Organic Garden Created...

...With Very Little Preparation - no signs of bugs - everyone raved about the sweetness!
[Click here to see the horticulturist whose guidance our friend and organic gardener followed.]

Here is my summary of each photo [as our organic garden was created]:
garden prep - Mid-March 2010: Very little preparation needed (about two hours worth!) for a 6 X 6 1/2 foot space. We left some sticks and weeds, did no digging . . . put up a small bamboo fence to hold things in place. In the photo: we laid down some weed-stop cloth that we already had, then covered the planting area with newsprint (I used some art newsprint, too).













garden with straw - This was taken of me after we had completed the layers. What you see is the top layer of straw; down the middle, we laid a few stepping stones on top of the weed-stop cloth.


















lettuce; celery - Mid May, 2010 - This was the tastiest celery! It continues to grow; I am still using it (March of 2011) in my juice. Besides the lettuce that you see here, in this bed we've so far grown butter lettuce, romaine, kale, bok choi, parsley, chives, dill, and three cucumber plants. To the right, you can see the ripening cherry tomatoes. The lettuce was a little bitter at times (I think this was due in part to my not knowing when to replace plants.) I don't eat the lettuce myself, but other family members do.

Garden in June - This tomato plant was prolific, and the fruit delicious. In the background, you see our dwarf Anna apple tree. To the right is one of the cucumber plants, mixing with a volunteer Nasturtium.

In the fall, I added some compost and planted a few bok choi and lettuce plants. Besides picking them for eating, I did very little to care for these through the winter. Last week we harvested much of it for a 3-day event with a potluck each day. Everyone raved about the sweetness of the bok choi and lettuce, and wanted to know what kind of garden I had. And my two celery plants are still producing (for nearly a full year, we have harvested from our own garden one cup worth of juice of the six cups we make every few days!)

During the last year, I have not weeded nor had any sign of bugs in this garden. I'm now getting ready to buy small plants for my second year garden!

Our friend, G.D. in Ventura, California

Organic gardening to feed your family

My particular interest is the raw food diet. This has drawn me to find that if I am patient and willing to learn 'new tricks', I can grow and eat the very best organic vegetables - enough to feed my family!
I writing this blog to refer you to the expert horticulturist and to hear what you DO with this once you get his information.
At my house, our monthly food budget runs around 1800 USD. Pretty outrageous! I am saving money without compromising any of the top quality organic vegetables we can safely and easily grow at home.
Now IS the time for planning the garden.
If you are just starting out, you are very fortunate. A 20 year expert horticulturist and scientist has made available his two e-books and 12 detailed videos of each step!
Visit http://www.organicfoodforless.info; he is giving away the farm.
For instance, find answers:
How to garden - specifics from a REAL PRO
How much space do you need to start gardening delicious organic vegetables?
What tools and accessories are needed for gardening vegetables in your own back yard?
Do you need a container? Will raised bed gardening work for me?
Will my organic garden be easy to maintain?
In my vegetables garden, will I grow enough to replace my shopping list?
Should I do my garden planting in February? What is the best growing season?
What gardening tips show me how to grow the best vegetables?
What is special about organic growing?
Even if you are experienced in gardening, take a look at what this amazing horticulturist brings to the table (literally) at http://www.OrganicFoodForLess.info. Once you hear what he can do for you, you will jump on it too. It is the best way to save money and build health at the same time.
Use this blog as a 'safe-haven' once you get started using this expert's proven but not yet mainstream techniques. Right now he is practically giving his wisdom away.
Whether or not you are a raw food person, it all starts out raw. Salads from the garden on a raw food diet can have enough variety to be interesting. Raw is optimum health-wise but some cooked recipes bring heaven to earth in the form of taste.
Veggies from the garden on a raw food diet can be transformed into fresh vegetable juice. You can vary these tremendously depending on what is growing in the garden at the time.
Before we set the table, we have some things to do to grow the garden.