Gardening

Achieving a Sustainable Lawn

Most of us value our lawns for their various environmental, recreational and aesthetic benefits. However, when we mismanage or neglect our lawns we diminish or destroy these benefits. As it happens, with a few maintenance and schedule adjustments, most every homeowner ought to be able to reduce their lawn care labor without compromising the health of their lawn. Read ahead for some tips to help...

Backyard Composting

Composting is the microbial process whereby organic yard wastes are converted into to a highly desirable, organic, soil-like material. Gardeners have used compost for centuries to increase soil organic matter, improve soil physical properties, and supply some of the essential nutrients for plant growth. Compost also makes an excellent mulch for use in shrub borders, and flower and vegetable...

Building Your Own Rainbarrel

Many folks don't realize that pollutants exist in our yards, on our roofs and in our streets. Rainbarrel use keeps storm water from washing these pollutants into the streets and then into the nearest lake and river: our streets are truly our streams. Rainbarrel use and keeping storm water on-site, also allows the aquifer (the water in our soil) to recharge. Additionally, for those who want water...

Choosing a Rain Catchment System

Anything you can do to make your environmental footprint a little smaller on this earth is always exciting. Many countries lack a consistent source of water or have a reliable source of water that is too expensive to utilize. So far in Minnesota, many of us have been fortunate enough to have a consistently clean, dependable, and safe source of potable water coming right from the tap.

Community Gardens

There is little agreement about the definition of a community garden, probably because the most important goal of such places is to create a healthy community rather than a healthy crop of flowers, vegetables or fruit trees. Betsy Johnson of Garden Futures in Boston defines them this way: Community Gardens are community spaces that are communally cultivated and cared for; these spaces may consist...

Community Gardens: Deep Rooted in Community

A community garden is any space where plants are grown and maintained by a community to meet the needs of that community. It can serve many congruent purposes, often with community building being a central need. They can be designed for any or all of four major purposes: food production, neighborhood beautification, environmental education and horticultural therapy.

Companion Planting: So Happy Together!

Many people think of organic gardening as growing without the use of pesticides or herbicides. This is obviously a fundamental part of organics, however, what many do not understand is that it is more than simply a switch from conventional chemicals to OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) approved materials. Organic gardening is composed of numerous aspects that make up a whole...

Flower Power

As you might expect, the most important part of a beautiful, lasting bouquet is healthy flowers. Annuals are inexpensive when purchased in packs in the spring. An even more affordable option is to start a few from seed in the spring. A few good choices that hold up well are: zinnias, cosmos and dahlias. Of course, perennials such as roses, peonies, Queen Anne's lace, coneflower and black-eyed...

Gardening Mini Manual

Home flower and vegetable gardening can be a fascinating and rewarding activity involving the whole family. There is hardly anything more rewarding than walking out to your gardens and harvesting fresh vegetables for your stir fry and cutting a few stems of flowers to decorate the dinner table.

Gardening Mini-Manual

Home flower and vegetable gardening can be a fascinating and rewarding hobby involving the whole family. Produce grown in the home vegetable garden is fresher and may have a better nutrient content than those same items available in the market. There is hardly anything more rewarding that walking out to the flower garden and cutting a few stems of flowers that will decorate the dinner table or...

Gardening with Wildflowers and Other Native Plants

Over the last 150 years many midwestern tallgrass prairies and natural woodlands have been converted to residential housing, agricultural fields, municipalities, shopping centers, parking lots, roads and highways. In the process, this development has consumed large areas of natural plant and animal habitat. In an attempt to restore some of what's been lost, many gardeners have increased the...

Gardens for Winter Beauty

If you think about it, since many plants wither in cold temperatures, winter is largely about silhouettes against the snow. While it's fine to cut back your perennials in the fall, I find that my garden looks much more interesting if I leave sturdy things like ornamental grasses, Echinacea and Black-eyed Susans standing until spring.

Green Thumb or Blue Thumb?

There are many ways to think about how to keep our environment healthy in our communities and our yards.

Green Your Holiday Tree

Buying a fresh-cut holiday tree that is grown sustainably continues to be a better choice than a buying a plastic one, but have you considered a living tree? The display of a living holiday tree means making the most of the season, because the tree stays with you or a loved one after the holidays. A living tree can be a beautiful part of a special holiday, but you need to prepare ahead of time to...

Grow Fruit in Minnesota

The term "permaculture" encompasses many concepts surrounding more sustainable lifestyles and cultures. I use the term narrowly in this article to speak specifically about the inclusion of fruiting trees and shrubs into city, and especially residential, landscapes. The notion is that our yards and other open urban spaces can be home to trees and shrubs that provide all the environmental and...

