3 Easy Ways to Extend Your Vegetable Growing Season

If you live in an area with distinct seasons, there are natural limitations to when you can grow vegetables outdoors. In the spring, you have to wait until the threat of frost has passed and soil temperatures reach acceptable levels. Then, before you know it, shorter days and cooler temps will return to signal the end of your outdoor growing season. Unfortunately, we've already reached this season here in Ohio.... :-( 

Of course, it’s difficult to fight Mother Nature - especially if you hope to win. However, if you learn to work within the boundaries she sets, you can find successful ways to extend your vegetable growing season.

Here are Three Easy Ways to Extend Your Vegetable Growing Season

While you can’t prevent late spring frosts or early blasts of winter, you can mitigate much of the damage caused by these natural events. You simply have to be prepared to provide adequate protection for your tender plants when the need arises.

1. Mulch. Adding a heavy layer of mulch is the easiest way to provide protection for your plants. Mulching around your plants provides a layer of insulation for the soil when temperatures dip too low. It will also help hold in moisture as temperatures rise so you won’t have to water as much.

There are many types of mulch available, including shredded leaves, wood chips, grass clippings, straw and compost. Whatever type of mulch you choose for your food growing area, check to ensure it is free of chemical pesticides and herbicides. For example, if you use a lawn service or chemical treatments to keep your lawn green and free of weeds, you wouldn’t want to use your lawn clippings on your vegetable garden.

A simple coldframe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Cold Frames. Cold frames are another great way to extend your vegetable-growing season. A cold frame is simply a four-sided structure with a glass or plastic lid on top. They are used to trap in heat from the sun to keep plants warm when temperatures drop.

Cold frames are relatively easy to build. Start by creating a rectangular or square structure out of wood and securing an old glass window or door on top with hinges on one side. This will keep the top from blowing off in the wind and will make it easy to open and shut as you add and remove plants. Potted plants and seedlings can then be placed inside to harden them off or help them survive unexpected dips in temperature. (Just be sure to vent it or lift the lid if the temperature rises outside, so you don't cook your plants!)

In a pinch, you can create a makeshift cold frame with several bales of straw and an old glass window or door panel. Simply arrange the bales in a rectangle, while leaving the interior empty to house your plants. Top with a window or glass-paneled door and securely weigh it down on both ends so it doesn’t fly off in high winds. 

If neither of these options appeal to you, you can always buy a ready-made version at your local garden center or online. You’ll pay more for this option, but won’t have to go through the hassle of finding materials or investing the time to build it yourself.

3. Build a Greenhouse. For many gardeners, a greenhouse is the ultimate gardening dream. How great would it be to have a permanent year-round space to nurture and grow your favorite plants? As an added bonus, a well-designed greenhouse can serve as a beautiful focal point for your property, as well.

Unfortunately, hiring a contractor or purchasing a high-end kit to build a permanent greenhouse can get pretty expensive. Plus, you need to pay to heat the structure part of the year in colder climates. If you rent or have limited outdoor space, a permanent greenhouse may not be a viable option.

However, you can still enjoy many of the benefits a greenhouse offers without the high price tag or long-term commitment. There are a number of very affordable and portable mini-greenhouses available that are lightweight and have a small footprint. These options take advantage of vertical space by providing four or five substantial shelves to house your plants.

With a little planning, these three methods can extend your vegetable growing season. Once you get started, you may be surprised by how much more productive your gardening efforts become!

Succession Planting - Grow More Vegetables in Less Space

If you have a small amount of space to plant a vegetable garden, you are probably eager to get the most out of it. Succession planting is a great way to accomplish this. This practice involves growing the same or complementary crops in the same spot continuously throughout the season in order to maximize the yield a garden can produce. In other words, succession planting combines the efficient use of space and timing to obtain better results. 

Companion planting of carrots and onions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many novice gardeners mistakenly believe that planting and sowing seeds is a one-and-done process that only happens at the beginning of the growing season. So, they head out to the garden each spring, get some plants and seeds in the ground… and wait for the magic to happen.

