Weeds & Seeds Swap

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Safer® brand. All opinions are 100% mine.

Welcome to the first day of winter…and it is wintery here in northern NJ - lots of snow fell over the weekend, as most of you have probably heard on the news, and it’s cold and windy, but the sun shines brightly today! This is Christmas week, and after Christmas come New Years and January, when many begin to see gardening catalogs show up in their mail boxes as they think ahead to Spring gardening…as for me, I like to do my shopping online, and most paper mail ends up in my recycling.

Last summer I enjoyed my medicinal and culinary herb garden, simple as it is, since we have a shortage of sunny property. I’m still eyeing a big section of sunny grass that we gained when a new septic system was put in because trees were removed.  We don’t use many pesticides, and try to make some ourselves, naturally, when we can because it’s not always easy to find chemical-free pesticides and other “green” gardening products that are good for the earth that God has given us to be stewards of.  But now I think I’ve found a source.

You lucky folks that live in warmer climates may already be able to take advantage of the wonderful green, good for the earth, good for the garden products offered by saferbrand.com. I appreciate the time they have put into helping the gardener know about many garden pests, they have a great section on insects that can threaten your garden, and an equally informative section on organic gardening. Since my “green thumb” doesn’t seem to work very well when it comes to growing plants indoors, the “houseplants” section was also very helpful.

There will be events taking place all year to promote organic gardening, and it won’t be hard to keep up with these events because Safer brand is officially on twitter, I’m going to “follow” them on Twitter and invite you to as well.

Twitter and Facebook are the primary, almost only social networking sites that I use, so I was happy to hear about Safer brand’s facebook page, and will be heading over to become a fan after posting this.

With winter coming, many of us in colder climates are going to miss working in our gardens and feeling the earth in our hands. The ground will be freezing soon, in fact they are predicting a bit of snow again this evening. For some, like my sister for example, any time of year is a good time of year to have your hands in earth, she is a potter, so spends time with her hands in earthenware clay. I thought of her when I came across the AMACO/Brent website, an american art clay co. They have so many of the things I have heard her speak about, she has a high-fire kiln, and uses clay especially for high-fire pottery. Much of her work is done on a potters wheel, not so much work with clay molds, though AMACO/Brent had all that she would need and more available.

During the winter months, crafts are a nice way to fill the time that will be spent indoors instead of outdoors.  Looking at the site through any of the “live links” in this post will inspire you and give you something to dream about and do until we can work our gardens again.  Maybe you can even make some of your own planters for container gardening for indoor or outdoor plants.

Happy Earth Day, well actually it’s Earth Night at the moment!  The day has gone so quickly and been a busy one.  I’ve updated some things on this blog a bit, and hope you like the changes and new resources available to you.

My mother was a much better gardener than I will ever be.  I approach my garden with a feeling that it’s going to grow just fine, an air of confidence, and find myself challenged at times by it as the season goes on, while my mother would approach it with humility, always meekly saying “oh, I probably won’t get many tomatoes this year” or whatever the crop happened to be that was on her mind at the time, only to have more than she could handle by the end of the season.The first garden I recall from childhood was a plot in the backyard, it seemed huge at the time, but really the space was rather small.  Still, it had a nice yield at the end of the season.

I remember the pole beans Mom would grow, being so curious about how the beans climbed up those poles that my Dad put in the garden.  There were three tall sticks tied together at the top, similar to the picture below, and at the base, the seeds were planted, which grew and climbed up the stakes to the top, and provided beans throughout the season.  There were a few 3-pole groupings in a row, and since I was small, they seemed very tall!  Mom always told me that the difference between Pole Beans and Bush Beans was that that pole beans provided beans for a longer period of time.

Personally, I’ve never grown pole beans, have always opted for the bush variety as they look better in the area where I plant. My only “pet peeve” is those little cut worms that enjoy my garden so much, I have to make sure the soil is clear of them before planting my beans, they seem to especially love the thick, juicy bean seedling stems.  Sometimes I start them with a small paper cup around the seed-in-soil with the bottom cut out of the cup as those little guys usually snip the plant close to the surface.  There is nothing more delicious than vegetables from the garden.

By the way, if you have a large enough container, you can grow beans this way on your deck or wherever your container garden is on your property.

What kinds of beans have you grown in your garden?

Sometimes when you’ve been working a blog for a while, great posts get lost at the “bottom of the blog”, and need revisiting, so with gardening season arriving for some of us, and always around for other lucky readers, I thought I’d point out a few helpful posts:

• Gardening in Containers - this post contained some thoughts and ideas for those who don’t have space for a garden, or just like the idea of gardening in containers.
• Keeping Deer Out of the Garden - another post with some ideas and a helpful article, we have only had trouble with deer during droughts when they try to make their way down to our lake.
• Tropical Climate Gardens - for those of you fortunate enough to be able to grow tropical gardens, this is another helpful post.
• Vegetable and Organic Gardening eBooks that you might find helpful.

Do you have any favorite gardening articles or posts to share?  Please let us know in a comment!

This post is to let you know that the plant exchange page has been updated for the 2009 season.  Old inactive contributors have been removed, and new contributors are needed and appreciated.  You can offer plants, or any garden, herb or plant-related item that you wish.

If you are not interested in offering your plants or other items for trade, but would prefer to offer them for a price, there are instructions on how to do this.

When you offer something for exchange or sale, not only will it be posted on the “Swap, Sell” page, but a post will be written to the blog about what you are offering, and information about you if you wish.

You will also find the story of how this exchange got started quite a few years ago at the bottom of the Swap, Sell Here page.

Not everyone has the pleasure of being surrounded by budding trees in the spring, flowers in the summer, fall colors, and the stark look of the woodlands in winter. Many by choice or necessity live in the big cities where they are surrounded by buildings and little else.

I was interested in knowing what kind of advancements have been made in of gardening on a rooftop. I am not thinking of container gardening in the sense that most of us are familiar with, but on a large scale, and was happy to find this video showing a large rooftop garden, and giving some information on how safe it is, and it’s benefits which include cooling the building itself, providing for wildlife, such as birds, bees and insect life, and improving air quality.

I would love to hear from anyone who is living in urban areas, what creative ways to do you find to garden in the city?

Being on a tropical theme today, I thought I’d look and see what videos are available for the tropical gardener, and I found quite a few!  I didn’t realize that, in the right climate, Banana Plants are fairly easy to grow, and also didn’t realize that they produce fruit at only 6 feet tall!  I hope you enjoy the following, there are other videos available by “Mr. Green Thumb” if you click the links that show after you view the video.  Enjoy!