How To Grow Onions

It is summer. It is hot. Why, oh why, would anyone be planting a crop that grows during "cool" weather? Because, Grasshopper, fall will be here soon and we need to get the fall crops in the ground now. There are lettuce seeds, spinach seeds, beets, peas, cabbage, kale and onions that must be planted. Yea! Gardening!

I grow onions every year. Usually twice a year. Spring and fall.

Onions are a "cool season crop." This means they will grow and thrive when the weather is cool. Some other plants that like cool weather include: Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, beets, lettuce, spinach, radishes, asparagus, kale and many herbs. All of these will enjoy cool days and frosty nights.

Read more here.

Interest in 'community supported agriculture' grows

ASSUMPTION — A Christian County farm best known for corn and soybeans — including marketing ties to Brazil — has added a backyard garden.

August Creek Farm joins the growing list of "community supported agriculture" operations across Illinois targeted to consumer demand for locally grown produce. The concept — consumers buy memberships, and the CSAs plant, tend and harvest the crops — has been around for more than a quarter century.

The popularity of the local and organic food movement, according to CSA groups, has begun to attract larger, traditional farms to the niche market.

"I do all the work, and I bring the produce to them," said Andrea Corzine of August Creek Farm. "We try to pay them back dollar for dollar in vegetables.

"With the local food movement, they've become a lot more popular."

She said August Creek Farm, in many ways, grew out of the recession. After graduating from college in 2009 with a degree in natural resources and land management, Corzine bounced around in various part-time jobs in Florida before finding full-time work.

"It was an interesting period in my life," she said.

Read more here.

Vegetables to grow in winter: a how-to guide

With the help of a bit of cover, and carefully selected varieties of seeds, it is possible to grow vegetables and herbs all year round in the United Kingdom, and presumably therefore in other temperate countries that have frosty winters.

In my corner of Scotland, away from the sea and up in the hills, there is only one month of the year that can be guaranteed to be frost free and that is July. Most years we cannot grow courgettes or runner beans outside without cover. In our case, experimenting has paid off and we often have more produce in winter than in summer. Last year by the end of winter we were fed up with salad!

Why grow vegetables in winter?

There are a number of advantages to growing vegetables in winter:

• Mature overwintered veg keeps growing until December under cover, stands for the winter then comes away fast in February. They can be picked for much of the winter. There might be lean pickings in January but there is usually something – perhaps a bit of kale, land cress, claytonia, lamb's lettuce, herbs and carrots.
• Later autumn sowings will overwinter as seedlings that get going quickly again in February and are ready long before spring sowings. This eliminates the 'hungry gap' – that period of time when seeds have been sown in spring but little is ready to eat.
• Vitamins and minerals are harder to obtain in winter, especially vitamin C. Having something fresh from the garden can make a big difference.
• Fresh organic produce is more expensive in winter. Therefore winter veg saves you more money than summer veg. Rocket, radishes, salad leaves, parsley and mint are all expen-sive in winter yet easy to grow at home.
• The ground is as well growing something as sitting there empty.

Protecting plants from frost

Any protection that you can give plants over the winter will help them, although there are a number of things you can grow with no protection at all. A greenhouse or polytunnel gives the best protection and plenty of indoor space. We cover some of the plants with polypropylene floating mulch inside the tunnel or greenhouse for extra insulation.

Read more: http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/vegetables-grow-winter-how-guide

40 Fruits, vegetables and herbs that will grow in partial shade

We all know that most garden crops want as much sun as possible. Tomatoes, melons and peppers will positively pout if they don't get oodles of light. What you may not realize is that many other garden crops will do quite well with limited sunlight.

Which plants will put up with lower light levels?

A general rule is that plants grown for their stems, leaves or buds generally tolerate light shade fairly well. Those grown for roots or fruits tend to need more sun.

That said, even many of these crops will also tolerate light shade, simply providing smaller yields.These are noted on the list with an asterisk (*).

The following crops will grow with as little as three to six hours of sun per day, or constant dappled shade. While size or yields may be affected in some instances, taste will be just as good.

Read more: http://www.examiner.com/article/40-fruits-vegetables-and-herbs-that-will-grow-partial-shade

Gardening boom: One in 3 U.S. households is now growing food

WILLISTON, Vt. — During the past five years there’s been a significant shift toward more Americans growing their own food in home and community gardens, increasing from 36 million households in 2008 to 42 million in 2013.

