Organic Gardens Network™

Back to Eden Documentary: Free Online Streaming

2014-04-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

Since the online premier of Back to Eden in 2011, the film has garnered the interest of over 2 million viewers in 210 countries!

When filming Paul Gautschi at his garden on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, we never imagined such a global response! To us, this is proof that people are hungry for sustainable organic gardening methods that are capable of being implemented in diverse climates around the world.

According to the book, "Garden to Table: A 5-Year Look at Food Gardening in America," in the past five years there's been a 17 percent increase in food gardening. Our belief is that Back to Eden has played a significant role in the increase of food gardening!

Streaming online for free 24/7, the film is a gardening resource that teaches how to eliminate all of the work associated with growing food!

Following in the footsteps of Ruth Stout (No Work Garden Book) and Masanobu Fukuoka (One Straw Revolution), Paul Gautschi is leading a new revolutionary movement in the organic gardening community.

Endorsed by the National Gardening Association, Organic Consumers Association and featured in magazines such as Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening NZ, the film is continuing to impact the way food is grown around the world.

Our hope is that people are being connected with what Paul calls "live food." Simply put, fruits and vegetables that are full of nutrients because they are growing in the richest compost with a protective covering.

The health benefits and disease prevention from eating live food is undeniable. So please, watch the film, implement a Back to Eden garden, and get connected to nature and optimal health!

Back To Eden OFFICIAL FILM from Dana & Sarah Films on Vimeo.

About the Film Makers

Dana Richardson & Sarah Zentz, are the co-founders of DANA & SARAH FILMS, an independent film production company based in Big Sur, CA. For over 5 years, they have produced and directed award winning documentaries that present vital perspectives rarely seen in mainstream media.

BACK TO EDEN (2011) tells the story of an organic gardener and his revolutionary approach to growing food. The film has broadcast on Amazing Discoveries, was winner of the “PRAISED” award in the international Green Unplugged Film Festival (2013), was an official selection in The Awareness Film Festival (2012), and continues to receive critical-acclaim globally.

MISSION STATEMENT
Dana & Sarah Films play a key role in igniting social change through bringing public awareness to health and wellness issues, ethical material sourcing, and sustainable environmental practices. Dana & Sarah Films seeks to improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities by empowering people with creative solutions through media art and activism.

Dana Richardson

Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor
Dana is a California-based filmmaker with over five years of experience directing and producing documentary films. Dana received her BFA in Video from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008.

Sarah Zentz
Director, Producer, Sound Recordist, Sound Editor
Sarah received her BFA in New Media from Millersville University in 2008. In addition to recording and editing sound, Sarah manages marketing, web design and graphic design for Dana & Sarah Films.

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Weather Watch: Don't Plant Too Early - Cold Weather Expected April 17-23, 2014

2014-04-16T20:30:00.000-04:00

Weather Watch/Don't Plant Too Early -- Areas with approaching last frost dates that are expecting very cold weather in the extended forecast (Apr 17-23).

Click around the map, it's interactive. The shaded areas represent an intersection between period of last frost potential and Climate Prediction Center below normal temperature probabilities for Apr 17-23, 2014.

Essentially, the shaded areas are locations that could experience very late last frost dates due to unusually cold air for this time of year, and growers are cautioned not to plant too early.

You can find this interactive weather map at Green Thumb Weather

For more fun and inspiring garden ideas, follow me on Pinterest and Facebook.

How To Compost Infographic - Start Today!

2014-04-11T21:56:00.000-04:00

Composting infographic courtesy of The Enduring Gardener

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Book of the Week: Small-Space Container Gardens - Transform Your Balcony, Porch, or Patio

2014-04-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

Author: Fern Richardson

A concrete slab populated solely with plastic chairs and an abandoned grill? Not anymore. Chances are your balcony, porch, or patio could use a major makeover. Fern Richardson, charismatic creator of the Life on the Balcony blog, is here to walk you through the process of beautifying a small space--even when you have a similarly small budget.

This exciting guide layers practical gardening fundamentals with creative solutions that encourage thinking outside the pot. Maybe this means repurposing a shipping pallet to create a colorful vertical garden of nasturtiums and lobelia. Or simply seeing walls, rafters, railings, and everything in-between as fair game.

