Gardens

Last Updated on May 21st, 2019

There are several gardening mistakes that could be costly. However, if you do your research and come up with a good plan, gardening is pretty straightforward.

Know that by neglecting even a single part of the initial garden planning research, you could end up wasting your money instead of ending up with the garden of your dreams.

Great pruning shears is a must to take care of your garden.

Gardening Mistakes that Could be Costly

Planting Plants in the Wrong Zone

Everyone lives in a specific garden zone.

Just about every plant and seed from a reputable company will include this information on their website or packaging, indicating where a plant grows best.

These USDA gardening zones are as good as gardening law.

Plants used in the gardens near condos for sale in CT will not be the same as those planted in your backyard in FL.

Plant for your zone and any perennials are virtually guaranteed to survive the freezing winter or the scorching heat of summer.

Choosing Plants that Are Illegal or Invasive

Some plants are illegal.

It varies from state to state, but even a few “attractive varieties” are considered “noxious weeds.”

Never plant these.

Though you may not be reported for doing so, they are not suitable for the local environment, and many times they make your garden and the surrounding area incredibly unpleasant for allergy sufferers.

Then there are invasive plants.

These spread more quickly than they can typically be controlled, like crabgrass.

They grow well, but your neighbors will not thank you.

You’ll also spend much more time cutting them back and weeding them from your flowerbeds and lawn than you may want to.

Once an invasive plant is established, however, they take time, effort, and money to get rid of.

Not Taking Care of Your Investment

Once you’ve planted all of your plants, flowers, trees, and shrubs, you need to have a plan in place to maintain them.

The first few weeks are critical to their establishment and long-term health.

In most cases, no matter what you do, you will lose a plant or two, especially if you’ve overhauled an entire garden.

Keep your records, plant tags, and receipts.

Most garden centers and plant nurseries know this fact and will replace your plant at no charge if it dies within a year.

For some, that pledge extends up to two years.

Root cellars can help store for year round access.

Natural Lawn Care Tips and Hacks

Not Being Aware of the Pests in Your Area

If you’re wondering if a specific plant would work well in your area, ask your neighbors first.

Or look online or ring up a local master gardener or gardening society.

Some areas are more prone to specific types of pests, namely insects.

These will attack any plant of a particular kind on site, never giving it the chance to grow or establish.

If you would like to avoid taking those risks, think twice before importing a plant not offered by a local nursery.

If you’re dead set on having something, gather information.

If things still don’t look right, see if any companion plants might ward off the pests.

Not Paying Attention to Sun Requirements

Never plant hostas or columbines in direct sun.

Don’t expect peppers to thrive in dark areas with damp soil.

On nearly every plant’s tag or given planting instructions, you will see sun requirements.

These can be somewhat flexible, most plants work reasonably well in “part sun” and “part shade” but for the few that say “full sun” or “shade” exclusively, follow that rule.

Last Updated on May 21st, 2019

Best Pruning Shears – Many gardening enthusiasts find that roses and orchids are some of the most difficult flowering plants to cultivate.

But when you’re armed with the correct gardening arsenal and top growing tips, you too can have a garden full of blooms.

When it comes to tending your precious roses and orchids, only the right tools will cut it.

To get the best growth and the most beautiful flowers, you need gardening tools you can trust.

Whether you’re investing in tools for your own garden, or looking to sell gardening tools on to gardening enthusiasts, you should buy the best quality you can afford.

One of the most important tools in your collection is a pair of quality pruning shears.

If you take pride in your garden and want to work those green fingers, keep reading to learn how to choose the best pruners for roses and orchids.

I shop for gardening pruning shears and other gardening tools primarily online at ToolBarn.com and Amazon.com. 

5 Tips for Pretty Roses

Find a Sunny Spot

Roses need lots of sunshine to grow well, so make sure they get at least 6 hours of sun a day.

Plant Them in Soil That Drains Well

Once you’ve put your rose bush in the soil, add organic material like manure, compost or tree bark to your displaced soil, before backfilling.

Water Them Liberally During Growth Season

The soil around your roses needs to be damp throughout the spring months.

They’ll need around an inch of water each week – feel the soil with your fingertips.

It needs to be damp, but not waterlogged.

Mulch Your Roses

Add 2-3 layers of organic matter like cedar mulch, chopped banana peels, grass or even wood chippings around your roses.

This’ll help keep the water in and deter weed growth.

Prune Your Rose Bush

Using pruning shears, carefully prune your roses to achieve the shape of bush you want, beautiful flowers and a healthy plant.

Your roses need to be pruned to promote growth and channel essential nutrients to the blooms.

How to Prune Roses

Your roses should be pruned while they’re still growing slowly – the cold weather before springtime is best.

With high-quality pruning shears, make diagonal cuts around 1/4 inch above a new bud.

You can shape your roses by placing the cut in the direction you want the new growth to form.

If you see any branches that look woody or dead, prune those out, too.

The more you prune, you’ll get larger roses and fewer of them.

Prune less, and the opposite will be true – smaller flowers but in greater abundance.

5 Tips for Exotic Orchids

Choose the Right Spot

Your orchid’s parents started life in the tropics, so only a warm environment will do.

Choose a spot that’s indoors, out of direct sunlight but still with a lot of sun exposure.

Control the Temperature

As in tip #1, your orchid will need a warmer environment to survive and thrive.

Make sure you maintain an indoor temperature of between 65-80 degrees Fahrenheit to give them the warmth they need.

Allow Air Flow to the Roots

In their natural habitat, orchids are more likely to be found clinging to trees and other plants, rather than being planted in soil.

Mix a liberal amount of organic matter, like tree bark, into the soil around your orchid.

Don’t be shy.

This will allow air to get to the roots of the plant and promote healthy growth.

Give Them Monsoon Rains

Because of their tropical roots, orchids benefit from a shower of water, the way they would in the wild.

