Many people are discovering the appeal of producing their own produce from a home garden because of food safety concerns. The public has become more health conscious and many theorize that consuming organic foods is more beneficial to their health. Organic fruits and vegetables are pesticide free and thought to be more nutritious.

A hydroponic garden can be an good way to grow organic foodstuff. The hydroponic garden can be one of the easiest garden technique to implement for urban organic gardening. Hydroponics can be used for inside and outside gardening, especially in city settings where space can be very reduced. The room required for a hydroponic garden is far diminished than for a garden using soil. Hydroponic gardening does not use dirt as a source of nutrients. All nutrients are delivered to the plants from water. Since plants receive their essential nutrients directly through the water, they sprout faster and bear more crops.

The Benefits of a Hydroponic Garden

Using a hydroponic system for gardening usually means less work, time, and investment for very solid growing results:

• Vegetables that are grown via hydroponics grow at a faster rate contrasted to those grown in the usual manner.
• The amount of maintenance is considerably reduced.
• The amount of work you have to do is less and you spend less money.
• The water that is required is not as much as is used in normal gardening.
• Garden pests that come from soil are avoided.
• The amount of light, the level of moisture and the range of temperature is strictly controlled.

Do a little bit of research and choose the hydroponic gardening system that will work best for you and start growing nutritious vegetables and herbs.

For more information on Urban Organic Gardening check out http://organicmixtures.com/ You’ll find advice on how to grow an organic garden.

Sprouts are an efficient, and cheap nutritional resource; they have been a staple of the eastern/oriental diet for centuries. Growing and then harvesting plants at a very early stage of their growth, usually a few days old, can be very easy. Sprouted seeds are considered a wonder food because while sprouting, the nutritional supplies of the seed are used by the sprouts for growth. During the germination of a seed, its nutritional reserve is released and made available for human consumption.

Sprouts serve as a vital health food that can be grown at home. Whether consuming alone or as a salad, sprouts are wonderful to eat. Growing your own fresh sprouts is easy, cheap and fulfilling to do. Seeds can be sprouted throughout the year and it does not require a lot space to do it. Your sprouter can sprout seeds in the winter, summer, spring or fall.

There are many sprouting methods that vary from glass jars, paper trays, sprouting trays, earth boxes etc. Most seeds used to produce sprouts require only water and indirect sunshine to encourage their growth. After a crop of healthy green sprouts has grown to your preferred height in inches or for a number of days, the sprouts can be stored for a very brief time in the refrigerator. They will prove to be twice as nutritious and delicious as opposed to any sprouts bought pre-packed at the supermarket.

Popular seeds used in cultivating sprouts are alfalfa, sunflower, lentils adzuki bean, mung beans, pumpkin, fenugreek, wheat, barley, mustard and cress. Alfalfa was the first to be introduced to western diets. It contains all the known vitamins and important enzymes, starches, proteins, iron, calcium, silica, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and chlorophyll.

For more information on Organic Gardening check out http://organicmixtures.com/ – You’ll find advice on how to grow an organic garden plus other health related recommendations.

July 30, 2008

Put your trash to work

Composting saves landfill space, benefits environment

By KAREN J. BOOTHBY

kboothby@jacksonsun.com

Going green involves some brown.

Composting is championed as one way every person can helps conserve resources. “Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream,” according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site www.epa.gov/compost. “That’s a lot of waste to send to landfills when it could become useful and environmentally beneficial compost instead.”

The end result improves soil quality. “Compost binds with the soil particles in fine-textured clay soil, making these soils easier to work,” University of Tennessee plant and soil science professor David W. Sams states in the agricultural extension handout “Making and Using Compost.” “This also improves aeration, root penetration, water infiltration and availability.”

It’s a win-win situation. Less garbage in landfills and more nutrients to produce plants. The alternative to burning leaves and yard debris also helps air quality.

Green components include fruit and vegetable waste, egg shells, coffee grounds, grass clippings and horse and livestock manure. Brown elements include leaves, branches, twigs, paper, straw and pine needles. Air and water are essential ingredients. The goal is to have the right carbon-to-nitrogen ratio to promote decomposition.

