Permaculture: A Healthy Sustainable Alternative to Big-Agri
March 12, 2014 ~ David Ring –LocalOrg Permaculture is a combination of two words, permanent culture, which evolved from a previous and narrower definition, Permanent agriculture. It is a way of life which nurtures and propagates a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, guided by its three tenets: earth care, people care, and fair share.
Permaculture, according to one of its founders, Bill Mollison, is:
“…a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.”
Read in Full Here!
http://localorg.blogspot.com/2014/03/permaculture-healthy-sustainable.html
Water Irrigation in the Garden ~ Repurposing Milk Jugs as Olla’s ~ Water Conservation
An olla is a ceramic jar, often unglazed, used for cooking stews or soups, for the storage of water or dry foods, or for other purposes. Ollas have a short wide neck and a wider belly, resembling beanpots or handis.
Because water seeps through the walls of an unglazed olla, these vessels can be used to irrigate plants. The olla is buried in the ground next to the roots of the plant to be irrigated, with the neck of the olla extending above the soil. The olla is filled with water, which gradually seeps into the soil to water the roots of the plant. It is an efficient method, since no water is lost to evaporation or run-off.
This irrigation technique was introduced to the Americas by Spanish settlers in colonial times. Agriculture and gardening specialists are teaching it, and olla use is making a comeback in New Mexico and the American West. The state’s master gardening program is spreading the word. An olla factory has been founded in Albuquerque at Growing Awareness Urban Farm to produce the pots. It can be effective for homeowners to use in the desert climate. It has also been put to use by the Global Buckets project.
In their September 2013 newsletter, Ecology Action (www.growbiointensive.org/) describes using five 5-gallon ollas for a 100-square-foot garden plot. The test plot is using 1.25 gallons per olla every four days. The ollas are fitted with caps that reduce evaporation and collect rain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olla#Use_in_irrigation
Make a “poor man’s” olla!
This should help water my veggies this summer. I especially want to put them next to my melons and cucumbers so they can get the water needed (more than some of my other plants).
I water my garden with a watering can, so this little creation should help direct the water to the plant roots, instead of running off into mulch and pathways.
Grow a Vertical Vegetable Garden in a Small Space with Hog Wire
Vertical farming is cultivating plant or animal life within a skyscraper greenhouse or on vertically inclined surfaces. The modern idea of vertical farming uses techniques similar to glass houses, where natural sunlight can be augmented with artificial lighting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_farming
Vertical Gardening
Up, up, and away! Squeeze more vegetables into small spaces with trellises.
How to Grow Vegetables Vertically @ Wikihow
Vertical Gardening Techniques for Maximum Returns @ Auntie Dogma’s
Turn your Porch into a Garden
This is what i plan on doing this winter as project, converting my porch into solarium for all seasons and growing year round.
See Also …
71 Breezy Porches and Patios Here
How to Make a Greenhouse on a Screen Porch ~ By Michelle Powell-Smith, eHow Contributor
Turn your screened porch into a greenhouse for the winter. You can opt for a year-round permanent greenhouse or a temporary one to use in the winter, depending upon how you normally use your screen porch. Your greenhouse can let you start seeds while there is still snow on the ground, winter over delicate plants and continue your gardening through the winter months.
How to Build a Patio Greenhouse ~ By Cheryl Munson, eHow Contributor
Many homes have gardens — but not every home has a greenhouse. A gardener makes a clear and obvious statement about just how seriously they take gardening and caring for their plantings when they install a greenhouse. It doesn’t take a major investment to have a greenhouse. You can build a “mini” greenhouse to protect your plants through all sorts of weather, and protect your wallet from having to repurchase plants after a frost, drought or rainstorm.
93,622 enclosed porch Home Design Photos
Make Your Patio a Perfect Retreat
How to Make a Four Season Room from a Porch
What to grow in a greenhouse in winter
With the right growing techniques, an unheated greenhouse can be a productive, pollution-free garden asset all through the year.
Puccinia monoica
Puccinia monoica is macrocyclic (producing 5 different kinds of spores during its life cycle: pycniospores, aeciospores, urediniospores, teliospores and basidiospores). The species is also heteroecious, meaning it requires two unrelated hosts to complete its life cycle. For Puccinia monoica, the aeicial stage host is from the Brassicaceae, while the telial host is from the Poaceae.
I decided to write about a rust fungus, particularly one from the genus Puccinia, as I recently submitted a research proposal for my weed science class (I mentioned this class in the post on Fallopia convolvulus), where I’m looking into the potential of using a specific rust fungus from the genus Puccinia as a biological control agent to suppress a weedy Caryophyllaceae species that is common both in Canada and globally. Despite some Puccinia species being used for weed control, I haven’t come across any references that indicate Puccinia monoica is among them.
Biological control of weeds is when one uses a living organism to manage problematic plants. In some cases, pathogens like fungi are used. Fungal pathogens can affect their host plant’s ability to compete for limited resources, reduce the growth rate of the host and/or increase susceptibility to other pests. Rust fungi have the ability to spread rapidly over large areas, are destructive, and are host specific, making them ideal candidates for use as a biological control agent against weeds. Fungi as a biocontrol agent are either used in an inoculative (classical) approach, or an inundative (mycoherbicidal) approach. The inoculative approach is a low-cost one that involves introduction of an exotic pathogen to manage a weed population over a long period of time. The inundative technique is a higher-cost method where a weed population is overwhelmed with a direct application once or many times, similar to herbicide. The pathogen in this method is often called a bioherbicide, and, if it happens to be a fungus, usually referred to as a mycoherbicide.
If you’re interested in learning more you can look into Fungi as a Biocontrol Agent: Progress, Problems, and Potential by Butt, Jackson, & Magan (2001) or Non-Chemical Weed Management: Principles, Concepts, and Technology by Upadhyaya & Blackshaw (2007).
Photos @ source here
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Puccinia monoica is a rust fungus of the genus Puccinia that inhibits flowering in its host plant (usually an Arabis species) and transforms host behaviour in order to facilitate sexual reproduction of the rust fungus.
Puccinia monoica ~ From Wikipedia here
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