It's in these containers--traditional or not--that you'll cultivate your own food, attract beneficial insects, grow flowering vine privacy screens, and so much more. You'll also learn how to tackle unique challenges, like windy conditions when gardening several stories above street level, and how to care for plants and troubleshoot with the best of them.

From design basics to essential plant picks, Small Space Container Gardens proves you don't need a yard to have a garden. For anyone who wants more green in their life, it's time to get out there and start growing.

About the Author
Fern Richardson is the creator of the container gardening blog Life On The Balcony. She is also a master gardener, amateur photographer, and container garden designer.

For more fun and inspiring garden ideas, follow me on Pinterest and Facebook.

9 Pinteresting Container Garden Tips and Ideas

2014-04-02T23:39:00.005-04:00

25 Tips for Growing Container Gardens
Photo from Babble.com (original article location)

Container gardens are great to have for many reasons – they are easy to move around, don’t require a ton of sun, and can be just the right size for a small space.

You can grow plump tomatoes on your balcony and colorful flowers on your porch. Learn about which plants grow best in a container, what soil and fertilizer to use, and tips and tricks for Container Gardening 101.

Growing Zucchini in Pots
Photo from HubPages.com (original article location)

Zucchini are fast growing, productive and robust, making them one of the easiest vegetables to grow. They are a perfect choice for beginner gardeners.

Learn how to grow zucchini from seed; preparing your seedlings for transfer to outdoor life; what plants to put nearby as natural pest deterrents; using stakes or trellises; how to pollinate female plants to avoid small, withered fruit; and when and how to harvest.

Growing Fruit Trees in Containers
Photo from HGTV.com (original article location)

You can enjoy fresh fruit even with limited space. Fruit trees may not last for many years in containers, but you can grow any fruit tree in a container for a few years and then transplant. Dwarf varieties are well-suited to containers.

Container fruit trees don't bear as much fruit as planted trees; however, the fruit commonly appears a season or so ahead of those planted in ground.

How to Grow Salad Greens in a Container
Photo: DK - Ready Set Grow! © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited

Prepare your next salad straight from your garden with these tips for growing salad greens in containers. Plant your greens in an eye appealing container for a beautiful display on your table at meal time. Pick the leaves fresh off the plant and add directly to your sandwiches or your salad dishes.

Salad greens like lettuce and spinach grow quickly. If you plant the come again (or salad bowl) variety, new leaves will continue to grow. Learn how to time your sowing to provide a steady supply of salad greens all season long.

9 Fruit Plants for Pots
Photo: DK - How to Grow Practically Everything © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited

You can grow a mini-orchard of fruit in patio containers if you're willing to water and feed regularly. Choose from soft fruits, such as currants and gooseberries, or tree fruits like apples, pears and cherries.

Click through to learn about these nine fun fruits you can successfully grow in containers on your balcony or patio.

How To Grow Raspberries in Containers
Photo by Backyardfoodgrowing.com

Even if you think you can’t grow anything and have a brown thumb, you’ll be able to grow raspberries. It’s very easy to do and you don’t need a lot of space either. They will even take a bit of a drought and still recover to produce beautiful berries for you all season long.

Each variety has different characteristics and growth habits. Click through to learn the personality of each variety to be successful with your raspberry containers.

Growing Carrots in Containers
Photo by Vegetable-Garden-Guide.com

Carrots are well-suited to growing in containers if you have only a small area to grow this vegetable. In the round pots you can harvest between 30-40 carrots. But you can get a higher volume harvest if you plant in larger square or rectangular containers.

Once you harvest the carrots, replenish the container with fertilizer, top off with growing medium, and off you grow again.

10 Best Tomatoes for Containers
Photo by Veggiegardener.com

Urban dwellers can be very successful growing tomatoes in containers. With the right container set-up, just about any variety of tomato will thrive.

Determinate tomato types usually work the best for containers because they grow to a particular height, and are much easier to handle in a small space. Click through to see best tomatoes varieties for your containers.

Repurposed Garden Container Ideas
Photo by TheCottageMarket.com

The most unlikely items make the best repurposed garden containers for your flowers and plants!