Saturate the soil around your orchid, and then leave it to dry.

This could take days.

Once the soil is beginning to dry out, repeat the process – your orchids will feel right at home.

Prune Your Orchids

For your orchid to bloom, you need to drive the essential nutrients from water and sunlight to the young buds of your plant.

To do that, pruning is essential.

It’ll remove any greedy old branches and ensure your flowers are getting the nourishment and energy they need.

How to Prune Orchids

When a new nodule forms on an orchid, that signifies a possible new branch that could sprout with several flowers.

The potential is locked inside the nodule, and you’ll need to prune it to release this potential.

On a green stem, look for a nodule beneath your lowest growing flower.

Now, with good quality pruning shears, trim 1 inch above it.

Brown or yellow stems are sucking nutrients from the plant, and you’ll need to trim these off at the base.

Natural Lawn Care Tips and Hacks

Best Pruning Shears for Roses and Orchids

Aside from their perceived delicate constitutions, roses and orchids have something else in common.

Both of these flowering plants are best-pruned with bypass pruning shears.

Unlike other types of pruners, bypass pruners have a curved blade.

This curvature allows for closer and more precise cuts.

Bypass pruners also avoid the unpleasant issue that comes with flat-blade shears, which is potentially mashing up the stem when cutting.

Pruning shears are perfect for stems that are 3/4 inch thick, or less.

For more mature plants with thicker stems, you’ll need to use different tools, like loppers or a pruning saw.

Pruning shears will be ineffective at that stage.

Adapt According to Preference

When it comes to choosing your ideal shears, it isn’t a matter of ‘one size fits all’.

Rather, there is a range of options to choose from, according to your individual needs.

For example, if you’re left- rather than right-handed, there are shears with specially formed grips to fit comfortably in your hand.

For those with weak wrists, there are shears that rotate.

And if you have a weak grip, there are pruners with a ratcheting mechanism that do a lot of the work for you.

If you’re thinking of selling pruners to fellow gardeners via eBay auctions, you’ll want to showcase a variety of pruners that cater to the various needs of today’s gardener.

9 Best Pruners for Roses and Orchids

Without further ado, let’s get down to our recommendations.

Fiskars All Steel Bypass Pruners

These pruners from Fiskars are a good basic model for those on a budget.

They’re great for young plants and can cut to a diameter of 5/8 inch.

They have a low-friction coating to protect your orchids and roses during the pruning process, and a lifetime warranty for peace of mind.

Doolini Nature Professional Shears

These stunning professional pruners from Doolini have been made with the pro gardener in mind.

They have precision-sharpened blades and a cushioned comfort grip for prolonged use, so you can prune with heightened efficiency and care.

Pexio Premium Titanium Bypass Shears

These pruners from Pexio feature an ergonomic handle and grip and are both comfortable to hold, and powerful in execution.

These Pexio shears have an added sap groove feature, which channels sap away from the blades to avoid them gumming up.

Garden Elite Bypass Shears

These razor sharp shears from Garden Elite are not only elegant to behold, but they’re crafted from Japanese steel – the hardest steel on the market.

With this technology in place, these pruners are strong and sharp and have a lifetime warranty, too.

Gardena 8905 Vario Bypass Shears

These shears by Gardenia have a strong blade that can cut thicker than normal branches.

The blade has a non-slip coating, for both safety and precision.

They include stoppers so the stress on your wrist is reduced while pruning, and feature a sturdy reinforced fiberglass handle.

The Jaw Bypass Pruning Shears

With the Jaw’s high-carbon-coated steel blade, there are no more fears about your blade bending or snapping.

The shears have been designed to stay sharp for longer than standard pruners.

The grip is designed to be kinder on joints and minimize injury.

PrecisionPRO Titanium Pruners

These heavy-duty shears from PrecisionPRO have an inclined titanium-coated Japanese steel cutting blade for faster and quicker pruning.

The pruners have an ergonomic grip to suit larger and smaller hands, so are great for male and female gardeners alike.

Corona ClassicCUT Forged Bypass Pruner

The Corona ClassicCut pruners will cut through branches up to 1 inch in diameter – perfect for maturing bushes and plants.

With safety in mind, the manufacturer has also built in a notching tool when the pruner isn’t being used, to avoid accidents and injury to the user.

Garrett Wade Bypass Pruner

We’ll end with the most stylish pruner on our list – a stylish pair of shears from Garrett Wade.

The pruner is made from finely forged steel, and its powerful blades can prune and trim in an instant.

This set of shears comes with its own leather holster, too, for that dapper touch.

The Takeaway on Pruners for Roses and Orchids

Roses and orchids require care when it comes to pruning, and to do that you need the right set of pruners for the job.

Bypass pruners are the best shears for roses and orchids because of their capacity for precise and clean cuts, leading to healthy growth.

Are you looking to share your knowledge and sell the best pruning shears?

Then check out our FAQ section and see how we can help.

Last Updated on May 1st, 2019

Now that we know how to build a grow rack, let’s see how to make inexpensive Heat Mat for Seed from Christmas lights!

How to Make a Heat Mat for Seed Starting

This is a “readers’ favorite” post our how-to site.

When you are learning to grow from seeds, often you might see reference to a heat mat for seedlings.

Heat mats can really help speed up germination for many seeds, especially tomatoes and peppers.

You can buy them, but here I will show you how to MAKE one. Best LED Grow Lights Review – How To Choose

How to Build a Grow Rack for Seed Starting

Thinking of starting some seeds?

In this post, us how to build a simple grow rack and create an environment to raise healthy seedlings.

It’s perfect timing, since many of us are starting seeds this spring.

And it’s not too late to give your warm-season plants a head start!

At some point in your gardening career you either have or will come to a point where you want to learn how to grow from seeds.

