Just when I was hoping for a mild fall and an easy, down-on-the-farm winter, the hot off the press 2010 Farmers’ Almanac shows up on my desk, heralding frigid winter weather for my part of the world. In  2010 Farmers’ Almanac Managing Editor Sandi Duncan’s words, we should expect an “ice cold sandwich” when winter finally settles in. I wonder just when it will settle in, down here in Kansas. Judging by this week’s highs, I think it might be sooner, rather than later.

 “With the economy still shaky, and people keeping an eye on their spending,” reports Peter Geiger, Philom., 2010 Farmers’ Almanac Editor, “the winter weather outlook is more important than ever. Many folks are looking to the most respected sources for long-range weather outlook–the Farmers’ Almanac–so they can prepare for whatever Mother Nature may send their way.”

Last year, the 2009 Farmers’ Almanac predicted an exceptionally long, cold winter for most regions. As promised, bitter cold and heavy snow punished much of the nation, coming on early in the season and lingering through the start of spring. When spring finally did arrive, it came bearing heavy rains, with twice the annual average falling in many regions.

The 2010 edition of the Farmers’ Almanac warns that this winter’s frigid forecast offers no respite, especially for states in the center of the country. “Very cold and bitterly cold” is how the 2010 Farmers’ Almanac describes the winter in the Great Lakes, Plains, and South Central states, while temperatures on the East and West Coasts will be more in line with average to normal winter conditions. For residents of the East Coast, who bore most of the brunt of last winter’s fury, this may be good news.

While nearly three-quarters of the country is expected to experience near or below average precipitation this winter, significant snowfalls are forecast for parts of every zone. Residents of Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states can expect some a major snowfall in mid-February, with possible blizzard conditions in New England.

“People on the coasts shouldn’t think they’re off the hook just because we’re predicting milder winter weather for them. Shovelry is most certainly not dead,” Geiger says.   

The 2010 edition of the Farmers’ Almanac offers more than just the publication’s famous long-range weather forecasts, though. It also contains invaluable tips on how to save money and energy, plus practical ways to live a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle. The 2010 Farmers’ Almanac is filled with more thrifty and smart living advice than ever before, with articles on the economics of going green, the dirt on fighting germs naturally, tips on reusing household items, and reducing our dependency on convenience items.

There are also dozens of pages of practical home and garden advice, including proven tips on stretching your meal budget, easy instructions for canning fresh fruits and vegetables for the winter, a list of the top five easiest vegetables to grow, a list of steps to take now for a better garden next spring, as well as the Farmers’ Almanac’s beloved calendar of Best Days to quit smoking, find a new job and more, the exclusive Gardening by the Moon Calendar, and valuable outdoor advice, including average frost and peak foliage dates, and tips for safe hunting and fishing.

Weather is the most talked about subject on earth, which makes the 2010 Farmers’ Almanac weather predictions a hot topic. Fans of the Almanac say its famous long-range forecast is accurate between 80 and 85 percent of the time. The predictions are based on mathematical and astronomical formula that dates back to 1818, and each new edition contains 16 months of weather forecasts for the contiguous United States.

The 2010 Farmers’ Almanac retails for $5.99 in stores everywhere and online. I keep copies of the Farmers’ Almanac handy … both at work and on the farm. I consult its pages for everything from when to plant my potatoes to the best days to go fishing. If you don’t yet have your copy of the 2010 Farmers’ Almanac, you quite simply aren’t prepared.

I was thrilled to take a look at Gene Logsdon’s updated 2009 edition of an old favorite of mine, Small Scale Grain Raising. Now in its second edition, the book is even more apropos today than the first edition was in 1977, when I was a budding young agriculturist. I devoured the first edition in the lab between analytical chemistry procedures and dreamed of growing all kinds of grains on a small-scale level. When I obtained a copy of the second edition, which was released last April, I devoured it in five evenings, between chores and bedtime. Actually it kept me up late one night – apologies to the GRIT staff for my fatigue the other day.

