure, and seeds have high nitrogen content. Nitrogen is needed to produce heat in your compost. The brown materials such as dried leaves and flowers, sawdust, and woods are high in carbon and will serve as the fiber of your compost.
4. Earthly elements are also needed. Soil of course, because you will layer your compost with good soil. Air also is very important so that your compost can breathe out and not yield foul smelling results. And of course water, make sure that your compost is damp and wet enough as if like a sponge that absorbed an adequate amount of water.
5. Lastly, make sure to always check and maintain your compost. Turn it over once in a while. As if cooking it. All parts of it must decompose equally at the same time so that it will result into good humus.

Humus is the result of your compost. It is very useful for it is packed with nutrients that can be used in your gardening. Good soil with humus makes you produce good crops.

Careful Planning for the Garden’s Design

If you want to have your own garden in your backyard, it is important that you plan for its design. If you want to have a garden that will be filled with beautiful flowers only. You can always plan for a design that will fit your planned garden. Basically, you will not like the idea of having a garden in a dark area. You need to make sure that the Mr. Sun will be able to shine down your flowers and beautiful flowers will be able to visit your flowers.

Choosing the Right Area for your Garden

If planning to have a garden wherein you will have plenty of fruits, it is a good idea that you choose area where the soil is good. When your backyard is surrounded by rocky soil, you better look for another area where you can grow your fruit bearing plants. They will only die and it is for sure.

Preparing the Right Plants to Grow

When you are planning to make your own beautiful garden, it is expected that you have you in mind the kinds of flowers that you want to grow. The beautiful flowers which you can include in your lists can be bulbs of dahlia, tuberous begonia, gladiolus and so on. Also, it is important that you consider the months which will be very cold and the months which will be very hot. With this, you will know when you flower can mostly not bloom and your fruit bearing plants not to bear fruits.

Here are some features you might want to know regarding these gardening bags.

Anything can grow in a raised bed except for trees. Vegetables, flowers, herbs and berries are eligible for growth in a gardening bag.

If you have back pains, a raised bed gardening bag would help you avoid stressing your back too much. You don’t have to bend over to till the soil. Since it’s a raised bag, you only have to exert less effort in bending over.

No more extra tools when assembling the gardening bag. Simply, unfold the bag and you are ready to start gardening.

Expect amazing drainage and aeration from the raised garden bag.

You do not have to worry about the bag getting out of shape because the raised bed in a bag is sturdy and exceptionally self supporting bag. Fill it with the right amount of soil and your bag is ready to go.

You can actually stake the bag if you want to since its corner have been designed to be removable.

You can just fold it away if you don’t want to use it or if you decide to move it to another place. With a raised bed in a bag, you can get your nutritious veggies and fruits right outside your backyard.

1. Nettles. This is a treatment for hay fever, laxative, diuretic, and blood detoxifier. A promising treatment for ADHD and Alzheimer’s disease and can stop bleeding and relieve dandruff.
2. Dandelion. Its greens provide more benefits than its flowers. It supports the liver, rich in potassium, detoxifier, diuretic, balances blood pressure and hormone.
3. Passionflower. A beautiful and powerful flower that relieves anxiety and insomnia, promotes relaxation and calmness.
4. Vervain. Calming and anti-anxiety. It can treat haemorrhoids, headaches, menstrual cramps, ulcers and diarrhea.
5. Chickweed. Expectorant, diuretic, anti-rheumatic, excellent source of silica, B vitamins, gamma-linolenic acid, and vit. C.
6. Plantain. Detoxifier and blood purifier. It can treat skin disorders and other skin conditions, heals wounds and sunburn.
7. Golden Rod. Relieves sore throats, colds and flu, arthritis and allergies.
8. St. John’s Wort. Treats depression, menopausal symptoms, anxiety disorders, nerve damage, and migraines.
9. Yellow Dock. Reduce bowel inflammation and liver and kidney function. Laxative, diuretic, rich in calcium, iron, vit A, and vit. C. It also helps in digestion.
10. Lemon Balm. Treats nervousness, digestive disorders, menstrual cramps, and insomnia.
11. Echinacea. Treats colds and flu, reduce lymphatic swelling, treat skin disorders, heals wound, and treats herpes, candida and urinary tract infection.