Building a grow rack is a common first step because having a dedicated setup to grow your new plant starts will significantly help in the quality of your starts.

This is not a necessary step, but will go far to avoid leggy, weak seedlings.

Now that we know how to build a grow rack, let’s see how to make inexpensive heat mats…from Christmas lights!

Other Uses for Recycle Christmas lights

Soon it will be the festive season again and that time of the year where everyone will put up their Christmas lights.

The ‘green’ among us cringe at the extra electricity that this modern day display of Christmas requires.

Putting up Christmas lights has become a part of the entire Christmas experience.

That is not going to change any time soon.

What we can do is to recycle Christmas lights for as many years as possible.

There is some amount of breakage that will happen every time you put up and take down the Christmas lights but the large majority of them should be in a good enough condition to be reused next year again.

Surprisingly, this seemingly commonsense decision is not that common as you might believe.

Very seldom do people take the time to store the lights in a proper manner.

Instead, they end up just buying more lights next time Christmas comes around.

Green living is to reuse and recycle

One of the tenets of green living is to reuse and recycle whatever you can.

This includes your Christmas lights too.

There are now artificial Christmas trees available quite easily and while it may not inspire the same emotion in traditionalists.

It is time for common sense and responsibility towards your environment to win out over emotion.

Christmas has a deep impact on our culture and we should look at it as an opportunity to imbibe some good core values among the citizens.

Festive messages which encourage people to reuse and recycle Christmas lights, using faux Christmas trees and other such things will really have a lasting effect.

Most of the young children are trying to be ‘good’ during this time and maybe Santa will give them extra credit if they love their environment a little more too!

The Christmas tree decorations are something that have just taken off to another level over the last few years.

The lights and decorations have become very innovative and with the Facebook-culture of posting pictures of everything, the competition to outdo everyone else is intense.

Be sensible and use recycled Christmas decorations this year.

They are very pretty and will make you feel a little better about not polluting the environment.

You can also exchange Christmas decorations with your neighbors so you do not have to have the same Christmas decorations but still avoid wasting older decorations.

There are also a number of people who have much lesser than you on Christmas.

The spirit of Christmas is being lost in the excessive commercialization of the holiday.

We can get real meaning back into Christmas and make it more than just mall fights and traffic jams by trying to celebrate it in a responsible and aware manner.

Last Updated on May 1st, 2019

Path to Sustainability is Gardens and Orchards – We’ve been talking about various steps along the path to sustainability.

That is, practices that will carry us over from year to year, even if our outside resources fail us.

Like sustainable production of livestock, ongoing success growing fruits, vegetables, and herbs depends on a few specific factors.

We can keep gardens and orchards going year after year without outside resources by establishing perennial plants, saving seeds for annuals, providing us a wellness sanctuary and providing an ongoing supply of good soil amendments.

On our farm we’ve started using all of these methods and we’re learning more and more about them each year.

We’re still buying trees, plants, and seeds, but we feel that we have a good start on being sustainable with our gardens and orchard.

Path to Sustainability is Gardens and Orchards

Most orchard trees and bushes are perennials–plants that live for years without reseeding or replanting.

There are also a number of perennial garden vegetable plants that will keep on producing for many years.

Some require nothing more than mulching, while others depend on pruning for healthy growth year after year.

Fruit and nut trees

Can be planted as saplings of varying sizes.

The larger the sapling, the faster the tree will become established and the sooner it will bear a substantial amount of fruit.

There are some tricks to planting fruit trees, including attention to planting season, protection from animal browse, and watering.

Pruning from year to year is also important.

Berry bushes and grape vines

Are perennial, and usually produce sooner after planting than fruit and nut trees.

Most bramble bushes and grape vines grow best with support, ample water during establishment, and some pruning.

An excellent source of information on growing fruits, nuts, berries, and grapes is The Fruit Gardener’s Bible by Lewis Hill.

Also see Planting and Caring for Fruit Trees at Sunset Magazine and Growing Berries in Your Backyard at Mother Earth News.

Garden perennials

Including asparagus, rhubarb, lovage, and Jerusalem artichokes will also produce for many years.

A number of herbs including sage and rosemary are perennials in some or all climates.

Most perennial vegetables and herbs are planted once and just maintained, while others such as asparagus need some special attention for the first few years.

Some perennial vegetables with spreading root systems–like rhubarb–can be propagated by root division, while other plants including some perennial herbs adapt well to rooting of stem cuttings.

This way you can increase the number of plants for yourself or to share, and replace weak plants with more vigorous young plants.

Generally, plants that yield in spring and summer are best divided in fall so the root systems will be well established by spring.

Allium (garlic, chives) heads may be divided in fall; each planted clove has the potential to grow a new plant the following summer.

A super introduction is a Perennial Vegetables: Grow More Food With Less Work at Mother Earth News.

Author Eric Toensmeier has included 100 perennial vegetables in his book Perennial Vegetables.

Tools of the trade

Part of preparing for sustainable food production is amassing all the tools and equipment you might need.

This can range from small hand garden tools (great pruning shears review) to larger pieces of equipment to tractors and other vehicles, fuel to operate them, and the means to repair them.

One way to get a good idea of what you’ll need is to take notes for an entire year:

what you use, how you use it, how to keep it in good repair.

Then gradually add to your collection of tools and equipment.

Saving seeds for annuals

Most vegetables must be planted each year, and that requires viable seeds.

Today, vegetable seeds may be purchased in many local retail establishments from grocery stores to big box stores to garden shops and nurseries.

There are also many online sources of garden seeds.

One day, it may not be so easy to find seeds.

And frankly, many of us would like to cut the cost of seeds now anyway.

Saving seeds from garden production is fairly simple and yields good results with a supply of seeds for the following year…at no cost!

There are a few tricks to saving seeds, and some basic understanding of plant varieties is helpful.

First of all, there are several ways to collect seeds, depending on the type of plant.

