Plan Ahead

One of the best ways to keep the garden affordable is too plan ahead. Visit yard sales, auctions, and other places where you may find gardening tools and equipment for sale cheaply. You can also check Craigslist weekly for the stuff you want and even ask friends and family if they have anything they want to sell or get rid of. Getting a few basics to begin your garden by purchasing used tools can save you a great deal of money. If you are a beginner gardener you should also start out small. There is no reason to go hog wild your first try and possibly waste money when you make inevitable mistakes. Choose to grow those foods that you are likely to eat the most of and that are simple to grow. You would be surprised how much money you can save just growing your own onions, potatoes, garlic, carrots, and tomatoes. And most if not all these plants are easy to grow.

You might want to make your first try at gardening in containers if you can find the appropriate size containers for the plants you want to grow.

Things you may want to look for second hand are mini-greenhouses or materials to make one, grow lights, planters, pots, and garden tools like rakes and trowels.

Cheap Seeds And Plant Starters

For some plants you can use what you have in your house instead of purchasing seeds. The book Don’t Throw It, Grow It!: 68 windowsill plants from kitchen scraps has tons of ideas for you.

I have to say though that heirloom or heritage seeds really aren’t that expensive if you go small. I think I paid only a little over $20 for seven packets of heirloom seeds that will last for at least two years. Plus I can allow some of the plantings to go to seed and then save my own seeds as farmer’s have done for centuries.

If it is a flower garden you are wanting then check the classifieds, visit farmers markets and ask friends for starter plants. Your community may also have an organized seed swap or a local park/garden may sell affordable bulbs and seedlings to raise funds for garden upkeep. You will be amazed how cheaply you can purchase bushes and flower bulbs from a variety of sources.

Recycle It  

Milk jugs and large plastic bottles can be turned into cloches. Toilet paper rolls can be cut in half and used as biodegradable pots for seedlings. Egg shells can also hold new seedlings. Old rain gutters, tires, tin cans, even boots can be used as planters. Popsicle sticks can be used as plant markers. A broken ladder can be used as a trellis for vines. There are numerous ways to incorporate recycled materials into your garden and save things from the landfill.

Make Your Own Compost

You can also garden cheap by making your own compost from grass clippings and vegetable waste from your kitchen. Composts provides rich nutrients that plants need and saving that kitchen waste not only saves you money but, helps to keep the environment cleaner as well. I have written reviews of a countertop composter and an indoor/outdoor worm bin.

You can garden on the cheap simply by planning carefully, buying used, and finding your plant starters or seeds wherever you can, even in your own kitchen cabinets. Hopefully your grocery budget will get a small break as your garden grows.

If you are a person who loves to cook then you know how the use the right herbs can enhance the flavor of any dish. Potato leek soup with dill or homemade pizza with fresh basil come to my mind! It can get quite expensive to purchase fresh herbs from the local grocery store though. This really isn’t a problem for those who live in a warm climate as you can grow your own outdoor herb garden. But for those of you who live in areas that have cold harsh winters your herb growing may be limited to only a few months out of the year unless you learn how to grow those herbs indoors for the winter months.

Growing herbs indoors in winter is not as difficult as it may seem. Though not all herbs grow well indoors, herbs like geranium, basil, mint, rosemary, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, chives, garlic and oregano are easy to grow indoors. Not only will growing herbs indoors allow you to enjoy fresh herbs all year round but, these herbs will also make your home smell nice as well.

What You Need To Go Herbs Indoors

There are of course a few things you need to grow your indoor herbs. Here is a list of most of the necessary items.

• Containers with good drainage (see if you can recycle some from your outdoor garden)
• Herb seeds or seedlings (seedlings give those new to growing herbs a better chance of success)
• At least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight a day. A south facing window will provide the best sunlight. You can also use florescent lighting but, if you do so then the plants will need about 12 hours of this kind of light each day.
• Daytime temperatures of around 70 degrees Fahrenheit
• Night time temperatures no lower than 50 degrees Fahrenheit
• Humidity. You can mist your plants to give them the humidity they need or keep a humidifier in the area where you are growing your herbs.

Herbs also need to be harvested in order to keep them from getting to bushy or outgrowing the container but, this should not be much of a problem as the whole idea of growing herbs indoors is to allow you to have fresh herbs all year round. You can use them for your meals of course and for natural remedies as well.

While growing herbs indoors is not difficult they do require care and attention just like any other indoor plant. But, the time that you spend will be well worth it when you see your family enjoy the food you prepare by using these fresh herbs.

Also, many children like growing indoor plants and this may be a project you and your children can do together. They will enjoy watching these plants grow and you will all take pride in producing “food” for your family. Many people begin their indoor herb growing with just three or four common herbs and find the experience so pleasant that they eventually have a semi large indoor herb garden. Whether you choose to grow just a few herbs indoors of a wide selection of herbs you will enjoy the experience of having fresh herbs that you grew yourself available to you all year round.

The weather is getting cool, nights are getting darker, life is moving a little bit slower, and things are winding down in your summer garden. But perhaps you don’t want to give up gardening just yet. Heck the weather is perfect for outdoor enjoyment right? There are still some gardening tips and strategies that you can employ to get you back outside and some dirt under your fingernails. You can add some color and life to your garden, and prepare it for winter. Depending on where you live, fall can be a very busy time in the garden. Here are some ideas:

Earthy Colors!!

