We've been busy making instructional videos, and the latest one is all about harvesting compost. Here you'll learn simple tricks and tools to get your compost from the bin to the garden bed in an efficient way. We've event added a few tips on what to do with the grubs you find in there, and a bit about compostable cutlery. As you probably know, compost is the most important ingredient in a healthy garden. You'll enrich your soil and enhance…
For those following the path of the Monarch butterfly migration, and for those providing milkweed as habitat for them along the way, you'll be pleased to know that we have had a visitor over the past month in the Gardenerd Test Garden. When last we posted, we were starting to see eggs and tiny worms. In this post we'll share new "developments." At first we spied three caterpillars, but over time they became harder to find. We witnessed a spider…
We've posted a new YouTube video about harvesting and storing leeks for winter. You'll find a neat trick for keeping leeks on hand all winter long. Learn the best way to choose which leeks to pick and how to keep a continuous supply growing. Tune into YouTube each week for a new garden tip, and be sure to subscribe if you haven't already. To learn more about growing leeks and what to do with them, check out these other blog…
I had the opportunity to provide a Green Tip for Jeff Davis's Go Green America TV a short while ago, and today it's live. It's part of Jeff's Green Tip Tuesday series, bringing helpful, environmentally-friendly tidbits to viewers every week. The Green Tip answers the question, "Why should I grow heirloom seeds?" Check it out below: For more information on growing heirloom seeds, here are some previous blog posts to help guide you: Seed Libraries: Check it Out! Seed Catalog…
In the quest for self-reliance, seed saving plays a big part. After all, in a "zombie apocalypse" situation you wouldn't be able to run to the store to buy seeds for your garden. You would need to produce your own supply. This is where a seed library comes in very handy. A seed library is a local endeavor, when you and your fellow gardeners gather seeds and share them in an orderly fashion. Seeds are catalogued and counted and made…
Gardenerd is happy to announce the addition of video to our arsenal of way to deliver tips and tidbits to you, our wonderful readers. Over the next 10 weeks, we'll be posting a new helpful video each week to get you growing this season. This week: Bed Prep for Fall and Spring Gardening. It's simple and easy to do, but very important for gardening success. Learn how to get your beds ready for your next crop. https://youtu.be/0QYxh46kvCM Tune in each…
It's harvest time, and while most of the harvest is abundant (corn, peppers, beans, eggplant), there were some smaller harvests--including the world's smallest watermelon. Let's not call it "disappointing" but rather a celebration of underwhelm. We planted baby watermelons (okay, so there's a genetic head start on "small" right there) late in the season, following a garlic harvest as we often do, in late June or July. Plants took off and did very well setting fruit, but at some point…
A great question came in from a curious gardenerd this week: "Just started composting! I have a composting tumbler in my yard as there are many animals I would need to keep out of a pile eg. deer raccoons, etc. I have a separate bin where I plan to collect autumn leaves to have available for adding to the composter with the green material. Is this acceptable? I have read elsewhere that it's better not to use dead leaves as…
I had the pleasure of taking a biodynamic apiculture class with Michael Thiele of Gaia Bees this past weekend. WOW. Talk about taking a different approach. Michael does not use smoke, doesn't wear a protective suit, and doesn't use conventional Langstroth hives to house bees. What he had to share was an entire day filled with alternatives to modern beekeeping. Just as with biodynamic farming/gardening, Michael guided the participants to view bees, the colony, the hive, and their entire process…
Today we have a guest post from Nancy Parker of eNannySource.com, a site that makes it as easy as possible for caregivers to sign up and find work. In addition, she spends quite a bit of her time writing freelance. Take it away, Nancy. We all love to reuse things and reduce waste, but some things still wind up in the trash. Items like eggshells often do, but what if you could use them in your garden instead? From handy…