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Writing Your Own Image Gallery Application with the UNIX Shell
It is best to use /bin/sh as the programming language. Because all the work is already done most elegantly and naturally by command-line utilities, you need only to invoke them with the appropriate switches and generate simple HTML code a la google.com.
The first task is to segregate the images into different directories, depending on the dimensions and orientation of each image. This is easily done with the following block of code:
#!/bin/sh # script to segregate images based on dimensions for image in *jpg do dimension=`identify -format "%wx%h" $image` # we don't want mkdir shouting at us for # directories that exist! mkdir $dimension 2>/dev/null mv $image $dimension done
Now we have all images of identical dimensions, neatly arranged in separate directories. Let's proceed to generating the thumbnails for each of them. This script generates the thumbnails:
#!/bin/sh # script to segregate images based on dimensions # this is where we have all the thumbnails for each of the # images classified by dimensions above mkdir thumb for dir in `ls -F |grep / | grep ^[0-9] ` do mkdir thumb/$dir 2>/dev/null cd $dir width=`echo $dir | cut -dx -f1` height=` echo $dir | cut -dx -f2 | cut -d/ -f1 ` for image in * do convert -size ${width}x${height} $image -resize 20% \ ../thumb/${dir}thumb-$image done cd .. done
With ImageMagick, you have several nice features available for decorating thumbnails, and they look impressive.
1) Thumbnail with thickness and shadow:
$ convert rose.jpg -matte \ \( +clone -fx DarkSlateGrey -repage +0+1 \) \ \( +clone -repage +1+2 \) \ \( +clone -repage +1+3 \) \ \( +clone -repage +2+4 \) \ \( +clone -repage +2+5 \) \ \( +clone -repage +3+6 \) \ -background none -compose DstOver -mosaic rose-thickness.jpg
2) A raised button effect:
$ convert -raise 8x8 rose.jpg rose-raised.jpg
3) Adding a frame to the thumbnail:
$convert -mattecolor peru -frame 9x9+3+3 rose.jpg rose-frame.jpg
Next, let's look at some interesting ways to annotate images with ImageMagick:
1) Text on the bottom-left corner with a vertical orientation:
$ convert rose.jpg -font helvetica -fill white \ -pointsize 20 -gravity southwest -annotate \ 270x270+15+0 'Nice pink rose' rose-text.jpg
2) Text on a frame:
$ montage -geometry +0+0 -background white -fill \ brown -label 'Nice pink rose' rose.jpg rose-text.jpg
Note that you can give any color to the -background and -fill switches. To find which colors are supported by ImageMagick, type:
$ convert -list color
3) You also can watermark, like this:
$ convert rose.jpg -font helvetica -pointsize 20 -draw \ "gravity south \ fill black text 0,12 'Nice pink rose' \ fill white text 1,11 'Nice pink rose' " rose-text.jpg
4) Label the image on the top like this:
$ convert rose.jpg -gravity North -background green \ -splice 0x18 -draw "text 0,0 'Nice \ pink rose' " rose-top.jpg
You can create a video from the images using mencoder or FFmpeg. But before that, let's first create the horizontal and vertical mirror images of the snaps. It will be interesting to combine the images with the mirrors while playing the video:
$convert rose.jpg -flip rose-flip.jpg $convert rose.jpg -flop rose-flop.jpg
These two commands create the vertical and horizontal mirror images, respectively.
You can combine the mirrors with the original with the append switch to convert:
$convert rose.jpg rose-flip.jpg -append rose-vertical.jpg
Instead of -append, if you specify +append, it creates the images side by side, which is what we want to do with horizontal mirror images:
$convert rose.jpg rose-flop.jpg +append rose-horiz.jpg
You might consider using the -resize option or -scale option to convert all images to identical dimensions:
$ mencoder "mf://*.jp" -mf fps=0.5:type=jpg -o \ image-video.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mjpeg
This creates an image video with all the images displaying one after another at an interval of one image every two seconds (fps=0.5). But, bear in mind that all the images need to have identical dimensions, or this will not work.
Now, you can combine this with a nice audio file to create a video that is playable on a DVD:
$ lav2yuv +n image-video.avi | mpeg2enc -f 8 -o image-video.m2v $ mplex -f 8 audio.ac3 image-video.m2v -o final-video.mpg
Now, simply copy the final-video.mpg into your DVD and you are done.
You can generate the black-and-white equivalents of a color image using this command:
$ xloadimage rose.jpg -dump jpeg,grayscale rose-bw.jpg
As Linux continues to play an ever increasing role in corporate data centers and institutions, ensuring the integrity and protection of these systems must be a priority. With 60% of the world's websites and an increasing share of organization's mission-critical workloads running on Linux, failing to stop malware and other advanced threats on Linux can increasingly impact an organization's reputation and bottom line.
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Most companies incorporate backup procedures for critical data, which can be restored quickly if a loss occurs. However, fewer companies are prepared for catastrophic system failures, in which they lose all data, the entire operating system, applications, settings, patches and more, reducing their system(s) to "bare metal." After all, before data can be restored to a system, there must be a system to restore it to.
In this one hour webinar, learn how to enhance your existing backup strategies for better disaster recovery preparedness using Storix System Backup Administrator (SBAdmin), a highly flexible bare-metal recovery solution for UNIX and Linux systems.
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The Hoophouse Tomato: Start Seeds in January!
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Best Sun Protection for Sun Loving Gardeners
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The vegetables and herbs that are still available in our Southeast garden make for delicious, festive and surprisingly varied holiday fare.
With a Packet In My Pocket
To ensure we have a full productive garden, each spring I start a habit of carrying a packet of seeds in my pocket every time I head to the garden!
Find Your Average Last Frost Date
Knowing your average last frost date is key to getting your garden off to a good start.
Keeping Moles and Birds Away From Your Produce
Use old CDs and soda cans to keep pests out of your garden.
Thinking About Starting a Garden? Jump Right In!
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CobraHead Tools — Enabling Older Gardeners
A problem for older gardeners is finding tools that make gardening easier as getting up and down becomes harder.
World's Best Gardening Clogs
Try BOGS gardening clogs, a super-comfortable pair of gardening shoes that will stand up to tough wear.
What Gardening Book Would You Recommend for Beginners?
Gardeners suggest gardening books for beginners.
Succession Planting
Keep your garden full all season by planting the next crop as soon as the previous crop is harvested. Tips for deciding what to plant next.
Seeds: How Many Do You Need?
Know how many seeds you need for your area considering germination rate and extras.
Late October, and the Garden Is Still Going Strong
The Ogden Community Garden winds down, and one gardener marvels at the late October harvest, and on how much the garden has meant to everyone who has helped tend it.
Weed-Free, Self-Fertilizing, Till-Free Garden Beds
Want a worry-free, weed-free, organic-matter-rich vegetable garden bed? It is doable and fall is the best time to put it in action!
Gardening on a Budget: Seven Tips for Success
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Gardening in Winter: Everything You Need to Know About Indoor Agriculture
It's absolutely possible to be gardening in winter. You simply need to understand what to plant, when to plant it and how to maintain the best possible growing conditions in your home for indoor agriculture.
Heirloom Tomatoes and National Seed-Swap Day: Attend a Local Event or Host Your Own!
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Seed Starting at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Office!
The staff at MOTHER EARTH NEWS plants tomatoes and peppers during a seed-planting project at the office.
Three's Not a Crowd
Growing the three sisters (corn, beans, squash) in the same plot of land actually helps yield healthier crops of each.
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Contributing Editor Barbara Pleasant provides tips to help users get the most out of the new MOTHER EARTH NEWS Vegetable Garden Planner. This interactive software will help you plan your best garden ever!
Ways to Support the Local Foods Movement
A list of ways we could each show support or teach our friends and family to support the Local Foods Movement
Urban Oases
My mission was to find like minded 'earth nurturers' in a neighborhood where there seems to be a dearth of us! What I found was humility and kindred spirits, and the makings of a great dinner party!
Plants Change Wasteland to Wonderland
The healing power of plants can remediate years of soil and water pollution, and create unexpected islands of beauty.
Earth Gauge Tip of the Week: Earth Science Week
Tips on how to control soil erosion and help protect one of Earth's most important natural resources.
