Are you growing herbs and vegetables at home?

There has been quite a revival or is it renaissance in growing herbs and vegetables at home recently.

The beauty of growing at home is that the gardener knows where this food has come from, what he has used to grow it, and when it will be ready to harvest.

Square Foot Gardening
Square Foot Gardening

The produce tends to be fresh, packed full of nutrients, tastes delicious.

With more and more people are joining this healthy pursuit, we thought an interview with a true Garden expert would be of interest to you all.

There are a number of experts in the field of ‘How to Grow ‘ today we are interviewing  the Square Foot Garden Guru – Mel Bartholomew

You can listen to the interview at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends.

Square Foot Gardening

It’s been a few years since Mel introduced us to space saving vegetable growing.

Today it seems even more appropriate as a way to “Garden in Less Space with Less Work using Less Water”.

We hope you enjoy this first interview with Mel, do let us know what you think and please send us your ideas, suggestions, comments and requests to info@growingtrends.org

Ann & Chris

Growing Trends Ann & Chris

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Are we rediscovering a sense of community?

Today’s interview is really fascinating, our friends Bill Sosinsky and Rich Sapienza of Energime University discuss, coming trends, in particular the growing sense of community involvement. Community gardens the modern name for an ‘Allotment’ is a case in point.

Allotment
Allotment

The growing popularity of farmers markets, are helping to provide locally grown produce, that is grown in season, rather than having all food always available. There are some real benefits to eating ‘for want of a better word’ the right vegetables for the season.

Could you grow these?
Could you grow these?

We talk about water usage and the changes coming. To how we will all have to change some of our habits in these new times. In the meantime we all need to reconnect with nature, spend time to just take a stroll in a garden or park.

tree lined

You can hear our latest interview at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

Ann & Chris would love to hear from you with suggestions for shows or just a comment about this show, you can find us on Facebook at  Growing Trends

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Some quick & easy ways to grow Herbs & Veggies at home.

One of our Hort Cuisine Kits
One of our Hort Cuisine Kits

Returning to growing your own Herbs & Veggies is taking on a new importance these days with the changes to our weather patterns, the realisation that many pesticides, insecticides and mass growing techniques are not necessarily the most efficient, cost effective or even healthy way for us to provide for our food needs.

Ann & I thought we would explore the various ways we knew how you can grow at home – we may have missed an idea or two, for which we apologise in advance ( please do send us your ideas and we will add them to our blog post).

Square Foot Gardening

Most people start by growing basic Herbs , then move on to the Tomatoes, Potatoes, Garlic, Lettuce, Spinach, Corn, Onions, Carrots, Beets, Garlic, Leeks, Chicory, Asparagus, Beans, Cucumbers, Zucchini ( Courgette), Squash, Sweet Potatoes, etc, etc.

Generally the ideal prerequisites for growing are, although these can be ‘created’ artificially these days.

A sunny site

Space to grow

Time to tend to plants.

1. Adding  plants to an existing landscaped garden.

The easiest and simplest method is to introduce plants into your existing shrub planting beds. You would be amazed at what herbs and veggies can grow symbiotically with your favorite flowers and shrubs, some are even edible ( Take a look at a book we recently reviewed called Eat your Roses – by Denise Schrieber ) . .

Eat your roses

When we interviewed the creators of this beautiful garden last year and found lots and lots of herbs, vegetables and fruits growing next to the flowers and shrubs.

Delectable edible landscape

2.Grow herbs & some veggies in pots.

You can use virtually any pot for this or you can purchase additional features to make the arrangement much more interesting.

Here a simple pot of herbs near to the kitchen door.

Painting trellis white adds interest
A simple herb pot

By adding a special rod system inside the pots, you can make the arrangement much more interesting and space efficient.

Stack-able herb pot

3. Square Foot Gardens – invented by Mel Bartholomew some years ago this is a fantastic solution for those with either a small space or for those who want an effective herb & growing method in a confined space.

Square Foot Gardening

If you want to you can add all manner of amazing refinements as seen here in this Chelsea Flower Show exhibit.

An example from a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit
An example from a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit

4. A traditional ‘allotment or community garden.

Allotment
Allotment

5. From a bygone era when labour wasn’t an issue and doing things on a grand scale no matter what it was, was considered the way..

