the holistic gardener

Last Post

2010-05-26T04:44:00.000-07:00

This will be my last entry on the Holistic Garden. I have begun a new blog Bob Ewing Permaculture which reflects the work I have been doing and continue to do. Small towns and cities are experiencing a drain both in resources and people and how these regions can be renewed is what I want to address.

This also reflects the work I am undertaking in my own community.

I believe we do need to get back to the garden and will continue to write garden related hubs at hubpages as well as continue to grow my own.

There are many great gardening blogs out there, happy gardening.

Basic Gardening Maintenance

2010-05-25T04:38:00.000-07:00

Today's pending rain and general damp weather plus last night's heavy rain has delayed basic gardening chores until tomorrow, need to prepare beds, add compost.

If you garden, the garden’s call to come outside and do something is almost irresistible.

This call is what gardening is all about, the gardeners gets an opportunity to be in nature and enjoy the sun, wind and yes even learn to appreciate rain, because when it rains you do not have to water.

Basic Gardening Maintenance

Garden Tales: Bluberries & Carrots

2010-05-23T17:57:00.000-07:00

Tuesday I will take a trip over to the shared garden site and prepare the bed for the mixed planting. I may grow some carrots, beans, tomatoes, basil, dill, marigolds and sunflowers in one bed. The other will be cabbage, broccoli, sunflowers and herbs and flowers as yet to be determined.

I am considering blueberries either in their own plot or containers.

Garden Tales: Bluberries & Carrots

Community Shared Agriculture

2010-05-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

Buying from a CSA is a great way to get fresh, locally grown food.

Growing food for the marketplace can be a risky undertaking. In the traditional farming model, the farmer takes all the risks and if the crops fail, for whatever reason, it is the grower who suffers most. If the financial damage experienced by the crops failing is severe enough, the farmer may go out of business. This can have repercussions throughout the community which the farm serves.

Community Shared Agriculture

Long Weekend

2010-05-21T04:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend Canada celebrates Queen Victoria's birthday, how many celebrants will know this, who knows? It is a big weekend for plant nurseries and landscapers. I usually avoid them during this week, making my rounds earlier and then later, most likely this coming Tuesday or Wednesday. It is still too early to put tomatoes, peppers, and cukes out , but I most likely will buy them from Rose's Landscaping and put them in shed on garden site.

I need to prepare the two beds I will be using for mixed planting.

Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long

The Gardener's Kitchen: Rosemary

2010-05-20T05:15:00.000-07:00

Herbs serve several purposes in your garden; they add beauty attract pollinators, provide flavour for your meals and some add fragrance. Add a few herbs in a mixed garden planting.

The Gardener's Kitchen: Rosemary

Growing Cold Hardy Grapes

2010-05-19T05:32:00.000-07:00

II will be growing grapes for the first time this year. Every gardening season I like to try something new and this year due to the availability of cold hardy varieties I will be growing grapes. Step one will be to build a trellis strong enough to support the vines.

Growing Cold Hardy Grapes

Gardening Tips for Great Gardens

2010-05-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

Community garden organizing meeting tomorrow night.

Gardening is a productive way to get up off your couch and get outside. The rewards are many and there is no reason that the work should be difficult. Naturally, there are things you will need to do, but none of them are taxing on your body or mind, and you can grow beautiful flowers and tasty food with only a minimum of effort, as long as you plan properly and take a few basic steps.

Gardening Tips for Great Gardens

Great Gardens Take Time

2010-05-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

May long weekend (Queen Victoria's birthday in Canada) in sight, gardening season gets into full swing.

Great gardens take time; time to grow and time to learn. To begin gardening, you do not need a lot of knowledge but you do need the time to allow what knowledge you have to expand as you get out in the dirt and discover what you need to know.

Great Gardens Take Time

Tips for First Time Container Gardeners

2010-05-16T18:03:00.000-07:00

I am just setting out the plan for a new container garden, if you are new to container gardening then:

When it comes to container gardening size does matter. It is possible to grow most plants in a container but if the container is too small then the plant will suffer and possibly die. It is not likely to produce the vegetables or flowers you are seeking.

Tips for First Time Container Gardeners

The Healing Garden

2010-05-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

The Healing Garden

"There are few of us who do not need healing; we are all wounded in one way or another. We can heal ourselves, our community and our home, the earth, all at the same time though some very simple and basic acts

Now is the time to return to the garden. Gardening is relationships and interaction. When you garden you engage yourself in Life’s Dance and are no longer alone.