Earth Gauge Tip of the Week: Be Penny-Wise and Water Smart
Tips on how to conserve water in the fall with weather-based irrigation controllers.
Tough Times? Grow Your Own Food!
As more Americans tighten their belts to save a penny or two, many are finding they can save money by growing food-producing gardens.
Green Victory! An Organic Food Garden at the White House
The Obamas plant an organic vegetable garden on the South Lawn of the White House.
Sign Up for MOTHER's Garden Surveys
If you're a veteran gardener, please consider signing up to take out online gardening surveys. The surveys allow us to write articles based on the collective experience of hundreds of gardeners and report the results back to you by region. Sign up here.
The Urban Food Forest: A Groundbreaking Trend in Urban Agriculture
Urban food forests and public gardens provide communities with an edible landscape for everyone to share. These public fruit forests are the new trend in urban agriculture and play an important role as sustainable local food systems in their communities.
Bear and Son Cutlery in Tune with Today's Knife Buyers
A quality product made in the USA
Morton Buildings Value Days Sales Event
Discount pricing on all Morton buildings now through February.
The Hoophouse Tomato: In the Ground!
Spring is here and those tomato plants that were started in January are settled into their new hoophouse home. I have hopes for early tomatoes; will a late freeze stifle this goal?
Coösauke Kale
The process of saving seed for next year begins while the growing season is still going strong
Growing Pineapples Outside the Tropics
As tropical plants go, pineapples are one of the easiest to grow.
Trying to tend to kids AND a garden.
Growing Gourmet Garlic, Part 4: Bulb Cracking and Clove Selection
The fourth blog of the series Growing Gourmet Garlic discusses the separation of the bulbs into cloves, and how to select which cloves to plant. Time to get cracking!
Growing Gourmet Garlic, Part 5: Spacing, Planting and Mulching
The fifth and final post in the series on Growing Gourmet Garlic, which discusses how to space, plant, and mulch over your cloves.
Sugar Cane: You CAN Grow It Outside the Tropics (And Make Amazing Syrup!)
If you live in the South, you can grow your own sugar cane. Learn to plant, harvest and make delicious syrup at home!
Get Going With Garlic
Growing garlic is easy if you just know the right time to plant it: in fall, not spring or summer!
Growing Gourmet Garlic, Part 3: When to Plant and Soil Preparation
The third blog of the series Growing Gourmet Garlic discusses when to plant your garlic and how to prepare your soil.
Growing Gourmet Garlic, Part 2: Choosing Which Bulbs to Plant
The second blog of the series Growing Gourmet Garlic discusses choosing which bulbs to use for planting stock.
Growing Corn Early
Growing corn early by transplanting may be unconventional, but its a great way to beat the challenges and...eat corn in July!
Garlic Oil
If you eat raw garlic for its health benefits but find it difficult to consume, garlic oil can be an effective alternative. You can even make it at home!
DIY Wheat Thresher
Reader Jenna Winkeller of Gilbert, Ariz., wrote to us about a homemade device that can make small-scale wheat cultivation far more efficient: a DIY wheat thresher crafted from just a bucket, drill and chain. Check out a video of it in action, and get instructions for assembling your own version of this wallet-friendly, timesaving tool.
Growing Beans: Sustainable Protein
You can grow a year's supply of beans in a surprisingly small amount of space.
Determining Days to Maturity
Learn when to expect your crops to be ready to harvest. Giving attention to the days to maturity for the varieties you choose to grow will help you in your garden planning.
How to Try and Grow a Giant Pumpkin
Whatever you do in your garden or flower beds, the most important thing is to have fun taking care of what you are growing.
How I Found the Meaning of Life, Alone, in a Strawberry Patch
Cam contemplates the meaning of life while picking strawberries.
Choosing Heads for Fall Garlic Planting
Musings on growing and eating garlic, and why you should "Never Eat Your Seed Garlic"!
Two Corny Videos: Learn How to Breed and Hand-Pollinate Corn
Learn how to breed corn in your own corn nursery, plus learn how to properly hand-pollinate corn plants.
Cook Homegrown Mushrooms for an Extra Kick
Sauté mushrooms in some butter for a quick and tasty treat.
Fungi Galore: How to Grow Mushrooms at Home
Growing mushrooms can be easy if you get expert advice and stay on top of your mushroom log's needs.
Seedless Watermelons: Juicy Food for Thought
One reader learns how to grow seedless watermelons: A successful venture in growing juicy fruit that led her to question how much control we want over nature.
Growing Power: Youth Training and City Farming
Growing Power believes that youth working in city farms will grow, bloom and thrive right alongside the crops they cultivate.
Build Homemade Tomato Cages
Done with flimsy, store-bought tomato cages that fall over when the wind blows? Build long-lasting, heavy-duty tomato cages to fit your garden with one of our four plans.
Always Have a Backup Plan
The journey to a self-sufficient life is a bumpy ride. Having a backup plan — or two — can make all the difference in your progress.
Know When to Plant Each Crop in Your Exact ZIP Code
Use our popular When to Plant app to know when to plant each crop in your area.
Planting a Fall Garden the Easy Way
Our Vegetable Garden Planner assists you in planting your fall garden by giving you planting dates specific to your location, projected harvest dates and more.
Disease Prevention for Tomatoes
Tips for keeping your tomato plants healthy.
CobraHead Announces New Website
The new website offers the home gardener an expanded product selection of useful garden products.
Learning How to Garden at the FAIR
Our MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR last weekend was full of great presentations about all facets sustainable living, including on learning how to garden.
Seven Garden Activities to Help Kiss Winter Goodbye
So, you can't wait for the weather to warm up enough to get out and plant a few seeds in the ground? Well here is a list of gardening ideas and activities to keep you occupied and happy right up until the day that spring arrives!
Potatoes And Voles
Strategies for controlling voles in the potatoes in your garden.
Starting Seeds For Spring
By starting seeds indoors, you get a jump start on spring garden planting.
Time to Plant Garlic (With Growing Tips)
Fall is the time to plant garlic. The cloves send down roots during the winter, popping their green heads out in early spring.
Great Ways to Increase Your Harvest
The actual footprint of a garden is only one of many factors for how much food that can be produced there. With succession planting, good soil and some planning the same garden area can produce substantially more food.
Eco-Friendly Gardening Tips for Any Season
This blog post explores eco-friendly gardening tips to refreshing your garden tools, furniture, accessories and outbuildings without the need to buy mass-manufactured goods or use harmful chemical treatments.
October Garden Planner for Growing Cool-Season Crops
Though summer vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, basil and cucumbers grow at a reduced pace in the fall, cool season crops like lettuce, carrots, radishes, peas, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower are coming into maturity throughout October and into November.
First Time Gardener in the Office Garden
Summer intern Megan describes her first time gardening at MOTHER EARTH NEWS, planting cucumbers for the first time and watering the office garden.
Find the Best Seeds and Tools for Your Garden
We have developed two customized search engines that make it easier to locate companies that offer specific varieties of seeds and plants, as well as organic garden products and tools.
Can Milk Control Brown Rot?
Brown rot is a serious disease of peaches, plums, and other stone fruits. For organic gardeners, spraying at-risk fruits with a milk solution can give good control.
September Garden Planner
End of summer is a great time to tidy garden beds and harvest herbs. Now is the time to plant your fall, winter and overwintering transplants.
Illegal Front Yard Vegetable Gardens: Des Moines Considers Home Garden Ban
Des Moines, Iowa, gardeners may soon find themselves in hot water with their City. A local resident recently took front yard veggie growers to task for what the resident feels to be unsightly lawn growth. Beets and berries, it seems, do not have the same aesthetic appeal as a green, freshly-mowed front lawn.
Concerns About Using Recycled Tire Planters
In the long term, using recycled tire planters or rubber mulch in your garden can cause problems. Here's why.
May Garden Planner
May is a busy time in the garden for planting. Frost-free weather is the time to get summer veggies in their pots or garden spot.
Winners of the Fabulous Food Garden Contest
Winners of the Fabulous Food Garden Contest have been chosen. See who the lucky prize recipients are!
Keeping Garden Records
Put together a notebook with your complete garden plan. Here's some tips to get you started.