Lynette Firles of Jackson is a longtime composting and organic gardening proponent. She cautions against adding meat to the decomposing matter. In addition to inviting animals to rummage, you can expect maggots rather than earthworms that help break down organic matter. Then, there’s the issue of unpleasant odors. Grease and oily food products also are discouraged for similar reasons and the time required to break down. Dog and cat feces are another no-no. It produces undesirable elements and can cause human health concerns.

One simple step Fields suggests is putting egg shells in the yard instead of the garbage can. “Birds will come and eat the shells” and gain the calcium, she said.

Court Kolter of Morris Nursery and Landscapes recommends adding an enzyme to the compost pile. Ask your local farmers’ co-op or gardening and landscaping supply stores.

“Without enzymes, it will just sit there and stink,” Kolter said. “It will break down, but the process will take a lot longer. A lot of our (foods) are picked green and treated with chemicals to slow down decomposition. Banana peels, for instance.”

Composting is part of master gardeners classes that Madison County extension agent Bill Wyatt teaches. The next training begins this fall. Meetings are monthly in Jackson. Call 668-8593 to enroll or get instructions on how to set up a compost bin.

“It’s also a great project to get kids involved,” Fields said. “Kids love to get dirty, and this is one time when Mom and Dad can’t get mad.”

Wood, wire and concrete blocks are suggested for construction of holding areas for the layers of organic matter. Special bins and tumblers are available on the Internet ranging from about $125 to more than $400. People Powered Machines’ Web site at www.peoplepoweredmachines.com offers several products and comparisons.

Agricultural settings work on a larger scale, usually with heavy equipment. Kolter suggests two holding areas: one for fresh straw, plant trimmings and manure; the other for the mature byproduct.

It takes several weeks to a year to turn raw materials into usable compost. For those who can’t wait, Jackson Energy Authority sells compost to the public for $20 a cubic yard at its facility at 167 Miller Ave., off Hollywood Drive near the U.S. 45 Bypass.

[via: Jackson Sun]

City Dwellers are discovering the appeal of producing their own produce from a home garden because of food safety concerns. Buyers have become more health sensible, and theorize that consuming organic foods is more beneficial to their health. Organic fruits and vegetables are pesticide free and deemed to be more nutritious. Growing your own organic produce saves you money. You won’t have to spend on gas to drive to an organic food store nor will you be paying the store’s cost of transportation which they add in to the price of the food that you buy.

Some people may have lawn space that they can transform to gardens but families who live in apartments or houses without yard space need to find alternative methods of gardening. The No Green Thumb Required Kit aims to help anyone get started gardening organically by teaching three gardening methods that can be used both indoors and outdoors.

Sprouting seeds can be an extremely easy way to include vegetables in your diet. Sprouts are very nutritious. Sprouts are fresh and fresh vegetables are best to eat for good health. Whether taking alone or as a salad, sprouts are terrific to eat. Producing your own fresh sprouts is easy, affordable and fun to do. Seeds can be sprouted throughout the year and it does not take lots space to do it. Your sprouter can sprout seeds in the winter, summer, spring or fall. Sprouting seeds can be an interesting and fun to introduce children to gardening. By involving a child in the process of gardening or sprouting, they will probably very very pleased to eat the vegetable that they have grown.

Seed and plant exchanges are simple and easy ways to get most – or even sometimes all – of the plants and seeds you want completely free. It takes a little work on your end, but if you like to try out a variety of different plants or you love starting new flowers and plants from seeds, then you should locate an exchange in your area or find someone using one of the online gardening forums.

In a plant or seed exchanges, when someone has extra flower and plant seeds, they offer to trade them for something else. Or you can offer to perform a service in exchange for someone sending you a plant or seeds that you can’t find. Usually in the online forum, the post will state what kinds of seeds they have, and what kinds of seeds they’re wanting to trade for.

If you have the seeds wanted, and you want what they’re offering, you contact them and make arrangements to send your seeds to them in the mail, and they’ll send theirs to you.

Now, if you want some seeds that someone is offering, but you don’t have the seeds they want in exchange, you may still be able to get them if you’re willing to do a little extra work. Simply try visiting other seed exchanges, or talk to friends and neighbors, and basically get the word out that you’re looking for a certain flower or plant seed. Let people know what you have in exchange, and chances are you’ll soon have your very own offer! Then you can go back to the original seed exchange request, and make arrangements to get the seeds you’d like.