Secondly, common hybrid plants yield seeds that are not reliable for consistent reproduction, so it’s important to save seeds from heirloom plants.

Collecting seeds

Can be as simple as pulling seeds off a mature plant or a bit more complicated, like removing seeds from a pepper or bean pod.

Some seeds are ready for saving right off the plant, while others, such as tomato seeds, must be soaked or otherwise treated.

Learn more at Saving Seed from the Garden and Seed Saving Tips.

Hybrid vs. heirloom

Do you know the difference? Hybrid plants are developed for increased stamina, production, or eye appeal.

However, their seeds do not produce consistently, and a gardener could end up with weak or fruitless plants, odd produce, and other unexpected results.

Heirloom plants reproduce plants and fruits like the parent plant; in other words, you know what you’ll get at harvest time.

Open pollinated?

Books and online resources have caused confusion over the definition of the term “open pollination.”

Some sources consider heirloom seeds equivalent to open pollinated seeds.

Others define open pollination as natural pollination by insects, wind, etc. as opposed to self-pollination of plants.

In any case, if you plan to save seeds, it’s important to avoid cross-pollination of heirloom plants by planting different varieties far enough apart.

Seeds can be collected from regular garden rows or patches or from a specified seed saving bed

Designating an area just for saving seeds may make it easier to reserve seeds from each plant and also allow for full maturity of those plants that go to seed late in the season.

Just plant one or two of each vegetable in the seed saving bed and make sure no one harvests the produce for the kitchen.

Another type of “seed”

Is actually the fruit of a plant.

You can save small potatoes to plant next year and garlic cloves to plant in the fall.

Store in a cool, dry location.

Sprouting during storage does not necessarily render them useless; sprouting potatoes and garlic can still be planted.

Storing seeds

Properly is also important.

Seeds should be stored in dry containers in a cool, dry location.

Too much moisture, heat or freezing can damage or kill some seeds.

A warm, moist environment can invite premature germination during the fall or winter, and the sprouts will die before planting time.

That means less seed for the gardening season.

Read more about seed saving at Seed Savers and at Mother Earth News.

Starting seeds

Can be as simple as pressing beans into the soil and waiting.

Or a little more time-consuming, like planting tomato seeds indoors and nurturing small seedlings till they’re ready to go out to the garden.

Just for fun, to save money, or to provide for yourself when you can’t find seedlings to buy, you can be prepared to raise your own seedlings with an assortment of seed starting containers, heat mats, lights, grow racks, and perhaps even a cold frame or greenhouse.

Providing soil amendments

We have three words to say about this: compost, compost, compost!

One of the basic ways to create a rich soil amendment is to compost waste products from the kitchen and yard.

Added to the garden from year to year, compost will improve the texture of your garden soil while contributing food for your plants.

Large quantities of compost can be spread over the entire garden bed; if your supply is smaller, compost can be added directly to planting holes.

Compost tea is simple to make and a great way to spot-feed individual plants.

We encourage everyone to learn how to compost and use as much of their household, garden, backyard, and barnyard waste as they can.

While simply piling materials will yield some sort of compost, it’s far better to mix materials for a balance of carbon and nitrogen inputs.

This is a science, but it can be simplified.

Canine, feline, and human feces and urine should not be used in a compost pile intended for food production use.

Aside from compost, there are other efficient ways to provide nutrients to your garden and orchard.

If your soil is lacking specific nutrients

There are ways to add them, too.

A simple soil analysis will tell you about the composition of your soil.

Then you can supplement your compost with specific materials such as egg shells for calcium or banana peels for potassium.

Find some ideas at Ten Natural Fertilizer Recipes from Home Grown Fun.

Livestock manure

Valuable additive to the garden.

If you have access to large amounts of livestock manure from your own place or a neighbor, this can add bulk and nutrients to the compost you create from your own home and yard waste.

Another form, DIY manure tea, is valuable for individual plant feeding.

Green manures

Can also be planted to improve garden soil during fallow months.

While often used in large agricultural fields, green manure crops are also very effective in small home garden plots.

Ask your local extension or agriculture agent about the preferred green manure plants for your area.

Mulching

With deciduous leaves, evergreen needles, straw, and other materials helps plants and trees throughout the year.

Mulches help retain moisture and proper temperature while adding nutrients to the soil as they decompose.

Be aware that some materials such as evergreen needles may contribute too much acid or other element for certain plants.

And don’t forget that most vegetable garden plants and orchard trees need water

If you’re in a climate with dry phases and are on a public water system or rely on electricity to run a well pump, consider a rain catchment system or another source of water for your garden and orchard.

Food for other senses

Vegetable gardens and orchards provide a feast for the taste buds.

But don’t forget about enjoyment for the eyes and noses as well!

All of the concepts mentioned above are also effective with flower gardens and landscaped areas.

In closing, just a warning: Raising your own food can become addictive!

Enjoy the path to sustainable food production!

Please add your ideas for garden and orchard sustainability in the comments section.

The problem of Building a Compost Pile

We’ve had a compost problem…but we’ve found a compost solution.

Our compost pile was started two years ago in a location that has now become the middle of a through-way in our garden area.

Our two wonderful dogs, our chickens, and the local magpies can’t seem to resist the buffet.

You’ll see why we want a better setup when you look at this picture of our scrappy patchy system that temporarily protects the pile from dogs that dig at ground level and birds that land right on the pile.

The solution Building a Compost Pile

We decided to move the compost pile, fence it in with wood pallets, and cover it with a screened lid.

Just when we were getting our plans in gear, we started reading about Compost-Along.

We decided to join the party, exchange experiences with other composters, and learn some new composting tips along the way.

Our existing compost system

A few years ago I attended a local compost fair and received two of the cool rigid plastic compost bins seen in the photos above.

They’re tall, adjustable, and well-ventilated.

