Jeff Hill – How to Have a Garden Take Care of Itself

Jeff Hill is an agronomist passionate about nature and animals.

Living mulches can be of tremendous help if you want your garden to take care of itself.

Living mulches work because they take nutrients and water away from the weeds. They also compete with weed for sunlight. Living mulches also occupy the soil that would otherwise be exploited by weeds. In the meantime, living mulches also add fresh roots to the soil, helping it build more organic matter.

In addition to weeds, living mulches compete with desired plants. You can avoid this competition by planning your garden strategically and choosing plants with various heights. This will allow your plants and the mulches to get water, nutrients, and sunlight without having to compete with each other. Maintaining a buffer between vegetables and mulches can further help avoid competition.

There are three categories of living mulches. They are green manures, groundcovers, and intercrops. Green manures enhance the soil with nutrients and organic matter. They also create a diverse and rich habitat for soil organisms, which leads to increased diversity of garden life. As their name suggests, groundcovers are low-growing plants that form a cover on the soil. They require almost no maintenance. Unfortunately, a lot of garden centers sell invasive plants as groundcovers. Make sure to check with a local extension service before buying any groundcover plants to keep your garden safe.

Intercrops are the crops that grow in close proximity to other plants. Instead of planting vegetables in separate blocks, you can plant them close to each other to increase the diversity and productivity of your garden. Seek help from certified agriculture experts like Jeff Hill if you need a professional opinion about your garden.

Jeff Hill – Canning and Drying Foods for Winter Consumption

Jeff Hill is a plant science expert who focused on plant health and agronomy during his studies in college.

You may be afraid of canning foods at home because it seems dangerous. If you follow step-by-step instructions for canning fruits and vegetables, your sauces, jams, pickles and tomatoes will be just fine. You can always tell if a jar was properly sterilized by looking at the color of the canned food or the lid of the jar. A bowed or rounded on top jar points to botulism. A lid that doesn’t pop when you open a jar indicates that the jar was not sealed properly. If the liquid has a strange color that looks brown or black, it means that something went wrong. If the food looks slimy or moldy, you should throw it in the garbage.

Canning offers a number of benefits compared to freezing. First, you do not need a freezer for food when it’s canned. Second, some foods, such as pickles and peaches, taste better when canned.

Canning is more complicated compared to freezing and drying. It also preserves the least amount of nutrients in food. In contrast, dried foods are great sources of nutrients and energy. You do dry your foods the old-fashioned way: by hanging them in a dry place and letting them dry or by using a dehydrator or an oven. Just like with freezing, blanching vegetables before you start the preservation process helps them keep their nutritional value. Slicing or dicing produce into pieces helps it dry faster and makes the process easier.

Agriculture experts like Jeff Hill know about the importance of strictly following the rules. Use a screen when drying food outdoors. Cover the produce with a cloth to safeguard it from insects. Once the food dries, keep it in the refrigerator or in a dark cold place.

Jeff Hill -Tips for Promoting Plant Growth in Your Garden

Jeff Hill, an entrepreneur dedicated to helping farmers implement successful irrigations systems, knows that the appreciation and understanding of healthy crops begin in your own garden. Spending this time outside can be relaxing and reinvigorating, and with the following tips and tricks, your garden can be a vibrant picture of health of beauty.

Jeff Hill

When you are initially planning your garden, choose high-quality seeds and plants. Take a close look at the root systems of the plants you purchase to ensure that they are healthy and abundant. This will help you avoid introducing diseases into your garden that have the potential to cause a great deal of damage.

Know what sort of soil you’re working with. Without any information regarding your soil’s nutrient levels, applying fertilizer may cause problems in the soil balance by introducing too much of a nutrient you already have or not enough of something your soil needs.

Be careful when you water. Watering in the morning rather than during the heat of the day will prevent evaporation, and try to avoid wetting the leaves and foliage because extra moisture can introduce new diseases that may have been entirely preventable.

Buy plants that are suited to the climate where you live. Just because a plant is beautiful does not mean that it’s going to grow well in your garden. Choose native plants that are adjusted to the climate to save on your water bill.

Jeff Hill loves spending time outside with his family. He’s based in Clovis, California.

Sources:
http://www.finegardening.com/10-ways-keep-your-garden-healthy