Issue #159
January 2006
What's New?
Out back, in the garden...
Compost Alert!
Book of the Month
To Ponder...
Growing Community
Web Finds
Closing Comments
Garden Notes Archives
WELCOME Garden Notes Subscribers!!
Sustainable Organic Gardener's
New Year Resolutions
Buy Locally
As this year progresses think about taking the burden off the transportation system
and being more sustainable. I'm not going to go into how much healthier locally grown
food often is for you... or how you know where it comes from... or how you
help support your local economy.... or how you make the voice of sustainable living
heard... or how important it all is.. if you've been reading Garden Notes for any
length of time, you know that already. But do you also realize that buying locally you
are much more likely to find plants that may more suited to your area and local
conditions as well. Very often, a reputable nursery does their homework and will build
their offerings around the people who will buy to plant in that area. Gardening
catalogs are a terrific source of ideas and a good supplement to your own creativity.
Extend Your Growing Season
Through the skillful use of hot beds and cold frames you can add many weeks to the
beginning and end (sob) of your gardening season.
Learn More
Use a Gardening Journal
Creating a gardening journal is NOT about 'looking pretty' it is about being effective
as a gardener, a sustainable gardener. Don't spend a lot of money, grab a cheap
notebook and start writing in it. Just something, "I planted the tomato seeds today."
will do. Write down the condition of the soil (wet, dry, dusty). What's the weather
doing? (windy, unseasonably cold, warmer than usual) What are the condition of the
plants you are dealing with, how old is the seed? (if it is something you saved from
last season, make a note of it) Note how comfortable (or not!) you are trying a new
planting technique or using a new tool. Get in the habit.
Use the buddy system and 'compare notes' with other gardeners. Whatever it takes to
get yourself in the habit of writing. Just don't put it off, if you start you've won
half the battle. Something that may seem innocuous today will click or ring a bell
for you somewhere down the road, I promise it will.
P.S. If someone fowarded this newletter to you, the
you should subscribe!
One of our free gifts is (go figure!) a gardening journal!
Start Something From Seed
Seed starting is EASY.
And it is the most rewarding thing I think I do in the garden. I can not tell you the
thrill of taking your little seedlings out for their first trip to the big
garden... (I know, I'm a FREAK, my children will tell you so) Take some time this
winter season to give it a try and you'll see what I mean.
Learn to Conserve Water
You can conserve water without hurting your garden. A few simple steps can greatly
reduce your water use and improve the health of everything you grow. Drip irrigation
for beds is inexpensive, efficient, and saves you lots of extra work. I will admit,
I had a hard time with this one. I LOVE to just stand out with the hose and water my
garden... Many a morning my children have come outside, "What are you doing?"
"Watering...." as I stand there with the hose in my hand. I guess it's my time to
just stand and take it all in. I don't really mind watering that way... it's just
not real efficient time or waterwise. So, this is a big one on my list this year!
Teach A Child About Gardening
Passing down a skill you have to your children is one of the biggest contributions
I think you can make to a child's life. If you will take the time
to teach them even the smallest things about gardening it will pay off in big ways.
Some of the best memories I have of my youth were spent in the garden, at the feet
of my mother, father and grandfather. They aren't big moments particularly, but the
time spent is something that will never be forgotten. And I have found through the
years of teaching my own children the importance of soil health, weather watching
that many of lifes lessons can be made very clear with 'garden speak'. There's also
just something about the pace of life in the garden that children need now more than ever.
It's slower and it requires patience, somthing sorely lacking in today's "I want it
now!" world. The gift of your time is truly priceless.
Tell 10 People About Garden Notes
OK, here is an easy resolution to keep! I would like to encourage each and every one
of Garden Notes' readers to
tell someone you know about GardenSimply.com!
I am very thankful for the new subscribers that Garden Notes has received over the
winter months, but sustainability and organic gardening are ideas that are not fully
grasped by so many. Encourage your friends. I know one sure way to do it...
Enjoy Yourself!
Honestly. Sometimes gardening can feel like a chore, all of the fun things in life
can feel that way at one time or another. But the satisfaction that comes from eating
your own healthy food, enjoying your own oasis in the yard, watching the butterflies
flock to the place you made especially for them... that first red tomatoe of summer...
it's not a dying art or anything that dramatic, but it is one that lends itself to
sharing if we are all going to build a more sustainable world. More people need
to get tuned in to sustaining our future. It takes us all to lend an active hand
in sharing the idea to Garden Simply!