From old shoes to bureaus, boots, chairs and bathtubs; even tool boxes, and wheelbarrows; bird cages, magazine racks, and bikes; to grills, typewriters and sinks.... with a little creativity, just about any vessel can serve as a beautiful container for your plants. Click through for some inspiration to jazz up your garden this year.

For more fun and inspiring garden ideas, follow me on Pinterest and Facebook.

From Scratch Magazine: Free Download and Online Access

2014-04-01T22:22:00.000-04:00

From Scratch: April/May 2014 Edition

From Scratch Magazine [life on the homestead] is a free, bi-monthly digital magazine dedicated to the modern homesteader. Inside the pages of From Scratch Magazine you will find articles on gardening, raising livestock, cooking, homeschooling and backyard farming – everything you need to live a more sustainable life.

Accompanied by beautiful photography and well written content – From Scratch is the go-to guide for those who have chickens in the backyard, sew their own clothes, make their own jam, and enjoy gardening.

What’s inside?

Gardening and Farming
Animal/Livestock Guides
Food and Recipes
Tools and DIY Projects
Sewing Projects
American Artisans
Music and Books
Beautiful Handmade Products
Homestead Tours
Homeschooling Information
Blogger Profiles
Travel

Get your free copy of the April/May 2014 Issue of From Scratch Magazine today. You can also catch up on any features you missed in previous issues.

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Book of the Week: Edible Spots & Pots, Small Space Gardens

2014-03-31T13:19:00.005-04:00

Author Stacey Hirvela

It’s time for home gardeners to rethink the traditional garden and explore the wide variety of options for growing edibles in "anywhere" gardens—from decorative pots and raised beds to unusual growing bags, hanging pouches, and tomato rings. These contained gardens are more manageable than long rows or plots and require much less work—yet yield just as much bounty.

Featuring dozens of preplanned planting recipes, based on space or container sizes, Edible Spots and Pots allows readers to mix and match vegetables, herbs, small fruits, and edible flowers to create a plant-style patchwork based on the "thriller" (dramatic, focal-point plants), "filler" (midheight, bushy plants), and "spiller" (vines and twining plants) formula for creating interesting and botanically sound gardens. Plot-free gardening offers practical solutions for any circumstance a gardener may encounter (challenging spaces, soils, or weather), while also taking into account budget, time, and aesthetic goals.

Author Stacey Hirvela shares many other interesting concepts, like One-Minute Veggies (foods that go from patio to plate in less than a minute) Doubly Delicious Crops that give two flavors from one plant, and space/yield ratios (vegetables worth their footprint). Gardeners will also find an enticing array of 60 edibles that grow well in a defined space for productivity and beauty. Get your copy today and be on your way to a beautiful, bountiful container garden that will give you a luscious harvest!

For more fun and inspiring garden ideas, follow me on Pinterest and Facebook.

Sustainable Gardening in an Old Pool

2014-03-30T16:36:00.000-04:00

Photo by Dennis & Danielle McClung

In 2009, Dennis and Danielle McClung bought their first home just outside of Phoenix AZ. The desert environment of Arizona can make it difficult to grow a food garden.

The house just happened to come with an old, run down in ground pool. Instead of filling it up with water for swimming recreation, they decided to convert it to grow their own food.

The McClungs repurposed the pool into a solar-powered, aquaponic greenhouse; a sustainable biosphere they affectionately refer to as the Garden Pool .

Their innovative design gives them fish, vegetables and herbs, and fresh chicken eggs every day. The system has faster production methods using 90% less water than conventional farming, and helps to offset their grocery bill by up to 50-75% a day.

Dennis and Danielle feel that food is the currency of the future. They are teaching their children the skills to grow their own food for their future sustainability.

See how they put this backyard ecosystem together, and learn about the sustainable growing medium they use for their vegetables and herbs (it's not soil). Watch the video below and then click through for a picture tutorial on how they did it.

Dennis McClung coaxes organic tomatoes, fresh eggs, bananas, fish, and zucchini out of the desert—an even more righteous repurposing of an old pool than a skate park. Sustainable ingenuity at its best.

For more fun and inspiring garden ideas, follow me on Pinterest and Facebook.

