Homesteading

A Beginner’s Guide to Urban Homesteading and how to become self-sufficient with organic gardening

Elizabeth Aron

Copyright 2014 by Elizabeth Aron All rights reserved

All rights reserved. Except for the use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means is forbidden without the written permission of the author.

This book is designed to provide information on Homesteading only. This information is provided and sold with the knowledge that the publisher and author do not offer any legal or other professional advice. In the case of a need for any such expertise consult with the appropriate professional. This book does not contain all information available on the subject. This book has not been created to be specific to any individual’s or organizations’ situation or needs. Every effort has been made to make this book as accurate as possible. However, there may be typographical and or content errors. Therefore, this book should serve only as a general guide and not as the ultimate source of subject information. This book contains information that might be dated and is intended only to educate and entertain. The author and publisher shall have no liability or responsibility to any person or entity regarding any loss or damage incurred, or alleged to have incurred, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this book. You hereby agree to be bound by this disclaimer.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: An Overview to Homesteading

Chapter 2: Types of Gardening

Chapter 3 : Soil Types, Testing and Preparation

Chapter 4 : Plants for Beginners

Chapter 5 How to Protect your Plants Naturally

Conclusion

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Introduction

I want to thank you for choosing “Homesteading: A beginner’s guide to urban homesteading and how to become self-sufficient with organic gardening.” to begin your homesteading journey.

Homesteading though an ancient concept has come in vogue once more in the United States. We off late seem to have realized the importance of organic living which includes growing chemical free or pesticide free or herbicide free healthy plants and other produce from our own garden patch however tiny or big it might be. It is ours and hence safe. This consciousness is thanks to the exposure of television and internet which in turn has created more awareness on GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms).

A genetically modified organism is simply an organism (plant or animal) whose genetic material has been modified with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals.  Genetic engineers or scientists hope by adding these genes, the organism will express the traits associated with the genes. The significant issue is these experimental combination of genes do not occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.

Now, how does all this affect us in our day to day lives?

Over 80% of genetically modified plants grown are for herbicide tolerance. As a result use of toxic herbicides like Roundup has increased significantly since GMO was introduced. GMO crops are also responsible for the emergence of ‘super bugs’ and ‘super weeds’ which can be killed with only even more toxic poisons now. Thus in turn we consume more chemicals sprayed on our vegetables which might not affect the vegetables since they are after all genetically modified to resist them in the first place. But we are only normal humans right?

Moreover, GMO’s are a direct extension of chemical agriculture, and are developed and sold by the world’s biggest chemical companies (Eg: Monsanto). Of course there is wide consensus among the scientists and bio technologists that the food on the market derived from GM crops pose no more threat to human health than traditional crops do.

Then why are GM food not labelled in America ?

A 2012 Mellman group poll found that 91% of American consumers wanted GMO’s labelled. We do have the right to choose what we eat or the right to know what is in the food we consume so innocently believing unconsciously it is safe and healthy.

How to avoid GMO food

Non GMO Project is non-profit organization with a mission of protecting non-GMO food supply and providing consumers an informed choice. Look for their labelling on foods.

Avoid processed food containing ingredients from GE corn, soy, canola, sugar beets and cotton. A further list found here.

Eat Organic food .As most of us know this is definitely an option for all of us but again how many can afford to in terms of its expensive pricing or its availability nearby?

Buy locally grown vegetables and other produce. Again you need to ensure these farmers do not use any genetically modified seeds to grown their plants or do not feed their cattle with GM grains. How sure can you be regarding the same?

Grown your own food: Though this involves time and energy I would definitely say this is the best option for a healthier lifestyle for you and your family in the long run. You can not only get fresh produce whenever you want right out of your garden within a matter of minutes but also can be completely confident about its organic sources and the nutrition it renders to your body.

Now, go ahead and learn how to be self-sufficient in terms of growing your own organic vegetables and herbs with whatever little space or huge backyard you might have to utilize for this purpose. There are many creative ways to carry on in this book for the urban dwellers, who live in cramped apartments with tiny balconies. Believe me I have been there and done that. No amount of excuse for lack of space will put you off from trying to grow you very first vegetable patch on containers or your very first herbs on hanging reusable tins or baskets.

Moreover,the benefits of eating fresh food will overshadow any pretext for lack of space or time. Come on wear your gloves, get your tools and let’s begin our journey in to the world of organic homesteading!

Thanks again for downloading this book, I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1: An Overview to Homesteading

If you want to live a self-sufficient life, homesteading is a must for you.  Homesteading is branded by subsistence farming, home conservation of foodstuffs and it may in certain instances involve a minor production of clothing, fabrics and craftwork for home use or sale.

