Survival Gardening Survival gardening can provide fresh food for you and your family in the aftermath of a disaster. Disasters can occur at anytime and anywhere, and take many forms. Not all disasters are dramatic and natural. For some people a severe economic downturn can be a disaster. There are many types of garden seeds available. No-Till Garden Method Most garden plots are tilled. Plant in Buckets Above ground vegetables like tomatoes require loose soil that is about 10 inches deep. Plant in Tires Root crops provide valuable nutrients but require 12 to 14 inches of loose soil in which to grow. Grow Up Vegetables that grow on a vine like cucumbers and squash only need a small spot of broken dirt. Beans Beans are easy to grow. With a little ingenuity and having heirloom seeds on hand will allow you to provide fresh, healthy food after a disaster.
9 Steps To Starting A Survival Garden In a time of economic uncertainty and rising food prices, it it always a good idea to have a garden to provide extra food for you and your family. Besides providing a source of food in an emergency, a garden is also a great source of wonderful vegetables which are MUCH healthier to eat than most of the food you can get at the supermarket. So how do you begin? The following are 9 steps that you can take to get your garden started..... #1) Decide What Your Goals Are - Do you want to grow enough just to add a few vegetables to your dinner once in a while? Some people who want to live "off the grid" end up building a garden large enough that it will provide almost all of the food that their family needs. #2) Evaluate Your Land - Once you know what your goals are, you need to evaluate the land that you are currently living on. If you decide that you want a "mega-garden" but you live in a condo, then you may have to end up moving to achieve your goals. So what is the solution? Comments comments
Garbage Gardening Down below this jungle of tomato and snap pea plants lies layers of organic waste and lots of composting worms busily converting the materials into rich vermicompost. As I mentioned a while back (and written about recently on Red Worm Composting), I’m involved in a pretty sizable restaurant food waste composting project this year. In a nutshell, I am receiving hundreds of pounds (per week) of fruit and vegetable waste from a very popular local restaurant and have been composting these materials on my property. Given the quantity of wastes, I’ve had to get a little creative with my methods, and I’ve certainly discovered some methods that really work well, and others that…well…don’t work quite so well! Most of my efforts have focused on various forms of vermicomposting. One simple technique that seems to be working quite well for me is what I refer to as ‘Garbage Gardening’ (although this name could actually be applied to much of what I’m doing in my backyard this year).
Create a Garden Journal - Guest Post Today's guest post comes from Karen at Chicken Sense. Karen blogs about gardening, cooking, sewing, and living in the country. Below she shares some resources to get you started on creating a garden journal. A great rainy day project is to begin a garden journal. A garden journal isn’t just a diary, it’s important information to help you get the most from your efforts. You won’t find a better source of growing and gardening tips for next year than the ones you write yourself this year. Your garden journal can be as simple as a notebook, blank paper, and pencil; or free printable garden journal pages found online; or you can purchase software garden journals; or buy spiral bound garden journal books. Free Garden Journal Pages to Print Garden Journal Software and Books to Purchase Would like to see your post featured here?
Extreme Urban Gardening: Straw Bale Gardens Here’s a very simple technique for gardening in tight spots and in places with no/terrible soil (from the arctic circle to the desert to an asphalt jungle). It’s also a great way to garden if you have limited mobility (in a wheel chair). What is Straw Bale Gardening? You simply plant your garden in straw bales. As you can see, the basic technique is actually quite simple. How to grow a Straw Bale Garden There are lots of techniques on how to grow a straw bale garden. Days 1 to 3: Water the bales thoroughly and keep them damp.Days 4 to 6: Sprinkle each bale with ½ cup urea (46-0-0) and water well into bales. Essentially, plant the seedlings like you would do in the ground. Remember, the bales (like most above ground gardening techniques) will need extra water and fertilizer during the early period. Plants Number Per Bale Tomatoes 2-3Peppers 4Cucumbers 4-6Squash 2-4Pumpkin 2Zucchini 2-3Lettuce Per package directionsStrawberries 3-4Beans Per package directions Resiliently yours,
More Creative Fence Ideas — J Peterson Garden Design Your fence separates your garden from the street or your neighbor’s garden, and until recent years, they have been built with mostly function in mind. But why have the same old stockade vertical privacy fence when you can have some a bit more creative and visually interesting? I collect pics of great ideas as I’m driving around Austin–maybe one of these will be an inspiration for you! How cool is this fence? What a smart combination of wood and steel! I have a soft spot for this fence–I love the combination of rustic tree poles with the more structured masonry column. This fence is not inexpensive, being constructed all from steel. You might also enjoy these articles: Tagged as: blue fence, creative fence ideas, fences, Garden Design, horizontal board fence, rustic fence, steel fence, wood fence
