Dividing and Fragmenting Mosses | Moss and Stone Gardens The best way to propagate moss is by taking a larger piece and dividing it into smaller pieces, then transplanting them apart from one another and encouraging them to grow together. Once moss has covered a surface it will begin adding new growth in the form of thickness, essentially growing on top of itself. While this mature thick growth is ultimately the goal and offers the best weed suppression, it does not maximize their spreading. If you are trying to increase coverage then dividing will speed the process. To ensure the highest level of survival, larger divisions offer stability and control. The tearing and shredding to divide or fragment signals the moss to begin new growth. Pleurocarpous mosses will respond to fragmentation techniques much faster than acrocarpous mosses will. Any part of a pleuro is viable for regeneration. Acrocarpous mosses that have been fragmented may need 6 months or more to anchor themselves and another 12 months to multiply. David Spain a.k.a.
Grow Your Own Truffles You don’t have to send cash to unfriendly foreign countries to enjoy black truffles anymore; this pungent and precious fungi is now being grown right here in good ole’ redneck North Carolina. WARNING! Despite the grandiose claims by Garland Truffles that it’s reasonable to make $25,000 per acre growing truffles, there are many well-documented failures. Our bottom line was that while there is a promise of $25k/acre yield, and daily hand-weeding and care for the years preceding the harvest can easily eat-up the profits . . . The State of North Carolina department of Agriculture did a $250,000 truffle grant in 2003 and the results for the foirst truffle harvest will be available in 2009. See my updated truffle notes here, and DO NOT pay for a visit to Garland Truffles (they charged me over $1,000 for my group) until you have checked the NC State data from their truffle grants. “The optimal site for a truffle orchard is an open area with good southern exposure. Scout, the hungry pony
Window Farming: A Do-It-Yourself Veggie Venture 10 Cheap Gardening Methods To Food Independence Alex Pietrowski, Staff WriterWaking Times The issue of food quality and food independence is of critical importance these days, and people are recognizing just how easy and fun it is to grow your own food at home. When renegade gardener Ron Finley said, “growing your own food is like printing money,” he was remarking on the revolutionary nature of re-establishing control over your health and your pocket book as a means of subverting the exploitative and unhealthy food systems that encourage the over-consumption of processed and fast foods. Thanks to the internet, the availability of parts and materials, and good old-fashioned ingenuity, there is a wide range of in-home, and in-apartment, gardening systems that are easy to construct and maintain, and that can provide nutritious, organic, and low-cost food for you and your family. Aquaponics Read: Aquaponic Gardening: A Step-By-Step Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together Vertical Gardening Simple Greenhouse Designs Composting
our.windowfarms 1) Translated by: Windowfarms Core Team. Welcome to the Instructions for MAMA! The Windowfarms Version 3.0 Modular Airlift Multicolumn Array (MAMA). Please make sure you have registered on our.windowfarms.org, including having accepted the terms of service for participating in this open design community project. Registering will pass on to you a royalty-free license for you to use this community developed patent pending design for non-commercial purposes. Please use the Feedback button on the right to submit your ideas, questions, test results, and praise. ---------> Remember that this is an citizen technology project, so if you have an idea or an issue, research and develop it yourself (R&D-I-Y)! 2) Getting Started: Download and print the Windowfarms v3.0 parts list. 3) Section 1: Bottle Covering Each Windowfarm v3.0 column is made of 5 bottles: 4 plant bottles and 1 bottom reservoir bottle. 5) Fill an empty bottle with about 2"(5 cm) of water to weigh it down.
Mushroom Garden Patches by Terri Marie Beauséjour Copyright 1999, all rights reserved. Have you ever considered growing mushrooms in your garden? In fact, many varieties will thrive nicely with little or no maintenance. Agaricus species (the Portobello, the Prince, the Horse Mushroom, etc.) are adaptable to grassy areas among trees. Edible Tricholomas growing in a Garden in Thailand. Intrigued? You should begin by taking a fresh view of your garden or landscape from a new perspective; analyze its "fungamentals." Note conditions of sun and shade, wind and humidity. The beautiful irony is that many substrates suitable for fungi are also beneficial to the garden itself, and most can be obtained for little or no investment, as they are often considered "waste materials" or by-products. Once you have considered the possibilities, you should determine what mushroom varieties are suitable and desirable. Because you will more quickly analyze and interpret the conditions and microclimates which favor their growth.