Grow Your Own Food; Grow Your Own Revolution

Growing your own food is such a simple idea. It makes sense that people should try to be more self-sufficient, self-sustaining and simplistic in this multi-national, corporate owned, complex world. And what could be simpler than having a garden?

Growing Edibles Indoors

If you like to cook, there's really nothing like walking out into the garden and snipping a bit of fresh basil and oregano to add to your spaghetti sauce. But even if your gardening space is limited to a few sunny window ledges, there are still plenty of tasty things you can grow indoors.

Houseplant Health Care

Even though many of our favorite indoor plants originate in more tropical areas of the world, most are fairly adaptable to indoor environments. Houseplants provide living spaces with greenery and other colors, and they provide opportunities to learn to care for plant life and nurture it as it grows. Green thumb or no, a houseplant can be easy to care for with a bit of attention and care....

Houseplant Health Care Basics

Even though many of our favorite indoor plants originate in tropical areas of the world, most are fairly adaptable to indoor environments. Houseplants provide living spaces with greenery and other colors, and opportunities to learn about plant care and growth. A study performed by NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America during the late 1980s, concluded that common houseplants...

Integrated Pest Management (IPM): Garden Insect and Disease Control

Over the past couple of decades there has been ever-increasing scrutiny of the products utilized for controlling pests in our home yards and gardens. That scrutiny is largely based on our growing safety concerns regarding those products, especially pesticides, to adversely impact human, animal and environmental health. In addition, there is increasing disappointment among homeowners and...

Introduction to Worm Composting (Vermiculture)

Domestic vermicomposting is the art of using captive earthworms to transform kitchen waste into earthworm castings (aka poop). Those in the know often refer to earthworm castings as "black gold". Vermicompost is extremely lively; it contains more than 100 times as many beneficial bacteria and fungi as can be found in the surrounding soil. It also contains plant growth factors and B vitamins, as...

Is Your Garden Soil Leaded?

If you are planning to start a vegetable garden or if you have one already, you may be wondering what's in your soil and is it healthy enough to grow food in it? The University of Minnesota (UMN) Soil Testing Laboratory offers tests for lead as well as organic matter, pH, phosphorus, potassium, and more.

Little Boxes to Start Your Garden Early

There is a significant lag between the annual amount of sunlight we receive and the temperature we experience. Mid-March gets as much sun as mid-September but the temperature difference is at least 30°F. Growers can get a jump on the season by taking advantage of this discrepancy by constructing small enclosures known as cold frames which trap the heat and also insulate new plants.

Mowing the Lawn with Goats and Other Animals

Cutting the grass not only takes time and effort but it can also significantly impact the environment, depending on the type of lawn mower you currently use. An easier option, for those that can, would be to invest in a sturdy fence and let animals "mow" the grass for you!

Native Prairie Plant List

Here is a list of native prairie plants that would be appropriate for most urban gardens in the Minneapolis area. The key is to buy plants that are gathered from local seed sources. You can get a prairie in a can at Menard's that includes little bluestem, or an aster at Bachman's, but these plants are from another part of the Midwest and adapted in those particular conditions. If you're going to...

Natural Lawn and Garden Care

Most of us enjoy and appreciate a nice-looking yard, but lawns do more than just look good. They absorb and hold water, helping to reduce storm runoff and protecting water quality. Lawn care, however, can create environmental problems. One of the biggest problems comes from overuse or inattentive use of fertilizers with high phosphorus and nitrogen content that can pollute nearby lakes, streams,...

Organic Gardening is Easy

Gardening is not an exact science and nature is certainly not organized. Forests do not grow with neat rows of trees spaced at exact distances, lined with bushes and shrubs and colorful patches of wildflowers. However, without human interruption, Mother Nature shapes the landscape in a way where everything-plant, insect and animal-has a purpose. That is why successful organic gardening requires...

Organic Lawn Care

Lawns originated in the Middle Ages, around castles, as a place for defensive and community activities like archery practice and grazing sheep (not recommended simultaneously!). Nowadays every home is a castle; unfortunately these village greens do not come with a mob of peasants to do the work. That's why we've become dependent on chemicals; it's perceived as being much easier! The information...

Organic Lawn Care

Lawns originated in the Middle Ages, around castles, as a place for defensive and community activities like archery practice and grazing sheep (not recommended simultaneously). Nowadays, every home is a castle. Unfortunately, these village greens do not come with a mob of peasants to do the work.

Organic Meets Thrifty: TIPS FOR USING SCRAPS TO FERTILIZE YOUR GARDEN AND REPEL PESTS

If you're reading this, I imagine you're somebody whose mind is already open to trying things that others might find kind of, well, strange. But there's a limit to such openness of mind. My limit is hair. Rest assured, I'm not going to suggest you sprinkle your garden with your hair or your pets' hair. Because no matter how beneficial hair's minerals may be for the soil, or how well the smell of...
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