Simple, Weed-Free Way To Grow Lettuce, Spinach and Even Radishes

What could be better than fresh homegrown vegetables? Hey and if you grow them and they are fresh from your own yard they taste better, too.

Care-free Gardening Without Weeds

This one is especially great for my friends who have back problems and difficulty getting up and down to do gardening. Bring the garden up to standing level. As we get older, gardening can become more difficult because of the need to bend down.  This solution really helps with that issue for so many people!

It’s a simple, weed-free way to grow lettuce, spinach and even radishes. Take a 2 cubic feet bag of potting soil (I used Miracle Grow), rumple it around quite a bit to loosen the soil, poke quite a few holes in the back side for drainage, then lay the bag on a smooth surface that will allow drainage and not get too hot, and cut out the top, leaving about a 4 or 5 inch border all around. Lightly rake through the soil to even it out and loosen it even more, then carefully, and evenly sprinkle the seeds around.

Here is a great gardening tip:

Put your salad green seeds in an old spice bottle with large shaker holes, add some cornmeal, shake it all up to mix well and sprinkled them out of it. Put the cornmeal in there to allow yourself to see that you have covered the soil evenly. If doing radish seeds or spinach, just make lines the depth mentioned on the seed pack, plant the seeds and cover appropriately.

For salad greens just sprinkle a lite covering of soil over the cornmeal and seeds and then use spray-misted to water them in. I use a spray bottle from the dollar store and use this. That way I know they aren’t getting too much water. Put bags on metal sawhorses and grates to make them waist level. Make sure the platform is steady enough to hold the bags. This keeps the bags off the hot concrete and so you don’t have to bend over when cutting. So much easier! When harvesting, just use a pair of scissors and cut what you need – don’t pull the plants out. Same goes for spinach – they will grow back almost magically overnight, and you can’t tell where you cut. Spray mist the seeds and plantings at first when watering, until they are established, then you can water more vigorously as the plants mature. You don’t want to over water.

Watering your vegetable garden:

You will need to water your vegetables more often, since the depth of the bags are not as deep as a regular in-ground garden. Just keep it moist, but not sopping wet. The right amount of water is important. The best time to water your garden is in the early morning. This will help prevent fungal issues that can happen in high humidity.

Remember, over watering is much worse then under watering. It is easier to revive a dried plant then to rescue one that is water logged.

Gardening from a balcony or back deck:

If you don’t have a yard or space to garden, don’t worry, all you need is a small deck or balcony. You can drill holes in the bottom of a Rubbermaid or other plastic container for drainage and fill with soil. This works great because the containers are easily movable as well.

A great tip for potted plants:

Place foam peanuts in the bottom of you planters, 1/4 to 1/2 way up the planter. This will improve drainage and make them easier to move because they won’t be filled with dirt and as heavy.

 

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