Unfortunately, following this one-off approach to planting is almost guaranteed to cause many peaks and valleys in what can be harvested throughout the season. If you want your garden to produce an abundant supply of fresh produce all season long, you need to plan ahead for it.

Plan Ahead for Successful Succession Planting 

To create a successful succession-planting plan for your garden, you need to take a number of variables into account. For example, you’ll want to consider how long each crop takes to reach maturity, how long it produces once mature, and which crops can be harmoniously planted in the same space at different times throughout the season.

Although the number of variables involved in succession planting may seem a little intimidating at first, don’t let that discourage you. It may take some practice, but you can definitely get the hang of it. If you are just starting out, choose only one or two beds or containers to practice in your first year. Also, take detailed notes in your garden journal throughout the growing season so you know what worked - and what didn’t - when next season rolls around.

Getting Started with Succession Planting

Before you start digging in the dirt, you’ll want to have a good idea of what you plan to grow. Start by making a list of which plants you want to grow in your succession planting area. As you are compiling this list, make sure you note the correct variety of each plant, because there is a lot of diversity among different varieties of the same plant species.

Then, next to each plant variety on your list, note how long that particular plant takes to reach maturity, is it heat or cold tolerant, how many hours of sunlight it needs each day, what type of soil it prefers, and its spacing requirements. The back of seed packets and garden catalogs are great starting points for this exercise.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Once you know what you’d like to grow in your selected space, decide if you want to focus on growing the same crop throughout the season or if you want to try inter-planting more than one variety. Lettuce and herbs like basil and cilantro are great for repeated sowing all season long. However, if you want to try more than one crop, try to find a couple of recommended companion plants for your favorite choices.

If you need more information on companion planting, there are tons of great resources and books available on this topic.  The best ones provide a lot of great information to help in your planning process.  Online resources are nice, but it’s always good to have a hard copy on hand for future reference. (Click the "companion planting" tag below this post for more articles on this topic - and check out the suggestions below for some hard-copy resources.)

Although succession planting may seem complicated at first, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can make it work for you. By applying the principles of succession planting to your own backyard garden, you’ll soon be growing more fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs throughout the season than you ever thought possible.

Recommended Resources for Succession & Companion Planting:
   

How to Decide When to Plant Vegetables in Your Area

Figuring out when to plant vegetables in your area requires a little detective work. In addition to your geographic location, you’ll need to consider a few other variables, as well. For example, the type of vegetables you plan to grow and how you intend to plant them (seedlings, transplants or seeds) will factor into when you should get your crops in the ground, as well.

If you live in an area with distinct seasons, your vegetable growing season will fall loosely between your anticipated frost-free date in the spring and the first hard frost in the fall. Unless you have a crystal ball, it is next to impossible to predict these dates with absolute certainty. 

Fortunately, there are some valuable online resources you can check for general guidelines. A quick online search for “frost-free date” + your geographic area should give you a good idea of when it might be safe to plant in your region.

Starting seeds indoors for an earlier start. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Of course, the published frost-free date for your area doesn’t take into account unexpected late season snow storms or unseasonably cold temperatures. However, if you wait until after the expected frost-free date for your area AND for the daytime soil temperature to reach 65 degrees or warmer, you should be in good shape. If you want to warm up your soil faster, you can cover your planting beds with dark plastic sheets for several weeks prior to planting.

As you develop your garden planting timeline, think of these two important dates as virtual “bookends” around your prime vegetable growing season. However, if you start seeds indoors or protect your plants from cold temperatures with mulch, cold frames, row covers or mini-hoop houses, you can extend your growing season even further. 

Don’t Ignore “Days to Maturity” for Your Selected Plants

As you’re deciding when to plant vegetables in your garden, pay close attention the “days to maturity” information noted on the seed packages or plant markers for the vegetables you’ve selected. This number, which is often expressed as a range of days, tells you how long it will take until that plant is ready to harvest.