27 Medicinal Plants Worth Your Garden Space Playful as kids are, accidents happen. And the accident that befallen me at 7 years old was the feeling of the hot exhaust pipe of a motorcycle kissing the skin of my leg. Grandma was around and saw it. Immediately, she took out a knife and slice the thick lower part of the aloe vera plant by the garden and rubbed the exposed end on the burn. Looking back, I realized that it was important to have medicinal plants around the house cause you never know when you might need them. Aloe Vera The aloe vera grows only under the sun with well drained dry or moist soil. woundscutsburnseczemareducing inflammation Apart from its external use on the skin, aloe vera is also taken internally in the treatment of : ulcerative colitis (drinking aloe vera juice)chronic constipationpoor appetitedigestive problems Marsh Mallow The plant of which marshmallows were once made of. inflammations and irritations of the urinary and respiratory mucus membranescounter excess stomach acidpeptic ulcerationgastritis Camomile
Square Foot Gardening 101 Update! Check out our new Square Foot Gardening Infographic for even more tips, diagrams, a plant list and much more. I recently stumbled upon a book (All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space! by Mel Bartholomew) with an interesting gardening method called square foot gardening, and decided we would give it a try. I’ve always thought the idea of having a vegetable garden would be a lot of fun. Walking out to your square foot garden and picking a fresh tomato for tonight’s dinner appeals to the self-sufficient nature of most frugal individuals. I know just enough about gardening to know that I am not very good at it, and that it is a lot of work. What is Square Foot Gardening? The idea behind square foot gardening is that you can plant fruits, vegetables and flowers in raised beds, above infertile soil and even out of the reach of pets. Materials Needed to Set Up a Square Foot Garden Material costs are variable, depending on the size of garden you plan to build.
7 Habits of Successful Gardeners Originally published January 2009 Or is it the Seven Pillars of Horticultural Wisdom? As everyone's resolutions remind us, we love attaching a number to advice, a number smaller than the one I regard as most realistic: The Twenty Three Thousand Four Hundred and Sixty-Two Things It's Important to Remember Before Getting Out of Bed. So be warned: I haven't really honed it down to only seven; these are just the first seven essentials that came to mind when I decided to do this. And not in order, either. Make CompostUse CompostPlant Crops in Wide BedsMulchFeed the Soil, Not the PlantsShare SomethingBe There Photo: The compost bins at Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, N.Y. 1. Short version: Mother Nature never throws anything away. Longer version: Composting is the rare silk purse from sow's ear, something for nothing, win-win. It's easy to fall into thinking that compost's last name is bin, and that careful layering and turning are part of the deal. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Got seeds? 7.
How to Grow The Top 10 Most Nutritious Vegetables in Your Garden By Colleen Vanderlinden Treehugger A perfectly ripe, juicy tomato, still warm from the sun. Sweet carrots, pulled from the garden minutes (or even seconds!) before they’re eaten. And don’t let the lack of a yard stop you – all of them can be grown in containers as well. 1. Broccoli is high in calcium, iron, and magnesium, as well as Vitamin 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. How to Grow PeasGrow Peas in Containers: Sow peas approximately 2 inches apart in a pot that is at least 10 inches deep. 3. While snap beans (green beans/wax beans) are a great addition to any garden, it’s the beans we grow as dried beans that are real nutritional powerhouses. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. OK, I cheated here.
The 72 Plant Vertical Garden This instructable will cover the details of the Vertical Garden built for my "Hydroponic, Automated, Networking, Climate Controlled Greenhouse Project". The vertical garden is a space saving way to grow up to 72 small plants (such as lettuce, spinach, strawberries and lots of different herbs) all with the plant health benefits of hydroponics. The Vertical Garden is designed with modularity in mind, to be brought into the greenhouse and installed as a single unit, with only connection to the existing plumbing required before you're ready to grow. Other Instructables that cover elements of the "Hydroponic, Automated, Networking, Climate Controlled Greenhouse Project" are listed below with many more to come: Part 1: Construction of the GreenhousePart 2: The 72 Plant Vertical Garden As of this moment the greenhouse's skeleton is all that is completed. Each major section of this project should be it's own instructable and when it's all finished I'll compile it into a guide.