Organic Gardening: The Soil Food Health Connection

2010-05-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

We are indeed what we eat.

There is a direct connection between the health of the plant and the health of the soil that the plants are growing in. Plants send their roots down into the soil to extract the nutrients that the plant needs to grow and to thrive. If the nutrients are not there then the plant will suffer.

Organic Gardening: The Soil Food Health Connection

How to Plant an Organic Butterfly Garden

2010-05-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

A garden without butterflies is simply wrong.

Encouraging butterflies to visit your garden and to set up home there is not difficult. It will require some research and a careful selection of plant material but even a beginning gardener can create a garden that draws and keeps butterflies.

How to Plant an Organic Butterfly Garden

A Child's First Organic Garden

2010-05-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

Children can learn much by spending time in a garden either at school, home or a community garden.

If you have ever seen the look of wonder on a child’s face when he or she touches a flower for the first time then you can understand the importance of allowing children to experience gardening first hand.

A Child's First Organic Garden

How I Overcame My Peanut Butter Passion

2010-05-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

Peanut butter may be my favourite sandwich and snack food. It is 3 am and I am standing in my kitchen in the dark. In one hand a jar of peanut butter, in the other a spoon. This could be a normal and healthy late night snack, i

How I Overcame My Peanut Butter Passion

Fresh Food: Backyard Fresh

2010-05-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

Busy designing two gardens- one a hybrid community/shared garden, and the other my new balcony garden. i have to grow some of my own food and no matter what the available space, find a way to do so.

The freshest food is backyard fresh, by that I mean the only distance this food travels is from my table to my kitchen. Steeping out to door, back, front or side, and picking the food right off that vine means the food is indeed fresh.

Fresh Food: Backyard Fresh

Buying A Kitchen Knife

2010-05-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

It is time I bought a new set of kitchen knives. The ones I have are usable but as my knowledge and experience grow I seek better tools.

The knife is the most important tool that you will buy for your kitchen. If you do not have a blade that will cut what you want, how you want it, it does not matter how well designed your cookware is, the food will suffer.

Buying A Kitchen Knife

What's New?

2010-05-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

What are you growing or planning on growing this year that is a new addition to your garden?

The Elemental Garden

2010-05-06T05:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I visited the site were the shared garden will be created. Once there was a well-designed and likely beautiful garden here, the bones are still visible as are the daffodils, tulips and crocuses many of which have escaped unto the railroad way that runs behind the proeprty. there is also a pond that needs reclaiming.

The singing of the birds added to the sense of wonder and timelessness.

To spend time in a garden is to step out of your daily life and walk through a doorway into a space that is vibrant and tranquil.

The Elemental Garden

It is How not What You Plant that Matters

2010-05-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

Grow organically that is what matters; what you grow is up to you.

The real gardening question is not what to grow, but, how to grow what you grow. In other words do you buy artificial chemicals and douse your plants with them to kill bugs and just about everything else that the plants need to thrive or do you model your garden on Nature and watch the garden thrive.

It is How not What You Plant that Matters

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-05T04:44:00.000-07:00

The School Garden

2010-05-04T04:51:00.000-07:00

Every school needs a garden where learning comes alive.

What is a school garden?

Simply put a school garden is a garden on the school property. It may be a flower garden or a vegetable garden or both. The choice is up to the people who plant and tend the garden; the students with guidance and advice from teachers and parents

How to Start A School Garden

The Gardener's Kitchen: Spinach

2010-05-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

Spinach has moved from an uneatable to a desirable on my plate.

The only spinach I came anywhere near as a child was when Popeye popped open a can to gain strength to rescue, once again, Olive Oil, from the bad guy. In those days even a cartoon hero could not convince me to eat something I did not like, and as my father did not like it either, spinach was rarely on our table.

The Gardener's Kitchen: Spinach

We Are The Gardeners

2010-05-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

Why are we here?

The search for purpose and meaning in Life has pre-occupied humanity for millennia. There are many, diverse responses to the questions, Why are we here? What is our purpose?

We Are The Gardeners

Best Garden Gift Ideas

2010-05-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

I shop local as often as I can and gardening related gifts are one item that can at least be purchased from a locally owned store.

Gifts, shopping can be fun when you have an idea about what you want to buy. There is a big difference between buying something for yourself and shopping for a gift for someone else.

