Good, Safe Choices for Raised Beds
- On April 03, 2012
- By Meleah
- In Annuals, Container Gardening, Herbs, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Soil, Veggies
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Yep, you’re right. That is a galvanized cattle trough and my husband Mike and I used one like this to create our first raised-bed garden in the backyard last weekend.
People often ask me what they can use to make raised beds and these galvanized troughs are the first thing that come to mind. Relatively inexpensive ($89 for a 4′ x 2′ x 2′ tank) and durable, livestock tanks make it possible for gardeners to create raised beds quickly and easily.
We got ours because we’d like to grow vegetables and herbs free from pee—and worse—and our lie that the backyard kitchen garden has an electrified fence around it no longer fools our dog, Lily. Troughs are also a great solution if you’ve got poor soil and you don’t want to have to amend a large area. Wall-to-wall cement outside your apartment? No problem. Plop a galvanized tank down, drill some holes in the bottom and you’ve got yourself a garden.
Read More»Is It Safe To Use Rain Barrel Water on Edibles?
- On March 13, 2012
- By Meleah
- In Annuals, Container Gardening, Herbs, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Soil, Veggies
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This past weekend I did a couple of presentations at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum that had nothing to do with growing edible plants. And yet, on the breaks in between the talks, the number one thing everyone asked me about was how to grow something at home that they could eat.
Washing my hands in the bathroom, snarfing a quick sandwich next to my car in the parking lot, struggling to get my PowerPoint to work — it didn’t matter where I was or what I was doing, people really wanted to know things about growing food.
I honestly lost count of how many times I was asked whether it was safe to use water from rain barrels on edibles. Time after time, though, I told people the same thing: I wouldn’t do it. Though there are few studies on what’s in the water inside rain barrels, research has shown that it often contains chemicals from roof runoff and air pollution, as well as bird poo, mold, fungi and other stuff that sounds unappetizing at the very least.
Read More»Urban Farm Co-Op
- On February 17, 2012
- By Meleah
- In Organic Gardening, Uncategorized, Veggies
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Karla at Bossy Acres' Minneapolis headquarters
There are people who dream about what they would like to do with their lives in a perfect world. And there are people who just go ahead and do whatever it is they’re dreaming about, knowing that the world will never be perfect so they’d better just go for it. Karla Pankow is in the latter group. And if you’ve ever met her, you know that’s not surprising. As hooky as it sounds, if positive energy could take human form, it would be Karla.
Not long ago, Karla was willing herself up out of bed every morning to go to work as a pharmaceutical sales rep. After seven years, she was beyond disillusioned with the profession and thinking about how to escape. And then it happened. She was laid off in the midst of yet another company restructuring. Today, less than two years later, Karla and her partner, Elizabeth Millard (a longtime writer friend of mine), are running a small organic farm they named Bossy Acres.
I wrote about Bossy Acres, and their recent move into the greenhouses of Grow! Twin Cities in this week’s issue of the online magazine, The Line. Grow! Twin Cities doesn’t have a website up yet or I’d post the link. But they do have a Facebook page if you’d like to follow what they’re up to.
Read More»The Heirloom Life Gardener
If you don’t already grow your own food, the gorgeous photos in this book alone will make you want to. But what I enjoyed most about The Heirloom Life Gardener was Jere Gettle’s wise, warm voice, which made this book read like a conversation with a longtime gardener friend who knows way, way more about seeds than I ever will.
Dubbed “the Indiana Jones of Seeds” by New York Times Magazine, Gettle is well known in organic gardening circles for running the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company with his wife Emilee.
Their book, written with Meghan Sutherland, offers a lot of great hands-on advice for growing 50 different heirloom vegetables, as well as tips for disease control and seed saving. (Check out page 203 for great visuals on saving tomato seeds.) But there are also a lot of fascinating stories about things like how plants got their names, how certain vegetables became popular and, of course, how Jere developed his passion for heirloom seeds.
Read More»Tips for freezing your garden harvest
- On September 22, 2010
- By Meleah
- In Veggies
- 0
When I wrote something on this topic last year about this time, I got a lot of questions from readers about different preservation methods. That’s why, this year, I’m focusing my column on freezing techniques. Of course, you’re always welcome to email me with any questions you have, too.
Freezing is one of the easiest ways to preserve herbs, vegetables and fruit. And though you hear talk to the contrary, most will keep well in the freezer for many months. The best time to harvest is in the morning because that’s when stems and leaves are in their best shape — not shriveled or dried out from the hot sun. Do your harvesting on the same day you’re going to freeze things because the longer fresh edibles sit on the counter, the less fresh they’ll taste when it comes time to use them.
Read More»Start Veggies Early With Black Plastic
- On February 09, 2010
- By Meleah
- In Veggies
- 0
Normally I would deter people from rolling out black plastic in the garden for any reason. But the truth is, black plastic sure comes in handy when you want to get heat-loving crops in the ground a little early. You can plant tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, and eggplants about three weeks to a month early when you warm the ground with black plastic sheeting.
Before you put plastic down, lay down some soaker hoses or drip irrigation lines, since overhead water won’t penetrate the material. Roll out and stretch the plastic before securing it with stakes or with a few shovelfuls of soil all along the edges. Use your fingers to poke holes for your plants. After the seedlings are in place, spread some soil over the plastic at each plant’s base to keep the plastic from ballooning up over the stems and leaves.
As the weather warms up, the plastic will retain the day’s heat and help keep the soil warm on cool spring nights. Remove the plastic once temps have warmed up so you won’t damage plant roots with high heat.
