Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Yesterday I trekked to town to pay a visit to the public library. Seeking more information about gardening practices for the Inland Northwest, I picked up the following books:

Gardening in the Inland Northwest, a Guide to Growing Vegetables, Berries, Grapes & Fruit Trees, by Tonie Jean Fitzgerald. (This book interested me greatly as living in this area poses many challenges since we have a short growing season). Although not totally organic in nature, there are many ideas to glean from this short read.

The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing A good reference type of book that is reader/novice gardener friendly.

Lasagna Gardening For an easy read ... this book gives directions to plant a garden with "a new layering system ... no digging ... no tilling ... no weeding ... no kidding" I actually tried a similar method two years ago (my own formula) so I thought I'd compare notes.

The Organic Garden by: Allan Shepherd, Green gardening for a healthy planet

Already I've gained an important tip regarding the use of grow lamps ... place the plant tray no more than six inches from the lamp source or your seedlings will grow too leggy/tall trying to reach the light. You should see my lettuce plants growing in the basement ... so that's what went wrong. I'm a learn by doing type of gardener.

Winter is the perfect time of the year to start gathering and learning new skills to practice while waiting to plant a spring garden.

2 comments:

Mr. H. said...

Those sound like really good gardening books. One of my favorite and very basic but informative reference books on vegetables that do well in colder climates is "The Vegetable & Herb Expert" by Dr. D. G. Hessayon. This simple book has been a great "assistant" to me in the garden over the years.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

Hi Mrs. Mac,
I saw your comment on FlowerLady's post on simple living, and came to see your blog. I see you are a Christian, too. I'm sorry you haven't found a church that worked out. We have a family with a girl, who now, I think is in the first grade, who has Down Syndrome. I was one of her Sunday school teachers when she was 3. Her mom always attended to help the class. I encouraged her to help others and I tried to work with her daughter as much as I could to give her a break. There were 2 other co-teachers, too, and we worked with all the students. I don't know how it has worked as she gets older and goes to other classes.

As for gardening, I am a learn as I go gardener, too. I'm too impatient to try the Lasagna method, even though I have the book. LOL I compost, though, and am good about getting it spread around.