The basics of how to plant a vegetable garden
how to build your raised bed
now you need to prepare your soil. You could use some really nice top soil. but the rage is lasagna gardening. This is where you layer biodegradable materials to create a rich organic soil for your vegetable garden.
How to prepare a lasagna garden
The price has gone up $20/mo since first reported by treehugger.com but its still a great deal. Obrien Mitsubishi in Normal, IL (by Illinois State University) is doing it. Making it affordable to own a fuel economy car. Heres more info about the Mitsubishi i
Each January and February, through our frigid Chicago winters, my only real plan is to sit by the space heater. Until recently, when I saw a photograph of a snow covered cold frame filled with healthy green vegetables inside. I figured they must be in a more temperate zone and went on with business until I started waking up from dreams of harvesting carrots (this is true). So I began to research winter vegetables to find out just how cold tolerant they are. I figured, with a little ingenuity, it might be possible to grow winter vegetables in our sub zero climate. Vegetable seeds are cheap so I began another experiment.
Here’s the research. This has yet to be tested, but by spring I should know just how far you can go in a zone 5 winter garden.
Cold Hardy VegetablesLight Frost Tolerant (26-31 degrees) | VERY Cold Hardy VegetablesHard Frost Tolerant (26-28 degrees) |
I started to experiment with heat retention in the video below. If we can start flats of vegetable seeds indoors in late January and get them out into a cold frame by February, that would really increase my plant production. Not sure its possible just yet, but its totally worth the effort to find out.
So I’ve had a few bulbs sitting around for a few months now, just because I couldn’t find anything to put them in. I knew I wanted it to be something different. So I looked around today and went through a hundred pots, old shoes, coffee cups but nothing really made me think different!
I saw a $20 laying around and thought, that would look awesome on a pot. I wanted to recycle something, so I looked in the can outside. The only thing in the can was a Stroh’s can. YUCK I would never drink that! My mom sure has an acquired taste in beer. But notice, she did save the top for a charity. So with a old Stroh’s can, a few quick copies of a $20, a pair of scissors, packing tape, soil and bulbs I was all set!
So all I did was cut the can, and used the packing tape to completely cover the paper on the can. This will keep it from getting wet while watering, and keeps the ink from running. I did trim the can 1 last time to make it perfect. I chose not to put holes in the bottom, since it will be sitting on a wood surface. I plan to make many more of these with different pictures, and plants! They will make awesome gifts.
This one has some wildflower tulips planted in it. So I will try to update when flowering. I may add some moss around the top to soften up the edge and make it a little more interesting if the foliage doesn’t droop over the sides like I am hoping.
So this all started out today as I did some winter sowing. While cutting milk jugs I wondered, could I adapt this into a indoor mini greenhouse? Well, I was all out of 1 gallon milk jugs, but I did have a cranberry juice bottle laying around! So I washed out the bottle, grabbed a pair of scissors, and my trusty drill. This is what I came up with!
Drill some holes in the cap, or remove cap. Cut the bottle open leaving enough room for dirt. Place the top back on and see if its the size you want it to be. If not, cut away more plastic from the top portion. Fill with dirt, seeds, or cuttings! I chose cuttings here.
A little water goes a long way here so don’t over water! Place the top back on, open the cap at least 2x a day to let out excess moisture. After these plants take root, I will pot them up, and stick some new cuttings back in my new mini greenhouse!
Another added convenience of this mini greenhouse? Keeps my cats from eating my plants!
Winter Sowing, AND Recycling -A few years back I decided to try and start sowing seeds while there was still snow on the ground! So, I grabbed a bunch of different seed packages I had laying around from, many years before. I grabbed a few old 1 gallon milk jugs, and cut the bottoms off. Then I swept away some snow, dumped some potting soil in that spot, and sowed the some seeds. After that, I took the bottomless milk jug, and covered the seeds.
