Sites-Gardeners-Site Basil is one of the most versatile herbs you can grow. Freshly picked leaves can be added to salads, sandwiches and sauces, and can be made into pesto or dried for use in the winter. Basil has a lower germination rate than many seeds, averaging just 60%. To get a jump on the basil season, you can start your basil seeds indoors, 3 to 4 weeks before planting time. Basil prefers growing in a lightly moist, slightly acidic, well-drained soil that contains lots of organic matter (like compost!). The standard culinary basil, typically used for pesto and Italian cooking, is called ‘Genovese’. To get the highest yield of tender and flavorful basil leaves, pinch back the tip of each branch, starting in early summer when the plants are just 6 inches tall.
Update: Our Sweet Potatoes & More Some of you have been asking for updates on our houseplant projects — today we’re bringing you a progress report on our sweet potatoes! Last we checked in, they were hanging out all happy in their coffee sack bag planters, but not really showing any major growth (pictured above). After letting them sit and do their thing for about a month, the vines have really begun to take off: We’re at the point now where we’re considering filling more dirt into the bag to cover the lower portion of the vine and just roll the sides of the bags up as we add dirt. We haven’t been squeezing or poking the bottom of the bag to feel if any potatoes have begun to form — though we will admit it’s been tempting. In the meantime, we decided to see if we could get the same project to work with a couple purple potatoes we had laying around that had begun sprouting from their eyes: After a couple weeks, they kind of went crazy! So far they seem to have taken root and continued to grow: Discover More:
Growing Celery Indoors: Never Buy Celery Again | 17 Apart: Growing Celery Indoors: Never Buy Celery Again Remember when we tested and shared how to grow onions indefinitely last week? Well, at the same time, we've been testing out another little indoor gardening project first gleaned from Pinterest that we're excited to share the successes of today — regrowing celery from it's base. We've figured out how to literally re-grow organic celery from the base of the bunch we bought from the store a couple weeks ago. I swear, we must have been living under a rock all these years or just not be that resourceful when it comes to food, but we're having more fun learning all these new little tips and tricks as we dive deeper into trying to grow more of our own food. This project is almost as simple as the onion growing project — simply chop the celery stalks from the base of the celery you bought from the store and use as you normally would. We let our celery base hang out in the saucer of water for right around one week, give or take. Update 2: Here's how we are looking at almost 3-4 weeks of growth:
Growing Your Own Garlic - Planting Growing Harvesting and Storing Garlic As far as I'm concerned, garlic gets the blue ribbon for growing your own. It's absurdly easy to plant and care for; it tastes great; it looks beautiful and it takes up so little ground that even those with very small gardens can raise enough to be self-sufficient in garlic for a good part of the year. All you have to do is choose the right varieties; plant at the right time, in the right soil; then harvest when just right and store correctly. 1. If you look in a specialist catalog like the one at Gourmet Garlic Gardens, you'll find dozens of varieties of garlic listed. You see where this is going – and you can see a lot more types of garlic on either of those websites, but for general purposes the most important difference is the one between softneck and hardneck. Softnecks are so called because the whole green plant dies down to pliancy, leaving nothing but the bulb and flexible stems that are easy to braid. Gardeners in most of the U.S. can try some of both. 2. 3. 1. 2. 4. 5. 6.
Encourage Prosperity, Alleviate Famine and Heal the Environment with Hemp By Carolanne Wright Guest Writer for Wake Up World Hemp. Just the word conjures images of the Drug Enforcement Administration and political battles. But industrial hemp is a far cry from marijuana and contains almost zero THC. An ancient crop, hemp has served humanity since 2000 BCE — providing fibers for cloth and rope, building materials and paper. A patriotic plant George Washington declared, “Grow it everywhere, hemp is greatly viable for winning the war and sustaining a future fantastic for America.” An important crop for economic prosperity and ecological health The demand for hemp in the world market has made it a contemporary cash crop. Hemp is easy to grow in a variety of soils and conditions, drought tolerant and resists pests. Extraordinary survival food Hemp is an incredible superfood. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth and protection of the country Sources for this article include: “Perfect Plant? “Hemp: Miracle Fiber or Dangerous Drug?”
