Best Gardening Tips

I'm always looking for good references about gardening and I found a goldmine right here on HubPages. If you're like me and want to learn about the current trends in sustainable and organic vegetable, fruit and even flower gardening, then you should find this page helpful.

Gardening is an enjoyable and healthy hobby. Not only do you get exercise while gardening, but you are rewarded with delicious fruits, vegetables and herbs to feed your body and lovely flowers to feed your soul.

When I garden, I enjoy the outdoors and the nature around me. I listen to the songs of the birds, the voices of the frogs and the hum of the insects. I am delighted when a butterfly or hummingbird moth flits over to drink from one of the flowers that I planted. When I am in my garden, all is right with the world.

Hummer Moth Postcard by naturegirl7

A tour of a fabulous garden that is an experiment in backyard sustainability.

You can grow your own vegetables in a small space or even in large flower pots. If you have some open lawn, just put some wet layers of newspaper over the grass in a sunny spot and heap leaves and good soil on top. The newspaper will kill the grass and it will provide nutrients for your vegetable plants. Pretty soon, you'll be eating juicy tomatoes and crisp cucumbers.

Putting up bluebird houses for cavity nesting birds will increase the numbers of your "free pest control squad". Birds such as Carolina wrens, Carolina chickadees, Prothonotary warblers and Tufted titmice nest in this size box and will eat thousands of insects each breeding season.

I use lasagna techniques in my yard. No more digging and toiling in the heavy clay. I just layer with newspaper, leaves, compost, bagged topsoil and other materials. This book contains step by step instructions on the easy, less labor intensive, organic way to garden.

While heirloom tomatoes such as Cherokee Purple, Golden Girl and others are more tasty than most of the supermarket varieties, they are usually not available in groceries. Many of these old-fashioned varieties which were developed by home gardeners and have stood the test of time are more disease resistant.