Raymond Jess Grow Buckets: basket in bottom

Grow Buckets

Several years ago, I started my adventure with wicking garden beds. I found the concept powerful and wondered, how can I use this concept in a different way? I consulted the internet and found a few good ideas, but not quite what I wanted. I needed something I thought might stand up to the unrelenting summer heat of Phoenix, Arizona and produce a nice vegetable harvest. I came up with this design of a grow bucket.

Tack strip on greenhouse

The Six Week Greenhouse

By Guest Blogger: Joel Karsten – For northern gardeners, starting vegetable plants as early as possible is key to a productive and successful food garden, since sometimes it seems we only have about a three-week growing season! That might be a slight exaggeration, but certainly gardening in the north is challenging. One of the key advantages of the Straw Bale Gardening method is…

425: Katie Fiore on Sweet Potatoes and Fruit Trees

Building a living green mulch – After a long career in retail, Katie Fiore knew it was time for a change. Part of her future vision was a backyard full of fruits and vegetables. The other part was a flexible, fulfilling lifestyle educating others. Katie discusses changing her life direction at 37 years old, how…

424: John Jeavons on Biologically Intensive Gardening & Farming (Part 2)

Plant personalities and crops everyone should grow – This is part 2 of a great interview as we continue our visit with John Jeavons. Part one of this two-part podcast discussed John’s journey into Biologically Intensive Gardening, crop planning strategies, and watering strategies. Today in Part two we…

423: John Jeavons on Biologically Intensive Gardening & Farming (Part 1)

Empowering people globally to build food security while using very little land – Biologically Intensive Gardening allows farmers to grow more food, with less water, in a sustainable way. In this podcast, we speak with John Jeavons who has been a Bio Intensive pioneer for over 50 years. An Arizona native, his books have made…

422: Stacey Murphy on Setting Goals for Growing

Gathering gurus to help gardens grow – Growing up gardening side-by-side with her parents helped Stacey Murphy have a solid connection with food. She lost this connection when she went to college and began working as an engineer and architect. It wasn’t until she was living in…

419: Nicky Schauder on Growing Food in Small Spaces

Teaching how to garden with limited space – Struggling with their children’s multiple food allergies convinced Nicky Schauder and her husband Dave to go organic. Dealing with the expense of all this organic food impelled them to start growing it themselves. This began their adventure with…

417: Michael Foley on Building a Viable Small Farm Economy

Farming with an eye on the future – As a child Michael Foley visited a Montana ranch and dreamed of being a gentleman farmer one day.  His path however, took him into academia. After being estranged from the land for for several years he eventually found his way back to…

415: John Brubaker on Micro Urban Farming

From green lawns to green vegetables – As his wife and youngest daughter began struggling with celiac disease, John Brubaker believed that the pesticides used on vegetables were perhaps weakening their immune systems. This was his entry into organic urban farming. He began small with…