Well, a few days later and a few snowstorms the milk jugs were all over the place. Now I had to figure out a way to hold the milk jugs in place. I poked 3-4 holes near the bottom of the bottomless milk jugs. Then I cut some pieces of electrical wire about 6″ long and mad a hook at the end. The hook then goes into the hole in the milk jug then stuck into the ground. If you recently had an ice storm and the stakes don’t go into the ground so easy, use a skinny screwdriver (size of the wire or skinnier) to make the hole first. This works VERY well! No more milk jugs blowing around in the wind!
And as far as the seeds, they sprouted in spring around the same time the daffodils were blooming. I left the bottomless milk jug on top of the seeds till they were about 6″ tall, and with 3 sets of leaves. I have only used this method for perennials but would assume it would work with most annuals as well. My favorite part of using this technique is that I can sow the seeds directly into the garden, and not have to worry about transplant shock, or actually remembering to transplant them!
Also this gives the seedlings a chance against the rabbits! By the time the milk jug comes off, rabbits usually have more food to eat.
A solar greenhouse is heated by collecting and storing heat energy throughout the day, then releasing it slowly at night, basically moderating the climate. To use the sun’s energy, a solar greenhouse needs to collect, insulate, and store energy. Aside from fans to circulate air, it is a passive system.He suggests water for heat storage, and gives us a calculation to go on. 2 gallons per square feet. Not sure how this works, since were looking at cubic feet for ground and air temperature in a contained unit, but its enough to go on.
Ive been trying to figure out how to heat a small greenhouse or coldframe without electricity. Looking onto solar, water heater pumps run on 12v batteries. Still havent found a good solution. But LOOK at this pop can heater:
1/2″ Insulation. Popcans. Black Spray Paint. Glass & duct tape.
There are quite a few people making these pop can heaters on youtube. Now to figure out how to structure it (size, placement) to heat a small greenhouse or cold frame.
If I had to recommend only one book to start you off on improving garden soil, this one’s it.
Secrets to Great Soil by By Elizabeth Stell. This book is such a quick and interesting read with knowledge that will remain with you forever.
It includes topics like creating healthy soil fertility with the use of compost and fertilizers. Improving new sites and problem soil. Soil Tests and more.
I’ve tested many of the methods in this book and posted results on this site. Id like to republish the intro because its a story that I’ve told over and over again since I read the book. I think you’ll like it…
Rescuing Soil on a Larger Scale
About the same time, I discovered a copy of Malabar Farm on my grandparents’ bookshelf. Louis Bromfield reached a conclusion similar to mine from efforts on a much larger scale in the 1940s. He bought an Ohio farm whose soil was so badly eroded that most topsoil was completely gone or marred by large gullies. Though once productive, the farm had been abandoned. After years of failure to replenish organic matter and mismanaged fertility it could no longer produce decent crops.
Bromfield transformed his fields by incorporating as much organic matter as possible as rapidly as possible. He built up the soil with animal manures and green manures, crop rotations that included pasture, and judicious use of lime and synthetic fertilizers. He controlled erosion on sloping fields by growing cover crops rather than leaving the soil bare over the winter and by plowing along the contour rather than straight up and down. he grew strips of sod between strips of easily eroded crops such as corn.
Improvements were visible after only a year or two. Yields increased greatly: Corn yields doubled or tripled in four years, and on some fields wheat yields increased almost tenfold. Every year, fewer pests and diseases bothered the field and garden crops. By the fifth year, insecticides were no longer needed even though an occasional pest was still seen. The animals, fed directly from the farm on pasture, silage, or field crops, became noticeably healthier. (A laboratory analysis of the farm’s alfalfa showed it was especially high in nutritious minerals.) A nearby stream muddied with soil washed from the fields became clear again.
During the drought of 1944, when farmers all over Ohio were hauling water, the springs on Malabar Farm were still flowing, because all of the erosion controls had allowed rain to seep into the soil and recharge long term water reserves.