Fall is a beautiful and colorful season, and you can add some of that color to your garden this time of year. Chrysanthemums (mums) come in a variety of yellows, bronzes, reds, and purples and they are a very popular flower this time of year so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them at your local nursery. It’s worth noting, however, that mums will return each year – they’re perennials. So take that into consideration as you decide on their placement in your garden.

Get the Weeds Before They Seed

Weeds plagued you all summer and if you get a bit lazy, fall is the time when many will go to seed, sending the makings of next year’s plant invasion all over your yard. Thankfully, fall can be rainy (it has been in Ohio), and wet soil is easier to pull or hoe weeds. Get rid of those unsightly things now and you’ll thank yourself next spring.

You can also get on top of weed control in the fall by laying down several layers of newspaper or cardboard on top of your garden beds or soil once the plants are spent. Anchor the newspapers/cardboard with rocks or soil and, by the time spring arrives, the weeds will have been deprived of the light and air they need to sprout. The organic material will also start to decompose, which enriches your soil.

Take Care With Your Tools

Investing in good garden tools is just one of the ways we make the gardening process easier and more efficient. At the end of the season take care to clean your tools and hang them in the shed or garage for storage so they will not get rusty and/or broken.

Plant Bulbs

When fall is in the air, it’s time to think ahead and put spring in the ground. There are a variety of bulbs that need to be planted in the fall and it is so easy to do. Dig a hole, drop the bulb in, cover it up, and go have a glass of apple cider. Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths, Crocuses, and Allium (my fave!) are typically planted in the fall so they can complete their growth cycle in time to come up in spring. If you grow garlic, it will need to be put into the garden in the fall as well. Plan out the places where you want the flowers to bloom in spring and make sure it is an area with good drainage. A little work now will bring you so much happiness in the spring.

Trees and Shrubs

Now is a good time to prune back trees and shrubs, including shrub roses. It’s also a good time to plant them. In the fall, trees and shrubs are in a dormant state, and the planting and pruning are less shocking to the plant.

The growing season is winding down but there is still MUCH to do! What are doing in the garden right now?

With all the rain here lately it has meant that our seedlings and transplants took a bit longer to get outside. That was okay with us because my husband couldn’t build my raised bed until this past week either. Since we have a smaller, open yard now we decided to grow food in a couple raised beds (building them ourselves) and in pots and planters on our backyard deck. We will be growing heirloom varieties of tomato, peppers, sugar snap peas, snow peas, lettuce greens, and carrots. Yum!

The single most frustrating part of gardening for me has always been weeding. It takes only days for weeds to take root and make the garden unsightly as well as less healthy, since the weeds hog all the water. When we lived in Phoenix that black weed plastic was commonly used. You don’t see gardens that often there but weeds will ruin rock landscaping just as well as they ruin gardens. My parents used that black plastic frequently to try and curb the weeds.

Now of course I would never dream of using all that plastic for environmental reasons but I wasn’t all that familiar with eco friendlier options either. Dupont contacted me to offer me some of their Garden O.N.E® Weed Control Fabric and I was excited to give it a try. The fabric is similar in form and function to the infamous black plastic but this product is made of wood fiber and it is chemical free. Oh and it is biodegradeable as well. This is important because the plastic stuff always ripped eventually and had to be replaced to so if you will have to do touch ups anyway, why not use planet friendly materials? Both product types will do the job and prevent weeds but one will contribute to the health of the plants you want and one will not.

So…. we put two overlapping layers of the weed control fabric down so that we covered the bottom of the raised bed entirely and we let some hang out on all sides to keep weeds from growing along the side walls as well. Then we put a layer of stones on top of it for drainage. Next came the dirt… organic soil, organic peat moss, and our own homegrown compost made in our Worm Factory.

We have since moved over some seedlings we had into the bed and we still have some more to plant. We toyed with the idea of laying the fabric down on the very top and cutting holes for the plants but decided that was a bit too much work. We may still use strips of the fabric between rows and weight it down with rocks. We will see how much space is left. I am thinking we will use at least some on top though because the fabric will also help hold moisture in which can be important when it gets really hot.

Now we have a few more things to plant, a mesh fence or a lattice to put up along the back of our deck for the peas to climb on and we have a second, smaller bed we are constructing for my daughter… who wants to grow rainbow chard. That bed is even closer to the ground so the weed control fabric will be needed even more for that one.

If we someday end up back in Arizona and have a rock garden again instead of a real one I know exactly what we will using… weed control fabric! There is no greater pain in the butt than pulling weeds in 100 degree weather.

A winner has been selected at random to win the Gift card to Lowe’s. Congrats to Brit (the winner) and thanks everyone for your comments!!

We have had so much rain here in Ohio that it has made getting into the gardening spirit a bit hard. To make up for it I have been buying up indoor plants like crazy. I think my husband is worried we will be living in a jungle soon.

But I did add the first patch of color outside this weekend because I had a nifty new planter to put to work for us. I am not a fan of plastic and I have yet to get out and scope the auction scene to buy some clay pots so this pot was just what I needed. It is a recycled tire planter courtesy of Flat Tire Decor.