Homesteading generally makes a distinction from rural commune livelihood by isolation, socially or physically of the farm. The usage of this term, in the United States of America, dates way back to the Homestead Act of 1862 and probably even before the 19th century.

Self-sufficiency movements in the 20th century began to use the concept to city and suburban locations known as urban homesteading. It incorporates small sustainable farming and homemaking. In homesteading, government and social support coordination are frequently given a wide berth to favor self-reliance and kith and kin deprivation, so as to maximize self-reliance and self-determination.

The degree of autonomy happens along a spectrum, with a lot of homesteaders producing foodstuffs or trades to fascinate high-end niche consumers in order to cover financial requirements. Some homesteaders turn in to this lifestyle following fruitful careers which make available the funding for electricity, generators, land, farm equipment, housing, solar panels and taxes.

Contemporary government rules in the form of structure codes, food welfare programs, zoning guidelines, minimum salary and social security for seasonal labor force. And town committee limits on landscaping and animal custody has improved the marginal expense of home production of sustenance.

Combined with the late rewards of forming a viable farming site, this increases the hardship of establishing an independent homestead from the ground, particularly for those of meager income. Actual monetary savings from implementing a homesteading existence appear most strongly related to inferior material subsistence standards and upkeep of purchased means such as foodstuff, electricity, water and fertilizer rather than decrease costs of existence.

Economies of measure in modern farming and opportunity cost of physical labor inhibit home-raised food items from being a cost-effective choice. Many homesteaders however, show deep approval with their standard of existence and feel that their way of living is healthier and better rewarding than other conventional forms of living.

Below is a partial listing of homesteading abilities that hopefully may inspire new homesteaders to study. This is highly recommended for young people who want to dare finding a new approach to life. Each skill that you acquire will be a step nearer to a life of better self-reliance and autonomy.

Fundamental homesteading skills consist of learning how to:

Bake bread;

Butcher small livestock such as chicken and rabbits;

Caponize a chicken;

Choose a location for a vegetable garden or orchard;

Cook 10 basic meals from scratch on a cook stove;

Crochet;

Cut and glaze glass;

Determine an animal’s age by its teeth;

Dig and properly use a shallow well;

Do basic sewing; and home canning and food preservation;

Dub a chicken;

Dye cloth or yarn from plants;

Entertain yourself and live without electronic media;

Fillet and clean a fish;

Graft baby animals onto a foster-mother;

Grind wheat into flour;

Grow a vegetable plant and everyday kitchen herbs;

Haggle like a horse trader;

Hand thresh and winnow oats, wheat and other small grains;

Hang clothes on a clothesline;

Hatch out chicken, duck or other poultry eggs;

Have mental skills necessary to jury rig anything with duct tape, baling twine and whatever is on hand; and mental and spiritual skills to realistically deal with failure, death and life in general;

Knit;

Know the differences between trees and the unique properties of various types of wood; how and when to use hybrid seeds; how and when to prune grapes and fruit trees; when winter is over; and healthy plants and animals from those which are not healthy;

Lay basic brick or build a stone wall;

Learn when it is more economical to buy something ready-made or when to make it yourself along with basic plumbing and how to sweat copper pipes and joints;

Light a fire both indoors and outdoors;

Live within your financial means;

Make hard or soft cheese; butter; sausage; paper and ink; candles; soap from wood ashes and animal fat; fire starters from pinecones or corn cobs; make and use a hot bed or cold frame; and long-term plans for the future such as plan for an orchard or a livestock breeding program;

Create your own wine;

Manage human urine and feces without plumbing;

Pasteurize milk;

Plant a tree;

Properly use a handsaw, measuring tape; hammer & nails, wire cutters and screw driver;

Read the weather, an almanac, the moon and the stars;

Recognize your own mental and physical skill limits;

Refinish furniture;

Reload ammunition;

Safely use a chainsaw;

Save open pollinated seeds;

Put bait traps for unwanted vermin and predators;

Sew your own underwear;

Sharpen any edge tool such as a chisel, knife, hoe or axe;

Spin wool, flax or cotton into yarn or thread with a drop spindle or on a spinning wheel;

Swap, network and barter with like-minded people;

Tell the time of day by the sun;

Thaw out frozen pipes without busting them;

Use a hoe, garden shovel or spade without hurting your back, a wash tub, washboard and hand wringer; a non-electric lighting; a treadle sewing machine; a scythe; a pressure cooker; a wood stove and how to bank a fire; electric netting or fencing; and a pressure tank garden sprayer, an awl and do basic leather repair;

Weave cloth and a basket; and,

Witch for water with a bend metal hanger or forked branch.