Best Garden Gift Ideas

How To Create An Ecological Garden

2010-04-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

The cool weather is keeping the gardening urge in check.

Gardening is one of the world's oldest professions; there are older activities hunting and gathering come to mind, but about ten thousand years ago, humanity realized that food could be obtained by working the earth.

How To Create An Ecological Garden

Community Gardening

2010-04-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Gardening is a communal activity even when there are no other humans around you are not alone.

Gardening is a wonderful way to turn strangers into neighbours; to make friends and develop a sense of community.

Community Gardening

Along the Restigouche

2010-04-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Bedding Plants

2010-04-27T05:59:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for early colour to brighten your garden and attract pollinators then add a few bedding plants.

What is a bedding plant? There seems to be some disagreement over what plants are actually bedding plants. For the purposes of this hub the term bedding plant means plants that are annuals, biennials or perennials and used in borders or garden beds to add a splash of colour, especially in the spring and fall.

Bedding Plants

Kitchen Gardens International a gardener's social network (Includes interview)

2010-04-26T05:54:00.000-07:00

Roger Doiron is the founding director of the nonprofit Kitchen Gardeners International and was active in the White House kitchen garden campaign.

Fast Company magazine called Roger one of the ten most inspiring people in sustainable food for his campaign for a White House kitchen garden. DigitalJournal.com spoke to Doiron about the role of kitchen gardeners and why people should grow their own food.

Kitchen Gardens International a gardener's social network (Includes interview)

Children's Gardening Books

2010-04-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite books about children and gardening is aimed at teachers rather than childen.

The book is Caroyl Nuttall's A Children’s Food Forest’. The book was published in 1996 and is based on a school garden project in Brisbane’s Seville Road State School.

Another good book is:

Garden Tales: The Turnip

2010-04-24T04:56:00.000-07:00

Turnips, potatoes, parsnips, apples, all are locally grown food, of course in early spring you are eating last year's crop, still good food, but not as fresh as they were a few months ago. Turnips are an undervalued food. I love them mashed, in a vegetable pie or stew or as an alternative French fry.

Garden Tales: The Turnip

The Multiple Benefits of Growing Your Own Food

2010-04-23T04:47:00.000-07:00

The balcony space available for my new garden is on two levels so there is more room to grow than previously thought, yes.

Fresh food tastes best. The shorter the distance from the field, where the food is grown, to the kitchen, where the food is prepared, the fresher the food will be. The shortest route is from you backyard or balcony to your kitchen.

The Multiple Benefits of Growing Your Own Food

Harvesting and Eating Stinging Nettle

2010-04-22T05:05:00.000-07:00

It is early to be wild crafting stinging nettle, but the coltsfoot is out, and this morning I gathered a few flowers, from my backyard, to add to a salad for lunch.

Urtica dioica is best known by its common name stinging nettle, a name that is well deserved. Stinging nettle is so called because of the burning pain that you can get when you brush up against it.

Harvesting and Eating Stinging Nettle

The Cutting Veg

2010-04-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was surfing with a purpose the other day, looking for people who are involved in growing food within the urban environment. In my journey through the Web, I came across the Cutting Veg. The Cutting Veg's mission statement is cultivating personal, social, environmental, and economic health through organic agriculture.

Look for more information about them in an upcoming blog.

Wordless Wednesday: Daffodils

2010-04-21T04:43:00.001-07:00

Crows & Garbage

2010-04-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

This morning while walking home from the grocery store, I was pulled out my reverie, I was thinking about what I would make for supper, by the sounds of crows.

Now, crows make a number of interesting sounds, however, this particular racket was most often heard when food was near and the crows were jockeying for position.

I looked up the street to my right, in the direction, this chorus was coming from, and there were four crows all dancing around a few boxes and bags from a well-known fast food chain.

It is garbage day here and the crows had torn open the green garbage bags to get at the prize.

What does this say about our society?

Repairing Damaged, Polluted Soil

2010-04-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

Reclaiming soil, bringing back its fertility, for example, is one of the more exciting parts of growing things.

A gardener does not grow plants, a gardener, at least a successful one, grows soil and lets the soil grow the plants the gardener chooses. If you have moved to a new property, are expanding your garden or have had an incident occur that causes you to consider the soil has changed then you will want to conduct a soil test.

Repairing Damaged, Polluted Soil

There is no such thing as a green thumb

2010-04-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

Good gardening does take a bit of planning and some work, but if you want to garden, you can, it is all a matter of design and personal will.