Normally they even stand up straight.

I have composted in these bins for two years now.

We put in all our kitchen and garden food waste that the chickens don’t get, including coffee grounds/filters, paper scraps, onions, citrus, and raw potato peelings.

Once in a while we rake up stalks, rinds, and other leftovers from the chicken pen.

We’ve added garden weeds that have not gone to seed, as well as various leaves and other vegetation we have.

We planted red worms in the pile to speed up decomposition.

Earthworms can also enter the pile from the dirt floor.

We avoid putting meat or animal manure in this pile, as we want it to create compost safe for all our food crops.

We’ve never been sure how hot our pile gets and how many microorganisms might remain in the compost.

So we either put the chicken coop litter directly on the garden in the fall or compost it in a different pile.

Composting along

Our Compost-Along project will be our kitchen/garden scrap compost pile.

We got busy planting our garden and thoughts of composting were set aside for a time…so today we’ll cover weeks 1 and 2.

Week 1 assignment

Decide on a type of compost bin.

Decide how to get compost ingredients.

For extra credit, get a bin and start collecting compost materials.

Week 1 results

We’ll use our plastic bins enclosed by wood pallets, with potential to have two piles going at the same time.

We’ll continue to use our kitchen and garden scraps, and will collect more ingredients like leaves, sawdust, wood ashes, straw, and grass clippings around the farm.

We also got some new ideas from the LHITS compost ingredients list: dryer lint and dog hair!

At times we have an abundance of both around here.

Extra credit: We already have the bin and some materials to compost.

Week 2 assignment

Get or make a bin.

Collect compost materials.

For extra credit, gather up some natural compost activators, like alfalfa meal, blood or bone meal, cottonseed meal, fish emulsion, comfrey, stale dog food, seaweed, and urine.

Week 2 results

We have an empty bin, though we haven’t yet made the wood pallet frame.

We have a few buckets containing kitchen scraps, yard clippings, wood ashes, dryer lint, and dog hair.

Ready to roll when we hear “Ready, Set, Go!”

I learned something new this week too: I didn’t know about all those compost activators!

I’ll plant some comfrey this year and collect any dog food that might go stale.

Extra credit: We have fish emulsion, which we use as a garden fertilizer.

Should we just pour some in the compost pile?

Fall and Winter Vegetable Gardens How to
Requests From Our Readers: Creating Root Cellars

You’re reading The Path to Sustainability Series:

The Path to Sustainability: What Does It Mean to You?
The Path to Sustainability: Is It Really Important?
The Path to Sustainability: Raising Livestock
The Path to Sustainability: Preparing and Preserving Fresh Foods

Last Updated on May 1st, 2019

Creating and Building Root Cellars – We have done some research though, and to answer your questions, we’ll share what we’ve learned.

In some climates, root vegetables can winter in place in the garden, well-mulched before the first freeze.

If frozen ground prevents harvest, the vegetables will usually be edible in the spring as long as they haven’t been devoured or damaged by rodents.

But for storage of other produce, root cellars can be a vital part of a family’s food preservation system.

Q: Where can you build a root cellar?

Q: How do you build a root cellar?

A: We don’t have a root cellar at our place yet–it’s on our to-do list for this summer.

Creating and Building Root Cellars

Root cellars are basically locations with fairly stable temperature and humidity where fruits, vegetables, and other foods can be stored for several months.

While root vegetables—like carrots, turnips, and parsnips—are among the best keepers, many other types of produce can be stored in root cellars for anywhere from a few weeks to several months.

As long as they are prevented from freezing, jars of home canned goods will also keep well in a root cellar.

On almost every property there’s a place where a root cellar could be established.

The key is to find a spot that will not freeze or become too hot, is neither bone dry nor wet, and gets some ventilation.

Some locations provide suitable conditions for all produce to keep well.

Others are good for some but not for others.

Root vegetables and tubers like it cold and damp.

Cool and dry is ideal for garlic and onions.

Pumpkins and squash need a dry spot that’s not too cold.

Many people store various items in more than one place.

Others store everything in a “happy medium” location.

With a large root cellar it is possible to find or create a different atmosphere in each corner.

Examples of Root vegetables and tubers like potatoes, carrots, turnips, and parsnips and onions

Cave dug into a hill or bank

Hole dug in the ground outdoors or in basement or garage

Corner of cool basement, framed in or not

Crawlspace under house

Unheated room or closet

Enclosed porch

Insulated shed or barn

Plastic storage bin, trash can, or barrel buried in the ground

Old refrigerator or freezer buried in the ground or surrounded by straw bales

Stacked hay or straw bales forming sides and top of a box shape

The root cellar walls, floor, and ceiling can be made of almost any material.

Finished interiors are nice, but dirt, concrete, bricks, blocks, stone, and straw bales will do the job.

Sand can be used for flooring.

Some containers, such as refrigerators and barrels, are completely lined.

Little equipment is required in a root cellar, but here are a few helpful items:

Temperature/humidity gauge for monitoring environment

Baskets, boxes, or crates for storage

Wood pallets for raised flooring

Pipes or tubes for ventilation

Wall or overhead racks and hooks for hanging mesh bags of produce, garlic and onion braids

Sand and straw for insulating in and around containers and separating layers of produce

Lights and fans, if electricity is available

So now take a walk around your home, barn, and property.

Think about creative ways to find existing root cellar options or locations for construction or burying.

Be on the lookout for large containers that might be suitable for burying or embedding.

The possibilities are endless.

We’ve even seen photos of an old bus partly buried in a hillside, with the front door exposed for easy access.

Now that’s creative repurposing!

As we’re planning our own root cellar, we’ve gotten a lot of our info and ideas from a book called Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables by Mike and Nancy Bubel.

Another helpful guide is the booklet Build Your Own Underground Root Cellar by Phyllis Hobson.

