chickens
Author: Cees Schouls 3/14/2010 1:54:59 PM  |  View Comments

Last week the chicken tractor started working in the garden. The first egs of the season where there and the chickens had a lot of fun. 

Getting started
Author: hapkidochick 3/10/2010 7:05:09 PM  |  View Comments

Getting ready to begin planting seeds inside while I build a garden area outside.  I hope to be able to keep the rabbits and squirrels out of it.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to do this, they would be much appreciated.  Also, if anyone can help me with an organic option for bug sprays I would love to try one.

Kate

Hello
Author: Shadowshine 3/8/2010 1:56:40 PM  |  View Comments

Why Hello to you out there!!

This is my first attempt to actually start a garden!  I also need to do a much better job of keeping my garden diary!  Already I have lost track of what seeds I have planted, when I planted them, what worked, what failed, or even what they heck they are!!

Presently I have started seeds in doors.  I try to be a frugal as possible by only spening any money on soil and seeds (and even then I look for helpful people willing to donate to me!).  I have the following (from what I can remember) growing in a variety of different containers:

• Peppers, Yellow and Green-Grown from Agway Seeds, Soil from my Mom's Farm, Containers, Newspaper Cups & Catering Tins, Growing in Clear Storage Tubs on the Front Porch-Still waiting to pop!
• Sunflowers-Grown from Seedway Seeds, Soil from Mom, Container-Salad Bowl from Bruggers Bagels (looks really pretty), Growing in the plastic food container on my window sil-Currently Growing
• Zinnias-Seeds from Lowes ( :(-I know! But all the local places where closed, and I wanted to start them sooo badly!), Mom's Soil, Cow Pot Containers, Growing in the dining room,
• Kale, Lettuce, Green Beans, Spinach-Seeds from Seedway, Soil from Mom, Growing in Cowpots sitting in the porch-GROWING!!
• Marigols (White & Yellow)-Seeds Saved from last year, Soil from Mom, Growing in newspaper pots, in pencil cases, sitting in the dinning room & back porch
• Tomatoes, Rainbow-Seeds from Agway, Soil from Mom, Newspaper Containers sitting in old recycling bins with plexi-glass on top-Just planted Sunday 3/7, so soon!
• False Sun Flowers-Seeds from Wintersown.org, Mom's Soil, Alum Cans placed in a recycle bin with plexi-glass coverage.  Again, just planted 3/7 so lets keep our fingers crossed!!

Now, mind you that I am doing all of this growing with NO GARDEN ready!!  I still need to build my raised beds, install them, fill them with soil, plant, but cabin fever in New England can make people do crazy things to encourage spring to come early!

Coming up is my Carrots, More Tomato Plants (Including Red, Cherry, and random ones from a local seed swap!), Squash, Radish, Stawberries, Rhubarb (I always took this for granted while it was growing at my childhood house!!)

Wish me luck!  Any advice on building 5 raised beds on a slope (thus the Mini Manchu Picchu name) would be greatly appreciated!!

Wall of Salad Growing Green
Author: World Food Garden 1/12/2010 3:42:22 PM  |  View Comments

I'm very excited about this garden. When I first took the job as a "short term gardener" at the 27 people live/work collective that runs the website CouchSurfing.org, I thought I was going to build a nice, fairly typical urban container garden. However upon arrival I found out that nearly half the people wanted the available small plot of dirt to become a grass lawn for socializing while the other half wanted vegetables.

Fortunately there was this giant chain-link fence in full sun that was completely underutilized so I built a vertical garden full of lettuces and my friend/roomate, Tripple T, dubbed it the "Wall of Salad." The name has stuck and now I want to put Walls of Salad everywhere!

Here's some pics by my friend/roomie Travis Raymond

(you will notice the lawn for socializing was included in the plan via a newly sodded yard)

close up:

you can see the thin drip irrigation system making it the garden easy to maintain- just turn on the wall!

More pics can be seen here by Andrew Otto. Yay!

Garden demolished
Author: kat 2/20/2010 7:53:27 PM  |  View Comments

Our garden has been demolished because our school sits on a fault. Supposedly there is less potential seismic activity on the patch of land that housed our garden and greenhouse, so they plan to put a structure there, and move the garden south of its former site. I guess Google Earth needs to revisit us. Needless to say, it was devastating to see mature trees being annihilated, and mature rose bushes left to die. All the years of work and love gone in one fell swoop. 

In the meantime, my students and I have mulched the grounds wherever there was bare earth. We have begun Service Learning, a model I have learned from Generation Earth. 

One of the student groups is Operation Mulch. There is also a gardening group, a vermiculture group, and a recycling group. I will keep you posted.