That’s a 17 percent increase and represents the highest level of food gardening in more than a decade, according to a special National Gardening Association report, Garden to Table: A 5-Year Look at Food Gardening in America.

Millennials get in the act

The report shows that more young people, particularly millennials (ages 18-34), are the fastest growing population segment of food gardeners. In 2008 there were 8 million millennial food gardeners. That figure rose to 13 million in 2013, an increase of 63 percent.

Millennials also nearly doubled their spending on food gardening, from $632 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion in 2013. The report found that more households with children participated in food gardening.

Read more: http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/gardening-boom-one-3-u-s-households-now-growing-food/189850.html

Markets for Homegrown Produce

How to earn a financial harvest from your garden

More customers than you might imagine are eager to buy that wonderful organic produce growing in your back yard. You don’t need to be a full-time farmer to find buyers who will pay enough to make selling worthwhile. Here are some ways for home gardeners to sell their extra harvest.

Farmers’ markets. At the Palafox Market in Pensacola, Florida, vendors range from those who sell every week to others who appear only once a year, and they are all different sizes, from the backyard gardener to commercial farmers.

Farmers’ markets vary in the fees they collect from sellers; fees may be reduced for low-volume sellers. Alternatively, markets may encourage individual gardeners to share space and costs with other sellers.

“Some farmers’ markets have community tables or tents where you don’t have to pay a booth fee to sell,” says Weston Miller, community and urban horticulturist for the Oregon State University Extension. “That would be the easiest for a very small-scale gardener.” To find out if a particular market is a cost-effective venue for selling your produce, talk to the market’s manager.

Markets may require vendors to have insurance. Timothy A. Woods, Ph.D., agricultural economics extension professor at the University of Kentucky, says that some markets have an umbrella policy that covers all sellers. Smaller farmers’ markets are less likely to have insurance and fee requirements, Woods says. For those that do, homeowner insurance policies may provide the needed coverage. In some circumstances, a food handler certificate may also be required.

Roadside stands. In some communities, you can start selling as quickly as it takes to move a few baskets of vegetables to the front yard. Other cities have regulations that prohibit selling in residential neighborhoods. Rules may allow selling only on private property or in commercial zones. Churches, businesses, or shopping centers may permit individuals to sell vegetables from a vehicle at the far edge of a parking lot.

With the increasing demand for locally grown food, many communities are reconsidering their zoning laws. “Portland, Oregon, just changed its zoning to make it easier for people to sell produce at roadside stands,” Miller says. Before setting up a roadside stand, ask about pertinent ordinances in your community.

Read more: http://www.organicgardening.com/living/markets-for-homegrown-produce

New report predicts value of London’s edible gardens at £1.4 million – and counting

London’s food growing gardens and urban farms are producing food worth at least £1.4 million per year, according to a new report published today by Capital Growth, London’s food growing network. Using data collected by a sample of 160 food growing spaces located in community gardens, schools, allotments, parks and farms across the capital, the report shows how veg patches all over London are putting fresh, seasonal and ultra-local food on thousands (and potentially millions) of plates.

The weights of community-grown fruit, vegetables, honey and eggs were recorded by members of the Capital Growth food growing network, which has over 2,000 registered spaces, many based in low-income areas of London. “We know that London can’t feed itself but the aim of this initiative was to see just how much food we can grow, and we have been able to use our innovative online Harvest-ometer tool to record the harvest of a wide range of different growing spaces,” explained Sarah Williams from Capital Growth. “The response has been extremely positive, with about one tenth of our member spaces clocking up over £150,000 of produce during the course of a year, and contributing portions of healthy fruit and veg to over a quarter-of-a-million meals”

The data was used to find out popular crops – which included salad leaves, tomatoes, courgettes, squash, potatoes and onions, as well as the most high-yielding in terms of weight or money, and yield per square metre. It was also used to estimate the potential value – in weight and money – of food produced across the whole of the Capital Growth network, totting up to an estimated £1.4 million worth of fresh produce, grown on our doorsteps. 

The estimate is considered conservative, as London is starting to see the re-emergence of urban farms, such as Sutton Community Farm who took part in the project and contributed almost £45 000 towards the total.   The last few years have seen development of larger sites including Sutton, OrganicLea in Waltham Forest and Forty Hall Farm in Enfield, who are all growing food to sell at a significant scale.