PRIORITY LIST
- Draw a map of your garden and make copies of it....
Beds stay in the same place year after year, but the crops rotate. (or should!
To plan this year's garden, take a clean copy of the map and fill it in. Use the back
of the plan to record notes. Keep each year's plan in a three-ring binder for easy
cross-checking of varieties, rotations, etc. Like I said above, nothing fancy,
make it a tool.. just like any other in the garden.
- Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs Monthly Reminders...
If you have heavy soil now is the time to dig over the plot, once the soil is
turned over the winter frost can penetrate the large lumps and break down the
soil into a fine tilth. This will considerably ease your task at planting time.
- Tools and Equipment Monthly Reminders...
Make your own biodegradable seedling pots from newspapers. For
a 3-inch pot, cut a three-layer-thick section of newspaper into a
9-inch square. Divide the paper into nine equal squares, either
with a pen or by folding layers into thirds, unfolding them and
folding into thirds the other way. Make a cut from along one of
the fold lines in each of the four corners to the fold that marks
the center square. Bend the flaps up, overlap and staple them and
the seedling pot is ready. The pots can be planted in the garden
when the seedlings are ready to set out.
- Trees, Shrubs, and Groundcovers Monthly Reminders...
For large shade trees needing removal of storm-damaged limbs, call an arborist or
tree surgeon now to get on their schedule for pruning while the trees and underlying
landscape plants are dormant.
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Check out what goes on in the sustainable garden
in the month of January!
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Making compost in winter.
Heat, more than any other single factor, is what drives a compost pile and enables
it to turn raw materials like leaves and grass clippings into compost. Most of
the heat is actually generated within the compost pile by the microorganisms that
decompose the material, but the process speeds up during the heat of summer and
slows during the winter.
Your compost pile will stay active longer in cold weather if you insulate it by
mounding straw and leaves around and on top of the pile. You can also use rigid
insulation. Too much insulation can cut down on air movement in the pile, so
it's important to keep stirring -- an insulated pile probably won't freeze, and
you can continue stirring throughout the winter.
For you hard core composters, you can always make a 'winter compost' from old
storm windows. Slant the windows toward the south to pick up the long, low rays
of the winter sun. Stack staw bales around the sides to serve as insulation.
use the glass door as a lid for a 'greenhouse effect'. It will keep the animals
and snow out, and let the warming sun through. You'll find up to a 50° difference
between inside and outside temperatures on January morning. Said one happy Pennsylvnia
gardener, "I could just feel the billions of happy bacteria, hard at work in the
warm interior making black gold to spur the seeds in spring."
(http://www.compostguide.com/)
One way to deal with leaves that won't fit into the compost pile is to put them
in plastic garbage bags into which you've poked a few holes. Drop a handful of
high-nitrogen organic fertilizer (horse manure for example) and a shovelful of soil in
with them, then just leave then in an out-of-the-way spot in the garden. By
spring the leaves will have rotted to about half their volume, and you've got
the makings of fabulous leaf mould for use on the spring garden.
Compost Tip: If you are in an apartment or condominium consider
worm composting.
If done properly it doesn't smell and is the perfect after dinner conversation piece.
Technical support for the above information came from
The All Seasons Gardener,
published by Penguin Books.
Not sure where to start? Learn to Compost.
Need an entire compost primer?
Check out our
Master Series Gardening Courses!
What are you reading when you're not reading Garden Notes?
Wonderful Gardening Magazines, are RIGHT HERE!
The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual:
Essential Gardening Know-How for Keeping (Not Killing) More Than 160 Indoor Plants
Welcome to a whole new world of houseplants -- and a whole new generation of
plant lovers ready to embrace the joy of indoor gardening! For the nearly 50
percent of U.S. households who spend six billion dollars every year on indoor
plants to decorate, purify the air, and generally boost the spirits, The Complete
Houseplant Survival Manual provides practical, hands-on advice for how to care
for 160 beautiful houseplants, including many new selections that have entered
the retail market in the last ten years.
For new indoor gardeners, Pleasant offers basic information on how to identify
their plants, as well as where to place them and how to keep them healthy. In-depth
plant profiles provide troubleshooting guidelines to quickly identify symptoms,
causes, and remedies to common problems for each species. Information about how
to repot, propagate, and display each plant, as well as advice on the very best
varieties, makes this an indispensable reference for every houseplant lover.