50 Resources To Help You Become More Self-Sufficient We live in an interdependent world. Although at one time all of humankind lived independently and self-sufficiently, group cooperation allowed for more efficient use of resources when hunting and gathering, raising young, making clothing and tools, and building shelters. Banding together ensured our long-term survival; dividing labor into specialized tasks has helped sculpt today’s modern, globalized society. Because of specialization, we enjoy a high quality of life. Yet being a small cog in the greater machine means we are often disconnected from – and unaware of – the processes that go into fulfilling our most basic needs. Becoming more self-sufficient means you’ll develop practical skills that will surely serve you well throughout your lifetime. Grow Your Own Food Fruit & Vegetable Gardening – Green thumbs are made, not born, and anyone can learn how to grow a backyard cornucopia of fresh, organic produce. Permaculture Techniques Attract Beneficial Insects – Stop using pesticides.
Top Ten Most Nutritious Vegetables and How to Grow Them in Your Garden A perfectly ripe, juicy tomato, still warm from the sun. Sweet carrots, pulled from the garden minutes (or even seconds!) before they're eaten. Growing your own vegetables is one of those activities that balances practicality and indulgence. In addition to the convenience of having the fixings for a salad or light supper right outside your door (or on your windowsill), when you grow your own vegetables, you're getting the most nutritional bang for your buck as well. Vegetables start losing nutrients as soon as they're harvested, and quality diminishes as sugars are turned into starches. Broccoli is high in calcium, iron, and magnesium, as well as vitamins A, B6, and C. How to grow broccoliGrow broccoli in containers: One broccoli plant per pot, pots should be 12 to 16 inches deep.What to watch out for: Cabbage worm. 2. There is nothing like peas grown right in your own garden — the tender sweetness of a snap pea just plucked from the vine is unlike anything you can buy in at a store.
16 Foods That’ll Re-Grow from Kitchen Scraps By Andy Whiteley Co-Founder of Wake Up World Looking for a healthy way to get more from your garden? Like to know your food is free of the pesticides and other nasties that are often sprayed on commercial crops? Re-growing food from your kitchen scraps is a good way to do it! There’s nothing like eating your own home- grown vegies, and there are heaps of different foods that will re- grow from the scrap pieces that you’d normally throw out or put into your compost bin. It’s fun. Just remember … the quality of the “parent” vegetable scrap will help to determine the quality of the re-growth. Leeks, Scallions, Spring Onions and Fennel You can either use the white root end of a vegetable that you have already cut, or buy a handful of new vegetables to use specifically for growing. Simply place the white root end in a glass jar with a little water, and leave it in a sunny position. Lemongrass Lemongrass grows just like any other grass. Within a week or so, new growth will start to appear. Ginger
Pallet Gardening 101: Creating a Pallet Garden This year I will be planting a large salad garden and I thought it would be fun to grow my lettuce and other greens in wood pallets to change things up a bit in the backyard. All you really need to do a little pallet gardening is a wood pallet, some good soil, and a few seeds. Using a wood pallet to start a garden can be a great space saver, plus as a bonus, there is no soil to til or weed. This is exactly the kind of project young children would love, especially if they could have their own wood pallet to work with. What to look for in a wood pallet: If you live in the Tacoma area you can purchase new pallets from Girard Wood Products in Puyallup, Washington for about $9 each. Personally, I suggest using a new, clean, fresh pallet. But if you like to live life on the edge, Here are a few pointers when looking for recycled pallets: Look for a pallet that has HT stamped somewhere on the pallet. Also, watch out for old, rusty nails or staples. So here we go. ~Mavis Related posts: