We already know some of the effects of chemical gardening and why organic gardening makes sense, but I posed an open-ended sentence on the Urban Organic Gardener Facebook page that said, “I don’t use chemicals in my garden because ___.” Over 70 comments were left by people giving their reasons why. All of which were simple and to the point. Most...
Just because you have a balcony garden or are gardening in a small space, doesn’t mean that birds won’t be picking at your food. What I’ve started to do is use a scarecrow to keep the birds away from the seedlings and sprouts in my containers. No clue why birds are scared of scarecrows, but it works. My guess is that they think it’s a person. All...
GMOs (genetically modified foods) are something that I frequently discuss on this site and Facebook. When I saw the Just Label It campaign, I thought it fitting to share here. The goal of the campaign is to get GMO foods labeled by getting enough signatures and flooding the FDA with them. I’m not one for signing petitions and all that, but thought the cause...
There is a parsley plant on my balcony garden that has been going to seed for a few weeks now. The seeds have finally developed. They emerged in about 3-4 stages, which are difficult to explain, but the the picture about clearly shows what the seeds look like. You just have to carefully pull them. What is your favorite way to use parsley? ...
When I asked about what food news has caught your attention, most people mentioned the cantaloupe listeria outbreak. One person, David Csonka, mentioned a story from Food Renegade that no one else did called Is Your Choice of Food a Fundamental Right?. I’m surprised that this one didn’t get more attention. There was a court decision in Wisconsin where...
A rain barrel is something that would be great to have to be able to collect rainwater, but the reality is that it won’t work for those of us apartment gardening. One reason is that since we are dealing with small spaces, so every little inch counts. Something as large as a rain barrel really isn’t practical. That doesn’t mean that we can’t...
Here’s what you’ll need: Cut up watermelon 1 lime 1/4 cup of olive oil Handful of fresh basil Tablespoon of paprika Dash of sea salt Dash of black pepper How to make: Put the watermelon into a large bowl. Pour olive oil over watermelon. Sprinkle sea salt, black pepper and basil over it. Squeeze lime on top. Tear up and add your basil. Toss to coat and serve. ...
Damned. Hard to believe that it’s been well over a month since I took my break. Much to your delight, I am back though and back to posting. I appreciate all the comments and feedback that were left during that time to let me know what you are liking and not liking. It will all certainly be taken into consideration. When I was gone, nobody really took care of the garden. Anita was with me for...
This is going to be my last post for a few weeks. Going to be taking some time away from the site to travel and visit friends and fam. Time to rejuvenate so I can get some new life into the site. During the time off, I will be taking a look back at the past few months and evaluating what’s been done to see what has done well. That will to help come up with new...
Cutting a watermelon has usually been a pain for me. When I was at the farmers market one day, I learned this simple way to cut them. Cut the ends off of each side. Stand the watermelon up flat and cut the rind off in a downward motion. Cut off any remaining white part. Your watermelon should now look like this. Cut it down the middle in half. Lay it down, then...
The latest in crazy GMO news that I read on Rodale.com is that there will soon be a genetically modified kentucky bluegrass. According to the article: The grass is still in its research-and-development stage, so it’s not available in stores yet, but experts fear the recent USDA decision to not regulate it as a noxious weed or plant pest could push it onto the...
I searched the internet for a few hours looking for how to prune a pumpkin plant. All I could find was the same mumbo jumbo gardening speak of secondary, tertiary and blah, blah, blah with no pictures or visuals of what the hell people were talking about. The reason for looking on how to do this is because my pumpkin plant is starting to get some powdery mildew and pruning your plant to allow for better circulation is supposed to help prevent that. Makes sense to me especially since I am growing them vertically in a container. Based on...
I was fortunate to have one of the great experiences of growing my own food this past weekend – the experience of sharing the harvest with others. While on my balcony garden taking care of my mint, I noticed a neighbor across the way harvesting some herbs for their meal. Since my mint container is overflowing, I shouted across the way to ask if he needed any....
Here’s what you’ll need: 5-6 cloves of garlic 1/4 avocado 1/2 lemon 2 tablespoons of olive oil Dash of sea salt Water to consistency How to make: Bust open all of your garlic and add it to your blender or food processor. Squeeze in your lemon and add the rest of your ingredients. Blend it up, adding tablespoon of water at a time until desired consistency is reached. Serve...
I read a story in the Guardian UK about a plant disease called aminopyralid and how it’s affecting small growers and home gardeners. Even though it’s a disease that seems to have just hit the UK, how it happened is what’s alarming to me. What is aminopyralid Here is what happened. The chemical company, Dow Chemicals, produced a hormone based herbicide,...
I’ve mentioned before that when you are gardening in containers that you’ll need to amend your soil and keep your plants well fed. As the water drains out of the containers, so do the nutrients that it needs. One other thing that your garden will benefit from is a living microbial treatment. The treatment that I am using is from one of my sponsors Thrive...
My bad for missing last week. Some personal things going on, but all good. It’s been a while since I gave an update on my balcony garden so wanted show you what I got going on and no matter where you live or how much space you (don’t) have, you can grow some of your own food. I live in Los Angeles and my balcony is 13 x 4 and east facing. This means that...
There was a discussion on my Facebook profile about how there is so much out of our control that we can’t truly be healthy and maintain an organic lifestyle. That got me thinking about my balcony garden and how organic it really is. My block right now is a freakin circus and a mess. My street is being dug up and repaved and on the other side there is new construction...
I am growing a miniature pumpkin variety from seed for the first time. It’s Jack Be Little Seed that I got from a sponsor of mine Botanical Interests. No, I’m growing some huge Charlie Brown type pumpkin on my balcony garden. That would be dope though. These get to be about 2-3″. It’s been about two-months or so since I first planted it (or...
