With a lot of attention focused on the health of our oceans lately, it's good to remember that what we do right here at home can help keep our oceans healthy. The Nature Conservancy suggests that creating an organic square foot garden can help the environment in numerous ways, including keeping unwanted chemicals out of our seafood!
"Lately there’s been a tremendous surge in interest in eating locally. There are Slow Food groups popping up all over the globe, books about eating food sourced within 100 milesfarmers markets becoming more common and trendy.
"But w
hat’s better than going to a farmers market and filling your cloth bags with your local farmer’s latest and greatest veggie? Well, how about stepping out on your porch or into your yard and picking some bright, juicy, delicious, home-grown tomatoes or some fragrant basil?...Square foot gardening can be done anywhere you have 6 to 8 hours of sun daily."
For more information, visit their link "Go Chemical-Free with a Square Foot Garden"
Got your gardening gloves on? That means it's time to celebrate the joys of gardening with a GIVEAWAY!
Just leave a comment at the end of this post with your favorite tip for a green garden OR tell us what your cat's favorite garden activity is. Your name will be entered to win one of THREE prizes: your choice of a Garden Cat Print from my Etsy shop (or your choice of any other matted print in the shop of equal value [$12.50])!
Giveaway ends Sunday, August 22 at 11 p.m. PST. Three names will be drawn at random and each will receive their choice of one matted print. Open to gardeners and feline fanatics world-wide!
Please make sure that I have a way to contact you in case you are the lucky winner, such as a link to your blog or e-mail address included in your comment.
Thanks for participating!
21 comments:
Enza loves to watch me while I work in our garden. Our mode of green gardening is "survival of the fittest" if something doesn't do well in our yard, we let it die. Only hardy plants do well in our Pac NW yard. We grow blueberries, Raspberries, Plums and figs. And a generous helping of butterfly friendly plants like Rosemary, Monarda, and other mints; we have a chemical free garden.
I plant catnip in my herb garden every year and my cats all enjoy the health benefits of greens from the garden but usually prefer weeds. We never add any pesticides and allow about half and acre to go wild.
Using flats one would see at a plant/hardware store for purchasing plants, add soil and "cat grass" (wheat grass and/or cat nip seeds) and grow for your cats on back patio and to bring indoors! Mine love it!!!... on a side note, have you seen the environments which are being encouraged for pet owners living in apartments (esp. high-rises) .... balcony habitats - they are netted/fenced in and provide small grass/garden areas, scratching, etc. for outdoor time! :)
Kim Taylor
Knoxville, TN
We have a small vegetable garden and container gardens as well... This year we planted our little metal fire pit/container with parsley and basil- our town made it illegal to have a recreational fires... Randy loves to make homemade pesto. We planted some Russian giant sunflowers- they are well over 8 feet tall. It's just so much fun and entertainment to see how big they will get! I feel like Jack and the Beanstalk!
Well, I'm a beginner gardener, so I'm always looking for tips for a great gardener. I started a compost pile this year and each time I empty out my compost bin from the kitchen (left over veggies, egg shells, etc), my cat Misty bounds outside after me, looking for adventure. When I work on my small garden, she likes to come out and lay in the cool shade nearby and watch me.
What a wonderful give-a-way! I don't use any chemicals in my garden since I have rabbits and birds that always come to visit and with my cat munching on the catmint and chasing butterflies ~ I want to make sure everyone in my garden stays happy and healthy! Except the ants... I wish they would take a hike! :)
Have a terrific week Susan Faye!
xo Catherine
Ah, Bac and Elizabeth love to catch pesky garden pests and help with the weeding (by eating them) - of course we don't use harmful pesticides!
I find myself taking a pause from work to dolefully stair at my balcony garden... lush tomatoes basil, thyme, rosemary, beans, strawberries, chives, salad... and the best part (lush breezy greenness aside) is that after the initial planting and prodding all I have to do is water it and eat from it... JOY!
Keep up the kitty goodness!