Worm's Way Launches New Website
The set launch of Worm's Way Group's new website promises improved usability, more speed and exclusive web-based promotions.
The Aquaponics Source Announces Publication of "Aquaponics Gardening"
"Aquaponics Gardening: A Step-By-Step Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together" offers advice and insight into the world of sustainable gardening
Home Garden Laws: Weeding in the Nude and Other No-Nos
Home gardeners and urban farmers can come up against garden laws and regulations that can limit the size, style and components of their garden.
EVENT ALERT: Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello
Attend the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello to learn more about heirloom gardening.
Next Generation Gardeners
Involving children in planning a garden and growing vegetables can lead to healthier adults and a healthier planet.
Two Low-cost, Supereasy Ways to Protect Your Fall Crops
protect fall crops
Energy-Efficient LED Lighting Hits the Streets: 95 Percent of Cities Satisfied
A 2012 survey by Northeast Group LLC was published in October, claiming 95 percent of U.S. cities that have tried LED streetlights are satisfied with the results, saving nearly 60 percent in costs.
Butternut Squash Beauty and Starting a High Density Apple Orchard
Saving butternut squash seeds while using a sledge hammer and putting up a roof and planning a seed swap. Also planning a high density apple orchard with a new variety called Zestar.
Could Medical Marijuana Rival Big Pharma?
Medical marijuana was a $1.7 billion industry last year--just shy of Viagra as pot-related businesses crop up across the country.
Sustainable Food Lessons From Kenya
In Kenya, even for middle class families, much of what ends up on the dinner table is grown or raised at home. With food prices rising, more and more Americans are looking towards ways of growing some of what ends up on their table at home. Both in terms of personal health, and the environment, this is a very good trend—it's a food source as local as you can get.
Community Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia
When traveling, consider checking out the community gardens in the area. You can meet local people who are passionate about gardening and learn about the climate and crops that may be different than yours.
Urban Roots: Community Gardens Making a New Detroit
The documentary Urban Roots takes a look at how city farming is transforming the city's vacant lots into community gardens, ultimately changing the community as a whole in the process.
Looking Ahead
Using cold frames for fall salad greens can extend your season of fresh eating.
Make Your Garden Work More Efficiently
Keeping your garden tools organized can help you be more efficient in your work in the garden.
Organic Garden Seeds
Organic seeds have benefits for your garden. Learn what our expert recommends and how to find organic seeds to plant.
Should I Build Raised Beds in My New Garden?
Organic gardening expert advises on whether to build raised beds for a new garden.
Vegetable Garden Planner Gift Cards Now Available!
Gift cards to the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Vegetable Garden Planner are now available for just $25.
Do You Recommend Peat Moss to Improve Soil?
Peat moss can help improve soil, but it can be expensive and its production can hurt the environment. Find out whether or not you should use it in your garden.
Michelle Obama Campaigns for Local Food
First Lady Michelle Obama's love for local food has the nation wanting to know more about how to eat in-season. Natural Home editor-in-chief Robyn Griggs Lawrence offers a healthy helping of advice on how to eat local.
MOTHER's Publishing Company Starts Garden on Front Lawn
Learn about how some members of the MOTHER EARTH NEWS team joined with others at their publishing company to start "edible landscaping" gardens on their front lawn.
What Vegetables Would Grow Best in My Area?
A reader from Pacifica, California wants to know what vegetables will grow best when.
Spring Has Sprung and the Ogden Garden is Growing
Thanks to a donation from Mantis, we were able to use our new 2-Cycle Tiller/Cultivator and prep our garden for this year's growing season.
Photo of the Day: Trailer Garden
Photo of the Day blog features a different photo from readers each day. Submit your own photos for a chance to appear on MOTHER's website! What are your favorite facets of simple or down-to-earth living? Share your ideas or show off your land!
MOTHER's Ultimate Garden Giveaway
Enter to to win MOTHER's garden prize package that is valued at $10,000 and includes 13 items that will complete your garden.
Which Is the Best Garden Tractor?
It's time for lawn and garden work. In your opinion, which is the best garden tractor? Which tractor will you be using this year?
Company-Sponsored Organic Vegetable Gardens Promote Healthy Eating
Minneapolis public relations firm Haberman & Associates wants everyone to enjoy a company-sponsored organic vegetable garden like theirs.
Who's Been Nibbling in My Garden?
Identify the animal tracks and footprints of the critters who visit your garden and yard.
How Much Wood Ash Should I Apply To My Garden?
A soil fertility expert shares his advice on using wood ashes as garden fertilizer.
Is Galvanized Wire a Safe Material to Grow Food Plants on?
Find out the risks of growing food plants on galvanized wire, and what precautions you should take when handling galvanized materials.
Garden Planning: It's All About When
Here are some helpful resources to help you determine when to take care of various lawn and garden tasks, such as planting, watering, weeding, fertilizing, mulching and harvesting plants.
Nutsedge: The Edible Garden Foe
Nutsedge is a particularly invasive weed, but it can also be eaten raw, roasted, boiled and candied.
Introducing Permaculture
Maddy Harland introduces the three ethics behind permaculture design and explains why permaculture is more than a gardening technique — it's a practical tool for a better, more creative life!
Back to the future
A little background on how Ric and Vicki moved from Detroit to a Tennessee homestead, and starting to get up to date on what they've done since.
Bricks and Potatoes
As I go along, I pull out pebbles occasionally, but only one large stone. Time and time again, however, my hands pry free the remnants of bricks. As late afternoon turns to early evening and my work for the day is nearing completion, a collection of the ruddy-colored artifacts is stacked to one side. The sight of them calls up something nostalgic in me, broken bits suggesting a history that is largely lost.
Pruning Blackberry Plants in Early Spring
The process of training and pruning blackberry plants is demystified by a gardening expert from Gurney's Seed.
Good-bye, Cruel Tomatoes!
I learned an important gardening lesson from fighting tomato blight.
Growing Gourmet Garlic, Part 1: Where to Get Seed and How Much to Plant
This is the first in a 5-part series of blogs on the process and issues involved in plating gourmet garlic. Part 1 discusses options for acquiring seed and also provides information regarding calculating the amount of seed required.
The Nature of Growing Up
4 or 40, growing up isnt always straight up. Branches, bumpy outcroppings and the occasional low hanging fruit serve as speed bumps on the road of life.
The Benefits and Costs of Disease Resistance in Wheat
Do natural genes that defend wheat against diseases also hurt its productivity and food quality? Sometimes yes, sometimes no - and when diseases hit, resistance genes protect yield and quality.
Growing Up on a Farm: Keeping Cows, Pumping Water And Incubating Chicken Eggs
Robert Zwald grew up in the 1900s, farming in Minnesota. This is part two of his stories from the past, as compiled by his daughter, Ruth.
MOTHER EARTH NEWS Grows Shiitake Mushrooms
Read about our mycological journey, starting with our process of inoculating several shiitake mushroom logs. The process is easy enough for most anyone intersted in producing their own shiitake mushrooms at home — plus, it's fun and a big money-saver!
Training Event: Growing Farm Profits
Consider this One-Day Workshop For Horticultural Farmers Ready To Take Steps To Improve Farm Profits.
Resolve to Build a Hoophouse This Year
We've been growing in unheated hoophouses for a decade now, and we can't recommend them highly enough for commercial growers. If you have any dreams of market farming, the first thing you should buy is a hoophouse.
Living on a Farm During the Great Depression and More
Growing up on a farm during the Great Depression was no easy feat, but MOTHER EARTH NEWS readers share these stories of their or their elder's time on a farm.
Growing Protein
Learn which crops you can grow in your garden to provide protein in your diet.
Conferences to Teach About Growing Flowers Commercially
If you're interested in learning more about growing flowers commercially, winter is a great time to do it. Many of the farming conferences held throughout the U.S. include tracks on cut flowers. I want to tell you about two big ones coming up soon.
Why I'm Attending the Growing Farmers Workshops
Robert White explains why he's attending the Growing Farmers workshops, and describes what he learned in the first session.
Self-Pollinating Apple Trees: An Easy Way to Grow Apples!
