Posters

Clara's Thoughts

Our group project with a concentration on Fredericton is about making people decide to grow a garden with food instead of having a useless lawn. It is important to create conscience about this because of the bad use people give to garden space. Lawns only have grass, when they could actually have a contribution to the community and the family in the house if only plants and vegetables/fruits were there instead. The contribution to the community is that when a person consumes food from their own garden, they are not promoting the purchase of imported foods from other countries, which is bad for the economy and society. Fredericton has a lot of spaces dedicated only to lawns, so the proposal of getting people in here to get to know about planting food is a good step forward.

Hello my name is Clara. My part in the ‘Grow Food, Not Lawns’ group project was to create and administer the Facebook page for it. Every week, new helpful and practical posts about gardening tips and such were posted in order to give a social approach to learning about this matter. I posted a simple yet informative description of what the goal of the group was in the Facebook page and kept a nice layout of it for the page to have a good appeal for people of all ages. Having a Facebook page for our group is necessary because this media is what people use the most nowadays, and it is a very efficacious way of reaching people. Facebook makes it very easy to transmit our ideas for the Food Not Lawns group, and I was glad I could keep it updated.

Oliver's Thoughts

In the aftermath of this group assignment I learned how to blog on the online site that we had created for whatever useful information we could pull up on vegetable gardens and how you should grow them instead of lawns. I was able to learn interesting information about the environment and how it is affected by us growing lawns along with the new skill of creating pull strip posters with contact information located on the bottom of the posters. Nearing the end of the assignment I learned how useful it could be for the planet if we grew vegetable gardens for the better.

I feel I brought the same amount of useful ideas and skills to the group as equally as everyone else helping out with the posters and what interesting things we could put on them to peak the readers interest. Along with cheesy catch phrases to sell them, I also being in the group with all the guys in the class along with half girls have brought a male perspective and mindset to the assignment as well. In the end I feel the group benefited from what I had to offer them in this semester. 

Bryden's Thoughts

Whilst working on this project that is encompasses turning any free and basically unused space to cultivate food. I had no prior knowledge on the particular subject previous to doing the project. As one of the contributors to our regular blog posts, I immediately started to pick up knowledge about the feasibility “Food Not Lawns” movement as I was submitting my part of our weekly posts. Mainly I learned that there are a wide variety of plants can be grown indoors as well as inside the house. Along with the fact of it not just pertaining to lawns but also urban areas of concrete/pavement being converted into a garden area. This one sociology project opened my mind up to the idea of Food Not Lawns and I am glad to have the new knowledge on this important social movement.

I personally worked on weekly contributions to the blog as previously stated. These posts consisted of strategies on growing herbs indoors such as the different varieties that can grow indoors as well as specific details that create your home into the most hospitable environment for plant growing. Also I shared stumbled upon some commonly unknown tips that consist of plant food solutions to some insects that will help your houseplant flourish. Additionally I submitted an entry on how to be successful in growing your own sprouts with precise instructions that will aid in a stress-free sprout-growing endeavor.    

Bryden

Homero's Thoughts

Hey Amigos!

Let me congratulate you on finding this piece of gold in the Internet! Food Not Lawns Fredericton is a group of St. Thomas University students that started because of a Sociology Class project, now? I think it is a bit bigger than that, the hits on our blog have amazed all of us and the fact that we reach other places of the world makes us feel happy and proud of our work. This group gives the opportunity for each member to exploit the abilities each one has, group members work in what they like to and to their strengths. We have regular communication and everyone is always informed of what is going on with the blog, which makes it easier to grow and improve. I hope you guys like our work and hope you get along with this great idea of growing your own food.

My name is Homero and I am from Quito, Ecuador. I am part of the Food not Lawns Fredericton group. I was the one in charge to create a promotional video for our cause. My grain of sand to the group was to try and figure out the best way to get our message out there and get the curiosity and interest the viewers. I decided to go with a simple straightforward video, no facts, or procedures on how to create your own garden that comes later. With my video I just answered a question, why grow your own food? The answer? Our blog, everything you have to know and all how have to do with regular updates. I guess my job was to get you interested and present you to the job of the rest of my group members. I choose to do these because I love making videos, and I know a couple of things on how to do them. If you haven’t seen the video here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYmDXwq6NIo. SHARE IF YOU CARE! Through this project I have realized of how easy and rewarding it is to grow your own food and is something I plan to encourage and hope you do it to!