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Pick up Secrets to Great Soil from your local library, read it (in part) on google books or buy a copy on amazon
I’ve been studying the steps of seed germination and the seed germination process for 3 years, starting seeds indoors, then planting seeds outside when the time is right.
February and the promise of spring overexcites me, longing for an END to dreary winter. My mistake like many others is starting too many seeds too soon – creating a big mess and a lot of dead plants. But I’ve come to the conclusion that there are only 2 real questions to answer…
‘How’, and most importantly ‘When’?
The ‘How’ is easy. Set up a space with grow lights, fill seed flats with a nice soiless seed starter mixture and keep them moist. The seeds take care of the rest. I’ve already covered how in this post. Steps of Seed Germination Part 1
The ‘When’ is trickier. I had wonderful success last year with vegetables, more vegetables than I knew what to do with, I couldnt give them away! Steps of Seed Germination Part 2 has to do with timing of vegetable seeds, so I created printable charts showing what temperature vegetable seeds and seedlings can withstand.
This year, Ive begun seed germination of annual and perennial flowers indoors and am trying to correct past mistakes…researching like a madwoman. Every plant germinates, grows and flowers at a different rate. Its important to get it right. Nurseries and commercial growers start seeds in the greenhouse in plug trays – flats with a lot of little tiny cells. Seeds germinate and the roots fill the little cells in anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks depending on the plant. Then they transplant the strongest seedlings into bigger cells or individual pots where they’re fed and another 4 to 6 weeks of growth is needed before blooms are expected.
But like I said, no two plants are the same and grow at different rates. I’ve been trying to build a chart for myself (zone 5) for days and have been searching plant by plant… until I came upon this spreadsheet. Add your last frost date and the spreadsheet will calculate all the dates and times you need to start and set out your plants.
An interesting event… The Lone Seedling. Not sure what this is about yet, but I’ll let you know what happens.
of almost 400 cells, one impatien seed sprouted. (plus a LITTLE one) its been that way for 2 days.
updates: March 29 – the other impatiens caught up!
Seedling progress of Geranium (left), Convulvulus (middle) and Impatiens Balsamina (right) started Feb 17, 2011
March 1
March 7
March 24 (impatiens dont grow this fast, do they!?)
March 29 Transplants – Impatiens Balsamina
March 29, remaining in tray (more breathing room, phew)
March 29 Marigold (started March 7)
March 29 Zinnia Elegans- Cherry Queen (started March 15)
So many great vertical gardens out there in so many styles, but my favorite has to be the pallet garden. Pallets are are so easy to come by in these parts, most garbage days you can grab one. The pictures have been floating around on the internet, but even with all of our ingenuity here 
we were scratching our heads over how to keep the dirt in. The secret has been revealed, along with one of the nicest pallet gardens I’ve seen out there.
Source: lifeonthebalcony.com via Trisha on Pinterest
Fern Richardson over at Life on the Balcony wrote full instructions with photos. Im loving her blog! The secret, cover the back with landscape fabric, lay it on its back, pack the dirt in and grow the plants straight out the front. Check out her instructions on How To Turn a Pallet into a Garden
Source: laurmelashouse.blogspot.com via Trisha on Pinterest
Laura commented on Ferns blog with a BEAUTIFUL alternative. MAKE it yourself. and were in luck because she wrote up her instructions too. Check out Lauras homemade Pallet Garden
My neighbor left us the biggest pallet Ive ever seen, so this wonderful project is in store for spring.
The Warrenville Grove in the Dupage forest preserve was the best part of Warrenville. The Warrenville Grove is located on the west branch of the dupage river. Julius Warren claimed this land in 1833 for his saw mill.
As a kid I always rode my bike there. Inside the grove there used to be many fun and challenging bike paths. After a long bike ride we would always go and walk across the Warrenville dam.