Small Scale Grain Raising is a stellar work that will inspire gardeners, farmers, dreamers and just about anyone else who cares about good food, good flavors and asking questions. Most small-scale agriculturists and gardeners never even consider adding grains other than corn (maize) to their crop rotation. This is in part because producing small grains like wheat and barley, or even pseudo-grains like buckwheat, is considered to be an arduous task at best that requires seed drills and combines to accomplish. Heck, the capital outlay for equipment is enough to turn off even medium-sized farmers who are tapped into the corn-soybean rotation. But it doesn’t have to be so. And Logsdon shows you how to make it happen on a backyard scale. Did you know that you can grow sufficient grains to feed your family and many of your animals all year on less than an acre of land with just a few hand tools?

Logsdon’s out of the box approach to farming is as fresh and informed today as ever before. He has bothered to ask, and answer, many of the questions that paralyze gardeners and farmers when faced with the expense of some conventionally recommended production practice. And he does all of this, while respecting and understanding how those recommended practices came into being.  The book is filled with anecdotes, advice, stories of success and failure – all steeped in the author’s delightfully wry sense of humor.

Worried about what to do with all that backyard grain when harvest season rolls around? All you need to know about cutting, curing, threshing, cleaning, hulling and eating grains is laid out on the pages of Small Scale Grain Raising. I recommend that you pick up a copy today. Who knows, you may start a small-scale grain project of your own, or perhaps you can convince your favorite market farmer to put out a spelt crop for you next year. In any case, you will be a lot smarter about all things agriculture if you spend any time with the wisdom-filled pages of Gene Logsdon’s Small Scale Grain Raising.

It feels more like Monsoon season in Kansas these days, but I am looking forward to spending some time with friends this weekend at the 9th Annual Spring Planting Festival at the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company’s farm and Bakersville, the company’s replica pioneer town located near Mansfield, Missouri. All of this is happening on Sunday May 3 and Monday May 4 from 10 AM to 7 PM (both days).

Proprietor and festival founder, Jere Gettle expects that more than 6000 visitors will have the opportunity to visit with at least 100 vendors, listen to the music and humor of more than 60 performers, and have the opportunity to hear a number of gardening personalities speak at this year’s Spring Planting Festival. The lineup of presenters is impressive and includes GRIT editor in chief, KC Compton.

I have been asked to give a presentation on the Oscar H. Will Co. seed and nursery business, which was started by my great grandfather in 1881. I will admit to having an emotional few days of plowing through old family history to put that talk together. But I am proud that my ancestors made a lasting contribution to agriculture and gardening. I am living proof that growing things must be a genetic trait, because I feel compelled to garden every year.

You can find your way to the 9^th Annual Spring Planting Festival by pointing your vehicle to Mansfield, Missouri and following the signs to Bakersville. The company offers free tent and RV camping; no need to register. There are also hotels in the local area. Food will be available at the festival. Admission: $5.00 per person, pay at the event. Children 16 and under are free.

I hope to see you there.

I have written about the annual invasion of Asian multi-colored lady beetles a number of times. Remember these are the lady bugs that bite … well, pinch anyway. The introduced aphid fighters do good work during the growing season, but they don’t like to spend North American winters outside. And no matter how well you think your house is sealed, when the cool weather comes, you will find several to vast numbers of these orange, black and cream colored beetles on your ceilings, walls, floors, lights, curtains and virtually every other beetle-friendly place in the house. Although they are little more than a nuisance, if you disturb Asian multi-colored lady beetles they emit an unpleasant-odor-producing liquid that also stains. If you just squash them, they leave a mark on your lovely white walls and ceilings. What to do?

Until now, about the only thing you could use to fend off the Asian lady beetle invasion was a vacuum. I have already dumped several dust-buster-bin sized loads of beetles this year. But, thanks to Agriculture Research Service scientists, I can now add catnip to my limited invasion-fighting arsenal.

According to ARS scientists, catnip oil contains compounds that naturally repel the beetles without harm. In one extensive study, 95 percent of adult male and female lady beetles altered their course when they encountered filter paper impregnated with nepetalactone, one of many compounds found in catnip oil.