Ryan's Thoughts

Food not lawns is a wonderful idea that has spread across the globe, from America to China this is a rapidly expanding concept. A couple months ago a handful of us started our own group here in Fredericton and it has been a minor success! We haven’t received the amount of attention I would have hoped for but we do have a base of people from all over the world who watch what we do! Our concept of the perfect front lawn is a fallacy! A falsehood! What’s the point of growing grass when you could grow food? A misconception that many have is that lawn care is easier than garden care, this is not true! From what I’ve learned if you grow the right things they will take care of them self! Another direction I’ve tried to take the group is city gardening, for example the pop bottle garden. I hope this project has encouraged people to grow their own, even in the city. Another thing I hope for is the continuation of this group, passing the reigns to another fist year sociology group may be a good plan. We’ve broken some ground with our group but it’s only the beginning, if this continues this could bear fruit. One semester is not long enough to get a whole community involved at the level I think its needs to be at. That being said we did a good job but I have high hopes for the future!

Hey everyone I'm Ryan. In our group I was the other blogger, that being said it was mostly Paige, I only know the basics of blogging! I researched some cool things like the pop bottle garden, Paige and I discovered egg shell seedling starters which were an awesome way to reduce and reuse. I like the use of the blog but I find it hard to navigate, Facebook is where I would have liked to see more people. I think we did well and people are a little bit more informed about things then before, so over all a win!

Gina's Thoughts

Hello bloggers! Thank you for following our journey on helping to promote why it is important to make your own gardens. This group and blog started as an objective for out projects in our sociology class at St. Thomas University. Our group was to plan and promote how people can have a garden and the benefits of creating one. In order to complete this project, our group had to meet on a weekly basis. We created a blog to help promote our group, “Grow Food Not Lawns”. We decided that we would like to set a goal for the blog; we wanted it to get at least 300 views. This blog reached 400 views and we have viewers from all over the world such as Czech Republic, Argentina and the UK to name a few. This blog far exceeded my expectations. I would have been completely content with having viewers from our own province, so the fact that we have people recognizing our efforts in promoting self-efficiency is incredible!

My job within the group was to find information to share with all of you bloggers so you can have facts about how to start your own garden whether it was indoors or out and also how much starting a garden would cost. As well, I researched some of the health benefits of growing your own garden. By doing just simple research, it really opened my eyes to how important it is to be able to have some level of self-efficiency. Not only do you get food that isn’t sprayed with horrible chemicals and is overpriced, but I learned that it helps to eliminate stress! Whether you have yard space or not is irrelevant because you can grow lots of different foods inside of your home. This project became more than a project for me, it became a new outlook on how I should be living my life. We should all take the initiative to try and grow our own food and to help promote it also!

Thanks for following the blog!
Gina

Two Of The Posters

Hey everyone, we apologize that the posters are not in color unfortunately we did not have access to a color printer. At the bottom it is a scan code for smartphones that leads you to this blog.

Zachary`s Thoughts

Hello everyone, as I’m sure other members of this group have said, we have been focusing on the Food Not Lawns movement, mainly in the city of Fredericton. Grow Food Not Lawns is a group devoted to the reduction of pesticides and the increase in home gardening. Rather than destroying good soil with harmful chemicals, why not create an ecological garden in that empty lot located in your front yard. Our group has been kept up via Facebook and a blog located on blogger.com. It has been taken care of by members who have been updating the blog and Facebook page, locating information in order to keep our group and our viewers up-to-date, keeping our group “in line” so to speak, and finally poster and promotional video makers as well as informants for people who do not know about the Food Not Lawns movement.

My name is Zac and I have taken up the opportunity to create posters and be one of the informants that I previously spoke of. My job was to come up with attention-grabbing posters, which to my surprise, was a little more difficult than I expected; and go throughout the university and find people to check out our Facebook and blogger pages – this was mainly done throughout my residence. This way we – our group – could find younger members who would hopefully become passionate about the Food Not Lawns movement and help bring this lovely city to a new, greener, more ecofriendly place in the world.

Emily's Thoughts

Food Not Lawns Fredericton is a group of eleven St. Thomas sociology intro students. Each student was given a designated task to complete and then report back at the start of the next week. Our group had it's own blog containing useful information about how to turn your lawn into a garden, we had a Facebook page where information and videos were posted and we had a promotional video for our blog, and posters were made to up around Fredericton to spread the word. The blog and the Facebook page have been very successful in getting the information out; we have had views from all over the world!