A Year Round Garden using a Vertical Hydroponic Farm AMNH\R. MickensAMNH/Windowfarms Imaging having fresh lettuce and herbs available any day, any season. We previously introduced you to the windowfarms idea back in May of 2011, when they were just training people to make window gardens using plastic bottles. The Brooklyn-based company has expanded their operations and even created a commercial product — a set of four vertically hanging pots and the water system to grow plants will set you back $179. You can buy your own set of windowfarms at their website. The garden display holds 280 plants a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. <div class="slide-intro-bottom"><a href="
Brooklyn Farms - CLOSED - Nurseries & Gardening - Carroll Gardens - Brooklyn, NY - Reviews - Photos - Yelp Topper's Place - Pop Bottle Pots - Recycled bottles, make self-watering planters Pop Bottle Pots... I've never been a rich person and mostly work too many hours. So I've had to learn to do things on a tight budget for both time and money. I have done a lot of do-it-yourself projects. I've been making and using pop bottle pots for years... Here's a finished pop bottle pot from in my greenhouse. Using Pop Bottle Pots as seed starters... Here are some pics taken and sent in by visitor that tried out my bottle pot idea to make a seed starter. Here we have a couple of pics that Rachel from OHG sent to share. Ready to make your own Pop Bottle Pot? You'll have to play around with it a bit to get it just right. First we'll cut the bottle... Put the bottle on your table, and measure up about 5 inches. cut the bottle all the way around. Turn the top of the bottle upside down and place it in the bottle bottom. If it's loose and doesn't want to stay in - you cut the bottle too close toward the bottom end, grab another bottle and make the cut closer to the neck end...
Recycled Pop/Soda Bottle SIPs The sub-irrigated planter (SIP) to the left was made from a 3-liter diet Pepsi bottle (see prior post also see how to make them). While it is good news about a new and greener Pepsi bottle, it looks like the days of straight-sided 2 and 3-liter soda bottles are numbered. That is not good news for making soda bottle SIPs. Coke has already gone curvy. As you can see, a Spider plant is growing in a curvy SIP but it is more difficult to make and not nearly as flexible in design options. Contouring adds strength and perhaps some visual appeal but it is not so green. Recycling is good but upcycling or repurposing is even better. Having grown plants in them for many years, I believe it could be justified to make them as a primary product. Clear soda bottle SIPs should be helping to grow plants inside every school in the world. Clear SIPs teach recycling, water conservation, some basic plant science as well as an introduction to edible plant growing. via:crispgreen.com
Best Shade-Tolerant Vegetables Even in shady conditions, you can bask in great garden harvests if you choose the right crops and make a few easy adjustments. By Colleen Vanderlinden When considering which crops to grow in shady areas, think of them in terms of leaves and roots. Crops we grow for their leaves (kale, lettuce, spinach) and those we grow for their roots (beets, carrots, turnips) will do fairly well in partially shady conditions. (The crops we grow for their fruits — such as eggplants, peppers and tomatoes — really do need at least six hours of full sun per day.) To learn more about how to grow crops in shady gardens, check out Best Vegetables to Grow in the Shade. The estimates in this chart are based on the experiences of the author and the experts mentioned in Best Vegetables to Grow in the Shade.
Home Hydroponic: Windowfarm | Naturally Earth Friendly Hydroponics is possible for apartment renters who don’t have a backyard. Turn your sunny windows into a micro-farm utilizing the hydroponic system created by WindowFarms. Using only about $3.16 per year to run a 4-column unit, this is an economical way to grow your own produce. Fresh and organic produce can be yours, even for those who don’t have yard space. From ApartmentTherapy.com: In order to help urban dwellers grow food inside their apartment all year long, Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray developed Window Farms — vertical, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield edible window gardens built using low-impact or recycled local materials. They’ve since written How-To manuals, downloadable from their website, with instructions on how to build your own system from scratch, and are working to produce fully prepped kits available for purchase. What is a Windowfarm? From WindowFarms.org: Video: The WindowFarms Project Image: WindowFarms Diagram Conclusion: WindowFarms is Great