Winter Gardening. Cold Weather Vegetables you should start Now!

Winter Gardening? whats THAT?

I was totally intrigued the first time I heard the term. Certainly you cannot do that here. Winters are COLD in Chicago, much too cold to grow anything… but IS it?

Did you know that some cold weather vegetables will grow in as little as 26 degrees. right? If you’re as thrilled as I was to hear this, its time to get out there and start your winter garden now.

You can start seeds right now, of beets, carrots, radish, lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale and many more cold weather vegetables. Heres a list of cold weather vegetables that I made for my nursery website.

IF you dont have a ton of space, or if you want a convenient way to start right now, without all the digging, you can start your winter gardening project in a square foot garden. Build a 4×4′ box, add soil, divide it into square foot sections, and throw in your seeds. Here’s a square foot gardening layout chart that I created. Substitute the warm weather plants for cold weather vegetables and you’re good to go! You can read more about square foot gardening here.

If you’re SUPER interested in winter gardening and want to learn all about it, Eliot Coleman wrote a fantastic book on the subject called The Winter Harvest Handbook. Eliot is a commercial winter farmer who supplies local restaurants with winter vegetables, so he knows his stuff.

Winter Gardening. Cold Weather Vegetables you should start Now!

Smoothie Detox. Cheap blenders to get the job done (real cheap)

Whats the best way to get healthy? Start a vegetable garden. Whats the best way to eat them veggies? Green Smoothies!  How can we get healthier faster? Smoothie Detox!

Smoothies allow you to DRINK your vegetables, like 15 servings at a time. Thats crazy! you say, it might just be crazy enough to work… I dont know yet. I havent tried it. But I can share with you what I HAVE learned so far about smoothie detox and the tools (blenders) to get the job done.

One day, out of left field, I wanted a smoothie. REALLY wanted a smoothie. A nasty, green, foul tasting,  couldnt-you-have-added-more- fruit smoothie. I wanted to feel good and didnt care what my taste buds thought. But like they always say. No blender, no smoothie. Dang. Smoothie blenders are like $400.  It shouldnt cost this much to be healthy. Lets hope it isnt…

After a ton of searching, I found 2 options that just might work (guess which one I will be testing)

Option #1

The Bella 13330 Rocket Blender, Regularly $44, On sale right NOW at Macys. At $19 bucks, you cant go wrong, unless it doesnt work. LOTS of good reviews for this little single serving blender, fingers crossed its a great intro to green smoothie detox.


Option #2

The Oster Counterforms 7-Speed Blender. More great reviews specifically for green smoothies. Id say $60 aint too shabby for a blender, but again, only if it works.

Now on to the real meat and potatoes (ok, the real kale and spinach)

The Smoothie Detox

I was really only looking for instructions on how to make a green smoothie, but I came across the Green Smoothie Girls website and had to look around.

For $49 she’ll walk you through a 26 day smoothie detox that will clean your colon, liver, kidneys, gall bladder, joints, blood, lymph system… plus you should lose weight. SOLD! I mean, how much more convincing do you need? Im trying this.

Smoothie Detox. Cheap blenders to get the job done (real cheap)

Pruning Forsythia

Pruning Forsythia is one of the more satisfying garden tasks. It’s ‘time’ is when its done flowering, when the weather’s just turned awesome and I WANT to be in the garden, some time in May. Forsythia is such a good grower, you cant screw it up. I feel like such a pro, hacking away branches pruning out large pieces, shaping it to my hearts desire, then watching it GROW again right before my very eyes. It truly feels like art.

Here’s a general guide for pruning any shrub.

1. Prune when its finished flowering

2. Cut out dead or diseased branches.

3. Take out 1/3rd of the oldest branches for new fresh growth, sunlight and air circulation (rejuvenation pruning)

4. Prune the top for shape and size.

Pruning Forsythia

Because this plant can be such a beast, I do it differently than the experts suggest. Forsythia has this habit of attaching itself when it touches the ground (layering) Great if you would like more forsythia! Not so great if you want a single tidy shrub. It can get out of control fast. We had one forgotten area of the yard where the forsythia completely took over. Like a 50×50 foot area! Boy what a mess, and such a huge job to clean up. Knowing what I know now, it will never happen again.

The first thing I do when approaching this forsythia is to cut out and clean up all of the lower branches, so none of it touches the ground. I personally think it looks better. Working from bottom up (just like bonsai) I take out branches that are too close, cross each other and rub together, or are growing in weird directions.

This is my little ‘Kumson’ Forsythia. I started it from a cutting and have raised it ever since. Its more like my baby than any of the other plants in the nursery, I have no idea why. It was pruned in early July for propagation, and you can see it already needs some touching up. Pruning Kumson is even more rewarding, because new growth is REALLY variegated and you can see how much its growing.

Heres a new variety called ‘Fiesta’ Forsythia. Obviously, it doesnt need pruning yet, but if youre saying ‘oh wow’ Im right there with you. I cant wait to see how this guy grows.

Pruning Forsythia

Back to Eden Gardening

Couple weeks ago I stumbled over a movie called “Back to Eden“. The movie was long but interesting enough to pause and leave open in my browser for 3 days. It took a few bible quotes to ‘get it’that the method was based on Gods and/or natures ‘way’. duh… but what sold me were the sheer size of the vegetables being pulled from the ground. Massive honking beets the size of a (BIG) softball. Equally impressive was the ease with which he pulled vegetable after vegetable out of the soil, single handedly seemed like sheer perfection to me… something clicked & I was floored. After contemplating the results, it totally made sense. Our tendency to ‘clean up’ robs the soil of organic materials necessary for soil life to thrive. When the organisms in the soil thrive, plants thrive… (heres why)

So yes. I had to try this.