Now admittedly I would not put food or even one of my indoor (air quality) plants in one but I feel the same about plastic. For decorative plants and flowers they are a perfect fit and unlike plastic pots and planters you are recycling and finding a new use for something that would otherwise be considered junk. And you may know how I LOVE to recycle stuff for gardening purposes. All the planters are made from tires that have outlived their usefulness on the road. They are then converted into these baskets that can be used as planters or even for other household uses. On their web site they show them being used to hold firewood, decorative items, newspapers, cleaning supplies, fake plants, even produce. I opted to put it outside and provide a home for some lovely pink hydrangeas. We need to put a lot of work into our little city lot but that splash of color might just be what I need to inspire me. The tire planter looks pretty good IMO too. The one in the picture above is the Venice. It is a pretty good sized planter and the price tag is under $20.

In addition to these baskets (or planters) they also make welcome mats and shoes… again all from 100% recycled tires. Another plus is that these products are all made in the USA, Milwaukee to be exact. I think a $20 tire planter made in the US is a better deal than a $10 plastic planter made in China and the tire planter will probably last MUCH longer. Thats said it is not easy to let go of the fact that both are made with potentially toxic ingredients… hence the advice to not grow food in them.

What do you think? Would you use recycled tire products in or around your home?

A Guest Post From Amanda

Learning to garden was a process reflective on my stage in life. The first time I planted a vegetable patch, I worked for hours in the soil, tilling and clearing a space. My knees and the palms of my hands were stained with dirt. I was young and I didn’t have the patience or the softness of heart to tend to vulnerable seedlings, so I bought some plants from the hardware store and planted them. And I left them. I washed my hands and trimmed my nails and came back a few days later to find that every last plant had been eaten by deer. That’s the way life worked for me as an impulsive youth. I decided that gardening wasn’t for me.

As I got older and started a family, I became interested in the idea of eating local, eating organic and above all, eating actual food. I had never cared much about my health, but now that I had a child depending on me, I wanted to live well and for a long time. I looked at the ingredient list in the “heart healthy whole grain bread” I was feeding to my one year old daughter. Included in a list of thirty-six ingredients were things like: Enriched Bleached Flour, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Peroxide, Datem, Ascorbic Acid, Azodicarbonamide. I realized that this bread wasn’t actually bread at all. It was simply a monster science product, packaged as bread. If someone handed me a bottle of Azodicarbonamide and asked me to feed some to my child, I would most certainly refuse. So, why I was I okay with feeding it to her, as long as it came in a cleverly advertised package? If I bought bread from a local bakery, or better, if I baked it myself, it would contain flour, yeast and water. Those were all ingredients in actual food.

Over the next few years, my interest in eating actual food became stronger. I started to shop locally and made meals from scratch. I bought organic, seasonal produce and became seduced by the “shop local, eat local” trend. My daughter and I would go to the farmer’s market on Saturday morning and buy greens for our smoothies and juicy, real tomatoes that killed my ability to eat a supermarket tomato ever again. Mostly, we enjoyed the company we were keeping. The market was always filled with knowledgeable, liberal people with a wonderfully positive outlook on food and the way it related to society. I started to understand the concept of buying local produce was more than just a trendy mantra. It was easy, really. All it meant was that healthy, real food wasn’t grown with chemicals we would be afraid to allow our children to ingest. Actual, fresh food didn’t sit for weeks and weeks without being eaten or get injected with dyes. It was grown at home and eaten as soon as possible after harvesting. I realized that, while I had always enjoyed being one of those farmer’s market, organic-loving mamas, I was also one of the people who believed in being as self-sustaining as possible and I could do this on my own.

I had another daughter, and the three of us fell in love with the dirt over her first summer. I would plop my fat, healthy baby right into the soil and let her explore the textures (and more often than not, the tastes) of the earth. Her little toes settled right down into the mud. My four year old was interested in digging and feeding the soil. I gave her a little patch of land to cultivate all on her own and she grew bunches of kale that were bigger than she was. I was stressed out and cooped up all winter long, so I found the process of weeding and tending and watering in the fresh spring and summer air to be an annual experience of rebirth. I loved sweating out in the sun for hours with my babies in their sun bonnets.

It took a while to master the process of growing crops from seed. It also took me a while to get used to being a mommy. There was an art of persistence, gentleness and other-centeredness in both pursuits. While I learned to rise early and to work hard for my girls, I also learned that a garden wasn’t something that you could rush and power your way through, only to grow tired of the effort before the job was done. I learned that it takes time and love and care and sweat to bring a child into the world and to help that child to grow and thrive, and the same is true for seeds. The more confident I became as a mommy, the better I was at gardening.

Now, we’re at a place where we can supply basically all of our produce during the summer and early fall. We’re still especially fond of just picked tomatoes and wouldn’t be caught dead buying one from the supermarket. We’re kale addicts, admittedly and we supply our extended family with peppers and zucchini, (as well as superb, home baked zucchini bread.) We’re a city family and we don’t have the land or the freedom or the climate to be totally self-sustaining, but we sleep well at night with full bellies knowing that we’re a positive part of the way life works. We live actual lives in the sunlight and we eat actual food and we’re just three little women in the world, but we’re totally okay with having a little dirt under our nails.

Amanda is a 32 year old mom of two living in Pittsburgh and loving it. She is married to the world’s sexiest accountant, who is totally understanding about her love affair with her bicycle. She blogs at Last Mom On Earth.