The work of Capital Growth through the Harvest-ometer, is a first in terms of measuring and valuing what is being grown by London’s communities. “We know that growing food is good for people’s health, community spirit, and for creating green spaces that are good for people, plants and bees,” said Ben Reynolds, Coordinator of Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming, “but this is the first time that a cash value has been put on the food that London’s community gardens and farms are producing, showing how they help people to save money on their food bills and contribute to the growth in food enterprise and job creation in urban areas. We hope that Reaping Rewards report and the Harvest-ometer will help food growers to get the support they deserve, whether that be funding, advice or protection in local planning policy.” 

Capital Growth is continuing to work with its members to see how much they are growing and saving and would welcome Harvest-ometer data from many more food growing spaces, including those growing at home, during the 2014 growing season. Anyone wanting to get involved in counting their harvest can sign up for free to the Capital Growth network to access the Harvest-ometer and will also be entered into weekly prize draws when they add their data during August 2014. 

The full report is titled Reaping Rewards: The full report – Reaping Rewards: Can communities grow a million meals for London? is available at http://www.capitalgrowth.org/publications/

www.capitalgrowth.org 

Capital Growth is London’s food growing network, based at Sustain and was launched in 2008 to provide practical and financial help to Londoners wanting to set up or expand food growing spaces. The scheme was funded from 2008 – 2012 by the Mayor of London and by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme.

- Data on the type and weight of produce from 160 participating community food growing spaces was collected on the unique online tool developed by Capital Growth – called the Harvest-ometer (www.capitalgrowth.org/millionmeals/harvestometer/).

- Members can record their harvest in weight, or proxy measures, like handfuls, then simply log in, add their data and this is automatically calculated into a financial value, stored and displayed as graphs as well as totals, so people can see how their harvest stacks up over the season.

- Anyone in London wanting to join the campaign and see how much your veggie patch, orchard or garden is worth can register free of charge online with Capital Growth (www.capitalgrowth.org/apply/) and visit the member’s area.

Vertical Pallet Garden Plan

Use these step-by-step instructions and build your own vertical pallet garden, perfect for growing your own food in small spaces.

Groundbreaking Food Gardens (Storey Publishing, 2014) by Niki Jabbour is a stellar collection of unique food garden plans from some of the best gardeners and designers in North America. Choose from 73 plans, each with its own theme and detailed illustration. In this excerpt, learn how to construct a kitchen garden from used pallets that won’t take up much space.

You can purchase this book from the Mother Earth Living store: Groundbreaking Food Gardens.

Pallet gardening is popular, and for good reason! With a little time and even less money, gardeners can turn an old pallet into a handy vertical garden. An upcycled pallet, mounted on a wall or fence — preferably just outside the kitchen—makes a handy planter for compact crops like curly parsley, leaf lettuce, and Swiss chard, and even dwarf tomatoes and nasturtiums.

Joe Lamp’l is passionate about getting people to grow more food—even in tiny urban lots and concrete balconies—and he has embraced the concept of a pallet garden for its incredible versatility. Pioneered by Fern Richardson in her blog Life on the Balcony, pallet gardens are typically mounted to a wall, fence, or other structure, but handy gardeners can also make “feet” or a stand so that pallets can be freestanding on decks and patios. Plus, an edible pallet garden is very low-maintenance, requiring little ongoing care aside from regular watering and an occasional dose of liquid organic fertilizer.

A pallet garden is a great project for do-it-yourself types, as well as those on a tight budget. Two people can assemble and plant a pallet garden in about an hour if all materials are gathered beforehand.

Picking the right pallet. Sourcing a pallet should be easy—many businesses are happy to share their used pallets at little to no cost—but Joe says to “look for pallets made of untreated wood and also seek out pallets marked HT, which stands for heat treated, as a safe alternative for treating pests.” He also suggests inspecting the pallet for splintered wood or stray nails. Once you’ve found one that makes the grade, give it a good hosing off to remove dirt and grime.

The best plants for a pallet. When choosing plants for an edible pallet garden, Joe advises looking for dwarf or bush types of vegetables and herbs, as well as compact fruits like strawberries. In his plan he includes a wide selection of favorite edibles: salad greens, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes. “Peppers and tomatoes will need to go in the top section because they are the tallest and will need room to grow and possibly staking,” says Joe. “The big thing is to work with compact and determinate tomato varieties wherever possible.” He also suggests tucking nasturtium seedlings throughout the pallet garden for a “punch of edible color.” Other options include a pallet filled with culinary herbs or salad greens.