These skills are but a few of the original homesteading skills that a person should possess. The focus herein is on urban homesteading which refers to a household that produces for consumption a significant portion of their food in the form of vegetables, fruits and livestock.

This is typically to link with the desire of the family in the said household to live in an ecologically conscious way. Urban homesteading, also called hobby farming or backyard homesteading highlights:

Community trading;

Composting;

Line drying of clothes;

Growing fruits, culinary plants, vegetables and medicinal plants;

Homes with gardens, not lawns;

Production and preservation of food and products for home use;

Rainwater harvesting and usage;

Raising chickens, rabbits, worms, goats, fish or bees;

Self-sufficient lifestyle through re-using, ending and recycling things; and

Use of alternative power sources and means of transport.

Chapter 2: Types of Gardening

The different kinds of gardening are:

Square foot gardening

Container gardening

Raise bed gardening

Trellis gardening

Companion gardening

You may also use a combination of these types of gardening as may be needed, based on the kind of plant you choose to grow and the position of your garden space in consideration of other factors such as sunlight, water and wind. Let us take a closer look on each type of gardening and their unique features:

Square Foot Gardening

This type of gardening involves the practice of arranging and creating little but intensively bedded gardens. The practice mixes concepts from other natural gardening strategies including a sound focus on fertilizers, densely rooted raised plots and bio-intensive focus to a small, plainly defined space.

This technique is particularly best for areas with weak soil, new gardeners or as acquired recreation for people with disabilities. It was made famous by Mel Bartholomew in a 1981 Rodale Press book and succeeding PBS television shows. You do not really need a parcel of land to produce fresh veggies.

Container Gardening

A lot of vegetables grow well even with limited gardening space. With a little thought to picking dwarf variations, almost any veggie can be adapted to flourishing in a pot. Even if you prefer your favorite large variety, you may achieve the same if you provide it an adequately sized pot with lots of soil and enough water, it will grow just the same and reward you with a bountiful harvest.

Vegetables that use little areas such as lettuce, carrots, radishes or plants that produce fruits over an extended period of time such as peppers and tomatoes are just right for container veggie gardens. What you can develop in a container vegetable plot is limited merely by the size of the area and your imagination.

Since your veggie plants will be creating their containers abode, you want to begin them off right. Ensure there is enough area for them to develop into and pick your soil and location with care. Here are some tips for setting up your container gardening for specific vegetables.

Choosing Containers:

Containers for your veggie gardens can be:

Buckets

Bushel baskets

Flower pots

Large food cans

Nursery flats

Old rubber tires cut into halves

Pails

Plastic bags

Strawberry pots

Washtubs

Window planters

Wire baskets

Drainage:

Whatever kind of box you choose for your veggie garden, it should have punctures at the base to allow drainage of surplus water.

Color Matters:

Be careful when handling dark tinted containers as they tend to absorb warmth which could damage the roots of the plants. If you use dark hued pots, take a crack at painting them a lighter shade.

Dimension:

The dimension of the container is significant. Larger veggies like eggplants and tomatoes, requires the use of a five gallon container for each plant. You can develop these plants in two gallon containers, but you will need to sustain the plants extensively with more water.

Soil and Fertilizer:

You may use top soil in your container veggie garden, but potting mixes would be better. You can choose among vermiculite, peat-based mixes or containing peat for your potting mixes. They are relatively germ-free and pH regulated. They also permit the plants to get sufficient water and air.

Combining one portion of compost to two portions of planting mix will enhance fertility. Applying a complete natural fertilizer at potting will keep your veggies fed for the whole growing season.

Watering:

Potted plants always need more regular watering as compared to that of plants imbedded into the ground. As the season advances and plants develop, their roots will expand and need even more water. Inadequate water will cause the plants to wilt. Hence, it is best to check your pots every day for possible need for water. 

Wind:

The wind can be a formidable hazard for any potted grown plant and tall veggies, like tomatoes, as their top becomes heavy when they bear fruits. Try to put your containers in a location where you can manage the effects of wind. A breeze will give a nice air flow and help protect against fungal ailments.

On the other hand, a powerful wind can knock down plants and containers.  It can likewise tear leaves and make fruits fall. If your garden is on a roof top or raised deck, it is necessary to build some kind of wind block.

Raised-bed Gardening

Raised bed gardening is a type of gardening in which the earth is formed in 4 foot or 1.2 meters broad beds, which can be of any shape or length. The soil is elevated above the nearby soil, within a range of six inches to waist-high of the farmer, is sometimes surrounded by a frame mostly made of cement blocks, wood or rock and may be enriched with fertilizer.

