34 Results for organic solutions
Seed Saving Part 3: Harvesting & Processing Seeds
Saving seeds starts with growing and nurturing healthy plants, so the seeds are ripe and mature. The next steps are to harvest, dry, clean, and process the seeds, ready for…
Seed Saving Part 2: Selecting Seeds and Controlling Pollination
This article originally appeared in Garden Culture Magazine UK31 & US29. Our food security begins and ends with seeds. Heirloom and organic seeds, in particular, are under threat with the…
Seed Saving Part 4: Storing And Testing
This article was originally published in Garden Culture Magazine UK33 and US31. Seeds, like all living things, have a lifespan. How long they last depends on factors including the seed…
What Indoor Growers Need To Know About Radiant Intensity
As recently as a decade or so ago, indoor growers changed the language they used to describe light intensity. Lux (lumens per square meter) was out; PPFD (micromoles per square…
Industrial Hemp: An American Saga
[one_half]Cultivating Hemp (Cannabis Sativa L.) has provided the people of the earth a sustainable source of fiber for thousands of years. The oldest known human artifact is a piece of…
Healthy Soil & Microbes Make It Rain?
The importance of building healthy soil is greater than organic growing. Even conventional growers are discovering this too. But the idea that organic soil matter will make it rain? Not…
A Guide To Nutrient Dosing Machines
I’m typically a sucker for gadgets and technology—a marketeer’s dream. Despite this, I must concede that I find even the sight of automatic nutrient dosing machines to be somewhat intimidating….
Resident Evil
The longer you live, the more apparent it becomes that man is his own worst enemy. Some, through greed, lust, or an overpowering need to control everything, present the world…
Paul Newman’s Famous Watch Does The Environment Some Good
James Cox has felt an enormous weight of responsibility ever since selling his watch at auction a little over a year ago. He wants to care for others and…
Peat: Should You Use It In The Garden?
Some gardeners swear by it while others will tell you to stay as far away from it as possible. There are huge companies producing tons of the stuff and there…
A Broken System? Corporatism and Community Rights
Is the world falling apart, or is it waking up? We are confronting systemic racism amid a pandemic and, combined with an unprecedented level of growing financial devastation, it has…
Magnetic Ballasts: Watts In The Box?
Growers! Sit down—especially if you’re prone to getting angry easily. I’m afraid that I have some frustrating news—for some of you at least. You might want to take the weight…
Sowing Total Control
Seeds seem pretty harmless, and they are for the most part – unless they come from an invasive species that cannot be controlled. Of course, there are also plants that…
All Mushrooms are Medicinal
Mushrooms have been collected and consumed by people for millennia. It is interesting to note that ancient cultures did not primarily collect mushrooms for food; some did not collect edible…
Striving For Access to Nutritious, Locally Grown Food For All
Growing up in Jamaica, Jacqueline Dwyer and Noel Livingston remember eating like kings and queens. The warm climate allowed them plenty of fresh, nutritious foods year-round; their plates always displayed…
History of Hydroponics, Part I: The Beginnings of Water Culture
Hydroponics, now commonly defined as the soilless growth of plants, has its root foundations in simple observations by early progressive thinkers and tinkerers. Like many scientific discoveries and their evolution…
A Gardener’s Journey to Self-Sufficiency, Health, and Happiness
About six years ago, Liz Zorab knew that something wasn’t right. She had gained weight, her hearing and vision were suffering, and her hair was falling out. Her health was…
History of Hydroponics, Part II: The Birth of Hydroponics
Progress with the water culture method of growing plants was slow during the late 19th century. Much of the research further refined the list of elements necessary for soilless plant…
Top Superfoods You Should Be Feeding Your Plants
I know what you’re thinking; superfood for plants? Should I be mixing goji berries into my substrate? The term ‘superfood’ has been around for quite some time. In the last…
History of Hydroponics, Part III: Applying the Science
Skeptics “ Some of the popular articles on the water-culture method of crop production are grossly inaccurate in fact and misleading in implication. Widely circulated rumors, claims, and predictions about…