January and February in this house means lots of garden planning. Last month the Worm Factory was set up to compost for us and this past week a small greenhouse went up. We are now itching to get to auctions and estate sales so we can grab up planters and to get seedlings going in the meantime. We have tons of heirloom seeds and lots of dreams AND fortunately for us our kids get just as excited about growing things as we do. They all want to help because a garden is magical.

Childhood is a time of curiosity, exploration, and adventure. A garden of is one of those great mysteries of life that can bring wonderment and joy to our kids and it is such an educational experience for them. Not only are they able to have a hand in bringing forth new life, kids benefit from being involved in an outdoor activity that enhances their health and their appreciation for the natural environment and how we need to cultivate it.

But not every parents loves to garden or even knows much about it. So what do you do? Well, start small. If you start big and take on more than you can handle you will fail and never want to try again. When planning your first garden I always recommend you choose one or two crops that you can grow at home in small rows or even containers. Strawberries and tomatoes are two good options. But how do you get kids excited about gardening? Here are a few ways:

Read Gardening Books - There are many children’s books on the market that incorporate gardening and child gardeners. What better way to get kids excited than for them to hear about other children and their grand gardening adventures.

One of our favorites is The Curious Gardener. It is about a little boy living an industrialized city who finds a small tree growing near some abandoned train tracks. From that humble starting place he creates a grand garden that motivates the entire city to jump on the gardening bandwagon.

Earth Tales gives children a global perspective as it shows many cultures come together with the goal of caring for their local environment and growing food. It also has several crafts for kids, like making a corn husk dolly.

Sunflower Houses – LOVE this book!! You can use sunflowers to create a playhouse. Once the sunflowers grow to almost full height you take string and tie the tops together to form a “roof” then morning glories can be grown up the sunflowers until they reach the string and fill in the roof. The whole concept is outlined in this amazing book. Another winner is Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots.

Apple Pip Princess – The story is about a sad King whose land and heart have been barren ever since the death of his beloved wife. Concerned about the future of his kingdom he challenges his three daughters to do something important to make their mark and after 7 days the King will see what they have accomplished and decide who the next ruler will be. The youngest daughter decides to use a magical Apple Pip seed from her mother as the basis of her plan.

Plan a Children’s Garden

Make a rainbow! Have the kids help you pick out flowers or herbs in the 6 different rainbow colors… red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Plant them in curving rows with gravel, pavers, river rocks between each row. When they bloom you will have a rainbow!

Grow a functional very fun, Pizza Patch. Carve out a circular section for this one and divide it into sections or slices. In each section grow a different pizza ingredient like tomatoes, garlic, onions, oregano, basil, rosemary, etc. When harvest time comes go out together and gather your ingredients and make pizza from scratch together.

Build a garden tee-pee. This is similar to the sunflower house in concept. You put wooden poles in the ground and angle them to form a tee-pee, tying them together at the top. Make sure it is big enough for kids to pay inside. Then plant vines like morning glories, beans, or gourds so that the walls will fill in with vegetation. Guide the vines at first to make sure that an entrance is left open for little bodies to crawl through.

Create a fairy garden. This can be done indoors or out. For the outdoors, use twigs and sticks that have fallen from nearby trees to make fairy houses and furniture. Use tempera paints to give them color and texture. You can even use hollow nuts to make little boats and beds for them. For the indoors you can make a moss garden in a wide mouth pot or tray and if your kids have fairy dolls or gnomes this can be their new home. There are even complete kits that you can buy to make these easy.

Garden Equipment for Kids

Children love to have their own tools. It really makes them feel like an important member of the family gardening team. There are plenty of children’s tools on the market, like this ToySmith Garden Tote with Tools. You can also scope out thrift stores, and yard sales to find regular tools and then personalize them with a fresh coat of paint in your child’s favorite color.

Play a Game

There are some board games on the market that have a garden/farming theme. Playing these on winter or rainy days will be educational and motivating. Our faves include:

Wildcraft – An herbal adventure games that helps the family to identify herbs and pinpoint their medicinal value.

The Farming Game – My daughter adores this game and requests it VERY frequently, LOL. The gameboard is a working farm, with fields full of produce. Kids harvest the food to sell at their fruit stand. The player who gets to the Fruit Stand with the most produce that wins the game!

The Yoga Garden Game – A cooperative game where the objective is to plant a flower garden before night falls. As players move the bumblebee marker around the board, they learn classic yoga postures, as well as have the chance to invent their own!

How do you get your kids excited about gardening?

When we decide to that we want to become more self sufficient and grow more of our own food, the cost may be prohibitive. We may have our hearts set on nice raised beds, wood planter boxes, a compost box, tools, ect but in all honesty you can grow food MANY different ways and getting started doesn’t have to cost much at all if you get a little creative. Your garden may not end up being a prime candidate for Home and Garden magazine but it will have a whimsical, magical touch and you will be taking charge of your own food freedom.

Usual Ideas for Planters

Tin Cans – Coffee cans and veggie cans make small but cheap planters! They are the perfect size for growing medicinal herbs and flowers and you can even paint a little strip on them with chalkboard paint so that you can write the name of whatever it is that is growing. Just make sure to drill some drainage holes in the bottom. Keep in mind that aluminum can leach and that one or two years may be all you want use aluminum cans and you may just want to stick to herbs or flowers you won’t be ingesting.