This may not work 100% of the time of course, because someone else may already have the exchange seeds needed so they can take the offer before you have a chance to.

Exchanging seeds in this way is quite fun. You get to try out a variety of different types of flowers, plus you tend to get to know other people who use the seed exchange and they love gardening too!

About.com’s Seed Exchanges – Swapping Seeds with Like Minded Gardeners page is a a good place to locate online seed exchange websites.

Now you can sometimes get actual plants or cuttings in a similar way. This isn’t so common to find on the Internet, but there’s a very good chance you’ll find plant exchange options in your local community. You can for instance, let your friends, family and neighbors know that you’d like to receive cuttings of plants when they trim their own. Or if someone has something specific you’d like, ask if you can take a cutting from that plant yourself.

You can also join your local garden club, so you’ll have regular contact with other avid gardeners in your area. Then simply let them know you’d love to exchange cuttings with others. They may already have an exchange established, or they may print exchange requests in their newsletter too.

So go out and make friends, make exchanges online and off, and enjoy your ever growing garden!

Click to learn how to grow your own organic garden.

Many gardeners would love to have their very own backyard pond, but they’re afraid to try building one themselves because it sounds difficult or complicated. It’s not actually that difficult though, especially if you follow some simple guidelines.

1. First you need to decide where your pond will reside in your yard. You can choose to make the pond the focus of your yard, or integrate it into a larger overall theme. Once you’ve chosen where the pond will be located, you’ll want to mark the spot and shape for your pond.

You can of course just buy a premade plastic garden pond, but the overall effect will be much more pleasing if you try to create something that looks much more natural. To do this you’ll need to use a pond liner instead of a premade insert, but the liner will allow you to create whatever pond shape you’d like.

If your local garden centers don’t sell pond liners then try searching around online and you’ll find plenty of suppliers.

2. Next you’ll need to start digging your pond. Now some people think this part needs to be perfect, but it actually doesn’t. You will need to create layers of different heights in your pond of course, so you’ll be able to grow a variety of plants within it. But those layers don’t have to be perfectly level or perfectly shaped in any way. You can in fact, simply dig the pond without creating various height tiers, then lay gravel or put in rocks that will lift various plants to different heights as needed.

You will of course want to make sure the top parts of the pond are level though, so that when it’s filled there won’t be water trying to run out from one side. If you’re putting your pond on a slope of course, you may need to add dirt, rocks, or other materials to the low side to help contain the pond water once it’s filled.

When digging your pond, try to make the shallowest areas at least six inches deep, and make sure there is at least somewhere in the pond which is two feet or deeper. This is particularly important if you want to have fish in your pond, because the deeper water will help protect them from severe weather in the winter and summer.

3. Once you’ve gotten your pond to the shape and depth you’d like, put your liner over it and let it sit for awhile so that it becomes easy to work with. Then start fitting it to the bottom of your pond and layers. Don’t worry about making things perfect either. You may have wrinkles in your liner for instance, but these will not be too noticible once you have the pond completed.

4. Start filling your pond with water. As it’s filling, you may want to climb in and help smooth out some of the worst wrinkles. You can also add rocks and stones at this point, to help hold the liner in place until the water is able to.

5. After you have the water in place, start adding rocks, other decorative features, and plants. You might also decide to add a filter and pump, or even a waterfall or fountain too.

Let the pond sit for at least a day so the chlorine can evaporate before you add fish.

Soil acidity a very important environmental factor that can affect plant growth, and limit your crop production. Some plants such as azaleas and camellias are acid-loving, while others such as clematis prefer a much more alkaline soil to call home.

Soil acidity or alkalinity is defined by the amount of calcium-rich lime in the soil and the type of soil itself. Soil acidity and alkalinity are expressed by their pH; a pH lower than 7.0 connotes an acid soil while one with a pH higher than 7.0 is alkaline.

As a rule, soils found in moist climates tend to be more acidic while those in dry climates are more alkaline. For maximum plant growth and health, you must adjust your soil to suit the acid needs of the plants you plan to use.

