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Classes
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Seeds and Transplants
Armstrong Garden Centers – a good place to start for a wide selection (including organic) of seedlings and seeds.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds – Ecology Action in Willits, CA. Cover Crops and seeds plus books and classes on Grow Biointensive gardening
Bountiful Gardens – We’re sad to see one of our favorite suppliers has closed up shop, but they have a great list of other seed companies you should check out.
Botanical Interests – Family owned organic seeds with many heirloom varieties. Ordering through this link supports Gardenerd.com.
Marina Garden Center – good quality plants and a wide selection of veggies. They carry Botanical Interests seeds.
Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply – Grow Organic.com Seeds for cover crops and all kinds of other great gardening supplies like coir by the brick (for bulk supplies, see Composters.com or Gardeners Supply below)
Seeds of Change – organic seeds and transplants. One of our favorites
Territorial Seed Company – untreated and organic seeds & transplants
Two Dog Nursery – LA’s only certified organic nursery for veggie seedlings, fruit trees and more.
Books and Reference Websites
Gardening for Geeks and 400+ Tips for Organic Gardening Success – by Christy Wilhelmi. Gardening for Geeks is the companion book for SMC’s Basic Organic Gardening 101 course, and 400+ Tips is a digital compilation of 10 years of Gardenerd Tip of the Week Podcasts with hundreds of links to helpful resources.
Organic Gardening – by Geoff Hamilton. A great basic book to have on hand. Has a complete timeline for each item you want to grow, as well as visual aids for soil and soil amendments
Carrots Love Tomatoes – by Louise Riotte. A lovely book on companion planting for vegetables, herbs and wildflowers
Crops in Pots – by Bob Purnell. Get some great ideas about growing veggies in pots.
How to Grow More Vegetables – than you ever thought possible in less space than you could ever imagine. Ecology Action / Grow Biointensive’s manifesto
Rodale’s Garden Answers – a great book from from the company that started it all. Full page instructions for growing your favorite fruits and vegetables, plus problem solving for each item
Square Foot Gardening – Mel Bartholomew’s life’s work and Christy’s original garden bible. You can also find Mel’s updated version of the same book with 10 revised concepts for the Square Foot Gardener.
Success with Seeds – A great site with lists of plants for various conditions. Look on the navigation bar on the left for “Best Started Indoors” and “Direct Sowing”
Gardening Supplies and Such
Bumper Crop – a good soil builders (available at Marina Garden Center, Yamaguchi and other Master Nurseries)
Cow Pots – An ingenious invention utilizing composted cow manure that can be directly transplanted into your garden. Available at Gardener’s Supply (3″ and 4″ pots and 6 packs)
Dr. Earth Fertilizer – organic blended fertilizers for your every need (available in many nurseries)
E.B. Stone – organic soil amendments and fertilizers (available at Armstrong Garden Centers)
Felco Pruners – A great pruner that will last a lifetime. Available in many sizes.
Fox Farm Fertilizer – Organic fertilizers and soil amendments from a small family farm (available at many nurseries)
Gardens Alive – Organic pest control & fertilizers for everything from fruit trees to roses, vegetables to lawns
Gardeners Supply Company – So many things! Soil amendments and mixes for seed starting and transplanting, self-watering containers & containers for patio gardening, pre-fab raised beds, container potting mix, casters for underneath pots, coir and so much more
Malibu Compost – find it at Aquaflo in Culver City, Anawalt Lumber, and other locations.
Planet Natural – Organic fertilizers (including kelp emulsions), pest control, indoor and outdoor garden supplies, books and more
Pruner oil and Sanding Blocks– keep your pruning shears and other tools oiled and clean. Available at Amazon.com
Starbucks – Ask for their spent coffee grounds, or any coffee shop near you that offers organic coffee.
Whitney Farms Fertilizers– organic fertilizers designed for your specific needs.
Clean Air Gardening.com – a great source for coir products in bulk and many types of composters
Internal Links
Gardenerd Blog Entry on Vacation Watering – how to build a quick, no dig, drip irrigation system
Gardenerd Blog Entries on Raised Beds – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 3 continued – how we build our raised beds
Gardenerd Blog Entry on the Getting-Started Gardening Jitters – helpful hints on where to begin when growing tomatoes on a patio
Gardenerd Blog Entry on a Spring Vegetable Checklist – what you can grow this spring in your garden
Gardenerd Blog Entry on A Calendar of Flowers – helpful resources for having flowers year-round in your garden
Gardenerd Search Results on Rose Pruning – view several articles from past newsletters and blog entries on pruning roses
Environmental Resources
ATTRA – National Sustainable Agricultural Information Service
OMRI – Organic Materials Review Institute
Irish Peatland Conservation Council – find statistics and information on conservation efforts to save the world’s peat bogs
Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation – find the schedule for composting workshops and subsidized bin sales. You can find worms for your worm bin at many farmers’ markets and online.
Pesticide.org – the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides. Protecting people and the environment by advancing healthy solutions to pest problems
A Case Against Synthetic Fertilizers – Deborah K. Rich tells of the cycle that destroys our planet through the use of chemical fertilizers
