Soil Preparation
    Always add manure, compost or leaves.
    Very quickly, the worst soil becomes workable and fertile.

    Compost vegetable trimmings, leaves, etc.
    You'll have less waste and better soil.

    Use well-rotted compost as mulch.
    This keeps down weeds while improving the soil.

    In the fall, turn manure or compost into the garden.
    As it decomposes, it warms the soil,
    meaning you can plant earlier in the spring.

    Gaining Ground
    Have no room for food crops?
    Try incorporating vegetables and fruits with the ornamentals.
    Grow herbs and pole beans in the window box.
    Twine grape vines around an archway or arbor.
    Use blue berries or currants as foundation or border plantings.
    Plant attractive vegetables, like chard or carrots, with the flowers.

    Use a Native American circle plan.
    Corn grows tall in the center, beans twine up,
    and squash sprawls on the ground.

    Saving Money
    Make your own seed tape using newspaper
    and flour paste (great for small seeds).
    Great taste, Good Looks
    Try something new - an Asian eggplant, unusual herb,
    or old-fashioned flower. For example, the dramatic
    'Love Lies A-Bleeding,' or 'Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate."

    Sow flower seeds thickly, and thin the seedlings.
    (Great for sweet peas).


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