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Green, string, snap, pole, or bush, whatever you call these beans, these edible little pods are great to grow in the garden. Green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), as we think of them, typically grow in two forms. These two main growing forms are what we call bush and pole bean growing styles. Bush beans usually grow more compactly and won’t necessitate support. Pole beans are more viney and will need stakes or trellises to grow on for support. The other difference between bush and pole beans are that bush beans are relatively low maintenance and easier to grow, however pole beans are more widely known for producing higher yields and being more resistant to disease.

NOT SO GREEN IN YEARS

Green beans have been around for thousands of years, originating in Central and South America. They were introduced to the Mediterranean area the mid 1400’s and quickly spread to Turkey, Italy, and Greece by the 1600’s. Today over 100 varieties are grown in various parts the world.

GROW GREEN

If you want to try and grow green beans in your part of the world then begin sowing seeds 2 weeks after the last frost date in your area and when soil temperatures are above 50° F. Seeds should be planted 1-1.5”deep, spaced 2” apart for bush beans and 3” apart for pole beans, with trellises in place for support. To continuously harvest beans throughout summer, plant additional seeds every 2-3 weeks.

Once beans are planted, and as they continue to grow, water the beans consistently, but make sure your soil doesn’t become waterlogged. Typically green beans don’t need to be fertilized, as too much nitrogen gives you beautiful plush leaves, but drastically reduces your bean production. As with any garden, be sure to weed around your beans, but do so using shallow cultivation in order to leave the bean roots undisturbed.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Basics of Growing Food in the Winter

September 24, 2017

THE BASICS OF GROWING FOOD IN THE WINTER

Having spent so much time in tropical environs, I fretted over having to think about seasons, in terms of temperature, when my wife Emma and I decided to give North Carolina a try. Suddenly, we are having to think about frosts much more than wet and dry season, and a bit more encouraging than expected, we are finding a new abundance that accompanies cooler places.

Going into our first autumn here, we are investigating the possibilities of four-season harvesting, and that means learning which plants can handle the chill and which ones are best left for next year. We are also becoming more knowledgeable about cold frames, hoop houses, and other methods for maintaining a little warmth without burning energy.

What has become apparent is that, without a doubt, growing fresh vegetables is possible year-round, even with winters that regularly dip into or stay below freezing temperatures. It doesn’t require a huge greenhouse or a lot of power, just some basic systems for keeping the frost off and a selection of the right kind of plants.

KEEPING THE FROST OFF

Keeping the frost off of certain cold-tolerant plants will help extend their growing season, and this, of course, means changing the garden a little bit. Like the wet/dry tropics, which almost requires different beds—raised and sunken—for the wet and dry season, temperate climate gardens benefit from designs with frost in mind. There are several simple ways to do this, and in certain cultures, the winter garden is just an understood thing.

Using the sunny south-facing understory of tree lines is a possibility for extending the season, but it requires quite a specific set of circumstances and challenges, such as dealing with natural leaf fall mulching over the crops. Additionally, while these will provide a bit more warmth, plants are still subject to nearly the full force of outside temperatures.

YouTube! Video: How to Build a Cold Frame to Extend Your Growing Season

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Organic Pesticides, Biological Controls, and Finding What Can Be Grown

September 12, 2017

ORGANIC PESTICIDES, BIOLOGICAL CONTROLS, AND FINDING WHAT CAN BE GROWN

Bugs are inevitably a part of growing things. While most of the bugs out there are good for the soil and good for your plants, there are plenty of pests that will drive you crazy while you try to salvage a tomato crop ravaged by white flies or a peach harvest destroyed by aphids. Conventional agriculture since the times of the Green Revolution has taken advantage of the distress that pests cause to farmers to market hundreds of different chemical pesticides that promise to help you win the battle against nature.

The problem, of course, is that this is a battle that simply cannot be won. As research has continually shown, the use of pesticides has essentially done nothing more than increase problems with pests as they´ve upset the natural balance where predator insects maintain a relatively decent control of problematic bugs. While the target “bad” bug might be killed off by the initial application of a certain chemical pesticide, so will several other species of insects, bacteria, fungi, and other essential parts of the soil and farm ecosystem. This loss of natural predatory controls and the disruption of the greater balance almost leads to increased pest problems in the future.

So what can be done when your tomatoes are filling up with worms and your peaches are covered in aphids? Below we look at three different strategies to deal with pest problems in an ecological way.