So, do you need to purify the nepetalactone, or at the very least extract catnip oil from your catnip to repel the Asian lady beetles this fall? ARS scientists haven’t yet made that jump, however since catnip is easy to grow and lovely to look at in the garden, why not harvest a short ton of the feline-frolic-inducing herb and place dried bundles of it inside your storm windows, and the other lady beetle landing zones that are truly hot? If dried catnip doesn’t work on the beetles, you can always toss the bundles to your feline friends and enjoy a good show.

Read more about the possibility of using plant secondary products to deter Asian multi-colored lady beetles here.

With the hubbub surrounding the honey bee’s plight, folks are turning to promoting native, wild bees for crop pollination. I say it’s about time. I have nothing against honey bees, and I even like honey on steaming hot cornbread fresh from the cast-iron skillet, but with monoculture of any kind, disaster is always just around the corner. Colony Collapse Disorder, mites, you name it and the non-native honey bee is in a world of hurt. Since so many fruit and vegetable crops depend upon bees for success native bees are finally getting noticed, even though there’s no honey or wax byproduct involved.

One of the principal ways to promote a healthy population of native bees around your place is to offer them places to nest. Nesting spots can be as simple as a bundle of paper drinking straws placed in a strategic location. But it is important to protect those straws from the elements. The corrugated plastic totes used in mail handling are perfect for just that.

Agricultural Research Service scientist James H. Cane says that female wild bees will readily use a properly placed, nicely furnished tote as a shelter for their nests. Turned on their long side, the totes can be held firmly in place on a wooden or metal post by means of a lightweight steel chain and a metal support frame.

Folks who want wild bees to live near and work in their fields, gardens and orchards, can use the totes to house nesting materials. Wild female bees like the blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria (see photo), can use the straws as homes for a new generation of pollinators. A single tote can accommodate as many as 3000 young, which would be sufficient to pollinate an orchard up to about an acre in size.

Read more about this discovery here.

Photo courtesy ARS: Jack Dykinga

On February 13, 2009, the United States Patent office formally rejected Siegers’ 25 claims on cucurbit warts. Patent examiner Ann R. Kubelik issued a non-final rejection of the entire package, however, Siegers has an opportunity to rebut and appeal the decision within 6 months (if all the deadline extensions are implemented). This is indeed good news for gardeners, breeders and pumpkin growers everywhere.

The patent was rejected for a number of reasons related to a somewhat sloppy application and for a number of reasons relating to the prevalence of warts on cucurbits historically, and the fact that warted pumpkin seed has been, and still is, for sale by other vendors.

Read Dr. Kubelik’s 9-page Non-Final rejection document here (click on “Non-Final Rejection” on that page).

Read my other posts on this topic here.

Thanks to GRIT blog commenter DLR for bringing this to my attention.

I admit to being more than a little disappointed that Siegers Seed Co. is already playing hardball over its claim to own exclusive rights to the wart trait in cucurbits. The company evidently sent a threatening letter to Rupp Seed Company on January 12^th warning that they would seek damages if Rupp didn’t cease any and all marketing, development and sales efforts at this time … once Siegers’ patent on warts was approved.

The problem with patent pending in this case is that Siegers seems to have figured out a way to own a common cucurbit gene for several years, at the very least, by tying it up in what appears to be a bogus patent application. So even if it turns out that the patent is not awarded, by the time all of the appeals and the like are completed, Siegers can threaten other companies with action, while selling wart-gene containing seeds exclusively until the case is finally settled.

Here are some facts about cucurbit warts:

1. The warted gourds were considered to be a "race" of Cucurbita pepo already in 1786.

2. Warted pumpkins 'Nantucket' and 'Brazilian Sugar' were described by numerous authors in the 19^th century. According to Harry Paris, cucurbit expert and author, Bailey’s (1902) Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, pp. 1711–1713, has an illustration of 'Nantucket'. And Zhiteneva (1930) The World's Assortment of Pumpkins. Trudy Prikl. Bot. Genet. Selek. 23: 157 – 207 has photographs of numerous warted pumpkins.

3. Warted gourds of Cucurbita pepo have a history dating to 1587.

4. The Essai sur l'histoire naturelle des courges is the definitive scientific paper on the three major species of Cucurbita. This book was published in 1786 in French. You'll find a translation of Duchesne's 1786 description of Cucurbita pepo in H. S. Paris’s book, The drawings of Antoine Nicolas Duchesne for his natural history of the gourds, published in 2007 by the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.

