This past week I received a thank you email from a person I shared some cantaloupe plants with. She told me her 2 girls check on the plants everyday along with the other plants they had started from seed charting they growth with a smile in anticipation of the harvest ahead.

Remember we are at the beginning of the growing season for warm season crops so you have lots of days ahead of you weeding and keeping the garden in good shape. Doing this will help you with the cool season plants you will want to grow in the fall. Just keep building the health of the soil by adding compost and mulch, then you can (if you have the room) expand the garden each year to grow more of a variety of plants.

A big challenge will be to keep critters out of your plants. Dogs, cats, squirrels, birds, rabbits and many more creatures will be attracted to you food, so be prepared to protect you prize plants. Laying netting over the plants will help to keep most of the pest out and allow the sun to shine and the plants to grow, just make sure you check the net on a regular basis that it is not holding the plants down.

You can sprinkle hot pepper around the garden to deter any curious critters from munching on your greens. But the only sure fire way to keep everything out is have a family member dress up like a scarecrow and stand out in the garden. Now I recommend having several members do this so they can work in shifts. Maybe you could barrow a neighbors family member if you can’t get any of your own to help, but if not, be prepared to lose a few things to nature.

This JohnsonCountyEvents.com member thinks that if you share plants forward, it will be returned back to you someday many times over.

JohnsonCountyEvents Garden Spot is a good spot to help you get started in this adventure because I want to help you with your garden. Email the editor the story of your backyard garden, I will pick a winning story, set a time to meet you and will have a nice gift certificate to help you with your garden. I would also like to feature your garden on this site including pictures, so send in more of those stories. The deadline is May 1st to enter in the contest, but I welcome your information and feedback anytime.
Now let us get back to your plans for planting. Tomatoes are easy to grow, but not all that easy to get fruit from. Make sure the tomatoes get full sun (at least 6 hours of direct sunlight) and plenty of air. Tomatoes love good soil and will grow tall very fast. As the plant starts putting on flower buds, the wind helps them self pollinate so it does not hurt a thing to go out and shake the plant up a bit to help the process along. If you are not getting many blooms on your plants, cut back on the water, tomatoes will set fruit better when they are a little dry.
Peppers can grow in sun or shade and are also easy to maintain. Again don’t overwater the plants as this can cause them to die just as easy as no water. Check the soil under the mulch about 1 inch down to see if the soil is dry.
You can combine the corn and beans together. Plant the corn about 2 feet apart and put the bean plants right beside the corn so the beans will grow up the corn like bean poles. Just remember to give that area a little more water as you will be watering more plants in a smaller area.
Thank you for visiting The Garden Spot on JohnsonCountyEvents and come back soon for more tips on how to maintain your garden now that it is growing.

As the economy suffers, more people are returning to the back yard as a source of food to help offset the high price of vegetables and fruits. Have you considered this option or have you started yours?

I remember growing up and visiting grandparents, uncles, and friends that had big gardens growing their own food and swapping, sharing and helping their friends by trading crops and sharing seed. Then at harvest time, snapping green beans and shelling peas until the fingers hurt. It was a full family event to get the crops ready for canning and storing. Today more and more cities are creating community gardens to grow and share with each other grower.

So let’s say you have been considering starting a garden but you aren’t sure how. The best thing you can do is get the soil ready now by adding compost or humus to build the soil with lots of good stuff. Don’t till the grass into the dirt but rather scrape it away and start a compost pile with the grass and leaves. Put 2 inches of compost or humus right on top of the dirt.

If you don’t have a tiller, no problem, you really don’t need one, just break the dirt up with a shovel or hoe mixing the compost in as you go. You do not have to dig more than an inch or two down, just enough to mix the compost with the dirt. Water the garden soil real good and plant when the soil dries out the next day. Spread some mulch along the top of the soil to retain water longer and keep the weeds and grass pulled out.