ORGANIC PESTICIDES

For thousands of years, indigenous populations around the world have known of different plant species that have certain properties to repel different bugs and pests. In Central America, the seeds and leaves of the Neem tree are fermented in buckets of water by small farmers who then apply this fermented Neem extract to their corn and bean crops affected by certain bugs.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

10 Other Berries to be Aware of

September 1, 2017

10 OTHER BERRIES TO BE AWARE OF

Since arriving in the temperate climate, I’ve been so excited about the idea of growing berries that I’ve been compiling lists of what—besides the common stuff—I might want to grow. We all know strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, and Chuck Berry (i.e., “Johnny B. Goode”), but these are other berries that we can and should consider including in the garden.

Some of them are delightfully tasty, some of them mystically nutritious, and all of them are viable, perennial options for temperate permaculture food forests and polyculture gardens. In this collection, you’ll find things that improve the pantry, improve your health, and improve your disposition (Berries make some great wine).

In a word, there is a lot of fun to be had in the berry game, and there are a lot of niches for berries to fill in a design. Even with strawberries, blueberries, and the rest of the headliners, there is great diversity to be enjoyed, but the other berries open up entire new worlds. Some are sprawling trees. Some are great thorny hedges, suitable for natural fencing. Some are voracious, productive groundcovers.

TREES

Productive trees are the crème de la crème of permaculture design, and while this often comes in terms of nitrogen-fixing legumes, stone fruit, hard fruit, and nut trees, berry trees certainly have their own spot in the conglomeration.

Mulberry trees are a permaculture favorite. Not only do they provide an abundance of berries, but the leaves are also edible and—for the adventurous producers—can be used to rear silkworms for silk production or fish food. Mulberries are beloved for being quick growers for chop-and-drop mulch, heavy producers for food, pest distractors, and hardy plants for growing in any soil and many climates.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Sustainable Vegetable Gardening Tips For Homesteaders and Preppers

September 1, 2017

Sustainable Vegetable Gardening Tips For Homesteaders and Preppers

Here’s the deal…

Everyone knows that you need to practice your sustainable gardening skills now before the world as we know it ends. However, how are you implementing that practice? Did you purchase your seedlings from a store? If you have bugs in your garden, do you reach for the Seven? If a plant dies, do you run to the store to get another one? Did you purchase commercial manure or garden soil to ‘plus up’ your soil this year?

As we all know, this isn’t sustainable. My idea of survival gardening is to take all necessary actions needed to overcome the need/desire to run to the store when I have a gardening problem. Running to the store won’t be possible when the world as we know it ends. Survival or sustainable gardening takes work (and planning), a bit of knowledge you may not currently have, and a different mindset. I propose a four prong approach for you to consider implementing.

I have been a Master Gardener for 26 years and I still have failures. It is natural. For example, my tarragon seedlings all died this year. My answer to that is to start them again or live without tarragon until next year.

So, the first thing I would like to suggest is to garden like your life depends on it. Someday it will! If you change your mindset and act like your life depends on your actions – NOW, you will have the experience to do what is necessary to make your garden at least moderately successful when you are depending on it to produce.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Complete Guide to Growing Potatoes

August 3, 2017

The Complete Guide to Growing Potatoes

Potatoes need slightly acidic soil, a lot of sunlight and a lot of water to thrive in your garden. The plants are annuals usually grown in zones 1 through 7. Along with growing potatoes in the ground, outdoors, many gardeners are able to successfully grow a crop of potatoes in a container or indoors.

Difficulty	Pretty easy
Type of Plant	Vegetable
Sunlight	Full sunlight
Soil Type & pH	Sandy soil, acidic pH
Hardiness Zones	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
You’ll Need	seeds, soil, trellises, pruners, pots.
Quick Tip: When planting potatoes, the eyes matter! Make sure you plant them with the eyes facing upward toward the surface.

The trick to growing indoors or in containers is supplying the potato plants with everything it needs, including well-drained acidic soil, moderate temperatures and ample light.

SOIL REQUIREMENTS

Since the part of the potato that you eat grows underground, the quality of the soil you plant potatoes in is particularly important. Potatoes are actually an acidic soil loving plant and will grow best in soil that has a pH of less than 5.5, according to Cornell University. The more acidic the soil, the better able the plants are to resist diseases such as scab.

Photo by Pexels licensed under CC0

Along with being slightly acidic, the soil you plant potatoes in should be well-drained and loose. If the soil is heavy or dense, it is difficult for the tubers (the part of the potato you eat) to grow. You’ll end up with small or oddly shaped potatoes.

