Greenhouses are often thought of as the exclusive preserve of the dedicated gardener. However with greenhouses and frames to suit every pocket and size of garden, there is no need for even the novice gardener to feel daunted by the prospect of installing and running one.

The most obvious benefit of having your own greenhouse is the growing season is extended beyond the first frosts, of winter and the last frosts of spring. This is particularly useful if, like thousands of gardeners every year, you are tempted  by the delights on display at the garden center early in the year, which are too vulnerable to be put out in the garden until the risk of frost has passed.

It is simply not practical to protect each individual betting plant with fleece, yet if you wait until latter in the season the best plants have sold out. Greenhouses and frames offer the perfect solution, providing an environment for hardening off, gradually acclimatising plants to the elements prior to planting out. Favorite tender plants may also be safely over wintered.

For most gardeners propagation remains the impetus for buying a greenhouse. Although it will take time to repay the initial investment, great savings can be made by creating new stock in large numbers. The satisfaction in producing your own plants is immense and the techniques are essentially very simple. More on Why choose a greenhouse?

Determining your soil type

An important job on any plot is to determine the soil type.Once you have done that you can work out what it needs to stay in good condition and the crops you can grow successfully. Most soils are a mixture of sand, silt and clay, but to determine exactly what type you have, you can find out yourself by picking up a handful of earth.

If it feels loose light and runs easily through your fingers, it is a sandy soil, if it is heavy damp and can be rolled in a ball, it has a high clay content.If it feels like something between those two types, its mostly silt and if it molds into your hand, but crumbles when it is squeezed then it is loam.

Clay soil can initially be hard to deal with, it is heavy sticky and difficult to dig.During the winter months it can become waterlogged, while in the summer it can get hard and dense, excluding air from the soil, which makes it difficult to get water to the roots.

The advantage of this kind of earth is that it is naturally high in nutrients, so once you have made it more workable by digging it over, you should get good results from any crops you grow in it.

Sandy soil is easy to dig over and is made from large particles, so while it is unlikely to become waterlogged.Nutrients will be easily washed away with the rain and in the summer it may dry out.

Silty earth is also free draining and easy to work but it is low in nutrients.As it is made up of fine grains it is easily compacted, both after heavy rain or if you walk on it.If your soil is chalky it is easy to spot due to its white clumps of chalk and flint.It is naturally free draining which means it tends to dry out in summer.

The ideal type to work with is a loamy soil it is well balanced, rich in organic matter and nutrients, crumbly and easy to dig.It retains moisture and will not dry out too much in the hot weather, but it is also well drained so it will not become waterlogged either.It is posible to create this type of soi, by adding organic matter to your plot over a long piriod of time.

Most of your soil is made up of mineral ( rock ) while the remainder is comprised of air, water and organic matter ( humus ).The latter is the most important part the more organic matter the ground contains the better quality it is.

Usually the mineral content determines your soils acidity or alkalinity, which is measured on a PH scale of one to fourteen.Up to six indicates an acidic ground, seven is neutral, while anything above is alkaline.Kits are available from nurseries or garden centers that will give you a basic reading of the PH in your soil.

You can then grow crops which will tollerate that particular level, or work on altering it by digging in organic matter like compost.Most crops do well with a PH reading of around 6.5, while some plants like rhubarb and carrots prefer an acidic soil.So you may need to alter the PH to suit them by adding lime to the soil.

The general rule is that if your plants are growing, flowering, and fruiting well, the levels in your soil are fine.Too high or too low a PH can result in yellow stunted plants which are more prone to pest and disease attack.

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Blueberries are vitamin packed fruits which are very popular in the supermarkets and the trend is catching on in the fruit garden too.

Blueberries are delicious to eat, make an attractive garden plant and are classed as a “superfood”.They contain antioxidants which keep your eyes healthy, have anti ageing benifits and can help protect against cancer.

Whats more apart from the loss of berries to birds the blueburry plant is relatively pest and disease free.

When growing blueberries it is important to remember that they need an acidic soil with a PH between 4.5-5.5 to thrive.If you discover that your soil is naturally alkaline dig a hole where you want the blueberry plant to be situated, and add a mixture of “sulphate of iron” with home made or multi purpose compost.

