photo credit: operaticomnivore

There are three contests.

1.    Write a mini story on a gardening experience. No, it does not need to be long. This story could be a gardening tip that saves time or money, a humorous event while gardening, or just why you garden. You can send your story to me via the contact page or post it in the garden forum that will be opening in a few days. The winner of this contest will receive 10 seed packets and directions for a mini recession garden.
2.    Best gardening tip: Enter your best gardening tip and win 5 packets of seeds and a garden plan for a small raised bed garden. This plan is perfect for a patio or balcony garden. There will be two winners.
3.    Best natural control for insects. Send a recipe for natural control of insects. The winner receives a booklet of insect identification.

And everyone receives something for entering. But that’s a surprise. It’s a lot like a garden you plant the seeds and wait to see what happens.

************** Rules: ***************

If you live overseas I may have to send something other than seeds depending on the country.

Legitimate entries only. No spamming, business ventures, etc.

Send your entry to me via the contact page on the site. Or you can use the comment section on the post.

The contest will run two weeks. It begins on Ground Hogs Day, February 2nd 2010  and will end February 15th 2010.

Check out my garden section on free seeds and plants and Recession Gardening.

Good luck and have fun. Denise

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And I have a cherry tomato plant hanging plant and strawberry hanging plant already growing and producing.

My next step is to add a few more vegetables and a few herbs. I have pots ready and I will grow these in a windowsill garden.

The herbs I grow are basil, chives, thyme and oregano. I start these from seed but I also want rosemary and sage. I think I will buy a plant for these herbs. It will give me the “instant big garden” look. And while I’m out buying herbs I’ll look for a lavendar plant.

I will be starting my pepper and tomato plants soon but I want to make compost and build a few raised bed planters for more planting room.

Tip: If you are planting tomatoes and peppers for outdoors you may wan to wait. I use a repotting method for tomatoes that gives me 3 foot producing tomatoes by May. It’s a bit of work so many people prefer to start plants in late March or April.

photo credit: rudy.kleysteuber

I also have a portable mini greenhouse to set up. That’s tomorrow project.

Making compost indoors.

I need a lot of compost to add to my potting soil for repotting and making hanging baskets so I make my own compost indoors. I am using the downstairs basement for my project. I have brought in two large plastic 55-gallon barrels. I placed 6 inches of pebbles in the bottom for drainage. I don’t have drainage holes in these barrels so I have to make sure I don’t add to much water to the compost. (All compost needed a little moisture to start to work.)

Next I have compost material I have saved. First I add about 9 inches of straw, 9 inches of shredded leaves, 9 inches of old sawdust that has broken down already. I will add 3 inches of fresh sawdust to help the pile work and top off the mix with a thin layer of peat. I will also dust the top layer with old rabbit manure.

And believe it or not, I am adding ½ can of coke to each compost barrel, which I will sprinkle on top of the mix. For some reason coke really helps break down a compost bin. In the summer months I would use the herbs comfrey, yarrow or add fresh grass clippings. And for a few days I will cover the barrels with clear plastic to hold in heat and moisture.

I can either let the compost containers sit like this for a week or stir it up to help it compost faster. For today it’s sitting. I will stir it up when I add kitchen table scraps. (Fresh vegetables, coffee grounds and eggshells only. No meat or grease items)

Uisng a composting method like this I can usually create good usable compost in two weeks.

I have a start on two working compost bins so I will sort through seeds to see what I can start in a few days and call my winter gardening quits for today.

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photo credit: Tavallai

There are several methods of preserving food, which include drying, freezing and canning.

Home canning will be covered in this article.

Home canning used to be a yearly event in most homes. But with changes in our society many people have limited knowledge or no knowledge at all of how to safely can food. Canning is work but it can also be fun and done as a family event.

It is rewarding seeing the produce from your garden properly stored for use later in the winter and spring and canning your extra produce will help stretch the income available in your home.

The you tubes below will give you an idea of the steps in home canning. Both water bath and pressure canning methods are covered in the you tubes.

Home Canning Basics – Part One

Home Canning Basics Part Two – Types of Canners

Home Canning Basics Part Three Easy – Steps to Home Canning

Types of canning methods

Home Canning Basics – Part Four – Water-bath-method

Home Canning Basics – Pressure Canning Part One

Home Canning Basics – Pressure Canning Part Two

Any additional questions about home canning can be answered through your local home extension office. Many extension agencies give away free information and pamphlets to help you safely preserve your food.

Ball canning products also gives away free information and money saving coupons. Canning recipes can also be found online. 
photo credit: PaulEisenberg

And if you have additional food in your garden you will not be using, trade with you neighbors or donate the extra to your local food pantry.

There are many people that would benefit from your help and generosity.