Simply stunning !
Simply stunning !

We will spend a little time with each style, in the coming days, in the meantime you can listen to our podcast at www.growingtrends.org  as we talk to a variety of guests from a passionate young mother, to a group of school teachers and to Mel Bartholomew,

Hort Cuisine anyone ?
Hort Cuisine anyone ?

Do drop us a line with your thoughts and ideas..

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Eating fresh local food

It’s time to start growing vegetables and herbs at home, it’s even more important this year here in the USA with the terrible drought in California that has cut water usage by 25%.

The most effective is the Square Foot Garden method invented by Mel Bartholomew. We will be interviewing Mel on our podcast very soon. You can find his book Square Foot gardening – A new way to garden in less space with less work at any good book store.

Square Foot Gardening

For those who do not have a garden space, our latest interview on our podcast at www.growingtrends.org is for you.

Ann and I were privileged to interview Nellie, she is a young mother who is passionate about eating fresh produce on a low budget.

Our interview is inspiring for those who want to find the best way to eat local fresh food.  Nellie will explain how to balance your budget and yet find good healthy fresh food.

This is one very astute lady, who is passionate about food – she happens to be a good cook too.

 

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How would you plan a new landscape?

With just a few more weeks to Spring, some of us are looking to make changes in the appearance of our garden landscapes.

As we plan some Spring shows we wanted to ask you our readers and listeners  how you would plan a project.

Water feature

 

Where would you look for ideas?

[polldaddy poll=8679930]

Thank you so much for your help,

Ann & Chris would love to hear from you with additional comments, suggestions, or if you need some ideas, just complete the form below.

You can hear our latest show at www.growingtrends.org  or on iTunes at  Growing Trends

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Country: Growing Trends -Sustainability for the world today

Ann and Chris interview Rich Sapienza and Bill Sosinsky  we talk about sustainable solutions for the world today. It's fascinating, interesting and very enlightening. Sustainability must work on its own, grow on its own, support itself with the built-in ability … Continue reading

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With Spring around the corner let’s think about water.

A somewhat unusual pathway
A somewhat unusual pathway

We have all rather taken water for granted over the years. Today for some it is becoming a topic of conversation, for others it is a topic of concern, and for yet others they are not sure if or when they will see enough potable water again.

Many European countries have developed system to recapture and reuse water more than once, others have quite simple systems of returning water as quickly as possible back to the aquifer ( it’s still a long process).

North America is waking up to the idea that extended droughts mean much more serious water conservation, something South American countries have been struggling with for quite some time.

As homeowners there are a number of ways to help preserve our dwindling water supplies, some are very effective others not so, but as they say every little helps.

The simplest is, I suppose the rainwater barrel, it will collect up to 40 gallons of water ( which means it just needs about 1/3rd of inch of rainfall for each downpipes to fill one). It’s best to keep out of full sun as in hot areas the water could become rather too hot for use on plants.

water barrels

A slightly improved version of this would be a cistern, as seen below, they were often circular for strength. – this particular one would be quite costly.

Brick cistern

Today  a much more interesting wrapped interlocking framing system has been devised – the ground is excavated and a waterproof membrane is laid on the sub base then filled with rectangular ‘Versitanks’. – These tanks can be from very small single units to many hundreds as seen here.

Underground-Stormwater-Tanks-and-Drainage-Sheets-with-Lighweight-Design-from-Elmich-Australia-406773-l

These can be almost any size or shape.

To get the surface water to these storage vessels requires a few more modifications to the current surface water run off arrangements.

The first is a simple slot drain to divert the water from a surface, such as this car parking area.

Collecting water from a car park area

They can also be used at home to collect water from a driveway, here the downpipes will also be connected to the slot drain and probably then run to a soakaway.

House driveway

So what’s a soakaway? well most folks in England will know this, however my colleagues in the USA are just not as familiar with these simple victorian solutions to collecting water for returning to the aquifer.

brick rubble soaraway

In it’s simplest form all that is required is a hole filled with porous material – such as the brick version above. Drainage pipes run to this and water then is able to slowly seep back into the sub strata. ( Not a good idea in heavy clay soils as it will take way too long)

This much larger version is able to hold a huge amount of water, which can be reused for irrigation or just returned to the aquifer.