My name is Emily and I am one of the Facebook page administrators. I, along with my partner, set out to find information and helpful videos to post on the page. A lot of the information that we used came from the blog, we would only takes part of the information and then tell the reader that the rest can be found on our blog. When first beginning this, I never knew why it was important to grow food not lawns, but from finding all of the information for the page and watching videos on it, I actually learned a lot of neat, new tips. The page has been very successful in getting the public involved, we currently have over sixty likes on the page, and it keeps slowly growing!

Kristine's Thoughts

In honour of our sociology class we decided as a group that our goal would be to bring as much information possible that could be accessible to anyone and everyone who wanted to participate to the movement Grow Food Not Lawns. It was not always easy but we did manage to keep things together with a little effort from everyone. With such a big group, eleven to be exact, it was hard to find times to meet that would accommodate everyone so we decided on putting a Facebook group in motion to keep in contact and insure everything is going to plan. The blog was a bonus, we thought it would be great and accessible as well as being able to keep daily journals of our learning’s.

This was a very big group but everyone came in with a positive attitude and the same no-time-to-spare attitude. We got right to business giving everyone task to complete for the next meeting. We had the head blogger and her assistant sort to speak, then 3 blogger. He had someone making a publicity video and two other making posters that we are placing around Fredericton. We also had two of our girls managing and posting the best of our blog post to a Facebook page “Food Not Lawns”. My job was to coordinate all of these projects and assure that everyone had what they needed to follow through with the blog and other project. I was also in charge of coming into contact with multiple people for help, ideas and references.

All in all, our group worked well. We ran into bumps in the road but nothing that our group could not work out, it was wonderful working with them I am proud to say that we did a great job of getting our information out there.

Kristine

Kathryn's Thoughts

Food not Lawns was a group created for our sociology class. As a group we tried to inform people about their options when it comes to gardening. We tried to influence people to grow a garden instead of a lawn. As a group we worked together to make a blog. Everyone had a job to contribute to the project. Our goal was to make people aware of how they can make a garden and save money and eat healthy. Our group, created Facebook groups and a blog with information added every week.

Hi I am Kathryn, and I am one of the “researchers” in the Food not Lawns group. Everyone week I took time to look for interesting information about gardening. Some of the information I found was for beginner gardeners and some of the more advanced gardeners. Other information was fun facts about gardening, for example what grows best in our province and when is the best time for year to grow! I found the information very interesting, before this project I didn’t know very much about gardening but now I have a better understanding.

Paige's Thoughts

Hey there everyone,

First I would like to thank you folks for following us along our path. We truly do hope that we have inspired some of you to create your very own garden. This started out as a sociology project for our introduction course at St. Thomas University, which soon turned into something bigger. I did not expect to have over 300 views on our blog, nor did I expect to see so many different countries represented in our viewers. For all those interested we have had viewers from Canada, the United States, Germany, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Argentina, China and even the Czech Republic. I am truly in shock and awe at this.

Our group, like many people now-a-days keeps in touch via Facebook, keeping everyone up to date on what is going on, what needs to be sent to whom, and which of the two bloggers would be charged with the task of insuring the blog was updated each week. We had one person who was in charge of creating a promotional video, three information gathers, two members where admins for the public Facebook page, two people were in charge of creating posters and the final person was our group project manager.

Grow Food Not Lawns is an idea that sparked in Oregon and has since been heard the world over thanks to readers like you and the work that locale chapters have accomplished. With great gardening tips already out there it is easy to see how simple becoming somewhat self sustainable can be. Is it not better to know where your food is coming from? To have the health benefits of growing pesticide free fruits, vegetables and herbs. To grow as a family by planting even one garden bed or to grow as a community by starting a community garden or even sparking the neighbours attention and interest by you having a little garden of your own. The possibilities are endless and I hope you soon discover this for yourselves. Personally as it stands at the moment I do not have a garden, but trust me this summer I will be growing my own herbs on my deck and trying to grow my own vegetables as well. I do not have the greenest thumb but with these great tips located throughout the blog I am certain that even I can spread a little green on this planet. After all we only have one planet to live on and we better take care of it.

My name is Paige and I am the person who is in charge of the blog, the head blogger so to speak. There is also another person helping me out with the blog who you will hear from later on. It has been my job to insure that this blog gets updated on a regular bases, informing our readers what is going on, posting these tips and giving a hand to the other blogger. The layout and design of the blog is also my task, as I was the only one of the eleven of us who knew how to use blogger to begin with. Therefore it made logical sense to place me in charge of it. Three of the group members would send myself or the other blogger a weekly write up, video link or piece of interesting information to be included into the blog. It would be our job to post this information and also to find extra information, links and such to add into the blog. I also created two of the posters that are going to be spread around the city.