Read more: http://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/vegetable-gardening/vertical-pallet-garden-plan-ze0z1407zpit.aspx#ixzz3A6qADjKd

Sustainable Raised Beds

Raised beds are popular with gardeners, growers and allotmenteers. Tom Girolamo from Eco-Building & Forestry explores the need for them to be built with sustainable materials.

Can raised garden beds be part of a sustainable landscape? I've often pondered this question. Cutting down old growth cedar (or even redwoods) to construct them, using lots of other materials and doing a lot of work just to grow a few dollars' worth of vegetables doesn't sound that sustainable.

However, Sybil's raised beds (above) that I constructed for her, changed how I think. She wanted this protected and raised garden as part of her lifestyle on her property and she wanted it to fit her personality.

Lessons learned

Make raised beds fit your lifestyle and personality

Place the raised beds where you will see and use them every day

Create an outdoor 'room' with a variety of uses including relaxing and even for entertaining

Build in reduced maintenance and easy repair

Read more: http://www.permaculture.co.uk/readers-solutions/sustainable-raised-beds

Starve the system

Starve the system and grow your own food

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

In fact, grown your own food and make as much yourself as possible. That way you are beating the system and doing it your way.

It is becoming pretty clear that industry and the powers-that-be do not care what the people think and want as regards to genetically modified, or should we better say genetically engineered, organisms. Many of us, no doubt, know where we are headed if this madness does not stop.

It is all about profit for some companies and control over seeds and has nothing whatsoever to do with trying to combat world hunger. In fact it has been proven that GE foods will do nothing to curb world hunger.

The only true answer to this, as far as foods are concerned, is to grow and raise your own. Self-reliance and self-sufficiency, as far as the latter is possible, is the ultimate protest against this. As long, I hasten to add, they will not make it illegal, as they are already trying in some location where the growing of a food garden, even in the backyard, has been outlawed under local ordinances.

Henry Kissinger said some decades ago – in fact just before the so-called oil crisis – that if you want to control nations you have to control fuel (enter the oil crisis, which was nothing but nicely engineered) and if you want to control people you have to control food (enter Monsanto & Co.). We could also add to the people control mechanism water, could we not.

Growing your own means that every vegetable that you do not have to buy takes away from their profits. We have the power to take away their power and we have to do it and the way to do it is through our pocketbooks.

We are the ones who, ultimately, control the system as we have founded it though our purchases. By withdrawing our purchasing and growing our own we can take a stand and send a message.

Aside from growing your own food there are also other methods where big business can be sent a message and also the powers-that-be that we, the people, are no longer going along with the system.

You can make do with what you have got for starters. You co not have to get a new smartphone each and every time that a new one, or a new version of your current one, be it iPhone or other, comes onto the market. If it ain't broke there is no need to replace, and the same applies to computers and other goods.

Furthermore there are many things you do not have to buy at all. You can make them yourself by proper DIY, and by upcycling and reusing and repurposing items of waste or such.

As not everyone is going to travel the same route as which we may be taking there are still those that will stay in the system and buy new things and there, therefore, will be the things that they, often still working or needing just a little TLC, are tossing out and which we can liberate from the trash. There are many people who already live that way and do this for most of their needs.

It is amazing what people actually do throw out and lose, accidentally or deliberately, in parks, open spaces and elsewhere, in way of clothes, bicycles, and many other things, most of which can be reused directly or by passing it on to someone else, with just cleaning or, at times, a little TLC and a tiny bit of repair.

My Blackbery came to me that way as did my Leatherman Wave, and most of my bicycles. The latter where rebuild from a number of thrown or trashed bikes and the two former items were simply thrown away.

My drinking glasses are repurposed glass jars, whether for beer, water, or spirits, and my reusable water bottles from tap water also are reused glass bottles that came with drinks, or where found and cleaned.

My notebooks, and I carry at least one at all times, are homemade from paper that was but printed single sided and the amount of pencils that I have found beggars belief.

