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By eliza_cross, on May 10th, 2012%
 Photo by Jeremy Bronson If you never got around to starting any seedlings this spring and now you’re fretting about the expense of buying vegetable plants at the garden center, fear not! Many vegetable seeds can be sown directly in the dirt, where they’ll happy germinate and provide you with a nice harvest. Here’s a list of easy-to-grow vegetables (most of which prefer full sun) that you can plant from seed now:
- Beans – pole beans and bush beans are easy to grow, and if you harvest them regularly they’ll keep producing.
- Beets – grow in loose, moist soil.
- Corn – easy to grow if you have a large garden plot; corn needs lots of space.
- Cucumbers – bush or vining varieties are both easy to grow, and give them plenty of water so they don’t get bitter.
- Lettuce – plant now! Lettuce prefers cooler temps. If you sow some seeds every week or two, you’ll have a constant supply of fresh lettuce.
- Melons – grow well in hot, dry weather but like lots of water. To avoid crossbreeding, plant melons away from pumpkins, cucumbers and squash.
- Onions – less expensive than buying onion sets, be sure to buy onion seeds suited for your climate and amount of sun. Onions store well, making them and especially economical crop.
- Peas – plant now! Peas prefer cooler temps. If it’s already hot in your area, try planting peas in the fall.
- Radishes – like to be grown in moister soil.
- Spinach – especially easy to grow. Plant in full sun or part shade.
- Squash – zucchini is an easy, prolific plant for beginners to grow, especially if you have lots of friends who like zucchini!
If the danger of frost has passed in your area, prepare your garden bed and amend the soil if needed. Plant the seeds on a calm day at the depth specified by the grower and top gently with a layer of fine soil.
Need a great source for your seeds? These are some of my favorite companies, and they all offer non-hybrid, heirloom varieties:
Happy planting, and I’d love to hear what you’ve got growing in your gardens right now!
By eliza_cross, on January 20th, 2012%
 Photo by Cuyahoga jco Don’t you love daydreaming about planting the spring garden when it’s January? Now is the perfect time to begin making plans and sketch out some ideas for your ideal garden. Even if you have a small yard, you can grow a surprising amount of food if you choose seeds and plants that grow well in your climate. If you want to tour the ultimate urban homestead, check out the Dervaes family’s website ‘Path to Freedom.’ You won’t believe what they grow in their 1/10 acre yard in Pasadena.
I love perusing the new seed catalogs each year to see what new varieties have been introduced, and these are some of my favorite companies:
For additional ideas, MicroEcoFarming.com has tons of information and articles about growing your own food. WinterSown.org is a site dedicated to an easy, inexpensive method of direct-sowing seeds. There are some great, wacky pictures on this site of people sprouting plants in pop bottles and all manner of recycled containers.
If you have favorite gardening sites and sources, we’d all love to know about them and invite you to share them in the comments section below.
P.S. In case you’ve just joined us, the January Money Diet is a challenge to take a 31-day break from nonessential spending. You can learn more about the money diet here — and jump right in!
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Win a Deluxe Happy Simple Living Gift Basket
In honor of the January Money Diet, I’ll be giving away a gift basket chock-full of home and garden goodies plus a signed copy of my latest book 101 Things To Do With Bacon. On January 31, 2012, I’ll draw one random name from everyone who commented during the month and that lucky person will win the gift basket. I hope you’ll stop by often this month and share your own ideas, thoughts and experiences about taking a 31-day break from nonessential spending.
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By eliza_cross, on July 22nd, 2011%
For gardeners everywhere, the summer of 2011 has been an interesting one. It seems that record-setting weather is the norm rather than the exception for most of the United States, and many other parts of the world as well. Here in Colorado, June was hot and dry followed by one of the wettest Julys on record. For the most part, the garden is doing fine and enjoying the extra moisture. Here are a few photos of some of the plants:
A pumpkin plant has lots of blooms but the leaves are a little yellow from all the rain.
The bottom leaves of the cherry tomato plant are a little yellow, too, but it has lots of blooms and green tomatoes. Our garden is 100% organic and the only fertilizer we use is homemade compost.
The jalapenos are kind of puny this year. I think chiles prefer hot, dry weather.
The garlic, chives and onions seem completely happy with the extra water!
The currant bushes are loaded with ripe fruit.
The strawberries are blooming and putting out fruit for the second time this season.
While I was snapping photos, a butterfly stopped by for an early morning drink.
How does your garden grow this summer? I’d love to hear how you and your plants are doing.
P.S. While it rains here, across the globe the skies are dry. If you watched NBC Nightly News last night, you saw a heartbreaking report about the famine crisis in Africa due to the region’s worst drought in half a century. More than 11 million people in Somalia and parts of Kenya and Ethiopia need food assistance due to the drought, according to the United Nations. Nearly half of the Somali population, 3.7 million people, desperately need food and water. Even a small donation could save lives, and you can find a list of key organizations providing aid here.
By eliza_cross, on July 10th, 2011%
This month I’m giving away a brand-new copy of a terrific book, The City Homesteader. Written by Scott Meyer, this 272-page book has tons of great ideas for people who live in urban areas yet long to be more self sufficient and live more sustainably.
Meyer was formerly on staff at Organic Gardening, and accordingly, the book has plenty of advice and tips for growing your own fruits and vegetables – including a growing guide at the back of the book. Meyer also delves into other home food sources, from building a bee house to raising goats. Plus, he provides excellent information for preserving all that wonderful food, from canning your own homemade pickles to making homemade fruit leather.
To enter the drawing, simply comment below about the one homesteading skill you’d like to try someday – whether you live in a city skyscraper or a rural farm. The deadline to enter is midnight MST on July 18, 2011. On July 19 I’ll use Random.org to pick a winner and announce it here. Good luck, and I can’t wait to hear your responses.
By eliza_cross, on March 17th, 2011%
This is a guest post from Jeff, the writer and dictator for life at Sustainable Life Blog. We’re both members of the Yakezie Network — one of the world’s largest networks of personal finance and lifestyle blogs — and community members are encouraged to collaborate and support each other’s efforts. This month, select Yakezie participants were paired up to exchange guest posts on each other’s sites, and the topic is, “What are 5 new green things you can try, that you haven’t done before?” You’ll enjoy his thoughts today, and be sure to head over to his blog and check out his version of a self reliant, sustainable lifestyle.
There are tons of ways to go green out there – things that are completely plausible for some (taking public transit) and are complete non starters (as in apartment worm composting) or not possible (you can’t take transit if your city doesn’t offer it) for other people. There are a few ways that you can go a little greener if you’re interested, and here are a few that I’m going to try in the near future.
The first thing I’m going to take a swing at is Continue reading Guest Post: 5 New Green Things To Try
By eliza_cross, on November 20th, 2010%
Here’s an easy idea that I first saw at a holiday decorators’ showhouse and immediately copied at home. Amaryllis bulbs are readily available during the holidays — usually for less than $10. Choose a nice, fat, healthy looking bulb and put it in a glass vase or jar. Surround the bulb with glass marbles (look for inexpensive marbles at the dollar store), lifting the bulb as you add the marbles so the roots hang down. Add water just to the mid-point of the bulb, and place in a sunny window. In about four weeks you’ll have a beautiful bloom. This arrangement makes a nice holiday gift, too!
Hugs,
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