Benefits To Gardening

While it can be an opportunity for solitude, gardening can also offer a wide social circle for those seeking like-minded souls. Garden clubs, community gardens, and Master Gardener programs through state extension services all offer a place to connect with others who have a little dirt under their fingernails. Plus there are all the friends you'll make as you share your homegrown bounty.

Some people see a garden as a chore and others see it as a bountiful opportunity for organic, delicious food. In truth, it can be a little bit of both. Still planting a garden produces a long list of benefits with little or no downside.

Physical exertion: Gardening is physical work. Activities such as digging, planting, raking, pruning, weeding, and harvesting provide a physical outlet for the tension we store in our bodies. There’s nothing like a little manual labor to relieve stress.

Sunlight: Gardening exposes you to sunlight and fresh air, both proven mood boosters. It allows you to soak up the vitamin D as well as the light that triggers a happy response in the brain.

Meditation: Anyone who has spent hours weeding the garden understands the meditative quality of the task. Gardening is often repetitive and focused. It offers a quiet space for contemplation. You may feel more clear after time spent in the garden, even if you haven’t been thinking about anything of importance. It allows a space for your brain to take a break.

Perspective: Gardening is an act of hope. We plant seeds and trust that they will grow. Tending to a garden is a way of stepping outside of ourselves and it helps to put things in perspective. Nurturing something outside of ourselves shifts the focus away from self and this can be valuable in times of anxiety and stress.

Nearing The End

We are nearing the end of our project, from here on out it will mostly be our groups reviews and information about what each of us has done. As I have previously said there are eleven of us who all were assigned tasks within the group. Some of us were in charge of the blog, others the Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/FoodNotLawnsFrederictonNb), some in charge of the creation of posters, one created the promotional video (http://foodnotlawnsfredericton.blogspot.ca/2013/03/promotional-video.html), others in charge of gathering information to be placed on the blog and our project manager in charge of keeping us all on task.  We hope that our ideas have inspired you folks to look into the Grow Food Not Lawns movement. Now it can be more then just a lawn you rip up to replace with a garden, it can even be asphalt. A rooftop garden, a balcony garden or even the hanging bottle garden. There are so many great ideas out there, from hydroponics to reusing old palates to create a raised garden. The possibilities are endless! We all should know where our food comes from and have the joys of growing it ourselves. We would love to hear feedback from you folks and hope that this blog was helpful to you. We wish you all well and thank you for following us along our journey.

Quick and Easy Tips for Planting a Vegetable Garden

Water the spot well.

Lay down several layers of newspaper, no glossy colored papers.

Water again.

Put at least 1 inch of soil on top of the papers.

Plant right in this stuff, digging straight through to the ground. Put your plants in holes that are in the ground. If planting seeds, like beans, make sure you have enough soil on top of the paper.

You shouldn’t have too many weeds your first year because the newspaper is stopping them from growing.

In the fall, after your plants have died, till your garden site.


Easy to Grow Veggies:

Bush Beans Tomatoes Lettuce Zucchini

Radishes Broccoli Beets Onions (plant from onion ‘sets’)

Cucumbers Corn Gourds Pumpkins (need a lot of room)

Sprouts

Growing sprouts is actually a pretty simple process. The sprouting process has to happen in nature without the help of human hands, so it is pretty intuitive overall. ~ Information Source: Young and Raw facebook page- http://www.facebook.com/youngandraw?ref=ts&fref=ts

Step 1: Take your sprouting seed of choice, which could be alfalfa seed, broccoli seed, sunflower seeds, chickpeas, whatever you like, and give them a good wash. You can do this by placing them in a colander or strainer and just washing them under running water. If you are using beans, pick through them to remove any stones.

Step 2: Get yourself a large mason or sprouting jar, or a large bowl. Place 1-2 Tbsp of small seed, or 3-4 tbsp of larger beans in your vessel, and cover well with 4-5 times the volume of water. What you are doing in this stage is rehydrating and activating your seeds, so they need lots of water! Allow them to soak overnight.

Step 3: After your seeds have soaked, drain off the extra water, and then give them another good rinse.