Anyone who wants to can garden. There is no such thing as a green thumb. Gardeners learn to garden by getting up off the couch, and going out into the yard and planting something, anything.

There is no such thing as a green thumb

Social Networks for Gardeners

2010-04-16T05:24:00.000-07:00

Social networks allow us to share information and connect with other gardeners.

Social networking and gardening are natural companions. Gardeners are eager to share their knowledge; swap seeds; ask questions; give advice and to dialogue.

The discussions are always passionate, sometimes heated and have been held in forums and on email lists for as long as there has been an Internet.

Social Networks for Gardeners

Favourite Container Garden Plants

2010-04-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

Getting back to a balcony and container gardening.

Containers make gardening accessible to anyone who has even a small space to place them. The container can be on a balcony, patio, deck, table top, in a back or front yard or on a fire escape, just about anywhere the plant(s) in the container get what they need to grow and thrive.

Favourite Container Garden Plants

Wordless Wednesday: Local Apples

2010-04-14T04:34:00.000-07:00

The Balcony Kitchen Garden

2010-04-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

This summer I will be going back to balcony gardening for the first time since I left Thunder Bay in 2005.

When designing a kitchen garden, size is not the principal issue. It is possible, in fact, quite simple, to grow herbs, edible flowers, vegetables and fruit in a small area.

Containers are ideal if your space is limited, especially if the garden is located several stories above the ground.

The Balcony Kitchen Garden

First opened

2010-04-13T04:38:00.000-07:00

The Healing Garden

2010-04-12T05:42:00.000-07:00

A garden is a natural healing space, gardening can be an healing action.

There are few of us who do not need healing; we are all wounded in one way or another. We can heal ourselves, our community and our home, the earth, all at the same time though some very simple and basic acts.

Now is the time to return to the garden. Gardening is relationships and interaction. When you garden you engage yourself in Life’s Dance and are no longer alone.

The Healing Garden

Hyperlocavore, a yardsharing social network (Includes interview)

2010-04-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

Liz McLellan is the creator of a social network that aims to assist people who want to grow their own food and help them find a place where they can do so.

After 25 years in the tech field as a Web strategist for non-profits and user interface specialist, Liz McLellan started Hyperlocavore - A Free Yard Sharing Community to encourage people to grow food with their friends, family and neighbors.

Hyperlocavore, a yardsharing social network (Includes interview)

Keeping goats in the city

2010-04-09T05:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever considered goats?

There has been a growing buzz about keeping chickens in urban environments and this is a very good idea.All across Canada, there are individuals enjoying fresh eggs as often as they want; simply because the eggs come from the chickens they keep right on their own property.

Chickens give us eggs; bees can give us honey but what about milk and cheese? Think goats Keeping goats in the city

How to Plant an Organic Butterfly Garden

2010-04-08T04:18:00.000-07:00

The butterfly tattoo , may say it all.

How to Plant an Organic Butterfly Garden

Wordless Wednesday- Johnny-Jump-Up

2010-04-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

Gardening as an Artistic Medium

2010-04-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

In the garden let your creative aspect out for some fresh air.

What is art, this question may be more difficult to answer than it appears. I have seen work advertised as art that is pretty but says little les; works that would work well in my living room but seem out of place in an art gallery. Is a piece art because it hangs in a gallery or is it art because of what it took to create it.

The definition I like of art is simple, art is form and content. This translates into all art must consist of these two things.

Gardening as an Artistic Medium

How to Design Your Organic Garden

2010-04-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

Grow naturally, it is the only way to garden.

How to Design Your Organic Garden:

"The garden is where Nature and civilization meet so why would anyone want to use harmful pesticides and fertilizers in order to grow vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers?

It is not necessary to do so. Your garden will flourish when you stick with organic and natural methods of growing."

Garden Your Way To Self-Confidence

2010-04-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Grow your confidence while tending your garden.

It all begins with a seed, one seed. You plant it, add water and sit back to watch it grow. If it does, that is great; you plant another and on it grows.

Garden Your Way To Self-Confidence

How To Mulch Your Garden

2010-04-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

The leaves that freely fall from the nearby trees are my favourite mulch.

Adding mulch to your garden beds is an effective way to conserve water, reduce weeding and enhance your garden’s fertility.

Some people use decorative mulch such as stone or wood chips for the decorative effect. This method can also conserve water and suppress weds but will have less of an impact on the soil’s health.

