Category: How To

A nine-year-old builds houses from scratch and they aren’t the kind for dolls. 

When Hailey Fort was just five-years-old, it broke her heart to see a homeless man on the street. After asking her parents how she could help him, she’s been assisting the homeless by providing food and housing ever since.

Hailey of King Fort, Washington is building a mobile shelter for her homeless friend Edward and others like him. She plans to build 12 this year.

Edward recently lost his job working at the local supermarket and Hailey made it her goal to make sure he could sleep someplace warm and dry.

READ THE FULL STORY: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3111720/Nine-year-old-girl-builds-makeshift-homes-homeless-grows-food-garden.html

Historically, farms and forests have been at odds. Conventional wisdom says we have to cut down the forest to make way for agriculture.

But a growing movement called agro-forestry “capitalizes” on the free services forests provide farmers and gardeners.

Not only do trees protect more delicate edible plants from the elements and extreme weather, they provide nutrients, water, pest control and pollination services.

Although you might not find all your traditional annual veggies in a forest garden, you will discover hundreds of new varieties of edible plants you never knew existed, that are often more nutrient-dense and flavorful.

And if you choose your plants carefully, they will propagate themselves each year and live symbiotically among the hundreds of diverse species around them, requiring no tilling, planting, fertilizing, weeding or watering.

This is what Martin Crawford has done in his 2-acre forest garden in England for over 20 years — let it do the work for him for the most part, after a few years of research and legwork.

READ THE FULL STORY: https://returntonow.net/2019/10/28/forest-garden-with-500-kinds-of-food-requires-only-a-few-hours-of-work-per-month/?fbclid=IwAR1n5udnKnaFLBC9hI9pCnNv4R3ryKXXzQKfOlXeurHyYcURiXHMSPVTN6o

In recent years, there has been a growing disconnect between children and their food. Most kids have never set foot on a farm or in an orchard, only ever seeing food go from the grocery store to their house to their plate. Thousands of children have never before witnessed the food they eat actually growing in the ground.

What better way to introduce this concept, and foster an appreciation for the food they eat, then integrating it into their play?

Benefits of gardening with your kids

Gardening with children has so many benefits to their physical and mental health:

1. Body control and development: There is a lot of physical activity involved with gardening, such as carrying tools, digging, planting, and more. This helps children develop their body management and locomotor skills. There is also quite a bit of precision involved with gardening, which helps children master their fine motor skills. (1, 2, 3)
2. Sensory development: Working in a garden exposes children to a huge range of sounds, smells, sights, and textures. The cold water from the hose, the smell and feel of the soil, the clinking sound of shovels and trowels – all of these stimulate the senses and allow children to experiment with those.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT: https://theheartysoul.com/grow-a-living-playhouse-for-your-kids/?fbclid=IwAR0n2ysG3MG1ZiBAINy8ecsyQMAw-GOdDMbDb4tKAOpf2yjPbYFq0VGARmA

Old farmers would say of a farmer they admired: “He knows his onions.”

Old farmers are few and far between these days, as is any urban gardener who knows his/her/their onions. In addition to the basic knowledge needed, producing globe onions (also called bulb onions) in our gardens is complicated by our many microclimates. But with a little planning, we can harvest the same big, sweet and pungent globe onions that we see in grocery stores.

Before you start, there are two factors to understand: The first is why you shouldn’t plant too early. Onions should be planted in fall or winter. But if by December, the stem of an onion plant is thicker than a pencil, the plant is likely to flower in the spring, and thus form no bulb. (In fact, it won’t form much that is edible, and then will produce seed and die. Not what you had in mind!)

The second factor is that onion plants start to form bulbs in response to the day’s length. At our latitude, even the longest day, June 21, is not long enough to stimulate a long-day variety to form bulbs, so avoid planting them. Short-day varieties start forming bulbs as early as the third week of January. Chances are the plants will be so small when they get the “bulbing signal” that the resulting bulb will be rather small.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE: https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/What-you-need-to-know-before-you-plant-onions-14904723.php

Limited space is no reason to keep you from having the garden of your dreams.

From vertical gardens to mason jar and container gardens, with a little creativity you can utilize your space to effectively grow plants, no matter the limitations, said Kevin Espiritu, founder of Epic Gardening and author of the new book, “Field Guide to Urban Gardening: How to Grow Plants, No Matter Where You Live.”

Espiritu’s interest in gardening came on a whim, and when his first foray ended in a cucumber failure, he quickly realized there was limited easily digestible information on where he went wrong.

“There’s some statistic where like 40 percent of first-time gardeners don’t ever garden a second year, and that to me is just a bit sad,” he said.

Espiritu broke his book down into three main sections to get you started on an urban garden.