Old Tires – If you live in a rural area you may want to check your local Freecycle for old tires, especially tractor tires. You are recycling and they make GREAT planters. My grandmother use old tires on her farm for flower beds, which may be preferable to food if you are worried about leaching.

Pots and Pans – Often times you can get dirt cheap pots and pans at thrift stores and they make great planters if you drill some drainage holes.

Bath Tubs and Sinks – Got and old bath tub or sink and don’t know what to do with it. They make great raised beds!

Wheel Barrels and Wagons – If you have a broken wheel barrel or kid’s wagon they can be retired to the garden.

Coat Rack – If you have an old coat rack to spare or happen to find one at a thrift store they are great in the garden for hanging plants and bird feeders.

Old Appliances – An old stove makes a great patio planter. Open the door and place on it and any pots and pans planters can go on the burners. Make sure to hang a sign overhead that says “Open Range”.

Wooden crates – These can be easy to find at yard sales and thrift stores and they make great planters.

What unusual planter ideas have you come across?

I have an inner war battling inside me. I was born in farm country where corn fields abound and children can ride a horse almost before they can walk. But then I was transplanted to the 5th largest US city and developed a love for city life. I never forgot my roots though and spent every summer back on the farm, riding until my legs were jelly, catching lightning bugs, and enjoying the farm fresh air. Now I often alternate between dreams… a city or suburbs home with a little land to grow things and raise chickens or country home with acres of room to roam and play. I can’t seem to make up my mind… I want both.

Channeling my inner farmgirl

If I had to choose I guess I can now admit that city life is what I truly love but that doesn’t mean I have to completely abandon my farmgirl roots. Just as I would argue with anti-environment wackadoos that being green doesn’t mean living in a cave and eating grass, I believe that living in the city doesn’t mean we can’t also be farmers. They key in both scenarios is that we get creative and create the life we want with the values we want.

Resources for City Farmers

1. The Backyard/Porch Garden –  Most people can grow at least one or two things at home… herbs in the window, potted tomatoes on the patio, strawberries in a barrel, or wheatgrass on the counter. If you can have houseplants then you can grow edible plants too. With container gardening you can take advantage of every inch of space that is accessible to sun. You can even create compost yourself using kitchen scraps and a worm bin.

2. Become a Modern Day Johnny Appleseed – Over the years I have met several people who create gardens on the sly by planting in secluded public areas or abandoned city lots. When we first moved into a city neighborhood in Ohio we bought a very old house with planter beds that surrounded one side of it. Even though the house had been empty for a couple years the planters were full and and being cared for by the next door neighbor who had used all their growing space and co-opted ours. Since we had more than enough space, we allowed them to keep gardening in our yard, even after we moved in. If you see an empty property, contact the owner and see if you can use the land to garden because most times they will be happy to let you do so because it makes the home appear lived in… which buyers like and burglars do not. Well, at least the burglars in areas where copper pipes are still common.

3. Yard Shares – This is closely linked to what I mentioned above but involves people actively seeking to pool their space and resources to grow their own food. Contact friends and neighbors and to see if they have any space to donate to the cause. You could also put an ad on Craigslist or your local Freecycle to find more people wanting to participate. In exchange for offering up some gardening space you get a portion of the bounty or even rent money if you want to go that route… usually $20-$30 a month, depending on the size of the space. If you have always imagined having blueberry plants along your fence line or some fruit trees but aren’t confident you could plant and care for them… ask friends or family to help (labor and $)  in exchange for a share in the annual harvest. We actually did something like this a couple years ago. Another idea might be a chicken coop share.. where one person with sufficient land hosts the chickens and other people spring for feed and volunteer certain days to feed them and clean up after them in exchange for fresh eggs each week or every other week. The key is find other people who value the same things you do and work together to make it happen.

4. Community Gardens – This is a basically a yard share on a much larger scale. A community comes together to garden in plots or spaces. Sometimes they are free but usually you pay rent on your space. These are particularly good for people who live in areas with no yard space available. If your community doesn’t currently have one, see if you can start one. Do you have an empty lot in your area that would make a great garden? Call the owners and see if you can make it happen! Another idea might be to ask your local elementary school to start a community garden using some of their space. Families could volunteer to set up the space and volunteers could meet with kids weekly to help maintain the gardens. It would be educational for the kids and helpful to local families if you donate a portion of all the food to area homeless shelters or food banks.

5. Eat Local – Perhaps you don’t want to grow your own food but you do want to eat farm fresh and have that farm experience. You can visit You-Pick farms and pick your own strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, peas, melons, pumpkins, apples, etc. My area in central Ohio has dozens of places that allow you go to the farm and pick your own food. Just this weekend we got a big basket of fresh strawberries from a local strawberry farm and this month we are already looking forward to picking our own raspberries and blackberries. Yum! Half the fun in living in any given are is scoping out all the local farms and places to get fresh food!

Are you a city farmgirl? Have any tips to share?