How To Mulch Your Garden

Balcony Garden Early Spring 2004: a view

2010-04-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

Nutrition: Grow Your Own

2010-04-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

f you are looking for a perfect source of nutrition, grow your own organic food; if that is not possible then buy from a local, organic grower.

If you are looking for a great source of nutrition, grow your own food organically, if that is not possible then buy from a local, organic grower.

All the nutrition our bodies require comes from the food we eat or at least the food we should be eating. I am referring to real food, fresh vegetables, fruits, grains as well as meats, fish and chicken. These foods to be healthy must be organic and to be fresh need to be grown or produced as close to your kitchen as possible.

Nutrition: Grow Your Own

How To Design An Accessible Garden

2010-03-31T04:39:00.000-07:00

If the garden is designed to suit the gardener, then anyone who wants to can garden; it is all in the desire and design.

I feel that it is important to begin this hub by saying that I believe that gardening is one of the most rewarding and useful activities that people can spend their time doing.

There are many lessons for one thing, that you can learn from a well-designed garden; history, math, language, organizational skills, the appreciation of beauty and so on.

How To Design An Accessible Garden

Urban agriculture: the flower business

2010-03-30T04:56:00.000-07:00

Gardening is a growing business, opportunity.

Herbs and vegetables are not the only products that an urban agricultural enterprise could offer. People love fresh flowers and what could be fresher than a floral arrangement or a bouquet from a local grower?

Urban agriculture: the flower business

Snow

2010-03-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

Snow has been falling since early this morning and is likely to continue through the evening, it may turn to rain. We do need rain, it has been a dry winter so even some snow is welcome. The daffodils are covered but growing slowly. I do need to buy a camera.

Flower or Vegetables is that a Question?

2010-03-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

I love flowers, all kinds of flowers, both wild and cultivated. There is no reason that flowers and vegetables cannot exist near each other in the garden.

Over the years I have designed and grown a wide range of gardens from a one pot with tomatoes and basil on my balcony to a 1 acre commercial operation. One reoccurring question raised through all these various gardens’ projects over a 17 year period is whether to grow flowers or not.

I am not talking about edible flowers but flowers that are grown purely for ornamental or ascetic purposes either as cut flowers for the table or bouquets or dried flowers for various craft purposes.

Flower or Vegetables is that a Question?

A Local Meal

2010-03-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Root vegetables are about the only locally produced items on the market at this time of year, root vegetables and apples. Potatoes, carrots, turnips, parsnips are still available from last fall's crop. For the most part they are in reasonable condition, at least good enough to make a stew or a vegetable pie. My maternal grandmother taught me how to make a root vegetable pie, a recipe that I have changed a bit since then but still make.

The gardener with a root cellar or other means of keeping these items for several months can readily prepare a meal that is entirely made from local ingredients, even when there is snow on the ground. Of course, it is also possible to purchase these root vegetables on the trip to the market.

Root vegetables are not difficult to grow and some can even be grown in straw bales.

Carrots and turnips are fine stew ingredients and if you use a slow cooker you can put the meal together in the morning and come home to a ready made meal.

Between Gardens

2010-03-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

It looks like I will be unable to swing a favourbale deal to buy the house we are currently occupying. This means we will be moving around the end of June, cutting the already short gardenign season down even further.

I will be moving the African violets in the living room and my kitchen herb windowsill garden. What else I will grow depends upon the new location.

On another note I am talking with an acquaintance about continuing our shared garden that we began last year. Also I have begun discussions with several people about starting a community garden, although that is more likely to be a 2011 project.

Growing and Using Mint

2010-03-27T04:37:00.000-07:00

Mint grows and grows and grows spreading by stolons. It is best grown in a container so that you do not spend a considerable portion of your gardening time, harvesting and then getting desperate as it spread just trying to get rid of it

Growing and Using Mint

Balcony Garden

2010-03-26T05:39:00.001-07:00

Glads and tomatoes on baclony

How to Design Your Organic Garden

2010-03-26T04:19:00.000-07:00

You do not need an advanced education to start a garden, gardeners learn as they grow. All you need is the commitment to garden.

The garden is where Nature and civilization meet so why would anyone want to use harmful pesticides and fertilizers in order to grow vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers?

It is not necessary to do so. Your garden will flourish when you stick with organic and natural methods of growing.