I cringe everytime I pass by the back of the house. Its been ignored because of the trumpet vine so lovingly planted by my father years ago. Me and this trumpet vine have a love hate relationship. It loves to grow, and I hate it. It sends runners under the ground out 30 feet and shoots up in all kinds of places, in my 2 foot tall square foot garden, in a huge 4 foot yew right outside the door. Its BEAUTIFUL when it flowers but 10 men could not fight this brute. It will always be here and I had simply surrendered for years to be defeated by it. Until this movie inspired me once again to try to tame this wild, weedy jungle.

In the woodchips go… about a foot deep. The movie says to let them break down first but they went in fresh. Screw it, im impatient and have nothing to lose. Because you cant plant straight in fresh woodchips I improvised. I dug holes in the woodchips to the dirt below and filled the holes with a cow poop/peat mix. I have no idea if this is gonna work. Will the woodchips hold it all in place, or will the soil be washed away? Will the roots try to grow outward into nothing but woodchips, or will they be smart enough to grow down into the soil? Would this hurt the plants? We’re gonna find out. At 66 cents a vegetable start (killer deal right?) its worth a shot. PLUS, I was itching since winter to use the vegetable garden layout I designed.

What are the results you ask?

June 19th, 2013 Just finished:

Its been 3 weeks and the plants have established themselves and are putting on noticable growth. The dirt seems to be holding its place. 2 of the four tomatoes have fruit and one has flowers. There are 3 decent sized peppers on one of 3 plants. One pepper plant seems to have insect damage and is suffering. One small eggplant and one little squash popped up. Very very few weeds are growing through the woodchips and what does grow is incredibly easy to pull. Will I get ginormous vegetables like an eden garden? I dont expect that in the first year with unconditions soil, but stay tuned cuz ya never know!

If you havent seen Back to Eden and would like to watch, here is the official film:

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

Heres a related story floating around email circles that you might enjoy.

GOD AND LAWN CARE. A conversation with St. Francis

GOD SAID: “Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.”

ST. FRANCIS: It’s the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers ‘weeds’ and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

GOD: Grass? But, it’s so boring. It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It’s sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it—sometimes twice a week.

GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST. FRANCIS: No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

ST. FRANCIS: Yes, Sir.

GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS: You aren’t going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It’s a natural cycle of life.

ST. FRANCIS: You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have created a new cycle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD: No!? What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD: And where do they get this mulch?

ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD: Enough! I don’t want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you’re in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

ST. CATHERINE: ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ Lord. It’s a story about …

GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis

Back to Eden Gardening

Best Organic Fertilizer is NO Fertilizer. Growing Great Garden Soil

No organic fertilizer, are you mad. How will my plants grow? Great soil grows great plants. We already know it, but the agriculture and nursery trades are discovering soil secrets to grow healthy, gargantuan plants that cut fertilizer costs to a minimum. This is because good dirt already IS organic fertilizer.

And you can GROW great garden soil. Thousands of tiny organisms are eating away at your soil every day… and pooping it out! You know the best organic fertilizer is, you got it…POOP. Cow poop, chicken poop, worm poop. Its in all the stores. Mico organism poop is just as good and its already IN your soil… but you can grow your microbe count and improve your garden soil by ridiculous amounts.

Plants have an immune system, just like people do. Good soil grows healthy plants with a strong immunity able to absorb more nutrients and fend off disease and insects. Healthy plants without chemical dependency on sprays, synthetic fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers are in fact, detrimental to the long term health of your soil because they kill the microbes.

Lets let a pro explain the soil biology (If youre interested in growing super healthy plants watch this, then watch it again in 6 months)

So, you got it? Bacteria and fungus. thousands of different types, all helping you grow bigger better plants. Aint nature grand?

Starting from scratch.

How do I get beneficial microbes into your soil? This is the best part, theyre already IN there. You just have to make sure they’re happy and well fed so they can grow and multiply.

Fungus loves roots. roots love fungus (fungi to be correct). They feed each other and help one another grow. The greatest love affair of all time. Lets figure out how to fan the flames.

Humus + Beneficial Bacteria and Fungus (inoculant) + Plants (roots)

Humus

Its the perfect environment. Soil humus (loam) is filled with fluffy organic matter containing nutrients that feed both microbe and plant. Its the perfect environment for both to thrive.

Adding organic matter to the soil each year helps the symbiosis GO. If you have space and materials to make your own compost, its so much fun. Some people would never leave their garden without it!

Wood Chips are an excellent source of organic matter. Where we live, they’re plentiful and FREE! If your town doesnt deliver free wood chips, try out AboutTrees.com to help you find free mulch.

I’ll never understand why some people are angered by wood chips in the garden. The woman working at the hardware store actually told me that ‘when the roots hit the woodchips, or an air pocket in between, they die’. I didnt believe her for a second. I think many people are just misinformed. We can listen to what people say or watch what people do… Check out Garden Seeks blog post about using woodchips in the garden soil. The winner in this experiment was a 50% woodchip/garden soil mix.

