Year Of The Home Garden :: Home and Garden

Year Of The Home Garden
by author Rhody Lake

Howard-Yana Shapiro, PhD, vice-president of agriculture for Seeds of Change, the largest certified organic seed company in the United States, says, "The key to the future of the world lies in gardening."

Gardening is already the leading leisure-time activity in the world. It beats soccer, football, tennis and golf. This is because gardening combines the two most important ingredients for the well-being of body and soul: food and flowers!

Gardens provide food. They give soul satisfaction. They put you in touch with other gardeners–they create community, and that’s where human beings thrive best. In the last few years, there has been a revival of "common ground" for raising family crops, just like in the old days. Plots of land are donated by civic authorities and draw people out of their condos and basement suites to grow on communal allotments. This is a chance to rub elbows with experts. It could also bring new awareness regarding the future of your food and your own environment!

Dr. Shapiro’s warning is actually an answer to the continued threat of modern agricultural issues such as genetic engineering of food crops, overuse of pesticides, international restrictions on herbs and the necessity of organic seeds. Accordingly, alive has declared 2003 the year of the home garden!

Right now, you are probably looking at either a frozen and snowbound landscape or a deluge of January rain. Be encouraged! This is the time to plot your planting. January is the month when gardeners send for seed catalogues, borrow books from the library and dream their garden into reality.

If you live in a house with a large lawn, the first move is to mentally give up some of that grass. If your lawn is small, give up all of it and save yourself all that mowing.

Consider your soil. Is it sandy, clay or–every gardener’s dream–sandy loam? Get it tested at your garden store. If need be, you’ll have to learn how to enrich your soil with organic matter. Chemicals don’t cut it. They give your plants an initial growth spurt but destroy the microbes in the soil. Learn which plants grow best in your area, which like sun and/or shade and when and what to plant. Gardening is both fun and hard work. It takes you out of the armchair in front of your TV and gets you active! The most important first step, though, is the decision to do it.

Even if you only have an apartment with a balcony, turn that balcony into a potted garden. If you just have a window box or sill, this is the year to grow a tub of tomatoes, a pot of basil or a planter of leeks. Plan to turn over the sunny side of your kitchen or living space to an indoor garden. And start now. Stock up on terracotta pots and planters, pails, boxes, milk cartons and plastic bags. Get creative.

This monthly column will encourage you to participate in increased health and longevity in a sharing community of enlightened gardeners. Seriously!

Seedy Business

Many commercial seed companies are owned by large, multinational chemical companies such as Monsanto, Bayer, Upjohn, Shell Oil, Cargill, Ciba-Geigy and Dupont. Commercial seeds are doused with chemicals before they get to you in those tiny packets. Their parent plants have been chemicalized, too. And they’re hybrid varieties. Hybrid seeds are crossed species that have been engineered by plant breeders. They are not fertile, so they will not germinate.

Begin with organically raised seeds of open-pollinated varieties, if possible. "Open-pollinated" means natural insect or wind-driven pollination of the flower. This gives you a sturdier plant from a standard variety and the opportunity to save your fertile seed for next year, which is highly recommended. Open-pollinated seeds produce plants that are more resistant to pests, and you save money by not buying expensive seed every year.

Organic Seed Companies

West Coast Seeds Ltd.
Box 8445
206 - 8475 Ontario St.
Vancouver, BC V5X 3E8
Phone: 604-482-8800
E-mail: info@westcoastseeds.com

Terra Edibles
Box 164
Foxboro, ON K0K 2B0
Phone: 613-968-8238
E-mail: karyn@magma.ca

William Dam Seeds
Box 8400
Dundad, ON L9H 6M1
Phone: 905-628-6641
E-mail: willdam@sympatico.ca

Salt Spring Seeds
Box 33
Ganges, BC V0S 1E0
Phone: 250-537-5269

Planting Seeds Project
1045 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC V5L 3X1
Phone: 604-255-2326

Rhody Lake is a freelance researcher andjournalist, and former editor of alive.

Source: alive #243, January 2003

Mulch Time!
With the excitement of Christmas dying down, the avid gardener gazes out the window at the wintry scene, yearning for spring to arrive so he can get his hands in the dirt. Don't despair! There is a gardening chore that can be done at this time of year.