How to Design Your Organic Garden

Bob's Plant Selection Guide

2010-03-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

There are six words that will help you create a garden that thrives. The words are right plant, right place, and right time.

Bob's Plant Selection Guide

The Gardeners Kitchen: Organic Fertilizers & Compost Tea

2010-03-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

Healthy soil = happy plants

Feed the soil, the organic gardener’s mantra. One of the most effective ways to feed that soil is to add organic material, such as compost to the garden. Another is to add compost tea.

The Gardeners Kitchen: Organic Fertilizers & Compost Tea

Garden Tales: The Parsnip

2010-03-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

I am still trying to appreciate parsnips.

Spade, Skirret and Parsnip: The Curious History of Vegetables

Some say that a cook is only as good as the tools the cook uses. This saying may be on my mind as we just went out and bought new pots and pans and are getting a new slow cooker soon. But I do not think that is actually the case. I'm more inclined to believe that what I see as a real barrier to cooking is the mystery we shroud the process in.

I disagree with the saying. I say a cook is only as good as the care the cook places in the cooking. If you enjoy the process you will enjoy the result.

Garden Tales: The Parsnip

Horticultural Therapy

2010-03-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

Gardening is both a physical and emotional therapeutic activity. When you spend time in you garden you step away from your daily cares and enter a world that exists between nature and civilization; a world of your own creation. Gardening is an activity where your imagination, creativity and interests determine how the garden grows.

Horticultural Therapy

Wild

2010-03-20T15:06:00.001-07:00

The Community Garden

2010-03-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

We have just formed a committee to explore the possibilities here;

A community garden is a plot of land that is usually divided into subplots with each gardener having their own plot. You can grow herbs flowers or vegetables or a mix of all three.

There may be a communal plot where you grown corn or squash which is then shared.

The Community Garden

City bee keeping provides an important service

2010-03-19T05:31:00.000-07:00

Urban agriculture practioneers do more than grow food, when they grow organically or naturally, they also help to restore the ecosystems they inhabit. For example, the news over the past two years or so has carried stories about the plight of the honey bee.

Urban gardens can attract honey and other bees, and in fact, in many cases, must attract them if the plants they are growing are going to produce flowers and set fruit.

Honey bees, in particular, are vital to our food supply system because over one third of the food we eat regularly relies upon them for pollination services.

City bee keeping provides an important service

The Gardeners Kitchen: Edible Flowers

2010-03-18T05:26:00.000-07:00

Food and beauty.

If you are a gardener and grow flowers you may already be growing some plants that will add flavour and colour to your meals. Edible flowers, for the most part, are fairly simple to grow and can be placed in garden borders or throughout the garden, no matter what you grow.

The Gardeners Kitchen: Edible Flowers

African Violet

2010-03-17T16:31:00.001-07:00

Best ways of growing vegetables in containers

2010-03-16T04:59:00.000-07:00

Just about anything can be used as a container for growing vegetables; it needs to have drainage and must be big enough to allow the plant's roots to develop.

There is nothing like eating a tomato that you have grown yourself. The same eating pleasure goes for carrots, cabbages and just about any vegetable that you can name.

You do not need a large space to grow your own food. All you need is a balcony, patio, deck or other small space to experience the wonders of food that you grow yourself.

Best ways of growing vegetables in containers

Making Compost

2010-03-15T13:08:00.001-07:00

Raw Material

Bob's Home Vegetable Garden Guide

2010-03-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

If you want it and are willing to devote a little bit of time on a regular basis. you too can have your own home vegetable garden. Fresh food tastes best and the freshest food is food you grow yourself at home or in a nearby community garden plot.

Even if you have only a small yard, or live in an apartment with a balcony as long as you get 4-6 hours of sun per day you can grow vegetables.

Bob's Home Vegetable Garden Guide

March The Frustrating Month

2010-03-13T09:04:00.000-08:00

It is a beautiful sunny day as I type this, however, the temperature is only minus 2 C and while it will warm as the day progresses, the ground is still frozen.

March is frustrating as it often feels like Spring and in fact Spring does arrive in a week or so, however, here in Northern New Brunswick, growing season does not get into full swing until after the first week in June. So I wait, dream, plan and wait. There are six daffodils poking there heads up in the front lawn. I just recently removed the tarp; they are under a cloche to protect them from the cold nights.

Adding to my frustration is a broken camera. My Coolpix served me well for four years but just stopped working the other day. so I need to purchase a new camera. What to buy?