Step 4: Store your sprouts either in a sprouting jar, a mason jar that has mesh covering over the opening, stored upside down, or in a colander over a bowl. If you don't have a mesh covering, you can use cheesecloth or even a nylon to put over the top. Sprouting jars are easily found online or at a health food store.

(The idea is that you want to be able to rinse your seeds several times a day, and then give them time to drain so that they do not end up sitting in a pool of water. They need lots of air flow.)

Step 5: Rinse your sprouts or beans 2-3 times a day. Depending upon your seed of choice, you should have sprouts within about 2-5 days. The sprouting process is much faster in hot/humid climates.

Step 6: Transfer your grown sprouts to a glass container and store them in the fridge and enjoy! Be sure to check your sprouts throughout the process for any molding and store them safely in a cool place once they are ready to eat.

Organic vs. Non-Organic

Fact	Non-Organic Food	Organic Food
Nutrients	During processing, non-organic foods lose some nutrients and such nutrients have to be artificially added back to the food.	Organic foods contain more nutrients, that is, a higher amount of minerals and vitamin C.
Fertilizers	Chemical fertilizers are used to provide nutrients for the growth of crops in conventional farming.	Natural fertilizers like green manure and compost are used for the plants and soil in organic farming. If the question is of chemical fertilizers vs organic fertilizers, then chemical fertilizers are obviously more harmful.
Pesticides	In conventional farming, there are over 450 pesticides which are permitted for use. Many of these pesticides are toxic.	Pesticides are not allowed in organic gardening or farming. In certain cases, they may be allowed but only after considering factors like necessity, effect on human health and environmental health.
Herbicides	Herbicides are used in non-organic farming to protect crops from insects and weeds. Herbicides sometimes leave a harmful toxic residue on the plants.	Methods like crop rotation and hand weeding are used instead of herbicides in organic gardening and farming.
Sewage Sludge	Human waste is used as a fertilizer to grow crops in conventional farming. This contaminated sewage sludge may cause diseases.	Use of sewage sludge is not permitted in organic farming.
Irradiation	Non organic food is irradiated, to kill harmful bacteria and other microorganisms. Such radiations might cause diseases in human beings.	Irradiation is avoided in organic farming.
Nitrate Amount	Fertilizers contain nitrate as a common ingredient and this nitrate gets converted to nitrosamines, which may be retained in the food and be cancer causing.	Organic food contains lesser amount of nitrates in it.
Genetic Engineering	Genetically modified seeds are used in non-organic farming. Such seeds are expensive and difficult for farmers to afford. Such seeds give high yields crops, but such plants may be deficient in nutrients.	Organic farming selects healthy seeds by seed testing.
Animal Welfare	Animals are given antibiotics against diseases. Intensive farming methods are used to grow chicken quickly and most of the time the animals are kept indoors.	Good animal husbandry standards are maintained in organic farming. No antibiotics are used on animals, but homeopathic medicine is used, in case an animal gets sick. If a farmer gives any antibiotic to an animal, he loses the certificate for organic farming. Livestock are handled properly and given a proper diet, and adequate exposure to the outdoors.
Hormones	Animals are injected with hormones for stimulating growth, so that they can be sold in the markets.	No hormones are used in organic animal husbandry.
Effect on human body	As animals are given antibiotics in conventional farming, human body, when sick does not accept the same antibiotics, thus reducing the body's immunity in the long run. Exposure to pesticides is harmful to humans and especially harmful to women's health.	Organic farming is not permitted to use such harmful chemicals. Thus, when you measure the pros and cons of organic food vs non organic food, organic food is better, as it has lower health risks.
Food Poisoning	There are more chances of food poisoning with conventional farming food products because of the use of chemicals in the form of fertilizers and pesticides.	Possibility of toxic pathogens is very less in organic foods.
Environment Pollution	Use of pesticides damages aquatic life. Herbicides and pesticides contain toxic chemicals, which has resulted in lesser number of birds, insects and wild plants on the farmland. Earthworms are essential for good soil health and using pesticides and insecticides reduce earthworm population. This leads to increased dependence of the soil, on pesticides.	Organic farming uses crop rotation to prevent pests, by creating a more diverse ecological system to naturally grow the pest's predators. For increasing the quality of soil, natural manure and composting is done. Thus, the benefits of organic farming are more long term and benefit in fighting problems like degradation of the environment.
Soil Erosion	Due to productivity and cropping regimes in conventional farming, there is more soil erosion.	Use of green manure and good topsoil management, prevents soil erosion in organic farming.
Cost	Non organic food contains many hidden cost like taxes and the cost of the treatment for the harm caused to the environment by conventional farming	The pros and cons of organic farming show us that organic food is more expensive. But with the number of farmers shifting to organic farming and increased government funding, the prices will come down. Also, organic food has lesser hidden cost.
Appearance	Non organic food is treated many times with preservatives, everything is uniform.	Organic food decays earlier, as there are no preservatives added. Also, it looks similar to non-organic food, but sometimes might have different shapes and color.
Quality Standards	All non-organic food products have the normal quality approval labels on them.	All organic food should have an organic label.
Food Safety	Many times harmful preservatives are added to non-organic foods.	Organic foods are safer and better, as they don't use any toxic chemicals.
Availability	If you measure the availability of organic food to non-organic food, mostly it is the latter which is more easily available.	Some organic foods are imported from other countries and therefore, you cannot be assured of the quality of imported organic food.
Number of Consumers	Maximum consumers buy non-organic food, as it is ‘cheaper’ in direct monetary value yet not in the long run (refer to the upper portion of the table) and easily available.	Consumers are shifting towards buying organic foods, with growing awareness