Lettuce in raised beds with hoops (Photo credit: Gardening in a Minute)

This is important to know because some vegetables reach maturity much faster than others. For example, radishes, lettuce and baby carrots may be ready for harvest just 30 days after they are sown as seeds. On the other hand, some pumpkin varieties can take a full 120 – 160 days before they reach maturity. 

The “days to maturity” for a particular vegetable variety gives you an idea of how early you need to get that plant into the ground if you want it to reach maturity before your first hard frost date. 

It also tells you how late in the season you can plant certain crops. For example, you can’t wait until late summer in northern climates to plant pumpkins seeds that require 160 days to mature. On the other hand, you can plant fast-growing lettuce varieties with confidence until 30 days or so before your expected last frost date.  

Learning when to plant vegetables in your area is worth the effort. Knowing when your prime growing season begins and ends – and how you can get the most out of it – will make you a much more successful food gardener. It will help you decide which vegetables to grow and how to help those varieties thrive in your garden.

We will be on vacation next week, so will not be posting, but be sure to check back the following week when we'll share 3 important tips that vegetable gardeners need to keep in mind for a successful organic gardening experience!  Have a Happy Memorial Day, and enjoy your beautiful early summer garden!

Video - Indoor Organic Vegetable Gardening Tips

Winter blues got you down? Get your spirits up with an indoor garden! This video rambles a bit, but it does give you some inspiring tips and ideas for growing beautiful organic veggies indoors throughout the winter. (Check out all the snow outside his window later in the video!) From shallots and garlic to tomatoes and more, there are a number of things you can grow inside in the winter, with just some sunny window space. You can also make your own lights quite cheaply as he demonstrates, if your plants need more.

Indoor organic vegetable growing TIPS!
The proof is in the results I guess. Well here we go with some results that I'm sure you'll enjoy. It's fun, entertaining and actually very useful info for growing organic vegetable plants indoors during the cold winter months. Hyacinth blooming in D...

Video - Preparing Your Garden for Winter - The Sustainable Way

Typically when you think of getting your garden ready for winter, you might think of removing all dead plants and vegetation, cutting things back, and composting them. But this video describes a slightly different process used by organic and sustainable gardeners, which works with the cycle of nature to allow your garden to do what it naturally does over the winter - and actually turns out to be less work for you! She describes some things you should do for your garden in the fall, and other things you really don't need to.

Save yourself some work this fall, and let your garden do it for you!

*How To Prepare Garden For Winter The Eco Friendly Way*
There are simple things you can do this fall and winter to take care of your garden and yard in a responsible and eco-friendly way. These easy tips for going green, will allow you to follow organic and...

Autumn Protection for Your Perennial Plants

As your garden comes to the end of its active growth and enters the fall season, you face a big cleanup to get things ready for planting when the weather warms up again. And probably even more important than that, some of your existing perennial plants will need to be protected through the winter and prepared for their new growing season in the spring. In fact, making the preparations that will protect your plants and help them survive until the following spring is absolutely paramount. You can combine this with cleaning up the rest of the garden, but if you do nothing else, at least you must get your more sensitive plants ready to survive the winter.

A cycad plant with its leaves tied for some protection in winter. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some of your small evergreens, for example, should be wrapped in burlap. Cedars and junipers, dwarf conifers, and other evergreens that are cold sensitive, like holly, need protection from the cold wind and potentially glaring sun of winter. The evergreens that stand upright can have their branches tied together with plastic netting, to make sure they don't break off if there's a lot of snow. The netting will provide this security but still give the plant some room to breathe. Remember also that evergreens need a very good watering just before the winter, because the dry air of winter can dehydrate them.

Roses, too, need to be guarded against the cold weather. They should have any remaining foliage stripped off, and all organic material removed from the soil around them. If they are tall bushes, their main canes should be cut back to perhaps two or three feet in height, and should be tied together in a bundle. These plants, too, can be wrapped in burlap, though in somewhat warmer climates, it might be enough just to add about eight to twelve inches of extra soil or compost around the base of the bush, depending how tall the plant is.

