By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Years ago, I had a friend that got the gardening bug.

This friend was the true definition of a Brown Thumb Gardener.

She was always calling me with questions and many times would show up at my door begging me to come over and look at her garden.

She used to call me “The Garden Whisper” because I could take plants cast out as trash and make them grow.

Well, I would never say I am a “Garden Whisper” but instead I would say that I am a frugal gardener that really knows how to grow plants. But since I have been blessed with this skill, I always go over and “whisper” to her garden.

But one day, she showed up to my door with a package and on the surface it was just a plain, brown envelope. Inside though, was not items that were just plain, instead that contained life, life that would thrive with a little care and understanding from its caretaker. Unfortunately, this caretaker was a new mamma that had no clue how to take care of this potential life.

Taking my friend under my wing, I opened her package and found s Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

January brings about a new year, goals, and resolutions.

While all these things are true for me, January is also the month that I begin to receive my seed catalogs.

If you are not a gardener you may not understand the feeling one gets when the mailbox is opened and the glimmer of the first catalog of the season appears.

It is a thrill that every gardener understands and I compare it to a runner’s high. All the hopes and dreams of the upcoming gardening season seem to be wrapped up in the shiny, magazine like pages of the catalogs.

Before I go on and on about these wonderful treasures that arrive every spring, I would like to decipher the hieroglyphic language in these magazines.

The first thing you will need to do is discover what USDA Plant Hardiness zone you live in. This is easily done by reading the map that is located in the front of most catalogs. It is color-coded and you simply look for your state. As you will notice, the colors seem to go in a wave across the United States. This is tracking the average low temperatures. When dealing with plants, the lowest temperature is Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

Every gardener has been in a situation where they wondered what they were thinking when they planted those 15 determinate tomato plants or those five squashes, or wondering how they were going to fit gardening into their day’s plan.

Well, planning is one way of preventing this situation but before jumping into the garden space let’s talk about some things that need to be considered.

Garden Requirements

Many people just go to the garden store and buy up what they like without considering what their garden is going to be used for and for how many. It is said that 16 plants will feed one individual for the season or if you are square foot gardening then one 4 by 4 foot bed will suffice.

Each additional person that you plan to serve will also need his or her own 16 plants or 4 by 4 foot garden space. Also, if you plan to preserve some of your produce you will need to add an additional 16 plants or 4 by 4 foot garden space for each person you plan to serve during the winter. Lastly, if you plan to donate some of your produce you will need to plan for additional plants.

Likes and Dislikes

The next thing that every gardener needs to consider is Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

As an avid reader, I have lately been looking into books that deal with personal development and came upon a concept called feng shui.

This concept has its roots buried deep in the Chinese belief system of balance or chi.

Since this belief is over 300 years old; I felt there might be something to it.

So this year, I am going to design my vegetable garden utilizing the feng shui principles.

What I liked about this concept was that nature was looked at as a whole living organism that is full of energy or chi. To have harmony and prosperity in ones environment, these forces need to be balanced.

To balance these forces, one must first Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

The other day, I was asked if I test my soil and my reply was yes and no.

I have not had the traditional, chemical analysis of my soil for many years.

One reason is the biggest excuse and that is I do not have the time.

The other reason is that the recommendations I receive are based on an acre and while I would like to have an acre size garden I do not.

Also, these recommendations are based on a monoculture garden design.

Since I do not farm on an acre nor garden in a monoculture style, I have to guess and reduce any fertilizer recommendations. But being a scientist, aggie, environmentalist and many other things, I decided to do another soil test this fall. But before jumping on the bandwagon, one must first plan it out.

Planning to take a soil test is Read the rest of this entry »