Related posts: Freedom Gardens – Grow Your Own Food & Composting – The Basics

I am in one of those areas that got lots of snow this past week. We have 1-2 feet in our front yard and rather than being depressed about it… I am loving it. Winter in general this year has been very easy on me. I just stay home and relax. As I look at the calender I am a-okay with a many more weeks of cold even though Spring is my favorite season. Why? Because winter is for dreaming and planning. All good gardens and beautiful yards begin in the winter time… with seeds that begin sprouting in our imagination.

Now is the time to search your local Craigslist and thrift stores as I have been… to look for garden tools, planters, trellises, seeds, seedlings, harvest baskets, and other garden goodies. Now is the time to think about what you will plant and where. I must have kept my hubby up for half and hour past his bed time last night mumbling about snow peas and sugar snap peas. We have decided to gut our front yard and take advantage of the empty flower beds. We are going to remove some ugly bushes and plant herbs instead. We are also going to remove some of the lawn to grow food. In the backyard we are going to build some raised beds and I found two ready-built ones on Craigslist recently for $20!!

I have been compiling my wishlist with things like pea fences and bean towers. I have also been deciding what we need to plant. We are going to have a salsa garden and a salad bar garden this year for sure. In general we will concentrate on growing as much food as possible to see just how self sustainable we can be and it will be a tall order because we used to have 2 acres and now he have a teeny city lot. But I love challenges! To help us get a lot out of a little space  we will be doing square foot gardening. I also want to plant lots of wildflowers and sunflowers in the unused space around our garage. We eat outside almost every night in the summer months so I want fresh cut flowers on the table. Another goal is to make my own Citronella candles and bug-off bars to deter bugs. The bug-off bars recipes is from one of my FAVE books for winter dreamin… MaryJane’s Outpost. Also check out MaryJane’s Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook: For the Farmgirl in All of Us. MaryJane Butters is someone I really admire!!

We also plan to help my parents with their garden and share the bounty. The kids and I will likely be spending every weekend with them come Spring, since hubby might be switching to a three day (weekends only) work week. We will have two gardens to work and enjoy.

AND we are planning to make up for the trip we missed in the Fall and hopefully will get to DC to see the Cherry blossoms this year. Smithsonian here we come!

So what are YOU dreaming up this winter?

Fresh picked! We reused our berry basket from the local strawberry farm… those were heavenly too!

We have a couple pumpkins going strong too!

So what are you eating fresh the garden right now?

As people begin to be more environmentally and economically conscious or perhaps just more conscious of the amount of garbage they generate, composting becomes popular.  However, for many it’s still a new concept and it seems kind of mysterious. If you’re interested in learning more about it, here are a few composting basics to get you started. It really is very easy.

So What is Composting Exactly?

Composting is essentially decomposing.  The leaves that collect in the corner of your yard decompose.  The grass clippings that fall on your lawn decompose. It is actually a HUGELY inportant process. If you facilitate this process, then it’s called composting.  It basically involves mixing your yard and household organic waste, like food scraps, in a container and providing conditions that encourage or facilitate the decomposition process.

Why Should YOU Compost?

Composting is a very environmentally friendly practice.  It reduces the amount of garbage we toss into landfills by 20-30% and as we get closer and closer to running out of space, composting becomes more and more important. 

In addition to making space in the landfills, composting provides you with a source of chemical free fertilizer, which you can use for gardening and soil conditioner. If you garden and grow your own food then you want nutrient rich compost and making it yourself is cost effective.

Materials to Get Started Composting

To begin composting you’ll need a few things to get started. You can find many of these items at your local hardware or gardening store.  You can also buy home composting kits only.  These kits come with everything you need and provide a relatively “stink free” composting experience.

You’ll likely need a compost bin.  The materials will be decomposing here so if you’re keeping the compost in your home, you’ll want a lid as well. I have a small 5 pound bucket I use for kitchen crap collection and it will start to get smelly after 3-4 days so I take it outside to our main composting place. At our previous home we had a HUGE 10×20 compost bin made from lattice. It was actually a bit too big IMO but we had several acres of leaves and grass clippings. We still ended up taking a couple truck loads of leaves to the local compost yard each Fall.

Now we have no bin whatsoever, just a big pile in the backyard, behind the garage. It was there when we moved in and it seems to work just fine. It is not the most attractive thing but it isn’t where anyone, including neighbors, have to look at it.

You’ll also need a pitchfork to turn and mix the compost regularly.

But what about the actual compost?  Can you toss anything in there?  Are there right and wrong ingredients?  The answer is yes, the ideal compost recipe includes:

* Greens – include grass clippings, kitchen scraps including eggshells and coffee grounds. (Avoid using any meat, fat, grease, oils, dairy products, bones, or animal droppings in your compost.)
* Browns – include dried leaves, straw, wood chips, paper bags and drier lint.
* Water – Keep the pile moist but not soaking
* Air
* And time

If you have two much brown stuff it will take a lot longer to compost. That is why we often hauled some leaves away because it threw our mixture way off balance and the compost would come close to “cooking” like it should.

We allow our compost to sit for 6 months or more and we end up with dark, rish compost that our garden loves.  So when doing yard waste cleanup this summer and fall, it may be a great time to try your hand at composting.

Photo Credit:  solylunafamilia

Of course we still wanted to do a small garden at our new place… tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, etc. We love our salsa. So before we even have unpacked very many boxes we got started on the new garden. I would guesstimate it is 12 by 6 feet and we put the kids to work immediately. … muhawaahaw. ;)

Doesn’t his hair cut make him look ornery?