In very cold growing zones, climbing roses and other tender varieties are given even more protection, by being buried right in the ground. They are cut back and bundled as other roses are, with an extra length of twine loose at the top, and then a trench is dug in the soil beside the plants. It is loosened and the bush is gently tipped over until it's lying in the trench, which is then carefully filled in with the previously removed soil, leaving the loose twine exposed so the bush can be found again in the spring. After the soil is well watered, a foot-thick layer of leaves (or a bag full of leaves) is placed on the spot. This keeps the roses protected until April, when the leaves are removed and the plant is retrieved.

Mulched evergreen perennials in a shade garden. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

More general protection of plants that you need to overwinter in the garden can be provided by mulching. Put a layer about two inches thick around trees and shrubs, leaving perhaps an inch of clear space around the stems or trunks. Make the mulch from things like sawdust, peat moss, leaves, bark, or grass clippings. Once a month, through the winter, double check that there is moisture getting down to the soil underneath.

Of course it's important to get the garden cleaned up after a long summer of growing. However, it's even more important to make sure that the plants that will be with you again next summer are given a fighting chance for getting through the winter. Protect them properly, and when spring comes again, they'll be ready to serve as the basis for the new garden season.

Video - Building A No-Dig Garden Bed

Here is a short (2-minute) time-lapse video with instructions and demonstration of building a beautiful no-dig garden bed right on top of an old patch of lawn - no digging required! You can use other materials as well, but this video gives some examples of commonly used materials. You can substitute thick layers of newspaper for the cardboard, homemade compost for the manure, etc. No-dig gardening is great for new garden areas, and helps avoid some of the work usually required to make the soil habitable for your garden plants.

Check it out!

No dig garden construction
NB: The full video of the workshop that this video is based on can now be found here: www.youtube.com A quick video on the steps involved in constructing a no dig garden bed You do not have to follow the video specifically, you can use different mate...


Also a quick note - as the traditional growing season comes to an end, the gardens start to die down, and many gardeners hang up their trowels for the season, our blog becomes a bit quieter as well. This month we will be starting our winter schedule, so starting this week, we will only be posting twice a week through the colder months.

But do stay tuned! In the coming months we'll be sharing some great tips, articles, and resources, on everything from preparing your garden for the winter, to interesting tales and experiments in winter gardening (yes, I'm planning to attempt to grow throughout the winter in Ohio this year - I'll keep you posted on my results!), and of course, planning for the spring planting season - so don't go away! We're still here Tuesdays and Thursdays, bringing you organic and sustainable gardening news you can use.

A Few Tips On What to Plant In A Fall Garden

Well, I spotted a few yellow leaves this week.... Sad as it may be, it seems this summer is already drawing to a close (wow - that was fast!). But that doesn't mean gardening is already over! As autumn arrives and you look out the window into the yard, you may be thinking that that's pretty much it for your garden. All the vegetables have been harvested, the annuals have run their course, and it's time to wind things up. Dig up and toss the annuals, prepare the soil and some of the plants for next year, and then leave the garden alone for the next several months. All done.

Fall Planting in Progress (Photo credit: EatandLiveGreen)

However, that isn't necessarily the case. Your garden may, in fact, be far from done, and you can give it life for a few more weeks. It may come as a surprise, especially if you're a novice gardener, but there are actually some things you can plant in the autumn rather than in the spring, and some things that might even keep growing through the first frosts. Far from winding down all your garden activities, you can still be out there, planting, watering, and pruning to your heart's content.

Some flowers, like pansies, for example, actually prefer cooler weather. So in a way, you can bracket your entire growing year with pansies and the related violas, starting them early in the cool spring, and then planting more in the cool autumn. Certain types of impatiens plants also seem to do quite well as the hot summer gives way to cooler autumn temperatures. It's long been known, too, that ornamental (and edible!) kales and cabbages last long into the autumn, and mums are another very hardy flowering plant that you can use to brighten up the garden.