Self-pollinating apple trees allow homeowners with little space to reap the benefits of this fresh, nutritious fruit. While typical apple breeds require planting at least two trees in the same space so they can pollinate each other, self-fertile trees can produce fruit without another tree around.
Planning for a Successful Farming Business
In this blog, Robert White of Quail Acres Farm shares some of his experiences in the Growing Farmers workshops as they relate to planning for his upcoming move to the farm to establish his market garden and small livestock business.
Growing Peppers: One Month in 50 Seconds
Check out our time-lapse video of peppers growing from seed to sprout.
Growing Calories
Grow to fill yourself up from your garden. Potatoes will give you the most calories in the least space and are an important part of a sustainable diet.
How to Store Potatoes in Your Garden
Simply by covering your potatoes with ample mulch, storing potatoes in the ground is not only possible but incredibly easy and successful. Learn how to store potatoes in your garden and enjoy crisp, homegrown spuds through winter and into spring.
Onions: Everything You Need To Know to Grow 'Em
If you are confused about what type of onion to grow in your garden, this blog will give you the info you need. Onions are perennials, easy to grow, and have little to no pest problems. A must have addition to every garden!
Gourmet Garlic: Silverskins
Silverskins are an ideal garlic for braiding and long-term storage!
Compost: The Other Prize from the Business End of a Chicken
Eggs aren't the only things that come from the business end of a chicken. But with a little time and materials, and even less ingenuity, the rest can set you up with a free and steady supply of valuable organic fertilizer.
Cold Frames, Kim Chee, and Lawns 2 Lettuce 4 Lunch
Progress in the straw bale and wooden cold frames, delicious Kim Chee recipes for winter harvested Chinese cabbage and winter radishes, and an update from the Lawns 2 Lettuce 4 Lunch program in Arlington, VA.
Seed Starting Video and Tips
Have you started your tomatoes and peppers yet? 'Tis the season to start seeding long season crops indoors. If you normally buy organic starts from your local nursery, try your hand at seed starting.
Make Gardening Easier: Build Permanent Beds and Paths
MOTHER EARTH NEWS Associate Editor Shelley Stonebrook offers tips for building permanent garden beds and paths. Shelley presented her workshop "10 Great Ways to Make Gardening Easier" at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR in Puyallup, Wash.
Flowers Add Beauty and Diversity to the Vegetable Garden
There are many logical reasons for adding flowers to your vegetable garden: attracting beneficials, crop diversity, companion-planting, barriers and healthy soil. But perhaps their beauty does not need to be rationalized at all!
Cold Frames, Fresh Greens and Homegrown Roots
Ira takes us on a winter garden tour of the experimental gardens at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. She describes the various experimental cold frames for winter gardening and winter starts. Includes a winter recipe for Sweet Potato Leek Soup.
Succession Planting: Lettuce, Carrots, and More
Want lettuce and carrots all year round? Ira Wallace tells us her simple simple method for keeping track of succession plantings.
A Hydroponic Gardening Primer
What exactly is hydroponic gardening? Though it may sound complicated, it's really not. The word "hydroponic" comes from the Greek "hydro," meaning water, and "ponic," meaning work. The basic concept is this: growing plants in a nutrient rich water solution rather than in soil.
Small Space Gardening That's Affordable
Regardless of how little space you have, you can grow some of your own food. Space is just an excuse. By building a self-watering container or soda bottle planter you can maximize the space that you have. You don't have to have a huge garden - growi
Fall and Winter Gardening in Pots
Even if you only have garden pots to work with, you can still container garden in fall and winter to grow vegetables.
Late-Summer Gardening
In July and August, it's time to start thinking about planting crops for fall. But how do you get good seed germination when the soil is so hot?
Getting Paid for What I Love to Do
This summer Cam became a market gardener and actually got paid for something he loves to do - grow vegetables!
Survival Gardening in the Deep South
Why "hot and humid" doesn't have to equal "sad and lifeless."
How Has Gardening Brought People Together in Your Life?
One great thing about gardening that goes beyond soil building and crop rotations is its ability to bring people together. As spring is now officially here, it's a great time to revel in all the pleasures the season is sure to bring. Please share your thoughts and stories about how gardening has brought people together in your life.
What Are Your Best Tips for Gardening in the Southwest?
Readers familiar with triple-digit temperatures share their best tips for gardening in the southwest. Get advice about what to plant, when to plant and how to plant if you live in the hottest areas of the country.
Show Off Your Permanent Garden Beds
Participate in our reader photo contest by showing off pictures of your permanent raised garden beds.
New Features Added to Garden Planning Tools
We have some exciting additions to announce about our award-winning Vegetable Garden Planner program and our new Grow Planner iPad app, including new seed company catalogs, a filter tool, a favorites button and an app update.
Go-To Garden Supplies for the After-Work Rush to the Garden
I keep a kit of handy garden supplies waiting in my car, so I can head straight to the garden and take advantage of as many sunlight hours as possible right after work.
Chives, Mint and a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
Chives and mint come to a duel for territory in the herb garden, while the spring sap-sucker marks time.
Earn a Trowel for Your Garden Tips!
Send us your garden tips and you could win a free deluxe, ergonomic garden trowel.
DR® Power Equipment Introduces BurnCage Incinerator
New burn barrel alternative provides safer, smarter home and garden burning for homeowners.
Hoss Garden Seeder Perfect for Home Gardens
The Hoss Seeder's unique features include its all-metal frame and ease of attaching to the wheel hoe.
Reconnect With Your Food and Grow Your Own
When you grow your own food, you not take a step towards self-sufficiency. You also make a move towards better health and whole new relationship with your food.
Summer Garden Tips
Tips for keeping your summer garden producing at top output. This is the time of year that warm season crops are at their peak. These 7 tips will give you continued bountiful harvests through the heat.
3 Garden Tool Gift Ideas
Just in time for the holidays, here's a list of recommended garden tools made in the U.S. by family-owned companies.
Spring Garden Tool Preparation
Clean and organize garden tools.
Garden Seed Tips: Organizing Seeds, Understanding Seed Catalogs and More (Video)
Get advice on all things garden seed, from organizing seeds and ordering seeds to understanding seed catalog terms such as open-pollinated and F1 hybrid.
Good Wood
Simran Sethi looks into the furniture and logging industries.
Growing the Garden Footprint
This year is the first season I had the whole garden dug and ready and boy, it's easy to plant a garden when the garden is already there.
Let's Bring Back Victory Gardens
Bringing back Victory Gardens could help ease hunger and dependence as U.S. social aid programs, such as Food Stamps, are drastically cut.
Favorite and Essential Gardening Tools: Part One
After decades of gardening I've come to rely on a few essential gardening tools.
Using Wood Ash in the Garden
Using wood ash in the garden can be beneficial for raising the soil pH of your garden soil. These tips will help you know when to use wood ash in the garden.
Mediterranean Diet Garden
You can grow your own Mediterranean Diet garden in the Midwest. Even a small garden can provide the staples of a Mediterranean kitchen garden.
Permaculture Garden Observation
Showing where we were before our permaculture garden began.
Permaculture Garden: Will It Work for Us
Do you want a permaculture garden? An ongoing blog about our journey using permaculture design ideas, to develop the organic matter in soil and produce a higher yield.
What Is the Best, Free Mulch for My Gardens for Weed Control?
Here are some good options for free, weed-free mulches.
Homegrown Food without the Work
New businesses are springing up catering to folks who want their food homegrown, but without the mess of tending to the garden themselves.
MOTHER Wins Eddie Awards for Gardening Content and Garden Planning Tool
MOTHER EARTH NEWS wins two exciting accolades at FOLIO's Eddie Awards, one for their article Organic Pest Control: What Works, What Doesn't and one for their Vegetable Garden Planner tool.
Drinking From Garden Hoses
While garden hoses may leach some chemicals into the water flowing through them, there's little reason to think it's a serious health issue.
What's the Best Way to Remove Japanese Beetles?
Japanese beetles feed for six to eight weeks, and in that time, they are able to feed on over 300 plant species. Although collecting beetles may seem like an exhausting every day task, you're plants will appreciate it.
What Are Your Best Tips for Sustainability in the Garden?
Considerations of sustainability factor into countless supplies, tools and methods present in your garden. What do you do in your own garden to be a sustainable gardener?