Inoculant

Bacteria and Fungi are already in the soil, Keep feeding them with organic matter and leave plant roots in the soil after every season to provide food and organic matter. You can also ‘inoculate’ your soil by adding even more bacteria and fungi. You can purchase inoculant. It comes in a wide variety of products. I picked up the Jobes/Proven Winners brand just yesterday. Its filled with bacteria and fungi (oh my). If youre really motivated you can make your own!

How to Make Your Own Inoculant

The Master gardeners in Gwinnett County Georgia came up with this method. (the procedure is at the bottom of the page. It takes a whole summer, but seems like fun. In short, you’ll grow an annual plant that is known to form mycorrhizae, in sand. The roots should entirely fill the pot of sand by the end of the summer. Cut off the plant and save the root filled sand in a cool dry place until next season. Now you have a home made organic fertilizer to sprinkle on your plants or mix in with your garden or potting soil!

Plant Roots

Mychorriza (my-kor-eye-za) is the mutual relationship between roots and fungus. The ‘Rhizosphere’ is the 1 inch area immediately surrounding the plants roots where bacteria and fungus congregate and cycle nutrients. They feed off if the carbon content of plant roots then poop them out, at the root making these nutrients more available to the plant.

Farmers have begun to realize that no part of their land should be ever without some kind of plant. They grow cover crops in between rows or in rotation. Crops like vetch, rye grass and soybeans are turned back into the soil. This adds organic matter (food for fungi) back to the soil, prevents compaction, helps retain moisture and grows great plants!

Best Organic Fertilizer is NO Fertilizer. Growing Great Garden Soil

Protein 101 for Vegetarians

In my quest for healthy eating, I’ve found myself eating less and less meat. Being completely ignorant on protein and daily requirements, it was time to research. This article by Savvy Vegetarian explains enough to quell my growing concern. Read How to Get Enough Protein In Vegetarian|Vegan Diets And a great resource to go with it, a two day Vegetarian & Vegan Protein Sample Menus

Protein 101 for Vegetarians

Awesome Raw Dehydrator Recipes

Wow, I dont know which recipe to try first!? They all look so amazing!

Check out these awesome raw dehydrator recipes

Awesome Raw Dehydrator Recipes

How to Grow Garlic

Garlic is extremely easy to grow, but timing is important. Since garlic needs a cold period to form a bulb, you’ll need to live in an area with a cold winter. Gardeners in zone 7 – 9 will need to choose a variety that’s suited for warm weather, such as Asiatic, Creoles, Hard Neck or Purple Stripe.

Lets start with the bulb. You can purchase one from the grocery store, or go with a fancy variety from your local farmers market. Keep the bulb whole and store in a cool, dry well ventilated area until its time to plant. If your garlic sprouts in the meantime, it shouldnt make a difference.

Next, lets talk about your soil. Start with rich, organic well draining soil. Garlic is a heavy feeder, it will need the nutrition organic soil provides. Mix compost into your soil before planting to give it that extra kick it needs.

How about timing? Since they like that cold period, plant garlic in October, a few weeks before your first frost. This will give the roots time to grab hold of the soil, so the bulbs do not heave out of the ground from the winter freeze/thaw cycle. Mulch heavily with straw to protect the bulbs if you’re in an area with very cold winters. You should see it beginning to sprout in early spring. If the winter does happen to damage the bulbs and you dont see sprouts, theres still time. You can also start in very early spring. Since its had less time to establish you might not get cloves as large as winter sown garlic, but you should at least get a harvest. Speaking of harvest, you can pull up your cloves in July, or when the tops of the plants have dried and turned brown.

How to plant garlic. When its time to plant, break the bulb into cloves. Poke a hole in the dirt with your finger and plant each clove about 1 inch deep, separated 6 inches apart. Drop the clove into the hole in an upright position and cover with dirt. Many people have grown garlic in 6″ raised beds with much success. Others have even grown them in containers with similar success as long as the pot is large enough and drains well. Garlic is a bulb, meaning its prone to rot if it stays too wet. Best results have been found in the ground, where it has room to grow.

How to store garlic. Bulbs are best stored in a cool, dry place at about 72 degrees F or above. Make sure you have good air circulation. If you grow only a few you can hang them to dry in a breathable bag.

Fun fact. You can also eat the sprouts, like chives! If your garlic sprouts in the fall, grab some and try it on your salad!

How to Grow Garlic

How to Grow Avocado

Nevermind toothpicks and a glass of water, heres how to grow avocado the right way. In every effort to grow avocado, this is the only method that has ever worked, and look how easy it is…

Grab a ziplock back. Here I used a small sandwich bag. Fill it with peat moss (i used a little perlite too). Sprinkle water in so its just barely moist. Add your avocado seeds making sure the peat moss covers them completely. Zip up the bag. Throw it on a dark shelf at room temperature… Two months later, roots and shoots! Im very excited about how easy and effective it is.

How to Grow Avocado

Vegetable Chips

“Youre not leaving this table until you eat your junk food” How awesome would that be? If you have a NEED for the crunch that only chips can satisfy, but still want to be healthy, heres your answer.

Check out npr.org for the mother of all chips recipes.

Vegetable Chips

25 Healthy Foods

A great list from prevention, whats even greater? There’s a lot of variety in this list, its not all fruits and vegetables.

This list is in the form of a slideshow, or a printable list whichever you prefer.

25 Healthy Foods

Test Post from GrowYourOwnHealth

Test Post from GrowYourOwnHealth http://growyourownhealth.com

Square Foot Gardening... Vegetables Just Got a Whole Lot Easier.