Indoor Winter Gardening
During the winter months, maintaining indoor plants can be as rewarding as outdoor gardening. The following are some rules to observe to help keep your houseplants healthy. Reduce fertilization. During the cooler temperatures and shorter days of the winter months, the growth rate of most houseplants slows.

Watching Weeds Grow
Weeds are an index of what is wrong, and sometimes what is right, with the soil. Or at least with the fertility program. In every field on every farm there are different soil types and each has a potential for producing certain weeds.

Take Back Control
Open Letter To: Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister Right Honourable Joe Clark, Conservative Leader Federal Opposition Leader, Mr Stockwell Day, Canadian Alliance Bloc Québécois Leader, Mr.

Prepare for Your Garden Now!
There's nothing more enjoyable for a gardener in January than curling up on the sofa with a hot beverage and perusing nursery catalogue.

Growing Winter Greens
Long before the first crops are available from local farms and gardens, many people are longing for fresh produce and it's possible, even in the depths of winter--right from your own kitchen counter! Sprouts..

Natural Gas Crisis
An important part of gardening is getting to know your soil type and how to maximize it. Soil consists of 50 per cent mineral solids (clay, silt, sand) and 50 per cent water, air and organic matter. A good mixture provides a well-structured soil.Clay soil is dense.

Worm Power Composting Made Easy
"Worms make great pets. They're quiet and all they do is eat and reproduce. In fact, they eat their own body weight in food waste every day. Worms are a wonderful symbol of the power of one.

Guerrilla Gardening
Gardeners are a resourceful and determined lot. Even with a small plot of soil, a patio, balcony or windowsill, you can create a tiny garden that will bring you beauty and food.

Companion Planting
When we fall in love, the phenomenon is referred to as "chemistry". So it is in the plant world. "Allelochemics" is a field of ecology that researches transmission of powerful chemical substances between plant species. Plant organisms "connect" and "communicate" either good vibes or bad.

Short On Gardening Space?
You want a garden, but your space is limited: a patio, balcony, window box, windowsill, hanging basket or just indoor pot.

An Appetite for Flowers
Pick the blossoms from the stems, removing the parts that contain the pollen. Rinse them in cold water, remove the petals, and pat dry.Snip chive blossoms into your favourite vinaigrette recipe for added punch to your salads and marinades..

Summer Dreams
When winter keeps me out of the garden, I seek refuge inside, perusing the latest gardening books and dreaming of the upcoming gardening season.

The Gardener's Gold Rush
Many Canadian municipalities are expanding their organic waste diversion programs. Compost-savvy plant lovers are choosing instead to hang on to their humus, treasuring the properties of this rich, black soil.

Earthly Delights
The most important gardening tool is the human body. Proper body positioning, well-designed gardening gloves and tools, along with frequent rest breaks are the keys to healthy gardening.

Cultivating Beauty
We're surrounded by the pinks, yellows, and fragrant purples of summertime - and much of this comes courtesy of a green thumb. Unfortunately, that thumb might eventually sport a painful and unsightly callus or two.

The Art of Wild Harvesting
Individually, many of us have little ongoing direct experience with plant life. However, big business is quickly recognizing the huge profit potential in selling herbal medicine. At the very least we may say that herbal medicine is re-emerging as people discover its many positive qualities.

Starting Your Own Seeds
March is finally here, the month to start your own seedlings! Most seeds should not be started earlier as they will grow tall and lanky and may not survive. Read each seed packet to find when the best time is to start the seeds. The packets will also advise if the plant does not transplant well

Dazzle With Basil
Carnadians love basil for its tantalizing, pungent scent and flavor. To the ancient Greeks and Romans, the herb was a symbol of malice and lunacy. In other cultures the herb is associated with love rituals.

Prepare Your Soil Organically
Soil consists of 50 percent mineral solids (clay, silt and sand) and 50 percent water, air and organic matter. A good mixture of clay, silt and sand provides a well-structured soil. Clay soil is a dense soil; although quite fertile, it drains poorly and can turn to near concrete when dry.