Here is Paris’s translation of what Duchesne had to say about warts and Cucurbita pepo: Another state of alteration is what one names warts,& which would better be designated by the name of Bumps, since they are not purely exterior excrescences, but elevations of the shell, which form within as many corresponding pits, although less in proportion, considering that the shell there is of a much greater thickness. These bumps are of two kinds: sometimes wide near the base and little elevated, they mimic transitory pimples springing from the rind by accident; sometimes higher and constricted at the base, they assume the shape of knobs; sometimes they accumulate one on top of the other, as if they lack for space. And I had the opportunity to recognize that this deformity indicates a true state of disorder, since the fruits in which it is carried to such excess do not have a single good seed, but only some imperfect rudiments.

5. Warts are conferred by a single dominant gene designated Wt, non-warted plants are wt/wt. Reference: Paris, H.S. and R.N. Brown. (2005). The genes of pumpkin and squash. HortScience 40: 1620–1630.

Take a look at the Siegers webstite to discover what seeds they sell to your favorite growers … and if you care about this warty gene grab, ask your growers to avoid planting Siegers’ seeds.

Figure 1. 1770s vintage painting of a warted pumpkin.

In an interesting move in the wholesale garden seed supply industry, Siegers Seed Company in Holland, Michigan has been quietly pushing an all-encompassing patent application through the system that would essentially allow them to own a piece of genetic history in the pumpkin and squash families. Siegers’ move appears to be aimed at owning the rights to virtually all warts on pumpkins and their relatives. And they want to own the rights to all patches in which warted pumpkins appear. Huh? My ancestors grew warted gourds, pumpkins and squashes long before Siegers was even in business, and they received the seed from Native American gardeners who had warted cucurbits in their patches for who knows how long.

Figure 2. Warted pumpkin photo included in the Siegers patent application.

The pumpkin patent application states: In a large commercial field of multiple unknown pumpkin varieties, a single fruit was discovered displaying a greater degree of warting than has ever been observed in prior experience by the inventor [the inventor is listed as the director of marketing for Siegers]. On rare occasions in years prior to this discovery, pumpkin fruits had been observed to possess rumpled or bumpy surfaces as described in FIG. 1. The discovered fruit had a high frequency of bumpy skin as described in FIG. 1, and a lower percentage of warting as described in FIG. 2. The fruit was collected and seed was saved. 

I am surprised that Siegers' inventor seems so unaware of the long warty history of pumpkins, squashes and gourds … at least as I read the patent application. I don’t have an issue with Siegers wanting to protect their investment in a particular pumpkin hybrid, but it bothers me to no end that they seem to be attempting to own the warty history of all members of the squash family.

Read more about this patent application here.

Read the Siegers press release on the new pumpkin family here. 

What do you think? Should Siegers own the warts on a random pumpkin line you develop in your backyard and prevent you from selling it at your farm stand?

The color plate is from: Botanical illustration, ca. 1770, reproduced from H. Paris, “Paintings (1769-1774) by A. N.Duchesne and the History of Cucurbita pepo,” Annals of Botany 85, 2000, p. 820.

The black and white is reproduced from U.S. patent application US20080301830A1.

Kate and I have started garden seed in all manner of haphazard fashion over the years. It used to be in cut-off milk cartons on windowsills. We eventually moved to those same containers on a cobbled up light table in the basement … covered with a sheet of plastic. Eventually, it was in our very own greenhouse, but we sold that along with the farm a couple of moves ago. This year, we decided to buy a proper light cart to start our seeds and nurture the seedlings.

Since we had a window nook in one of our bathrooms, we decided to search for a light cart that would fit the space. Growers Supply has many different styles and sizes of carts, and since they are among the very best out there, we went searching for the best price on their G48 model, which takes up about 9 square feet of floor space in a 3-foot by 3-foot package. The G48 Light Cart has four shelves … each hold a pair of flat-sized trays.  After a bit of searching, we found Robert Crespo’s website … named buyPlantLights.com.