Save Time and Space with Square Foot Gardening

2014-03-29T11:37:00.001-04:00

Publisher: Cool Springs Press; 2 edition

What if you could grow a bounty of fresh vegetables for your family's dinning pleasure this summer? If you don't have the yard space for a good size garden, nor the time to weed and care for a larger garden, you can get it done with a square foot garden.

Square foot gardening can yield quite a hefty, lush harvest to share with your family and friends this year. You may even have plenty to can up some of your harvest to enjoy during the off season in the winter months.

Learn how it's all done here with the garden planner tutorial series from GrowVeg. This particular video will show you how to set up your square foot garden beds including the best soil mix to use, plant spacing and positioning, companion planting and supporting structures to use.

You can also gain more knowledge from the master square foot gardener himself, Mel Bartholomew. The 2nd Edition of his popular book, All New Square Foot Gardening is the essential guide to his unique step-by-step method. This edition has become even better with improvements and refinements to continually adapted his practices to keep pace with modern times.

You can get a free Square Foot Garden Plan over at Vegetable Gardening Online
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How To Build a GeoDome Greenhouse

2014-03-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

Photo by NorthernHomesead.com

If you live in one of the colder climates and want to extend your growing season, a greenhouse may be your answer. It will help to protect your plants from the fall and winter elements. You can also use it as a sun room to sit and read a good book or visit with a friend.

The GeoDome greenhouse is a lightweight version of the standard greenhouse that uses heavier materials. It can withstand high winds and snow while offering excellent sunlight for your plants.

Learn about one couple’s building experience with their GeoDome. You can see exactly how they did it step-by-step with photos to show the progress of their building plan. They even put in a door and two windows with automatic openers.

It looks like a fun weekend project and will spruce up your backyard with its stylish design. Head over to the Northern Homestead and see how they put theirs up. Maybe this will be a project goal for your homestead this Spring!

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Organic Gardening with Aquaponics

2014-03-25T22:37:00.001-04:00

Photo by Chris Wimmer

By now most of us know that organic food is better for us. We are all trying to eat more organic food but it can be difficult to afford or find for some. Aquaponics is a great way of growing your own organic food because it is easy to set up and maintain. This is a pretty new and radical was of thinking but is quite effective. The benefits of Aquaponics are significant and easily outweigh the upfront cost and effort to setup.

Low Water Utilization

Contrary to popular belief, Aquaponics actually uses very little water, as most water used is recycled back into the system. Aquaponics uses about 90% less water than traditional agricultural methods.

Organic and Chemical Free

Chemical pesticides and fertilizers are not necessary as the fish produce a natural fertilizer for the plants. Routine inspections of the vegetation will allow you to quickly and simply address any other issues naturally.

Set Up Almost Anywhere

All you need is a place with direct sunlight, a power source, and an open space of 3 feet by 3 feet.

Setting up a System

The Fish

Setting up this part of the system is easy. You need a container, air pump, air stone, tubing, and fish. If it sounds much like your typical aquarium, it is!

The Plants

You will need a container to grow your plants in. The most common way is to create a floating raft over the fish pond so the plant roots can feed directly.

You can also create a more complete hydroponic system and connect it to the fish pond with a water pump and pipes. To learn more about other popular hydroponic systems, Click Here.

About the Author

Chris Wimmer is an urban hydroponic hobbyist living in Chicago. You can find out more about Chris at Captain Hydroponics.

Book of the Week: The Vegetable Gardener's Container Bible

2014-03-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

Author: Edward C. Smith

The Vegetable Gardener's Container Bible: How to Grow a Bounty of Food in Pots, Tubs, and Other Containers

Spring is here! Have you looked through all of those beautiful seed catalogs and chosen what you are going to grow for this year's harvest?

By growing vegetables in containers, even novice gardeners can reap a bounty of organic food in very small spaces. Anyone can harvest tomatoes on a patio, produce a pumpkin in a planter, or grow broccoli on a balcony — it’s easy!

Ed Smith, best selling garden guru, shows you how to choose the right plants, select containers and tools, care for plants throughout the growing season, control pests without chemicals, and much more. He even includes plans for small-space container gardens that are perfect for urban and suburban gardeners. He offers layouts for three-container gardens on small balconies and porches and transforming five-gallon plastic buckets into self-watering containers, along with how to develop artful arrangements, and pruning tips.

