this chart will tell you when to water your garden. you may be surprised at the answers. i know i was.
vegetables
BEST USES FOR DIATOMACEOUS EARTH
i use this stuff for everything! from keeping ants out of my house, to de-fleaing the pets, to taking for a detox for myself… this stuff is “magic”. i never put any poisons on anything in my gardens but DE makes it possible to still grow organically while killing those little suckers! i buy the FOOD GRADE ONLY in 50 lb. bags. i even bought a bag for my mom and she thinks it’s wonderful, as well. check out the article…it’s informative and helpful.
40 Shrubs & Vines to Grow from Hardwood Cuttings | Fall & Spring
How fun is it to share cuttings with a friend? Take note of these wonderful instructions and let’s all grow new plants!
Starting new plants from hardwood cuttings is a slow but reliable way to grow more, free plants for your garden. This method is done in the late fall or early spring, and works with many deciduous shrubs and vines.
40 Shrubs & Vines to Grow from Hardwood Cuttings | Fall & Spring
LOADED VEGAN SCALLOPED POTATOES
LOADED SCALLOPED POTATOES VEGAN VERSION
- 8 morning side farms vegan bacon, cut into 1/2″ pieces
- Generously add olive oil to pan to keep “bacon” from sticking
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 onion, chopped
- kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp. unsalted vegan butter, plus more for greasing dish
- 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp. chopped scallions, plus more for garnish
- 1/2 c. soy coffee creamer
- 1 c. low-sodium vegan chicken stock
- 2 1/2 lb. russet potatoes, thinly sliced
- 2 c. shredded vegan Cheddar (I use veggie go)
- 1/4 c. vegan sour cream
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large skillet over medium heat brown bacon, about 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer bacon to a plate. Drain excess bacon grease leaving about 2 tablespoons; sauté garlic and onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Melt vegan butter, when it begins to bubble sprinkle flour all over and whisk until flour is absorbed, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add scallions, cream, and vegan chicken stock; bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off heat.
- Wash and dry potatoes. Attach slicing blade to a food processor. If possible, set thickness to 1/8″. Trim ends of potato and slice without removing peel. Grease casserole dish with vegan butter and arrange potatoes in rows. Pour creamy mixture over the potatoes followed by a even layer vegan Cheddar and vegan bacon.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake until potatoes are tender and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Garnish with scallions and dollops of vegan sour cream. Serve immediately.
I borrowed this recipe from delish.com. the writer’s credit is as follows:
Judy Kim is a NYC-based food stylist, recipe developer, and photographer. She also writes recipes for her website The Judy Lab.
HOW TO GROW A VEGETABLE GARDEN IN THE SHADE
so you have a crummy, shady area where the lawn isn’t doing it for you but just don’t know what to do with it? MAKE A SHADE GARDEN!!! there is a popular belief that you cannot garden without full sunlight. wrong! read the article at the link and learn. i’m doing this, myself.
HOW TO TRENCH PLANT TOMATOES
Trench Planting:
Step 1
Dig a 4-to-6-inch-deep trench that is as long as your tomato seedling is tall.
Trench Planting:
Step 2
Remove the seedling from its pot and gently massage the rootball apart. Snip off the leaves on the lower portion of the stem, leaving two to four sets of leaves at the top of the stem to ensure enough leaf surface for photosynthesis.
SEE THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE:
THE GREAT BUCKET EXPERIMENT
Do windows in buckets = a good idea? Maybe.
This way I hope I’ll see what’s going on inside my buckets!
So here’s how this bucket experiment goes:
3 buckets. One has a base of sticks. The second has a log base and the last “control” bucket contains no wood at all.
All three buckets have some home made compost mixed with a readily available commercial potting mix (Miracle Grow).
All three buckets contain one red bell pepper and two lettuce plants.
What I’m looking for:
I want to see if one bucket performs better than another and if so, which one.
5 EASY STEPS FOR FAST COMPOST Get garden-ready compost in about 30 days.
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/5-easy-steps-fast-compost
Making compost is probably the single most important thing you can do for your organic garden. The success of your garden depends on the soil, and the health of your soil depends on the compost you give it. And making compost isn’t difficult. With very little effort on your part, you can turn throw-away materials into this sweet-smelling, nutrient-rich, no-cost soil conditioner. So how do you start this easy composting?
Self Reliant Living and 40 Ways to Self Sufficiency
Self Reliant Living and 40 Ways to Self Sufficiency
Here we show you 40 ways to self reliant living and self sufficiency whether you live in the city or the suburbs. Urban homesteading and urban self sufficiency is a lifestyle sought out by the baby boomers, and for good reason! So many people think that having a large piece of land allows them to be self sufficient. As I have always said, it is not the size that counts, but what you do with it! 😉
DIY Raised Bed for gardening
For this project, you will need two 8 foot 2×12 planks (cut in half), 4 corner brackets, screws, weed preventing landscape cloth, scrap cardboard, veggie scraps, green leaves, green grass clipping or other green matter, leaves, twigs, dried hay/grass or other brown material, organic soil.
NOTE:(we made our raised bed 3×6 to fit our space. you can make yours whatever size you wish. 4×4 is easier to work without the need for stepping in the soil. and we used brackets we had on hand. choose whatever works best for you.)
Using your electric screwdriver, mount the corner bracket in the center of your board. Make sure it is straight and flush.
Attach the remaining board via the bracket, forming a corner.
It’s easier to do this if you have someone help you hold the board against the bracket, while you use the electric screw driver to screw it together.
You now have your raised bed frame.
Cut weed preventing landscape cloth a few inches bigger than the inside of the box/bed. You will need this extra cloth to staple to the wood.
Next, add cardboard you have saved for this project. It’s biodegradable and will work as a moisture barrier. Cardboard is considered “brown” material and works with your raised bed to provide nutrients like dried leaves would. Don’t skip this step.
Keep filling your bed until the cardboard is as even as you can get it. Make sure it’s flat as possible. You can add several layers.
Add green material on top of the cardboard. Green material is anything like veggie scraps, fruit peelings, green leaves, small amount of grass clippings, eggshells, coffee grounds.
We added banana leaves from a tree we pruned and other leaves and small twigs from pruning trees and shrubs. Don’t use large twigs or sticks.
Cover the cardboard as well as possible with your green matter. You are building a “compost” under your soil which will feed your plants for months and help maintain moisture in your soil.
Next add brown material: dried leaves, some dried grass, dried tomato vines, dried corn husks, small twigs. (if you don’t have dried leaves, you can use strips of newspaper or other scrap paper)
Break up any twigs or vines into small pieces. We walk on ours to crunch it up and press it down before we add the soil.
Add organic soil on top of your other layers and smooth it as evenly as possible. You will have to add more soil, in time, as the levels compress and compost.
Now your raised bed is ready for planting! If you’d like to make the most of your space, make a grid from twine, mapping off 16 squares, each one being 1 square foot. Plant your veggies in each square. You can read about square foot gardening online or look for future posts about it, here.