Mel Bartholomew, inventor of square foot gardening was not a horticulturist by trade, he was a civil engineer who sold his company and retired to his garden at the age of 42.

When Mel started gardening, conventional gardens were single row gardens, averaging a 20′x30′ ft. His very first disappointment was that tending this type of garden was really hard work. You tilled and dug and ammended and weeded… and weeded, then weeded some more. It was just plain hard. So much work! all summer long.

Gardeners know, by July, your energy is spent and guess what, your garden is full of weeds. And who would blame you, its too stinkin hot to be out there doing the worst gardening task to ever exist, weeding.

But Mel went along with it, after all, he wanted to garden and he was up for the challenge. So he learned, and worked hard, but his acute engineer mind griped as each new ‘conventional method’ posed another question… and he had to know why…

Why do we garden in single rows?
Why do we need 3 foot aisles between the rows?
Why do we till to loosen the soil, then walk all over it to pack it back down again?
Why is the garden located in back, as far from the house as possible?
Why do we fill each 20 foot row with one single plant? And who can eat that much of one thing?
Why do we plant all these seeds just to go back and thin them all out? Why cant we just plant the seeds we want?

None of it made sense and Mel wanted answers. So he traveled the country asking experts “Why do we Do it this way??” The most common answer came back as ‘Thats the way its always been done’ For an engineer/efficiency expert, this was just not good enough.

So many brilliant discoveries stem from questioning the norm. This was no different. Mel proposed the following…

What if we create a space that we dont walk on and compact the soil? A space that everyone can reach into to tend. Instead of one long row, couldnt we have multiple rows combined in a smaller space? What if we stop using fertilizer? What if we eliminate digging entirely and did away with expensive gardening tools and most importantly, all that hard work?

So he started experimenting with ways to make his garden better. In the end, he invented a new way to garden… one year later, he came up with ‘Square foot Gardening’.

He created a smaller garden space that was within everyones reach – 2 feet. And the first square foot garden was built. A raised 4′x4′ bed, where you can reach the middle from every angle. This reduced garden size. It reduced waste by sowing only the seeds you need. And at 6″ tall, it reduced the amount of soil.

Square Foot Gardening Raised Bed

Its an open bottom box frame (4′x4′x6″deep – OR 3′x3′ for children) made of lumber, cedar or just about any type of material you can find, even cinder blocks. Weedwack the grass, lay down landscape fabric (or newspaper, or even nothing at all) and fill the box with soil.

What kind of soil you ask? He calls it “Mels Mix”.

Square Foot Gardening Soil

Its equal parts compost, peat moss and vermiculite. This soil mix provides all the nutrients you will ever need to grow a beautiful, bountiful harvest. He claims it never needs to be replaced, fertilized or ammended. You’ll only need to replenish with more soil when it runs low. He is very specific about his compost being a combination of at least 4 different types of composted material. Every bag of compost has the ingredients labeled, so read before you buy.

Square Foot Gardening Spacing

When your square foot garden is filled, its time to sow your seeds and plant your plants. Separate your garden into, you got it, square feet. A 4′x4′ bed will create 16 – 12″x12″ spaces, so you’ll be able to grow 16 different types of plants in one garden. Creating a “Grid” with wood makes it easier to tell your spaces apart. Plant different vegetables, herbs or flowers in each space. Large plants will take up one whole square foot space. Divide each square foot to accommodate smaller vegetables. Mels square foot spacing guidelines: Plants requiring 6″ spacing – plant 4 per square foot. Plants requiring 4″ spacing – plant 9 per square. Plants requiring 3″ spacing – plant 16 per square. What about thinning? Theres no longer a need to thin plants with this method. Drop a couple of seeds into each hole and let it grow. If you do get too many plants in one spot, Dont pull it out! It’s recommended that you snip the unwanted plant off at the stem with scissors.

Square Foot Gardening Location

The best place to put your square garden? Mel says, right outside your kitchen window where you can see it often, it will keep you interested! If youre planting more than one garden, space each box 3 feet apart from eachother, or far enough to work comfortably and at least get a push mower through.

How Much Can You Eat?

Mel says one 4×4 square foot garden will feed one adult, one salad, every day, all summer. SO plant one for every person in the house that wants to grow a beautiful garden, eat fresh food and do something good for their health.

Square Foot Gardening Layout – Companion Chart

Is all this confusing? Maybe. But with a little research, it can be extremely easy. Theres a lot of information out there about it. To make things easier, I designed this chart of square foot companion plants, based on my vegetable garden layout.

Right click to save this chart on your computer…

Square Foot Gardening Pictures

Mel and his gardens

I absolutely love square gardening concept because when the gardens grow, they fill in so nicely and are loaded with a variety of color and texture, sure to be beautiful whatever your combination.

Gorgeous design by The Walden Effect

Look at this beautiful square foot combination. Absolutely gorgeous with the trellis arbor and flowers surrounding the boxes. The Walden Effect took extra care in preparation to ensure weeds don’t grow outside the boxes. If this much prep aint your cup of tea, keep it in the box.

Mel and his team have been traveling around the world, teaching third world countries to grow their own food and providing the tools to do so. He has moved his company over to non-profit status, and all proceeds for items you buy through his company go toward his efforts to bring food to the world.