Placing the order online was a breeze and communication with the company was adequate. Growers Supply doesn’t sell to consumers directly, but they do drop ship products such as the G48 Light Cart to consumers on behalf of businesses like buyLightPlants.com.

The Growers Supply Light Cart arrived about a week after we ordered it. Setting up the G48 Light Cart was a joy … I can’t think of the last time I put together such a beautifully engineered product.

The first step in the process was to install the caster anchors and casters in the bottoms of the G48 Light Stand’s legs. This was a matter of pressing pieces together. Next, I used Kate’s Craftsman cordless drill to screw cross members to the legs … it took about 10 minutes to get to (and complete) this step. Next, we installed the light-support rods and the lights … about another 10 minutes of effort. All that was left was to set the trays in place and install the optional plastic cover … we included the cover with our G48 order to keep the humidity and heat in.

The G48 Light Cart’s lights are independently operable, so you can turn off any that are not needed. We placed Kate’s basil plant and herb seedlings in the Growers Supply G48 Light Cart, and I can tell you that several days later they look much happier than they did on windowsill in the kitchen.

So far, the G48 Light Cart has motivated us to choose more seed for the garden than ever before. It is really fun to have a beautiful, clean, convenient, and easy to use and move seed starting station in the house. This is one of the best gifts we have given each other ever.

When I got home from work on Friday, I saw the FedEx truck’s tracks in the snow. I was expecting a seed starting frame, but not copies of my new book: Garden Tractors. My Editor at Voyageur Press originally told that the book wouldn’t be available until February 15. It appears that Garden Tractors has made it to the warehouse … it should be on the GRIT bookshelf soon.

Garden Tractors is a historical look at the evolution of the American 4-wheeled garden tractor and the many companies that produced them. If you are interested in old garden tractors, this book will help you understand how the many different models from many different makers came to be. If you currently drive a Simplicity garden (sub compact) tractor, this book will show you the importance of that particular brand to the industry. Manufacturing company history buffs will get a glimpse of where many of the most important garden tractor companies came from and where they are today.

Garden Tractors is illustrated with my own photography, that of a couple of others and with vintage marketing images. The book has a hardcover and full-color production throughout its 126 pages.

Garden Tractors was a labor of love for me. I have a penchant for vintage Cub Cadet garden tractors, but the entire genre continues to fascinate me. To give you a glimpse of what I Cub Cadet nut I am, I wrote a book about the brand in 2005 or 2006 and have collected about 22 vintage machines. I currently mow our lawn with a 1984 Cub Cadet 882 diesel and have models dating from 1984 to 1961. Most of these machines run and several were refurbished some years ago when I had more energy than I knew what to do with.

If you order your copy of Garden Tractors from the GRIT website, I will do everything in my power to be sure you get a signed copy, if that’s what you want.

Part 1 of this excellent adventure can be found here.

After a good night’s sleep, with a few interruptions devoted to thoughts about how to best attach the corrugated plastic to the FarmTek, Flip-Top, ClearSpan cold frame, I was ready to hit it on Sunday morning.

The FarmTek cold frame kit included a generous roll of corrugated plastic material that was 8 feet wide and plenty long enough to cover the frame. Slightly more than 8 feet of material was needed to span the hoops and provide attachment to the front and back pipe frames. Since the cold frame is 12 feet long, we needed to cut one 8-foot plus length of material to cover 8 feet of the frame and we needed to cut another 8-foot plus length and then trim it to 4 feet wide. With a fresh mind, and help from Kate and daughter Becca, that process went smoothly.

Now the real fun began. The FarmTek cold frame kit included some heavy-duty vinyl H-channel strips that are used to trim the ends of the corrugated plastic, and through which TekScrews are driven to attach the cold frame cover to the pipe frame. With a 12 foot cold frame, a third piece of H-channel is used to splice the 8 foot and 4 foot pieces of corrugated plastic together … to make the full 12 feet of cover length.

We had no problem sliding the cold frame’s roofing material into the H-channels, but it was pretty much impossible for us move that entire piece to the pipe frame, and get it attached without having the 4 foot piece and 8 foot piece at least partially separate. We tried a few different tacks, and then it hit me. Why not run some screws through the H-channel to attach it to the two corrugated plastic pieces. I wish I had thought of that earlier, it would have saved us about an hour of trial and error. Splicing is only required on FarmTek Flip-Top cold frames longer than 8 feet.