We have not read The Complete Root Cellar Book: Building Plans, Uses and 100 Recipes but it looks good and has favorable reviews on Amazon.

Fall and Winter Vegetable Gardens How to
Building a Compost Pile Can be Fun

Last Updated on May 1st, 2019

Starting a Garden Where Soil Poor – But the good news is, there are ways to do this!

Sometimes you can improve the soil that’s there.

If it’s beyond an easy fix, you can plant in raised beds you’ve filled with good soil.

Q: How do you start putting in a garden if your soil poor and is really bad?

A: Whether you have rocks, sand, or heavy clay…or dust or dirt without any substance to it.

No matter how you describe it, if your soil is poor for gardening, you’ll have to be clever and work around it.

First, take a look at what you’ve got.

If you grab a handful of damp soil and squeeze it, what happens? If it holds together loosely, you may have a foundation to build on.

You can amend the soil with compost and manure and see what you have in another year or two.

On the other hand, if the soil either slips through your fingers like dust or forms a very firm clay ball, raised beds or lasagna gardening are probably better use of your time and money.

Then, look for worms—yes, worms!

When you dig around in the soil, do you see any worms?

Worms in the soil are an indicator of quality, so fewer worms in the soil can indicate a lack of nutrients.

On the flip side, if you see many worms in your soil, you probably have high quality soil.

(Check prices on WORMS here)

How much patience or time to wait do you have?

Time and hard work spent creating a garden space will eventually pay off.

It will usually take about 2-3 years of amending before you can turn poor soil into healthy fertile soil.

If you want good garden results this year or next, you can start growing some plants in a raised bed or containers while building soil in a larger area for a future garden.

Three main ways to deal with poor soil:

Soil amendment:

This takes a few years and can include adding compost and manure to the soil.

Planting cover crops and later tilling them into the soil as “green manure” incorporates substance and nutrients.

Materials to till in:

Dry leaves, weed-free plant material, seed-free kitchen vegetable/fruit scraps, used livestock bedding.

They will eventually “compost in place.”

Some other materials to add in small amounts are sawdust/wood chips (will pull nitrogen out of soil if used too much), evergreen needles (will add acid), wood ashes (will add alkalinity and other minerals), and bone meal for calcium.

You can make your own calcium ash supplement by burning leftover meat bones after you’ve boiled them to stock.

The resulting ash is a very available source of calcium and other minerals for your plants

Rural Living Today readers Fin and Sue told us that they built soil where they had a lot of rocks and sand. They used a combination of chicken tractors, composting, and lots of labor.

Now, a few years later, their soil is very good for gardening!

Lasagna gardening/sheet composting:

This involves layering various materials on top of the ground and allowing them to compost in place.

Lasagna beds do not require tilling; usually turning the soil is sufficient between crops.

A lasagna bed should be created right where you want your garden to be, as the layers will become the garden itself.

Each layer should be wet down well before adding the next layer of material.

A good first layer is corrugated cardboard, which acts as a weed barrier.

Lay it right down on dirt, sod, gravel, whatever. Hose it down, then pile on the fillings.

Stack layers one to two feet high of any of the following materials: manure, compost, food scraps, dead leaves, wood chips–anything that will decompose.

Whenever you have more material, spread it on top and wet it down.

Before long you’ll have a rich bed of great growing soil.

You can get materials from lots of sources.

Place an ad in Craigslist or Freecycle for clean yard debris.

Many people will drop it off instead of paying for removal.

Also ask farms and horse stables if you can take a load of free manure (if you have a truck available).

You may be able to get wood chip mulch from Arborists or wire maintenance crews trimming trees on a city street.

In the fall, we like to drive around in the truck and snag bags of leaves off the curbside that have been set outside for trash – easy composting materials!

To help speed things along, we “inoculates” lasagna garden beds with a healthy dose of composting worms.

They will multiply quickly and the compost they create within the beds themselves is of the highest quality available.

You can buy red worms online or you can sometimes find them in old leaf piles.

Raised beds and containers:

This is the simplest in some ways, though it requires containment or shaping of beds.

It involves bringing good soil in from somewhere else.

The simplest raised bed is good soil mounded on top of poor soil.

Wood or rock frames can be used for edging, or you can just rake tumbling soil back into the mound as needed.

Raised beds constructed of wood, concrete blocks, straw bales, or other materials can be anywhere from a few inches to a few feet tall.

The height depends on the root depth of your plants as well as your physical comfort while gardening.

We love gardening in the waist-high raised bed built from lumber and corrugated metal roofing.

It’s great because we can lean across to the center from either side without straining our backs.

We can pack a lot of intensively planted veggies in the 4’ x 40’ bed.

To minimize the soil need, we filled the bed with tree branches in Horticulture fashion and capped them with topsoil. As the branches decompose and the soil settles we’ll just top the bed off with our farm compost each year.

At our farm we use all these methods.

We have a large garden patch in an area where we amended already-good soil with manure and green compost just for good measure.

A lasagna bed was layered in another area.

We use some low raised beds for overwintered garlic and strawberries and our tall raised bed for kitchen veggies.

Make sure you mulch. When I was younger and learning about gardening I did not understand why I kept hearing about mulch.

But now that I am more experienced, I will not garden without it.

I use dead fall leaves, wood chips, spent straw, or pretty much whatever I can get my hands on.

Spread the mulch in a thick layer (a few inches) around your plants and in your beds. This will not only help retain water but it will really help attract beneficial insects and worms.

When I build a new garden bed, I usually use the lasagna layering technique but I always make sure the top layer is a thick blanket of mulch for this reason.

Sometimes mulching can be the difference between sun baked hard & compacted soil, and damp, loose & rich soil.

Once you have soil of a good substance and composition, it’s wise to have the soil tested for nutrient levels.

We use the soils lab at University of Massachusetts.