Catherine, try crushed (pulverized) eggshell for the ants! It’s a trick mom taught me... they get hurt on it and it deters them plus the plants like the nutrients.
I second the motion on the eggshells. I keep 6 cells from an egg carton next to the sink. As my eggs are cooking, I rinse out the shells and put them in the cells to dry. That nights, I stack them all together, tuck them into the pal of my hand, and smush them up, then put them in a gallon storage bag. Sprinkle them around your plants, and they not only add calcium to the soil, they also keep the bugs away. :-D
I also vermicompost. You can compost all your plant-based food scraps (after the colony is established you can even add meats and fats too!) in a Rubbermaid tub (with lid) under your kitchen sink!
~ Mel
http://www.melsbellsjewelry.etsy.com
Love your designs and am looking forward to receiving my own garden kitty. Thanks!
Bandit, my Maine Coon's favorite garden activity is to have a great adventure! He comes home with garden "stuff" stuck all over him. Small snails, leaves, seeds, pitch and the like. I'm sure he's just as good as a bird for distributing seeds to be fertilized in other areas. He also loves to watch the many variety of birds as they come and go from the seeder. Norther Flickers, Chickadees, Swallows and the occasional Blue Bird.
I like to plant flowers and plants that butterflies and bees enjoy, however my seven cats also enjoy chasing them so I have been seen running around the garden waving my arms like a mad woman trying to distract the cats!
Two of my cats, Billy and Cecil, like fresh catnip. I plant it in my rock garden for them. It's a very hardy plant that looks good and smells good and does not require much care. There is one special rock that they love to sit on. I love to photograph them among the flowers. Rose CatLady 338
All of your beautiful nature and garden themed art makes me truly miss having a garden. Makes me think of my Mom, who I miss terribly, too.
When I had a house I landscaped it to be a certified wildlife habitat with plenty of berry bearing and thorny bushes, trees and plants - hawthorns, firethorns, elderberries and dogwoods, to name a few. I loved having plenty of raspberry bushes. I, as well as the animals seemed to love them. But most of all, all kitties stay indoors. Always. The bird and wildlife populations suffer enough of a challenge with human encroachment and habitat destruction that they don't need my beloved companions adding to their already tumultuous future and existence.
Cat Lady Mimi: "Only hardy plants do well in our Pacific NW yard. We grow blueberries, raspberries, plums and figs. And a generous helping of butterfly-friendly plants like rosemary, monarda, and other mints; we have a chemical free garden."
Im not sure if its over yet...but its worth a try :)
Well as Keely & Fiona are indoor kitties - there's no green garden in their lives. However, their mom Alison, CCL # 333, is a fanatic about being green and makes sure EVERY empty food tin can gets recycled with the other bottles and cans of the household :)
We have a large garden that would be impossible to keep healthy without our chickens, ducks, cats, horses and goats! The horse manure fertilizes and the chicks and ducks eat weeds and insects. The goat is a terrific weed eater as well! We also plant "complimentary" plants and "repellent" plants - marigolds, chrysanthemum, herbs, etc. And one corner is devoted to a HUGE catnip plant. The horses even lean over the fence to nibble the nip! mystkblu@wildblue.net
I find that the best way to keep my garden green is to let someone else design and plant it. I have no skill in the flora realm.
My kitties love the catnip I grow. They also love grass, which I want to start planting a special spot of just for them.
Would love to hear some tips on keeping weeds out w/o using chemical sprays.
My four Siberian cats love to stalk butterflies and other bugs. I also have catnip planted on the side of our house that has taken control of half of the yard. Pick some just the other day, it is drying now, I'm sure the kitties will love it.
Jackie- Mishka, Milakoshka, Zateynik and Barbossa Pavlushka
My cats love to help my St. Augustine grass grow by scratching up the dead patches of grass when nature calls. St. Augustine is picky and will not grow through dead patches of grass so it must be raked. It gets over 100 degrees in Florida, and Frankenstein and Tiger sure do save me lots of sweat and tears!
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