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Vegetable Gardening for Beginners. Gardening charlotte / For next year's garden, make sure to plan on planting marigolds! Must Plant Marigolds! - Gardening Charlotte - All season gardening tips from Charlotte - A Certified Gardener at Bluebird Gardens. If there's one plant you need in your garden, it's marigolds.These hardy annuals bloom in spite of hot, dry weather - the pot marigolds even open and close with the sun. In addition to being very easy to start from seeds, marigold roots exude thiophenes, which kill nematodes.

They're also a natural pest repellent and for years have been planted around garden borders.Once you buy old-fashioned marigolds, you can save seeds and re-plant the following year and still have enough to share! Opulent Arum Lilies are easy to grow | Gardening Made Easy. Arum Lilies are among the world's most known plants. Arum Lilies growing in a large clump on the Eastern Cape Province's Wild Coast ARUM LILY (Zantedeschia aethiopica) The familiar Arum Lily, with its opulent and sophisticated pure white spathes which brighten up watercourses and wetlands throughout the region in spring and summer, belongs to an indigenous genus which is restricted to the African continent. Seven species of arum are recognised: Zantedeschia aethiopica, Z. albomaculata, Z. elliottiana, Z. jucunda, Z. odoratum, Z. pentlandii (Golden Arum) and Z. rehmannii (Pink Arum).

The common arum is found from the Western Cape through the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and into Limpopo Province. It is evergreen or deciduous depending on the habitat and rainfall regime. In the Western Cape it is dormant in summer and in the summer rainfall areas it is dormant in winter. Although called the arum lily, it is neither an arum ( the genus Arum) nor a lily ( genus Lilium). Outdoors and gardening! It has been a busy couple of weeks for me, so it was a real pleasure to spend the day outdoors yesterday. I was up and out nice and early for an 8km walk, that took in great views and scenery. Really nice. Then after cooking some brunch it was gardening all the way (apart from cooking the dinner, which was slow roast meat and veg - easy way to cook and garden at the same time!!)

So ancient wheelbarrow in hand, filled with necessary tools, I started firstly by planting some small and specimen box hedging on either side of the path leading to the front door. This was a project I had long fingered since May or June, as a lot of soil preparation was needed. It was good to get it done, as plants were looking a little hungry. Note to self: Arch needs to be sketched and approved before progressing. Next it was on to plant my Dierama (Angel's fishing rod - a must have for every garden!) Next it was around to my on going back garden border that I have been rejuvenating. Happy Gardening. Gardening Charlotte - All season gardening tips from Charlotte - A Master Gardener at Bluebird Gardens. Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food.

Garlic Seed Foundation. Permablitz at Louise and Justins. Home | Buy bokashi composting buckets, bokashi bran, and learn about soil restoration and preservation. DIY Gardening: How to create a Vertical Wall Garden. By Greener Ideal | DIY Gardening: How to create a Vertical Wall Garden For those who are looking to create beautiful gardens with limited space, a vertical garden could be just what you need. A popular feature among urban gardeners, a vertical wall garden gives you the ability to grow a nice variety of plants and flowers, and beautify your space without sacrificing any square footage.

Check out the infographic below to find out how you can create your own vertical wall garden: Source: Bridgman Rattan Banner photo by The Blue Girl on Flickr. The Basics of Companion Planting. What is companion planting? Companion planting is one of the greatest steps you can take towards having an organic garden. Thinking about a wildflower field may be the best way to consider what companion planting is. That wildflower field is completely a product of nature. There are no manmade fertilizers helping the flowers grow tall and spread their roots; there isn’t even a person spreading the seeds.

