Not many consumers today would argue with that statement. With gasoline prices over $4 a gallon and diesel fuel selling for a good $0.80 cents above gasoline, everyone is feeling the pinch. Because it is costing more to transport produce, and farmers are raising prices to compensate for the increase in the cost of living, a gallon of milk now costs the same as a gallon of gasoline and fresh produce is nearly worth its weight in gold.

For families with growing children at home, fresh produce is a necessity, not a preference, and putting a balanced meal on the table three times a day is becoming more of a challenge as the economy continues its downward spiral. The cost of food affects more than just our health and our wallets. The national poverty index is determined by multiplying the average cost of feeding a family. According to the US Department of Agriculture, the cost of feeding a low-income family of four has risen 6 percent in 12 months.  For some families, that 6 percent increase in the cost of groceries means less fruits, vegetables and dairy products consumed each week to make up the price difference.

According to a recent news report (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/31/food-price-inflation-chan_n_94283.html), the price of food is rising across the board. “Record-high energy, corn and wheat prices in the past year have led to sticker shock in the grocery aisles. At $1.32, the average price of a loaf of bread has increased 32 percent since January 2005.

In the last year alone, the average price of a carton of eggs has increased almost 50 percent. Ground beef, milk, chicken, apples, tomatoes, lettuce, coffee and orange juice are among the staples that cost more these days, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Overall, food prices rose nearly 5 percent in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That means a pound of coffee, on average, cost 57 cents more at year’s end than in 2006. A 12-ounce can of frozen, concentrated orange juice now averages $2.53 - a 67-cent increase in just two years.

A carton of grade A, large eggs will set you back $2.17. That’s an increase of nearly $1 since February, 2006.”

The Benefits of Greenhouse Gardening

Greenhouse gardening is a terrific way to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for your family at a fraction of the cost of purchasing those same items from a commercial retailer, like Wal Mart. Growing your own fruits and vegetables in the greenhouse also allows you to grow organically and to control what, if any, pesticides are used in growing your family’s fruits and vegetables. Greenhouse gardening produces fruits and vegetables all year-round, providing fresh, balanced nutrition for the whole family.

Greenhouse gardening is also very relaxing and fun for many gardeners. The whole family can become involved in working in the greenhouse and reap the benefits of the satisfaction of producing fruits and vegetables with your own hands. Greenhouse gardening is also an educational experience for gardeners of all ages. Adept gardeners study soil types, bacteria, chemistry, pollination, water quality, and hundreds of other scientific factors affecting crops.

Commiting to Greenhouse Gardening

Greenhouse gardening is a committment. The initial cost of obtaining a greenhouse and supplies for growing fruits and vegetables in a greenhouse may not seem like much of a savings at first, but gardening tools last for years and plants can be cultivated to produce seeds for next season’s crops.

Greenhouse gardening takes time and effort. You cannot simply go to the greenhouse when the crisper is empty and stock up on fruits and veggies like shopping at the supermarket. You must invest your time and labor into your crops every day to see results. Your local gardening extension is a fantastic resource for information on gardening in your area.

Overall, greenhouse gardening just makes good sense in today’s economy. Greenhouse gardening saves money in the long run and is beneficial to families on a budget. Anyone can begin growing fruits and vegetables in a greenhouse, even in cramped spaces with the use of tabletop or portable greenhouses. Get started with your greenhouse gardening project today to put a few more dollars back into your piggy bank.

Seed Sales Up, More People Gardening For First Time

Gas and food prices are sky-high and according to the USDA, food prices are expected to go up 6 percent this year.

Those high prices may be creating thousands of new gardeners.

The Burpee seed company has sold twice as many seeds this year than last. The company said half of the increase is from new customers.

Joan Brenckle, owner of Brenckle’s Farm and Greenhouse, said she’s seeing more first-time gardeners this year than ever before. Brenckle said, “They want to grow it instead of paying the high prices at the grocery store.”

Read the full article http://www.wpxi.com/consumer/16559489/detail.html

Food gardens a growing trend
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 06/11/2008 06:09:20 AM MDT

Seed sales are way up. Community gardens are long sold out. Calls for help to convert suburban lawns to lush raised vegetable beds are coming in to extension agents fast and furious.

Folks worried about rising food and fuel prices, and concerned about how and where their fruits and veggies are grown, are investing heavily in home-grown produce.

Soil, it seems, is the new oil.

“I’m not a psychologist, but when times are tough — like the mortgage crisis, the financial crisis and the energy crisis — people tend to think a little bit more about covering their bases and being self-sufficient where they can,” says Jim Dyer, who serves on the board of the Sustainability Alliance of Southwest Colorado and who gardens on

Junior master gardeners work inside the Cripple Creek community greenhouse. “This got started when a woman (from the area) called me and said, ‘People up here are trying to decide whether to eat or heat their homes,’” says Larry Stebbins, who teaches gardening to kids and adults in the greenhouse. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)a ranch west of Durango to feed his immediate and extended families.
Up in Cripple Creek, where the prices of gasoline and home-heating fuel are inching as high as the altitude and the nearest big grocery store is 25 miles away in Woodland Park, a community group commandeered an unused city greenhouse to start a garden.