The vegetable plants are spread out in geometric arrangements, much nearer together as compared to the traditional line gardening. The positioning is such that when the veggies are fully developed, their leaves only barely come in contact with each other, making a micro-climate in which unwanted plant growth is blocked and moisture is preserved.

Elevated beds produce many benefits:

They lengthen the planting period.

They can lessen weeds if arranged and planted correctly and reduce the use of poor natural soil.

The soil is loose making the roots grow easily as the gardener cannot walk on the elevated beds.

The near plant arrangement and the use of organic compost usually result in increased yields in comparison to traditional row gardening and

Waist-high elevated beds makes it possible for the physically disabled and elders to grow veggies without the need to bend over to be in charge of them.

Trellis Gardening

Trellising veggies and fruits is a planting technique that maintains plants out of the ground, increases production and usable area. It also protects your harvest, especially tomatoes, from decaying. There are as many trellising choices as there are kinds to grow.

The secret is finding or making the most applicable one for your requirements. Here are some crops best for this kind of gardening style:

Tomatoes

Most tomato variations benefit from a robust support. Deciding the excellent way to maintain disorderly plants in some form of order is contingent on the tomato kind and its growth designs. Determinate tomatoes are medium-sized plants that develop to a permanent mature dimension and mature all their fruit in a small period of time.

They are the type which benefits from a little elevation off the floor area in the form of cages or stakes. On the other hand, indeterminate types continue to flourish all the time, with fruits maturing until the plant is damaged by frost or bad weather.  These types do better trained on a trellis system.

Indeterminate tomato varieties often grow to enormous pinnacles in hot weather, thus making them extremely unmanageable. It is only through trellising that the gardener can control the branches, enable the sunlight to get deeper into the plant and maintain the fruit uncontaminated.

Trellising also allow the plants to be close thus resulting to a more effective use of area. Commonly raised tomato varieties include: Big Boy, Brandy-Wine, Early Girl, Honey Grape, Rutgers and Super Sioux.

Pole Beans

Popular varieties are Scarlet Runner, Black-Seeded Blue Lake, Kentucky Blue Pole and Kentucky Wonder.

Peas

Sugar Snap and Tall Telephone are the preferred varieties on peas.

Melons

Favored varieties include the Blenheim Orange Muskmelon, Delicious 51 Muskmelon, Moon and Stars, and Sugar Baby.

Cucumbers

Armenian and Market-more 76 are the favorites in Cucumber varieties.

Pumpkins and Squash

The highly chosen varieties consist of Jack-Be-Little, Patty Pan and Zucchini Jackpot Hybrid.

The advantages of trellising are not only for tomatoes. Training other produce to grow upward instead of spreading all over the garden not only maintains the produce off the ground, but allows you to grow more in a limited area. Peas and pole beans can oftentimes reach over six feet high and are generally trellised.

Their support can be as plain as a teepee created from willows, a metal control panel fastened to a metal hedge posts, or uprights made of wood with chicken cable stretched amid them. It is best to choose a system dependent on the growing behavior of your favored variety.

Companion Planting

Companion plating makes effective use of area and attract helpful insects. Organic farmers know that a varied combination of plants results to a healthy and lovely garden. Many also agree that specific plant mix have extraordinary and mysterious powers for aiding each other flourish. Scientific research of companion planting has confirmed that some mix have true benefits exclusive to those combinations. And practical involvement has demonstrated to a lot of gardeners how to pair off specific plants for their mutual value.

Companion planting works best in:

Assisting each other develop as seen by high plants giving shade for sun-sensitive smaller plants;

Efficiently using garden area as exemplified by having two plants in one patch where vine plants spread over the ground while vertical plants grow;

Deterring pest difficulties as typical of onions warding off some bugs while some other plants can drive pests away; and,

Attracting helpful insects which usually are predators of unwanted insects.

Prized plant combinations include:

Roses and Garlic

Gardeners have been growing chives with roses for eons, mainly because garlic repels rose bugs. Garlic chives act merely as repellents, yet their small white or purple flowers at the end of spring appears lovely with flowers and foliage of roses.

Cabbage and Tomatoes

Tomatoes are repulsive to diamondback moth larvae, caterpillars that eat through big holes in the leaves of the cabbage.

Nasturtiums and Cucumbers

The vine stems of the nasturtiums make it a great buddy to the rambling cucumbers and squash plants. Nasturtiums are known to prevent cucumber beetles but are also a habitat for greedy insects like ground beetles and spiders.

Peppers and Pig-weed or Rag-weed

Leaf-miners preferred the unwanted plants to spray plants in a study conducted at the Coastal Plains Experiment Station in Tifton, Georgia. Just make sure to remove the flowers of the weeds before they place seed or you will have trouble managing the weeds.