Although potatoes prefer acidic soil, you can get away with growing them in more neutral conditions. A pH of up to 7.0 can be tolerated, but you’ll want to choose the variety of potato carefully. Since there’s a high risk for disease the less acidic the soil is, look for varieties that can resist scab and other potato problems.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Designing a Lifestyle, Not Just a Garden

January 13, 2017

Ladybug (Courtesy of Anderson Mancini)

DESIGNING A LIFESTYLE, NOT JUST A GARDEN

Implementing a permaculture design is much more than building a garden. It’s also more than a house that utilizes passive solar energy or barrels to catch rooftop runoff. While these things often are incorporated into permaculture plans, the practice itself is getting at something much deeper. It’s redesigning the way we live.

Growing at least some of our own food is a step in a different direction from the mass agriculture, processed meals, and supermarket system. Designing our homes with attention to harmonizing with natural energy features is the beginning of moving away from our crippling dependence on fossil fuels. And, the list goes on.

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We don’t design this way to meet any trendy environmental tableaus or even to save money but because, as permaculturalists, we are in search of that which is efficient and sustainable, those practices that might put back us into better harmony with the planet. To do that, more than any garden we grow, most of us have to seriously change the way we live.

Adopting a new lifestyle is a major part of the design.

WHY ARE WE GROWING FOOD?

We should be growing food because the way we produce it, as a society, doesn’t work for us or for the planet, and if we don’t fundamentally change this approach to supplying our needs, the results may be the end of us. Processed and packaged versions of just a few crops isn’t providing the nutrients we need, and that’s not taking care of ourselves (People Care). Monocultures, feedlots, and felled forests are scarring the planet with chemicals and destructive concentrations of waste, and that’s not taking care of the world (Earth Care). Then, we continually degrade new swaths of land once we’ve exhausted the ones we are using, and that’s taking more than is necessary (Return of Surplus).

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Learn Exactly How to Grow 25 Vegetable Garden Favorites for Maximum Harvests

May 7, 2016

Learn Exactly How to Grow 25 Vegetable Garden Favorites for Maximum Harvests

Finally….the week we’ve all been itching for. At least where I live, it’s planting time! Did you ever wonder exactly how to grow specific vegetables in your garden for the biggest, healthiest harvests?

I’ve spent the past few weeks pouring over my gardening books and scouring the internet to learn all that I can about the specific veggies, fruits, and herbs that I intend to grow. While lots of folks just stick everything in the ground and grow it under the same conditions, (exactly what I’ve been doing) I believe that a little attention toward the specific needs of individual plants can reward you with greater productivity and healthier plants. Below, you can find a round-up of the information I am using to set up my garden this year. I hope some of this is useful to you, as well.

How to Grow Specific Fruits and Vegetables

Bush beans (square foot gardening method)

Potatoes (Hilling method)

Potatoes (Towers)

Potatoes (Containers)

Tomatoes: This is the best tomato-planting advice I’ve seen. I’m trying his method this year.

Turnips

Zucchini

Be sure to also check out the Self-Reliance Manifesto for more than 300 links to other gardening and homesteading tips.

Planting Time Books and Products

These are the books that I referred to when planning this year’s garden.

I’m also a big proponent of Smart Beds. If you don’t have construction skills (ahem – me – cough) they are a great way to make yourself a raised bed on top of any surface. The price is very reasonable too.

Dirt Cheap: The Best Frugal Gardening Ideas on the Internet

April 14, 2016

Dirt Cheap: The Best Frugal Gardening Ideas on the Internet

With the price of healthful groceries going no place but up, lots of thrifty folks are starting a garden to save money on their bills this year. But what about the money to start a garden? It can be a very expensive undertaking, especially if you’ve never gardened before in your particular location.

I’ve been researching ways to start my own garden as inexpensively as possible and thought, “HEY!!! I know some other folks who would absolutely love frugal gardening ideas!” So…here they are.

Step One: What Kind of Garden Are You Going to Grow?

Of course, the very first thing to decide is what type of garden will work best for your situation. This will depend a lot on your soil, your climate, your skill set, and what you have easy and inexpensive access to. Following are some articles and books that will help you make your decision.

Pallet Gardens: Simple, Easy, Free

Straw Bale Gardens Complete

How to Build a Recycled Greenhouse

Create an Instant Garden with Sheet Mulching

Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding!

DIY Metal Raised Beds

DIY Super Easy Raised Garden Bed for Under $30

How to Build a Raised Garden Bed for $12

For those who aren’t build-y: Big Bag Fabric Raised Beds (I have used these with great success for veggies with shallow roots and as a bonus, you can use them on concrete if you’re gardening on a patio.)