Help a Small Organic Gardening Company Grow
An interview with the founder of a small organic gardening business that focuses on education and helping gardeners go organic. Learn more about this company and vote for it to win funding from a small business competition.
Growing Sprouts in My Kitchen Garden
Here's a tip on how to grow sprouts in your kitchen garden for fun and nutritious eating.
Time to Plant the Fall Garden
You can be harvesting from your garden all year long, including through the winter months! It's time to plant the fall garden.
Growing the Nerves
But maybe, at the end of the day, I am just a person with weak nerves doing something that depends on so many unknown factors – the weather, the bug population, the quality of seeds and some plain ol' luck.
Earth Gauge Tip of the Week — Spring Gardening
April is National Garden Month! Learn about the benefits of building a garden and tips on how to create one even if you don't have a big backyard.
Landrace Gardening: Food Security Through Biodiversity
Landrace gardening enhances food security by growing genetically diverse crops that are not as prone to crop failure as monoculture fields of near clones.
Landrace Gardening: Naming The New Varieties
Landrace gardening requires different plant naming conventions than those followed by industrialized agriculture.
Landrace Gardening: Don't Worry About Plant Purity
Landrace gardening promotes hybrid vigor and avoids inbreeding depression by encouraging promiscuous pollination.
Landrace Gardening: Survival of the Fittest
A photo essay showing off the stunning success of landrace gardening on my farm. This success was achieved because I changed my growing methods to embrace one of the key elements of landrace growing; "survival of the fittest."
Landrace Gardening: Getting What You Want
Using landrace gardening and promiscuous pollination to get what you want from your garden.
Urban Gardening and Growing Melons
An experiment in urban gardening produces a melon miracle.
Sharing: Your Garden's Other Health Benefit
The instinct to share home grown herbs, flowers and vegetables runs strong in gardeners, so sharing home grown goodies brings heartfelt rewards.
Seed Bombs: Random Acts to Re-Flower the Earth
Have you heard of "guerrilla gardening," where folks toss flower seeds into vacant lots, or sometimes sneak in at night and plant flowers in unkempt highway medians or strips along city sidewalks? Check it out this year as a fun and fruitful way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
How Can I Grow a Good Fall Broccoli Crop?
Growing fall brassicas can be a challenge, but here are some tips on how to prevent them from getting eaten by bugs or withering.
Are You Growing Any Food Indoors This Winter?
If you're growing food in the house through the cold months, our readers can benefit from your experience. Have you had success at indoor gardening before? What did you grow? Share your tips and tricks!
What Are Your Favorite Gurus for Gardening Advice In Your Region?
Readers share regional gardening resources.
Gardening: It's Not All Unceasing Drudgery
Old books can be a hoot to read! Check out these quotes from an 1890 book, How to Make the Garden Pay, by T. Greiner.
Overwhelmed by My Garden
At this time of year, Cam feels a little overwhelmed by the gardening chores ahead of him.
Fighting Over Food
Michelle discovers a new threat to her basil plants!
Colorado Garden Dreaming
Building garden boxes that keep critters out.
How to Grow Chocolate M&Ms
Learn how to grow one of America's favorite treats, chocolate M&Ms.
Great Gardening Books, Garden Planning, and the Fight Against GMOs Continues
Ira Wallace explores good winter gardening reads, gives advice on how to use the winter lull wisely to plan and prepare, and shares an update in the ongoing court battle to protect family farmers from agri-giant Monsanto.
Chicken Manure Fertilizer: Let Your Chickens Make Mulch
What's your idea of a delicious and wholesome breakfast? A fluffy, organic egg omelet made with fresh vegetables? Perhaps scrambled eggs and roasted garden veggies? No matter what your preference, it may surprise you to learn the link between the
I Love Lovage!
The little used herb lovage makes an attractive addition to the edible landscape and provides a smoky flavor to soups and stews.
Gourmet Garlic Trimming and Cleaning
Your gourmet garlic bulbs are finally out of the ground. Now it's time to prep them for curing!
Try This Technique: Preventive Pruning for Tomato Early Blight
Try these organic techniques to help prevent tomato early blight.
There's Always Room for Growing Herbs
Herbs are versatile plants that enhance our lives by adding beauty, aroma, nutrition, seasoning, and a varied landscape. Because they can be grown indoors, or outdoors in pots, as part of landscaping or in the garden, everyone has room to grow herbs.
Learn About Vegetables That Keep With Gardening Expert Barbara Pleasant
Deciding which vegetables to grow can be an important step for any gardener. It is efficient to fill the space that you have with vegetables that keep for the longest periods of time, which can also mean a lot to the bottom line of any garden.
Grow Mushrooms This Winter!
Try doing something different this winter by growing mushrooms. It's entertaining, and it provides you with an edible treat!
Growing Calcium
Grow calcium in your garden with collards, kale, and parsley. Suggestions are given for including these crops in your meals. Learn about companions to plant among your collards and kale to deter harmful insects.
Making Ends Meet: Dad's Memory of Farm Life in 1930s Nebraska
Deb Murphy shares her dad's boyhood stories about making ends meet on the farm in 1930s Nebraska.
How to Plant Garlic
The Garlic Gurus at Seeds from Italy give you the scoop on growing your own garlic. This post answers questions of when and where to grow garlic, what varieties to grow, how much to grow, where to buy garlic, and how much to plant.
Blueberries: Fountain of Youth
Blueberries are a true fountain of youth. This article will introduce you to the health benefits, how to grow, how to harvest, and how to eat this wonderful fruit.
Time to Start Sweet Potato Slips
I can't imagine my garden without sweet potatoes! Sometimes it is hard to find sweet potato slips for sale, so I start my own with some of last years potatoes.
Gourmet Garlic: Turbans
Is your growing season a bit too short for gourmet garlic? Turban garlic cultivars may be the solution!
How to Join the Seed-Sharing Movement
Seed sharing has come under attack and seed libraries across the country are being threatened with extinction. Here are nine ways to join the movement to keep seed sharing legal and free.
Our Favorite Heirloom Seed Companies
Planting heirloom, non-genetically modified seeds is a great way to help preserve endangered plant varieties--and the planet's very ecosystem.
April To-Dos
Spring tasks around the homestead.
A Tool For the Trade
In praise of the garden fork.
My Four Biggest Gardening Mistakes
Over the past year, I have made countless mistakes on my garden. In this post, I share four of my most frustrating gardening mistakes and how to avoid them.
It's a Miracle!
I separate the fact from the fiction with use of soluble fertilizers.
The Garden of Self-Defense
How my dad defended himself from overly generous gardeners.
Natural, Perpetual Garden Pest and Critter Control
Survivalist Gardener Rick Austin offers natural and long-lasting tips for repelling pests and insects in gardens hidden in the forest.
The less you walk on soil, the better your plants will grow.
This photographic illustration shows how permanent gardens beds are beneficial, and prevent soil compaction.
Use a Simple Compost Test to Avoid Contaminated Materials in Your Garden
Keep your garden safe by testing your organic materials for herbicide residue. A few simple tests can help you avoid harming your plants.
The December Garden
The December garden is still full of life, both in the beds and under cover, providing fresh ingredients for home cooked meals. Winter farmers markets and CSA's are a great way to learn what grows well in your zone.
Celebrate the Harvest with Cake
Get creative in the kitchen by baking with your harvest. These sweet recipes will change the way you think about baking with fruits and vegetables.
DIY Garden Lights
These DIY garden lights reuse plastic bottles and provide soft, natural lighting for evenings spent outdoors.
The Two Kinds of People
Non-gardeners and gardeners are very, very different creatures.
One of the Best Gifts for Gardeners!
A Garden Planner subscription is a budget-friendly gift that offers the satisfaction of spending the chillier chunks of the calendar plotting the bounty ahead.
Jazz Up the Christmas Feast With Garden Herbs
Use herbs from the garden in your Christmas dinner. This post shares a complete Christmas meal using garden herbs.
Four Season Garden Explained
If you have wondered what a four season garden is, the definition is simple. It is a garden that you can get produce from all year long through spring, summer, fall and winter.
Design Your Own Seed-Saving Course
Interested in seed saving but worried about mistakes? Have questions about seed saving? Here's the chance to give your input in a new seed saving class!