Chapter 3 : Soil Types, Testing and Preparation

There are four descriptive types of soil:

Grainy

Sandy

Clay             

Well drained-loamy, which is the ideal soil for gardens

Scientists, however, classify soil depending to its:

Color

The color of the soil can give information about unprocessed matter in the soil, fertility, drainage, and biotic activity. To know the color of your soil, use a garden shovel, and hallow out a shallow pit of at least four inches deep, and judge the color. You have to do this before the sun can dry the soil which would change its true color.

Compaction

To be beneficial, a soil has to be able to breathe as when the water is able to flow through the soil reasonably fast and with no trouble at all. Compressed soils do not permit much air to reach the root area and water, such as rainfall or irrigation, tends to merely run-off. This amplifies erosion and washes away topsoil and vegetation.

A normal, freely compressed soil helps to soak up and keep water, releasing it in trickles, and enables the root area of plants to breathe. These soils are usually more prolific, as plants can grow readily. Dense, vastly compressed soils typically have little plant development, which increases overflow.

The percentage of infiltration of water is a great indicator of soil condition. Sand is the biggest element in the soil. When you rub it between your thumb and pointer finger, it feels coarse. This is due to it has sharp sides. Sand does not hold a lot of water or nutrients.

Silt is a soil element whose size is between that of sand and clay. Silt feels fine and chalky. When wet the texture is smooth but not gluey. Clay is the tiniest soil element. Clay is even when dry and gluey, or plastic when drenched in water.  Soils with high clay content are known as heavy soils.

Clay can store many nutrients, and some types can hold a bit of liquid, but the composition of clay does not allow air and water flow through it easily. Most of the liquid in a clay soil is so firmly bound to the clay elements that plants cannot get it free.

Moisture content

The amount of moisture in soil differs greatly with the kind of soil, organic material in the soil and climate.  The kind of organisms that can live in soil is largely limited by the amount of liquid available as water acts as a way of nutrient transfer and is needed for cell existence.

Soil humidity can be estimated by mere sight, although this is a little imprecise. To be precise, soil moisture must be ascertained by a soils laboratory. Soils laboratories generally dry a sample on a hot plate and compare the heaviness of the soil prior to drying to the heaviness after drying.

The moisture substance is reported as percentage moisture on the basis of its weight.  Many irrigation system producers have established soil humidity indicators that may be used to regulate irrigation with more precision, making the system on in locations where more water is required and then solely for the minimum period necessary to get the soil humidity back to its desired amount.

Organic content

The organic substance of soil greatly affects the animal, plant and microorganism inhabitants in that soil. Decomposing natural material gives the much needed nutrients to soil populace. With no fresh inclusions of organic substances from time to time, the soil becomes lacking in certain nutrients and soil inhabitants decrease.

The amount of natural material can be ascertained by ignition. Organic matter consists of carbon compounds, which when warm up to a high degree of temperature are changed to carbon dioxide and liquid. In the ignition procedure, a dry hard sample is warmed up to a high level of temperature. The organic substance in the soil is released as gases. This ends in a change in weight which permits for calculation of the natural content of the sample tested.

pH

Majority of the people think that water from rain has a pH of 7, so it really is quite shocking when they find out that unpolluted rainwater has a normal pH of about 6 - 6.5, which is a little bit acidic. This is because liquefied carbon dioxide from the air, which changes with water to create a dilute acid, so much like carbon dioxide in soda.

It is no surprise that many plants grow at best around soil having the same pH. You can ascertain the pH of the soil quite easily with the use of a universal pointer solution or a pH paper which are available at many hardware shops in the pool materials department.  Please remember that certain plants, like red cedar, rhododendron, firs, camellias, pines, azaleas, spruce, blueberries and ferns, thrive on soil that is with an acidic pH of 5.0.

Other plants, like beech, sagebrush, mock orange and asparagus, can live on soils with a pH 8.0. Higher than a pH 8.5, the earth is so limy for the majority of plants; however, if the soil pH is below 3.5, it will be too harsh. You should also consider that each level of soil may have unlike pH, which signifies that pH can differ within the soil, though the variance is usually not too wide ranged.

Soil Profile

If you truly want to gain knowledge about your soil, the best method is to start in obtaining a cross-section of the many layers. This can be done easily with the use of a soil core tool, which is a little more than an empty tube 2 to 4 feet long with a holder and cross piece, like a shovel, to aid in pushing it in.

As soon as the tool has been injected into the soil, it should be twisted to loosen the soil and then taken out. The soil core specimen can be easily scrutinized to identify the many horizontal layers in the soil, the sum of which is called a soil profile. To know a soil horizon, you merely mark where the soil varies in color and/or overall appearance.

