Giving Your Plants An Edge With Mycorrhizae
Home growing and gardening is one industry that is booming during “lockdown” as people look to fill their time, relax, and supplement their food supplies. Seed sales are up, and gardening forums and websites have all seen an increase in queries for tips and best practices in the garden. If you’re looking for a product […]
Growing Food In A Micro Garden Something Everyone Can Do
Seed Saving Part 4: Storing And Testing
Seeds, like all living things, have a lifespan. How long they last depends on factors including the seed variety and conditions during growth and processing. However, the way seeds are stored has an enormous impact on their vigor and longevity. Correctly preserving them will ensure your efforts to save seeds reaps long term rewards.
How To Grow Potatoes In Containers And Buckets
There’s nothing like the taste of a freshly harvested potato! It’s unlike anything you’ll get at the stores. And guess what? You don’t need a whole lot of gardening space to grow them. They do very well in containers! You will need: Organic seed potatoes Some 5 to 10-gallon buckets or containers Good soil Water […]
Local Growers Still Producing Fresh, Nutritious Food For Communities
One positive coming out of the coronavirus outbreak and resulting lockdown is people finding creative ways to get fresh food. Not wanting to face grocery stores, farmer’s markets are emerging as a local source of nutritious fruits and vegetables, and they’re making sure people have access to it. Where I live, the local farmer’s market […]
Treating Seeds And Seedlings With Sea Kelp Delivers Results In The Garden
Once we begin to get the hang of growing food in our home gardens, the next step is to incorporate various techniques to help them flourish and become even more productive. Success is dependant on getting the plants off to a strong start, and sea kelp can help with that. What Is Kelp? Kelp is […]
Give Back To The Earth With Compost
Hands down, compost is the best way we can add nutrients back into the soil. Beyond being rewarded with thriving plants, it’s eco-friendly and properly disposes of fruit and veggie scraps otherwise headed to a landfill. In honor of International Compost Awareness Week (May 3-9), here are some tips to help you along the way. […]
Hunkering Down: Check Out These Garden-Themed Movies
Depending on where you live, all this time at home doesn’t mean you can spend time working in the garden. Where I am, the cooler climate means we can’t plant most crops for a while yet. But that doesn’t mean you can’t sit back and enjoy a good movie about a garden. So, here are […]
Get Your Victory Garden Growing With This Planner
There is no better time to start a garden than in a global pandemic. It’s a great excuse to go outside and get fresh air and sunshine, you ease the burden on the struggling global supply chains, and you get food. There are a lot of new gardeners out there, and starting from scratch can […]
How To Be A Plant Whisperer
Sometimes we spend too much time and money on activities for little reward. One thing we should all be doing more of is spending time with our plants.
Plants have an incredible knack of giving back what you have put in. Spend as little time with your plants as you can, and they will present you with pest, disease, and deficiency issues throughout their lives.
How You Can Celebrate The 50th Annual Earth Day
Fifty years ago today, 20 million Americans took to the streets to demand better for our planet. It was April 22nd, 1970, and Earth Day was born. Fast forward five decades and the coronavirus pandemic means there will be no mass gatherings, but we can still celebrate all the same! This year’s theme is climate […]
Edible Weeds: Purslane Packs A Nutritious Punch
With the arrival of spring, it’s only a matter of time before weeds pop up everywhere. While many gardeners consider them to be undesirable, most are nutritious and delicious foods. In these times of uncertainty, it’s reassuring that we can find food sources outside of a grocery store. Purslane, Portulaca oleracea is one edible weed […]
COVID-19: A Planetary Reset Button?
“May you live in interesting times” is a phrase I have read more lately than ever before. Said to be an ancient Chinese curse (published in my adopted county’s own Yorkshire Post), it implies that ‘uninteresting’ times are peaceful and tranquil, while the ‘interesting’ ones are those of troubles. Indeed, these days are interesting. Nothing […]
Looking For Seeds And Can’t Find Any? No Need To Panic
First, it was hand sanitizer. Then toilet paper. Then canned goods and other grocery items. Whether it was hoarding, not enough stock to begin with, or a combination of both – we’ve grown accustomed recently to seeing empty shelves in various sections of our local stores and ridiculous prices on certain items via online retailers. […]
Gardening Brings Joy, Boosts Mental Health When We Need It Most
Whether a seasoned gardener or just beginning to learn the tricks of the trade, National Gardening Day (April 14th) is meant to encourage people to get their hands dirty. It celebrates a wonderful pastime that’s good for the Earth, the body, and the soul. This year’s event might be the most poignant one yet. While […]
Diving For Treasure: The Ugly Truth About Dumpsters
In the dark of the night, Cameron Macleish grabs his flashlight and crate, ready to carry out his work. He stops his van and approaches a large dumpster, hurdling himself over the edge and into the pile of trash inside. While many people would look on in horror, Cameron knows there’s a good possibility he’ll […]
Growing Purple Fruits And Vegetables In The Garden
The color purple is said to evoke many emotions, among them, peace, pride, creativity, and magic. It isn’t as common as other colors in nature, and so it’s also seen as exotic. Beyond the emotions purple makes us feel, eating the color also offers significant rewards! Fruits and vegetables with purple or red pigments contain […]
Feeding Cities with Urban Farms
We are currently witnessing one of the greatest migrations of all time as an imposing mass of people leaves rural areas believing that they can improve their life by living in cities. Currently, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas and, according to the United Nations, this proportion will reach 68% in 2050. […]
Growing A Rainbow In The Garden For Health And Happiness
Mugwort: A Magical and Medicinal Weed
Tall and robust with dark green lobes for leaves, mugwort, or Artemisia Vulgaris, is a weed that has many wonderful virtues. This perennial plant grows just about anywhere; find it along roadsides, railroads, and riverbanks to waste places and fields. It is so common that many of us will walk by it without giving it […]