Related News

Digging holes can be a workout and mood booster all rolled into one.

Source: nytimes.com

This story was originally published in May 2021.

Everyone seems to know that one gardener who every year grows so many massive vegetables for their family that they can’t help but share.

But maybe that’s not you. Maybe you feel like everything you try to plant inevitably shrivels and dies. Is there anything you could successfully grow?

University of Maine Cooperative Extension, is concerned, anyone can garden. As proof she points to her 3-year-old daughter, who assisted her in putting in crops this spring.

“There are so many ways you can be successful with a garden,” Garland said. “Folks tend to get intimidated too easily.”

Before planting

According to Garland, the first step is to pay close attention to where the garden is being planted.

“Look at your site and see what conditions you have to work with,” Garland said. “Yes, you can grow a variety of vegetables in a variety of conditions,” she said. “But the ideal conditions for many of our crops here in Maine is full sun with well-drained soil.”

reach out to Extension for help, and we have so many gardeners eager to share their knowledge.”

Source: bangordailynews.com

1

JAXPETY Heavy-Duty Greenhouse

Now 44% Off

Want to garden year-round? Look to this heavy-duty greenhouse. It’s equipped with an adjustable vent window, lockable door, and UV anti-glare technology designed to protect plants from harsh radiation.

2

Endless Summer Bloomstruck Hydrangeas

Now 30% Off

If you’re a flower fanatic, you probably already know that summer is hydrangea season. These blooms will fill your garden with the plant’s signature purple and blue hues. Plus, they are pretty low-maintenance, as they are highly heat tolerant and require partial shade and early morning waterings to thrive.

3

Papa’s Tools Weeder

Now 50% Off

If you’re struggling with pesky weeds in your lawn and garden, this weeder is designed to pull them out at the root with its four-point claw. It’s also nice and lightweight (about 2 pounds) so you won’t have to lug heavy tools around the lawn.

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

4

Miracle-Gro Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food

Now 23% Off

Whether you’re planning to add extra nutrients to flowers and vegetables or trees and shrubs, this plant food fits the bill. It’s loaded with ingredients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to help support strong roots.

5

Kelly Clarkson Home Amari 3-Piece Rattan Seating Group with Cushions

Now 65% Off

Multi-hyphenate Kelly Clarkson has ventured into the home industry with her line of furniture and decor at Wayfair, like this outdoor seating set. It comes with two weather-resistant rattan chairs and a matching table to kick back in.

6

Greenworks Pro 80V 21″ Brushless Cordless Lawn Mower

Now 25% Off

Tackle your lawn’s terrain with this cordless lawn mower, which has a five-position height adjustment to cut low and tall grasses and a 60-minute run time. Its three-in-one design can also help you mulch, collect grass clippings in the rear bag or discharge to the side.

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

7

Fast Growing Trees Meyer Lemon Tree

Now 48% Off

When life gives you lemons, plant this tree to cultivate fresh fruit of your own. Described as a blend between sour lemons and sweet oranges, this tree can grow inside or out and produce Meyer lemons starting in its first year.

8

Hampton Bay Beacon Park Wicker Outdoor Loveseat

Now 74% Off

Your backyard seating will get a major upgrade with this loveseat. It has a rust-resistant frame and weather-resistant cushions for durability through the seasons.

9

Fiskars Bypass Pruning Shears

Now 33% Off

These handy shears will make pruning easier. Case in point: Its low-friction blade coating is designed for seamless cutting and less gumming. Plus, it has a self-cleaning sap groove to help prevent the blades from sticking.

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

10

AUTOMAN Garden Hose Nozzle

Now 23% Off

You can cater your watering technique to your plant’s needs with this garden hose’s adjustable nozzle and seven unique patterns. The nozzle itself also has an ergonomic handle for a comfortable grip.

11

Home Decorators Collection Ashbury Hill 4-Piece Wicker Outdoor Conversation Set

Now 67% Off

Want to refresh your outdoor furniture for your parties this summer? This conversation set has an open-weave wicker design and aqua cushions for extra comfort. Thanks to its acrylic fabric, its also designed to resist fading, stains, and moisture to help preserve its quality.

12

Sand & Stable Leroux Gray Indoor/Outdoor Area Rug

Now 79% Off

This handwoven indoor/outdoor rug has a coastal-meets-farmhouse style that’ll add texture underfoot. Bonus points for its stain-resistant polypropylene material designed for easier cleaning.

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

13

Arlmont & Co. Saja Outdoor Raised Garden Bed

Now 38% Off

Not only does this raised garden bed have a gorgeous design to display your plants, but it also has 16 watering holes that help self-water plants. The manufacturer notes that this design is helpful for deep-rooted or climbing plants thanks to the trellis.

14

Efurden Adirondack Chair

Now 58% Off

This classic Adirondack chair could be what your patio is missing. The silhouette is famous for its spacious seat and curved design for back support as you relax outside.

15

CASAINC Rolling Lawn Aerator

Now 20% Off

Aerating your lawn will help add oxygen and nutrients to its soil. This rolling version can make the process even easier with its spike-tooth rollers and steel handle that can pierce the soil as you push it.