Majority of soils have three most important horizons consisting of the parent material, top soil and subsoil. Subject to where you took the sample, the top zone may consist of actively developing and dead plants remnants. The topmost soil is typically of a darker hue and usually has many roots, organic matter, higher biological activity and usually less in nutrients than the layers beneath.

The first inch of top soil may be lighter in hue as quite a number of the nutrients may have been filtered out by water and natural material may have been incompletely oxidized by heat and sunlight. The soil immediately below the first inch is generally somewhat darker, has moderate natural matters, many roots and gives most of the nutrients for the plants.

The next important layer is the subsoil. This is typically a foot or two below the external face and is set apart by a lighter shade with much lesser but larger roots. The subsurface level typically has less clay as compared to the topsoil. The third level, generally not observable, is the parent substance. This consists of loose, slightly worn rocky substances from which soil comes into being. It is set apart by restricted biological activity and few roots.

Soil Structure

This tells in what way the soil influence the flow of air, water and root diffusion into the soil. The geometric silhouettes of the soil ascertain how it is placed together.  Soil structure descriptive categories are:

Blocks – This means that the chunks of soil are huge, with the same frequency of cracks going vertical and horizontal;

Columns - The chunks of soil and connected cracks are mostly longer in the upright direction than in the horizontal;

Granular - The chunks of soil are not big, with the same frequency of cracks going both horizontally and vertically; and

Plate-like - The chunks of soil and connected cracks are mostly longer in the flat direction than in the upright.

Soil Temperature

The heat in the soil has a significant part in helping to know how fast or slow is the rate of plant development, and if a plant will even live. The heat in your soil changes extremely with depth.

Soil Texture

Soil covered with dust absorbs at least two inches of water per hour.  It is extremely porous, with huge spaces among soil particles.  A small amount of water is kept and the sandy soil dries out fast.  Loam soil soaks up from a fourth of an inch to 2 inches per hour.

Loam is loose, absorbent and keeps water very well.  On the other hand, clay soil soaks up less than a fourth of an inch of water per hour.  Clay soil is thick with few air holes between particles and contains water extremely tightly that only a little water is accessible to plants.

Of the nine listed, three factors are more significant than the others. These are organic content, pH and texture. 

Chapter 4 : Plants for Beginners

The usual dilemma for new gardeners choosing plants, the kind of planting for each chosen plant and the right season to do the planting.  Timing is everything for gardening.  The advantages of growing your own foodstuff seem to be of no end.  Whether you wish to lessen your carbon trail, save expenses at the grocery, have no worries knowing specifically where your foodstuff is originating and the manner it was handled, or probably you find planting to be a relaxing past time or just a way to maximize that patch in the backyard, growing produce is time well spent.

Whatever it is, you consequently have more fresh vegetables, herbs and fruit, and there are many values of that produce you harvest. Fruits and vegetables provide an exceptional supply of minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins.  Is it not great that a lot of your grocery store mainstays can be grown in your backyard?

Here are five usual plants that almost anyone can plant in his backyard.  The May long weekends are traditionally the best time most planters really borrow in the garden. It is usually a symbol that lets us determine that we are in the zero-frost zone.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes need a little work, but there are many benefits of having your own. Nothing can defeat the juicy flavor of tomatoes grown at home. Tomatoes give a good amount of beta-carotene and vitamin C, along with the antioxidant lycopene, which have been linked with enhanced bone well-being, cholesterol levels, decreasing the danger of heart ailment and even prevents cancer.  You can pick varieties such as the Blazer, Pixie hybrid, Roadside red, Rocket, Summerset VF, Swift, or Terrific VFN.

Carrots

Carrots can live in tiny gardens, and even floral beds, and are immune to the majority of pests and diseases. Look for breeds, such as A-plus, Anvers 126, Caro best, Karaman, Nandro, and Narova. Make sure to grow the carrots in rows a foot or two apart, with seeds implanted about half an inch deep and an inch or two apart.

These root veggies contain much beta-carotene, which is an antioxidant that assists control cell damage to the body, helps reduce the chances of many health conditions like cancer, stroke, and heart disease, as well as helps to take care of the skin and improve eyesight.

Green leafy vegetables

By planting your own green leafy vegetables, you no need to worry about missed store-bought leafy greens decomposing in the lowermost part of your fridge. Spinach and lettuce grow well in home yards because they prefer shade during the day. It is also one of the dozen veggies and fruits known for having tremendous pesticide deposits.  Avoid these bug killers by planting your own, free of chemicals.