We just take soil samples, mix them together, and mail a little plastic bag of soil to the lab.

The prices are reasonable and the results are emailed in a nice format with organic and non-organic recommendations for specific crop groups.

If you prefer to stay local for soil testing, check with your local university extension office or agriculture consultant to find a lab in your area.

Soils labs are very busy in the spring, but fall is also a good time for testing. Remember also, restoring a Rural Backyard is awesome!

Remember, it’s absolutely possible to start a garden where the soil is poor. With patience and persistence, you can improve the soil and have a richer harvest.

Restoring an Old Abandoned Rural Backyard

Last Updated on May 21st, 2019

Country gardens are not just for vegetables.

There’s so much more you can do.

Just in time for our first snowfall, I got our vegetable patch put to bed for the winter.

As I was working, I realized that in spite of the colorful veggies and herbs, I had really missed having a flower bed.

Along with food production, beautiful scenery is an important part of a wellness sanctuary and rural living too.

We didn’t have flower beds around our house yet, but I’d intended to plant a rainbow-colored band of flowers around our country gardens.

Somehow time got away from me, and with my focus on growing fruits and vegetables, I just never planted the flowers.

Starting a country garden

With just some basic supplies, like a great pair of pruning shears, you will be well on your way to a beautiful landscape and Country Gardens.

That winter, as I prepared my seed orders for spring, colorful flowers were at the top of my list.

Not only do I love their outdoor display, but to me, one thing that says “country kitchen” is a large pitcher stuffed with multi-colored fresh flowers.

Another plus is that colorful flowers attract industrious bees, beautiful butterflies and interesting birds to the garden.

In addition to keeping a garden, many find beekeeping to be a fascinating hobby.

A country garden also lends itself to multiple income streams.

Country Gardens aren’t just for vegetables

Acquiring seeds

You can buy flower seeds locally in the spring, or you can order them from seed companies throughout the year.

There are catalogs full of beautiful photos and descriptions.

It’s easy to build a list of favorites, especially noting the ones native to your geographic region and climate.

You can even find seed mixes for flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Be sure to check your local library. More and more of them are letting you “check out” seeds for flowers, produce and plants native to your area.

Growing flowers to cut

Flowers that last well in indoor bouquets are often described with the words “cut flowers” or “cutting garden.”

In some catalogs, they’re designated with an image of a pair of scissors or a vase.

Some seed companies sell “cut flower garden” packets containing seeds for a variety of flowers.

Another way to discover long-lasting cut flower varieties is to visit a local flower shop or the website of an online florist.

There you can peruse bouquets and arrangements designed by professionals who know which blossoms have staying power.

For accurate information on gardening, I like to consult online educational articles from universities and extension offices.

Gardeners.com offers many tips for raising cut flowers.

One tip is pick your flowers often which causes them to produce more.

They also advise on smaller spaces. You can start a successful cutting garden with up to 20 plants in just a 3 foot by 6 foot raised bed.

One publication I found, Maintaining a Succession of Cut Flowers, lists many varieties ideal for cutting.

This year, I made a pledge to plant a colorful cutting garden each year — eye candy that will do my heart good!

Getting Ready to Grow Some Groceries

We are getting antsy to get our country gardens going. Though there’s still some snow in the forecast and spring won’t arrive for a few more weeks.

We’ve been pacing out the garden area and getting ready to start some seeds indoors.

Last year was our first for our country gardens at our new place.

Due to other urgent projects, we got a late start, but fortunately spring arrived late, too.

Since it was our “test drive” in a new climate zone, we started slowly with several different veggies and herbs grown in small scale.

We experimented with rows, hills, and raised beds and tweaked our drip irrigation system.

Afterwards, we realized that dill and mustard are too tall to grow in our waist-high raised beds.

Also, we couldn’t even dig up all our garlic—some was so firmly embedded in rocky soil.

We took note of what really grew well, what didn’t quite flourish, what worked and what didn’t.

Between our experience and conversations with neighbors, we learned what to generally expect during a shorter but warmer growing season than we’re accustomed to.

Expand and Grow More Varieties

This year, we’re ready to expand a bit more, grow a few more varieties, and plant more of everything.

We’re still eating some frozen veggies and using dried herbs from last year but ran out of other things months ago.

This time, we want to grow enough for the full year.

We like starting our plants from seed.

Last year we were limited to four south-facing windowsills.

This year we attached lights to the underside of some closet shelves.

We’ll be able to get quite a few seeds going.

It’s not too late to start!

We’re planting the first seeds this week.

How about you? Will you be growing some food in your country gardens this year?

We’d love to hear about your plans in the Comments.

The Fruit Gardener’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Growing Fruits and Nuts in the Home Garden

Gardening in the Snow

Yes, I have been gardening in the snow. I’m not talking about checking the garlic plants under their deep white bed.

And unfortunately, we didn’t get around to fixing up a cold frame and no longer have fall stragglers surviving in our raised garden bed.

The other day I was out in the snow sowing seeds!

Last summer and fall, I collected seeds from several types of wildflowers growing on our property.

I wanted to plant them in a few areas around our living area where our clearing and leveling had eradicated whatever was growing there before.

Only the lupines seemed to survive the turmoil of the soil.

I’d planned to plant the wildflower seeds in the fall, but our chickens were having such fun wandering around in the fall sunshine that I didn’t want to pen them up yet.

And I knew they’d eat any flower seeds they could find.

It’s kind of a good thing I didn’t sow seeds in the fall, because we had an unusually dry period between November and January.

Gardening with Heavy Snowfalls

Heavy snowfalls just didn’t come.

Seeds would have been sitting on the ground in plain sight.

I can pen up my chickens, but the wild birds are another story.

They would have scarfed up any seeds they found.

It seems like spring planting time is just around the corner.

But some of my seeds need to have a cold winter nap.

They actually benefit from several weeks of chilling.