With the two pieces of cold frame cover firmly connected, the three of us easily positioned the material on the hoop frame. Kate and Becca held it in place while I attached the corrugated plastic to the hoop frame with TekScrews and washers. This process took about 40 minutes, and I would gladly assemble another 12-foot FarmTek cold frame now that I know how to get the cover splice to survive installation. For a brief moment, I was kicking myself for going with the 12-footer instead of the 8-footer.

The final steps included attaching 2 metal brackets to the rear of the base frame to lock the frame’s “hinge” in place and installing the two support legs on the front of the pipe frame. The finishing touch came in the form of attaching two woven straps to the ends of the pipe frame and the base frame … to keep the cover from tipping all the way back.

Kate and I really like the FarmTek Flip-Top cold frame and are considering the addition of another smaller frame for the herb garden.

Now all we need is for this unseemly arctic blast to head back north so we can begin experimenting with our new FarmTek cold frame. Stay tuned.

Read part 2 here.

After enjoying a delicious winter salad fresh from a friend’s garden around a week ago, Kate and I decided to bite the bullet and install our first cold frame here in Kansas. I nosed around the barn some, but discovered that we didn’t have the bits and pieces to make a nice looking, easy to use and easy to move cold frame. As luck would have it, the FarmTek catalog was on top of one of the piles on my desk … seeing it motivated me to search for cold frames on the FarmTek website.

After a bit of research, and discussion, Kate and I settled on one of FarmTek’s Flip-Top ClearSpan cold frames because it comes with everything included in a kit … even the baseboards. The FarmTek Flip-Top consists of a semi-rigid mini-hoop house attached to a frame that's built of 50 year lifespan lumber. I like this lumber because it is made with recycled plastic. We chose the 4 foot by 12 foot model and placed the order.

FarmTek’s online ordering process is easy and the communication is excellent. Because of its size and weight, the cold frame kit has to be shipped by freight truck. The freight company and FarmTek communicated with us about that process, and it all went smoothly. I met the semi-trailer tractor driver at our farm last Friday at 4:45 PM and we had him on his way back to Salina, Kansas by 5. Even if you don’t have a forklift (we don’t either darnit), don’t be afraid to order something that needs to travel by freight truck. If the item is a single piece that weighs more than about 200 pounds, unloading by hand will be difficult, but more often than not, your shipment consists of several pieces, each of which can be easily unloaded by hand. This was the case with the cold frame, we broke the pallet down on the back of the truck … no single piece weighed more than 50 pounds.

I went to work on the FarmTek cold frame first thing on Saturday morning. Actually, the first thing I did was thoroughly till the spot where we intended to place the cold frame. The kit included all fasteners and other small parts in labeled bags … their labels matched those in the instruction booklet perfectly. Some screws required specialized driving bits … those were also included in the kit. The only tools I needed for the project were my Kawasaki cordless drill and conventional circular saw, a hammer, heavy shear (for cutting plastic) and Vise-Grip pliers. I needed the pliers to extract a screw after I stripped its head.  

The first steps to assembling the FarmTek cold frame included cutting and attaching the plastic lumber base-frame pieces together using stainless screws and special brackets designed just for that purpose. Next, I put the 2-piece arched-pipe rafters together using a self-drilling TekScrew to secure them. The end rafters where then assembled to the hoop structure’s pipe end-frame using PVC brackets and TekScrews. This probably took me an hour and a half total, including all the time I spent with the assembly manual and measuring twice so I could cut once.

After admiring my handiwork for a minute over a cup of coffee, I cut the end panels from the large roll of corrugated plastic material included in the FarmTek cold frame kit. I cut these pieces a little oversized, attached them to the end frames with TekScrews and special washers. Once fastened, I trimmed the plastic with my sheet metal shears. The next step was to install the remaining rafters. These fit into sliding PVC brackets that I had installed on the front and rear pipe frames before I attached them to the end frames. These steps took another hour or so to accomplish.

