Welcome to 2019, let’s make it a year of health, self sufficiency, and more time outside! Whether you live in a small apartment or have a sprawling backyard, gardening is a meaningful way to commit to your health, happiness, and be self sufficient. As we start the new year, our blog will focus on all things gardening. We’ll offer fun DIY options, and if you’re tight on time or not feeling terribly crafty we’ll include some quick and easy products that we like to keep your garden green and veggies vibrant.
We’re going to get you started with the basics of how to build your garden, then every week we’ll walk you through a variety of things you can do to make your garden experience unique, fun, and the talk of your neighborhood and IG feed! Whether this is your first foray or you’ve got more seasons under your belt than LA has traffic jams we hope to share something that will make you a more confident and productive gardener.
The first step is finding your space. Gardens need 3 key elements – sunlight, water, and soil. Seems simple enough, but most gardeners fail because they unknowingly aren’t giving their garden consistent sunlight, water, and quality soil. The sun exudes different levels of intensity and energy over the course of a day. In order to grow, flower, and produce properly, plants need to experience as much of the sun’s daily journey as possible. You want your garden to be south facing without any trees, buildings, or other structures casting a shadow on your plants. Apartment balconies are a little different, so we’ll touch on them in future posts.
For now, start thinking about where in your yard you’d like to break ground, and check back next week for tips on how to find your sunny space, watering, soil, and keeping pests and critters at bay!
Happy Gardening!
What’s more, the official definition of “certified organic” by the USDA seems to acknowledge some of this unintentional blending. After all, only 95% of contents must be organically produced to carry the certified organic label. 95% is pretty good, but even if the realistic blend is only 70% organic, it can be labeled “made with organic ingredients.” And again, you can’t tell just by looking at a piece of fruit or a bag of nuts and definitively tell which are organic and which are conventionally produced.
Beans (legumes), berries (especially blueberries), broccoli, green tea, nuts (especially walnuts), oranges, pumpkin, salmon. soy, spinach, tomatoes, turkey, whole grains and oats, and yogurt can all help stop and even reverse diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and some forms of cancer. And where one might have an effect on a certain part of the body, it can also affect the health of other body functions and performance, since the whole body is connected. With these 14 foods as the base of a balanced, solid diet, weight loss gimmicks and other fly-by-night programs can become a thing of the past in your life.
I love rosemary, and I love my Cajun spice, and it’s got thyme in it, so I think I can try to make my own too. It’s just cayenne pepper and thyme, and a few other seasonings, so I can try to make it on my own. There’s dill seed, basil leaves, parsley, oregano, so I know I want to put those plants in my garden. A few of my other favorites are basil. I love them in all my pestos, and with a tomato, and some cheese on it. Thyme of course, we talked about that, and spearmint. Spearmint is such a nice plant in the garden, because you can just take a little piece and put it in your mouth, and it’s just like chewing gum almost. It makes you feel fresh. It’s a nice scent, and a little bit with some lemonade, is really nice. First thing when you’re designing your garden, decide which plants you use everyday. Then which plants you use in your kitchen. Once you’ve decided that, then you need to find a place to plant it.
Who doesn’t love oregano? As an herb, oregano is essentially a weed and grows like one meaning is near impossible to kill without serious, targeted effort. Oregano grows into a tall, wide bush that comes back each and every year, so it’s what’s known as a “garden anchor.” If you want to keep your garden on the small side, oregano, along with most herbs, will grow to accommodate their environment. Plant them in individual containers to keep them small, or in larger pots to have a big bushy oregano plant.
well known. With that said I’ve chosen some scrap pine left over from previous projects. I’ll cut four pieces with a fifteen degree angle for the legs to start. Yes, untreated wood will decompose over time, even cedar. However, wooden planters built out of untreated wood, will probably last a lot longer than you think. I’ll mark out every nine and a half inches or so on both sides of all four legs. I’ll need twenty cleats about five inches each. I off set the marks on each side of the legs by about an inch and a half, to give me the angles that I need for the shelves. I am not using any glue in the planter portion of this project. Over the years as different parts wear out, I want to be able to easily replace pieces of the planter. Now that the legs are done, I need some back slats. For my dimensions I’ll need about 14 board feet.
I already have one of the planter boxes done. So for the second one I’ll place the sides on top of each other to make sure the widths match after I’m done putting the back slats on. Tack them with brads just to hold them in place. Check for square. Tack the other side. Drill pilot holes Screw them in place. I’m going to flip each box on their sides and place a board across the bottom to mimic the ground so I can get the angle right. Cut some leg braces on the miter saw. Now I thought it would be nice depending on the type of plants we have at the time if we could easily move the vertical herb garden around the patio so I’ll build a frame out of this extra two by six.
Potatoes can be grown in large pots, or bags and sacks designed specifically for the job. The seed potatoes are layered with potting mix and left in a sunny spot, watering as required. As they grow you can layer more soil around the stem of the shoots. Gradually the soil builds up until the top of the container is reached. Balcony plants can be vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. Take a look at our extensive Grow Guides for more information. Our Garden Planner has a range of specially designed garden objects to make planning and managing your container gardening easy. With the basic outline of your space, you can then view garden as a whole.
LEDs give out very little heat, which means you can have them closer to the plants, you don’t have to pay as much to cool them, and you can have more vertical rows closer together. Also, LEDs can be up to 75% more energy-efficient than conventional fluorescent bulbs. Still comes out to a lot of energy usage compared to sunlight, which is free. But these energy costs could be offset by using renewable energy sources, like the anaerobic digester they have at The Plant, linked in the doodly-doo.
These types of plants can climb anything, which makes them perfect for covering up a wall or fence that needs to be hidden. You may also be interested in training them over an arbor or trellis. You can also grow them among existing landscape trees and plants. There are those that have to be fixed to a support, but others will find a surface to cling to all on their own through twining stems or tendrils. Some climbers that have proven to be reliable are honeysuckle, jasmine, wisteria, clematis, and climbing roses.
Starting seedlings in pots before planting in your garden is a smart idea. Once the plant is hardy enough, plant it in your garden. In addition, you can shorten the intervals between your plantings. You will have healthy seedlings that are ready to be planted when you get rid of old plants.
Some perennials are not preferred meals for snails and slugs, especially if their foliage is hairy and tough, or tastes bad. These varieties include achillea, helleborus, heuchera, euphorbia, and campanula.