 Thanks to http://www.buzzle.com/articles/organic-food-vs-non-organic-food.html for this great table of information.

Here are some great tips for maintaining your own garden!

1) Have fun- Gardening is a fun and rewarding hobby, but it takes an investment of time and energy.

2) Pick the right location- Is it close to an easy water supply? Is it close to home? How's the drainage? How's the sunlight? A little thought in advance can save you a season of heartache!

3) Timing is important. Except when it isn't- In a lot of climates, you don't want to begin planting too early. But in some climates you can plant stuff year round. A good rule of thumb is that new seedlings like a lot of light, like 12+ hours of light. Know your zone and read your seed packages!

4) Water weekly, water deep- Water once a week, and really water deeply to encourage deep root growth. Use a soaker hose, and water in the early morning.

5) Handle with care- Your plants are fragile - bruised fruit is no fun, and it doesn't keep as long.

6) To each their own- Some plants like to be picked early, some late in the season.

7) Rotate it- So you've gone through a whole year of gardening bliss and are ready for round two. You've got your plans, you know what grew really well in what location, but wait! Not so fast! You should try to rotate where you plant your annuals to prevent disease and keep the soil rich.

If you want some good tips about composting not only garden materials but household items as well follow go to TheGrowSpot.com

Putting Your Lawn To Use

How to convert your lawn into a thriving, productive garden

So youʼve decided that that sea of green is taking far too much without giving back? Why not make that open space work for you? Converting your lawn into a garden is much easier than you think and for the time and energy you put into maintaining it, you’ll get to see and experience results that are beautiful, rewarding and delicious.

Step 1 - ‘Is my soil safe?’

Before you start to tear out that grass so you can start growing a sea of delicious fruits and vegetables, it’s important to make sure that your soil is safe and free of contaminants. Typically, the most dangerous contaminants folks find in city lots include lead, arsenic and asbestos. If you are at all concerned about the safety of your soil, collect a few samples from around the yard and send them to a soil lab to have them tested. Soil tests have the added benefit of informing you about the character and quality of your soil as well as any possible nutrient deficiencies. If it turns out that your soil is contaminated with pollutants, it is still possible to establish a safe garden. Instead, build raised beds and bring in clean topsoil or compost. A raised bed is simply a frame or perimeter wall built out of wood, stone, cement blocks (whatever you can think of) that retains the soil you bring in, keeping it from spilling out. Either way, once you’ve gotten the results from your soil tests back, you can begin to select and prepare your new garden site.

Step 2 - ‘Where should I put the garden?’

Well, it depends. First, make sure that you choose a location that gets plenty of sunlight. Observe your yard at various times of day throughout the growing season - take note of the areas that remain largely shade-free. Because the sun’s path is located to our south for the majority of the year, it’s best to start by looking at sites south of any large buildings or obstructions. By nestling your garden up against a building or wall, it’s possible to make use of localized ‘micro-climates’. These areas are noticeably warmer than the surrounding environment due to their site-specific location. If you’ve ever leaned against a brick wall that’s been soaking up the hot summer sun, you’ve experienced a micro-climate first hand. It’s also important to consider the relationship of your garden to your home. If you’ll be visiting your garden daily, it makes a lot more sense to site it conveniently close to your house. Check to see where you have access to water - will a hose easily reach?