I also do grow a garden and also make use of edible weeds, either foraged or actually grown on purpose. A weed is, after all, but a plant whose virtue and uses have not as yet been discovered. Truth is though that for many plants that are commonly referred to as weeds the virtues and uses have been discovered and the edible ones are often better eating than their domesticated cousins. And there are also many weeds out there that are medicinal herbs in fact and have many uses. Just because it grows somewhere where you may not want it to grow does not mean that it does not have a use.

Growing your own food and, where you can, keeping chickens (hens) for eggs, and raising chickens and rabbits for meat, is the easiest way to beat the system. That, and making do with what you have got and making as much as possible yourself. Let's do it and send a message to the powers-that-be that be that we no longer support the system which is not broken; it was designed this way, and therefore we need a new system. One that benefits both man and Nature.

© 2013

Growing your own food is like printing your own money

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Growing your own food is like printing your own money, but, unlike the latter the former is, for the moment still, legal. There are, however, some places in the USA and Canada that wish to forbid the growing of food in your garden, even your backyard and not just the front lawn.

It was, so it is understood, Henry Kissinger, who said that “if you want to control nations you have to control fuel; if you wish too control people you have to control food” and it is that, it would appear, that the powers-that-be are hard working at.

When you grow your own groceries, your own vegetables, though you may also raise chickens (for eggs and meat) and, say rabbits for meat, in your garden, you first of all know where your food comes from and what was put on it, and secondly you save money, even if you only grow those foods that you eat most.

So, go and dig the dirt and print, or better, in fact, grow your own money.

© 2013

Mixing flowers and vegetables

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The majority of people, even gardeners, always think of flower gardens and vegetable gardens as two separate entities, but there is absolutely no reason to think that this is the way it has to be.

On the contrary. Think about the kitchen garden of colonial days in the United States and the cottage gardens of England. It was a mix of vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs.

While some see this as companion planting it is not, necessarily thus, as the plants may not be chosen for the companion value. Companion planting, on the other hand, is something that would make such a mixed flower and vegetable garden even better.

Such a vegetable-flower garden can be seen as an artistic palette, strictly for appearances and enjoyment. And with proper mix there is no reason, other than idiotic ordinances in many parts of the United States (and Canada) to have such a garden also in the front yard. Apparently, however, the powers-that-be in some town halls and such demand that the front yard is but lawn and maybe, just maybe, some pretty flowers.

Your vegetable-flower garden can be orderly or not so orderly. It depends on your personal style and choice. As a front yard food and flower production area it might be best to have it rather orderly as to not to upset some town hall folks.

You do however need to take into account the growing style of the vegetables and flowers. Pumpkins, cucumbers, and squash need lots of horizontal room to grow so you want to avoid planting flowers too close. Unless, that it, you train those plants to climb trellises, which most will quite readily do.

Think about plant forms and foliage too. Peppers are upright and shrub-like. Corn is tall, vertical, and leafy but would look terrific mixed with sunflowers. Or, concentrate on color combinations such as white, purple, and pink for earlier flowering vegetables and flowers, or yellow, red, and orange for late summer crops and blooms. The gold color of marigolds and the dark green of spinach for example or red flowers of nasturiums next to those bright red chile peppers.

You could also add some colorful brassicas into the equation. Despite the fact that some people see them just as, as they are also referred to by seed merchants, ornamental cabbages, they can be eaten and thus make for a great color combination, even still giving color in the depth of winter.

When it comes to planting corn why not follow the Native American approach and plant the Three Sister, that is to say corn, bean and squash together. The corn then acts as a trellis for the beans and even the squash to climb up and they seem to love to live together in perfect harmony.

© 2013

Now is the time to think about vegetable seeds

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Now is the time to think about which seeds to sow and plant in your vegetable garden for the year.

The choices are great but there are some varieties of vegetables that are best for all year round cropping and also don't forget the humble edible weeds. They grow better than anything else and are sure worth “cultivating” too.

This notion may seem silly to many a gardener but why battle with your weeds when you can eat them. (More later).

When it comes to the, if I may say so, ordinary vegetables to sew and plant, as said, there is a great variety out there but, alas, at times the choice is limited.

Let's look at beans: While there are many different kinds of beans that can be grown, including in the British Isles, all we seem to see if different “varieties” of runner (Lima), broad (Fava), and French beans, with a few other kinds. The rest of the great armory of beans that exist cannot be found with the great majority of seed companies in Britain.