Gain useful tips for hanging containers to maximize use of vertical space on patios, grouping plants of similar mature sizes and growth rates, and using organic controls are presented as attractive endeavors, beautifully documented in numerous full-color, full-page photos. Also included is an index, suggested reading list, average last-frost dates and hardiness zone maps. This gardener's step-by-step guide to growing in containers provides everything needed to grow a bounty of home-grown vegetables.

Don't pass up the benefits of growing your own fresh organic vegetables because you don't have a backyard. Get your copy today and start planning your container garden so you can reap a bountiful harvest for you and your family this year! You know you want to, and you can do it with Ed's help.

Should You Soak Your Seeds Before Planting?

2014-03-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

Photo by GardeningKnowHow.com

Soaking seeds before planting is an “old time” gardener’s trick that many new gardeners are not aware of. When you soak seeds before planting, you can significantly decrease the amount of time it takes for a seed to germinate. Let’s look at the reasons for soaking seeds and how to soak seeds.

Lean what happens to seeds when you soak them and the reasons for soaking them. The benefit of soaking seeds before planting is that the germination time will be reduced, which means your plants will grow faster. Heather Rhoades from Gardening Know How also explains the proper way to soak, how long to soak, and some things you can do to improve how well your seeds react to soaking.

You may also want to check here for terms to understand when learning how to successfully germinate seeds.

The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener's Premier Digital Magazine

2014-03-21T10:42:00.000-04:00

Photo by Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener

Today we introduce you to the premier issue of The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener's new digital magazine. The magazine will be published quarterly in digital format as a free download.

The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener Digital Magazine is created and produced in house by a small support staff. This magazine will be released every 4 months with the exception of a special Tomato-lovers Edition that will be available in April. The magazine includes organic gardening tips, re-purposing ideas, simple home living concepts, home canning and food preservation advice and recipes for better living.

Joey and Holly Baird are the sole writers of the magazine at this time, but they may feature guest writers in the future. The magazine is available as a Free Download in PDF or eBook format for your reading pleasure.

About the Authors:

Joey and Holly Baird are the founders of The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener. They are a married couple living in southeastern Wisconsin, just outside of Milwaukee. They produce videos on YouTube about how to grow your own food organically, reusing found items (or items you may just throw away), what to do with the food you grow, home canning and simple home living. Along with traditional ground gardening they also grow indoors year-round using up and coming methods along with winter growing in cold frames and low tunnels.

Joey and Holly's goal through their videos and social media pages is to show the average person how easy it is to grow and store food, and reuse everyday items. Their motto is “for the average gardener, simple home living, and using what you already have.” Joey and Holly enjoy speaking at garden expos throughout the Midwest. Holly is also an award winning home canner with a handful of ribbons from the Wisconsin State Fair including a Best of Show award for her home canning talents.

Don't Leave Your Garden to Chance: Know Your Frost Dates

2014-03-20T08:00:00.000-04:00

Here is an exciting new way for you to determine your last frost dates to ensure you are planting your garden at the right time for growing success in your location. Don’t leave it to chance!

Graphic by Green Thumb Weather

This new and innovative frost date tool is brought to you from Green Thumb Weather by a team of 3 meteorologists. Between the 3 of them, they have done weather forecasting for almost every climate on earth. They are all gardeners so you can rest assured that not only do they understand how important protecting your garden from the weather is, they have the experience to help you do the same. Keep reading to learn more about this awesome new weather app.

Green Thumb Weather is an interactive website that features frost dates in a way that you have never seen before, ultimately helping growers to make decisions about their gardens that save time and money. The creators of Green Thumb Weather seized on the opportunity to improve upon existing text-based frost date information on the web, which can be confusing, outdated, and sometimes just not very helpful. Spend some time on Green Thumb Weather and you can quickly tell the difference.

Green Thumb Weather uses the most accurate and comprehensive National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Climatic Data Center (NOAA/NCDC) dataset involving frost dates, and it is based on probabilities, which can sometimes be difficult to understand. NCDC is the part of NOAA that maintains the world's largest active archive of weather data. We take this dataset, combine it with the latest weather forecasts, and provide a clear picture of frost dates and current frost risk for over 4,700 locations across the United States.

