10 Ways to Use Baking Soda in the Garden

10 Ways to Use Baking Soda in the Garden

http://blessmyweeds.com/10-ways-to-use-baking-soda-in-the-garden-2/

Posted by Feeding Neighbors on Monday, August 24, 2015

A Family Working on their Plot

The Headleys came out to Feeding Neighbors' Nanna Anna's Garden to work on the 1st of 2 of their family garden beds. http://www.feeding-neighbors.org ‪#‎FeedingNeighbors‬ ‪#‎communitygardens‬ ‪#‎gardening‬ ‪#‎growyourownfood‬

Did you know, that you can get free wood chips for your garden? We just got a delivery! Tree services usually have to pay to dump the wood chips they accumulate. To avoid the expense, they give them away. The catch is that you may have to wait for them. Tree services usually will only deliver the chips for free to the location you specify if they are working in the area. Also, you do not get to choose the type of wood you want. Otherwise, just give the tree service(s) in your area a call to get on the delivery list.
Thank you SoutheastTree.com! ‪Feeding-Neighbors‬.org

 

How To Use Disposable Diapers To Help Your Plants Grow

Disposable diapers contain a non-toxic gel. When this gel is mixed in with soil and watered, it absorbs the water and slowly releases it as the plant needs it, reducing the frequency of watering. The gel also aerates the soil as it expands.

Dig on for Victory

We Have a New Logo!

We just got a new logo! 

Feel free to give us feedback about it in comments.

This Is What Is In Store For The Community

Our Seeds Are Here! 

We received the seeds that we are sowing this spring, summer and fall in Nanna Anna's Garden (managed by Feeding Neighbors). The community of Grove Park, and surrounding communities, in Atlanta will be happy to know they will be beneficiaries of various fresh and organic vegetables, fruits and herbs throughout the Atlanta growing seasons.

Get your seeds now from Seeds Now.

The seeds they sell are organic/non-GMO.

Get 20% off your order using coupon code: SAVE20NOW

(You must use the coupon code to receive the discount)

How Dirt Makes You Happy

Antidepressant Microbes In Soil: How Dirt Makes You Happy

By Bonnie L. Grant

Prozac may not be the only way to get rid of your serious blues. Soil microbes have been found to have similar effects on the brain and are without side effects and chemical dependency potentials. Learn how to harness the natural antidepressant in soil and make yourself happier and healthier. Read on to see how dirt makes you happy.
Natural remedies have been around for untold centuries. These natural remedies included cures for almost any physical ailment as well as mental and emotional afflictions. Ancient healers may not have known why something worked but simply that it did. Modern scientists have unraveled the why of many medicinal plants and practices but only recently are they finding remedies that were previously unknown and, yet, still a part of the natural life cycle. Soil microbes and human health now have a positive link which has been studied and found to be verifiable.

Soil Microbes and Human Health

Did you know that there’s a natural antidepressant in soil? It’s true. Mycobacterium vaccae is the substance under study and has, indeed, been found to mirror the effect on neurons that drugs like Prozac provide. The bacterium is found in soil and may stimulate serotonin production, which makes you relaxed and happier. Studies were conducted on cancer patients and they reported a better quality of life and less stress.
Serotonin has been linked to such problems as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar problems. The bacterium appears to be a natural antidepressant in soil and has no adverse health effects. These antidepressant microbes in soil may be as easy to use as just playing in the dirt.
Most avid gardeners will tell you that their landscape is their “happy place” and the actual physical act of gardening is a stress reducer and mood lifter. The fact that there is some science behind it adds additional credibility to these garden addicts’ claims. The presence of a soil bacteria antidepressant is not a surprise to many of us who have experienced the phenomenon ourselves. Backing it up with science is fascinating, but not shocking, to the happy gardener.
Mycrobacterium antidepressant microbes in soil are also being investigated for improving cognitive function, Crohn’s disease and even rheumatoid arthritis.