Cucumbers

Best cucumber varieties for salads or simply to nibble on are Sweet slice, Jazzy, and Seed-way.  For making pickles, look for Earlipik or Carolina.  Make sure to plant cucumbers in wet soil with lots of fertilizer so they will become tough and bitter.  You can readily move the containers to a warmer location if desired and back into the cool shade when it gets too warm.

Potatoes

Potatoes are a really fun veggie to grow. Late February and March is the best time to plant potatoes in bags that are only partly filled with fertilizer. When the green sprouts begin to show above the soil, just cover them with additional compost. Do this again until the bag is full, and then do not forget to water them.

The fun starts at the end of the season, about 20 weeks later, when the vegetation starts to change its color to yellow and die. Tilt the bag out and hunt around in the earth to gather your own home grown potatoes.

Meanwhile, herbs grown in containers are more available for usage when they are placed together in a group. Chances are you will be using them frequently when they are just by the door of your kitchen.  Here are five choices for a chef's theme garden:

Mint

Mint is infamous for getting away from the farmer. You grow one and soon you find yourself with twenty or so. If you wish to maintain your varieties pure, cross pollination is no stress, provided you do not keep the strains too near together. Containers can be positioned far away from one another to ensure your pineapple mint from a surprising taste like catnip pineapple mint.

Planting a pot with no bottom into your garden is a way of managing mint but maintaining it totally out of the garden can be achieved via a separate container. Mint is also delicious and can be used frequently if it is handy. Having it pinched regularly is the way you can control it from going to flower and pollinating other mints.

Sage

Sage is another herb that just does great if properly tended. It requires much pinching and trimming to keep it from turning woody too fast. As a rule, sage will require to be replanted after about three years as it will turn to woody stems with few leaves regardless of anything.

Keeping sage in a pot easily facilitates this change. Sage dries pretty well which can be prevented if you tweak the leaves all through the growing period and place a rubber band on them to keep them unharmed after drying. By the culmination of the season, you will have adequate bundles to make wreath out of your sage herb plant.

Rosemary

Rosemary dries exceptionally and holds its powerful taste all through the snowy season. Indoors, it keeps developing in a sunny opening and is rarely disturbed by insects. It can be of use for numerous herb standards. The hard stem is excellent for crafting. The stem can also be used as skewers. You may store the stems in a freezer bag and use them for skewers when grilling. Since rosemary does not enjoy sitting in water, it needs to dry out between watering.

Basil

Basil is a wonderful herb to test your green thumb with, more so if you reside in a confined space. It is the exceptional herb for planting indoors as it likes attention and abhors the cold. Use a medium-sized pot for planting by a sunlit window in the cooking area and just cut off the leaves for preparing food as you may need them.

Thyme

Thyme is an often underrated herb. Oftentimes, it gets grown and never consumed. It deserves a more elevated standing on the list of cooking herbs. It thrives well in a container setting, needing just a little watering. A few varieties grow into minute shrub-like plants that enhance a doorway and its petite purple flora is a sight to behold

Being a low maintenance plant, you can see how good thyme will be suitable in your container planting area. Whatever variety of thyme you choose, never forget that it turns woody after a few years. Planting it in a container makes it worry-free to replace when required.

Chapter 5 How to Protect your Plants Naturally

Protecting your plants from pests and weeds through natural ways is the crux for all new organic gardeners. Good cultivation customs can go a long way to controlling the worst dangers to your garden. No garden is ever free of plant disease and pests. Beetles, caterpillars, dogs, fungus, and dogs are but a few of the endless list of causal factors in damaging gardens.

Fortunately, you can combat these predators with a simple solution and not risk your health or burn a heavy hole in your pocket. Many a times, simply by modifying the manner you garden, you can deter problems prior to their onset. The tips listed below can be applied together to create a protective wall against the most usual crises that may happen in vegetable, fruit and flower gardens.

Many hindrances can be attacked on different fronts, so if one remedy fails in your garden, use another. Foremost of all, you must stay heedful.  It is much stress-free to guard your garden if you act prior to or at the soonest signs of a problem.

Mechanical barriers

Many destroyers can be controlled by obstructing their entry to your garden. The most usual system is a plain fence, big enough to repel the predicted invader. Its form may be any of the following:

a.      Cold frames

b.      Cutworm bands

c.       Hedges

d.       Mesh

e.       Line shields

Chemical barriers

Certain gardeners make use of animal scented products like dried blood or urine to discourage pesky creatures. Though not yet backed up by factual effectiveness support, they are worth a try. Just bear in mind that you may have to reapply these products frequently during rainy weather.