“This got started when a woman (from the area) called me and said, ‘People up here are trying to decide whether to eat or heat their homes,’ ” says Larry Stebbins, who teaches gardening to kids and adults in the greenhouse.

The greenhouse plots are going fast.

Gertrud Wuellner, 41, a school bus driver, brought her four kids to a Wednesday morning class at the greenhouse because her sprouts are enthused about the garden the family started at home.

Read the full article http://www.denverpost.com/dnc/ci_9544778 

Organic vegetable gardening is more popular than ever. Organically grown vegetables are a hot commodity, bringing in nearly double the price value at the local supermarket. Eating organically grown food is also considered a healthier lifestyle choice and better for the environment. Growing your own organic vegetables ensures that your vegetables are free from pesticides and chemicals. It is also often considerably more affordable to grow your own organic vegetables than to purchase organic foods at the store. These basic tips can help you get started with your own organic vegetable gardening project.

Tips for Organic Vegetable Gardening

Compost is Invaluable- Learn to compost your yard and kitchen waste to enhance your organic garden. Composting provides essential nutrients and helps balance the pH of the soil without adding chemical fertilizers or soil treatments.

Make Worms Your Friends- Earthworms provide life giving aeration to your organic vegetable gardening project while they burrow through the soil. Extra earthworms can be purchased through a garden supply catalog. Some organic vegetable gardening enthusiasts even house red worms in specialized worm bins that collect the liquid droppings for added garden fertilization. The redworms recycle your kitchen waste and turn it into a nutrient-rich soil amendment.

Learn About Organic Pest Control: Controlling common pests organically takes vigilance. Some common pests are easily controlled. Cutworms are thwarted by placing a ring of tin foil along the stem of the plant at soil level.  Use mulch around plants to help keep fruits and vegetables from touching the soil. Watering your plants early in the morning provides adequate moisture and keeps plants from becoming overly moist at night which can make them vulnerable to pests and disease. Visually inspect your plants often and remove any dead or diseased foliage by hand on a regular basis to discourage insect infestations. Organic insect traps work well to keep common garden pests away from your vegetation.

Organic vegetable gardening is a rewarding experience. A few basic organic vegetable gardening tips like these can help you grow healthy fruits and vegetables without chemical additives. Happy organic vegetable gardening!

There are countless advantages to container gardening. Many gardeners begin container gardening due to a lack of ground space for planting a traditional garden. Others simply use container gardening as an outlet for creative gardening. No matter what reason motivates you to try container gardening, the advantages are plentiful.

The Basic Benefits of Container Gardening

Container gardening is a great way to garden all year long! Container plants look terrific, are easily moved indoors or into your greenhouse during inclement weather, and are easy to care for. With container gardening, you control the condition of the soil for each plant. Container gardening lets you grow plants anywhere, even in an apartment or on your kitchen counter.

Visual Freedom

Container gardening allows gardeners the freedom of adventure. You can grow exotic plants, or try out a few hard to grow crops. Plus, if you move your container into a greenhouse during the winter, those once seasonal plants can be saved year after year!
The visual appeal of container gardening is spectacular. Exotic plants grow beside common houseplants and vibrant floral varieties.  An added bonus unique to container gardening is the freedom to select any combination of color, shape, and size containers to create varying visual presentations.

Mix and Match for Beneficial Results

Container gardening with a variety of complimentary and contrasting plants allows the gardener to choose plants that benefit one another. Planting ornamental flowers alongside edible plants attracts pollinating insects, while placing pots of French Marigolds next to potted tomatoes repels whiteflies. The only precaution when mixing containers in an arrangement is to keep poisonous plants away from the edibles to remove the possibility of eating the wrong plant by mistake.

Easy on the Knees

Container gardening is ideal for anyone with joint or mobility problems. The planted pots can be arranged on shelves for easy access without bending or stooping. Container gardening is often used in nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and children’s treatment homes to instill a love a gardening.  Bringing each individual container to eye level during the care of the plant also allows for a thorough inspection for pests and disease. This allows the gardener to catch any problems quickly and remove the plant from the vicinity of other containers to prevent spread of the disease or pests.

Less Watering Woes

Container gardening often begins with a layer of gravel or polystyrene to provide a drainage bed for perfectly watered soil. A plastic tube with holes drilled at intervals can be placed in the soil of thirsty plants to help disperse the fluid evenly throughout the container. This procedure helps distribute water to the roots of the plants, where it is needed most.

Container gardening provides endless hours of agriculture enjoyment for gardeners of every age and physical condition. Container gardening is inexpensive and easy to begin. It is a terrific way for experienced gardeners to expand their gardening horizons. It is also a great way to introduce a love of horticulture to others.

Managing your soil drainage can mean the difference between a bountiful crop of healthy, vibrant plants and average or sickly vegetation. Soil drainage management requires the proper mix of water, aeration, and nutrients.

Soil Drainage Tips

The natural drainage tendencies of any garden soil can be tested by digging a hole the size of a gallon jug. Fill the hole with water and check back at intervals to see how much water remains after one, two and four hours. Ideally, complete drainage should occur within two to four hours. This is the guideline to strive for after altering your garden soil for better drainage.

