Home Garden
Home Garden
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Why Container Gardening Is a Great Way to Grow Plants
Container gardening has so many benefits, it’s hard to believe more people aren’t doing it. Although it has become more popular over the past couple of decades, it still isn’t as popular as many other methods. One of the biggest benefits of growing your plants in containers is the fact that it makes gardening accessible to almost anyone. Handicapped individuals find growing their plants in containers makes it easier to locate plants where they can easily reach them. Many people in wheelchairs like to place their pots on a low table to make them more accessible. Elderly people who can’t work traditional gardens may find container gardening to be an…
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Is Organic Food Better for You?
Organic food has come from sitting on shelves of only selective stores to the point where it is now available at most supermarkets. Is this because of the genuine benefits of organic produce, or because of the savvy marketing of organic food growers and distributors? Have the health conscious people in their eagerness to find a healthier alternative overvalued the virtues of organic food items? In this article, we are going to look at the phenomenon from different perspectives. What Is Organic Food? In order to measure accurately the merits of organic foods, it is important to understand what the word “organic” means. “Organic” is the word that is used…
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Ten Great Vegetables for Your Home Vegetable Garden
Thinking about what to plant in your home vegetable garden? In my little corner of Canada we are getting close to planting season for most home garden vegetables. Here are a few suggestions to get your mouth watering for the garden fresh harvest that just might be in your future! Tomatoes – Although, yes, the tomato is technically a fruit, its delicious, savory taste leads to this little beauty being considered a vegetable by most people. Tomatoes found in stores are usually picked nearly green and then ripened artificially. This is done to ensure they are tough enough to survive shipping without being smashed, and so they last longer on…
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Choosing the Right Type of Gardening for You
If you are just thinking about getting into gardening you have a lot of options. Choosing the right type of gardening for you and your needs can make all the difference. Obviously, if you don’t have a yard, you are limited to container gardening. But even if you do have a yard, there are still reasons why container gardening might be the best fit for you. If you are planting a conventional backyard garden, consider that how you arrange your plants can influence the productivity of your plot. Maybe raised bed gardening is something you should think about. My special report, Choosing the Right Type of Gardening for You, is…
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Using Edible Perennials for Landscaping
Planting edible perennials as part of your landscape is a great idea, because it enables you to make maximum use of your space. Instead of damaging your landscaping by tearing up your lawn to plant a traditional garden, you can simply work your food plants into the existing plan for your yard. There is a wide variety of perennial vegetables and herbs that can be used as part of your landscape, and edibles can be just as beautiful as traditional landscape plants. Perennial vegetables are a real time saver, because you don’t have to replant them each year. A lot of vegetables are quite attractive, and can be lovely in…
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Building a Raised Bed Garden
Raised bed gardening is a way of growing plants inside beds that are raised up above the normal level of the soil in the garden. They’re typically housed inside a wooden frame, generally rectangular. The soil may be mixed in with tilled soil underneath, or it can simply be new soil placed on top of untilled ground. There are many great benefits to growing plants in raised beds. One of the biggest benefits is the ability to harvest more produce from the same space. Raised bed gardens can actually double or even triple the amount of produce harvested from the space! This is due to the fact that the square…
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Winter Hump Day February 4
I did the math. According to my calculations, winter is now half gone! Winter Hump Day was officially February 4. We are now halfway through winter and halfway to spring. Don’t misunderstand, I do love the winter here in Canada! But this year’s winter has been unusually nasty. Frozen water pipes, broken water mains, and traffic accidents due to slippery driving conditions have been common in the extreme cold we have been experiencing. So I am especially looking forward to spring these days. It will be so wonderful to smell the earth as I am preparing and planting my garden! Bring on the spring flowers, daffodils, crocuses, and tulips! Winter…
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Free Demo Planting Calculator at Sarah’s Kitchen Gardens
For those of you who are starting to plan your gardens, Sarah Hemingway of Sarah’s Kitchen Gardens is offering a free demo of her Planting Calculator on her website. This is an amazing little app that does all the thinking for you, whether you are starting seeds indoors, in a cold frame, or directly in the garden. It even tells you when to transplant your seedlings, if necessary. The planner also lists estimated harvest times and recommendations for succession planting, with the full version providing information for over 70 garden herbs and vegetables! All you need to do is look up the last and first frost dates in your area…
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Urban Homesteading
Urban homesteading is built around the idea of becoming more self-sufficient in whatever way you can. Here are some of the ideas that can be included in the concept of urban homesteading: Raising Animals for Meat Raising animals allows you to produce your own food, support the environment and more. Animal rearing can range from something as small as raising a couple of backyard chickens or rabbits to something as large as raising livestock. Obviously, the bigger the animal, the more room you will need. But even in a small city yard, there is usually enough room for a few chickens. Gardening Like raising animals, gardening allows you to produce…
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Raising Chickens in the Backyard
Is it possible to raise your own chickens in a big city backyard? Yes! And more and more people are taking advantage of this great way to provide meat and/or eggs for their families and a great educational experience for their children as well. For the story of one family’s adventure in raising chickens in the backyard, visit Sarah’s Kitchen Gardens. Sarah started off caring for three laying hens, Sadie, Rosie, and Nellie. It was only a temporary arrangement, but the convenience of having fresh, free range eggs was a real treat. The family enjoyed it so much that they moved to raising meat chickens over the summer and likely…