How to Design Your Organic Garden

2010-03-12T08:22:00.000-08:00

The garden is where Nature and civilization meet so why would anyone want to use harmful pesticides and fertilizers in order to grow vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers?

It is not necessary to do so. Your garden will flourish when you stick with organic and natural methods of growing.

How to Design Your Organic Garden

Gardening in Limited Space and Other Gardening Options

2010-03-11T04:21:00.000-08:00

Size does not matter when it comes to gardening. So if you want to garden, but your backyard is small or non-existent; well do not let that discourage you, if you have the will, you will find the way.

The first step, as in all forms of gardening, is to assess you existing space. How much room do you have? How much sun and shade does that space get?

Gardening in Limited Space and Other Gardening Options

Aquaculture and urban agriculture

2010-03-10T11:09:00.000-08:00

Two forces are converging which have the ability to influence the development of urban agricultural enterprises. One is around the world; fisheries are in trouble as are the oceans, lakes and rivers that are the natural habitat of fish, lobster and so much more. This growing threat provides an opportunity.

The second force is the need for employment as people are losing their jobs and even as the economy appears to be recovering, the jobs are not coming back.

Aquaculture and urban agriculture

Beyond Gardening: Urban Agriculture

2010-03-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

I love the act of gardening, it really matters little what I grow, it is the interaction that Ienjoy. Mind you, I also enjoy fresh, healthy food and growing, at least some of your own, organically, is the best way to get food that is fresh, truly fresh.

I also know that growing things can help revitalize neighbourhoods and bring people together, whether it be a community garden project, or an urban agricultural enterprise.

I will be devoting some attention in this blog to both community gardening and urban agriculture, as I feel the ability of the garden to be a means for transformation and income generation, requires a closer look.

Urban agriculture is one element in a community food production and distribution system. Other elements to consider are food processing, packaging and distribution. This list provides us with an insight into the community economic development possibilities that can develop when municipalities embrace growing food both as an entrepreneurial and as a personal activity.

Eat healthy, Be Healthy

2010-03-07T08:37:00.000-08:00

Eat healthy, be healthy. It is as easy as that, there is no need to spend money on supplements or weight loss programs if your food intake consists of real food and you get up off the couch now and then and get some basic exercise.

Eat healthy, Be Healthy

Best Plants for the Balcony Garden

2010-03-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

For fourteen years, I grew a wide variety of plants on this balcony and enjoyed a great view of the harbour while doing so.

Balcony gardening can offer greater challenges than working a garden bed in your backyard. The first one is that it may be against the building rules to grow anything on your balcony and so by doing so you may run into some problems with other tenants, the superintendent or the owner.

Best Plants for the Balcony Garden

How To Benefit From Your Gardening Mistakes

2010-03-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

Gardening takes us beyond right and wrong and into, just do it and pay attention.

We are obsessed by mistakes, by getting it wrong, by failure. I blame our education system for this fear. We are penalized when we try something and do not get it right. The resulting shame prevents us from going up to the blackboard or raising our hands because we do not want to be humiliated.

How To Benefit From Your Gardening Mistakes

Growing Beans, Corn, Squash

2010-03-03T13:31:00.000-08:00

Growing Beans, Corn, Squash:

"Companion or compatible planting is the first step towards understanding plant communities and how designing you garden as a functioning community of plants, that benefit from each others’ company, is a natural model that increases your garden’s vitality."

Container Gardening

2010-03-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

I have been incoporating containers into my gardens for about 25 years now. Containers of all sorts, from terra cotta pots to old work boots, have held johnny-jump-ups, glads, tomatoes, green peppers, chamomile and so much more.

One of the lessons I discovered was you could grow just about anything in a container if the container was big enough, the soil healthy and the plants got the sun and water they needed.

Gardening with Nature

2010-03-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

Take time to know your property before you plant your garden. Sure go ahead a put in a kitchen garden and some herbs, but before you decide to put in flowers and go to the effort of maintaining a lawn; spend a few months observing what is growing there.

Gardening with Nature

cherry tomatoes & assorted herbs ready for 2009 container garden

2010-02-28T12:22:00.000-08:00

looking back

Shared container garden

2010-02-28T07:46:00.000-08:00

shared container garden 2009

in the garden, curves give you an edge

2010-02-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

The Edge Effect

An edge is where two different systems meet; common examples are the shoreline between land and water, the space between the forest and the grassland, or orchard and garden.