June Garden Planner
June is a beautiful and bountiful time in the garden. It is also not too late to put in a garden! With a few tips, you can get the best harvest ever.
A Chicken In Every Garden
Learn how chickens and gardens make a great mix.
Legacy of Jaime Hines
In remembrance of a dear friend and steward of the Earth, a look at how others inspire us and how their legacy sculpts us.
Winter Challenges in the Country, Part 2
Suggestions for what to have on hand - and handy - when you hear a storm is heading your way.
Money Does Grow On Trees
The 2011 report focuses on the Garden Effect and Payback-if-sold. The Garden Effect is the estimated increase in a property's market value as a result of having beautiful landscaping.
Springtime Madness: Lovin' It
The peaceful tranquility of farm life is often more or less controlled chaos, especially during the busy spring season!
Three New Hand Pruners
Fiskars' new hand pruners combine form and function to make every cut easier.
Permaculture in Winter
A rundown of activities you can do in the winter to improve your homestead.
Weed Watch: How to Kill Nutsedge
Learn how to kill nutsedge, both yellow (Cyperus esculentus) and purple (Cyperus rotundus), and remove it from your garden. Pine bark mulch may be one effective way to kill nutlets from yellow nutsedge.
Is There a Practical, Organic Way to Counteract Excess Nitrogen in My Garden Soil?
If you've added too much nitrogen fertilizer to your garden this expert advice can help you figure out how to correct the mistake.
More Free Perennial Onions
Visit our blog by Wednesday at midnight for a chance to win free Egyptian onion top bulbs.
Power Rake Offers Consumers Multi-Purpose Lawn Tool
Landscapers, gardeners and DIYers have a fast and convenient solution that dethatches, bags, rakes, scalps, mulches and cuts lawns in a single tool.
The Garden Spider
These large, beautiful, long legged creatures of late summer thrill and amaze.
Summer of Turkeys
Recap of 2010 growing season in Northwest Pennsylvania
Rainy Day Homesteading
We don't get to sit around inside and listen to the rain on a tin roof in the summer. Instead, we're busy pulling in spring crops, putting out fall crops, and much more.
STIHL Earns Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award
Popular Mechanics honored STIHL with a 2010 Breakthrough Award for the STIHL HSA 65 hedge trimmer, the first product with 36-volt STIHL Lithium-Ion battery-power technology.
The Summer Garden, Good and Bad - with Pictures
The summer garden is coming to an end. I think most of us can agree it has been a challenging year for our gardens. It is time to regroup and learn from our experiences.
New Boom for Real Estate: Community Gardens
Real estate and land use demands have many people left on a waiting list by their local community gardens. Never fear: There's still plenty of options to get growing!
Find Farming Internships and Apprenticeships
Looking for a farming internship or apprenticeship? Search the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Center's online directory of farming internships and apprenticeships to find one that interests you.
Underneath Bird Feeder
Duncraft introduces a new concept in bird feeding - the patented Underneath Bird Feeder
My Top 5 Favorite Seed Companies
Here are five great companies to buy seeds from.
Choose a Dandelion Weeder: Pulling Weeds, Not Your Back
Pick the right dandelion weeder, and ridding your lawn and garden of dandelions becomes more game than chore. Here we hightlight three popular models: the Oswego Grandpa's Weeder, the Fiskars Triple Claw Weeder and the Garden Weasel Weedpopper Step and Twist.
Planting With Preserving in Mind
This blog post discusses growing enough produce for canning.
Beginning the Fall Harvest
While summer's still lingering, tasks of fall have begun.
Where Did Summer Go?
The Fall garden is bursting and the canning kettle hot as we draw summer to a close in North Central Idaho.
The Resurgence of School Gardens
School gardens play a vital role in our nations educational systems. Though the concept dates back to the 1800s, their role has gained popularity in the last 20 years, and for good reasons.
Garden Planning for Spring 2015: Index Your Plant Choices
It's time to start garden planning for spring 2015! An uncomplicated way of collecting and organizing your information during those long winter days is to get some index cards, scissors and tape. Cut out the plant varieties from catalogues that you find interesting, with the pertinent information tape this information to the index card to take along to the nursery come spring.
Quick Tip: Preparing Your Potted Garden for a Hard Freeze
Give your pots the protection they need when freezing temperatures arrive with a portable greenhouse. You can also bring in pepper plants for the winter and have fresh peppers indoors.
Easy Ways To Make a New Vegetable Garden
Starting a new vegetable garden bed doesn't have to be a long, tedious, back breaking job. There are a few different ways to get the job done quickly and relatively easily!
Six Ideas for Small-Space Gardening
Here are six of my favorite ideas for those of you with small spaces and still want to get your garden on.
Organic Insect Control for Your Container Vegetable Garden
Dealing with insects in your garden is inevitable. It's just a matter of when it happens. Just because you have some critters munching on your food doesn't mean that you have to break out the chemicals.
No Space? No Excuse! Start to Grow Your Own Food
Having little space is not a reason to not be growing your own food. It's just an excuse. I've been apartment gardening since 2009.
Tips for Small-Space Gardening
Learn three simple tips for making the most of small gardening spaces, including hanging plants and advice for selecting seed varieties.
Nature's Footprint Proudly Launches the UrBin Grower
The UrBin Grower is a unique gardening system that takes place in self-watering containers that can be used on decks, patios, side yards or porches.
Tips for Seed-Starting Success
You want to start your urban garden from seed this year, but you're not sure where to start because you've only started from transplants.
End of the Season
A philosophical look at the coming of winter, with ideas for preserving the summer after the end-of-the-season pepper harvest.
Cub Cadet Debuts RZT S ZERO Electric Zero-Turn Riding Mower
The all-new RZT S ZERO is available in select markets and will be headlining the Cub Cadet Test Drive Experience Tour.
Landrace Gardening: Maintaining a Landrace
Joseph Lofthouse shares how to maintain thriving populations of landrace vegetables in the garden.
Plant Garlic in the Fall for a Larger, Healthier Crop
Do you know the best time to plant garlic? Try planting in fall instead of spring for healthy, large garlic bulbs.
Growing Hand-Made Wheat and Hand-Made Kids
Steve explains how he and his 11 year old son grew a crop of wheat entirely by hand, and why this is something you should try, too.
HOMEGROWN Life: Let's Talk About Poop
HOMEGROWN Life blogger and Bay Area homesteader Rachel discusses using manure in the garden, including which type of animal waste is best for which crops.
Choosing What to Grow in a Small Yard
With a small space, how do you choose what to grow? You can grow an amazing variety and amount of vegetables and herbs in a very small space, integrate veggies and herbs into your flowers, and maximize the use of pots.
Landrace Gardening: Beautiful Crops
A photo essay showing off the beauty of landrace crops.
Landrace Gardening: Fruit and Nut Trees From Seed
The principles of landrace gardening can be applied at any scale from small annual gardens to multi-generational community wide tree farms.
Landrace Gardening for the Casual Grower
Exploring my hopes and dreams for the landrace seed movement with suggestions about how farmers, merchants, and gardeners could cooperate to create a more robust, secure, and locally adapted food system.
Heat-Tolerant Tomato Varieties
Some tomato varieties wilt when temperatures get too hot. Find heat-tolerant tomato varieties that can grow robust tomato plants in hot climates.
Nominations Sought for 2015 Moses Organic Farmer of the Year Award
The Midwest Organic Sustainable Education Service is looking for an organic farmer worthy of being named their 26th annual Organic Farmer of the Year.
Container Planting On 10 Acres
You'd think that if you have some 10 acres you'd have a wonderful fields full of fresh vegetables and fruits. You'd think you'd have a simple way to create an awesome garden. And if you live where I live, you'd be wrong.
EZ Tomato Cages Provide Support Lacking in Other Brands
EZ Tomato Cages are collapsible and sturdy unlike many currently on the market.
Barebones Welcomes You to the Outdoors
Barebones strives to make the experience of outdoor recreation and hobbies a priority.
Alpaca Gold Introduces Line of New Organic Fertilizer
Introducing Alpaca-Gold, a new company producing 100% all natural, organic Alpaca fertilizer.