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

16

Freeport Park Griego 10-Ft Octagon Cantilever Umbrella With Led Lights

Now 77% Off

Not your average outdoor umbrella, you’ll get over 70 square feet of shade during the day and added light at night from its built-in LED solar lights. According to the manufacturer, a full day of sun will give the umbrella up to four hours of power.

17

Home Decorators Collection Kingsbrook Aluminum Wicker Outdoor Side Table

Now 75% Off

This might be a side table, but it can serve as a durable main attraction for your outdoor furniture setup. Thanks to its aluminum frame and neutral design, it’ll add more table space to your setup without clashing with other pieces of furniture.

18

Laurel Foundry Modern Farmhouse Wood/Metal Lanterns

Now 33% Off

Votive, tealight, pillar, and LED candles are compatible with these rustic lanterns. The farmhouse-style decor is made of natural firwood (sans any glass), as well as a flame-resistant base.

Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

19

Yaheetech Wooden Horticulture Raised Garden Bed

Now 21% Off

This raised garden bed comes with two growing areas to help you cultivate plants with different growth needs and patterns. Or, if you need more space for bigger plants, you can remove the baffle for one large planting plot.

20

OGrow Deluxe Walk-In Greenhouse

Now 41% Off

Another walk-in greenhouse pick, this one is equipped with a bunch of sturdy shelves that can each hold up to 75 pounds’ worth of plants. Its powder-coated frame adds rust protection, while its full-length roll-up door will give you easy access inside.

Nashia Baker is a commerce editor at Hearst Magazines; she covers all things home and lifestyle across brands such as Oprah Daily, Cosmopolitan, Delish, and Esquire. Before joining Hearst, she highlighted small business owners, creatives, and the best shoppable content. 

Watch Next

 

Source: countryliving.com

Degrowth, or the idea that we can save the planet by shrinking our economies, is ceasing to be a fringe concept. In the past years, green politicians across the EU have increasingly claimed the school of thought offers the best solution to the ecological crisis.

In some quarters, science is also lending its credentials: the United Nations’ scientific panels tasked with measuring climate breakdown and biodiversity loss, the IPCC and IPBES, have respectively suggested governments consider degrowth policies to fight ecological breakdown, while academics are now incorporating degrowth scenarios in scientific models.

Imagining technology in a degrowth world

What these concepts would look like in real life, however, is still a work in progress. As a scholar researching technology use in alternative markets, I have been particularly interested in exploring degrowth’s relationship to technology.

Contrary to common perceptions, degrowthers are not against technology. In fact, some of the school’s leading thinkers such as Jason Hickel have made a point of rejecting the label of “anti-technology”, stressing that the movement prioritises changes and efficiency improvements to the extent that they are “empirically feasible, ecologically coherent, and socially just”. Again, what technologies may qualify according to this criteria remains to be seen. In my research, I argue that vertical farming, the practice of growing crops in stacked pots within tower-like structures on rooftops or vacant spaces, provides us with a textbook example of degrowth-friendly technology.

A glance at the academic literature on degrowth appears to support this. In an article reviewing sustainable agri-food systems, degrowthers celebrate “edible urban commons” and the principles of sufficiency and regeneration. In contrast to indoor vertical farms built by tech giants, urban rooftop farms aren’t energy intensive. By enabling individuals and small businesses to grow food outdoors in urban areas, they reduce both city dwellers’ need to grow food in the countryside and their dependency on an increasingly fickle global food-supply chain.

Paris’ urban farms

At heart a farmer’s nation, France offers some of the world’s most compelling examples of vertical farming. Located on the rooftop of Paris Expo’s Pavillon 6, Nature Urbaine is the largest urban farm in Europe with 14,000 m² of space converted into a vertical farm. By using up every centimetre, carefully thought-out technologies allow residents to multiply the surface’s production capacity sixfold. Hundreds of towers hold fruits and vegetables suspended in the air and their roots are misted periodically with a nutrient solution. Rain gutters are also used, showering the roots with a mixture of water and nutrients.

While raising awareness over where our food comes from, these technologies bring locals closer to one another and enable them to exchange know-how on growing their own food. Nature Urbaine organises educational workshops for individuals, communities, and local businesses on urban food growing and environmental stewardship.

Future self-sustaining eco-communities

Initiated in 2016, the Dutch project ReGenVillages aspires to create eco-villages around the world that are self-sufficient in energy and food.

To make them as affordable as possible, planners intend to offer prefabricated housing. RegenVillages’ patented machine-learning software, VillageOS, aims to help residents better manage resources by providing them with data on their communities’ energy use, waste, water, and food-growing practices. This data is then sent to the cloud through which communities in similar or different climate zones can learn from each other’s management and regenerative practices.

Currently at the conceptual stage, the project Farmhouse by Austrian architecture firm Precht also aims to reconnect architecture and agriculture through prefabricated structures. At first glance, its model building resembles a carefully balanced jenga game, with triangular flats alternating with cells clad with greenery. The life cycle of residents, buildings and crops support one another: emanating heat allows plants like potatoes, nuts or beans to grow. A water treatment system filters rain and greywater, enriches it with nutrients and cycles it back to the greenhouses. The food waste can be locally collected in the buildings basement, turned into compost and reused to grow more food.

