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Showing posts from 2015

Starting A Suburban Tree Nursery, Part I: Planting the Seeds

This site has a lot of potential for an apple orchard In a post I wrote a few months back, I talked about starting a tree nursery in my suburban neighborhood.  Well, that idea has started to come to fruition.   And, as promised, I am going to show you the entire process for as long as I can keep it going.  In today's post, I will outline all of the steps I took to hopefully start the trees from the ground up--more specifically, how I grew them from seeds. I must first give credit to the author of little house on the urban prairie , a blog that I started following after hearing Mark Shepard mention him/her on the permaculture podcast.  It was his/her post titled " Chestnuts and Hazels for the Future " that I learned of this method of starting trees from seed.  The author wrote the post in 2010, and he/she started hazelnuts and chestnuts using this method.  According to post dated in September 2014, those trees can now be purchased for $10 a piece.  If you're int

Fall Has Arrived! Time to Review the Last Few Months of the Dow Dominion Garden

The last post I wrote about the garden was back in late June, and a lot of stuff has changed since that point.  I thought I'd show my readers what has happened in the time between then and now. Although I am attempting to convert a large portion of my garden to a system of edible perennial plants, there will always be a spot for in the yard for growing classic annual favorites, like tomatoes.  Today, I'd like to offer a glimpse at what both annual and perennial plants produced for my family to eat over the summer season. Annuals Tomatoes - My tomatoes were glorious this year!  So many delicious tomatoes were eaten by the entire Dow family this summer.  The "Brandy Boy" variety started to ripen in early July, with the rest of the varieties blushing shortly thereafter.  With the exception of "Rio Grande," they have been putting out delicious tomatoes for us to eat ever since.  Production has slowed to a crawl, however, over the past month, as early b

The Dow Dominion Will Now Be the Home of a New Tree Nursery

After several months of contemplation and research, I have finally decided to start a tree nursery on my property. A tree nursery?  "How am I going to do that on less than a third of an acre in suburbia?" is probably what you're thinking right about now. I know, I know.  I asked myself the same thing over and over, too. I've also heard it a thousand times from various internet gurus as well. There's no way I can grow trees with this little space. Perhaps they have a point.  Or perhaps they are just too discouraged to try, given that almost nobody thinks it can be done.  There are, however, a few individuals who are doing the exact same thing I want to do, despite conventional wisdom that claims it isn't possible.

Garden Progress, May/June 2015 - Improvement and Refinement

I've enjoyed the amount of time I've had to relax and watch the various bugs fly around and march along in my backyard garden . They seem particularly unconcerned about my presence there, and I get a sense of accomplishment knowing that, by growing edible plants, I'm helping them in their daily activities as well.   It's especially noticeable this year, as I've made a variety of improvements to my garden and added a generous amount of new plants and varieties to my collection.  It seems my garden is becoming more and more of an insect haven as the biodiversity of the plants I grow improves.  I think that is a good thing. That said, the "improvements" to the garden that seem to attract various pollinators were initially for my benefit, in order to increase the amount of food I can grow for my family.  Today, I want to share some of the things I made improvements upon from last year, as well as some brand new techniques for this year that have hel

How and Why I Put Urine To Good Use in My Garden

I've been busy in my gardens whenever I have a hour or two of free time.  The gardens usually take priority over my other hobbies during the day, one of which includes writing articles for the blog.  That is partly the reason for the lack of updates over the past few months, with the other part being that I've had a hard time coming up with topics for posts that haven't already been done by people more experienced and knowledgeable than myself. All that aside, I want to talk a little about something generally considered a waste product, and how to turn it into a valuable resource. 

What's Happening In the Dow Dominion Garden for the 2015 Season

March in the mountains of North Carolina is the beginning of the gardening season, and I have a lot to accomplish this month.  In today's post, I will give you the rundown of the typical tasks I complete to get the garden ready for planting, as well as some of the new things I am trying out this year.

How To Make A Winter Sowing Container

Winter Sowing Here's a brief summary on how winter sowing may improve your self-reliance . Winter sowing allows you to start a large amount of plants from seed with reduced costs and work compared to growing seedlings indoors. Reduces trash that ends up in landfill by using common, recycled materials. Eliminates risk of plant death to overexposure (transplants are already hardened from sun/wind burn and some cold snaps), and reduces risk of pest problems. A passive approach makes winter sowing easy and generally problem-free . Last month, I began recording my progress towards self-reliance with an article about high-efficiency artificial lighting for decreased home energy consumption.  Today,  I am going to change gears a bit and talk about an important part of creating a sustainable and reliable food supply. In order to be released from the choke hold of the modern grocery store, one must somehow provide themselves the bulk of their caloric needs from their own