This part of the dormancy phase, called stratification, can be artificially provided in a refrigerator or a cold building.

But when possible, I prefer to let nature do its job.

Where we live, it’s common to scatter hardy seeds before the first big snowstorm of the fall.

In a normal year, the seeds literally chill out under a layer of snow much of the winter.

As the snow melts, it carries the seeds down into the soil, moistening and softening the seed coats.

The seeds settle there and wait for spring thaws to wake them up.

As it turned out, this was not a normal winter.

But finally now in mid-January we are getting another wave of measurable snowfall.

So in between storms, I went out and raked snow away, scattered the seeds, and raked some snow back over them.

Sure enough, the next snowfall settled that layer down and nicely tucked the seeds in for a chilly snooze.

I can’t even tell there are seeds under there, can you?

I don’t think the chickens will, either!

Hopefully I’ll see green sprouts in the spring and a variety of wildflowers all summer.

If not, there’s always next year!

Celebrating Real Food!

You know, eating real food that’s real good for you.

According to the Food Day website

“Food Day’s goal is nothing less than to transform the American diet—to inspire a broad movement involving people from every corner of our land who want healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way.

In other words, we want America to eat real.

We want to get Americans cooking real food for their families again.

We want fewer people at drive-through and bigger crowds at farmers markets.

Let’s celebrate fresh fruits, vegetables, and healthy whole grains—and to support the local farms and farmers that produce them.

Wouldn’t it be great for all Americans—regardless of their age or income or geographic location—to be able to select healthy diets and avoid obesity, heart disease, and other diet-related conditions?!”

In a similar vein, Slow Food USA recently launched a $5 challenge: create a SLOW FOOD meal for $5 or less, the cost of a FAST FOOD meal.

From www.slowfoodusa.org:

“The organization, a national non-profit working for good, clean and fair food for all, is encouraging people across the country to cook slow food that costs no more than five dollars per person.

Slow food – the opposite of fast food – is food that is good for those who eat it, good for farmers and workers, and good for the planet.

“Slow food shouldn’t have to cost more than fast food.

It’s time we take back the ‘Value Meal,’” said Josh Viertel, president of Slow Food USA.

Slow Food’s challenge and Food Day got me thinking of a further challenge: Create a slow food meal of local foods for $5 or less.

And then, an extended challenge: if we’ve raised our own meat and produce, how about creating a slow food meal of homegrown foods for $5 or less?

I’m up for the challenge! How about you?

Start by thinking about what you may have grown yourself and what’s available locally from neighbors, farmers’ markets, or savvy supermarkets that stock local products.

Be creative—how can you combine some of those products into a tasty and satisfying meal?

Granted, this might have been easier during the summer when many backyard gardens were producing fresh salad ingredients and farmers’ markets were at their prime.

But still there are stored or processed foods and fall-growing crops to help.

Here are some examples:

A soup or stew can be created with several different veggies.

Add a local source of protein—eggs, cheese, legumes, meat, poultry, or game—and you’ve got a complete meal.

Ditto with a main dish salad, especially if you’ve still got greens and other veggies growing.

If you are a fan of bread or rolls with every meal, one of the challenges might be finding local flour or grain to grind.

If you can’t think of a substitute and must have your bread, at least you can make most of your meal with local ingredients.

As I’m writing this, I’m planning a Food Day $5 homegrown slow food meal. My experimental patch of soup beans was not a stellar success, but I did manage to get enough beans for one pot of soup.

We had a good crop of potatoes and several other veggies and herbs.

To complement the beans’ protein I can also choose from eggs and meat from our own chickens.

This is the first year I could ever say this, but from garlic and onions to chicken and beans, we can create a tasty hot meal using only ingredients from our backyard.

If I hadn’t raised enough myself, I could buy other locally grown products in my community.

If the local grocery stores all shut down, we’d still be able to eat some good meals.

That’s a good feeling!

Extended-season gardening information

• Thinking about starting your plants early in the spring?
• Want to make harvest last longer in the fall?
• Wish you could pick fresh greens in the middle of winter?

Helpful resources for Extended-season gardening information for Growing Fresh Vegetable in Fall and Winter

Many of these concepts and materials will also work in spring.

Gardening Books

The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener by Niki Jabbour

Four Season Harvest

The Winter Harvest Handbook

Gardening Articles

Sow Seeds for Fall Garden from National Garden Bureau at GRIT Magazine

Cold Frame Gardening at Kitchen Gardener Magazine

Top Tips for Great Fall Gardens by Vicki Mattern at Mother Earth News

Expert Advice for Greenhouse Growing by Harvey Ussery at Mother Earth News

Grow Your Own: Winter Lettuce and Microgreens

Natural Lawn Care Tips and Hacks

11 Herbs for Indoor Container Growing

Fall crop schedule and other tips

DIY Structures for your Country Gardens – plans, instructions

Extend Your Growing Season by Barbara Pleasant at Mother Earth News

Use Low Tunnels to Grow Veggies in Winter: Quick Hoops by Eliot Coleman at Mother Earth News

Make an Easy, Inexpensive Mini-Greenhouse With Low Tunnels by Barbara Pleasant at Mother Earth News

Very clever, very simple cold frame from 5R Farm

Make a Cold Frame for Herbs (great cold frame info for veggies too) by Barbara Pleasant at The Herb Companion

Cold Frame Plans (wood) by Betsy Matheson Symanietz at Mother Earth News

A Cold Frame to Build (straw bales) by Paul Gardener at GRIT

Cold Frame Gardening at KitchenGardenerMagazine

Planning and Building a Greenhouse from Maryland and West Virginia Cooperative Extensions

The Benefits of Building a High Tunnel by George Devault at GRIT

Remember, country gardens are just that — filled with sprawling, brilliant flowers, fruits and vegetables. You can enjoy them all year long.