Survival Gardening

A garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever

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If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.

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How deeply seated in the human heart is the liking for gardens and gardening.

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The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.

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Life is short

We spend so much time sweating the small stuff, worrying, complaining, gossiping,comparing,wishing,wanting, and waiting for something bigger and better - instead of focusing on the simple blessings that surround us every day.

Life is so fragile and all it takes is a simple moment to change everything you take for granted. Focus on what’s important and be grateful. You are blessed! Believe it! Live your life and leave no regrets.

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Honey bees are the only insect intricately tied to our food supply. One-third of our diet is currently derived from plants that require pollination, and in the US, honey bees are responsible for 80% of agricultural pollination!

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There are no happier folks than plant lovers and none more generous than those who garden.

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And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom

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Flowers are like friends; they bring color to your world.

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The world is magical, take time to notice.

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We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.

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Cucumbers enjoy a soil pH between 5.5 and 7. The higher the pH, the less susceptible to fungal disease the plants will be. If your soil doesn’t meet this specification, look for organic soil amendments that either increase or decrease the pH.

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Some bee and fuchsia magic.

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Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep it every day.

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Plants do not speak, but their silence is alive with change.

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If we restored a lot of native plants to where we planted turf grass or ornamental things, we’d see a lot of biodiversity return that we’ve seen diminished through the years.

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Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.

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Fungus are common micro-organisms in soil. Most people think of fungus as only "bad." But that's just not true. Fungus do not use sunlight to make energy. Instead they use chemical reactions to create their energy. They get material for these chemical reactions from dead organic matter, including cellulose, the stuff that makes plants woody. Cellulose is tough stuff, but fungus can break it down making those nutrients available for other organisms. Without fungus, a lot of nutrients would be tied up in un-decomposed woody matter. Bacteria and fungi are extremely rich in protein that is made from nitrogen. I think it is interesting that as bacteria and fungi multiply they gather up free nitrogen from the soil and convert it to protein in their bodies. The rich meal of protein is metabolized and released back into the soil as ammonium that is quickly converted to nitrate for use by crops. The organisms that perform this function are beneficial nematodes that only feed on bacteria or fungi, the protozoa that feed on bacteria, and beneficial soil mites that feed on fungi. As these species go about their work they cause nitrogen especially, but also phosphorus and other nutrients, to be released at a gradual rate that supplies crops with a steady diet all season long.