Kate and I built a 24 foot by 72 foot double-layer plastic covered greenhouse on our farm in South Dakota quite a few years ago. That experience taught me that installing the greenhouse film required patience and a fresh mind. So I called it quits on the cold frame for the day after determining that getting the corrugated plastic spliced and installed would be somewhat arduous. I saved that task and the other finishing touches on the FarmTek cold frame for the next morning.

I will run you through the covering and finishing process in tomorrow’s installment. Stay tuned.

It might be that I grew up in a seed-producing family, or that I had the privilege of biting into North Dakota grown tomatoes right from the field … still warm from the sun. It might also be that the miracle of drawing food from the earth, using little more than a tiny seed and a bit of effort, captivated me from the very beginning. Perhaps I am genetically predisposed to raise a crop because my ancestors, and theirs, in turn, did just that. In any case, I discovered at a very young age that vegetable gardening is good for the soul.

Many eloquent essays have been written on the healing powers the act of gardening possesses; urban planners in New York City learned that community gardens were not worthless areas of idyllic pastoral tranquility, but the glue that bonded people of different experience, ethnicity and social stratum into an amalgam of healthy urban culture. They learned the lesson the hard way with the DOME garden project on west 84th street. Community gardening, minimizes differences and heals hurts. Community gardening is good for the soul.

During the First World War, the National War Garden Commission was formed in the United States; its mission was to promote gardening, ostensibly as an act of patriotism. The American workforce was engaged in producing materiel; farmers were headed off to active duty by the thousands. Armies needed to be fed, but every bit as important, those left behind needed to be fed … and they needed to know they were doing their part. The War Garden program brought the most likely and unlikely of people together. They collectively took up the cause and planted gardens in unlikely and likely places. The 1918 effort produced more than $500-million in homegrown food.  No doubt War Gardening did much to keep the country marching on, but it also brought people together and helped heal their suffering souls.

During the Great Depression, gardening again became a matter of life for many folks. Unemployed and unappreciated souls found physical and psychological solace in stirring the soil and nurturing their own nourishment from the earth. Early psychologists reported that humans thrived when there was a firm connection between culture and nature … they prescribed gardening as therapy for malaise. Vegetable gardening was good for depression-era souls.

The Second World War helped bring about an end to the Great Depression; the Victory Garden served as a rallying cry for those left at home. Like the War Gardens before them, Victory Gardens produced a phenomenal amount of food. Victory Gardening was good for the soul, and the country, in spite of the fact that it lacked economies of scale.

Today’s economic climate offers an excellent excuse to get gardening once again; it’s already beginning to happen in a somewhat organized fashion. The new program … a grass-roots program at that … is called Freedom Gardening. Freedom Gardens bring the concept of Victory Gardens into the 21st century and take it one paradigm further by suggesting that we grow our own food no matter what the economic climate is. GRIT blogger Paul Gardner turned me on to this movement. I hope he will post a blog about how the concept developed and got off the ground.

In the meantime, grab all the seed catalogs you can. Get all the good information available. And at the very least plant a single-crop garden this year. Take it from me, and millions of others around the globe. Gardening is good for the soul.

 The numbers are in for 2008 and they look good for the seed industry. They look even better for folks who want to grow vegetables from seed and save money in 2009.

By some estimates, garden seed, especially vegetable seed sales, were up by anywhere from 40 percent to well over 100 percent compared with recent years. In fact, some industry watchdog organizations suggest that seed companies in North America and much of Europe experienced their best year ever in 2008. We’re talking record seed sales … AND they project another record for 2009.

So, what is the fuss all about?

Easy, people are looking for a safer food supply, while adapting to a tighter economic outlook. If you have never grown a vegetable garden, or started your own garden plants, there’s still plenty of time to save money in 2009 by growing your vegetables from seed. If you are like me, you will be amazed, and thrilled, by all the different varieties of vegetable species from which to choose. If you are looking for that little early-maturing tomato called Bison from your youth, you can find seed and save money by growing your own in 2009.

 

Even the American government recognized the value that a garden-growing public could offer to a war-embroiled and slow economy. They no doubt also recognized the community building value in making it easy for folks to grow with one another in the garden patch. At those times, it was much more important to feed the folks at home and share the excess with others than to worry about E. coli-infested spinach … oh, that’s right, we hadn’t pushed our agricultural production models so far, back then, that E. coli and other fairly benign microbes had yet to figure out how to be pathogenic.

