It has been a few months since most of our seeds, seedlings and plants were put into the soil. Some of those plants have probably used up most of the nutrients from the initial batch of soil and compost. If you want to give your plants the best chance of optimum growth and/or vegetable and […]
Soil Amendments and the Small Garden The subject of natural soil amendments can be quite extensive and complex. We will try to keep it simple and concentrate on natural nutritional soil amendments. Our focus is on small space gardening and we use balcony gardening as a common model. With this in mind, there will usually […]
Tips for selecting a good potting soil If you want to grow just a few really good plants in a smaller space and do not want to spend a lot of time in researching, shopping and mixing your own soils, then you may want to just buy some high end pre-mixed potting soil and get […]
Planting Seeds or Trans – Planting Seedlings When we say we are going to “plant a garden”, we sometime mean planting seeds and sometimes mean planting or transplanting seedlings. We, as humans, are more likely to continue a good hobby or healthy habit if we have early successes, so we have created some premixed soils […]
The core issue here is the limited space, almost everything, from the space to the containers to the tools are smaller than the common backyard garden. This will affect the other key issues such as what to plant (smaller varieties), where to plant (pots, boxes, and walls), and when to plant (succession or rotation planting). Here we will […]
I know we’re nearing the end of summer but as I harvest flowers and vegetables (mostly oh so many tomatoes – 14 large ones and over 40 cherries yesterday alone) and still a few ever-bearing strawberries, I think back to the beginning of the season when a few spectacular flowers appeared in my gardens for […]
It’s time to share the story of my front yard, small as it is. I often find myself saying to people these days as they arriving at or leaving my home, “isn’t that amazing”! I’m not often taken to bragging but am somewhat amazed myself, as I often am when wonder at the ability of […]
A couple weeks ago at a nearby outdoor growers market a woman I was talking to stated that, “we wouldn’t be alive without worms”. I chuckled thinking that was an interesting thought and perhaps a bit exaggerated. But then a few seconds later quickly agreed with her. Worms are essential for growing things in all […]
Friability (the condition of being friable) is the ability of a solid substance to be reduced to smaller pieces with little effort. The opposite of friable is indurated. Wikipedia I mentioned “friability” earlier in my article, 10 Tips for Buying Great Potting Soil. Friable soil is loamy soil, meaning it is equal parts of sand, […]
For most of us that prefer to buy organically grown food, we first think that the food hasn’t been sprayed or the animals we may be eating ate food that wasn’t sprayed with harmful chemicals. That is a great start but not where it all “starts”. Certified organic food is grown from organically produced seeds […]