What to Do With Garlic Scapes
Learn what to do when you spot garlic scapes growing on hardneck garlic types, and discover how to use garlic scapes that you remove from plants.
The Dieter's Guide to Weight Loss While Gardening
Cam describes his weight loss program which involves lots and lots of gardening....
Strawberries Are a Bargain At Any Price!
Michelle knows how much work it is to grow strawberries.... and she's happy to be able to buy them at any price!
I'm Not Crying Over My Onions This Year!
Cam is enjoying a bumper crop of onions this year!
Friendly Farmhands from Philadelphia
Cam and Michelle enjoy having their first "HelpX" volunteers to help out in the gardens!
Photo of the Week: Strong Swiss Chard
See this shot of Swiss chard with strong colors that any gardener can appreciate.
A Perfect Ending to the Ultimate Garden Giveaway
Meet Kriste Misiak and her family, the recent winners of the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Ultimate Garden Giveaway.
The Power of Pinterest
Using Pinterest can help inspire new gardening ideas.
Mountain Gardening And The Challenges - Part 2
Thank goodness for good friends who will share their garden harvest with those of us less skilled.
A CSA Update
Cam is exhausted but exhilarated by the early success of his CSA.
My Love Affair With Garlic(2)
Cam shares his love affair with garlic and explains the work involved with growing and processing organically-grown garlic.
The Extreme Sport of Running a CSA
Cam ponders the wisdom of starting a CSA at the ripe old age of 52.
Summer Planting for Fall and Winter Harvest
It may be sweltering hot outside, but we're still busily sowing seeds at the Southern Exposure farms! Learn how to plant your bountiful fall and winter garden, with abundant harvests through Thanksgiving and beyond.
Tomato Tastings, Fall Garden Starts, and Getting Ready for Garlic
Come rejoice in the bounty of heirloom tomatoes - experience the flavors and choose your favorites at tomato tastings throughout the Southeast. Plus, it's time to plant fall alliums - garlic and perennial onions - and fall crops for winter storage!
Crossing the Gardening Rubicon
Every fall Cam is tired of gardening and vows to make his vegetable garden smaller. Every spring he is excited about getting back in the garden and ends up making it bigger!
Learning A Lot from the Happy Wanderers
Cam enjoyed another week with some volunteer helpers!
Introducing Durable, Collapsible EZ Tomato Cages
EZ Tomato Cages are the brainstorm of two friends, both fed up with purchasing tomato cages that were cheaply fabricated, weak and difficult to store.
The Dog Days of Drought
Cam is getting worn out trying to keep up with watering during a drought.
A Composter Anyone Will Ever Need
The Aerobin 400 uses a patented aeration core inside an enclosed bin to promote aerobic break down of organic matter. The Aerobin 400 is easy to use - just open, drop in materials, and close.
Learning How to Grow My Daily Bread
Cam grows a patch of wheat to see how much work is involved. He will never take a loaf of bread for granted again!
We Are Opening the Doors at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR!
It's opening day at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR! We're covering all kinds of cool gardening topics at the Organic Gardening Stage.
Thank God I'm a (Transplanted) Country Boy
Cam has a great deal of respect for farmers.
Week #11 of Sunflower Farm CSA
It's Week #11 of our CSA and we can't find boxes big enough to fit all of the great produce!!
'Food Is Free' Project Losing Their Teaching Farm
The Food is Free Project has inspired thousands of individuals, families and groups around the globe to start front yard free gardens to share with friends and neighbors. They are losing their teaching farm.
How to Supercharge Your Soil with Minerals
Your veggies contain the nutritional content that the soil can provide the plant. Saying a plant only needs NPK is like saying all humans need is carbs, fat and protein. It is much more complicated than that.
The Garden That Was Not
Why it is important to stay on top of a garden.
Composting for Anarchists
Composting doesn't have to be tough! Learn to make easy compost without the stress.
Landrace Gardening: 2014 Progress Report
The methods of landrace gardening can provide food, even when social or family troubles take us away from the garden.
Winter Vegetables in Your Hoop House
Here is an idea of daily hoop house tasks and information on growing and harvesting abundant, healthy winter vegetables in your hoophouse, avoiding hazardous nitrate accumulation in greens.
Discovering Aji Amarillo Peppers
Aji Amarillo peppers (Capsicum baccatum) are versatile, fruity peppers used extensively in Peruvian cuisine. We have found many uses for these bright yellow and orange peppers, and our journey to discover them has only begun.
Grow Your Own Dragon Fruit Plant
Want to learn how to go your own dragon fruit cactus? Here's how!
How to Prepare Your Garden for Spring Planting
Taking a couple of extra steps before planting your crops will help ensure healthy garden soil. Here's how to prepare your garden for spring planting.
What to Plant Now for Your Fall and Winter Garden
Ira shows how you can keep sowing and planting through late summer and into fall. Learn how to keep your garden producing abundantly through the cold months ahead.
Snow in Virginia, But It's Time to Get Planting All Over the Southeast
A tour of the gardens at Southern Exposure, where we're taking advantage of warm sunny days in February to get our gardens ready for intense planting ahead. But there's still plenty to sow, indoors and out.
Compost: Food Waste Prevention and Potential Fertilizer
I say compost, you think of rotting food, dirt, flies and a horrible smell. For that reason most people wont' even consider composting at home.
Prop 37: Heirloom Corns and Other Reasons to Support California's Right to Know
Join us in fighting the threat of GMOs: California's Right to Know (Prop 37) for GMO labeling leads the nation, and the Southern Exposure lawsuit against Monsanto continues to push through the courts. Plus, fall gardening can be easier than summer!
Attracting Beneficial Insects to Your Garden
Ira Wallace inspires us to create flowering, native plant habitat in our gardens. Learn how to identify plants that are 'user-friendly' to the bugs that help keep our gardens healthy.
The Spiritual Side of Growing Your Food
A post by Maria Rodale called A Harvest of Healing got me thinking about how gardening and growing your own food is much more than what you harvest.
Gardening Doesn't Have to Be Expensive
People often dismiss gardening as an expensive hobby that they can't afford. While that can be true, it doesn't have to be. There are way to make gardening cheap.
Food Prices Might Be Rising, But You Can Do Something About It
In the United States, we are feeling the effects of the rising food prices as well. When you take a deeper look into the prices, it's not the food that is causing the price to rise. It's everything else that goes into getting the food to your plate t
DIY Seed Starter Pots
It might be the middle of the summer, but you should start thinking about getting your fall garden ready. If you don't have much space, to plant everything outdoors, then you can certainly start your seeds indoors.
Two Ways to Use a Shipping Pallet in Your Garden
When you are apartment gardening in a small space, you are forced to be creative due to your space constrictions. Most traditional pots and containers might not work, so you become reliant on reusing objects to better fit your space.
Build a Rain Garden
Gardening can make a difference! Across the country, people are building rain gardens to filter contaminants and ease overburdened stormwater systems. Here's how to build a rain garden in 10 easy steps.
Growing Food as a Family
Parents will often say that they don't have time to grow their own food because they have kids. Don't let kids be the excuse. Instead make them part of the experience too. It's what families have done since the beginning of time. The past 100 yea
American Garden Tool Company
The American Garden Tool Company is an online source for American-made garden tools, products and accessories.
How Did America Lose Its Connection With Food?
While there are many events that have lead us to where we are today in terms of food, there are some things/events that stand out the most in my mind. Growing your own food is one way to reverse the trend.
Urban Farms Bike Tour = Sunday Fun Day Adventure
Kansas City has a thriving city farming scene, and recently hosted an urban farms tour to showcase several of the city's market and community gardens. One of our editors pedaled along with a bike tour group to see what the city farmers have to offer.
Simple Reasons to Start Growing Your Own Food
When people ask why they should grow their own food, the answer that I give is often simple. I tell them, "It's because we are humans."
Grow Your Own Food as a Social Statement
Take these into consideration the next time you are making your food purchases.
What is an OMRI Listing?
Organic is a phrase that's tossed around and abused a lot by marketers these days. Not all "organic" products should be treated equally.
Vertical Gardening and Composter in One
What if I told you that you could grow 50 plants in 4 square feet?