Technorati Tags: home canning, how to store garden produce, recession gardening

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photo credit: Mike Raybourne

They have realized that fresh vegetables, fragrant flowers and savory herbs are possible to grow, even in the smallest of spaces. A tiny urban plot, a balcony, sunny windowsill, or even by using a community garden, they can grow fresh chemical free produce.

Gardening Tips for setting up a small Urban Garden

Evaluate your space. Make the most of the space you have. Sit down and draw up a plan, Grow what you will use the most or have trouble purchasing and set up a program to share produce with you neighbors. They may have more room to grow certain crops than you so.

And if all else fails, sign up for a community garden spot. Many cities and towns are offering space for people to grow plants and vegetables.

Enrich the soil. Having limited space means that your soil will work harder to produce crops in a smaller area. You may also be using succession planting techniques (growing several crops in a row in the same space) so make sure your soil is loamy and full of compost.

you can improve your soil by checking with your local parks department to see if yard waste is composted for community use. You can also collect leaves and grass clipping from neighbors.

Apartment dwellers can start a vermi compost bin in their apartment and make compost using kitchen scraps and earthworms. It’s amazing how much compost you can make in a garbage can.

Keep your garden area clean and tidy. A clean garden area has less insect and bug problems so remove any dead or weak plant leaves. Weeds should be pulled daily and they can be added to a compost bin. If you want to cut back on any weeding add mulch. Mulch also has the added advantage of keeping moisture in the soil making watering easier.

An advantage city gardener has with a smaller garden area is the time it takes to maintain. A small plot can easily be watered and weeded in 20 minutes a day where a large garden can take hours each day. And a container or windowsill garden only takes a few minutes each day.

Grow your crops vertically. If your available gardening area consists of a narrow rectangular space or a small balcony area or patio corner train miniature vegetables, tomatoes and flowering vines to grow up a trellis. Many seed companies have a wide selection of miniature vegetables for small gardens areas.

An entire salad garden can be grown in a window or container planter by selecting ‘Micro-Tom’ tomatoes, mini lettuce varieties, sweet onions or a clump of chives in a container. You may even have room for a cucumber plant.

Many trees can be grown in containers and set out on patios and along property lines in the summer. If you grow small fruit trees you will have the added benefit of fresh fruit.

Protect your clay and stone pots from freezing temperatures by bring them indoors in the winter.  You can also wrap the large pots with plastic bags filled with straw to prevent water penetration, which will crack clay pots in freezing temperatures.

If you don’t have storage space or don’t want the extra work of storing pots, use faux stone or faux terra-cotta pots made from plastic. These pots are light and less prone to frost damage.

With the cost of food skyrocketing and the fact that the world is not producing enough food to feed the people its important to raise what you can to help your budget and help our world.

There are many articles on recession gardening at Recession Gardening garden plan.

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photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

The one thing I like about square foot gardening is that you can always add a garden later in the season if you find you have more plants to plant or want to add an additional mini garden. This season a have a small curved straw bale garden, tiered straw bale garden and a straw bale square garden, which is perfect for heavy feeding crops.

But one question I am asked a lot is about roots crops. Normally you do not plant root crops in straw bales. But I do have a straw planting technique for potatoes that is perfect for me. It saves space, time and the backache from digging up potatoes. I love gardening – but I do not like digging root crops!

Planting Potatoes in Straw.

Get your potatoes seeds ready. I cut the potatoes, leaving several eyes on each piece and let them dry for about two days before I plant them. During this time find some decent soil, and a container. I often use a bushel basket for my first crop.

Note: your container can be as large as you want. I usually go for a bushel basket or smaller garbage can. I have used old wood crates (check for stains that could be toxic). Also make sure the container has drainage holes.

Once you have your container place it in the spot you plan to leave it during the growing season. The location you choose should get six to eight hours of sun. Add 6 inches of dirt to the bottom of the container; place the potato seeds in the soil and cover. Water well and go plant more of your garden.

In about a week you will see new growth coming out of the ground. When the growth is about 6 inches tall, cover with straw. Repeat this process during the summer.

The potatoes will set out new roots in the straw and in turn will produce more potatoes. I save time, space and digging using this method. There are two other added benefits. Since the potatoes grow in straw they are dirt free and very clean. The other benefit is that I don’t get potato bugs using this method.

The only problem I had was one year I grow them in the garden with no container and used hay. It was a big mistake. The hay attracted mice looking for seeds and I lost most of the crop.

One other plus to growing potatoes using straw and a container, you always have small potatoes to use and they are very easy to harvest, just pull the straw back and pick them. I also grow a new crop of potatoes mid summer.

Try growing potatoes in straw. I think you will enjoy it. This growing process really saves space and makes growing potatoes fun.

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