The field protects its plants and flourishes and profligates through natural means. Companion planting harnesses this: nature has a natural solution for everything. How does it work? In your home garden, companion planting works by identifying and utilizing the beneficial characteristics of different plants. Why companion plant? As mentioned earlier, companion planting is one of the best steps towards making your garden organic. What are good companion plants? Great companion plants are not hard to find. Best plant for pest control… Best for fertilizing… Best for shelter…

Morning Eye Candy: Then and Now. Morning Eye Candy: Clouds of Aroma Posted in Photography on April 12th, 2014 by Matt Newman – 1 Comment If you know its scent, you’ll never forget it. The lemony aroma of a springtime caught red-handed. Winter honeysuckle by the Watson Building (Lonicera fragrantissima) – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen This Weekend: Island Hopping for Orchids Posted in Programs and Events on April 11th, 2014 by Lansing Moore – Be the first to comment Only ten days left to visit The Orchid Show: Key West Contemporary, but this weekend there are many ways to get the most out of your visit to the Garden.

While April 12′s Orchid Evening has already sold out, the good news is that tickets are still available for both Orchid Evenings taking place next weekend, April 18 and 19. Next week The Culinary Kids Food Festival returns April 14 with all new Activity Stations for hands-on learning of the science behind your family’s favorite treats! Read more » ‘Pink Peignoir’ Awakens the Azalea Garden Morning Eye Candy: At Last. International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day 1 May 2012. Appropedia. The Essential Urban Farmer. // May 1st, 2012 // Uncategorized Novella Carpenter, author of the bestselling book, “Farm City” and The Essential Urban Farmer, contends that people living in cities are not likely to have a direct connection to a local farmer.

One solution? To grow food in the urban areas where almost half the people in this country live. Novella converted a vacant lot next door to her Oakland, California apartment into a thriving garden that feeds her family and neighbors. (because that’s what she is)urban = a city like Oaklandfarmer = one who raises food for othersHer mission is to grow food for herself, her friends, her neighbors, and the larger community. Adds environmentally beneficial green space to cities and increases the local food supply by creating a self-sustaining ecosystem (in this case on a roof). The distance food travels from the field to your table. The ability to keep going even when things around you are going wrong. NOVELLA CARPENTER SAYS, “50% OF PEOPLE LIVE IN CITIES. Chop Wood Carry Water Permaculture - Chop Wood Carry Water Permaculture.

For your best garden ever! Real Food All Year. “Real Food All Year: Eating Seasonal Whole Foods for Optimal Health and All-Day Energy,” a new book by Nishanga Bliss, AIMC Berkeley faculty member and professional practitioner. Real Food All Year, published by New Harbinger Press, is set to release in April 2012. Join AIMC Berkeley for an early book release party and author signing on Wednesday, March 28 at 5:30pm in Dan Chu classroom.

Sample recipes from the book and watch a fermentation demonstration that you can recreate in your own kitchen at home! Book Descriptions For thousands of years, human lives and diets have been closely tied to the rhythms of the seasons, and for good reason. Following the season-by-season nutritional principles of Chinese medicine is the best way maximize the nutrients in your diet and strengthen your body. Eating seasonally can be more delicious, more fun, and ultimately more nutritionally beneficial than simply eating whatever produce happens to be in the supermarket. Book Reviews —Retailing Insight. Ccognh.wordpress.com. Popular Permaculture. Full Service Permaculture Design Firm in Northern California -Permaculture Earth Artisans. Detroit Crop City - Wild Green.

The decay of present-day Detroit has been well chronicled, and the new documentary film Urban Roots in its first minutes treads familiar ground as it unspools a now-familiar montage of crumbling warehouses and gutted bungalows in the ailing Motor City. But before you can hurl charges of “ruin porn,” the film shifts to its real focus: The gardeners who are turning the vacant lots of Detroit into fields of abundance. Let others focus on what’s dead and dying; this movie is about what’s growing here. “Resilient” only begins to describe the determined, resourceful Detroiters who have seen jobs and neighbors disappear as the city depopulates. Instead of fleeing, they’ve stayed and begun growing vegetables.

Lots of them. Yeah, Urban Roots is a feel-good movie, but in the best kind of way: The positive vibe is, to use the appropriate metaphors, organic instead of artificial, homegrown instead of Hollywood. Source: Urban Roots Images courtesy of Urban Roots Film. Biochar In The News | International Biochar Initiative.