Asking a representative of one of them one day I got the answer that there was no one interested. Really?

Also amazing is the fact that most people, including avid gardeners, have no idea that they can actually use the beans inside the runner beans after they have become stringy and can no longer be used in the way that they have become accustomed to. Those beans are the same as the dried Lima beans that are found in stores.

Other vegetables, as far as seeds and plants are concerned, also can be rather limited in Britain, and I mean here the kind that are commonly used elsewhere, including mainland Europe.

The same is true for, so at least I have found, potato varieties, but, then again, I do not, generally, buy seed potatoes and there is absolutely no need to do so. I know everyone – or almost everyone – keeps telling us that we must buy seed potatoes in order to grow healthy spuds. Really? I beg to differ here.

I have had nothing but problems with seed potatoes, especially with so-called blight resistant ones. Got a load of them from the Garden Press Event 2012 and they were the ones that, actually, the first ones that had the blight that year. The ones that I grew from cheapest Sainsbury's potatoes that had grown eyes were much more resistant. Sorry, but no more seed potatoes for me.

So, let's now look at what I mentioned before, namely the use of weeds for food. Many common garden, pardon the pun, weeds are edible and, in fact, are very good for us, and they are indeed legion.

Dandelion is one weed that, I am sure, everyone knows and regards as rather pesky. But not so. It is very edible indeed and great in salads or as spinach. I live the look on the faces of folks that ask me – being a professional gardener and forester – as to wht they are to do with the dandelion in their garden when I tell them to eat the stuff.

Another very useful weed is stinging nettle, Again it has many uses and should be used rather than wasted. Sorrel is another one which is, basically, a cut and come again spinach and I use it as it and don't just gather it in the wild, where it is mostly found, but have actually planted some of it in my garden.

Another very common weed in the garden that will take over if not checked but which is nutritious and good to eat is chickweed. And another one is Fat Hen, aka Lambs Quarter. The latter is, yet again, a most versatile one the leaves of which can be used as spinach, but also the stalk and the flower spikes can be eaten, the former steamed like asparagus and the latter like broccoli.

So think seeds and weeds for food in your garden and see how it can work out.

© 2013

Don't throw out your leaves!

Do-it-yourself leaf mold is great to improve your garden's soil

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Instead of raking the leaves in your yard and garden together, putting them into plastic bags and setting them on the curb to be picked up and added to a landfill, where most will end up via the municipal waste stream unless your council operates a green waste recycling scheme, turn them into leaf mold.

The dark, crumbly finished product of leaf mold is a great soil amendment and conditioner and if we are going to be dealing with droughts in our gardens in the future, which no doubt we will, increasing the moisture retention of our soils is important. Leaf mold is better still than wood chip mulch in this department as it improves the soil much better and quicker.

Finished leaf mold can be used as a mulch to suppress weeds and trap moisture, blended into the soil of garden beds, and added to container gardens and making leaf mold is, in fact, ridiculously easy. If composting seems too complicated and involved for you: give making your own leaf mold a try. All you need to create leaf mold is a space, leaves, water and time.

The easiest way of making leaf mold is to rake all of your leaves into a pile in the corner of your garden or yard. Once you’ve gathered the leaves into place, wet the pile down and keep it moist for the next six months to a year. If your leaf mold pile is at risk of being thrown about by kids, pets or the wind create pen to keep it in place.

Make a round or square frame out of chicken wire, reclaimed wood or similar to the DIY compost bins the designs of which you find all over the Internet. You can also put the leaves, ideally shredded, into black plastic bin liners, moisten them and then tie up the bags.

If you have a mulching mower you can speed up decomposition by riding over your leaf mold pile and shredding the leaves into smaller pieces.

A few years ago while watching one of those cable documentaries on the drug trade, I saw a cocaine farmer use a weed trimmer to shred cocoa leaves to process them faster. And you know what? It works! After you’ve corralled all of your leaves in place you can run a weed trimmer through the pile to break it down. Shredded leaves not only break down faster, but you have room for more leafs and taller piles.

All leaves you collect in autumn are good candidates for making leaf mold, though some are better than others when it comes to breaking down and decomposing. Smaller leaves, such as birch, alder and Japanese maples, can break down in as little as six months. Oak and hornbeam leaves similarly break down rather fast.

