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The purpose of an intensively grown garden is to harvest the most produce possible from a given space.

The Arizona Master Gardener Manual on Intensive Gardening methods examines several ways to grow in small areas.

The practice of intensive gardening is not just for those with limited garden space; rather, an intensive garden concentrates work efforts to create an ideal plant environment, giving better yields with less labor.

A good intensive garden requires early, thorough planning to make the best use of time and space in the garden. Interrelationships of plants must be considered before planting, including nutrient needs, shade tolerance, above- and below-ground growth patterns, and preferred growing season.

Using the techniques described in The Arizona Master Gardener Manual on Intensive Gardening , anyone can develop a high-yielding intensive garden.

It can be done!  One home at a time!  Low impact family gardening makes a huge difference in our climate change strategy...and the health of our families:

Havana relies on 200 urban farms known as organoponicos

Cuba, on the brink of starvation when the Soviet Union collapsed 20 years
ago, now produces 90% of its fruits and vegetable needs, using organic,
low-tech inputs.  The Cuban diet is healthier and uses 1/3 the energy to
produce versus typical western food production.

Some of the plots are small - just a few rows of lettuces and radishes being grown in an old parking space.

Other plots are much larger - the size of several football pitches. Usually they have a stall next to them to sell the produce at relatively low prices to local people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8213617.stm

I've followed the honey bee crisis known as "colony collapse disorder" because of their close connection with our food supply, with nature, and because bees are one of the few "domesticated" insects in our economy.

Science is finally making headway on what is causing the die off of complete hives of bees.

Penn State researchers worked with the National Science Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agricultural Marketing Service that already tests commodities such as milk and fruits and vegetables.

Honey has not regularly been analyzed, and bee pollen was not a commodity and so was not analyzed at all. The researchers decided to use types of screening the lab uses for milk and apples, which looks at over 170 pesticides. What they found is quite astounding to me... because of what it says about our agricultural practices.

All of the bees tested showed at least 1 pesticide and pollen averaged 6 pesticides with as many as 31 in a sample.

Honeycomb may contain pesticides applied years ago.

Scientists do not know that these chemicals have anything to do with colony collapse disorder, but scientists have concluded that these pesticides are definitely stressors. Penn State's Dr. Maryann Frazier say, "Pesticides alone have not shown they are the cause of CCD. We believe that it is a combination of a variety of factors, possibly including mites, viruses and pesticides."

While beekeepers will have a difficult time controlling pesticide exposure outside the hive, the Penn State researchers tested a method using gamma radiation for reducing the chemical load in beeswax and they found that irradiation broke down about 50% of the acaricides, pesticides that kill mites.

Read all the details at the Environment News Service.

Growing food almost year round in the mountains of Colorado is a green solution for localized food. It's a bit beyond farming -- this cozy dome greenhouse, the plants are growing happily. Take a grand tour with Buckhorn Gardens manager this cozy dome greenhouse, the plants are growing happily. Take a grand tour with Buckhorn Gardens manager.

"Locovores" eat foods from their local foodshed or a self-determined radius from their home (commonly either 100 or 250 miles, depending on location). By eating locally, most locavores hope to create a greater connection between themselves and their food sources, resist industrialized and processed foods, and support their local economy.

In trying to live a more sustainable, logical lifestyle, many locavores give themselves exceptions to a strict local diet. Commonly excluded items include coffee, chocolate, salt, and/or spices. To keep a local focus, they often try to find local coffee roasters, chocolate producers, and spice importers.

There is a growing interest in regional native foods and ethnic foods such as the Southwest's historic Mexican influence with herbs and peppers.  But there are additional native foods such as dried beans, squash, corn and nuts.

Locovores find tremendous challenge and adventure in discovering what grows in their own neighborhood and nearby communities.  They learn more about their ecosystems and how their use of water, their waste management choices and their choice of housing size, materials and styles all affect the natural food production capability in their region.  Everything is connected ... weather patterns, soil nutrients, drainage, insect infestations...and even those humble gardeners, migrating birds!

Locovores have much to learn from their wild neighbors -- both plants and animals.   What a great challenge to give your family -- trying to eat foods from driving distance from where you live!


"Leslie Allen has always been enthusiastic in her support of northern Nevada's local food lifestyle. As commercial horticulture program coordinator for University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE), it's part of her job ... yet her passion for this increasingly important field goes far beyond the norm. So much so, in fact, that Allen's love of what she does has found a new description."  She's a "Locavore" ... and proud of it.

A local eating study, known as "Locavore Nation," in which participants attempted to eat 80%  of their food from local, organic and sustainable sources. "Locavore Nation" was sponsored by America Public Media's radio show, "The Splendid Table."

After voluntarily subjecting themselves to eating 80% locally produced foods for a year, the 15 participants in the Splendid Table's "Locavore Nation" have been released from captivity and are free to go back to eating Corn Nuts and powdered mini donuts.

You can retrace their steps on the "Splendid Table" site, where the entire year's worth of blogs are still archived.

Learn more about Locovores at www.Locavore.ws

Mothers and fathers are becoming aware that food is part of their impact on the world...and their own health. More young adults are getting worried about the politics of food -- how far it travels, how safe it is, how pesticides affect the environment.

On top of these social concerns, the young professionals are beginning to realize how much they are spending on organic produce. Driven by these growing food costs, concerns about global food shortages, and a new environmental consciousness, concerned consumers like are beginning to look at old fashioned 'victory gardens" to produce food on their own plots of land and urban balconies.

Some Tips for first Time Gardeners Find a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Study it so you will know which plants grow well in your area.

You might like to start with some transplants from a quality local nursery. These are expensive, but they get you started learning how to care for plants, and they start your garden-to-table habit while you are highly enthused! It takes patience, discipline and staying power to plant seeds and wait 60 to 90 days for the harvest!

Start Easy, Start Small There are plants for food and plants that are just for looks. And some easy plants to grow are foods that you just might not like to eat! Some of the easiest "organic", "local", and highly nutritious foods to produce by first time gardeners include:

• Salad fixins: leaf lettuce, radishes, carrots, green onions, cucumbers
• Tomatoes
• Herbs: thyme, sage, mint,
• Squash
• Peppers

Vegetable Container Gardens Just Make Good Cents!

While it makes just makes sense that you can container garden with herbs and flowers, it makes real cents to add a small vegetable container garden as well. Here's a short overview of a very ambitious gardener! You might not want to plant all these plants...but this video shows you what seedlings look like!

Radish, carrots, tomatoes and small vegetables are a perfect choice.

Helpful websites:
How to Start a Fruit and Vegetable Garden

Container Vegetable Gardens and Vegetable Plants Suitable for Containers

And ... add a few plants for your local, native wildlife. They need food from gardens, too! Wildlife need local, native plants. Check with your local native plant nursery or native plant society for suggestions. You'll enjoy having butterflies, birds and native bees come visit your garden. AND they are pollinators for your plants, helping increase your harvest of many flowering plants.