On a local note, right here in our own county, we have a similar effort. Garden Works DuPage is bringing vegetable gardens to low income families who show an interest in learning. Theyve upped their game from last year, supporting 4 families, to 14 in the coming 2013 season, providing funraising items such as tshirts and coloring books for the kids, and volunteer oppurtunities to those who are willing. Im ALL over that! What a loving effort. Please go to their facebook page and like them if you live outside the area or are unable to donate.

If you can see square foot gardening in your near future, and would like to know more about it, visit squarefootgardening.com or .org or you can still buy his books

Square Foot Gardening... Vegetables Just Got a Whole Lot Easier.

Square Foot Gardening... Vegetables Just Got a Whole Lot Easier.

Mel Bartholomew, inventor of square foot gardening was not a horticulturist by trade, he was a civil engineer who sold his company and retired to his garden at the age of 42.

When Mel started gardening, conventional gardens were single row gardens, averaging a 20′x30′ ft. His very first disappointment was that tending this type of garden was really hard work. You tilled and dug and ammended and weeded… and weeded, then weeded some more. It was just plain hard. So much work! all summer long.

Gardeners know, by July, your energy is spent and guess what, your garden is full of weeds. And who would blame you, its too stinkin hot to be out there doing the worst gardening task to ever exist, weeding.

But Mel went along with it, after all, he wanted to garden and he was up for the challenge. So he learned, and worked hard, but his acute engineer mind griped as each new ‘conventional method’ posed another question… and he had to know why…

Why do we garden in single rows?
Why do we need 3 foot aisles between the rows?
Why do we till to loosen the soil, then walk all over it to pack it back down again?
Why is the garden located in back, as far from the house as possible?
Why do we fill each 20 foot row with one single plant? And who can eat that much of one thing?
Why do we plant all these seeds just to go back and thin them all out? Why cant we just plant the seeds we want?

None of it made sense and Mel wanted answers. So he traveled the country asking experts “Why do we Do it this way??” The most common answer came back as ‘Thats the way its always been done’ For an engineer/efficiency expert, this was just not good enough.

So many brilliant discoveries stem from questioning the norm. This was no different. Mel proposed the following…

What if we create a space that we dont walk on and compact the soil? A space that everyone can reach into to tend. Instead of one long row, couldnt we have multiple rows combined in a smaller space? What if we stop using fertilizer? What if we eliminate digging entirely and did away with expensive gardening tools and most importantly, all that hard work?

So he started experimenting with ways to make his garden better. In the end, he invented a new way to garden… one year later, he came up with ‘Square foot Gardening’.

He created a smaller garden space that was within everyones reach – 2 feet. And the first square foot garden was built. A raised 4′x4′ bed, where you can reach the middle from every angle. This reduced garden size. It reduced waste by sowing only the seeds you need. And at 6″ tall, it reduced the amount of soil.

Square Foot Gardening Raised Bed

Its an open bottom box frame (4′x4′x6″deep – OR 3′x3′ for children) made of lumber, cedar or just about any type of material you can find, even cinder blocks. Weedwack the grass, lay down landscape fabric (or newspaper, or even nothing at all) and fill the box with soil.

What kind of soil you ask? He calls it “Mels Mix”.

Square Foot Gardening Soil

Its equal parts compost, peat moss and vermiculite. This soil mix provides all the nutrients you will ever need to grow a beautiful, bountiful harvest. He claims it never needs to be replaced, fertilized or ammended. You’ll only need to replenish with more soil when it runs low. He is very specific about his compost being a combination of at least 4 different types of composted material. Every bag of compost has the ingredients labeled, so read before you buy.

Square Foot Gardening Spacing

When your square foot garden is filled, its time to sow your seeds and plant your plants. Separate your garden into, you got it, square feet. A 4′x4′ bed will create 16 – 12″x12″ spaces, so you’ll be able to grow 16 different types of plants in one garden. Creating a “Grid” with wood makes it easier to tell your spaces apart. Plant different vegetables, herbs or flowers in each space. Large plants will take up one whole square foot space. Divide each square foot to accommodate smaller vegetables. Mels square foot spacing guidelines: Plants requiring 6″ spacing – plant 4 per square foot. Plants requiring 4″ spacing – plant 9 per square. Plants requiring 3″ spacing – plant 16 per square. What about thinning? Theres no longer a need to thin plants with this method. Drop a couple of seeds into each hole and let it grow. If you do get too many plants in one spot, Dont pull it out! It’s recommended that you snip the unwanted plant off at the stem with scissors.

Square Foot Gardening Location

The best place to put your square garden? Mel says, right outside your kitchen window where you can see it often, it will keep you interested! If youre planting more than one garden, space each box 3 feet apart from eachother, or far enough to work comfortably and at least get a push mower through.

How Much Can You Eat?

Mel says one 4×4 square foot garden will feed one adult, one salad, every day, all summer. SO plant one for every person in the house that wants to grow a beautiful garden, eat fresh food and do something good for their health.

Square Foot Gardening Layout – Companion Chart

Is all this confusing? Maybe. But with a little research, it can be extremely easy. Theres a lot of information out there about it. To make things easier, I designed this chart of square foot companion plants, based on my vegetable garden layout.

Right click to save this chart on your computer…

Square Foot Gardening Pictures

Mel and his gardens

I absolutely love square gardening concept because when the gardens grow, they fill in so nicely and are loaded with a variety of color and texture, sure to be beautiful whatever your combination.