Vertical farming technologies present in Farmhouse, Nature Urbaine or ReGenvillages give nature and soil, which we have been degrading through intensive industrial agriculture, a chance to rejuvenate. Indeed, if grown via urban farming, the environmental impact of carbon-intensive plants can be reduced.

On top of freeing up space, these technologies help reduce our dependence on resources such as water, energy, soil, and chemicals that are necessary for intensive agricultural production. They also increase the quality of the air we breathe, creating green havens for better thermal regulation in cities threatened with turning into ovens over the summer.

The limits of urban farming

Nonetheless, urban agriculture’s carbon footprint is a lasting concern. A serving of fruits and vegetables grown from urban agriculture emits the equivalent of 420g of carbon dioxide, six times more carbon emissions than conventional agriculture (70g CO₂ equivalent). Conversely, urban agriculture outruns conventional agriculture when it comes to producing crops such as tomatoes that are less carbon intensive, and also urban farms and individually managed gardens. What remains critical is the use of less energy-intensive technologies and more climate-friendly crops in urban farms.

Whether we can scale these technologies to feed urban residents all over the world remains to be seen, due to small quantity and limited range food supply. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown the importance of local food sufficiency, as global food supply chains failed to cater to the needs of urban people.

Another point of contention is whether these technologies can be inclusive enough to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds to grow their own food. We can draw hope from a number of vertical farming projects by NGOs, with some coaching prison inmates and guards to grow and share their own food. These are encouraging local solidarity initiatives toward an equitable food system.

Finally, let’s not forget the issue of city-dwellers’ time constraints and lack of agricultural skills. Encouraging urban people to grow food will require substantial societal transformations to blend work and personal life. For example, shared corporate gardens and degrowth labour policy proposals such as the four-day working week could enable more people to invest time in learning to grow their own food with their communities.

Source: theconversation.com

In the first of its kind, the RHS No Adults Allowed Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 has been designed by children, for children. Yet newly-announced RHS Patron, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were given special access to the strict children’s-only garden during their royal visit on Monday’s press day.

• Category: Feature Garden
• Designed by: Harry Holding and Sulivan Primary School
• Built by: Water Artisans

The RHS No Adults Allowed Garden highlights the importance of access to nature for children, and celebrates the joyous wonder children can experience within beautiful landscapes. Along with co-designer Harry Holding, the children from Sulivan Primary School in Fulham have created an immersive experience where they can scramble over boulders, splash around in the natural stream, and dive into jubilant planting.

Harry, who won the All About Plants People’s Choice Award for the The School Food Matters Garden at RHS Chelsea 2023, has designed a space using all the imaginative ideas from the children at Sulivan Primary School.

The garden design includes a woodland, meadows, and a wetland with heightened colour and oversized bog plants, plus a natural den set within a pool of water.

The garden is said to represent a joyful journey through a fantastical landscape. The adventure garden culminates at the final destination – a natural den set within a pool of water. This sunken space is a sanctuary where children can play, learn and explore the natural world around them.

There are major sustainability credentials too. The garden is cement and concrete free, it only uses natural materials, and it has also largely been created with recycled materials (e.g. deadwood from RHS Wisley), plus it incorporates a highly biodiverse and wildlife-friendly planting scheme.

RHS No Adults Allowed Garden

The garden initially had only one rule for adults – they were simply not allowed on the garden – but following some serious negotiating, RHS director general Clare Matterson has persuaded the children to agree that adults can enter when the show officially opens on Tuesday 21st May, but only if they pledge to do one of three things:

1. Plant a tree
2. Donate to RHS Campaign for School Gardening to help give other kids access to nature
3. Find a flower that starts with the first letter of their name.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla visited the garden

The royal visit took place during Monday’s press day

The garden is being relocated to Sulivans Primary School in Fulham, which is close to the RHS Chelsea show ground.

Follow House Beautiful on TikTok and Instagram.

Olivia Heath is the Daily Editor at House Beautiful. Heading up all things digital, Olivia loves nothing more than uncovering tomorrow’s biggest design trends and sharing the best decorating tips, small space living solutions, and houseplant care and gardening advice. Week by week Olivia compiles the most stylish high street homeware buys to help you get the look for less, and showcases the best makeovers, as well as the hottest and most unique properties on the market. She also loves covering some of the biggest events in the calendar, including all the action from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Colour of the Year forecasts from Pantone to Dulux, and exclusive previews of all the new Christmas collections before it hits the shops.

Olivia has been writing about homes and interiors for the past seven years, and her work has also been published on Elle Decor US, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Red, Prima, Elle Japan, Modern Living and Micasa Revista.

Prior to joining House Beautiful, Olivia worked at Reveal magazine, where she reported on celebrity and entertainment news by day, and attended showbiz parties and red carpet events by night! Olivia has an MA in Journalism with an NCTJ qualification, as well as a BA in Journalism and Media & Cultural Studies. 

Source: housebeautiful.com