These plants and herbs can be brewed into tea or dripped into alcohol for tinctures. You can make it to make topical ointments.  Weeds are the undesirable plants that grow in your garden. But with the benefits that these weeds are giving, they can no longer be considered as undesirable. Other plants (or weeds!) to include in this list that are also common in every garden are yarrow, jewelweed, purslane, peppergrass, mullein, and kudzu. All these plants can ease indigestion and fight flu and other common diseases.

For those in condos who cannot bear the absence of greenery, invest in oxygen-producing or air-cleaning plants. If it doesn’t crowd your living/dining room area, have at least one tall potted plant. Potted dracaenas such as the Madagascar dragon tree and Warneck are easy to grow and maintain as air-cleaners. You don’t even need to buy them as they are common enough. Another air-cleaner is the peace lily, a plant with thick leaves that loves shade and occasionally flowers. Plant it in a pretty opts that will look good atop a dining table or kitchen top, under a glass table, or on the floor.

If you are fortunate enough to have a corner unit with a sunlit window, then do plant herbs and vegetables in attractive containers near it. Basil lends a pleasant herby smell to your room and will thrive well in pots as long as it gets enough sun and water. Harvest the top leaves to allow new growth. Don’t forget the toilet and bathroom. Put a water plant in an attractive bottle and set it near the sinker on top of the toilet tank. Reuse an old perfume bottle, fragrance diffuser, olive oil jug, plump mayonnaise or Perrier water bottle. Spruce it up with pebbles or shells inside the bottles, or with a ribbon or twine around the bottle’s neck. Chinese bamboo, a small dracaena, or a water plant in a wine bottle under the bathroom sink can dress it up.

Some have built-in plant boxes in which you can insert your favorite blooms and greens. Investing in pots and other plant containers is the more common and practical option though. Fortunately, almost anything can be planted in pots, even vegetables such as pepper, tomatoes and eggplants.

The best type of wood to use for your raised garden bed is cedar because it is rot resistant. Some great choices for woods are Juniper, Yellow PortOrford Cedar, and Vermont White Cedar but the commonly used is the Western Red Cedar. Another rot resistant and great wood is the Red Wood but the availability is more limited. The life of the wood will depend on your area weather condition and the type of chosen cedar wood.Usually, it would take 10 years before the cedar will wear down.

The highest height for an elevated garden bed is 36” but the most usual height is 11”. The recommended width of the bed is 4’ to be able to reach the centre of the bed. It is necessary that you bed is narrow so you won’t have to step on the soil and avoid soil compression. The longer the length of the bed is better to prevent bowing for as long as your space allows it.

Building an elevated garden bed does not need expertise and special tools for as long as you follow simple steps in building your raised bed.

• Choose your location. Consider the amount of sunlight and water in the site that you will choose. You need to consider also the type of plants that you will grow.
• Decide on the shape and size of your garden. Consider the access to your plants as well as the depth of your soil bed.
• Prep your site. This includes preparing for the soil such as digging and cultivating. You need to consider the size and the shape of the bed as well as the plants that you will grow.
• Construct your bed. Construct your bed using your chosen type of wood and cut it according to desired shapes and sizes.
• Level the frames. Make sure that the frames are levelled properly so that water will not run off.
• Fill your bed. Fill your bed with well cultivated soil, compost and manure to provide more nutrients for the plants.

The best time in planting vegetable garden depends on location. For gardeners in South Florida, planting throughout the year is possible. In some areas, you need to consider your last freeze date each year. There is no best answer for this and for some, you can grow vegetables any time of the year. For gardeners in the United States, the best time to plant would depend per location.

• For gardeners in the Northeast USA, May would be the best time to plant.
• For gardeners in the Southeast USA, April is the best time for planting.
• For gardeners in the Northwest USA, April,too, is the best time to plant.
• For gardeners in the Southwest USA, April also is the best time.
• For gardeners in the Central USA, the best time would be May.

