For 4,000 years prior to the advent of factory-made fertilizers, the Chinese used every bit of organic matter they could lay their hands on–including their own excrement–to return to the soil the nitrogen and other nutrients their vegetable crops removed. It was only through meticulous attention to the cycle of terrestrial rot upon which new life [...]
Entries Tagged as 'garden'
Profiles in Fertility: Maintaining Garden Soil Organically
March 15th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Sustainability, garden, urban agriculture
Germination!
March 14th, 2010 · 2 Comments · garden
The miracle of seeds sprouting never gets old. Only the annual ritual of showing photographs of seeds sprouting gets old.
Did you know that seeds are actually little embryos, waiting to be born? All they need are the right conditions: moisture and warmth. Some, like these tomatoes, need more warmth than others. I sprouted these in seed [...]
Tags: eggplant·germination·peppers·tomatoes
Reader Poll: How Do You Maintain Soil Fertility?
March 11th, 2010 · 7 Comments · garden
Farmers and gardeners alike must deal with the same fact of nature: crops draw nitrogen and other essential nutrients out of the soil. Those nutritients must be replaced in order to continue growing crops into the future.
In bygone days, before the advent of factory-made fertilizers, farmers addressed the question of maintaining soil fertility by spreading [...]
I Love to Run Garden Soil Through My Fingers
March 9th, 2010 · 3 Comments · garden
Eating home-grown vegetables is fine. But my favorite part of gardening isn’t at the end of the growing process, it’s at the beginning.
After the snow has melted and the soil can be worked, I get busy in our sunniest garden bed, heaving the soil a little with my forked spade. Then I get down on my knees [...]
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The Gift of Compost
March 1st, 2010 · 3 Comments · garden
I do a lot of foraging for compost ingredients. But sometimes compost comes from unexpected places.
Our friend Timothy and her housemates had been making compost in a Rubbermaid trash can using all their kitchen scraps. When it came time for them to move, Timothy asked me if I wanted their compost-in-progress. Yesterday, while they were [...]
Tags: composting
Can’t Kill These Greens
February 27th, 2010 · 1 Comment · garden
Our lavender plant was completely flattened by two and a half feet of snow. The rosemary was splayed all over the ground as well. But the greens we planted last fall were unfazed and have bounced right back. Like these “Champion” collards, which received another dusting of snow last night.
I am always amazed how certain [...]
We Were #3 At Garden Rant
January 17th, 2010 · 1 Comment · garden
The new year brought a surprising revelation: my guest post questioning the current model for community gardens came in third place for the year at the internationally renowned Garden Rant blog. That would be in terms of the number of comments the post elicited from readers. My reward: the “Top 10 Garden Ranter” badge you [...]
Tags: blogging·Blogging awards·community gardens·food gardening
The Radicalized Gardener
December 31st, 2009 · 4 Comments · garden, politics
I suppose this would be the place where I count up all the noteworthy events that occurred during the past year and list my resolutions for the new decade. But last night I watched a documentary about Howard Zinn, the radical historian, and it reminded me that what growing my own food here in the [...]
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“Healthy Schools” Pushes Food Gardening
December 13th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Sustainability, Wellness, garden, kids
“Healthy Schools” legislation introduced this week in the D.C. Council would, for the first time, establish a school gardens program within the Office of the State Superintenent of Education as part of a sweeping package of food and environmental initiatives. And while the bill ( read previous posts here, here and here) does not mandate gardens [...]
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, one mile from the White House.
