The Future of Gardening
Last modified on 2010-03-22 00:31:45 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
It was not that long ago that this was to be the “Jetson-age” with flying cars and push-of-the-button home cooked meals. While, these are possibilities, they are not yet mainstreamed into society. What is a mainstream is the need for conservation via recycling, reusing, and renewing our various resources. The Earth is such a precious commodity, and we are destroying it at breakneck speed. For many of us, this is a worrisome feat, but one that we feel helpless to change. After all, what can one person do?
The answer is: gardening organically. Investing in a composter allows for kitchen waste to be decomposed into nutrient-rich soil to be used in producing healthy fruits and vegetables. Investing in rain barrels allows for precious water, free of the pollutants placed in it from the cities and municipalities, to be collected and used again to water our plants and yards. Investing in insect repellents that are organic and non-toxic will allow you to feed your family with peace of mind- after all, you are feeding them food grown without being covered in chemicals.
My grandfather’s garden was tucked behind the side of the house. But, he had packed it full of green beans, potatoes, peppers, corn, and my favorite- tomatoes. He had other goods that he grew on a regular basis and a few that he experimented with each year. Yet, my memories of this garden are not of the produce but the time spent with him caring for the fruits and vegetables. This gardening time was a way to form relationships with each other and the land we live. As my daughter is turning three, she has enjoyed working in both our garden and her grandparents’ gardens. We are continuing the tradition of forming relationships with each other and the land, all surrounded by the fruits of our labor.
There was a time when we depended more so on the grocery stores to choose our fruits and vegetables. Gardening took to the back seat of convenience and ease. Yet in the financial crunch and the environmental push, what will become of gardening: it will make a dramatic come back! Gardens will begin popping up in everyone’s backyards or on their small patio areas, again. Why? Simply because we have come full circle: in this time that has turned out to be “not-so-Jetson,” we have discovered that the Earth is a beautiful, life-sustaining planet that we must preserve, one person at a time. Gardening can take place whether you have one small planting pot available or hundreds of acres. It is not the space that is necessary, but the time and the desire to make a difference. Gardening will once again become a necessity in our future lives.
Where do you start? What supplies do you need to not only garden, but to garden in an environmentally-friendly way? Check out http://www.MotherEarthGardening.com to meet all of your gardening needs.
Mother Earth Gardening: Organic Gardening for Outdoor Living Spaces
Green gardening supplies to make your backyard a home. http://www.MotherEarthGardening.com
Author: Chris Ann Stroech
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Going Green With Home Gardening
Last modified on 2010-05-03 18:17:33 GMT. 0 comments. Top.
It would surprise you how little space is needed to reap great salads and vegetables from a home garden. You can dedicate one small corner with a shade cloth covering for your compost pile, adding leftovers, coffee grinds, chopped up banana peels, manure, raked up leaves, and such to the soil to decompose and add richness. As you water down the compost every few days and turn it regularly, you will see a rich dark soil develop before your eyes. It is rewarding to create your own enriched soil to add to the garden area.
To begin a garden that you can grow without pesticides, first you need to till the soil either with a shovel and hoe by the old fashioned or with a power rototiller. Taking reasonable sections to till each day for a week will get the job done with not too many sore muscles. Then work in the enriched compost with perhaps some purchased fertilizer as well and work the soil with finer tools until the big clumps and rocks are removed. To plant the seeds you need a finer texture of soil, so work it for a while.
When you are ready to get your garden set up with the plants you want to grow, with your packets of seeds and starter plants in flats or small pots, then define your areas. Typically, gardens are in squares and rows. But you can be inventive. Once I used a circular child’s wading pool to trace circular areas in the soil, and planted what I called crop circles, with spinach filling one circle, chard the next, hot peppers the next, and then lettuce and other things. They were pretty green circles when the plants grew, with the red brown soil around them.
It looked like giant green polka dots of vegetables. Vegetables that grow easily in most climate zones include those already mentioned, as well as green onions, green and purple cabbages, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, corn, garlic, carrots, herbs, tomatoes, and green beans of course. At times you might want to try an exotic vegetable, such as yard long asian beans, bok choy (which is incredibly easy to grow and is delicious in stir fry dishes), armenian cucumbers, spaghetti or acorn squash and various melons. The fruitfulness of a home garden is pure pleasure. When you can walk right out in the back yard and pick onions and lettuce, you are truly going green.
For more information on home gardening, visit MasterGardening.com. Be sure to check out the Composting section.
Author: Ryan Wentworth
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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