Using Pallets to Make Free Raised Garden Beds

Square Foot Gardening: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More in Less Space

15 Fruits and Veggies You Can Grow in a Bucket Garden

PVC Drip Irrigation System for Your Garden

How to Save BIG on Lumber Supplies for Your Square Foot Garden

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Magic in the Garden: Five Plants With Medicinal Properties

April 13, 2016

Football Injury

MAGIC IN THE GARDEN: FIVE PLANTS WITH MEDICINAL PROPERTIES

Recently, when visiting family at my grandmother’s home on the old country road where I grew up, my son was outside playing with my brother in law near the garden. He pointed out to his uncle a small scratch that he had obtained while playing on the playground at school. My son later told me that his uncle had showed him a very neat plant, and had broken off a tip of one of the thick leaves to reveal a gel substance within. He said that his uncle had rubbed the sticky gel on his “bo-bo” and was so thrilled that, only two days later, the scratch was almost gone.

The sparkle of mystery in my son’s eyes as he told me his story brought a smile to my face, and memories to mind. As a young girl, I can remember how wonderfully magical my grandparent’s garden was. It was full of beautiful flowers, herbs, and plants. A bridal wreath shrub grew, succulents thrived beneath the awning of the shed, and hydrangeas and peppermint herbs lined the side of the house. Wisterias grew along a re-purposed lattice fence next to lovely miniature azaleas. The whole scene was beautiful, bright, and so fragrant.

This also gave me the inspiration for this article. As many of you may have guessed, the plant that my brother in law showed my son was an aloe vera plant. I explained how helpful aloe vera gel is to our skin, and that this was the magic ingredient in the medicine I put on his skin when he gets sunburn.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Abundance From Small Spaces

March 9, 2016

Abundance from Small Spaces 03 - feat

ABUNDANCE FROM SMALL SPACES

This article derives from three sources. The blog I wrote for FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations based in Rome) to advertise the IPC (International Permaculture Conference) during UN Year of the Soil which can be read at: http://www.fao.org/soils-2015/blog/the-answer-lies-in-the-soil/en/ ; my presentation at IPC which you can see/hear and see the powerpoint that accompanied it at http://grahambell.org/the-answer-lies-in-the-soil-2/ and thirty years of my life spent creating forest gardens and fertile soils and helping others do the same on four continents. I should say ‘we’ rather than I because many people have contributed to this garden, not least my wife and children Nancy, Ruby and Sandy.

I called my presentations ‘The Answer Lies in the Soil.’ And it does.

First of all, though, we need air and water. Without these two things, we can’t live today. So clean air, and clean water in sufficient quantities are pre-cursors of sustainable human life. However, for long-term survival, we need soil. Not just any old soil: we need enduring well – nourished and nourishing soils which just keep getting more and more fertile. In fact, soil is demonstrably the true foundation of civilisation. That is ¬ fertile, accessible, living soil.

For soils to feed us well they need themselves to be fed well.

THE ANSWER LIES IN THE SOIL

Abundance from Small Spaces 01

SOIL AND LIFE – NEGLECT IT AT OUR PERIL

We neglect soil at our peril. Within historical memory (i.e. written records) Syria was a forest kingdom, Iraq the birthplace of agriculture and Libya the bread¬basket of the Roman Empire.

I expect anyone reading this will be familiar with the essential components of soil:

● Mineral fraction (sand, silt, clay)
● Humus
● Air and water
● Adequate soil structure to admit and retain these

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Nature Did It First (and Best).

February 24, 2016

Leaf lettuce plantation in hydroponics system

NATURE DID IT FIRST (AND BEST).

Aquaponics are a very interesting development in the world of permaculture and offer some great benefits and advantages. Let’s take a look at hydroponics and aquaponics to see what they offer, and how aquaponics functions in comparison to hydroponics.

Hydroponics – the ingenious and highly optimized system of growing plants in water. Commercially available nutrients provide all that is needed for the reservoir and after these nutrients have been added the growing begins. This is really great for those who want to hit the ground running.

Careful attention needs to be paid when adding elements to the system though as it needs to be completely sterile. This sterile system uses a flood and drain technique allows for fertigation (fertilization and irrigation at the same time) and optimal water as well as nutrient levels. Of course, there are many supplements available to maintain the perfect nutrient levels, for the right price.

As previously mentioned, absolutely everything that comes in contact with a hydroponic system must be sterilized in order to ensure that pythium, otherwise known as root rot, doesn’t take hold and destroy one’s plants. This fungus is an absolute scourge in hydroponics. The temperature of the system needs to be kept below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything above that temperature and the root rot will have a prime environment.