Based on which part of the growing season you are currently in, the website customizes the display. For instance, during the period of time when the last frost typically occurs at your location, a stoplight chart uses red, yellow, and green colors and prominently indicates the frost risk in your area. You can click on the stoplight to see the reasons behind the color.

Additionally, forecast low temperatures for the week ahead are displayed giving you heads up of what to expect. Below that is the growing season timeline with a vertical red line indicating the current date, boxes that show what part of the growing season you are in now, and a look ahead to what is coming next. Click on any of the boxes for more detail and use the “add to calendar” feature to help you remember important dates on your digital garden calendar.

You can also get results for different temperature thresholds (default is 36°F) If you want to explore other locations, an interactive map will guide you to a different, nearby climate site.

Watch this brief video tutorial on how to use the interactive maps.

Not only do we provide details for specific locations across the United States, we also create interactive maps that give you an idea about growing seasons and frost dates across the country at a single glimpse. It is amazing to see how growing seasons differ from location to location.

Our goal is to provide weather and climate information that is relevant to gardeners in new, exciting, and most importantly useful ways. We invite any feedback and suggestions you may have and we will try to incorporate these into our products.

About the Developers of Green Thumb Weather:

Shad Keene was born and raised on the East Coast and fondly remembers watching his grandfather tend to his garden in Virginia. He earned his Meteorology degree at Penn State University and his Master’s degree in Earth Science from Mississippi State University. He has forecast weather in all types of climates, ranging from the East Coast to Iraq, Thailand, and now the Pacific Northwest where he currently resides. He relishes spending time with his family and is passionate about soccer, gardening, surfing, and of course weather.

Tom Wright is originally from Vashon Island WA, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Atmospheric Science from the University of Washington. He has lived and forecasted weather in a variety of locations ranging from the wilds of Montana to the high plains of Kansas to the deep tropics in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Tom’s non-weather-related interests include sports, reading, and blogging. He also wrote his first novel, Dead Reckoning, in 2013, which is a post-apocalyptic thriller loosely based on his travels in the Pacific. Tom has two teenage children and currently lives, works, and tends a garden with his wife in Oregon.

Kevin McGrath is originally from the Detroit MI area and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master’s degree in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. His career has spanned from being a weather forecaster and IT manager in the Republic of the Marshall Islands to supporting America's space program and the National Weather Service as a research meteorologist at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Kevin and his family currently reside in north Alabama and his hobbies include woodworking, gardening, photography, storm chasing, and technology.

Older Seeds: Are They Still Viable?

2014-03-19T08:00:00.000-04:00

Photo by PreparednessMama.com

Seed shopping is exciting for the passionate gardener, and even the beginner. Having all those colorful catalogs spread open and making your seed choices is the first sign that Spring is right around the corner. Soon you will be nurturing your sprouting seedlings into a flourishing, delectable harvest. But how many times have you been over zealous and bought more seeds than you could possibly plant in the garden space you have? There are probably more of us than we may think.

So now with your left over seeds from last year, and maybe even some from the year before, can you still plant them? Your seed storage practices may be efficient to keep them dry and safe, but are they really still viable for growing? Most seeds are probably still good after one year, but with certain seed saving techniques you can keep some seeds for many more years.

We came across this great article on How To Test Old Seeds for Viability over on Preparedness Mama's blog. Shelle Wells shares a time tested method for proofing old seed. Testing can take as little as three days and as long as two weeks, depending on which seed you are trying to germinate. Shelle gives you the step-by-step on the materials you will need and how to carry out the process of determining if your seeds are still good for planting.

Hop over to the Preparedness Mama and learn how to test your seeds. You wouldn't want to put in all that work in planning and planting your garden only to discover that your seeds won't grow. Gardening is for smiles, not frowns. Get it right the first time and don't lose any growing time this season.

Thank you Shelle, for sharing your gardening knowledge and experience with our readers.

Happy Gardening!

Soil PH and Healthy Garden Crops

2014-03-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

When it comes to the health of your garden crops and yielding an abundant harvest throughout the growing season, soil pH is key. Soil testing is an important part of your garden planning. Do you know what to look for and how to test your soil?