Root Vegetables (Photo credit: frank3.0)

Certain vegetables can also still be growing in the autumn, though they would have been planted a bit earlier in the season. In Zone 5 and further south, for example, you can plant root vegetables in August, to bring in a harvest before the first frost. This would include things like beets and turnips, and possibly green onions and shallots as well. So you can extend your harvest into the fall, even if you planted earlier than that.

You can also check for seed packets in early August, looking for vegetables that can be planted even later. You can ask the advice of the local garden center to be sure which ones work best for your Zone, but look for the ones that list the shortest growing season on the packet. For these vegetables, you would prepare the garden beds all over again, removing all dead and finished vegetation and spreading fresh mulch and compost so that some nutrients are restored to the soil. Some vegetables (including root vegetables like beets and carrots, and leafy greens like lettuce, mustard, collards, and kale) can even grow through the first early frosts and yield a harvest for you - some will even taste sweeter, as the cool weather brings out the sugars in the plants.

As you put some parts of your garden to bed for the autumn and winter, other parts can still be vital and growing, while still others can be planted afresh and begin a new growing season entirely. If you enjoy your gardening and really don't want to let it go yet, there are ways to extend the pleasure just a little longer. Bring in some mums and pansies and plant some root vegetables and greens, and let the gardening continue for several more weeks - or maybe even months!  (And if you want to try gardening year-round - which I am trying this year for the first time myself - see Eliot Coleman's excellent book, The Four-Season Harvest.)

 

Extending the Life of Your Summer Garden

Well, my potato plants are dying down, and I'm seeing some yellow leaves in my garden. Although I don't want to admit it, I know in the back of my mind that unfortunately summer is already drawing to a close.... But this doesn't have to be quite the end of your summer garden!

Whether our gardens are meant to produce colorful blooms and fragrant flowers that delight the senses or plenty of vegetables that will keep our families fed throughout the long cold winter months, there is much to be said and enjoyed about keeping a summer garden growing and thriving. In fact, many of us look for ways to prolong the lives of our summer gardens in order to get that little bit of extra life from the flowers, plants, and vegetables that we plant in them. Keep reading to discover a few ways that you can prolong the life of your summer garden for a few more days, weeks, or even perhaps an extra month of color or vegetable production.

Image via WikipediaOne thing you can do to prolong the life of your garden is by planting in a raised bed. This is basically planting your summer garden in a specifically designed garden box that rests above ground. These boxes will heat up quicker and cool down more slowly allowing a little extra growing time. For small flower or vegetable gardens these are often ideal allowing flowers to continue flowering and vegetables to continue producing after the initial seasonal frosts that often signal the end of growing seasons for those plants planted below ground.

If raised beds aren't going to work for you, it is possible to begin the plants in the warmth of the interior of your home or a smaller scale raised bed and then transport them once they have matured a bit and the frost season is over with. This gives your garden a bit of a head start though it will do little to prolong the life of your garden once the first frost hits. For that, raised beds are truly the most effective method for small vegetable gardens. Those with large crops often find alternate heating methods and acceptable expense to prolong the lives of their gardens or to ward off against frosts that occur either early in the fall or after the initial spring planting.

You could also invest in garden row covers to protect your plants and extend their life a little beyond the average growing season or at the very least protect your plants through the first frost or so. These covers keep the plants nice and toasty warm in fact, it is important that you monitor them closely when covered to avoid overheating and do not use the covers when not necessary as this can affect the growth of the plants and the yields negatively as much as it can impact them in a positive manner.

Image via WikipediaYou should understand that there is no requirement that says you must prolong the life of your garden. Many people get what they want from their garden whether it be the enjoyment of beauty from the bright and colorful flowers or enough vegetables to last through the leaner winter months when vegetables come at either a premium price or lack in flavor to some degree. Once you've gotten what you want or expect from your garden there really is no reason to prolong its life. There is especially no reason to take extraordinary steps to do so.

