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I am a college student majoring in Environmental Studies, and I just recently started to become interested in small-scale food production. My university has an amazing community garden where I have a small plot. I’d love to find a good gardening blog that will help me along as I attempt to care for this super small but awesome garden. Do you guys have any favorites? (My zone is 8B, by the way.)

I’ve been growing food organically in the San Francisco bay area (zone 9b) for 26 years, and I’m putting everything I’ve learned about organic gardening into a web site, http://www.grow-it-organically.com

Organic gardening is about feeding the soil to feed the plants, and growing robust vegetables that can fight off pests and still produce high yields.

Pictures on the site are from my garden. Some pages you might find useful:

http://www.grow-it-organically.com/attracting-beneficial-insects.html
http://www.grow-it-organically.com/facts-about-soil.html
http://www.grow-it-organically.com/how-to-grow-vegetables.html

I hope this helps!

I am going start off with gardening at my patio. I live in a apartment (first floor) & I have a small patio. I wanna grow flower plants like Gerber daisies or Mini roses. I live in Denver. Any suggestions where to get started with? Which pots are good for those plants? Ideas on where I can get them?

Home depot is an excellent source and you can pick the pots or shelf boxes according to your taste. I prefer heavy plastic to pottery for durability.

Or what have you learned about yourself while gardening.
They say gardening is one of the most relaxing past times. Tho it’s a lot of work.
I learn to have patience most of all out of everything. waiting for the garden to be in bloom.

During the season it is one of my forms of meditation ~ It forces me to be fully present ~ you don’t want to be pulling weeds if you are thinking about anything else, you are assured to pull out good plants as well. There are so many metaphors for the self to be found in gardening, while weeding I’m reminded that I have to work at removing my own defects of charector so that the virtues of my personality can grow.

As far as patience – I learned it is not about the destination, but the process.

I’m weeding a large garden and it’s taken from 8am-5pm. I have qualifications in Horticulture and i’ve done some minor gardening before for my school and the community. How much should I charge? He said about $100 (NZD) but i’m not sure if this is too much or too little. I need christmas money!

8 bucks an hour to start.

I will return home at the end of July and would like to start some sort of gardening project in August. But I have never done any kind of gardening/landscaping. I have no idea what kind to buy and plant. I am completely clueless.

We live in Kansas were we experience all 4 seasons. It gets quite windy in our area. The front of the house is facing the south.

(August is not a good time of year to start gardening in the USA except for states such as south Florida)

You are gonna love gardening, don’t try to do it all in one year. Get to know where the sun shines the most, and where the shaded areas are. Because you will need flowers for the sun areas, and flowers for the shaded areas.

Since you are a beginner, this year start your garden with plants that you get from a garden center or nursery. They are called bedding plants and come in a six pack. Look for a little tag sticking in the six pact showing directions on how to grow the plants. If the tag is not there, ask for one or buy something else. Directions are VERY important.

Seeds are not always easy to grow. And wildflowers are the hardest so don’t be disappointed if they don’t show up.

Two good things to do for yourself is to call your local County Extension Service and ask for all the information that they have about gardening in your area. They usually have a packet/kit of things for the home gardener.

And number two would be to pick up a couple of beginner books. You really do need to know about soil, compost, mulch and etc.

To keep from over watering or not watering enough, buy a water analyzer from a nursery or garden center. Be sure to read the directions. This will be one of your best tools.

Send for some free gardening catalogs and get use to the different types of plants, colors, and when to plant. They are filled with good informtion and pictures. And they will keep you company during the long winter months. Here is a list of just a very few. There are hundreds more:

http://www.waysidegardens.com
http://www.dutchbulbs.com
http://www.jacksonandperkins.com (Roses)
http://www.oakesdaylilies.com (Daylilies)
http://www.caladium.com (Caladiums)
http://www.parkseed.com
http://www.burpee.com

Other catalogs:
http://www.leevalley.com
http://www.gardeners.com
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Container/pots/window boxes needs:

All need holes in the bottem for water drainage,
Potting soil that comes in bags,
Slow release fertilizer for flowers (not for green plants), OR liquid fertilizer that will need to be used more often-read directions,
Water crystals to be mixed into the soil for holding water,
Bedding plants or full grown plants.

Here is an excellent link to check out for color combinations and plants that look good together:

http://www.fernlea.com/awesomeaccents/recipes.html

My mom hasn’t really ever gardened before. Last year she tried, but didn’t get into it much. We are into the whole organic foods thing so I thought we should garden to save some money on all the produce we buy. Do you know of any good gardening books for beginners like my mom?

If Square Foot Gardening is still available, it’s a great book for beginners! Not overwhelming at all. There was also a book called something like lasagna gardening……fun but if you don’t have access to the stuff, probably not practical. Gardening for Dummies………?? No offense, just they usually break it down into simple sections.

If you are in the US you can contact your Cooperative Extension Service in your county. They have gardening brochures that may be helpful. Also they have the Master Gardeners, trained volunteers to answer your (many) questions. That’s their job.

I tried to get into the hobby of gardening recently. I loved it until one day in my garden after removing weeds I saw the soil move by itself! I’m very superstitious and I fear that my house has being built on an ancient burial ground. I’m very scarred to go out into the garden now and I’m afraid something terrible will happen such as zombies. It makes it hard to sleep at night. I’m being very serious, how can I overcome this?

Sounds like you disturbed an earthworm or some other (very normal/natural) critter in the soil. Best advice is to just get back out there & get to know your local plants & animals. Get back in the saddle, so to speak.

Does anyone know where I can buy Vermiculite for gardening other than online?

Try your local garden center or greenhouse.

I live in TN. So, far we have had about 2 weeks of warm weather (60s & 70s) before spring even set in. Last year, our winter ended right around this time also unlike past decade where cold weather ( < 60F) would last through April. So, should I wait a little longer or can I go ahead and start my flower gardening now?

You can start now but the ideal weather will be around a month or month n a half away. I live in southern IN and started planting last week. For your state the zone is April thru or March thru June. I cant tell exactly on the map on the back of this seed pack but it looks like your safe to start planting now.

I don’t have enough land to own a farm or any large scale cultivation project. My original idea was to grow bonsai trees, but a 4 year old tree goes for $20. I don’t see how anyone in the world can make any sustainable income off of that.

I can grow anything from cacti to flowers to a full blown tree (don’t have enough space for a tree).

Any ideas on how I can turn my gardening ability into a business?

You didn’t say how much space you do have but you might consider herbs. Many of them don’t take a lot of space and fresh ones are very popular.