Whole Story

I love the idea of Green Garden blogs for Whole Foods! I am one of the growers for a local park - heirloom gardens which means we can't use pesticdes, etc. We use lots of compost to supplement our gardens and have developed a vermiculture bed for raising worms. (Nitrogen rich fertilizer!) I also suggest using newspapers under mulch to keep gardens tidy and weed free. I use companion plantings as oftedn as I can. I plant marigolds as a group as well as snap dragons to help encourage benenfcial insects & to distract any potential pests. "Southern Seed Exposure" catalog has heirloom seeds and great organic Garden tips. Terry DeFluri

Our city recycling program doesn't take the plastic containers that tofu comes in. Instead of throwing them away, I plant seeds in them and transfer the seedlings outside after the last frost.

I have an organic garden at the elementary school where I teach. In the middle of our ring gardens are compost piles. After the students leave the cafeteria, they throw their fruit refuse in the compost. It's a win-win situation: my garden gets nutritious and delicious composted soil, and my students get to see first hand how food breaks down naturally. It is a real-life application that they wouldn't have learned as well from a text book!

Aphids can be a problem in the garden or on balcony potted plants. I have found that aphids do not like coffee. Try adding used coffee grounds to the soil. If a heavy infestation occurs, use instant coffee sprinkled dry around the base of the plants.

Are weeds popping up in the garden? Rather than tackling these pesky plants with herbicides, try to remove them manually. The physical activity, the fresh air, and the sense of accomplishment can do wonders to the body as well as the mind. And best of all, no chemical are involved to pollute our earth!

Just a note about the compost from worms for your gardens.... I saw bags of organic worm castings for sale in the outdoor garden center of a major discount chain store just yesterday. This surely does save the effort of raising them in your own backyard or under the kitchen sink!. Every book I have read on the subject does highly recommend worm composted material.

Growing up on a farm, I learned a lot about sustainability. We had a huge vegetable garden, and raised our chickens, ducks, pigs, and cows. My husband and I have grown natural and organic on our property since 1994. We operate an aquaponic greenhouse, and raise sweet genovese basil in combination with Tilapia fish. The fish waste feeds our plants. The plants uptake the nutrients they need, and gravel in the growing beds filter out the bad waste. Yes gravel, no dirt. The clean water returns to the tank supplying oxygen for the fish. It is a semi-closed recirculating system. We also grow a seasonal garden, and produce heirloom vegetables. We are good stewards of our land,and welcome people to our farm to educate them on how we got started and how we grow. Our seed source is Certified Organic, open-pollinated, and heirloom, so we can save our seed. We also have a garden shop on the web, and sell natural and organic grower supplies, and pest management products. We have a small peach and apple orchard, grow strawberries, and thornless blackberries. We would like to add blueberries to our list of fruits but have yet to find an organic source for plants or seed. If anyone has either, please let us know. One of our favorite references for growing Og is "Let's Get Growing" by Crow Miller. It is a Rodale gardening book. Another book that a friend intoduced to me is "This Organic Life" by Joan Dye Gussow. She explains how you can eat a diet of locally grown organic foods -year round. We wish all fellow organic growers a wonderful green growing season! You are an inpiration to all.

I have done that and it works wonderfully! I actually did the "Three Sisters" technique adding squash(or pumpkins) into the mound as well. You need to make a pretty big mound, but if you do plant the corn on top with beans right around them... the squash goes around the mound on the sides (sloping part) of it. It is also great because corn need lots of nitrogen in the soil and the beans will provide that. The squash provides ground cover to help retain moisture and that means less watering. Woo-hoo! I also like the fact that I have arrow straight corn and no crooked stalks AND it did cut down on pests.

The most important thing to remember in organic gardening is the word LOCAL. Every place and every garden has local weather, soil, moisture and growing conditions. Find out from your neighbors, local farmers, cooperative extension services and vendors at your .. farmer's markets what works in your area. Consult with your county's Master Gardeners for free advice and handouts.

I would recommend "The Victory Garden Cookbook" by Marion Morash as a good all around garden-oriented cookbook. It doesn't cover a lot of exotics, but has excellent information on the basic veggies that most people plant in their gardens. For exotics, "Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide" by Elizabeth Schneider is a good choice. The same author also has a comprehensive reference in print, entitled "Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini." Though not oriented toward gardening, Schneider's books are good resources for cooks of every stripe. --Jerry

FYI: I was at my local Calloway's Nursery the other day (DFW area) and noticed a sign that they do "free" soil testing,and I think it also said you'd get a free couponto use in the store too. While there I also picked up some plastic seed trays they were throwing away and I'm "recycling" them to start my seedlings.

I've tried different things like orange oils scent sprays, hot water and powdered sugar with corn meal to get rid of ants but they've all been short-termed solutions. The ants are present year round but they invade the inside of our house in the hottest months of the year. Their paths also cross my organic vegetable gardens. Does anyone have this problem too and what do you do short of calling the exterminator which I've avoided doing the last 8 years that we've lived here?