Step 3 - ‘Get rid of that lawn and prepare your garden’

Here we have a number of choices, some better than others (in my humble o., we’ve saved the best, sheet mulching, for last). Grasses are incredibly persistent, so it will take time and effort to outcompete them. But remember, once you’ve gained control of your new garden site, you choose which plants grow where. Because we plan to use this grass-free space to grow food (and because it’s responsible to avoid poisoning wildlife, children and groundwater with chemicals) we’ll be focusing on organic grass removal strategies. Ok, so here goes:

• Solarizing - Though not the fastest or most natural technique, covering your garden site with a layer of heavy plastic will act to burn and suffocate the unwanted plants beneath. It will take a full year or more before the grass has been completely killed off, but once it is done, you should have a clean, weed free bed, ready for planting.

• Tilling - Aggressive and destructive to soil structure, rototilling will rapidly prepare a new garden bed. It is a very effective way to mechanically incorporate minerals and fertility into depleted soils. Note: certain weedy grass varieties will resprout from root fragments created by tillage, potentially causing a persistent weed problem.

• Sod Removal - Though typically very energy intensive, the physical removal of sod from your yard produces immediate results, ready for garden establishment. There are two primary ways you can do this - by hand using a hoe or spade, or by machine with a sod cutter. If you are only converting a small area, it is likely to be more cost-effective to work manually. Use a garden spade or shovel to cut squares of sod, then skim them from the soil’s surface, exposing bare soil. This is very hard work but once again yields quick results. Take care not to remove too much soil as it is the soil’s upper layers where most of the nutrients and fertility are found. If you have a larger area to work, it may make sense to rent a sod cutter. This is a walk-behind machine that enables the user to set the depth of cut and will quickly and noisily skim beneath grass roots, severing the sod from the soil below. They typically cost around $50 per day from a machine rental outlet, though without access to a pickup truck it will be difficult to transport it home. After traversing your new garden with the sod cutter, follow behind, rolling up the layers of sod. You can save it to plant in an area where you’d like grass (heaven forbid) or mound it up in a pile, grass side down and allow it to compost for a year or two, after which you’ll be left with rich crumbly topsoil you can use to topdress your garden. This brings us to our final, and in my mind, best, grass removal strategy.

• Sheet mulching. Sometimes referred to as ‘lasagna gardening’, sheet mulching is a garden establishment technique where the gardener lays down multiple layers of organic materials (usually 1’+ thick), choking out the unwanted grass and composting it in place. It also works to feed and cultivate healthy soil life, improve soil structure, reduce weed regrowth and maintain a cool, moist soil bed. Sheet mulching is less physically demanding than sod removal, and acts to build up soil over time in contrast to tillage which provides a rapid, short-lived burst of fertility to plants. It should be noted though that sheet mulching requires large quantities of organic matter (to mulch 50 ft2 one foot deep, requires 2 cubic yards of mulch, or about a pickup truck full).

The ideal time to begin sheet mulching for springplanting is the previous fall so that the mulch has a chance to begin breaking down, killing the grass below and feeding the life in the soil. There is no ‘right’ sheet mulch recipe. Rather think of it as more of an concept. Generally, there are four distinct layers used in sheet mulch. Use whatever materials you have access to - be creative and see what’s abundant and free. To begin, mow the existing grass as low as possible. Then thoroughly wet the area with a garden hose or wait for a rain. If the soil is already damp, skip this step. If you plan to plant any large trees or shrubs, do so before you begin mulching as it is much easier to mulch around them.

• Layer 1 consists of ‘Concentrated Compost’. Up to 6” thick, this layer is made up of material that is high in nitrogen and potentially contaminated with weed seeds. This nitrogen boost works to stimulate soil life and jump-start the decomposition process. Manure, yard waste, food scraps all work well. If working with heavy clay soils, use a pitchfork or Ubar to break up and aerate them. This is also the time to add any necessary amendments (dolomite, lime for acid soils, gypsum for heavy clays, etc).

• Layer 2 is the ‘Weed Barrier’. 4 to 6 sheets of newspaper (non-glossy), a layer of cardboard, burlap bags, etc. all work well. Overlap sections along seams by at least 6” to prevent weeds from penetrating. Thoroughly wet it down to speed up decomposition and prevent it from being blown away.

• Layer 3 is the ‘Compost Layer’. Generally 3-5” thick, use fully-decomposed compost, straw, grass, leaves or any other weed-free organic material.