If your location have spring weather and freezing winter, you can adjust the right time in planting your vegetables. If you are not sure of the right timing for certain vegetables, you may ask a local gardener for the right timing. Here are more tips for right vegetable planting schedule

• January. Mustards, potatoes, cauliflowers, cabbage, peas and lettuce.
• February. Broccoli, potatoes, celery, carrots, turnips, collards, beets and cabbage.
• March. Corn, watermelons, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, beans and peppers.
• April. Eggplant, cucumbers, squash, okra, cantaloupes and sweet potatoes.
• May. Cherry tomatoes, sweet potatoes, okra, beans, collards and spinach.
• June. Peas, okra, cherry tomatoes and sweet potatoes.
• July. Beans, peas, sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, and okra.
• August. Watermelon, eggplant, broccoli, onions,cucumber and squash.
• September. Tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, beans and squash.
• October. Cauliflower, onions, radish, cabbage, carrots, mustard, lettuce and turnips.
• November. Collards, onion, turnips, lettuce, rutabagas, swiss chard and beets.
• December. Mustard, collard, beets, broccoli, carrots, spinach, onions, peas and radish

Weeds are plants that are unwanted in your garden. Other plants – not just grasses – can also be considered as weeds if they are unwanted in the garden. Other characteristics of weeds are:

• They spread fast
• They spread all over the garden taking place of other plants.
• Unpleasant to people and animals.

You can get rid of these weeds without resorting to chemicals and in a natural way.

• Use mulch. Applying a thick layer of mulch yearly can eliminate weeds from growing and developing root systems.
• Boiling water. These kills weeds especially those that are in hard to reach areas. Just pour the boiling water directly to the weed and make sure that other plants nearby will get affected.
• Hoeing. It helps in removing the weeds in a garden raised bed. If the weed has started to produce flowers, take them out using your hands to ensure that the seeds are also removed.
• Manual methods. It is easier to remove the weeds when the soil is wet so it is best to wet the soil by using hose or do it after a heavy rain.
• Grow plants in a rich soil. This will prevent weeds from growing in your garden if plants and soil are both healthy.
• Use organic weed killer. There are weed control that are now available in the market. They consist of vinegar, corn gluten, soil microorganisms and other natural ingredients. Make sure that you avoid spraying other plants as they can also kill the plants.

Most people think that foods from America are the best food throughout the world – the most abundant, safest, cheapest, the most convenient, has the widest choice, nutritious, and many more. If this is true, then why there are lots of people who chose to grow their own food or buy straight from the farm?

Growing your own fruits and vegetables or buying straight from the farm is better because they are more tasty and nutritious than those bought in the supermarkets.  Households who have big gardens are lucky because they can be able to plant whatever they want. For those who have limited space, they can make use of community garden or they can use pots to plant fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, herbs, scallions and lettuces. They may also purchase their food at farmer’s markets wherein the farmers sell their fresh produce. Households living in the suburbs have usually a space designed for a real garden. On the other hand, small gardens can still be as productive with careful management and planning.

Food safety concerns should never be compromised. Even if you are in a period of pasteurization and high-tech food processing, diseases that are food-borne are still rampant in this country. Another thing that should be considered is the quality of the food. It is quite sad that nowadays, more and more people are choosing franchise fare or prepackage foods over foods that were prepared from scratch. One factor of a food with good quality is the nutritional value of the food. The nutrients of the food supplied by the Americans are declining due to many factors such as soil nutrients, distance that the food travels, and the nutritional content upon harvesting of the food. Processed foods are much worst. They do not have the nutritional content than natural foods. Producing you own food or buying straight from the farmers or homesteading has many advantages. It gives us safe and high-quality food.

• Tomatoes. Tomatoes are one of the most used ingredients. They can be used for salads, soups, stews, sauces, and many more. Tomatoes grow easily. People who live in an apartment or other limited spaces can grow tomatoes in small containers. Maximum sunlight and 60 – 70 degree temperature are the only two important things you should consider in growing tomatoes. Plant tomato one seed per pot to avoid tangles. At first, tomato won’t produce fruit but as soon as it starts producing one, it will give you lots of tomatoes. Keeping your tomatoes from weeds will keep you harvesting many tomatoes continuously.
• Chives. Chives belong to the onion family only with a milder flavor. They can also be used for salads, soups, stews and sauces and can be use for garnishing. Chives are easy to plant because they grow like grass. Cutting chives is the way to harvest them. Pulling them from the root will cause them to stop growing. Chives are perfect for those who have limited garden area because you can grow them together with other plants. Growing chives and other herbs can save you money because herbs are expensive when bought in the supermarkets.
• Radish. Radishes grow quickly beneath the soil. You can leave your radish after you make sure that you have watered them. They need water regularly to be able to harvest a good edible radish. Radishes are also perfect for salad. Like with tomatoes, you can grow radish in a small pot and place them where they can get enough sun and air exposure.

Gardening is not just a hobby anymore. With the many benefits that it can offer you – healthy food, time, money, etc. – it has become to be a necessity for most households.