Is gardening more sustainably for you? Well, would you like to attract more pollinators, help the environment and grow more beautiful flowers and healthy vegetables and fruits at the same time? Then sustainable gardening is just what the doctor ordered!
Before we get into the nitty gritty, have you checked out my previous post on making your home more sustainable? If not, check it out here.
As gardeners, don’t we all love the thrill of trying new-to-us plant varieties? Maybe it’s just me, but I have such fun growing something I’ve never grown before and seeing what happens.
As Janet Kilburn Phillips said, “There are no gardening failures, only experiments.” I’m a scientist at heart, so experiment I will!
If you’re an experienced gardener, you’re probably already very familiar with the different parts of a seed packet and what they mean.
However, if you’re new to this stuff, the back of a seed packet may look a tad intimidating. I promise, it’s really not that bad, and I’m going to walk you through what each part means so you’ll be able to give your new plants the very best start possible.
Do you have limited space for gardening but still want to grow a TON of fresh veggies this summer? Ever consider containers?
Maybe you’re renting and can’t dig up the yard or you have little experience with vegetable gardening. Maybe your soil is just awful and you don’t have the money to amend a large garden’s worth. That’s OK! You can grow all the food crops you want in pots. Let me show you how!
Yes, I know, it’s only January, but spring will be here before you know it, so you’ll want to start planning your garden now. With spring comes warmer weather, sunshine and GARDENING! Can you tell I’m excited?
You’ll find as you read this post that it’s fairly general. I’m not going to get into the specifics of how to care for certain plants and how to prepare your garden for planting and all of that.
How important is soil organic matter? Well, in short, your plants need it and if they don’t have it, they ain’t growing.
So, let’s take a deep breath and dive in. I hope the water is nice and warm, I get cold easily. How about you?
I’m just gonna be brutally honest right off the top here, ok? This isn’t a top whatever list that’s going to say, Just do what I tell you, and even though you’re totally new to vegetable gardening, in only minutes a day, you’ll have the perfect, Pinterest-ready garden of your dreams in one season!
Sorry, vegetable gardens (and gardens in general) don’t work like that. But it breaks my heart when I hear people say “Oh, I’d love to garden but I have a black thumb and I kill everything.” Anyone can garden successfully. All you need is a little education and some dedication.
I’m so excited! My worms for my composter came today! If you’re not a gardener, those words are probably going to get you just a few weird looks….maybe more than a few! If you ARE a gardener, though, and I kinda assume you are if you’re here, you may understand why I’m so happy.
If you are of <<ahem>> a certain age, you remember the Sears wishbook. That massive catalog came in the mail each fall, full of the Christmas hopes and dreams of kids everywhere.
I’d be so excited when I got home from school and it was waiting for me. Homework? Nope! Give me that catalog first! Skimming its hundreds of crisp, colorful, glossy pages for the first time, then more methodically with notebook and pen in hand.
So what in the world does that have to do with plants, you ask? Well, I’d be happy to tell you, or maybe I don’t have to. Two little words….seed catalogs.
Yes, that’s right, magic. Ok, well, maybe not magic, but you might think it is once you see what it does for your houseplants. This organic fertilizer legitimately ROCKS (and they aren’t even paying me to say this!)
I discovered Neptune’s Harvest a few years ago when I was looking for an organic fertilizer for my houseplants during the winter. I put my plants, with a few exceptions, outside for the summer, but being in cold and snowy CT, they all return to the warmth and safety of home by early October.