Learn the difference between acid and alkaline soil and why you need to know this in order to have a healthy productive garden. Once you know the condition of your soil, you will then need to know how to make the correct amendments to properly balance out the pH.

Regular soil testing will help you to keep on top of your soil's health, and will assist you in making the necessary changes to keep it healthy so your crops can access all the nutrients they need to flourish.

For more information, check out this helpful post on soil pH by Jessica Walliser. Jessica is a Horticulturalist and a regular contributing author at Hobby Farms. You can also download a free bookmark to keep in your garden planner that indicates the type of soil pH in which some crops grow best.

Book of the Week: Straw Bale Gardens

2014-03-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

Author: Joel Karsten

You’ll find a bumper crop of vegetable gardening books on the shelves today, but it is a very rare title that actually contains new information.

Straw Bale Gardens: The Breakthrough Method for Growing Vegetables Anywhere, Earlier and with No Weeding teaches gardening in a way that isn’t only new but is thoroughly innovative and revolutionary to home gardening. It solves every impediment today’s home gardeners face: bad soil, weeds, a short growing season, watering problems, limited garden space, and even physical difficulty working at ground level.

Developed and pioneered by author and garden expert Joel Karsten, straw bale gardens create their own growing medium and heat source so you can get an earlier start. It couldn’t be simpler or more effective: all you need is a few bales of straw, some fertilizer, and some seeds or plants, and you can create a weedless vegetable garden anywhere—even in your driveway.

Karsten’s step-by-step guide offers all the information you need to make your own straw bale garden today. In this lushly photographed volume, Karsten shares all of the secrets he has developed over years of teaching eager students the miracle of straw bale gardening.

You’ll learn how to locate and choose straw bales, then how to condition and plant them for the earliest possible start. You’ll master Karsten’s methods for combating plant pests and maximizing space by applying the principles of vertical gardening to his straw bales.

Whether it’s seedlings or seeds, veggies or flowers, there is practically no limit to the plant

varieties that will prosper in a straw bale garden—and with Karsten’s breakthrough gardening guide, you can do it all yourself.

Freebie Friday: Backyard Chickens 2 Book Package

2014-03-14T21:14:00.001-04:00

Rashelle Johnson (Author), M. Anderson (Author)

TWO Backyard Chicken books Free - Get them today!

Beginner's Guide to Raising and Caring for Backyard Chickens gives you the information you need to know to get started raising a flock of chickens your backyard.

The following topics are covered in this helpful book:

Why you should be raising backyard chickens.
The big differences between commercial eggs and the fresh eggs you get from backyard chickens.
The handful of supplies you need to get started.
Designing a coop.
Feeding and watering your chickens. Includes tutorials on how to build an inexpensive waterer and feeder.
The various types of bedding.
The deep litter system of bedding.
Free-range chickens.
Breed selection for laying and meat birds.
Feeding your chickens.
What diatomaceous earth is and how it can benefit you.
Predator control.
Brooding chicks. How to hatch chicks and raise them to adulthood.
Chicken laws and ordinances.

Once you've learned how to raise and care for backyard chickens, you're going to want to start a flock. The Backyard Chickens Breed Guide has you covered. This book gives you detailed information on 22 of the best chicken breeds to buy for your backyard flock.

The information provided for each breed of chicken includes the following:

How loud they are.
How many eggs they can be expected to lay.
How much they cost.
Health concerns.
Temperament.
Other information you need to know.

Get 2 of the top backyard chicken books available for Free today before their prices reappear!

Vermicomposting: How To Build Your Own Indoor Worm Bin

2014-03-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

By Beth Huxtra

No room for an outdoor compost pile? Bring the process indoors and let worms do the work for you.

Common kitchen waste, including papery onion and garlic skins, carrot tops, and coffee grounds, can be composted year-round in an indoor worm bin.

A worm bin fits discreetly into a closet, garage, or pantry, making composting quick and convenient, especially for small-space gardeners and apartment-dwellers. Turning food scraps into compost, instead of sending them down the garbage disposal or to the curb, reduces the amount of organic material that ends up in local waste water treatment plants and landfills.