The bottom of your leaf mold pile can be ready to be mixed into your soil, used as a mulch, or mixed into your favorite container gardening soil mix in as little as half a year. Therefore, take some time this season to rake up your leaves – and those of your neighbors – to improve the soil in your garden. You will be keeping valuable organic matter out of landfills and preventing your neighbors from making burn piles this autumn.

The leaves have sequestered carbon over the year and this carbon is released into your soil when added to it and will feed your plants. So thus you should not waste it.

If you grow your own – vegetables that is – in the way that I do in “containers” of various sorts you can use the so-called lasagne gardening method and, in fact, add the leaf mold after six month to the bottom of the container and spread a thin, about four or five inches or so, layer of soil and compost above in which you sow your seeds or plant your plugs.

Waste not want not is the old adage and it applies also to those autumn leaves.

© 2012

Growing your own has many advantages

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Growing your own food is becoming once again more and more popular though, while in some areas an allotment cannot be had for love or money in other boroughs they go begging.

When you grow your own you can choose to grow for your own tastes rather than the supermarket conformity and in time you will also chose what to grow because it grows OK in your garden rather than trying to grow everything only to fight a losing battle.

I have just come to that conclusion with regards to my food growing in my at home allotment as some things just will not do well here. There are the slugs and snail to contend with and then the location of this garden – with the property being surrounded by trees – lacks the right light condition for some foods.

Potatoes do well, as do Jerusalem Artichoke (aka Sun Chokes). Beans of all types seem to do fire as do carrots, as long as they are grown “at height” to be safe from the root fly. Some abandoned shopping carts do invaluable service there.

Cucumbers, courgettes (zucchini), marrows, etc., also do well. Tomatoes on the other hand do not and brassicas time and again fall prey to the pigeons and the snails and slugs of all types and sizes.

So, I will be, for the next year, chose carefully what I will bother with and what not, as wasting my time I do not wish to do, as I did with the brassicas this year, once again.

While I know that nets would be fine to keep some things at bay, such as the pigeons and the cabbage white butterfly, etc., the snails and slugs seem to be a great menace that even nematodes and slug pellets have problems dealing with.

One the positive note, as said, growing your own is beneficial in many ways and taste, as far as I am concerned is a great reason, aside from the fact that you can save some money.

One skill I advise anyone to learn who thinks of starting or who has started to do his or her own food growing and that is preserving the harvest in which way ever. Pickling, canning, and all the other ways of old – plus freezing – are the skills to have to not waste the harvest.

So, get to it and touch the soil.

© 2012

Grow your own small vegetable garden

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Even the smallest space can produce plenty of vegetables, and this has been shown by several “studies”, for lack of a better words, such as the square foot gardening idea of the RHS in Britain. It works.

But in order to work the way they did it feeding an family of four from a very, very small space of raised beds, you have to have a way of groping plants on as plugs, ideally, bar those that cannot and should not be done that way. You cannot, period, grow carrot plugs. They do not work.

The advantages of growing your own vegetables are written about on a regular basis and some authors, no doubt correctly, have pointed out that not only do people waste less food by being able to go pick fresh vegetables when they need them, but the cost of having a small garden compared to buying fresh produce from the grocery store can save us a lot on food.

To make a statement, however, saying that a tomato plant can be worth $50 and then backing it up with a comparison that says that if you harvest 30 pounds at $2 per pound, that plant is worth $60 and when the plant costs only $2.90 to buy the plant, a few cents for water and 15 cents for the fertilizer, then that would make it at least $50 worth. I would like to see a tomato plants that will produce that amount in weight in fruit. Yes, tomatoes are fruit not vegetables. I have yet to get more than a couple of kilograms from a single tomato plant. So, such a comparison does not add up, except when grown either in an area where they can produce well or in the greenhouse and then other costs have to be factored in.

Plastic Tub Gardening

There are a number of “ready-made”solutions on the market, such as Earth Box and I do like the idea, but the price tag (almost $50 a piece) is a definite turn off, and not just to me. I should assume than many poorer families have looked at the ready-made solutions and decided that small space backyard gardening is not for them because of the cost.

However, you can make your own Earth Boxes out of Tupperware containers for about $12 a piece, and if you use other materials and sources too for even less.

Do you have to go out and buy stuff? Maybe, maybe not. It all depends what you can make and what you can scrounge and what you can find thrown away.

