Going Green At Home - Part 3

In Part 1 of Going Green At Home, I talked about deciding to use a front patio space for a raised bed garden. We left off at having put the 8 x 5 x 1 frame in place. Now, let's get down and dirty - let's talk soil.

First, you need to do your math to figure out how many cubic feet of soil you need. Next, you need to decide on the mix. In Tucson, where's it's pretty dry most of the time, a soil that holds moisture is vital to success.

You can go to any garden center and buy a soil mix, usually they carry something appropriate to your area. However, you can also mix your own. In our case, we did the math and figured out we could save about $60 on soil by creating our own mixture - and the added benefit was we could control exactly what went into that mix.

We chose to add a lot of vermiculite - (make sure the vermiculite you choose is asbestos free). Vermiculite holds moisture and acts like a sponge, releasing moisture slowly. Of course, we added organic compost and other soil components to develop a nutrient rich soil mix.

The trick in mixing your own is that you have to deal with bags that are different sizes - some come in 1 cubic ft., 2.2 cubit ft. and so on. Once you decide that you want a soil mixture of say, 30% vermiculite, you need to calculate how many cubic feet that is and then how many bags you'll need. (All I can say is, do your math a couple of times to be sure you're correct and save your receipt).

If you're going to mix your own, make sure you either mix it in place (which is a bit tricky) or have a tarp of some sort. We found that by mixing our soil in three batches and rolling it back and forth in the tarp, we got a good distribution of the various components and had a beautiful soil mixture. We dumped it into the raised bed and repeated two more times until the bed was full. If you find your bed is full after two rounds, just return the unused (and unopened) bags (which is why I highly recommend you save your receipt).

Once you've got your soil in, you can start watering (to hydrate the soil to it doesn't suck the moisture out of your seeds or starer plants). However, we decided that putting a grid in would help - most container gardening books recommend it so you can remember where you planted what - so we used lath to demarcate the sectors. You can make them whatever size you want, we stuck with the standard 12" x 12". The result was an organized grid system that we can track what's been planted where and when.

Next up - planting, growing, marveling.
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Going Green At Home - Part 1

I am fortunate to live in the beautiful Sonoran Desert, here in sunny southern Arizona. The downside is that it's not usually described as verdant - more like a dusty brown most of the time. My home is a charming one story burnt adobe building that reflects the very essence of the Southwest. When I bought it years back, there was a large fountain on the front porch area surrounded by some scraggly boxwood bushes. Fairly quickly, I turned off the fountain - it seemed a waste of precious water. The boxwoods were pretty much left to their own devices.

Fast forward to this summer.

I guess I've been watching too much home and garden television. I kept looking at that front patio space wondering what I could do with it. After a couple of iterations, I realized it was a perfect spot for a raised bed garden. It's got morning sun and was protected from the harsh afternoon sun and it was the perfect size. Thus began the project that has started to green my home.

We started by clearing the space. We gave away the fountain to a really nice family who came and got it one Saturday morning. We made new friends in the deal, so we were thrilled. Next, we cleared the boxwoods out and prepped the space.

Next, we measured and calculated what we'd need in the way of raised bed materials (wood and a few screws), headed to the home improvement store, came home and built the box. We decided to add bird netting over the top since we have so many birds in the area and, well, they'd already chowed down an entire basil plant leaving me bare stubs and a dead plant.

The box itself was pretty simple to build and it didn't take a skilled carpenter to cut and assemble the wood. We assembled it in the garage and carried it to it's final location - the result is a beautiful 8 x 5 foot 12" deep raised bed garden.

(And yes, that is the Border of Border & Black Ventures, aka Jackie Brown, border collie extraordinare).

This is what I call a triple bottom line - I get fresh organic produce from my own garden; I get to see the lush green of the plants as they grow; and I get to spend some time getting my hands dirty in a really good way. It's low maintenance, but I can putter around it if I want to just unwind - or just sit on the patio and marvel at this little desert oasis.