Food Waste in America
We are taught when we are kids not to waste food, but it doesn't seem as if that lessen has stuck with us.
Garden Fail: Gardening Mistakes That I've Made
Whether you are new to gardening or experienced, you will make some mistakes. Get over it and learn from it. That's the most important thing.
The Politics of Gardening
Some people use gardening as an escape from the trials and tribulations of the real world. It's their time to get their hands dirty, connect with the earth and just be in their garden.
Three Simple Tips for Taking Care of Your Container Garden
If you are new to growing your own food in containers, these are some simple tips that should help you to get a better yield and results from your containers.
Three Ways To Reuse Soda Bottles in Your Garden
Growing your own food doesn't have to be an expensive activity. There are plenty of ways to cut back the costs and be earth-friendly as well. You can do this by giving a second life to items that have outgrown their initial purpose.
Weed & Water Wednesday: A Favorite Desert Garden
Although winter is setting in, that doesn't mean an end to the garden season in desert climates! Get inspired by this beautiful rainwater-harvesting, food-producing desert landscape!
How To Make a Self-Watering Container
Containers are great for those that are gardening in small spaces. Though there is the fear of not knowing when or how often to water them. This is why I started to make my own self-watering containers.
4 Recipes for Your Summer Harvest
It's the middle of summer and you are likely enjoying the harvests. There is` so much to do with all that fresh and flavorful produce, but what should you do?
Feeding Bees With Real Food - Honey and Pollen
You don't have to depend on nature to feed your bees. Take matters into your own hands and plant enough good food for your bees, so they have good, safe food all year long.
Thoughts On Food - From My Swing
Contemplations on what we eat and why we pay close attention to our food.
In Colorado Neighborhood, Front Yard "Microfarms" Feed Community
In a Boulder, Colorado, neighborhood, residents are getting off the grass. They're donating their front yards to a community organization that grows enough fruits and vegetable on the former lawns to feed 50 families. Now, that's local food.
Community Container Gardening
Building community through sharing work and food.
Landrace Gardening: Racing the Weeds
By applying the principles of landrace gardening, you can help your plants win the race against weeds.
Landrace Gardening: True Potato Seeds
By growing potatoes from pollinated seeds we can develop locally adapted plants that thrive in our gardens.
Landrace Gardening: Saving Landrace Seeds
Seed saving is an integral part of landrace gardening.
Landrace Gardening: Fertilizing Landraces
Landrace gardening allows us to minimize fertilization by selecting for plants that thrive in the pre-existing soil.
Landrace Gardening: Growing Popcorn
Joseph Lofthouse shares tips for growing landrace popcorn.
Tomato Tasting Time: Planning a Fun Garden Party
A perfectly ripe heirloom tomato is one of the great joys of summer, here are some tips for organizing your own heirloom tomato party.
Imprelis: Another Deadly Herbicide, This Time From DuPont
We've been warning you about aminopyralid-containing killer compost for quite some time. Now there's a new deadly herbicide on the market, Imprelis, and it's wreaking havoc in at least seven states.
Get a Head Start With Chitting Potatoes
To make the best use of potato-growing season, use the technique of greensprouting.
Free, Easy and All-Natural Mulch
It's easy to overlook how useful grass clippings can be, but early fall is a great time to collect this valuable 'yard waste' to use in your garden as mulch.
Landrace Gardening: Sunroots
Sunroots are a typically-cloned crop with great potential as a locally-adapted survival-of-the-fittest landrace
Landrace Gardening: Replanting Hybrids
How to use hybrids in a landrace garden.
Landrace Gardening: Foreign Imports
A photo essay documenting imported landraces that I started incorporating into my existing landraces during the current growing season.
Time to Plant Cover Crops
Cover crops protect your soil over the winter and are beneficial for soil building. Learn more about your cover crop options and the time to plant them.
Four 'Holy Moly I'm Freezing' Keys to Gardening Success
It's freezing out - but that doesn't mean it's time to quit gardening. Learn how fall and winter are the key to next year's gardening success.
Landrace Gardening: Seed Swaps
Grow enough seed for yourself and a little extra for seed swaps and you may never have to pay for seeds again.
Survival Seed Banks, Part 1: What Seeds Are Available?
A market farmer's perspective on survival seed banks, evaluating current offerings.
Attend a Regional Food Workshop on Winter Gardening in Kutztown, Pa.
The Keystone Center, in partnership with the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, is hosting a regional food workshop called "The Traditional Winter Garden: Fresh Food From December to March."
Landrace Gardening: Hybrid Squash
A photo essay showing off the beauty of landrace squash.
Egyptian Walking Onions
Egyptian walking onions are one of my favorite crops because they produce food for my family from early spring until late fall.
'Integrated Forest Gardening' by Wayne Weiseman, Daniel Halsey and Bryce Ruddock
"Integrated Forest Gardening" is the first, and most comprehensive, guide about plant guilds ever written, and it covers in detail both what guilds are and how to design and construct them, complete with extensive color photography and design illustrations.
A Greenhouse: Part Two
The greenhouse takes shape with the help of family.
Survival Seed Banks, Part 3: Seed Storage Common Problems
A landrace market farmer's perspective on survival seed banks. Part 3: Storing the seeds. With careful forethought, it is possible to store seeds in a manner that will allow them to avoid or survive common seed destroying events.
How We Transplant Vegetable Plugs
This post will take a look at how we transplant vegetable seedlings in our certified organic greenhouses, especially tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.
All About Zucchini
Zucchini is a summer crop that keeps on giving all season long. They are easy to grow.
Top 10 Tomato-Growing Myths
There are many tomato tales out there. If you want to know which farmer stories are true, read on to get tips on growing great tomatoes.
How to Graft Tomatoes
Learning how to graft tomatoes yourself not only saves money but gives you unlimited options for what varieties you choose to graft. With a little practice, you can become skilled at this worthwhile technique.
Landrace Gardening: Promiscuously Pollinated Tomatoes
Creating a landrace of promiscuously pollinated tomatoes. Details about my major plant breeding project for the next few seasons and a plea for help.
Plan Next Season's Garden Now
Winter down-time from the garden is the best time for planning what vegetables you want to grow in the upcoming season. Having the seeds ready and knowing when to plant them can minimize the chaos in spring and maximize harvests in fall. It's all about getting ready now.
Landrace Gardening: Dealing With Cytoplasmic Male Sterility
A pragmatic approach to eliminating male sterility from a home garden. Includes a diagram and photos about what to look for.
Genetic Engineering and Cell Fusion CMS
Cell Fusion genetic engineering is emerging as a hot topic in the Certified Organic seed and food industry. We can expect the resolution of this issue to impact both small-scale and large-scale growers.
Permaculture Gardening, Part 4
Building a layered bed to develop organic material in the soil, hold moisture and decrease the amount of work.
Permaculture Gardening Part 3
Our first project: building a small keyhole mound.
Hello From Raintree Nursery
Sam Benowitz and Tara Bittler are joining the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Blog Squad, and they break down the types of gardening and fruit-growing information they will share with you each week.
How to Store Seeds
Good storage conditions for your garden seeds are essential. These tips will help you learn how to store seeds.
Straw-Bale Gardening in the New York Times
Here is a great article on straw bale gardening.
Kale or Collards
Which grows better in Pacific Northwest gardens - kale or collards?
Morgan the Wonder Dog Can Read My Mind
The right dog can be a very useful member of the family when you are growing corn!
The Gardener As Magus, from 'Beautiful and Abundant'
I was 9 when Mr. Posey "hired" me. Once I was certain he wouldn't chase me off, I started spending nearly every spare moment there. It was my first job, and I loved it.
Who's That Standing in My Garden?
Cam finds an new old-fashioned way to keep the wildlife out of his garden.
The Results of My Great Wheat Growing Experiment
Cam shares the results of his experiment growing wheat in his vegetable garden.
Mike & Melissa's Side of the Story
Our HelpXers Mike and Melissa share their experiences as volunteers here at Sunflower Farm.
GMO Labeling, Fall Greens, Winter Storage Vegetables, Yacon and Fresh Kimchi
Killing frosts are arriving, but Ira's staying self-sustaining all winter, with winter-hardy greens and plenty in storage, from sweet potatoes to pickled peppers. Get i

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