First of all, some vegetable do not need much in the way of depth of soil. Lettuces do best with little soil depth and thus they can be grown in shallow containers such as old washing up bowls, whether round or sort of square or rectangular or other containers.

Another great way of making rather deep raised beds, without using boards or anything like that, is using so-called builder bags, which are large woven polypropylene sacks in which sand, etc., is delivered to building sites and especially to the home builders. In this country they now are no longer returnable – they once were – and will end up in the skip outside the site and are destined for the landfill.

Fold their sides down to about half – you don't need more soil depth than that for growing vegetables and fill with earth. They make great planters, can be had for nothing or next to nothing from out of the skips and can, if need, rolled or folded up when you don't need them anymore or when you move.

In addition to all manner of vegetables – only chose, for starters those that you definitely like and those that are, according to books like “Down to Earth” are easy enough to grow – you can also grow herbs for use in the kitchen and in medicine.

Space is not an issue

The do-it-yourself Earth-type boxes are perfect for roof-top gardening 9just ensure that your roof can handle whatever amount of soil and remember that wet soil is several times heavier than dry soil), apartment balconies, small courtyards or a yard without a lot of sun. Another benefit is that when the growing season ends, it can all be taken down and stored until next year.

In all cases, ensure how much weight you roof or balcony can take. There is, obviously, not problem like that with courtyards, backyards with hard standing only, patios, and such like.

In fact, by using containers, and there are many kinds that can be used, just let your imagination go wild, there is nigh on no place where you cannot grow some food.

You like to grow some flowers too, for color and such. No problem. Just plant veg in with the flowers or vice versa and some benefits can be had by planting some flowers with some veg. It's called “companion planting” and some flowers are most beneficial when planted with vegetables.

So, go on, start a vegetable garden.

© 2011

Grow your own small vegetable garden

Even the smallest space can produce plenty of vegetables, even a patio can

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

I am no market gardener, that's for sure, and I have varied success with my own small garden in that fashion but that is due to the location and the fact that I get overrun by slugs and snails and also the squirrels and pigeons think that my garden is a feeding station for them. Well, it is not but try telling them that.

Also, I must add that I am not the most consistent home gardener, as I am often too busy with writing material for the many magazines that I own and edit.

However, while I doubt that most families could become entirely self-sufficient (then again, is complete self-sufficiency even possible?) in the suburbs on their patio and/or small part of garden that they are often only willing to sacrifice for food growing, the food thus grown can go someways towards reducing food miles and costs.

Obviously, the bigger the area the more food you can grow. But, having said that, lots can be done in a small space. This was shown at the “Grand Designs Live” exhibition with the small garden that was shown there and also in other places. It is possible.

If you do not want to build raised beds with timber, bricks or whatever, then there are nowadays a couple of companies that produce “clickable” plastic siding that make then up a raised beds. But be warned! They are not cheap but they will last nigh on forever, unlike timber.

However, there are many other options for building a small garden – I mean other than digging up the ground. On a patio you would not and could not do that anyway. So, here comes “container gardening”.

There are containers and there are containers for gardening, obviously, From the old style terracotta put and tub to the plastic ones and everything else. You do not even have to go and buy such containers, as they can often be found thrown away. Old washing-up bowls can be used, the pots that contained trees from nurseries, the barrels that contained cooking oils – cut in half makes two – and many more. In addition to that there are the large bags in which building sands and the likes comes nowadays. Fold over the sides and – voila – one square raised bed of rather some depth.

The tubs presently mentioned all – bar the containers that once will have had trees in them – will require holes for drainage drilled into the bottom. I handle that quite simply and quickly here; a few shots of target practice with a .22 air rifle and, well, drainage holes. Who said they had to be x-amount of millimeter in size and perfectly round?

That is container gardening on the cheap, basically. It beats – in cost at least – any store bought tubs for plastic tub/container gardening.

In addition to that there are other containers that can be employed as well. Know of an old bathtub, whether iron (well, they are worth money...) or fiberglass? They too make great planters for vegetables.

There have been articles around about the advantages of growing your own vegetables and in them it is pointed out that not only do people waste less food by being able to go pick fresh vegetables when they need them, but the cost of having a small garden compared to buying fresh produce from the grocery store can save us all a lot on food.

So, what's stopping you?

© M Smith (Veshengro), July 2008