Comments on: Question of the Week: How does your garden grow?

By: Duncan

Duncan — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:42:46 +0000

Why my garden is hydroponic, it is interesting that you can get organic certified hydroponic nutrients too.

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:42:54 +0000

Gardening is so much fun. Here are some great resources for organic seeds:
http://www.wheatgrasskits.com
http://www.genericseeds.com
http://www.handypantry.com

By: Kinshuk

Kinshuk — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:08:28 +0000

Well I have no garden but lots of plants in flower pots among them some are ornamental plants and remaining are of roses, china roses, etc. I never use chemical fertilizers apart from this I use compost made by biodegradable products obtain from kitchen sometime cow dung and use stored water instead of fresh water for them.

By: Helen

Helen — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:42:04 +0000

I live in a closed complex community, so I do not have my own individual garden, but we have a compost site where all the tenants contribute and not only are we doing our part in saving the environment, but it is a great way of building community spirit.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:49:55 +0000

In the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix, I plant in sunken beds, have about 900 gallons of rainwater capacity, create compost tea and BD500 microorganism soil spray, keep a watchful eye on successes and failures, and most of all, eat everything I can and share the rest.

Mucho mucho mucho mulch here in the desert. Close to 100% rainwater use (again, we are a desert) Lastly, everything in my garden, including trees, serve more than one purpose. The sunflowers shade in the afternoon, feed birds and myself. The tepary beans shade the soil, feed my belly and provide Nitrogen to the soil. My plum tree gives me and my neigbors fruit, shades my rainwater tank and shades the west side of the house.
oh yeah, and in Phoenix…we can have something growing ALL year. let the jealousy begin! If you can be jealous of 110 degree days for a couple months…yuk

By: Arul karthi

Arul karthi — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:50:38 +0000

I have the small garden in my home

* we give to the plant natural organic
* we give to plant mean it grow well
* we save the money also

By: BewaterWise Rep

BewaterWise Rep — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:27:12 +0000

I use native plants in my garden and implement water conservation techniques like xeriscaping. I make sure to:
* Use less-than-thirsty plants.
* Keep turf grass to a minimum.
* Group plants thoughtfully.
* Water plants only when needed.
These help in maintaining a beautiful garden while I also save water. You can find more gardening tips at http://bit.ly/3YSpq2

By: Johnny R.

Johnny R. — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:16:30 +0000

I once grew a little garden on my Uncle’s land, but it was sold long ago, and ego games kept me from gardening in the commune where I lived for eight years; and there are millions of others who would love to grow their own food, but they are landless and poor, living from paycheck to paycheck, not realizing that it is the relentlessly growing human population that crowds them out of any chance to live in peace and balance on their own land. But most of those who own their land smugly ignore the relationship between overcrowding and poverty, because a growing population provides the low wage labor that creates the wealth for some and poverty for most. Otherwise, everyone would have to share equally to survive — horrors ( ! )

By: Michael E. Bailey

Michael E. Bailey — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:26:14 +0000

I live in a condo complex so I don’t have my own yard. But I am a member of the Homeowner’s Association Board of Directors and landscaping is a major issue for us because the complex is set in a small valley in a parklike setting with a creek running by. We are doing several things. (1) the landscapers have put down a thick layer of multch for the trees and flower beds. (2) We have put our irrigation system on SMART controllers and have ajusted the sprinkler heads so water only goes on the landscape and not onto hard surfaces where it can run into the storm drain system. (3) we use natural pest controls to the greatest degree possible. (4) We are also a “NO PETS ALLOWED” community which further helps conserve the landscape. We are now working with the water district to bring recycled water to the complex for irrigation. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

By: C L

C L — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:04:43 +0000

I read this question as more open-ended than the previous entries.
While I do compost on a daily basis, make and use compost tea for fertilizing, have rainbarrels for rainwater runoff to use for watering and use only eco-friendly or home brew products for pesticides, fungicides and miticides I have found one thing that really helps my garden grow. I use mulch as opposed to rocks in my flower gardens, but more importantly I have made use of a perennial, low growing groundcover called lysmachia that looks incredible (very lime green and vivid) in my garden that often draws compliments and requests for clippings. I live in Minnesota, zone 4. I have never lost any of it due to winter kill and it comes back better each year. I don’t find it to be unmanageable and although it has healthy growth, it doesn’t grow like a weed! It holds the moisture in the garden so I water less. I can pour on the compost tea and it doesn’t affect the leaves, throw shovels full of compost on top of it and it grows through and eventually eliminates the need for replenishing mulch because it becomes thick enough to eliminate weeds. When I’m ready to put a new perennial in the bed I just tear (yup, I said “tear”) up a portion, plant it in another bed and go on with my planting. It fills in around the new perennial and begins growing in the new location also. Granted, in some areas of the country it may have uninhibited growth and be a problem, but it’s worked successfully for me in Minnesota.
In my vegetable beds you can’t beat the grass clippings over old, recycled newspapers. The grass clippings work like a charm and you get rid of your newspapers at the same time. The combination works to fertilize and retain moisture.
We have had some weird weather for our area this year, but for some reason it just can’t ever be bad enough not to want to garden! It must be an illness I have!
We are building a home in northern Minnesota (north of the Twin Cities 80 miles) in the spring of 2010 and we are having a greywater recovery system installed. I’ll let you know how that works for us and if our gardens flourish as a result. I’ll use lysmachia and all the same gardening methods, but the greywater system will be new to me.