width=”555″ height=”305″ /> Tip to gardeners with two year olds, don’t keep you seeds on the counter within some little hands reach. I was at least happy she was nice enough to bring the seeds from the kitchen counter to the kitchen table to open and pour them out…much easier to clean up than rubbed into the carpet. Happy seed starting…
width=”551″ height=”308″ /> I always am good about amending my soil whether it is grabbing a bag of spent coffee beans from Starbucks whenever I notice them there, few handfuls of alfalfa pellets at the beginning of spring, or compost when it becomes ready in my bin. the thing I neglected to do was actually test my soil to see how I am doing. The process to do this…
width=”550″ height=”309″ /> Long time readers know this is not the my first attempt at making a sturdy pea trellis I have had posts and posts about this in the past. Though those creations were a bit cheaper than my current version this one will not be falling down no matter how big those plants get. First I started with a 4 foot by 8 foot cattle panel which…
width=”550″ height=”309″ /> I really can’t complain with the many feet of snow dumped over the rest of the country but got a bit of a surprise with a couple inches of snow in the garden when we haven’t had any here all year…
width=”550″ height=”412″ /> Vegetable gardeners inherently have a leg up on the casual nature lover: they’re already doing their part for the environment by growing their own vegetables in the first place. Mass-produced horticulture can be a pretty massive strain on the environment when you factor in the nasty effects of pesticides and the sometimes wasteful techniques employed by factory farmers. The agribusiness is a sticky one; while it…
Most of us think of building and maintaining greenhouses as a labor of love, a fulfilling hobby, or simply an aesthetic pursuit. We invest our time, effort, and money into greenhouses for the joy of gardening and the sake of surrounding ourselves with beauty. But efficient greenhouses can also give back in more explicit ways. From filling kitchens with fresh produce to supplementing incomes and increasing property values, greenhouse…
The great thing about home gardening is that people have been doing it for thousands of years and even better writing about for at least the last few hundred. Fortunately this provides us with a great amount of knowledge of from many generations back. What’s even better many of these get gems are under the public domain so they are completely free gardening books to have as a resource…
The days when city dwellers had no hope of growing their own vegetables are rapidly becoming a thing of the past, as urban farmers discover ever more ingenious ways to squeeze growing space into the most compact area. Window boxes, balcony planters and even blank walls can be put to good use as growing space for healthy and economical vegetable production, and the beauty of a tightly contained ‘garden’…
width=”550″ height=”366″ /> Sandy soil, clay soil, grass types, it can be a lot to take in. And knowing exactly how to water your lawn to keep it green and healthy can be a task. However, automatic sprinkler systems can help ease your burden. But a sprinkler system isn’t a one-and-done type of project. It takes planning, preparation, and time to achieve your goal of installing an automatic…
width=”550″ height=”412″ /> Free Vegetable Seeds Ask your coworkers: Are any of your coworkers gardeners? Setup a seed swap at lunch and/or see if they want to go in on a seed order and split up some seed packets for varieties you only need a few seeds. Harvest your own seeds: I typically grow at least one or two cilantro and pea plants to collect seeds from for the…
width=”550″ height=”367″ /> Well finally my level of frustration for poor performance, support, and site availability overcame my laziness for moving my site I finally pulled the trigger and made the move to a new hosting provider. Hopefully you will find things running a little smoother and while I was add it doing some work to make performance even better and cleaning up some broken images/links while I am…
I came across this pretty cool Kickstarter from Vegetronix where they are putting together a neat little kit that includes an adjustable 1 watt that can plug into any USB port on your computer. All you need to supply is an old 2 liter bottle and you have a nicely contained growing environment. Personally, I think this could make an awesome addition to my windowless office and bring a…