Thursday, May 31, 2012

Sustainable Urban Gardens

http://www.sacgardens.org/

Lots of information to get from this website.  Unlike most of the websites that I have been looking at today, this one is not outdated.  I plan on taking this information and applying it to my small garden and gradually making it bigger as I get the time.

My favorite part of this site?  The windowfarms!  I had some small plastic rolls that were small light covers that are decorated with plastic origami-style designs that I was going to put together to make an herb arrangement hanging in my kitchen window or front porch on the metal railings.  I got so excited when I saw what they did with their windowfarms and how it is built!  I will definitely try this.

Low-Cost Containers National Home Gardening Club

Low-Cost Containers National Home Gardening Club

I think the boot as a planter is a great idea!  It could add some interest to my plain ol' front porch, which is in desperate need for decoration!  I think that I could find at least a million things to use to plant things in around the house.  What would be really great is using an old bookshelf, tipped to it's back and filled to the brim with vegetables or herbs!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Gardening different plants together: a small piece of the pie.

A thing about gardening from The National Gardening Association
Planting in succession helps to keep things growing in-season, year-round.  I hope to be able to plant long-term harvest-able plants as well as ones with shorter growing seasons all together.  Depending on your geographical area, you can get quite a variety, which excites me!  I'd better get to reading more about what I can do in my own area.

My beginning

I have set a few goals for myself for this summer to learn more about making less of an environmental impact in small steps.  I have planted a small garden in my backyard that consists mostly of tomatoes and lettuce, and I have already become used to line-drying clothes rather than using a dryer.  As the summer goes along I want to not only master gardening my plants, but to try more ways to cultivate what I have to give me a long-term benefit.  I also want to learn more about environmental and living issues that surround my community and I hope to be able to make an impact for the better on my world. 

My first main tasks that I have set for myself is to learn how to can food.  So naturally, I went out and bought a book about it.  If I wanted to save money I would have gone to the library, but I would have had to make many return trips to re-read any useful books.  Having one of my own was just a better idea.  My fiance is completely on board with this idea, especially because it involves food.  I just want to learn to make better quality things for our daughter and to teach her things that can bring us together as she gets older.  She's only 15 months, so I'm starting now so that I know what I'm doing when she's old enough to help out!

The garden that I have planted is only half-done.  I have started about 20 or more tomato plants that have yet to be put outside with the four that my father had gotten for me at the store.  I have lettuce and some very small cucumber plants that are just starting out as well, and I have seeds for hot pepper plants that are still in their packages.  I still need to dig up more garden space for my peppers and the rest of the tomatoes.  As far as herbs go, my father had given me some cilantro, chives, and parsley from his own garden because they volunteer every year for him.  My parsley is going to seed right now so I will get to learn what to do with that sooner rather than later.

The reason that I am using a clothes line right now is not because I like stiff clothing to iron.  Our dryer broke.  It was used when we had bought it and instead of going out and buying a new one, I convinced my fiance that line drying was a better option so that we can save money.  It is just about summer, after all.  If if was winter, it might be a whole different story.  I still need to fine-tune line-drying because ironing T-shirts for an hour or more is not my idea of a good use of the baby's nap time. 

I had graduated with my bachelor's degree in general studies this past month and have been watching documentaries ever since.  I wish that I was still in school because there is still so much to learn.  I decided that no matter what, I will keep learning about everything and started with Netflix documentaries.  This blog is to keep myself on-track with what I am learning and what I have already learned.  I want to look at issues on both a broad scale and a local one so that I can make a difference anywhere.  I think that I will start with food.