Soils can be acidic because of the composition of the parent material (rocks) from which they were formed. Or it becomes acid via a number of processes. Cropping and use of nitrogen fertilizers are two main sources of soil acidity while another contributor is rainfall.

Crop Removal: Calcium, magnesium, and potassium are essential nutrients for plant growth. Plants naturally remove these nutrients from the soil and they are also remove through harvesting. This can leaf to an acidifying effect on soil.

Fertilizers: Nitrogen fertilizers have a greater acidifying effect on soils than other fertilizers. Two processes are involved. First, commonly used nitrogen fertilizers contain ammonium nitrogen. Soil bacteria convert ammonium to nitrate (through a biochemical process called nitrification. Hydrogen is released and free hydrogen ions cause an increase in acidity. The second acidifying effect comes from nitrate that is not taken up by the growing crop. Nitrates are very soluble and, if not consumed by plants, will move downward with soil water and may be carried below the root zone. They take with them other nutrients that have a positive charge, most likely calcium and magnesium, and their removal in this manner has the same acidifying effect on soils as removal by a crop.

Rainfall: Soils can become acid even in the absence of crop removal or fertilizer applications. Rainfall is considered a natural cause of acidity because of the downward movement of water through the soil and the removal of nutrients from surface runoff and erosion.

Most garden supply centers sell soil testing kits, and some will even test a soil sample for you. Also, if you live near a university with an agricultural extension, your chances of getting a professionally conducted soil test are very high.

If you go the soil pH test kit route, your kit will probably consist of a test tube, some testing solution and a color chart. Put a sample of your soil in the tube, add a few drops of test solution, shake it up and leave it for an hour or so to settle.

The solution in the tube will change, after which you can compare the color of your sample with the color chart that came with the kit to determine the pH of your soil sample. Higher end soil testing kits also usually include a booklet that will tell you how to interpret the results of your tests.

When you’ve identified the pH of your soil, you can change it to be more acid or alkaline depending upon the result your test obtained and the soil needs of the plants you want to plant. Usually, it’s easier to make soils more alkaline than it is to make them more acid—and because different soil types react in differently to added lime, clay soils and peaty soils require more lime than sandier soils.

Making highly acidic soil more balanced can be a lengthy project. It’s better to test your soil each year and make the indicated adjustments gradually. In addition to lime, adding hardwood ash, bone meal, crushed marble or crushed oyster shells will also help to raise the soil pH.

If your soil needs to be more acidic, you can use sulfur to lower the pH. Mix the sulfur thoroughly into the soil before planting. Sawdust, composted leaves, wood chips, cottonseed meal, leaf mold and peat moss will also lower the soil pH.

New gardeners rarely understand the whole issue of pH soil balance, but as you become comfortable with your new hobby and want to introduce a wide variety of plant species, it is important that your soil condition are optimal for your garden plants. For many, the process may seem complicated but it really needn’t be. Just test your soil conditions once a year and then either plant in that area according to the soil, or adjust the soil conditions to meet the needs of your existing plants.

Click to find out how to start your own organic garden.

Remember:

A soil test determines the soil pH. Soil pH indicates the acidic level of a soil. A pH less than 7.0 indicates an acid soil.

A popular definition of Sustainability or Sustainable Development, is “to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” as defined by the Brundtland Commission.

Organic gardening is a very cost effective way of growing your own food, preserving your health and the environment. Using sustainable gardening techniques we can avoid toxins and start living a healthier lifestyle by not being dependent on chemical fertilizers and growing crops .

The most important aspect of having a sustainable organic Garden, is the soil. The soil must provide the right mix of nutrients necessary for a successful crop. When plants don’t receive proper organic nutrients they are unhealthy and fall prey to disease much easier.

“A home garden can yield two to four times more food per acre than any commercial agriculture; in a single season the average home garden can provide over six hundred dollar’s worth of food. We can increase that yield further with raised beds and biointensive organic gardening methods. Of even greater value is the quality of the food itself… fresher, tastier, and more nutritious.” – Garden Simply

Click to find out how to start your own organic garden.

Things to consider:

Historic cause of demise of many great civilizations: Topsoil depletion

Percentage of original U.S. topsoil lost to date: 75

Amount of U.S. cropland lost each year to soil erosion: 4,000,000 acres, the size of Connecticut