• Layer 4 is the final ‘Top Layer’. Again use a high carbon, weed-free material such as straw, leaves, wood chips, bark or sawdust. This layer will need to be repeatedly renewed as it decomposes. And finally, you’re mulched and ready to garden! Because sheet mulch acts to develop rich, living topsoil, avoid walking on your garden beds - instead create pathways that provide comfortable access. When it comes time to plant into your mulch, create a small hollow, fill it with topsoil and plant your seed or seedling directly into it. If you wish to sow seeds, add a thin layer of compost to the mulch’s surface and broadcast seeds onto it. Finally, take care to keep the mulch away from the base of plant stems as mold, slugs and rodents can cause considerable damage to plants and young trees.

 Happy gardening!!

 

Information provided by: http://burlingtonpermaculture.weebly.com/uploads/4/2/8/9/4289790/lawn2gardeninfosheet.pdf

 

Ten Easy Steps For Starting A Garden

Step 1- decide what you would like to grow. Herbs? Vegetables? Flowers? Whatever!

Step 2- pick a spot! Depending on what you might decide to grow is how you should pick a spot. For example-- . Almost all vegetables and most flowers need about six hours of full sun each day. Pick a spot where you think will get the most sun during the day.

Step 3- Clear the ground! Get rid of the sod covering the area you plan to plant. For quick and easy just clear everything out of the way and the spread some compost to make the gorund nice.

Step 4- Improve the soil. Invariably, soil needs a boost. The solution is simple: organic matter. Add a 2- to 3-inch layer of compost, decayed leaves, dry grass clippings, or old manure.

Step 5- Dig. Digging loosens the soil so roots can penetrate more easily. But digging when the soil is too wet or too dry can ruin its structure. Dig only when the soil is moist enough to form a loose ball in your fist, but dry enough to fall apart when you drop it.

Step 6- Pick your plants- look through magazines, go into shops do whatever you want to help pick what plants you would enjoy!

examples--- a few easy-to-grow plants for beginners. Annual: cosmos, marigolds, impatiens, geraniums, Calendula, sunflowers, and zinnias. Perennials: Russian sage, lamb's-ears, black-eyed Susans, purple coneflowers, phlox, pansies, and daylilies. Vegetables: lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Step 7- Put them in the ground.

Step 8- WATER- Seedlings should never dry out, so water daily while they are small. Taper off as the plants get larger.

Step 9- Mulch. To help keep weeds out and water in, cover the soil with a couple of inches of mulch. Mulch is no needed but it does help keep plants healthy and well watered!

Step 10-Keep it up. Your garden is on its way. Keep watering when needed, and pull weeds before they get big. Fertilize with a dry fertilizer about halfway through the season.

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7 Insects You Actually Want In Your Garden

1. Lady Beetles

 

Benefits Of Having Them In Your Garden: They eat aphids and other softbodied pest eggs, scales and whitefly nymphs.

Bait Them With: Asters, marigolds, cosmos, cilantro, yarrow, dill, cabbages, sweet alyssum, flowering kale.

2. Ground Beetles

Benefits Of Having Them In Your Garden: They will destroy slugs, snails, cutworms, flys and rootmaggot eggs and larvae.

 Bait Them With: Sweet or white clover and other ground covers; also use mulch to provide habitat.



3. Hoverfly

Benefits Of Having Them In Your Garden: Maggots eat softbodied pests such as aphids.
Bait Them With: Feverfew, lavender, sweet alyssum, candytuft, dill, fennel, asters.

4. Lacewings

Benefits Of Having Them In Your Garden: Their larvae prey on pest eggs, aphids, scales and small caterpillars.

Bait Them With: Most pollen and nectar flowers, dill, daisies, fennel, angelica.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Aphid Midges

Benefits Of Having Them In Your Garden: Immature insects feed on many species of aphids.
Bait Them With: Nectar-rich flowers and herbs, including Queen Anne’s lace, dill, mustards.

 

6. Parasitic Wasps

Benefits Of Having Them In Your Garden: They act as parasites by laying eggs in caterpillar and aphid larvae.

Bait Them With: Dill, mint, sage, thyme, lavender, coriander, Queen Anne’s lace, sunflowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Bumblebees, Honeybees, Mason Bees

Benefits Of Having Them In Your Garden: They pollinate food crops.
Bait Them With: Orchard fruits, mustards, cress, wildflowers, clover, blueberries, hollyhock.

 

Thanks to Reader's Digest for the great information once again, for more great tips and tricks check out: http://www.readersdigest.ca/