5 Useful Resources For Gardeners
Not only is gardening a way to grow your own food and enliven your yard, it's also an activity that can be incredibly calming and inspiring. Still, it can be hard work; crops and plants don't just sprout in perfect form by themselves. If you have a green thumb, or even if you're just beginning to grow, check out the resources listed here, which help with the planning, cultivation, and maintenance of your garden. This video was made with Ezvid Wikimaker.
5 Resources For Those With a Green Thumb
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Johnny's Selected Seeds | An employee-owned seed producer and merchant headquartered in Winslow, Maine, it offers produce, flowers, herbs, tools and supplies, and farm seeds |
| The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener | Run by Joey and Holly Baird, who strive to show the average person how easy it is to grow food, store food, and reuse everyday items |
| Craig LeHoullier | A gardener, author, and educator, he specializes in heirloom tomatoes, and shares information through pictures, blog entries, how-to videos, seminars and workshops, and social networking |
| American Hydrotech | Develops, produces, and distributes premium waterproofing and roofing products |
| Nature & Nurture Seeds | Michigan farm-based seed company offering heirloom vegetable, flower, and herb seeds |
About Johnny's Selected Seeds
Tips For Starting Your Own Garden
- Make sure you have all the tools you need
- Keep everything organized so nothing gets lost
- Use a stool to stay comfortable while you work
- Or avoid crouching down altogether by having a raised garden
- Light the garden so that you can enjoy it at night as well
- Remember to mark your plants so you know what you're growing
- If you're having trouble with pests, put up a fence
- Prune your plants regularly
- If you don't have a good environment outside, try growing an indoor garden
Meet the Couple Behind The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener
In Depth
In today's modern world, more and more people are beginning to show interest in learning how to cultivate their own gardens. There is already a plethora of information available which can make it confusing to know where to start. So here, listed in no particular order, are some helpful sources to look into for all of your gardening needs.
Coming in at #1, Johnny's Selected Seeds was founded by Rob Johnston Jr. in the spring of 1973. An integral part of this company's mission is to provide clear, accurate, and timely information that helps people excel as growers. Johnny's Selected Seeds provides many instructional videos, libraries, maps, planning tools, and other useful resources on its website for gardeners of all skill levels to reference.
The research farm is at the heart of this employee-owned organization. It is where the company works to develop the best seeds and tools for farmers and gardeners to use. The very tools that are sold in Johnny's catalogues are tested at the research site to ensure quality and dependability. The crew also uses the space to experiment with the latest growing techniques and to film instructional videos and tutorials.
The very tools that are sold in Johnny's catalogues are tested at the research site to ensure quality and dependability.
Next up at #2, Joey and Holly Baird are the founders of The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener website and its accompanying radio show. The Bairds' goal is to demonstrate to the average person how easy it is to grow and store food while reusing everyday items. The Bairds, whose motto is "grow with us," regularly give talks at libraries, expos, garden clubs, and other events around the Midwest.
The Wisconsin Vegetable Gardener offers listeners and readers a variety of valuable information. The podcast features fun projects to try and interviews with guests and other growers, while the website offers handy tools such as instructional videos, quick tips, a commonly asked questions page, and a series of digital magazines.
At #3, Craig LeHoullier is a gardener, author, and educator. His book, Epic Tomatoes, offers everything a tomato enthusiast needs to know about how to grow this plant; from sowing seeds and planting to cultivating and collecting seeds at the end of the season. The book also includes a comprehensive guide to the various pests and diseases that can affect the plants with explanations on how to avoid them.
His book, Epic Tomatoes, offers everything a tomato enthusiast needs to know about how to grow this plant; from sowing seeds and planting to cultivating and collecting seeds at the end of the season.
LeHoullier's second book, Growing Vegetables in Straw Bales, offers a guide on how to grow a bounty of food using a small space with little materials. The book includes step-by-step instructions on how to do everything from sourcing straw and setting up a bale to planting, dealing with weeds, pests, and harvesting. LeHoullier's website also offers instructional videos and in-depth information on general gardening.
Up next, at #4, American Hydrotech offers a range of sustainable roofing and waterproofing solutions. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, this company's Garden Roof Assembly can be installed on a wide variety of new and existing structures which allows for sustainable gardening in unconventional spaces. Replacing the surface of a conventional roof with a "vegetated" covering can help to reduce storm water run-off and restore balance with nature in our urban centers.
Hydrotech's patented system allows for virtually any flat or sloped surface to be turned into a landscaped environment. Designed to be lightweight, it can be safely installed on roofs and decks that are not engineered to handle the heavy load requirements of a traditional green roof. This expands the potential for green urban spaces and access to food production.
Designed to be lightweight, it can be safely installed on roofs and decks that are not engineered to handle the heavy load requirements of a traditional green roof.
Lastly, at #5 on our list, Nature & Nurture Seeds is located near Ann Arbor, Michigan. This certified organic, farm-based company offers non-GMO, untreated heirloom vegetable, flower, fruit and herb seeds as well as education on how to cultivate sustainable ways of growing food. The team at Nature & Nurture helps people learn different ways of growing, saving, trialing and breeding heirloom plants.
This company explores topics such as how to grow food under a range of space and size constraints, urban and rural homesteading, community gardening and farm-scale food production. Founders Erica Kempter and Mike Levine have been growing and trialing edible plants for over 20 years. Since 2005, they have been researching and documenting the history of Great Lakes heritage seeds and sharing their knowledge with the community.