A more general “Guide to Houseplant Care” addresses every aspect of plant care in
an A-to-Z format, from choosing the proper containers and soil mixtures, to coping
with pests and diseases, as well as watering, pruning, and staking. With The
Complete Houseplant Survival Manual, no green thumb is required to be successful
at keeping, not killing, indoor plants.
>> Buy It!
The New York Times uses 100 acres worth of wood just for the Sunday edition alone.
Save trees. Americans are recycling more paper than ever, but the rate of
new paper use outgrew recycling in 2004. While recycling is good, reducing is even
better!
Online news is generally free, and if everyone in the U.S. switched we’d save
41,000 trees every day and avert 6 million tons of waste from landfills.
Since 1990, the paper recovered through US recycling efforts would fill 200 football stadiums to a height of 100 feet.
Reading the newspaper in print is so 20th century.
Start reading your news online.
There is no better time than now to get started organizing a school garden.
Last month I wrote
about The Edible School Yard,
in collaboration with Martin Luther King Junior Middle School, has emerged to
transform school lunch into a vibrant expression of education for sustainability.
Organic food is what's grown
closest to you. Use Local Harvest's
website to find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably
grown food in your area, where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other
goodies. Just click on the map below to zoom in, or use our search form for quick
results. If you are a farmer, market manager, or run a business related to
locally-grown food, you can add your listing to their directory - free.
But let's talk about what you can do at the local school level....
The school garden movement and the demand for fresh, organically produced foods
is spreading rapidly. We are at a threshold of growth in the shift toward sustainable
food systems – these resources may guide your involvement.
Developing Ecoliteracy
A garden, whether at home or at school, is an example of a managed ecosystem. In
a garden, the principles of ecology and systems thinking come alive. Through
hands-on experiences students can gain understanding of cycles, from the life
cycle of a plant to the nitrogen cycle.
Community Food Security: Definitions and Explanations
Want to find one in your state?
See the list!
You don't HAVE a community garden where you live?
Then START ONE!
Cold Storage At Your Feet...
Looking for a good place to store root crops? Just look down! Carrots, radishes,
turnips and Jerusalem artichokes store well outdoors in the ground. Just before
the ground freezes, bury them under a deep layer of leaves or straw to protect
the ground from freezing. Simply harvest them as needed during winter by pulling
back this protective mulch and digging them up. Just make sure you replace the
mulch after each visit!
Tip from Savvygardener.com
Timely Tips for Kansas City-area Gardeners
I am sorry this issue is late this month. I meant to have everything moved and
accomplished in between semesters... it didn't work out that way! I used to have a
T-shirt that said, "Nothing's ever easy..." Boy that can be true some days! I am a
Web Site Designer by trade, and my business
has been unusually busy these last few months. I am having 'growing pains'! I want
you to know that I appreciate each and everyone of you. This entire move of our
family of web sites will
create a home for us on the web that we can be proud of.
I have had a time moving the site from one server to another! Backing up databases,
reinstalling scripts, etc... I haven't been able to respond to each and every email,
so if you wrote and didn't get a reply, know that I am working on it. Moving to a
'green' webhost, powered by the wind... REALLY! If you are a web site owner and you'd
like to host your site with an environmentally concious web host, I invite you to check out
Green Hosting
For those of you that have been having trouble accessing parts of the site, or
getting through on the contact page, know that I will send a separate mailing soon
letting you know where you can access the gardening journal. I have created a page
for it in the interim that you can access it at
Garden Journal
Remember, it's a pdf file, and you'll need
Adobe's Acrobat Reader
to access it.
Thank you for your support!
As you all know, we joined an
eZine Directory
back in March. And it has turned into a contest! If you enjoy Garden Notes
would you please take a minute and please vote for us! They will ask for your email
address, but that is just to prevent unauthorized use. They won't send you anything,
I promise.
Until next year!, remember the words of Abraham Lincoln...
"Population will increase rapidly, more rapidly than in former times, and
'ere long the most valuable of all arts will be the art of deriving a comfortable
subsistence from the smallest area of soil."
Never underestimate the value of what you are doing.
Life is short,
HELP OUT YOUR FRIENDS - - - - - -
People you care about can take charge of their garden by effectively using the
information and resources available at Garden Simply, help them learn how -
forward them a copy
of this month's Garden Notes.
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