Tag Archives: organic gardening

Fall Organic Gardening Tips

September 12, 2012 The Natural Mammas

Fall is an excellent time to be in the garden. While much of what you’ve planted over the summer is coming to a close. There is a lot you can still do in your organic garden both to continue the harvest for this year and prepare for an even better one next year.

Here is a quick list of fall organic gardening tips that will make your flower and veggie gardens look their best now and in the next gardening year ahead.

Plant Cool Season Crops

Leafy greens like Lettuce, Spinach, and Kale along with root crops like Carrots and Radishes, are back in full swing in most fall organic gardens. Peas and most varieties of beans are some other cool season crops that with a bit of preparation can also thrive in the fall in most areas. Depending on your zone the variety of other crops you can plant for fall harvest will vary.

Mix in Some Compost

Remember to add compost in the fall both to those spaces where you’re replanting for a fall harvest as well as the spaces in your garden finished for the year. Adding compost in the fall is really ideal for your organic garden. This way it has time to really sink in and feed the soil while it rests for the winter. The proof is in the abundant and healthy harvest you’ll reap next year from your preparedness this fall.

Plant Bulbs

Both vegetable and flower bulbs like garlic and tulips can be planted now so they’ll be ready in the spring. Again, be sure to add in some compost and mulch as needed during planting.

Get Out the Hoop House / Cold Frame

Now’s the time to put the hoop houses and cold frames back up to extend your growing season along with your viable crop varieties. Again, depending on your zone when you actually need these items will vary but, better to be prepared; the first frost can sneak up on you. If you have your cold frame ready though you can protect your crops and keep your harvest going long into the winter if not year round!

Sow Cover Crops

Depending on your garden fall is also a nice time to sow cover crops. Feeding the soil with cover crops is another way to prepare for the next growing season and has a myriad of benefits for the organic farmer and gardener.

Add Trees and Perennials

While this is something that can be done in the spring as well, adding trees, shrubs, and perennials is a smart thing to do in the fall because they’re often at a discount this time of year. Garden centers need to get rid of the last of the years stock before winter and some money is better than no money. If you wait long enough you can find plants and trees anywhere from 40-50% Off and more! Get them now, save money, and have new plants to anticipate seeing in all their glory this coming spring and summer.

While this can seem like a lot of work, fall is a wonderful time to be outside and, the garden will only benefit from your special care this time of year. Use these fall organic gardening tips and extend the harvest this year as well as prepare for a bountiful and beautiful organic garden next season.

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Amaryllis – Instructions For Year Round Care And More

March 19, 2012 The Natural Mammas

Amaryllis are SO beautiful! We just inherited one and it’s in full effect. They’re very easy to take care of and while they normally bloom in Spring, they can be forced to bloom in time for Christmas and are very often associated with the holiday both as decorations and as gifts.

Native to South America and South Africa Amaryllis grow from a bulb and therefore can be regrown year after year. All you need to do is allow it to bloom (hard right!) then, once the flowers are gone, allow the green side shoots to grow and thrive throughout the summer.

The plant will need to rest for 8-12 weeks before blooming again so, if you’d like to time their blooming period for the Holidays, you’ll need to trim the leaves, take the bulb out of the soil, clean it off, and put in a cool, dark area by the first week of August. The later you put your bulb to rest the later in the winter/spring it will bloom.

Then, take out the blub around the first week in Nov (or later depending on when you put the Amaryllis bulb to rest), plant root down into the compost again and put in a sunny window.

Water sparingly until the first shoots appear then you can give it a bit more water but generally, Amaryllis like it better on the dry side. Around mid December you’ll see your Amaryllis come back to life; an especially welcome sight when not much else is blooming!

And remember, you can repeat this cycle again and again for beautiful blooms year after year!

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Food Waste – Why Its A Problem And Tips For Creating Change

December 30, 2011 The Natural Mammas

I’m guilty and I feel it. I just threw out food that could have been eaten by someone else that desperately needs it.

There are so many men, women and children who are hungry each day, all the while the US and Europe wastes enough food to feed them all; how is that ok?

Not to mention the issue of garbage dumps growing exponentially.

Yet, I know how easily it all happens.

With three very picky kids I end up throwing their uneaten scraps (thank goodness we at least have a dog again!) into the trash on a daily basis.

At times, I’m a poor planner too. I let that extra sour cream go to waste. I find rotten fruit that just didn’t get eaten sometimes. We don’t make a meal of our leftovers, they end up sitting too long and boom, in the trash they go.

And of course the roots of this problem go a lot deeper than this too; to that of the “Throw Away Culture” in which we live…

But, what can you do?

I know I’m not the only one who has thrown food away that could have been used had they made just a bit more effort in some way. And, I definitely know I’m not the only one who is ready for some help to change this costly habit. So, I went on a search for more information and tips on what to do to help reduce food waste at both our own homes as well as within our communities as a whole.

Meal Planning

First and foremost for reducing food waste on a personal level is meal planning. When you plan ahead you can be sure to only buy what you’ll actually use in the first place. Also you can plan meals off of ingredients you’re getting that would otherwise go to waste.

For example, I get sour cream once in awhile but its sold only in a size we’d never use completely. Its one of the things I frequently find myself throwing out. But, when I plan for at least one other dish that week that utilizes sour cream in the ingredient list – I use the whole container and don’t waste food or money!

And there’s the issue of uneaten leftovers. If you simply plan to eat them, within your meal plan for the week/month though then that’s dinner whether its everyone’s favorite or not!

Changes in Diet

The meat industry is incredibly wasteful and, the land that it takes to raise a cow for example, could be used much more efficiently and sustainably by growing vegetables and fruits. If we all just ate meat only one meal a week we could change a lot all the while still indulging in the great American answer to “what’s for dinner”

Composting

When you do waste food, try to compost what you can. Not only will you get “black gold” you can use on your garden you can reduce great plies of old veggies, fruits, and other foods into much smaller piles of soil that’s much more beneficial for the earth than garbage in just a few weeks.

In fact, community wide composting operations can even be created in more urban areas and, cities and towns can institute composting programs the same way they’ve done with recycling. Then they can use the rich compost they get in return for the town and community gardens all the while saving countless dollars on fees associated with garbage collection and dumping.

Farming

Factory farming has harmed the earth in many ways and food waste is one of them. If more farms grew a variety of foods as opposed to one “cash crop”, and grew them organically they, along with home gardeners (see below), could partner up, work together, and localize the food supply.

This would enable each community to work together to meet the unique needs of their area and thereby reduce the waste at the farm as well as at the markets.

Home Gardening & Food Preservation Techniques

When you grow your own food and plan your meals around your own harvest as well as use food preservation techniques you can reduce your food waste dramatically.

You can also plan to grow good nutritious food for local food pantries and soup kitchens as helping those who are hungry by giving away food is an important piece of reducing food waste and keeping everyone’s bellies full on a larger scale.

Politics

While each action you take to reduce food waste on an individual scale matters greatly, there simply is part of this puzzle that is solely based in politics. Things like farm subsidies, trade issues, increasing food charity, etc are issues that require participation from humans on a global scale.

We can still work for change in the politics of food waste though too. Make noise about food waste and let your government know its an issue for you. Educate your community members so they too can work toward political policies, initiatives, candidates, etc that address food waste and offer catalysts for change.

While this issue is a huge one, the reality is that we can all do a little something to decrease food waste on individual, local and global levels. This in turn will slowly begin to help make the changes necessary in order to stop wasting food and help our fellow humans who are currently going hungry to gain access to the nutrition they so desperately need.