Chelsea Green Blog
Gardening
10 Great Gardening Books: Gift Guide for Growers
Are you scrambling to find the perfect gift for the gardener on your list? How about a new book featuring insight from our expert roster of authors? From building a garden plot in the backyard to crafting indoor growing containers for small spaces to incorporating organic practices we’ve got the perfect gardening books for the…
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Rethinking Pests, Invasive Species, and Other Paradigms
At the first sight of small chew marks on leaves or fruit mysteriously disappearing, you’ll want to get rid of the pest to protect your crop. Your first instinct might be to use pesticides or other forms of extermination. You can save yourself and your crops from using harmful methods by preparing and managing your…
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A Guide to Okra: Ok-RAH-RAH-RAH!
Expert okra enthusiast Chris Smith writes regularly for The Heirloom Gardener, the Mother Earth News blog, and the Farmers’ Almanac blog. His presentations on the versatility of okra have delighted audiences at food and farming festivals and fairs throughout the Southeast. He is the Communications Manager for Sow True Seed in Asheville, North Carolina, and…
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Okra Recipe: Fabulous Fries
Ever think about eating fries that aren’t made out of potatoes? Why not try okra fries! These easy to make and fun to eat treats are the perfect side to your meal, or you might be tempted to have a whole bowl full. Author Chris Smith pulls this fabulous recipe from Chef Viviane Howard. The…
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Tips for the Square-Inch Gardener: Vertical Gardening
Do you dream of having your own garden but live in a city or an area with not enough space? Try vertical gardening! Take advantage of plants’ willingness to grow toward sunshine ability to grow in unusual places. There are three techniques involved in vertical gardening: terracing, trellising, and tumbling. Each is designed to maximize…
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Making Your Own Okra Cosmetics
Okra, slime is gold! This pod-producing vegetable is a nutritional powerhouse and has been used throughout history for medicinal, culinary and cosmetics purposes. Discover the benefits of okra when eaten or use the slime from okra for glowing skin, thick shiny hair and strong nails, among others. The following is an excerpt from The Whole…
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Building Your Backyard Permaculture Paradise
The award-winning Paradise Lot takes a behind-the-scenes look at how two plant geeks transformed a desolate urban backyard into a permaculture paradise. At the same time, the pair were hoping to each find their own Eve for this special garden adventure. They succeeded on both fronts–creating an urban, food-producing oasis on a tenth of an acre, and…
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Plants & Pests: Will Bonsall’s Advice on “Wee Beasties”
In his book, Bonsall maintains that to achieve real wealth we first need to understand the economy of the land, to realize that things that might make sense economically don’t always make sense ecologically, and vice versa. The marketplace distorts our values, and our modern dependence on petroleum in particular presents a serious barrier…
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How to Use Climate Maps to Navigate the Winter Harvest
Continuing to grow your crops and harvest them well into the winter months seems like an impossible task. How can they grow when weather conditions are far from warm sunny days? It’s all about adapting to what the season gives you. With the proper techniques and studying the patterns of your area’s climate, growing and…
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Four Books for Growing Food in Winter
Don’t let cold weather stop you from enjoying and growing food! For many, the coming of winter simply means cultivation moves indoors or under cover. Small farmers, homesteaders, home gardeners, and commercial growers can extend the growing season by following just a few of the techniques outlined in the books below. And, there’s no need…
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An Interview With Eliot Coleman: The Original Organic Pioneer
With over fifty years’ experience in agriculture and a penchant for inventing new tools and techniques, Eliot Coleman has solidly established himself as an organic farming pioneer. He has authored several books on his practices, including The Four-Season Harvest, The Winter Harvest Handbook, and his magnum opus, The New Organic Grower, which will celebrate its…
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Recipe: Fall Harvest Garden Fries
Got a lot of root veggies in your fall harvest? Garden fries are an easy and delicious way to use them up! Enjoy them sans sauce, with ketchup, or if you’re looking to impress dinner guests pair them with a garlicky leek dipping sauce. Bon appetit! The following recipe is from Cooking Close to Home…
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A Community Food Forest: Planning and Managing
As Benjamin Franklin stated, “By failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail.” A good community food forest will always require robust planning but don’t let that scare you! By breaking down the work into the following five project management phases, you not only establish an initial plan you’ve also developed a dynamic system to allow…
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Agroforestry Versus Permaculture: Which Approach to Use for a Community Food Forest
Ok, so we’ve gone over some basics of community food forests: Now it’s time to figure out how to plan one. There are two schools of thought on the best approach to building a community food forest: agroforestry or permaculture. The former offers a science-based approach while the latter incorporates elements of social design. Both…
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Food Forests: What is a Community Food Forest?
The recent rise of community food forests and similar projects have come at an imperative time. More than 80 percent of the US population now resides in urban areas. This number is projected to rise in the next few decades. Not only can food forests provide a local source of food they can also serve…
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All Purpose Potting Soil Recipe: The Perfect Mix
Check out this easy, all-purpose recipe for potting soil! The above excerpt is from The Community-Scale Permaculture Farm by Josh Trought. It has been adapted for the web. Annual plants require an early start to bear fruit in the short growing season of New England. The planting medium, daylight length, and temperature conditions are crucial factors for…
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Sustainable Food From Local Greenhouses
The Netherlands—a country two-thirds the size of West Virginia— is ranked second in agricultural export volume behind the United States. Their secret weapon? Greenhouses and hoophouses. These protected structures allow you to control the environment, resulting in maximum resource efficiency, higher yields, and ultimately higher profits. Drawing inspiration from Dutch agricultural practices, Andrew Mefferd has…
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Care of the Soil
Caring for the soil is the farmer’s number one task; if the soil is healthy, the crops will look after themselves. As the average age of America’s farmers continues to rise, we face serious questions about what farming will look like in the near future, and who will be growing our food. Many younger people…
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3 Steps to Start Your Plants Off Right
How you handle your seeds and your practices around seeding is your first chance to get your plants off to a good start and help them achieve their full potential. Ben and Penny Hewitt, authors of The Nourishing Homestead, have developed a three-step process which starts with inoculating the seeds, then sowing them in high-quality…
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Sprout Today, Eat Healthy Tomorrow
If you’re ready to start growing a portion of your own food, but you aren’t quite ready for something that requires a big time commitment or a lot of effort, this is a good place to start. Sprouts are easy to cultivate, mature very quickly, can be used in a variety of delicious dishes, and…
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How To Make An Herb Spiral: The Ultimate Raised Bed
The herb spiral: A beautiful year-round focal point for your garden that is easy and fun to build and saves both space and water. In Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist, author Michael Judd walks readers through step-by-step instructions on how to create this edibles-producing superstar. In addition to herb spirals, Edible Landscaping covers food forests, raised-bed gardens, earthen…
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Build Your Own Cold Frame, Part 3: Get a Jump on the Planting Season
For a cold frame to really work, the light has to be just right. It creates the perfect climate to grow your food when the temperatures make it seem impossible. It can be adjusted to allow for ventilation or more closed to prevent snow or large amounts of water from entering and damaging the plants.…
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Build Your Own Cold Frame, Part 2: Get a Jump on the Planting Season
The design of the cold box is the most important thing to keep in mind if you want it to be an effective tool for growing crops in the winter. Though it may seem like a complex task making a structure to shield against the winter chill, it’s a lot easier than you think. You…
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