Gardening

It’s one thing to go out and buy foods on sale, and I believe it’s economically sound to do so. But what if you reach a point that purchasing your food becomes a limited or worse yet … no longer an option?

And what about those of us who for health reasons realize that much of the food in the stores have been treated with chemicals and preservatives to such an extent that our health is endangered?

There must be another way to deal with this. Frankly, growing our own is the option.

I recognize that our country is so vast; there is no single gardening method suitable for everyone.

• We range from sandy beach and year-round growing seasons to high mountain weeks-long growing seasons.  Crops that are suitable for one climate will not thrive in another.
• And then there is the issue of hybrid vs. non-hybrid crops.

First Fhings First:
The first recommendation would be to become familiar with the gardening zones for your region.  Here is a link that will help you find your zone.

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

I found this site which is pretty comprehensive. It includes the above USDA zone table, but much more.  It includes topics such as:

Cooperative Extension Office:

Cooperative Extension Offices (excellent resource with experts in your particular area… these people’s sole purpose for existence is to help you… take advantage of them!)

YOur local Extension Office can help you with the following areas:

• Garden bed
• Garden calendars
• Garden seeds
• Companion planting
• Planting schedules
• Seeds
• USDA hardiness zones
• Veggie gardens
• Victory Gardens 

Container Gardening

Here is the link to the Patriot Nurse’s container gardening for the suburban gardening.  Very interesting!

http://www.youtube.com/user/thepatriotnurse#p/search/0/i0o619DKBqo

Watch for future posts on container gardening!