Our government called those programs War Gardens during World War I and Victory Gardens during World War II. I don’t know what to call the new wave of gardening frenzy, but I do know that it is exciting, and will, no doubt, play a role in healing our culture.

When you consider that a package of tomato seed might set you back a couple of bucks, and that you might get 50 viable seeds in that pack, it doesn’t take much math to figure out that you can grow hundreds of pounds of tomato fruit from that $2 pack of seeds. Even if you factor in the value of a little labor (it can be hand labor, mind you), a small piece of ground, a source of supplemental water and a few miscellaneous supplies, those tomatoes will be cheaper than cheap. But more importantly, the growing, nurturing, eating and processing will pay that elusive dividend of extreme satisfaction; no amount of store-bought or farm-stand-bought tomatoes CAN EVER bring that. Farm-stand tomatoes, when grown locally, do have added value in the dividend department, because at least you are supporting the local economy at its root level.

 

Add the pleasure you will receive from spending time AT HOME and WITH FRIENDS and LOVED ONES working in, marveling at, and generally enjoying your garden, and those tomatoes pay even more. And if you happen to have an extra-giant bounty, think of the joy those tomatoes will bring as you share them with others in need … or sell to pay for that tank of propane when winter arrives.

The way I see it, if the pleasure from that $2 pack of tomato seed replaced the pleasure of just one latte at the local coffee shop and the fuel needed to drive there and back, you are at least $10 ahead. That’s right, folks, vegetable gardens can pay big time if you only let them.

If you are skeptical of my analysis, check out Paul Gardener’s personal blog and follow his annual fresh food tally. He and his family produce a significant dollar-value of crops in minimal growing space. And they don’t factor the weight of family fun, joy, etc., into the formula to inflate those numbers.

Look for all kinds of gardening resources on this website and at Mother Earth News for everything you need to know about how to prepare for and plant a vegetable garden from seed that will save you money in 2009.

 In its never-ending quest to make lawn care less of an energy-eating hassle, Agri-Fab introduces the new SmartCart, SmartSweep and SmartLink systems designed to save consumers energy, headache and time. This new family of SmartTools joins the already extensive lineup of familiar Agri-Fab lawn and garden implements.

 

According to company insiders, the SmartCart sets a new standard when it comes to transporting and dumping large loads of leaves, compost, soil and other materials. This 800-pound capacity single-axle cart features a foot release mechanism for dumping and sufficiently reduced number of parts to make assembly a breeze.  Similarly, the SmartSweep 44-inch wide sweeper makes short work of picking up leaves and grass clippings.

 
“In a downturn economy, today’s homeowners are spending less money traveling and entertaining and spending more time at home, and they’re looking for inexpensive ways to make home improvements without sacrificing a lot of time or using a lot of energy,” says Mark Short, Agri-Fab’s vice president of marketing and product development. “The SmartSWEEP not only provides these benefits, it also eliminates common lawn sweeper complaints and responds to new consumer needs.”

Just how does the SmartSweep accomplish all of that? Well, the company actually asked consumers what they wanted in a lawn sweeper for starters … and then engineers designed a high performance product that easily folds to a compact size for out of the way storage. The SmartSweep is also easy to dump, features an adjustable offset tow bar that allows simultaneous mowing and sweeping and a larger 25 cubic-foot capacity bag that reduces time spent dumping.

Agri-Fab’s SmartLink lawn grooming system includes a patent-pending design that allows you to convert a single implement platform from plug aerator (comes standard with platform) to tine dethatcher to turf shark aerator to roller and back again in seconds, and without tools. The SmartLink package saves on storage space and money because you don’t need a completely separate implement for each turf task. And since the attachments snap into and out of place, you will never be left with a long trek to the barn to look for the right wrench to swap the roller for the aerator.

I haven’t put any of these tools through their paces yet, but I have had good luck with other Agri-Fab pull-type implements. I look forward to spending some quality time with Agri-Fab’s Smart system soon. Look for them at a dealer near you.