That being said there are many families that feel an extra month of color will help get them through the long and drab winter months that seem to be absent of bright and vividly colored flowers and that an extra week or two to harvest their vegetables will provide an extra month of two of food. These are very valid reasons for making the effort to extend the life of a summer garden. My hope is that the information above will help you do just that. Good luck with your summer garden and hopefully you will be able to enjoy your garden well into the fall or at the very least beyond the year's first frost.

Why Try Hoop-House Greenhouses?

Having a greenhouse will give many benefits to a gardener, whether he is a mere hobbyist or an expert plant cultivator. However, there are many things to consider in having a greenhouse, not to mention the expenses that come with building greenhouses.

A good alternative is to own a hoop house type of greenhouse. These are very simple greenhouses which can be assembled very easily. There are many advantages in having a hoop house greenhouse, here are some of them:

Image by meganpru via Flickr-Availability of more growing time
A hoop house greenhouse provides a gardener more time to cultivate his favorite plants. An extra 3 to 4 months can be gained by planting more crops in the greenhouse.

-Inexpensive way to cultivate
Hoop house greenhouses provide an inexpensive way to help greenhouse enthusiasts to get started in cultivating crops - construction and materials are generally quite simple and affordable.

-Crop protection from predators and extreme weather conditions
Hoop house greenhouses are built to protect plants from different adverse conditions which can be brought about by weather conditions and different crop predators. They provide sturdy and efficient covering for the plants against these factors.

-More varieties of plants can be grown
Because hoop houses will allow longer growing seasons, more varieties of plants can be grown in the hoop houses.

-Increased income and savings
One can cultivate different crops which can be equated into additional income or savings. One can actually sell fruits and vegetables which are grown in the hoop houses or can plant crops which can be consumed by the family, therefore avoiding the need to purchase these from the supermarket.

There are many reasons why gardeners have adopted hoop houses for their gardens. Here are some more pertinent facts about hoop houses:

-Most growers recover the cost of building their hoop houses in a single season of planting.

-There are no permits required in building hoop houses since they are not considered as permanent structures.

-The growing seasons can be extended by using hoop houses. Hoop houses usually extend growing seasons by as much as 4 months, but by adding layers of insulating film and an inflation blower, one can extend the growing season by more than four months.

-Hoop houses are usually made from galvanized steel. The galvanized hoops serve as the framework for the greenhouse. The material is low maintenance, very sturdy and very economical.

-Hoop houses are characterized by natural regulation of its temperature. There is often no need for extra equipment which can be an additional cost. The hoop houses are warmed by the natural sun and are cooled by the wind. One can roll the sides up and open the hoop house doors to be able to provide ventilation to the plants inside as the season gets warmer. This is a very cost effective way of cultivating plants in a greenhouse.

-Hoop houses can often be built even in places where winds and snow are prevalent. Hoop houses are normally built from sturdy frames which are designed to handle heavy winds and can even withstand the harsh effects of snow. One can position the hoop house perpendicular to the winds to maximize the ventilation for the plants. One should also remember to do some maintenance when the snow comes. You may need to occasionally brush off the snow if it starts to accumulate, so that your plants can get sunlight. (However, if a hard cold snap is predicted, you may want to leave the snow on the hoop house for a couple of days to provide extra insulation during the cold spell.)

Image via Wikipedia-Hoop houses can be built quite tall and gardeners can use the vertical space to be able to plant more crops. Adding purlins will allow one to hang baskets, tie up tomatoes and other plants. The baskets can then be used to plant ornamental crops or other types of plants.

-One can customize his hoop house in terms of the creation of doors or windows. The traditional hoop houses have a built-in door and a couple of windows for ventilation.