Regular dumping of the water makes sure that the nutrient imbalances that inevitably developed are controlled. There is eventual build up of the nutrients that are supplied in mineral form, and this needs to be balanced out again. This is tested by checking for electrical conductivity in the water due to all the salts and minerals added. Dumping this water can be tricky if there isn’t a safe and convenient location though.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Food Freedom: Backyard Strategies You Can Try Today

February 24, 2016

Food Freedom: Backyard Strategies You Can Try Today

Food freedom – now that’s a loaded statement. Is there such a thing? How many of you go to the store every week to get produce and meat? I would venture to guess almost all of us. Over the last several years, a substantial amount of our wealth has gone into purchasing food staples like meat, eggs and dairy. Even though we were “technically” making our way out of the recession of 2008, prices still continued to steadily rise. I was even more frustrated when country of origin labels were removed and serious health-related superbugs were present in packaged meat.

For years, I have placed a lot of focuson finding ways to be more sustainable. I was tired of living a life in a dependency-driven system and wanted to make more sustainable choices. Admittedly, I still go to the grocery store, but I have taken significant strides to break away from it. I no longer purchase meat, eggs and most produce. I either raise my own food sources or find them locally. This has saved us from the ever volatile price increases of grocery stores that many are dealing with.

I also made some drastic changes around the house. While many believe the first steps toward food freedom are the most difficult to take, I found them to be the most rewarding and only encouraged me to be bolder in my pursuits. In a long-term emergency scenario, I knew that I needed the land I have to work for me. Therefore, I started raising my own food sources. The following are four of the easiest steps to take to become more sustainable in raising one’s own food and can be done in the convenience of a backyard.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

What I learned from my 2015 garden

January 16, 2016

What I learned from my 2015 garden

Once again in 2015 I put on my garden scientist hat and went into the garden to plant, observe, ponder, harvest, weed, curse, and wonder. Like any year, it had its highlights, its low spots, and its head-scratchers. Here I’ll let you all in on the fun (it was fun, sometimes, when it wasn’t exasperating) while trying to keep it fun for you to read. Am I up to it? If you read on, you’ll soon find out.

2015: the summary

For the past three years I have been conducting a scientific experiment in my vegetable garden to determine how the garden responds to soil mineral balancing as described in Steve Solomon’s book The Intelligent Gardener. I based the amount of the mixed amendments that I used in 2015 on the discussion I had with a gardening mentor, as I mentioned in this post, and followed the planting instructions for potatoes that are also discussed in that post. In addition, in 2015 I increased the amount of space I allowed for some crops to match more closely to the semi-intensive spacings in Solomon’s book Gardening When it Counts, and I trialed some new crop varieties and planting procedures. But I didn’t do one thing that my gardening mentor had also suggested. Because I hadn’t purchased enough cottonseed meal in early spring to use for side-dressing, I was unable to side-dress the long-season, high-demand crops as he had suggested.

With that said, here’s a summary of garden performance in 2015

1. In general, crop yields remained the same or increased compared to the past two years. For a few crops yields increased by large factors. A few crop yields decreased compared to previous years.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Legumes in the Kitchen: They Are Not Just For Nitrogen-Fixing

January 5, 2016

LEGUMES IN THE KITCHEN: THEY ARE NOT JUST FOR NITROGEN-FIXING

When it comes to legumes, I come from a fortunate background. Born and raised in the southern Louisiana, where cuisine is something entirely different than the rest of the United States, food has long been a product of love and cherish. It deserves devotion. It is given time. Louisianans know the value of doing it slow. Consequently, I grew up intrinsically aware of the worth, nutritionally and palatably, of a home-cooked meal.

What’s more is that, in Louisiana, food comes from the earth. It’s a state full of food festivals and festivities centered around locally produced food. I grew up knowing the time to buy watermelon or the season for crawfish, and I grew up sharing a table with extended family, all of us licking our fingers clean of spices and sauces. We know how to eat. We know how to cook. And, around the country, the world even (though people don’t realize that Cajun is of Louisiana), our flavors are renown.

All of this is to say that, for me, moving into permaculture, the constant inclusion of legumes as a powerful garden element is nothing short of miraculous. In Louisiana, we are a bean-and-rice eating people. Traditionally, Mondays are for one of our signature dishes: red beans and rice, often with homemade sausage. For New Year’s Day, black-eyed peas (a variety of cowpeas) and cabbage are tradition for bringing in health and wealth in the months to come. We eat beans all the time.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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