Systematic Plant Growing Proper Methods for Growing Plants
The moment somebody talks about growing plants, our immediate reaction is, hey, what is the big deal, you just dig a hole, take the plant, and put it in, feed it, water it, take care of it by protecting it from the elements, and then harvest the fruits and vegetables. So what is this fuss, all about growing plants.
Plant growing is not restricted to just this particular activity list. Firstly, you have to look at good plants, good seed, well prepared land, and then use your judgment and caring to sow the seeds. After that, you have to look at the management of the seed bed, in transplanting the seedlings, and then hardening of the plants before they are planted out in the open.
Plant growing is going to cause for dedication, time, inclination, and aptitude for growing plants, skill, as well as care. This book is going to tell you all about how you learn to appreciate the skill of growing plants, and feel pride and joy, in the plentiful harvest you get throughout the year.
Any neglect is going to cause a serious loss due to delayed maturity or to a decrease in yield, or both.
Firstly, we are going to start with one of the most commonly neglected factor, which is the selection and the preparation of the soil for the seedbed.
Preparation of Soil
A good soil for giving you a good harvest is going to be of a rich physical character, friable, retentive of nature, and free from disease organisms, fungi, viruses, and bacteria. Also, it should not have the capacity to retain damp and moisture, which is going to be a good incentive for fungi to proliferate themselves in the soil and destroy your plants.
Also, good soil is going to get an abundance of nutrients for satisfactory growth of your plants. The demand for nutrients is heavy since a 3 inch layer of soil often must support a thick stand of sizable plants before it is time to set them out in the field.
However, there is a danger of having too high a concentration of essential soluble salts where the soil is composted with manure in a large quantity or when heavy application of organic or perhaps chemical fertilizer has been applied to the soil.
In fact, in many countries, people are using a system known as the electrical conductivity method of measuring the total soluble salt content of the soil, in order to get a good idea of the fertility of the composted soil. This method does not indicate the proportion of the different soluble constituents present in the soil, but it is a good guide to give you a good idea of the injurious, and possibly excessive contents of soluble salts in your garden.
A base soil should be a loamy nature, preferably, sandy loam, which has been well supplied with organic matter for the transplanting soil. You can also use pure sand for starting seedlings that are to be set out later into a good loamy soil.
Sowing the Seed
Oxygen, moisture, and a congenial temperature are necessary factors for the germination of seed. In greenhouses and in hotbeds, the moisture and the congenial temperature can be provided artificially, but down the ages, people have relied upon the sun and the air, and other natural factors to help in the germination of soil. Also, to maintain the proper moisture required for a seed to germinate properly, the soil must be of good texture.
The soil for the seedling should be light and friable, but not so light that it dries out, really quickly. A heavy soil or a soil, having a lot of clay is not satisfactory because when the surface becomes dry, it cracks and if it is kept wet, it turns into a mushy puddle. These conditions are definitely not desirable for good germination and growth of your seedlings and seeds.
A sandy – loam soil is most generally used for seed beds, but you can also use muck, which is considered to be ideal for celery, lettuce, tomatoes, as well as some other crops.
The time for sowing seeds in greenhouses, hotbeds, or cold frames is going to depend on the kind of crop and the subsequent treatment it is going to receive before the plants are set out in the field.
Planting Seeds
Seeds planted in flats are directly in the soil of a greenhouse bench, hotbed, or a cold frame. The flat is filled with a good friable soil which is then going to be firmed to prevent too much settling. It is particularly important to firm the soil in the corners and along the edges.
The firming of the soil is done with a board to leave the surface level and smooth. The surface of the soil should be below the top of the flat, to prevent water from running off.
Traditionally, most vegetable seeds are sown in rows and covered with soil. When you are using flats the rows should be placed about 2 inches apart, but in greenhouse benches and in hotbeds, the rows are usually 3 – 6 inches apart. This wider spacing is used when the seedlings are not to be set out in the outdoor beds.
Transplanting Advantages and Disadvantages
The main advantage in transplanting plants prior to setting them out in the field or in your garden is the economical use of the valuable space in your greenhouse, hot bed, or in your cold frame. Also, the economy in the care of slowly developing seedlings is taken into account.
When the seeds are expensive, there is the additional advantage of saving of seed. Also, you get to know all about the germination rate, and whether that particular seed has given you a large number of plants, according to the ratio told to you by the nursery man.
If you are not transplanting the seeds, it is necessary to have the seedbed of a sufficient size to allow the plants to grow for several weeks without any sort of crowding. This is going to mean utilizing more space than is needed for the first few weeks and also adds to the labor and the expense of caring for your seedbed.
Proper Containers for Plant Growing
Thanks to more and more people looking toward sustainable gardening, natural containers for growing plants are coming back into Vogue again. These include clay pots, paper containers, paper pots, peat pots, and any other natural in various kinds of containers available to you, for growing these plants, one plant to a container.
Plants are going to grow better in used clay pots, when compared to brand-new pots.
However, in the 1930s, it was found out that containers made out of materials such as wood, peat, and paper, usually known as carbonaceous materials, gave unsatisfactory results. That was because there was a deficiency of nitrates in these particular plants. The carbonaceous material of these containers supplied energy food for organisms that caused the decomposition of the material itself.
These organisms also consumed the nitrates present in the soil and thus competed with the crop plants for the available nitrates. By supplying extra nitrates to the potting soil and by adding plenty of nitrogenous fertilizer as needed, this difficulty was overcome, and so the idea of such containers not being a totally dead loss as containers for plant growing was thus reduced.
This book has given you plenty of information on how you can get a good harvest through planting your seeds, allowing them to germinate and then transplanting them at the right time.
Remember that plant growing is a continuous experiment, with many timeworn techniques being discovered again today. As you gain and experience, you are going to find out plenty of information, especially by trial and error.
For example, some of the factors which are going to help you get a good result is going to depend on the size of the plants at the time they were pulled, the length of the time between pulling and planting them, the soil and the weather conditions that the type of the planting and immediately afterwards, and also the presence and absence of diseases in the plants at the time they were transplanted into their new locations.
So now that you know all about planting your plants, and transplanting them, this will just help your garden grow.
Live Long and Prosper!
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