How Dirt Makes You Happy

Antidepressant microbes in soil cause cytokine levels to rise, which results in the production of higher levels of serotonin. The bacterium was tested both by injection and ingestion on rats and the results were increased cognitive ability, lower stress and better concentration to tasks than a control group.
Gardeners inhale the bacteria, have topical contact with it and get it into their bloodstreams when there is a cut or other pathway for infection. The natural effects of the soil bacteria antidepressant can be felt for up to 3 weeks if the experiments with rats are any indication. So get out and play in the dirt and improve your mood and your life.

(source)
Image by amoceptum 

How to Cut a Glass Bottle to Make a Planter

 How to Cut a Glass Bottle to Make a Planter

Warning! Use safety glasses and gloves when doing this procedure.
 
1. Soak a piece of yarn in nail polish remover

2. Tie around bottle.

3. Light with a lighter.

4. Let burn all the way around for about 10-15 seconds.
5. Dip in a bowl of cold water. It should break on the line where the was.

 

6. Fill the bottom piece half-way with water. Place both the top and bottom pieces to the side.

7. Cut a square or circle out of screen or cheese cloth materials. Enough to cover the bottom of the top  piece.

8. Tie some unused oil lantern wick or a strip of cotton string or cloth in a hoop knot and thread both ends through the center of the screen or cheese cloth.

9. Feed the wick through the inside of the inverted bottle neck (top piece) and gently pull down until the screen/cloth touches the beginning of the neck.

10. Fill the inverted bottle piece with growing medium like potting soil.

11. place the inverted top piece inside the bottom piece with the wick touching the water.

12. Sow seeds or plant a small plant of your choice in the soil.

 

The title and instructions for this project have been revised. Click here for the original source.

Our Seeds Are on the Way!

Our order is in for the heirloom, non-GMO seeds, we are sowing this spring, from Seeds Now.

"To me, gardening is also an art. Nobody does art like Mother Nature! Mother Nature designed all these plants. The garden is another palette, another canvas, and now you are using plants to paint that canvas and shape it the way you want to do it." - Ron Finley
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julia-wasson/learning-los-angeles-ron-_b_6043370.html

Russians Proving That Small-Scale, Organic Gardening Can Feed the World

When it's suggested that our food system be comprised of millions of small, organic gardens, there's almost always someone who says that it isn't realistic. And they'll quip something along the lines of, "There's no way you could feed the world's growing population with just gardens, let alone organically." Really? Has anybody told Russia this?
On a total of approximately 8 million hectares (20 million acres) of land, 16.5 million Russian families grow food in small-scale, organic gardens on their Dachas (a secondary home, often in the extra urban areas). Because growing your own food happens to be a long-lived tradition in Russia, even among the wealthy.
Based on the 1999 "Private Household Farming in Russia" Gosmkostat (State Committee for Statistics) statistics, these Dacha families produced:

• 38% of Russia's total agricultural output
• 41% of the livestock
• 82% of the honey
• 79% of the sold cattle
• 65% of the sold sheep and goats
• 59% of the milk
• 31% of the sold poultry
• 28% of the eggs
• 91% of the potatoes
• 76% of the vegetables
• 79% of the fruits

If Russian families can manage such production in their region's very short growing season (approx. 110 days), imagine the output most parts of the world could manage by comparison. Unfortunately in just the US alone, lawns take up more than twice the amount of land Russia's gardens do (est. 40-45 million acres).

Credit: ReclaimGrowSustain.com "Russians Proving That Small-Scale, Organic Gardening Can Feed the World" http://reclaimgrowsustain.com/content/russians-proving-small-scale-organic-gardening-can-feed-world

Gotham Greens Rooftop Farming | Built in Brooklyn

Detroit Community Gardens

The exodus of residents of Detroit has left the city dotted with crumbling buildings and empty lots. Many of those lots have been turned into community gardens like these outside of Downtown


 


Photo credit: DailyMail.com Article: "http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2875525/The-tiny-urban-island-downtown-Detroit-Aerial-pictures-city-s-skyscrapers-surrounded-abandoned-homes-housing-plots-mansions-sprawling-countryside.html"

Help Feed Yourself

This vintage garden ad from the U.S. Department of Labor really gets the message across.

This is exactly what we all need to be doing.