By Vanessa Richins

Gardeners have many ways to decide when they want to plant their vegetables.

An article I recently read from the Lawrence Journal-World talks about, “Gardening through the moon’s phases”.

Gardening by the moon is nothing new. “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” has printed specific dates for the different phrases of the moon for years. You can get the moon dates for your area on their website.

There are four phases of the moon – new moon, first quarter, full moon, and fourth quarter. These happen over the course of 28 days. The first two are called waxing and the last two are called waning.

“When the moon is waxing, you plant above-ground crops. In the first quarter, plant leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach, which have their seeds outside the plant. In the second quarter, plant vining crops that produce Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

Jarod C. asks:

“Hello Urban Gardner, my wife and I want to plant a garden in our yard this year but are concerned about the near by freeway and shipping lanes. The diesel truck and ocean tanker exhaust deposits a blanket of black soot on our porch and outdoor windowsills.

My question is can we grow food in this environment?

Can the soot simply be washed off making vegetables ready to eat or does the toxic component get inside the food making them unhealthy to eat. I know it sounds terrible but we actually live in a lovely neighborhood.”

As I did some searching for articles to research this question, I became a bit frustrated.

It turns out Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

Are you starting a garden for the first time and don’t know how to decide where to plant all of your vegetables?

Want to try different scenarios with what you want to grow?

Gardener’s Supply Company is offering an online tool to help you plot out your vegetable garden.

Their tool will help you create a 3 x 6′ planting map.  You can choose from 6 preset designs or input your own selections.

-All American Garden
-Cook’s Choice
-High Yield Read the rest of this entry »

By Michael Nolan

I guess I should preface this post by saying hi to everyone and apologizing for taking so long to return to my roots here at Urban Garden Casual.

I’ve missed everyone!

Now on with the show…

This little plot of crab grass and weeds may not look like much to you, but to me it represented a return to getting my hands dirty and turning an otherwise useless piece of ground into something beautiful and useful. See, this is what I saw when I prepared to move into my new home in Atlanta.

Thankfully my partner shares my love for the outdoors and the rewards Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

It began with a simple message on Twitter from @joegardener:

Interested in seeing me do a daily vid blog of starting organic food garden from seed? Goal 2 feed my fam of 4 on only $25 of supplies! Yes?
10:57 AM Mar 12th from TweetDeck

@joegardener happens to be the Twitter ID of Joe Lamp’l. He is the host of TV garden shows – Fresh From the Garden on DIY Network and GardenSMART on PBS, as well as the author of Over the Fence with joe gardener and The Green Gardener’s

That single post bloomed into the $25 Organic Victory Garden Challenge. He’s committed to showing people that it doesn’t have to be expensive to have an organic garden, even if you don’t have any tools or supplies.

His ideas are creative – he took an empty Read the rest of this entry »