Watering should be done when the soil under the mulch is getting dry about 1 inch below the surface.

We would love feedback on JohnsonCountyEvents.com telling us your story on back yard gardening. For the best story (and feel free to include a picture) JohnsonCountyEvents would like to visit and feature your space in a future story. I will also include a gift certificate to help you with your garden. Just email the story to the editor to enter.

Stay tuned to JohnsonCountyEvents.com for the next steps on turning back the clock.

I thought I would share my suggestions on JohnsonCountyEvents.com to maybe help you with your yard.

Whatever you do, do not use a Feed & Feed product, ever! The weed and feed product will do more damage to the yard, trees and shrubs.

Start building the health of the soil and the grass will fill in the bare spots and choke out most weeds. Using a total organic fertilizer like dry molasses, corn meal or even compost will start turning the soil around which will make the grass healthy and green.

Don’t spray any chemicals on the grass as it may blow over onto the flower beds, trees and bushes and damage them.

The best way to remove grass from the flower bed is to dig it out, unless you are willing remove all existing plants, then remove the top 2 inches of dirt then fill back with clean compost or top soil. Either way you go, make sure and cover the bed with at least 2 inches of mulch to help keep weeds and grass from coming back.

Nothing short of laying down sod will make the yard look new overnight so be patient and build the health of the soil. JohnsonCountyEvents would like for you to have a happy, healthy yard to look at every day.

You have planted your plants and they look so good, now you need to finish the bed off with a layer of mulch.  Yes, I know it is not in the budget because you over spent on plants, but there are ways adding mulch cheap if not free. Let this JohnsonCountyEvents writer fill you in on a few places to save some money to finish off the garden.

First, much helps control weeds, and adds nutrients to the soil when it breaks down. Mulch also keeps the roots cool on a hot day and helps the soil retain water so less watering is required.

Do you still have leaves floating around your yard? Leaves make wonderful mulch and will break down and give nutrients to the soil. If you don’t have enough, look at your neighbor’s yard, I am sure they would love the free labor of you raking the leaves from their yard. Before you lay the leaves down on your bed, put the leaves in a big container and break them up so they will not blow away.

If you live in the city, most city’s give away mulch at their bulk trash location. If you don’t have a truck to haul the chips, take some trash bags and fill them, but not to heavy or you will tear the bags.

Tree trimming companies will give you chips when they come through trimming trees, just ask them.

In the fall, gather the leaves and put in a trash bag until spring; the leaves will break down over winter and create what is called leaf mold that is great for mulch. Just be sure and wear a dust mask if you have allergies.

Thanks for reading JohnsonCountyEvents and check back soon for more money saving tips on gardening. Also feel free to email your comments and suggestions to the address located  in the JohnsonCountyEvents Contact Us section about helping your fellow gardener.

I, myself enjoy planting foliage and flowers in my yard. Something about walking out and seeing all the colors just makes my day. When shopping for plants I love going to the local owned shop and purchase the things you don’t find in the local box store. I do shop the box stores also and do purchase some from them, but I have found the best plant value for the dollar at the local shop.

A few things to look for when buying plants:

If the dirt is pulled away from the pot on the sides, the plants are not being watered and will be in stress which will put them in more stress when you plant them in the ground. Be sure and soak the plants in a bucket of water before you plant them so the root ball is soaking wet.

Look for dead leaves, this could be a sign along with dry dirt the plant has been dry several times and may not be healthy. These plants will struggle and take away the enjoyment of your work.

Look for new flower buds; this is a sign of a plant that you will enjoy longer that a few days when the flowers fall off that are in bloom now.

Make sure the flower beds are ready to go now so it will not be such a long day when you purchase your plants and put them in the ground. Plant early in the day or early into the evening to reduce the stress level of the plants.

Enjoy the time in the fresh air with the birds singing making your little slice of heaven a nicer place. Thanks for stopping by JohnsonCountyEvents.com.

Mike Brister