Urban-style organic gardening blog about growing your own food with limited space and creative resources.
“There is one basic role that applies when it comes to using fertilizers – “less is more”. If you apply too much fertilizer or a concentration that is too strong, you could do much more harm than good. You can harm plant roots and soon you will see the tell-tale symptoms of fertilizer burn – brown curled leaf edges and leaves that wither and fall from the stem.”
We have prepared a list of 15 homemade fertilizers, HERE: “GardeningSoul.com“
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“Los Angeles-based ‘gangsta gardener’ and community leader Ron Finley is determined to redefine ‘gangsta’ as being about building thriving communities, not machismo.”
“Gardening is gangsta: Mother Nature is gangsta. Being educated, creative and self-sustaining is gangsta. That whole concept was about turning a negative into a positive. If you want to be gangsta about anything, make it about building your community, sharing knowledge.
Men are brought up being told that we’re supposed to be provider and protector. But, as far as I can see, a lot of our communities are basically designed to kill people, because you can’t find healthy or nutritious food in them. Why is it easier to get alcohol than an organic apple? Why, in certain communities here, is it easier to get a gun than it is to get an organic carrot? Cities are designed for commerce, not for people.”
This article was first published by Positive News and is republished with permission.
“We are sure you already know baking soda is beneficial for your home and kitchen as it offers a safe and inexpensive way to clean the kitchen and bathroom. What about the garden? Here are the top 10 ways you can use baking soda in the garden to keep it healthy and pest-free.
1. Use Baking Soda To Test the PH Level of the Soil
Wet your soil with distilled water and sprinkle some baking soda over the damp part. If the soil starts bubbling, you have acidic soil with a pH level lower than 5.
2. Homemade Plant Fungicide
Mix four tablespoons with 1 gallon of water and you will get a homemade fungicide a lot cheaper and with much fewer chemicals and toxins than other harmful fungicides.”
Read 8 MORE ways to use baking soda in your garden, HERE: “GardeningSoul.com“
“Fresh produce – ideally grown locally right in your backyard – is essential to a healthy diet, but with scores of people either lacking the space, time, or knowledge to cultivate their own food, for many that ideal simply isn’t attainable. Enter French company Myfood. They aim to bring food production back home, and they’re doing it with smart solar aquaponic greenhouses. These groundbreaking greenhouses, which are small enough to fit in a yard or even a city balcony, can produce 660 to 880 pounds of vegetables every year.” –via “HealthAdvisor.care”
“I just started gardening in February and I just wanted to share how container gardening literally transformed my roof deck. Who says you can’t grow food in the big city?” says Julius Barcelona.
He also notes: “We’re five floors up and yes, the wind really is a big problem here. My herbs and leafy veg are okay since they’re low lying plants, but all my other plants like tomatoes and cucumbers are along the western wall so they are protected from the wind while they are small. I’ve put up some trellis net to support the taller plants along the side of the garden. There’s one good thing about the wind though; pests have a harder time establishing since they get whipped around a lot.”
Images via Julius Barcelona, Container Gardening and Vertical Gardening (Facebook Group)
Ever wish you could just get away from it all? Meet Catherine King and Wayne Adams, who did just that. Literally. They’ve been living on a homemade, self-sufficient, floating island for the past 24 years.
“The home, which they’ve named “Freedom Cove,” consists of 12 floating platforms that include a dance floor, an art gallery, a guest lighthouse, a studio for Adams and King, and 5 greenhouses. The settlement has half an acre of land for growing edible crops. The couple gets water from a nearby waterfall during the summer and from rainwater during the winter. The settlement had been powered by an array of 14 solar panels, but recently switched to a generator after these broke down.
When they aren’t working on their sustainable lifestyle, they still manage to keep busy; during the summer, visitors come from nearby Tofino to experience the family’s sustainable lifestyle. Adams is also a carver, while King is a painter, dancer, writer, and musician.”
Read more about their story and see a photo gallery, here: “BoredPanda.com“
This rotating garden wheel is like a futuristic vegetable farm in your living room.
Learn more at: “OGarden.com“
This is a guide on how to grow food for free or with very little money in an urban environment. I cover all the limiting factors that typically prevent people from gardening including space, raised beds and containers, water, compost, soil, mulch, seeds and go into how to compost, how to make a compost bin, how to harvest rainwater, how to do grey water, how to forage and much more. The idea of this video and guide is to help you get past all the limiting challenges of gardening in the city and get you to start growing some food. This guide is geared particularly at how to grow food for free or with very little money in an urban environment where space may be limited. One of the main keys to growing food for free in the city is to utilize wasted materials and resources. Creating a minimal environmental impact is a central part of everything in this guide and utilizing wasted materials and resources is one of the best ways to keep our environmental impact small.