-There are other functions that hoop houses can fill when the planting season is over. They can serve as a chicken coop if one installs poultry netting. They can also be used to grow orchids or other ornamental plants.

-Hoop houses can be relocated easily. Relocating hoop houses can be done without disassembling the structure.

There are many reasons why people turn to hoop houses when they want to have a greenhouse. Aside from the multiple benefits that plants can get from being sheltered by hoop houses, these greenhouses are very economical and won’t dig deep into the gardeners’ pockets.

Video-Using Cold Frames for Winter Gardening

If you don’t think you can make it through the winter without at least a bit of gardening, try using cold frames to protect your plants through the cold season. You can use cold frames for anything from storing and protecting plants from the fall until spring, to planting winter vegetables such as lettuce, kale, spinach, and other yummy greens (these tend to like cooler weather anyway).

You can build small or large cold frames, depending on your space and carpentry ability. This video shows some pretty advanced cold frames, built down into the ground, which provides height as well as warmth.  (This one is keeping plants warm in the dead of winter, in Massachusetts, so it really does work!)

Check back in a few days, and we’ll share another video with examples of some simpler and smaller frames, that almost anyone could construct. (If video doesn’t appear below, please click the link to view.)

Winter Gardening Using Cold Frames
Want to get a jump-start on the growing season or store plants for the winter? Dave shows you two different cold frames — structures that allow you to shelter plants from the cold.

Related articles on Winter Gardening with Cold Frames:

• What is Cold Frame Gardening? (brighthub.com)
• Your Guide to Winterizing a Vegetable Garden (brighthub.com)
• What to Plant in a Winter Veggie Garden (brighthub.com)
• Year-Round Gardening Advice from Eliot Coleman (chelseagreen.com)

Recent Sustainable Gardening News…

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posts recently! It was a much busier summer than anticipated. It’s been a great garden season, except for the extreme lack of rain for the past month…. (Actually it’s drizzling a bit right now – for the first time in over 3 weeks!) Most everything is done now, but I’ve just planted my fall garden (salad and a few other greens), and some of the flowers are still going strong!

Image via WikipediaHere are a few good recent videos and articles on sustainable gardening practices to check out:
What is Urban Sustainable Living | Tallahassee Home and Garden
Patti Moreno the Garden Girl explains her Sustainable Living methods. Also check out www.gardengirltv.com
Publish Date: 09/11/2010 9:28
http://www.tallahasseehomeandgarden.com/what-is-urban-sustainable-living/


Garden Plan – The Edible Garden series
Making The Edible Garden has been about finding a way to garden that is as gentle as possible upon the world. A garden that will please and feed me and still be a home for all others that visit it. By choosing to grow my vegetables …
Publish Date: 09/11/2010 13:32
http://permaculturetorrent.blogspot.com/2010/09/garden-plan-edible-garden-series.html

Survival Gardening Tips: Planting an Edible Food Garden at Home
WATER;in an emergency water supply will be crucial and a learning how to maximize that will take just as long as learning sustainable gardening. As for security, community with common interest will be key. Relocating might be an …
Publish Date: 09/11/2010 8:05
http://www.raisedbedsgardening.net/survival-gardening-tips-planting-an-edible-food-garden-at-home/

Sustainable Saturday – Gardening with Children: A Series …
Sustainable Saturday – Gardening with Children: A Series Documenting our Garden 2010 – The Finale. We’re nearing the end of our growing season . . . well we may still plant some fall lettuce and spinach, but the bulk of our harvest is …
Publish Date: 09/11/2010 7:30
http://symhomemom.blogspot.com/2010/09/sustainable-saturday-gardening-with.html

Related articles on Sustainable Gardening

• Homegrown LA on Starting An Edible Garden (thekitchn.com)
• “The Edible Garden” opens this weekend (timeoutny.com)
• From Community Harvest: Drop-in gardening, ‘Edible’ tour, seeds… (westseattleblog.com)
• Eco-inspired rain harvesting table greens your garden in style (greendiary.com)