Back then we also fished from and around the dam. The dam was also a awesome spot to come to eat. I remember my parents picking us Angie’s beef and we would go there. For those of you that don’t know of Angie’s beef, it was awesome. I might even go out on a limb and say it was better than Portillos! Sadly to say where Angie’s once was, now sits a Speedway gas station. And sadly to say the damn is gone too!
The forest preserve did this for a reason. They did a study that showed fish populations weren’t getting past the waterfall. And therefore limiting the numbers, and varieties of fish in the Dupage river. Click HERE for the full report.
A dam has been in this location since 1835, you would think that the environment would have adopted by today. Or that they could have just added stock fish to the river. Although they say this is an improvement, I say its a tragedy. It looks ok now, but not nearly as beautiful. Honestly, I have no reason to go back to the Warrenville Grove.
Im so stoked about this
Source: amazon.com via Trisha on Pinterest
We’re SERIOUS fire people here, so for us, this must be king of all fairy garden accessories. Ideas are FLOODING in. I want to have a REAL fire in this pit, but the item here (amazon) is made of resin, which would melt faster than a popsicle on a hundred degree day. So I think it would call for concrete construction. Something this small, you’d be feeding it little twigs way too quick, so how about the size of a tea candle?
Do you have ideas for making the coolest fairy garden fire pit? Post it below!
I cant wait to start making one.
After finding this most amazing use of broken pots I am now convinced they are meant for fairy gardens. Good thing I left a bunch of my pots out this year, maybe some will break! Well, you know how that goes, the one time you want a few pots to break over winter, its not going to happen! Even if they don’t break we will be out there amnesty day, this time we will be picking up all the broken pots we usually leave behind!
I think the coolest part of this creation, is the stone path with the sempervivum (hens and chicks) leading up to the door. The little bird house on top is like the icing on a chocolate cake!
How much simpler could it be to have a thriving garden, you dont even need to take the soil out of the bag! Just cut it open and plant your seeds right in. Dont forget the drainage hole on the bottom.
Mother Earth News wrote a really in depth article on how to start a quick and easy food garden
Have you tried this? Or something similar? tell us about it. leave a comment below!
No doubt that gardening is GOOD FOR YOU! It makes us happy, supplies healthy doses of sunshine and fresh air, plus its good exercise. BUT here’s some real scientific proof that gardening has concrete biological effects: reduced anxiety, potential to heal disease and can even make us smarter! (and strengthens my standpoint on barefoot gardening… no i will not put some shoes on 
)
I know far too many people with anxiety issues not to pass this along! Spring is coming, get outside and DIG!
One thing I would like to see happen by the year 2020 is every American home have solar panels on their roofs. Now it has been a proven fact that having solar panels installed on your roof will pay for 35-70% of your electricity bill. Now if everyone of the homes install LED or CFL lights, their energy savings would be even more. If every building that consumes electricity that comes from coal, gas, or nuclear power had solar panels installed on the roof we would see about 50% less energy coming from dirty energy sources. That would mean 50% less pollutants being released from coal/gas. And cutting that by half, would be a very good thing.
So looking up more ideas on recycling old cans I came upon this!
The last post on recycling cans used the cans to make garden lights. This uses them as wall planters! I am going to take this idea even further by painting the cans and using different sizes. When I paint the cans, I plan on using outdoor paint so they last as long as possible. I plan on utilizing my local free cycle to get some of the larger cans, as pictured above.
Although the image above shows the cans being used for herbs, I may try doing this on the side of my house with wave petunias. How nice would that look? A whole wall of petunias flowering!
As for drainage goes I think I will have a few rocks in the bottom of the cans so the excess water drains there, and the soil can wick up the moisture. Kinda like self watering! That’s the only way I can see the soil staying moist in full sun.
This idea was found @http://ewainthegarden.blogspot.com/2010/05/vegetable-garden-ideas.html
They also have this picture using burlap bags for larger veggies!
Wouldn’t it be nice if EVERY garbage dump did this? Every little bit helps. People as a whole need to start utilizing wasted means of energy.
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