Gorgeous design by The Walden Effect

Look at this beautiful square foot combination. Absolutely gorgeous with the trellis arbor and flowers surrounding the boxes. The Walden Effect took extra care in preparation to ensure weeds don’t grow outside the boxes. If this much prep aint your cup of tea, keep it in the box.

Mel and his team have been traveling around the world, teaching third world countries to grow their own food and providing the tools to do so. He has moved his company over to non-profit status, and all proceeds for items you buy through his company go toward his efforts to bring food to the world.

On a local note, right here in our own county, we have a similar effort. Garden Works DuPage is bringing vegetable gardens to low income families who show an interest in learning. Theyve upped their game from last year, supporting 4 families, to 14 in the coming 2013 season, providing funraising items such as tshirts and coloring books for the kids, and volunteer oppurtunities to those who are willing. Im ALL over that! What a loving effort. Please go to their facebook page and like them if you live outside the area or are unable to donate.

If you can see square foot gardening in your near future, and would like to know more about it, visit squarefootgardening.com or .org or you can still buy his books

Square Foot Gardening... Vegetables Just Got a Whole Lot Easier.

Soil Can Reduce Anxiety?

ok, we know that gardening is good for you, right? It makes us happy, supplies healthy doses of sunshine and fresh air, plus its great exercise! BUT here’s some real scientific proof that gardening has real physiological effects… its in the DIRT. Soil can reduce anxiety. It has the potential to heal disease and can even make us smarter! Dont believe it? I ‘dug up’ two quotes that support these claims.

From HealingLandscapes.org
“A strain of bacterium in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, has been found to trigger the release of seratonin, which in turn elevates mood and decreases anxiety. And on top of that, this little bacterium has been found to improve cognitive function and possibly even treat cancer and other diseases. Which means that contact with soil, through gardening or other means is beneficial.”  This one’s worth a read

From ScienceDaily.com
“Since serotonin plays a role in learning we wondered if live M. vaccae could improve learning in mice” . Matthews and Jenks fed live bacteria to mice and assessed their ability to navigate a maze compared to control mice that were not fed the bacteria. “We found that mice that were fed live M. vaccae navigated the maze twice as fast and with less demonstrated anxiety behaviors as control mice,”

I know far too many people with anxiety issues not to pass this along! Spring is coming, get outside and DIG!

Soil Can Reduce Anxiety?

How To Use Coffee Grounds as Fertilizer

Used Coffee Grounds are GREAT for your plants, don’t throw it away! Add it to your compost pile filter and all, or even sprinkle the grounds directly into the garden to help plants grow like crazy. Its loaded with nitrogen, with a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 20:1. Not only does it smell delicious, your plants will love it.

Here are 5 ways to Use Coffee Grounds as Fertilizer

1. Add it to your compost bin. Coffee grounds make an excellent ‘green’ material. When you compost, you layer ‘green’ materials, like grass clippings, kitchen scraps and plant debris, with ‘brown’ matter like leaves, bark and straw. Combining the two helps the organic matter break down quicker and leaves you with a nutrient rich soil material to add to your garden. “Black Gold!!!”

2. Use it straight in your garden as a mulch or soil conditioner. Coffee grounds will add nitrogen to the soil to feed the plants and adds acidity for bluer blooms on hydrangeas.  Coffee grounds will also attract worms. The more worms the better, as they are continuously composting and aerating the soil and feeding your plants with fresh nutrients.

3. Use it as worm bedding and feed. Worm castings are said to be the gardeners ultimate compost because they naturally contain so many of the minerals plants need. If you’re itching to try ‘vermicomposting’ give your worms a treat with used coffee grounds.

4. Make a compost tea. Stuff a sock full of used coffee grounds and steep it in a 5 gallon bucket of water  (or bigger)  for a few days. What comes out?… compost tea! Use the tea to water your plants for a nutritious boost.

5. Add it to your house plants. Our facebook fans report that sprinkling used coffee grounds in the soil around your house plants will make them grow like crazy!

FEED YOUR SOIL!
You should always be feeding your soil to keep your plants healthy and growing. If you have a few more minutes and would like to learn exactly whats going on in your soil, heres the best video Ive seen about it! These people are growing gigantic vegetables with just great soil…

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How To Use Coffee Grounds as Fertilizer

Homemade Compost Bins

Homemade compost bins are infinite, you can make them out of just about anything. Simple or fancy, big or small, they’ve all been done and the design is only left to your imagination. To the compost, it doesn’t matter which design you choose… but YOU want something that looks good and does its job. Honestly, you don’t really need a bin for your scraps to decompose into beautiful, rich soil for your garden. You can literally throw it on the ground and it will break down over time. You can even dig a hole or a trench and throw your compost material in there. But you wanted something more, right? so here are a few ideas.

Homemade Compost Bins

Big compost bins shown here are made of cinder blocks, hay, wooden pallets, timber, crates and fencing. If it will hold a pile, it will do the job. When planning a homemade compost bin, consider airflow, moisture retention and overall size (more on this later). If you turn the pile regularly, you can have finished compost pretty darn quick. A 2 bin system like this one holds a spot for finished compost.

I built this compost bin in 2010 out of very old boards hanging out here for years. I looked at the rotten wood and thought, “its going to hold garbage, why not use everything”. The fence was graciously donated by a neighbor. This wonderful bin turned out to be a community dump, for all my neighbors to drop off grass clippings and fall leaves.

If you dont need a ton of compost a small container can work, like this garbage can. Its easy to take care of, dump it out, mix it up then pile it back in. Unless you drill holes in the can, it wont drain or breathe well and can get downright stinky. Make sure to turn it often.


