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Getting the hang of herbs. Biological Gardening - High Performance Agriculture Beats Genetic Engineering. By Dr. Mercola One of my new passions is sustainable, biological farming, and Dr. Arden Andersen is a world leader in this field. His position is particularly interesting as, in addition to being a soil scientist and agricultural consultant, he is also a physician. He happens to be a doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) just like I am, specializing in nutritional management.

He also advises farmers in building biology, helping them to optimize the energy environment of buildings, homes, and livestock facilities. Originally raised on a dairy farm in Michigan, his father had a deep understanding of the direct correlation between nutrition and animal health. "In 1981 or 1982, I took a short course from Michigan State University on potatoes.

Having gone to the University of Arizona, they raise a lot of potatoes in Arizona in all alkaline soils. That didn't jive. The Root of Health Begins in the Soil Dr. "As a result, I can talk to 100 percent of the population," he says. According to Dr.

Composting

Best Garden Vegetables And Herbs For Beginners. 8 great sites to grow the perfect garden. Spring is here and in full swing. Hopefully your garden is starting to blossom as well. Whether you’re an expert gardener with a green thumb, or just a beginner who’s green behind the ears, you can use these 8 sites to help your garden grow more fruitful. If you need help while you’re in the garden or on the go, don’t forget about these fantastic gardening apps. GardenGuides – Gardening can be a relaxing hobby, or it can be incredibly frustrating. Weeds can run rampant, and your plants could be withering away. That’s why you should check out Garden Guides. This site has a ton of free advice on gardening. PlantNative – PlantNative is dedicated to helping people learn about native plants. Smart Gardener – Want to eat tasty, healthy food for less? Sprout It – When... To continue reading sign in or join Kim's Club.

Metro Blooms - What is a Raingarden. A raingarden, as seen above, is a shallow depression that is designed to capture rainwater and allow it to soak into the ground within a 24-48 hour period. Most gardens are best designed with plants that are well adapted to the unique conditions of the garden and your region (such as local native plants or cultivars of those same plants). What is a raingarden? A raingarden is designed and planted to capture rainwater so it can penetrate deep into the soil to help protect and restore water quality.

This helps to reduce the amount of stormwater runoff that would otherwise take pollutants from the air, our yards, and the streets and carry them into our lakes, rivers, and wetlands. What causes rainwater pollution? Rainwater pollution comes from various sources such as road salts, leaking oil, and road sediment. What plants should I use? How can I build a raingarden? Attend a Workshop through Metro Blooms. See this link for more information: Healing Herbs and How to Use Them. Best Gardening Websites: Online Tools To Guide Your Green Thumb - Gallery - The Huffington Post. Build Your Own String Garden in 7 Steps | Living on GOOD. Kokedama, which means moss ball, is a style of Japanese bonsai that takes presentational aesthetics outside the box—literally.

Kokedama are made by transferring your plant out of its pot and into a ball of soil held together with moss and string. String gardens take this tradition a step further by suspending these little green worlds in the air. They're a great way to bring the outdoors inside of your—dare I say—teeny, tiny apartment, where surfaces are reserved for your collection of Jerzy Kosinski novels and your laptop, but definitely not more plants. String gardens are simple, fun to make, and really…tie the room together. Last week as part of the Last Weekend festival held in upstate New York, Wilder Quarterly's Taylor Patterson, who runs the floral and garden design studio Fox Fodder Farm, led a workshop on how to create these unique plant sculptures. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Step 1 Knock the soil from the roots. Step 6 Cover the ball with your sheep moss. Step 7 Pick a spot and hang it. Just in Time for Winter: How to Build Your Own Mini-Greenhouse | Living on GOOD. Gardeners looking to extend the growing season into winter can do so with a cold frame. These handy mini-greenhouses trap heat and keeping cool-season veggies growing in spite of frosty weather. Cold frames are inexpensive to build and don't consume a lot of energy. They yield fresh, local vegetables when mediocre grocery store fodder is being shipped from afar.

Fall is the perfect time to build a cold frame and start planting. This modular cold frame design offers two frame options: single- and double-tier. The lid should be kept shut on cold days and propped open for ventilation on unseasonably warm days. WOOD SELECTION: Cedar is best. WOODCUTTING 1 — Each 10-foot, 1 x 12-inch board will yield one 60-inch front/back panel and one 40-inch side panel. 2 — For the two-angled side panels, choose the most flawless 40-inch side panel and mark a diagonal line lengthwise, from corner to corner. 4 — Cut the lid pieces from the 1 x 6-inch lengths of cedar. Text by Wilder Quarterly. Starting a Winter Garden can Seriously Slash Your Food Bill. By Dr. Mercola Think about the last time you strolled down the produce aisle of your neighborhood grocery store in the middle of winter. If your grocer is like most, the "fresh veggies" were completely bedraggled at that time of year, looking pale and wilted and completely uninspiring. The produce that looked better was probably grown in the southern hemisphere, thousands of miles away, with a price tag to match the giant ecological footprint needed to transport it to your store from some far-away grower—most likely in another country.Nutrients deteriorate with time after a vegetable is harvested, so it's likely the nutrient profile of your imported produce pales in comparison to that grown and harvested locally.

This nutritional deficit worsens during winter as the distance from farm to table grows.As the cost of organic produce has skyrocketed (along with just about all consumables), many of you have taken the plunge into backyard gardening. What and When to Plant 60 Days to Maturity. Just in Time for Winter: How to Build Your Own Mini-Greenhouse | Living on GOOD.