The process is known as vermicomposting, and it requires a specific type of worm. Unlike regular garden earthworms, which burrow in the soil, red wiggler worms (Eisenia foetida) act as nature’s recyclers, living on or near the surface, where they help decompose organic matter. This habit makes them ideal candidates for living in an enclosed worm bin.

Read the rest of the story HERE over at Organic Gardening. Be sure to watch the video too, which shows you step-by-step exactly how to set up your indoor vermicomposing bin and tells you where to get your worms.

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Gardening by The Moon & A Free Moon Planting Calendar

2014-03-12T16:13:00.002-04:00

Gardening by the moon is an age-old formula and applies generally to regions where the climate is favorable.

In ancient times when man had not quite got round to inventing the wristwatch, the most reliable source of telling the time was the sun, moon, and stars. There seems to be several opinions of who came up with the moon planting calendar first. Was it the Egyptians or the Babylonians? It is more than likely that each and every farmer had a planting calendar based on the moon phases, and there would be different variations depending on the geographical location.

It was noticed that different plants grow better when they are planted during different phases of the moon. Each of these phases imparts an influence on the way vegetation grows on the planet through the rising and falling of the moisture in the ground and in the plants.

Read more about planting by the moon HERE over at The Gardener's Calendar.

Graphic by MahlathiniOrganics.com

The above calendar is located HERE over at Mahlathini Organics, who also happens to offer certified organic, open-pollinated seeds.

How Big a Backyard Would You Need to Live Off the Land?

2014-03-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

"Going off the grid" is a daunting proposal, especially for those with families. Non-homesteaders rely on others for virtually everything; not just our haircuts, but our electricity and our eggs. It's hard enough to figure out the right amount of groceries to buy for a week. Figuring out how many crops to plant to feed a family of four is exponentially more daunting. Here's a useful chart from One Block Off the Grid illustrating the typical land requirements for a family of four seeking nutritional and electronic self-sufficiency.

Graphic by One Block Off the Grid at 1bog.org

Book of the Week: Lasagna Gardening

2014-03-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

by Patricia Lanza (Author)

A gardening system that works-- so you don't have to!

Turn in your tiller for a stack of old newspapers! Replace your shovel with a layer of grass clippings! Let Pat Lanza show you how you can create lush, successful, easy-care gardens in practically any location without hours of backbreaking digging or noisy tilling.

Practical, first-person advice from an experienced gardener
Great ideas to let you spend more time enjoying your gardens and less time working in them
Specific "lasagna" techniques for the most popular vegetables, flowers, herbs, fruits, and more

Instead of digging up the sod, you simply cover it with wet newspapers. Then pile different layers of leaves, grass clippings, and household waste on top of each other—just like the layers of cheese and pasta in lasagna!

Best of all, with LASAGNA GARDENING's "power soil" secret, even tight spaces will become top performers in your yard.

Thanks to all the how-to-illustrations, step-by-step advice, and brilliant tips and time-savers, LASAGNA GARDENING makes it all so easy to grow vegetables, trees, shrubs, and more—even in a tiny garden space!

Retire your shovel and hoe and grow your best garden ever. You'll discover the revolutionary layering secret that lets you save your back, and save space, time and money. No more digging, tilling or weeding.

Lasagna Gardening [Infographic]

2014-03-06T21:37:00.001-05:00

Lasagna Gardening Layers - No Dig Gardening! Just layer and plant - this creates it's own soil even where there is none.

Graphic by HomeGrownFoodColorado.org

Food Growing Summit: Free Online March 3-7, 2014

2014-03-05T21:39:00.000-05:00

Graphic by FoodGrowingSummit.com

Get your hands in the dirt!

Looking for some food growing guidance? Want to understand how growing some of your food can make your community stronger and more resilient?

Join healthy food experts Joel Salatin, Ocean Robbins, Vandana Shiva, Will Allen, Paul Stamets, Erika Allen, John Valenzuela, Stacey Murphy and many other backyard food growers, farmers and urban food activists for this series of free online conversations March 3 -7, 2014!

You’ll be inspired and guided to get started SIMPLY growing some of your own food this year, and understand why this is so important for your health and happiness!

Click here to learn more and reserve your seat.