At one point I saw  a little girl, maybe 8-9 years old was hiding behind a parked car watching us in the garden. When I spotted her she scampered inside her house. Obviously since we are new here she was curious. OR it could have been this she was looking at. I am guessing it was the latter. No boy should be that pretty…there should be a law.

Pretty soon my youngest found some worms and you couldn’t drag him away from the garden at that point. Every single morning now he wakes up and grabs my hand and says “Mom, let’s go get a worm!”

And our garden adventures and food freedom quest continue even though we are in a new place. Stay tuned for more!

This week we plant some cilantro and some herbs.

Remember my challenge to grow a big chunk of my own food this year and declare some measure of food freedom?

Things are coming along nicely! So far in the garden we have lots of peas and radishes coming up, a nice strawberry patch, pumpkins, and about a dozen tomato plants. We still have some stuff growing indoors too and I hope to hit my local farmer’s market for some zucchini and cucumber seedlings. I am very pleased with how everything is coming along.

Strawberries:

Our rows of sugar snap peas and radishes:

Up close radishes:

And our island of wild as I like to call it. It is a big kidney shaped island of wild flowers, bulbs, and onions that sits right in the middle of the lawn.

How is your garden growing?

Planting strawberries is a great project for kids because it teaches them many lessons (such as reusing materials and how to landscape with plants that provide food), and it is easy for small children to participate.

You will need:

* Some sort of container. I have used everything from wine barrels (rinse them out and drill holes in the bottom) to burlap sacks to the center tub of a broken top-loading washing machine. Just make sure the container doesn’t have any sort of chemicals in it, and do try to show the kids you can reuse materials instead of purchasing new or sending used materials to the landfill!

* Potting mix.

* Compost or garden mulch.

* Strawberry rootstock or seedlings. I have seen them sold both in flats/6-packs and as a bundle of rootstock held together with a rubber band.

* Bark chips or pebbles.

To start, fill the bottom container with bark chips or pebbles to allow the water to drain out. In areas with heavy rain, you will want a lot of drainage so use a lot (leaving only 8-12 inches for soil at the top to plant your plants in); in dry areas, you will want the container to retain water so use less (a layer only an inch thick). Explain the bark/pebbles to the kids by telling them plants need water to grow, but too much water can cause problems–kind of like how their fingers get shriveled up when they sit in the bathtub too long.

Next, fill the pot with your potting soil. You can teach the kids what goes into the potting soil by looking at the contents of it on the bag. Perlite or vermiculite is used to help the soil retain moisture; compost is added to give the plants nutrients; peat, ash, and other materials amend the soil and give it air spaces for the roots to grow in. Potting soil isn’t just a bag of “dirt” — it is an exact recipe, just like the kind you would use in cooking, that provides your plants with the ingredients to grow big and strong!

Now it is time to add the plants. Gently separate out the plants, explaining that rough handling can damage the plants and cause them to not grow. Show the kids the different parts of the plants, pointing out the parts that grow below the ground (the roots) and the parts that grow above the ground (the stems, leaves and fruit). Using diagrams such as these will help you to show the child how the plant will grow and what the different parts do. When planting the plants, dig a small hole, hold the plant with the roots inside the hole and the top of the root ball slightly below ground level, and gently fill in. To see what they should look like, look at this diagram.

Once all your plants are in, dress the top soil with some compost, mulch or straw, leaving a small space around the base of the plant. This will help keep the moisture in and invaders out. Your strawberries should be watered enough so that they are getting an inch or two of water a week, but not so much so that there is ever standing water on the soil.

Happy gardening and remember — We can make Earth Day every day!

Nikole Gipps is a web developer and mom of two in Eugene, OR. You can catch more of her gardening adventures at Oregon Treehugger.

Another big part of it is making sure that your garden is kid friendly and fun. Did you know that you can create a growing space or garden JUST for them? Well, you can. Children’s gardens are getting more popular every year… on private residences and in public spaces. Just this week I read that San Diego opened a massive children’s garden.

If your kids are just itching to get outside each morning to see how their garden has grown and play in it, then you know you have done your job well. Here are some ideas for children’s gardens:

1. Sunflower Houses – This is my number one pick. You can use sunflowers to create a rectangular or square section for the house. Once the sunflowers grow to almost full height you can take string and tie the tops together to form  a string “roof” then morning glories can be grown up the sunflowers until they reach the string and fill in the roof. The whole concept is outlined in one of the BEST books on gardening with kids called Sunflower Houses by Sharon Lovejoy.

2. A garden tee-pee. This is similar to the sunflower house in concept. You put wooden poles in the ground and angle them to form a tee-pee. Make sure it is big enough for kids to pay inside. Then plant vines like morning glories, beans, and gourds so that the walls will fill in with vegetation. Guide the vines at first to make sure that an entrance is left open for little bodies to crawl through.

3. Try a Moon Garden – Instead of making a tee-pee with plants that flower during the day, you can also grow a moon garden and use plants that flower at night. Then the kids can spend some evenings outdoors looking at the stars and fireflies. Moonflowers would be perfect to climb the tee-pee walls and for around the perimeter you could plant evening primrose and four-o-clocks.