This one’s creative! A chicken wire hoop has great drainage and air flow. Being able to disassemble the hoop to turn the pile would be super helpful. Reassemble and scoop the compost back in.

Now that you have a few ideas about how to make a homemade compost bin, here’s a little science to keep in mind when building your own.

Compost Chemistry. The Science of Rotting Garbage.

Heat. The decomposition process generates heat through the microbial breakdown of materials. You might notice steam in the early morning or when you turn the pile. Heat is essential to ‘cook’ your compost pile. When your pile is cooking, you’ll know that its actively decomposing, killing pathogens and weed seeds.

Moisture. You may notice white powdery dry spots in your compost pile, and this is natural, but dry spots are not actively breaking down. The dry pile needs to be turned and watered if needed. Dont over water! A soupy mess wont break down either and may leach nutrients from the pile. ‘wrung out sponge’ is about right.

Oxygen. Microorganisms known for breaking down a compost pile need oxygen to breathe, therefore aeration is a necessity. Turning keeps the pile oxygenated and distributes moisture evenly.

Size. The size of the compost pile also helps the decomposition process. It should be large enough to retain moisture and generate heat and small enough to allow air flow. The recommended size is 3-5 feet wide and tall.

Whats that Smell?
I frequently encounter an ammonia smell which is most reminiscent of animal urine. This is caused by too much nitrogen. Mixing in more carbon rich ‘brown’ material will fix the problem fast. In the early summer when no leaves are available, shredded newspaper helps, so I use it a lot.

If the pile smells rotten, like sewage or rotten eggs, it’s caused by anaerobic activity. Turning the pile adds more oxygen and should relieve that rotten stench.

How often Should I Turn it?
Lots of different opinions on turning compost. Some research says that untouched compost still retains oxygen and heat levels adequately, doing away with the necessity to turn. While that might be true, I simply cant wait a year before my compost is ready. I’ve found that turning the pile breaks it down faster, and have read that, as a rule, every time you turn, it cuts composting time in half! But I hear you, turning large piles of compost is hard work so it’s easy to just let it sit. And that works, but a pile located in direct sun, turned daily, without the addition of new materials, can be broken down in 2-3 weeks. That’s more like it! and worth the effort. In the first few days, I turn with a pitch fork. After the grass clippings have decomposed past the bulky stage, my little Mantis Tiller works like a pro and makes the job a breeze!

Homemade Compost Bins

A World Without the Banana?

Did you know there are many types of Banana’s other than the common yellow type you see at the store?

The cultivars Dwarf Cavendish and Grand Nain (Chiquita Banana) are the yellow ones, but did you know that they might be unavailable in 10-15 years due to lack of genetic diversity?

The Panama disease attacks the banana plant’s root, and since it kills so many plants the banana would become unavailable at the stores. The former yellow banana Gros Michel no longer grown to be sold. The race for a resistant variety is on, and its not known if it will be possible to have a banana that is so close.

A World Without the Banana?

Sunflower Fort!

Source: flickr.com via Trisha Dingillo on Pinterest

Sunflower Fort!

Growing Sprouts: A Chart of Nutritional Benefits

Being a plant freak Ive become increasingly interested in growing sprouts and have just started to grow them inside my home. I wanted to grow alfalfa sprouts, broccoli sprouts and mung bean sprouts, but having never tried it, I needed to learn how. There are so many different types of seeds and beans that you can sprout, and some of them are grown differently than others. So I started to research. What I came across was their incredible nutritional value.

To organize my sprout effort, I compiled this chart based on information gathered across the web. Most of the nutritional values came from Sprout People, a wonderful resource of information, delicious sprout mixes and tools to help you sprout.

Download the Chart Here (pdf):

Growing Sprouts: A Chart of Nutritional Benefits

Plastic Bottle Garden

How cool is this plastic bottle garden. Seems like a great way to recycle! But be careful before undergoing a project like this. It might be harmful to your health.

I could not find the original source for this image, so there is no more information about this cool looking garden or what type of bottles they used, but we were getting few questions on facebook about chemicals from the plastic, leaching into the soil. This is a real concern. About.com mentions that Bisphenol A (BPA) in water bottles can cause interference of hormonal messaging, cancer and other nasty stuff.

There are numerous types of plastic made of different materials. All sources Ive researched say that #2 (high density polyethylene), #4 (low density polyethylene), and #5 (polypropylene) are safe for food. Are they safe enough for a plastic bottle garden? Im still looking, but I would seriously think twice before you building a garden like this. Check the type of plastic the bottle is made of, research the chemical components and if it has the likelihood to leach into your soil.

Plastic Bottle Garden

How to Make a Terrarium

Been researching how to make a terrarium. Its  a fun, simple little project that can be around for years and it doesnt take long to make.

Terrariums are self sustaining environments that need only sunlight to survive. The plants emit water that gathers as condensation on the glass. As the water gains mass, it drips down the side of the glass, into the soil for the plant to use. An image shared with us on facebook showed a beautiful terrarium that had only been watered once – in 40 years!

Terrariums are built in layers for drainage (rocks, floral moss, dirt).  Carbon from charcoal helps purify the terrarium environment, reducing mold and fungus and keeping it from becoming smelly.

Gather your supplies. I have a jar from the resale shop (99cents) a bag of rocks and floral moss from the dollar store. Soil. and Terrarium plants. Here, I took some cuttings from our Jade. There are no roots yet, but if all goes well, they’ll root quickly. I also have a little steppables ‘Brass Buttons’ fern.