If you are planting blueberries in the ground dig in some composted bark first, then trim off the tips of the branches and remove flower buds so that the plant establishes strong roots in its first year.Space the blueberry bushes 1.5 metres (5 ft) apart, once you have planted the blueberries sprinkle a handful of “sulphate of iron” around the plants, water in well and add a mulch of leaf mould.

Alternatively you can grow blueberries in containers filled with ericaceous compost. Position the container in a shelterd position in full sun or partial shade to encourage pollinating insects to the vicinity.

Although some varieties are self fertile introducting another type as a pollinating partner will help to increase the yield.So it is worth including as least two blueberry bushes in your garden.Blueberries need to be kept moist throughout the growing season, so water them little and often with rainwater if possible ( its naturally acidic).

Varietities to try “Bluecrop” clusters of white flowers are followed by juicy fruit from late July onwards has a good resistance to drought. “Earliblue” the earliest ripening blueberry produces light blue sweet fruit which hang in medium size clusters from mid July onward.”Sunshine Blue” a dwarfing self fertile variety which is ideal for growing in containers and small gardens.

Here is another great post on planting blueberries called Blueberry season! by Amy Stewart on her blog called Dirt

You may decide you would like a fruit tree in your garden Look at a wide range of Garden Fruit Trees  and Garden Containers Planters and Pots  from MyGardenCenterOnline

If you want the best organic fruit you have to start with the best practice.

Choosing your Tree

selecting varieties with a higher level of disease resistance is the fist step to starting an organic orchard.Growing organically means you have fewer options to fall back on if things go wrong.

Bear in mind the weather conditions of the area where you live when choosing which variety of fruit tree you purchase.Areas with average rain fall of more than 1 metre (3 ft) a year, are prone to plant diseases due to wet conditions.

In very windy areas consider making a windbreak to stop airbourne spores and pests from reaching your fruit crop, alder or holy make excellent hedges and harbour few diseases.

Most fruit trees must cross pollinate to bear fruit, plant them in pairs two different varieties which bloom at the same time.

Positioning

Most organic grown trees will tolerate a wide range of soils provided they are well drained and ideally have a PH range of 6.5 -6.7 although this is not essential.Always choose the sunniest position possible as warmth is required to promote the ripening of the wood, which is vital for bud development.Avoid hollows or slopes which may form fost pockets which will effect your fruit trees crop.

More on Your Own Organic Orchard: part one

Garden perennials are popular with many gardeners, though there is a danger that the new gardener will over-plant them as they wait for those already planted to mature. The secret with perennials is patience, and if you want something to add color to your garden while you wait, then plant some annuals for the first year until the perennials really show their true colors.

A perennial needs at least a year before it flowers properly and that is when some gardeners get impatient. In year two, although you get some show of flowers, you will still not be impressed and might start to wonder why you chose perennials. That feeling totally changes, however, with the explosion of color in year three. That is when you will start to regret the extra plants you put in because the first ones did not seem to be doing anything.

Once your perennials are established it will seem very easy just to sit back and admire your work, but you will have no time for that. Perennials do not last for ever, and the definition of the term is one that lasts for more than two years. As some die away you will have to remove and replace them with fresh plants. You can even move them about the garden since perennials are ideal for replanting. In fact many gardeners have a space set aside for starting off new garden perennials in a variety of colors that they can use later for filling in gaps as plants die. This avoids them having to wait until the plants mature. Garden Perennials Provide a Riot of Color

Look at a wide range of Perennials from MyGardenCenterOnline including Ajuga, Aster, Astilbe, Black Eyed Susan, Canna, Clematis, Columbine, Coneflower, Coral Bells, Coreopsis, Daylily, Dianthus, Diascia, Geranium, Hibiscus, Hosta, Lobelia, Lungwort, Mullein, Ornamental Grass, Penstemon, Peony, Phlox, Salvia, Scabiosa, Sedum, Thyme, Tiarella, Verbena, Veronica and Yarrow.