Scientific Reasons You Should Resolve to Start Gardening in 2023 by Nancy Shepard

 

Professor Jill Litt (right) checks on a plant with colleague Erin Decker (left) at a community garden next to Regis University. Photos by Glenn Asakawa/CU Boulder, 2017

We’ve all heard the anecdotal evidence of gardening improving people’s health but up until now, few studies have scientifically tested gardening’s effects on disease risk factors. Our own University of Colorado did that and the findings were published Jan. 4 in the journal Lancet Planetary Health and Science Direct.

Soldiers Gardening During Wartime by Nancy Shepard

 

Ukrainian soldier planting potatoes in a trench in the 2022 war zone. Photo: Pravda Gerashenko 

This Friday, November 11^th, is Veteran’s Day for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. I found a Jeffco CMG blog written in 2010 by Elaine Lockey that featured a book, “Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime” by Kenneth Helphand. In the book, gardens prove to be an invaluable inspiration for people in war time. Besides the highlights of the ghetto gardens and the barbed-wire gardens of the prisoners of war and internment camps in the World Wars, soldiers themselves planted gardens in conflict war zones: the trench gardens built during WWI, Gulf War gardens built in Saudi Arabia, a base camp garden in Baghdad, Iraq, and now in in the trenches of Ukraine.

Square Foot Gardening for your 2020 Victory Garden by Vicky Spelman

University of Florida - Gardening Solutions

Square foot gardening is the practice of dividing the growing area into small square sections (typically 12" (30 cm) on a side, hence the name). The aim is to assist the planning and creating of a small but intensively planted vegetable garden. It results in a simple and orderly gardening system, from which it draws much of its appeal. Since the beds are typically small, making covers or cages to protect plants from pests, cold, or sun is more practical than with larger gardens. 

Want to extend your growing season? by Vicky Spelman

Oregon State University Extension

Want to extend your growing season? Build a raised bed cloche.  

Cloche (pronounced klōsh) is a bell or dome-shaped cover used to protect small or delicate outdoor plants from frost and cold weather.  This definition has expanded and includes the many types of portable and permanent structures used for sheltering plants from wind and cold – and serve as mini-green houses.

Urban Farming by Vicky Spelman

 Graphic - Vicky Spelman

Urban:  An urban area is the region surrounding a city. Most inhabitants of urban areas have nonagricultural jobs. Urban areas are very developed, meaning there is a density of human structures such as houses, commercial buildings, roads, bridges, and railways. "Urban area" can also refer to towns, cities, and suburbs.