Larger version

The collection method from say a down pipe is quite simple, involving a gulley pot .

Gulley pot

A simple gulley pot is used to ‘grab’ the water before directing it to the drainage pipe. Below the gulley pot has a downpipe collector, and a slot drain collector and localized surface drain all in one unit.

Gulley

Once the water has been collected it’s a simple matter to design a recycling system.

In it’s simplest form, often used by early Egyptians a localized storage vessel often made of clay was used right next to say a fruit tree.

localised watering

Next came a slightly larger arrangement, although if you try this remember water can heat up, this might not be healthy for plants…

water barrels

Finally a rather more sophisticated system that addresses many issues and is virtually hidden from view.

Complete system

This next system requires , quite a lot of time, planning and expense, but in warmer climates it is probably the future solution. Perhaps the lawn will need to be re thought as, it would seem to me that growing more fresh produce is a much wiser use of the space.

Complete system

Our web site www.grotrends.com will have details of our upcoming radio shows and podcasts on this subject, you may also visit iTunes for a recent show or www.growingtrends.org

Ann & Chris would love to hear from you with ideas and suggestions for the show, please drop us a line at info@grotrends.com

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We’ve added a Growing Trends podcast

Growing trends podcast logo 1400

We started the year with the aim of adding some improvements to our website, blog and internet radio show..

One of the things we did was to add a podcast which you can now find on iTunes and our podcast site  www.growingtrends.org

Our main website is still at www.grotrends.com  the new format is taking shape and we would love to hear from you with ideas & suggestions.

Growing Trends internet radio is all about fascinating people. People who are passionate about our natural environment, sustainability, their gardens, their landscapes along with the experts that help them. Our talks with these amazing people are, informative, educational, fun often anecdotal. You can listen to them at anytime here “Listen Here” or on our podcast at “www.growingtrends.org”

Our new  show format starting in January will have five segments:

Time to Eat : –   All about growing Herbs & Vegetables

An example from a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit
An example from a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit

Gardenesque : – Everything to do with Gardens & Landscapes

The rose arbor was connected to the house by the pathway.
The rose arbor was connected to the house by the pathway.

World Wide WEsponsibility : – A more serious look at sustainability and how we might help our planet.

WorldWideWEsponsibility

Face Time : – Interviews with experts on topics of interest.

Let's dance !
Let’s dance !

Book Reviews : – We are delighted to announce that we have started to interview authors of books linked to :-

Nature,

The Environment,

Vegetable Gardens & Landscape Design

Current and past book reviews are displayed in our Book Review sector, along with details of the Authors, Publishers and most importantly, how to obtain these gems..

Ann & Chris invite you to write to them with ideas, suggestions and comments to info@grotrends.com

Interesting, Serious, Informative, Entertaining & often Fun.

Drop in and take a look…….

shark

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Country : Growing Trends – Introducing Energime University

World Wide WEsponsibility Bill Sosinsky, Founder, Co-Owner, and CEO of The Energime Family of Companies including Energime Sustainable Technologies, Energime Power, Energime Energy Efficiency and is the Chairman of the Board for The Energime Foundation. Bill is also the Founder … Continue reading

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Growing Trends is listened to in 48 countries, our new program is all about people like you, from all over the world.

An opportunity from Ann and Chris, but first we wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

We would like to hear from you with ideas, comments and suggestions for our shows drop us a line at info@grotrends.com

We have been making changes to Growing Trends our internet based radio show.

Listen at www.grotrends.com
Listen at www.grotrends.com

Our new daily show starts in January 2015, we will have five segments:

Time to Eat – All about growing Herbs & Vegetables

Gardenesque – Everything to do with Gardens & Landscapes

World Wide Wesponsibility – A more serious look at sustainability and how we might all help our planet.

Face Time – Interviews with experts on topics of interest

Book Reviews – Interviews with authors of books relating to the environment, nature and garden landscaping.

Perhaps we could interview you for our Face Time segment? …. just drop us a line and we will contact you.

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