Edges also exist along roadsides, beside buildings and the boundary lines between city and country.

The creatures who inhabit the edge space come from both the ecosystems that meet and create the edge. Edges are often highly diverse and productive microclimates.

Gardeners can create edge space and enhance diversity by reducing the number of striaght lines and working with a curved design instead.

Food Security

2010-02-26T05:20:00.000-08:00

How secure is your food supply?

How long would your supply of food last if you woke up tomorrow morning, and the stores where you normally purchase your food were closed?

What would you do? This scenario may not be all that far-fetched, if most of the food you buy at the local supermarket is trucked into town from locations hundreds if not thousands of miles away.

Food Security

Organic Home Vegetable Garden: Five Top Crops

2010-02-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

Grow what you want but grow organically.

Organic is the only way to garden. It does not matter whether you grow flowers, herbs or vegetables what does matter is how you grow what you grow.

What does make a difference is why you garden.

Organic Home Vegetable Garden: Five Top Crops

Community orchards growing fruit for sale in the city

2010-02-24T09:04:00.000-08:00

This year I plan to plant two apple trees, most likely in containers. Fresh fruit is a delight. The closer the fruit is grown to where you live the fresher it will be. What is there was an urban orchard located less than six blocks from your home. It could sit on a lot that was once empty except for the rubble that vacant lots manage to accumulate.

Community orchards growing fruit for sale in the city

Forest Gardening: An Introduction

2010-02-23T05:17:00.000-08:00

Have you begun to feel that the time you spend watering and cutting your lawn is a waste and probably doing more harm than good? Tired of using poisonous chemicals to keep that lawn green and golf course ready?

Or are you longing for fresh fruits and vegetables?

Perhaps both appeal to you and if you have answered yes to one or both then it could be time to turn your yard into a food forest garden.

Forest Gardening: An Introduction

Community Garden

2010-02-21T10:41:00.000-08:00

There is no community garden here in town and after several conversations and a loose partnerhship, I have decided it is time to get one going. There are a few things that need doing, not the least of which is to find a place for the garden.

While just about any site can be turned into a community garden ( some work such as site remediation) may be required, a garden needs ready access to water, a storage shed helps so gardeners do not have to haul tools back and forth, and it does help if the site is located in a community where people live; people who want a garden.

There are a few prospects and we are scouting out others.

Gardeners- Grow up.

2010-02-20T05:13:00.000-08:00

If your available gardening space is small or you do not want to bend and stoop to do your gardening chores, grow up. Gardening vertically offers opportunites for the creative to get the maximum yield from a small space.

Trellises and other supports have been used for generations to support a variety of plants, beans, peas and even squash.

Bob's Guide to Container Gardening

2010-02-19T04:31:00.000-08:00

Container gardening is a great way to grow your own food, flowers and herbs if you are pressed for time and space. The summer of 1991, that was when I set up my first container garden. We were living in Thunder Bay, Ontario and had just moved into the top floor of the house with a great view of the harbour and a balcony right off the kitchen.

Bob's Guide to Container Gardening

What is permaculture?

2010-02-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

The term permaculture was derived by it co-founders, David Holmgren and Bill Mollison, in the 1970s, from the words permanent and agriculture. Today it has evolved to also encompass permanent culture.

Permaculture is a nature inspired, holistic design system that can be used to create sustainable communities, build sustainable businesses and develop sustainable agricultural systems.

Site plan

2010-02-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

As I develop the plan for my site the more I become aware of the possibilities the double lot; there used to be a hous on it but owner tore it down several years ago. As I hve said this site is mainly stone to the depth of three feet near the road and about four to six inches towards the shed.

This eans raised beds and containers will be used for the growing. It also means I can each others how to make and grow in raised beds and offer lessons in container gardening; naturally permaculture design principles will guide the site's development. Of course this all hinges on our buying the property.

The shared garden space will enablee the volunteer centre which runs a food bank to grow their own food for use in their kitchen.

Spring seems a long way off

2010-02-16T05:27:00.000-08:00

Fresh snow fell overnight and while it is mild, only minus 2 C, the forecast is for more snow. This is not a bad thing, in fact, we had too little snow this year, for the region, and so we do need the snow.

Snow is a natural part of this environment (N, NB) and when we have a warm year with minimum snow, rivers, lakes, plants and jobs are all impacted.

Nonetheless as I look at the heavy clouds, late May never mind June does seem far away.