I've never grown much before - especially not the garden variety - I've never found the idea appealing until Lisa (shopOrganic co-founder) suggested a raised bed garden. The small, manageable scale was instantly appealing and the thought of actually having fresh produce on my front porch was what sealed the deal.

Stay tuned for more posts showing what comes next, where you can find information on how to grow your own and see photos of what's starting to sprout!

We're looking forward to a beautiful, bountiful front porch this fall and hope you'll check back often to see our progress.

And, of course, for all those things you can't grow yourself, green your home with organic and eco-friendly products from shopOrganic.com

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Green - Saving It, Giving It

I don't know if you're feeling like I am, but the economic meltdown and the continuing financial drama from banks to insurance companies to automakers has worn me out. It's tiring and stressful to hear about these big problems day in and day out, especially when the vast majority of us cannot control or change any of those macroeconomic issues. Most of us go about our day-to-day business while gauging the impact of these problems on our friends, families and communities. It's tiring and a bit disheartening, but from my perspective, there is some very good news out there. I've heard a lot of people talk about having a more sensible Christmas or holiday spending budget. The unbridled consumerism of the past decade or so is giving way to a bit of quiet reflection.

It seems a lot of people are scaling back, realizing that they don't need more stuff. That's not to say that no one's giving gifts this year, just that they don't need to go over the top. More importantly, I think this year people will think more about the gifts they give, and though they will give fewer gifts, they will be gifts that are useful to the recipient in some way.

So, my gifts this year will be focused on things that can be used - not stored in the closet for re-gifting or a visit to the Goodwill or Salvation Army during the next housecleaning. Gifts that don't add further clutter to our environment, things that green up our bodies, lives and wallets - those are the gifts that make sense this holiday season. Small specialty food gifts baskets, foods that people might not otherwise try, things that can expand the recipient's culinary horizons without breaking the budget.

This holiday season, my friends and family will be getting green gifts from me. Giving green gifts benefits my world - my friends, family, community and environment. If I can also save a bit of "green" this year, all the better.

Here's a link to shopOrganic's Green Gifts for the Holidays. Let the budget-conscious) shopping begin! Read more!

Voting Red, Blue or.....Green?

Whether you're voting "red" or "blue" this election, we can all be green. We know the elections have grabbed our attention as have the wild gyrations of the stock market, but this is a great time regardless of party affiliation to look at going green by recycling election materials.... We've all been wrapped up in focusing on the candidates, the issues, the piles of propositions on our ballets. Some of us have voted early, some of us will cast our ballots on Tuesday. But when it's all said and done, you've probably got a pile of last minute election mail just sitting around. Instead of tossing it in the trash, be sure to recycle it. Since it's always a good idea to remove your name and address from paper before you recycle it, I always find that it just starts piling up on a counter when I come home from a long day of work and check the mail - the last thing I want to do is deal with junk mail, flyers and miscellaneous no-longer-relevant mail.

So, I developed a new system that's working pretty well, it might work for you. I toss all my junk mail (or mail that's ready to be discarded) in a box in the corner and once a week, I pull it out and deal with it. I create three piles - shred, recycle and trash. Then, during an hour of TV one night, I go through all of it during commercial breaks and boom, it's done. (Make sure bills get put in a safe place and not in this pile or you might find yourself with late payments - better yet, sign up for e-statement and forgo the paper statement altogether...).

If you have kids, you can do this once per month and have a contest as to who can remove the most address parts of the mail. Remember there are address labels on the outside and on the inside of many catalogs these days. You can shred the address labels and in most towns, if you shred into clear plastic bags, you can also recycle the shredded paper (I know, it's a plastic bag, I haven't figured out a way around that one yet).

So, let's remember that while we all have our opinions about politics and elections, it's ultimately about how each of us participates in this world of ours. So, once the elections are over, take all those flyers, postcards, mailers and yard signs and recycle them. Read more!