For more information go to: https://www.RobGreenfield.tv/growfood
“Every garden, backyard or patio has some kind of fence. They can be pretty dull and even can make the surrounding area uglier than it probably is. That’s why we decided to present you a dozen of great ideas that can unbelievably transform your garden and make it an enjoyable place.”
Enjoy and get inspired: “SiteForEverything.com“
“Therapeutic gardening has existed since early Egypt. At the beginning of the 1800s, Dr. Benjamin Rush recorded the therapeutic effects of working the garden. Following both World War I and II, veteran hospitals used gardening as therapy for returning soldiers. Even today, there are many gardening and farming programs for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. We have known for a long time that gardening was good for you, but now have the research to back it up! And Chris says that more importantly, we can use this research when presenting our case to groups or organizations in support of the benefits of gardening, farming, and being in nature.”
“What may be required next is a shift in our time-strapped culture, where we have so much demanding our attention. Growing a plant forces our patience as we await the opening of a flower bud or ripening of a vegetable. During that time, we note observations of the soil, insects both good and bad, weather, and the habit of the plant as it moves through its lifecycle. Watching and culturing the life of another organism is powerful for any human being. A shift in our mindset toward nature positions the fields of horticulture, urban agriculture, landscape design, and landscape architecture as key career paths to promote the health and well-being of everyone in our community and not just those with the means to afford the graces of nature or a well-kept yard. ”
Read the FULL Article at “CJ-TC.com“
“In case you haven’t noticed it yet, gardening is becoming cool again. More and more people are planting gardens in their backyards, building vertical ones where space is tight, keeping succulents on their office desks and cactus in their bedrooms.
It’s not surprising. City life is a mad dash of existence; We live in a concrete jungle, deal with the chronic stress of slow-moving traffic and stressful commute, get blind looking at multiple screens all day long, and try to be the responsible employee, family member, and friend. Short of the long: We need something more than this city routine.
GMA News Online attended an urban gardening workshop at Cedarhills Garden Center in Quezon City, where we learned the many benefits of gardening. Read them HERE!”
“Drums can be great for building raised garden beds. If you happened to have some barrel drums around collecting dust, this might be a good project for you.
Just cut the drums in halves and build a stand to support them. Your garden bed is ready for some beautiful flowers! Watch the video tutorial for how to cut the barrel drums.” via “NewzMagazine.com“
“NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A Germantown couple’s legacy will grow forever, thanks to an agreement that will always protect their urban garden.
When Ernest and Berdelle Campbell left their Belle Meade home and moved to Germantown, they knew an urban garden would be a part of their retired life.
Now, more than 30 years later, that garden is still thriving and thanks to the Land Trust for Tennessee, its future is forever.”
READ THE FULL STORY at: “WKRN.com“
“The homestead is a family project where each member does their part. Blas Herrera, husband to Chan and father of their two young girls, puts on his beekeeper suit one foggy morning to smoke and subdue the bees before extracting them for an upcoming garden tour. The Chan-Herrera family opens their backyard oasis to the community regularly, and on this particular day, students from S.F. State were due for a visit.”
Read the full article at: “SFChronicle.com“
“Since moving to Nicaragua, a day doesn’t go by when we bite into produce grown here and taste the bitter flavor of chemicals. The use of these chemicals goes back generations. This, along with a changing climate and five years of drought has had a devastating impact on the environment, depleted soil quality, and caused malnutrition. With your support we can build a hands-on farm model that teaches sustainable growing methods, nutrition education, and improves health for families and children.”
What Mesa Sostenible Looks Like Now:
So far they have been successful at securing land, and growing various plant varieties from seed in two small greenhouses. They’ve also started a composting initiative to help reduce waste and promote soil health.
What Mesa Sostenible Can Look Like with Your Help and Support:
The GOAL is to build a sustainable, working farm that will provide the community and visitors a-like the experience to participate in a unique and memorable educational experience in sustainable farming, living & healthy food preparation.
“MESA Sostenible aims to have the following social, environmental and economic impacts:
Here’s The Plan:
Our goal is to raise $95,000 in funds to bring the MESA Sostenible Sustainable Farm and Nutrition Kitchen to life.