Treating Sandy Garden Soil

Soil that drains too quickly contains a higher concentration of sand. The addition of organic materials, such as compost, will help slow the drainage rate and allow the soil to retain nutrients longer. Plants that grow well in fast-draining, sandy soils are onions, carrots, apples, tomatoes and salad greens. Sandy soil will need more frequent watering and fertilizing. It’s also a good idea to put a 3″ layer of mulch around your plants to help retain water and minimize weeds.

Treating Clay Garden Soil

Slow-draining soil contains a large amount of clay that traps water. This type of soil holds nutrients well, but does not allow for adequate drainage and aeration. Sand, coir, peat, and vermiculite can all be added to clay garden soils to fix drainage and aeration problems. Plants that are well suited for clay soils are roses, squash, parsley, and dogwoods. 

Altering Garden Soil Texture

A good combination to strive for when altering your garden soil texture is 25% clay, 25% organic material, and 50% sand. This provides a nice loamy textured soil with adequate drainage, aeration, and nutrients for optimal plant growth.

Landscaping for Optimal Drainage

Landscaping can help promote proper drainage in garden soil. Grading the soil to provide a gentle slope encourages excess water to drain through the soil without washing soil and nutrients from the plants’ root systems. If your topsoil is washing away after a heavy rain, landscaping timbers can be utilized to raise the garden bed and add adequate soil support. If your garden is developing puddles of standing water after a rainfall, grading the soil into a gentle slope can help your plants retain the proper amount of moisture.

Timing Your Tilling

Tilling in the spring is a common garden practice. The smell of freshly turned earth in the spring is a tradition and source of great joy for many gardeners. If your garden requires treatment for improved drainage, plowing in the fall may be the answer to your problems.

Why Plow in the Fall?

Fall plowing exposes the deeper soil to the repeated freezing and thawing that takes place during winter and spring. This process breaks up heavy clays, kills off excessive bacteria and pests, and leaves the garden soil porous and in better draining condition than the previous growing season.

Soil drainage management is an ongoing process for gardeners. Proper soil drainage is one of the most important maintenance tasks of any gardener. Try these drainage tips to give your plants the moisture they long for. The perfect soil may be elusive, but the process of improving soil drainage benefits both the vegetation and the gardener.

Caring for fruit trees is a continual process. For most gardeners, winter months provide opportunities for composting and pruning, while spring, summer and fall are times for nurturing fruit trees. The basics of fruit tree care include proper hydration, feeding, and pruning.

Hydrating Your Fruit Trees

Proper hydration is essential for high-yielding fruit trees. When watering fruit trees, it is necessary to calculate the drip line.  The drip line is determined by estimating the distance of the farthest-reaching leaves of the fruit tree. If the branches extend six feet from the trunk of the tree, the drip line is calculated by drawing a circle in the soil around the trunk of the tree with a diameter of twelve feet.  The drip line is the outer limit that the tree would protect you from getting wet if you were standing underneath the branches during a light rain shower.

The drip line is where your fruit tree draws most of its nutrients and moisture. This is where most of the tree’s feeder roots are located. When watering your fruit trees, direct the spray at the drip line of each fruit tree to provide optimal hydration.

Mulching Your Fruit Trees

Mulching the soil surrounding your fruit trees provides a constant source of nutrients. A thick layer of organic mulch should be applied to the ground surrounding each fruit tree every spring after feeding the tree with minerals and plant food along the drip line. This provides fresh nutrients for the tree that are used throughout the growing season.  A depth of three to six inches of mulch is ideal. The mulch ring should extend beyond the drip line of each tree by one to three feet to provide optimal nutrition. It is not necessary to mulch up to the base of tree trunk since most feeder roots extend out to the drip line. Organic mulch helps provide protection from diseases and pests and the decomposing mulch releases organic nutrients into the soil on a regular basis.

Pruning Your Fruit Trees

Pruning your fruit trees is a necessary and delicate procedure. Prune too little, and your tree’s energy is diverted from producing lush fruit. Prune too much, and your tree goes into shock and fails to produce fruit at all. Vigorous pruning of fruit trees should take place during the dormant winter months. Trees that bloom late in the season, like apple trees, should be pruned first, and trees that bloom early should be pruned last. Summer pruning involves carefully cutting back new growth to divert nutrients into the tree’s fruit.

Types of Pruning Cuts

There are three basic types of pruning cuts for fruit trees.
The Thinning Cut- This is a non-invigorating type of pruning that removes a branch completely at the root of origin.  This type of cut is also referred to as a weeding cut or thinning the tree.

The Heading Cut- The heading cut is a type of pruning cut that removes the ends of a shoot. This encourages lower growth and results in a bushy, wider tree.

The Bench Cut- This is a type of extensive pruning and should be used with caution. The bench cut opens the center of the tree by removing upright branches and can damage a fruit tree if not done properly.

Caring for your fruit trees takes time, patience, and dedication, but the rewards are spectacular. A well cared for fruit tree produces bountiful, nutritious fruit year after year. These tips and basic principles of fruit tree care will help you grow your best fruit crop ever.