• Green Thumb Basics: the foundational concepts of gardening like how does a plant use water and light? Where should your garden be located?
• Growing Methods: there are six different growing methods within the section that give the best growing options, depending on your set up. For example, raised bed gardening, balcony gardening and indoor gardening.
• Troubleshooting: this tackles some of the most common things you may run into that could hinder your progress as a gardener — like pests, diseases or watering mistakes.

LEARN MORE: https://www.wpr.org/5-tips-start-urban-garden

Nothing is more unfestive than a sagging, rotting Jack-O-Lantern on your front porch. To be sure your Trick-or-Treaters enjoy your pumpkin artwork through Halloween, we’ve put together some of the best tips to help prolong Jack’s life just a bit longer.

First, try not to carve too early. The pumpkin is a fruit, and once it has been carved, it’s exposed to air and will accelerate the decaying process. So, wait as long as you can, especially if you live in high-humidity regions.

Additionally, be sure that your pumpkin is fully cleaned of the “guts” and seeds. Scrape the interior walls as thoroughly as possible to remove all stringy material. The cleaner the pumpkin, the slower it will decay.

READ: 5 Ways To Keep Your Jack-O-Lantern Fresher Longer

You may have heard some terms thrown around describing certain garlic varieties but what do they mean? Below we’ll give you a brief description of what Hardneck and Softneck really mean in the garlic world.

Hardneck Garlic:

• Hardneck garlic has fewer cloves per bud than the softneck varieties.
• They will produce a flower stalk, or scape, that will need to be removed once the plant forms.
• The cloves are larger than softneck varieties.
• These varieties will store well for only a few months, so use them sooner than later.
• Grow hardneck varieties in regions where there is extended cooler weather.

Softneck Garlic:

• Softneck garlic has more cloves per bud than hardneck varieties.
• They will not produce a hard flowering stalk, which makes it a great choice for braiding.
• The cloves are smaller than hardneck varieties.
• These varieties can easily be stored for up to 9 months.
• Grow softneck varieties in regions where winters are mild.

Regardless of which variety you think will suit you best, it’s time to start dropping your fall garlic! Garlic can be planted in the spring as soon as the ground can be worked, but fall planting is recommended. Bulbs will grow bigger and more flavorful when you plant them in the fall. Plant 6 to 8 weeks before your first hard frost. In southern areas, February or March can be a better time to plant. Most people generally plant garlic somewhere between October-February.

Key Planting Info:

• Break apart cloves from bulb but keep the papery husk on each individual clove.
• Ensure soil is well-drained with plenty of organic matter. Plant in Full Sun.
• Plant 4 inches apart & 2 inches deep, in their upright position (the wide end down and pointed end facing up).
• Come springtime, shoots will begin to emerge.

How to Take Care of Garlic

• Northern states should mulch with straw for overwintering.  Remove mulch in the spring after the threat of frost is over. (Young shoots can’t survive in temps below 20°F on their own. Keep them undercover.)
• Cut off any flowering shoots that come up in the springtime. They will decrease the size of the bulb.
• Fertilize with nitrogen, especially if you see yellowing leaves.
• Water once every 3-5 days during bulb-ing (mid-May through June).

When and How to Harvest

• You’ll know it’s time to harvest your garlic when the tops are yellow and they begin to fall over. Harvest the garlic before the tops are completely dry.
• Gently lift the bulbs with a spade or garden fork.  When you remove them from the soil, carefully brush off the soil and let them cure in an airy, shady spot for two weeks. Try hanging them upside down on a string.   The key to curing them is making sure that they have good air circulation.

How to Store Garlic

• Your garlic will be ready to store when the wrappers are dry and papery and the roots are also very dry. The head of the root should be hard and the cloves should come apart easily.
• Remote all dirt, roots & leaves. Keep the papery wrapper on—but remove any dirty parts.
• Bulbs should be stored in a cool (40 degrees F), dark, dry place, for several months.
• The flavor of your garlic will increase as your bulbs are curing and drying.

Here’s a fact: Your cured garlic can keep well in storage for AT LEAST 6 months, up to an ENTIRE YEAR! Store it in a place with good air circulation, 65-70% humidity, and temps. around 35-50 degrees F.

Ready to SHOP Hardneck AND Softneck Garlic?! Click here!

“Back to Eden shares the story of Paul Gautschi and his lifelong journey walking with God and learning how to get back to the simple, productive organic gardening methods of sustainable provision that were given to man in the garden of Eden. The food growing system that has resulted from Paul Gautschi’s incredible experiences has garnered the interest of visitors from around the world. Never, until now, have Paul’s organic gardening methods been documented and shared like this! You will walk away from Back to Eden Film with the knowledge of how to plant an organic garden and how to grow your own food. Back to Eden gardening is the best gardening technique!”

LEARN MORE: Back To Eden