"FAR OUT"!

Far out west, that is, there’s a blog with an accompanying site worth a long look, wherever your garden aspirations may lie.  Los Angeles? If, like me, you live in Michigan, that’s like another planet, huh? But raising food plants from seed indoors and getting them ready to plant outdoors is pretty much the same around the world; indoor climates aren’t generally all that different from one place to another.

For an accurate, well presented, and beautifully illustrated series of articles on nurturing many types of food garden plants from beginning to end, start with the link: http://www.gardenbetty.com and click on garden-of-eatin’.  The ‘Garden Betty’ is Linda Ly. The remainder of Linda’s site and the accompanying blog are generally entertaining, but it’s the almost universally applicable garden how-to that I’ve found worthwhile.  I’ve looked hard for any serious bits of bad advice in Linda’s articles and have found nothing worth exercising my specialty (nitpicking) upon. I take a few extra steps in sanitizing my indoor plant-raising operation and have a few additional tips, some of which are or will be buried in the METHODS & MATERIALS section of this blog; but Linda’s quality photography and text give very workable alternatives for most food garden activities.

Another tip for the day: Michigan Master Gardener Volunteer Whitney Miller is developing an extensive annotated map of community gardens, both food and ornamental ones including school gardens, in Northwest Lower Michigan. See: http://mganm.org/community-gardens-nwmi/.  The site includes links to the local Master Gardener Association and many others related to the Master Gardener Volunteer program coordinated by the Michigan State University Extension. Numerous opportunities to volunteer and to learn are available throughout our area!

Onions from a local community garden destined for a food pantry serving families in need