4. Grow some unique and whimsical plants. What kids wouldn’t like to grow some bleeding hearts, sunflowers, or gourds that can be hollowed out to make bird houses and musical instruments? Let them pick out the plants that appeal to them.

5. Make a rainbow – Have the kids help you pick out flowers or herbs in the 6 different rainbow colors… red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Plant them in curving rows with gravel or rocks between each row. When they bloom you will have a rainbow!

6. Create a fairy garden. Use twigs and sticks that have fallen from nearby trees to make fairy houses and furniture. Use tempera paints to give them color and texture. You can even use one half of fallen nuts to make little boats for them too.

7. Make a Pizza Patch! Carve out a circular section for this one and divide it into sections or slices. In each section grow a different pizza ingredient like tomatoes, garlic, onions, oregano, basil, rosemary, etc. When harvest time comes go out together and gather your ingredients and make pizza from scratch together. This can be cooked or raw pizza. :)

8. Build a worm box. Worms are an important part of any garden. They help us recycle waste into compost and by building a worm box or house you can get lots of wonderful compost and feed the worms your kitchen scraps. You can build your own worm box or buy one and it is a great scientific experiment for kids to be a part of. Check out the book Worms Eat My Garbage for more details.

Other inspirational books include:

Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots  – Another of my all time faves!! It has instructions for sunflower houses, moon gardens, and various theme gardens.

Children’s Gardens – Has really elaborate details and plans for making bird gardens, a circus garden, a water garden, a picnic garden, and much more.

I love Dirt!

Childhood is a time of curiosity, exploration, and joy. A garden of is one of those mysteries of life that can bring wonderment and joy to our children and it is such an educational experience for them. Not only are they able to have a hand in bringing forth new life, kids benefit from being involved in an outdoor activity that enhances their health and an appreciation for natural environments.

Digging in the soil and tending their garden will always be among the top things children love to do.  We can help them out by purchasing child size and age appropriate tools for them. I know my kids absolutely love to have their own tools and gloves. It makes them all the more eager to get out and garden with me.

Here are some really great garden finds for kids:

ToySmith Garden Tote with Tools- An adorable tote bag with pockets for all their gardening tools. It comes with three sturdy tools for them… a trowel, rake and a shovel. They are metal tools with wood handles. The canvas bag is also sturdy with cute pictures of ladybugs and frogs, making it appropriate for boys or girls. Every time they head out to the garden they can grab their bag and they are ready to work!

For bigger tools and bigger jobs kids might need these garden tools. The set comes with a garden rake, spade shovel, hoe, and leaf rake.  they are sturdy tools made with wood handles and metal. I love the bright colors.

This Sassafras Ladybug Garden Apron Set is adorable and will help them keep some of the dirt off their clothes. It has a lime green apron with an embroidered ladybug, a pair of children’s gardening gloves, and a rake and trowel.

A watercan like this red metal one is a must have for a child gardener. If your kids are anything like mine, watering is the best part of the process! Plastic watering cans are pretty much worthless IMO as they get cracked and broken if they are left in direct sunlight too much.

If you want help transferring loads of soil, compost, or weeds then you may want to get the kids their own wheel barrel. My oldest child can use and adult one, loaded by half, but my younger kids need a pint sized one like the Radio Flyer Kid’s Wheelbarrow. Very cute!

If you have kids that love bugs you may want to get one of these wooden Bug Bungalows. We have a couple and they are REALLY worth having. We find various bugs in our garden all the time since we do not spray. Usually I just relocate them but sometimes the kids like to house them in a Bug Bungalow for a couple days so they can study the bugs up close. My only rule is NO Wooden Bug Bungalow in the house.

If you live in an apartment or you just want to garden on a small scale… perhaps indoors there are some cool solutions for that too.

First there is the Green Toys Garden Set I reviewed a while back and also a VERY awesome set I just found recently. It is the Root-Vue Farm. When you garden outdoors much of the growing is done underground and kids never get to see that. With this unique Root Viewer, you can actually watch the “underground” growing process, from sprouting to full harvest. Grow and then eat radishes, carrots and green onions for a scientific salad! The Toysmith Garden Root Viewer is a similar product.

And… after a hard day’s work in the garden (inside or out) the kids might want a glass of fresh lemonade while they swing on this adorable tree leaf swing from Sassafras. Ah….the joys of spring and summer. Enjoy!

Sunday was gardening day! We began by uncovering the garden bed (approx 40×20) from all the leaves that accumulated there during the fall and winter. We kept the lawn leaf free but the garden got to sit and compost. Already I see that soil condition has greatly improved from last year… lots of black gold. We raked all the leaves to the outside of the bed where we will scoop them up with a mower later on today or tomorrow. Then we dug up some weed clots that had started growing. Tomorrow my husband will get the tiller out and till it several times until it is super soft. After that we plan on having a delivery truck come with a ton of organic soil because the soil that is there has a lot of clay beyond the first 4-5 inches.

While I was raking leaves away I spotted some of my strawberry plants. They have REALLY multiplied and they are growing strong! Last year we had about 8 plants in all and this year I see around 30 growing. Wohoo! Strawberries are my favorite food on the planet!

I also uncovered lots of tulips, hyacinth, and daffodils in the flower beds. They are  not flowering yet but very soon they will be. Ahhh…spring at last. :)

It doesn’t look like much yet but soon it will be full of food!

Strawberries!!!