 

How To Make a Terrarium

Lets start layering. I started with the dollar store rocks…

 

I didnt have terrarium charcoal. I read that it consists of activated charcoal, and I DID have that in capsules, so I cut a few open and sprinkled it in. We’ll find out if it works.

 

Next, I thought a layer of moss would look nice, and floral moss did the trick. I learned that its easier to construct your terrarium if everything was good and wet, so nothing falls through the cracks

 
Looking pretty cool, and I noticed a little fog around the rocks. Its already beginning condensation.

 
Wet the soil so its easier to add this last layer before the plants go in.

 
Two jade cuttings, a little clump of brass buttons (Leptinella squalida New Zealand Brass Buttons) and some more rocks for visual appeal. awesome.

 
Heres the finished product, looking totally cool. Now to watch it grow.

So where do I put my terrarium after its finished? How much sun does this thing need? Of course depends on your plants, but its good to keep it out of direct sunlight. If you have a closed terrarium, it could bake your plants – it gets hot in there! If the plants are brown and wilting, its probably not getting enough light. If the plants are growing tall and leggy, its ‘reaching’ because it wants more light.

How to Make a Terrarium

My First Fairy Garden Doors

I was so impressed with how great popsicle stick fairy doors look, I had to try it myself. What I didn’t know is that they’re quick easy projects you can do with your kids. Very satisfying without a ton of effort.

Fairy Garden Tools

I gathered stuff from around the house… found the old popsicle sticks, raided the sewing tins and junk drawers for buttons, thumbtacks, jewelry. After my first two, a ‘fairy door shoebox’ filled with tools and goodies, was a necessity. I started with Gorilla Wood glue, with hopes that they will hold up to water outdoors and in fairy garden containers. Its rated indoor/outdoor use with Type2 water resistance, but what I like about this glue is that it sets quickly and theres no foam like with regular gorilla glue.

Fairy Garden Door Construction

Its a rather straightforward process. Lay popsicle sticks out to create the design you want. Cut two cross pieces to hold it all together and glue. Pick out cool buttons, charms from old jewelry, moss and glue it on. I used wood stain on some, paint on others and left on bare. Here are the first two.

Add some color! I have a thing for red doors. After posting this picture on facebook, I found out so much more about red doors. “Feng shui says that they are good luck.” “In China, it’s tradition to paint the front door red before the new year, to invite good luck and happiness.” “In Catholocism, the red door on a chapel symbolized the blood of christ, and other martyrs, to signify that the ground beyond the door (inside the church) was holy, and a sanctuary from physical and spiritual evils.” “In Ireland, front doors are painted red to ward-off ghosts and evil spirits.” And last but not least, It is just a “pop” of color for a house. I had no idea!

So I kept going, loving every minute of it. Honestly, they go so quick you can do a half dozen of them in no time.

At this point, I had a question. How do you get these things to stand up. Most fairy doors Id seen online were attached to a tree, but I wanted to put them in containers. So I did some searching and I found the most impressive fairy door Ive ever seen. Its elaborate and breathtaking with a ton of detail.

I was inspired to say the least! Since we were just working with the hole boring drill bit to build our hoop house cold frame (and i didnt have to go outside in 20 degree weather to get them) It made the most sense to attach the doors to branches, then drill holes the size of the branches in a base. This is what I came up with. I poured a little glue into the holes to get them to stay.

My First Fairy Garden Doors

How to Build A Cold Frame

Cold frames are great for all sorts of garden related things… Storing plants you didn’t get a chance plant the previous year. Extending your growing season for cold weather veggies, and hardening off seedlings you started indoors.

Good thing cold frames are so easy to build. Sure you could buy a cold frame kit, but theres not much to building one yourself. Any scrap wood, any old garbage picked window and you’re good to go. Some key things to think through during your cold frame construction.

Location.
If you have a south facing location to put your cold frame, preferably close to the house, this will provide the most heat. Size and shape? Thats totally up to you and your location.

Solar Angle
As far as the angle to set the window, the general rule of thumb for winter is your latitute plus 15 degrees for the optimal solar angle.

Air Flow
When its COLD, you want your cold frame to be air tight. That means filling any gaps between the wood or windows. ALSO, it gets super hot in a cold frame when the sun is blazing down on it, even when its not hot outside. It smart to attach your windows with hinges and devise some sort of prop to hold the windows open slightly for ventilation. It’s also smart to invest in a cheap thermometer to monitor your temps.

Here is our south facing cold frame.

Size and shape were 100% determined by the location, the wood and the salvaged windows we had laying around. It could use some soap and water, but overall it blends nicely. The window is not set at an optimal angle, because it wouldnt be tall enough in the front to actually fit plants in, but Im sure it will suffice… temperature reading in mid February was 50 degrees, on a 30 degree day.

Another smaller (prettier) cold frame at a better solar angle. Wood salvaged from freecycle.org

Dont have windows? Plastic works just as well. You could staple or clamp 4 mil plastic right onto your wooden box. Just make sure its easy to open and close so you can check on your plants AND that it stays relatively air tight when you close it back up. We’ve even built a wooden frame to staple plastic on, and then clamp onto the cold frame.

Cold frames are easy, just about anything that will retain humidity and keep out damaging, drying winds will do. Even something like this milk jug clotche.

How to Build A Cold Frame