Take Some Thyme
Thyme grows well in most climates and prefers a light, sandy, well-drained, dry soil in full sun. It is one of the easiest herbs to grow in containers on an apartment balcony, but is quite susceptible to root rot and fungal disease if grown in soil that is too moist or heavy.

Tasty Tubers
Why bother growing potatoes when they are so cheap at the supermarket and they store so well? The best reason is that by harvesting potatoes from your own garden you safeguard your health. Potatoes may cany residues of any number of pesticides. Another reason is that many potatoes now being sold are genetically engineered to produce a soil bacteria that kills pests such as the Colorado Potato Beetle.

The Dirt on Soil
An important part of gardening is getting to know your soil type and how to maximize it. Soil consists of 50 percent mineral solids (clay, silt, sand) and 50 percent water, air and organic matter. A good mixture provides a well-structured soil.

Life in the Great Indoors
Winter can be a challenging time for the plants in our homes. Dry air, temperature fluctuations, and reduced lighting send some indoor plants into a state of semi-dormancy. Others thrive in winter's feeble light, adding vibrancy to the indoor landscape while purifying the air in our homes.

From Garbage to Gold
When bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects break down organic material in the presence of oxygen, the result is compost. Also known as black gold, compost is the perfect ingredient for any soil. It lightens heavy clay and helps absorb moisture in even the sandiest of soils.

Say Goodbye to Unwanted Garden Guests
Gardeners need a supply of remedies in case unwelcome guests get out of hand. Before heading off to the garden centre, though, look to your pantry for solutions. Organic gardeners have long used home-made preparations to ward off unwanted insects and diseases.

Pulp Mill Sludge
For most of us, the thought of eating food grown in pulp sludge is unappetizing. But the BC Liberal government and the pulp and paper industry have teamed up to push new regulations that will allow the use of pulp mill sludge, fly ash, and mill waste water to be used as a "soil enhancement product.

Fruitful Fertilizers
Organic fertilizers have low solubility and rely on micro-organisms and organic-matter acids to release their nutrients. They actually activate microbial life, and their nutrients become available when the plants need them. Working slowly, organic fertilizers encourage long-term fertility rather than the immediate fertility that synthetic fertilizers provide.

Warming up means burning more

Tend your garden and your bones

To walk or to jog?

Digging a Deeper Hole

Fall Into Composting

Preparing Your Garden for the Growing Season
Preparing your garden in spring doesn't have to be complicated. Enjoy a sunny afternoon by donning your gardening gloves and taking these easy, basic steps for gardens big or small, perennial or vegetable. Your first step is to clear the clutter.

Homegrown Savoury and Sweet
In spring and summer, we enjoy the wealth of herbal diversity at our local produce market. Planting our own herbal gardens will not only provide us with fresh fodder for our summer meals but will also bless our home with aromatic scents.

Flourishing Florals
A tisket, a tasket, a beautiful hanging basket. Find these at your local nursery selling for top dollar or, with a little patience and imagination, you can create a fantastic arrangement of colours and scents to suit your garden decor.

Tilling Togetherness
Hot town! It's time to shake off the dust, bust out of your tiny-but-affordable apartment, and join the steamy chaos of summer in the city!

Going with the Flow
Watering is one of my least favourite garden chores. In the heat of summer, it is an interminable task, requiring hours of dedication and returning nothing but a day's reprieve from the constant threat of desertification.

September Spectacular
As the blooms of early summer fade, gardeners stave off shorter days and evening chills with warm floral displays. It can be the showiest time of year-when temperatures are less intense and the air is crisper.

Gardening By the Moon
The idea of gardening by the moon may elicit images of dancing naked around your blueberry bushes, asking goddesses for special favours. In fact, lunar gardening is actually based upon the moon's gravitational effect on the flow of moisture in soil and plants.

Grooming Your Grounds
Natural lawn care is not simply a choice between good and bad gardening products. It is a philosophical shift to a new relationship with your lawn, working with, rather than against, the ecosystem of your garden.

Fall Garden Maintenance
As the days get shorter and the air develops a chillier nip, why do all the work yourself? Let Mother Nature help you take care of your garden.

The Organic Picnic
Eating alfresco surrounded by nature makes us realize how much we need to take care of our precious planet. We can start by packing an organic picnic—its positive impact can go much further than just the foods we choose.