Pick disease-resistant plants

Many fungus infections and diseases can damage a wide array of garden plants. Leaves with a chalky appearance or weird coloration are usual signs of disease. The way to beat diseases is to prevent it. A variety of problems are tough or not possible to control the minute they get a grip on your plants. Hence, pick varieties which are generally disease-resistant. This is the most critical factor a gardener can do to control all kinds of diseases beforehand. You may scan web sites or catalogs for plant types that are classified as disease resistant.

Get advice from dependable nursery and garden center workers

Provide space for plants

Keep the leaves dry at all times other than watering periods

Throw out diseased plants

Check plants regularly for problem symptoms

Rotate food crops

Test and maintain your soil

Use insect control methods

Observe waste management

Use traps and sprays which are nontoxic

Keep weeds at bay by using mulch.

Complete Organic Fertilizer Recipe

To make adequate complete natural fertilizer to liberally cover an area of 100 square feet, you may choose from the following:

3 quarts oilseed meal

1 1/2 quarts feather meal

The most excellent combination is probably:

2 quarts oilseed meal,

1 pint feather meal and

1 pint fishmeal plus

Mixture of:

1 quart soft

1 quart kelp meal

And/or 1 pint Azomite

Apply liquid kelp every 2 weeks as a foliar throughout the season.

For lime, you may pick one of these two choices:

If your garden used to be a forest, add:

pint agricultural limestone,

100 (fine grind) and

pint agricultural gypsum;

OR

If your garden used to be a prairie grass or a desert, add 1 quart agricultural gypsum.

You may consider the following last four items optional:

1 teaspoon laundry borax or a smaller quantity of Solubor (1/2 gm actual boron)

1 1/2 teaspoons zinc sulfate

2 teaspoons manganese sulfate

1 teaspoon copper sulfate

When all ingredients are in the bucket, mix them very thoroughly before spreading. You may use either of the two mixing methods:

Slowly pour the materials from one bucket to the next and then back again. Repeat this about six times;

OR

Stir the contents by hand. The first method works the best, but can stir up a bit of dust and is best done outdoors.

*Courtesy of:  http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/complete-organic-fertilizer-zebz1309znsp.aspx

Conclusion

Thank you again for downloading the book.

This book serves as your first and foremost guide for homesteading. Homesteading is not just a new type of gardening or some fancy way of living currently in vogue. It is one of the most ancient methods practiced by several civilizations as you have understood by now and the closest way to living in harmony with nature. It is a way of life and a choice you make. I understand any change comes with resistance and suspicion especially when it requires your precious time and energy on a day to day basis. But I assure you the results are far reaching and you will see the amazing results it brings to you and your family in terms of superior quality of health and thus life.

Hence take this book only as a beginner’s guide and keep continuing your journey in to homesteading and organic living with several other books and blogs. I suggest joining your local, organic gardening clubs to share ideas and get the encouragement to continue this journey.

Finally, if you enjoyed this book, please take the time to share your thoughts and post a review on Amazon so that others benefit too. It’d be greatly appreciated!

Check Out My Other Books

Below you’ll find my other books that are popular on Amazon and Kindle as well. Simply click on the links below to check them out. Alternatively, you can visit my author page on Amazon to see other works done by me.

Click here to view Veganism -A beginner’s motivational guide for the Most Healthy , Plant Based Lifestyle and How to Transition in to the Delicious Vegan World!

Or copy ,paste below link:

http://www.amazon.com/Veganism-Beginners-Motivational-Lifestyle-Transition-ebook/dp/B00LRPPSUY

.

Bonus: A Preview…..

Chapter 1: Vegan: First Impression

What is a Vegan?

Vegetarians have only a plant-based diet.  Thus, they do not eat meat, poultry (chicken, birds and fowls) or fish.  Vegans do the same as far as diet is concerned.  But in addition, they also do not use any product made from animals, including its by-products.

Consequently, vegans have no use for eggs, soaps made of animal products, dairy products, make-up with ingredients coming from animals, honey, wool, leather, silk and fur.  In so doing, vegan is much more than just a diet.  With its additional restrictions, it has become a way of life that is popularly known as Veganism.

Origin:

Donald Watson initiated the emergence and pioneer development of veganism.  He was known to become a vegetarian as early as 1924, after it dawned upon him that the farm of his uncle was a "death row” for all creatures that can no longer of benefit to the human race.

Vegan Lifestyle

Veganism is a choice.  People decide to be vegan for the following reasons:

Good health, such as disease preventive of maintenance measures;

Protection of the environment, such as clean air which is polluted by many factories in producing animal-based products; and,

Ethical reasons, such as abhorrence of cruelty to animals.

Certain vegans believe that by purchasing and eating eggs and dairy products, the animal-based manufacturing industry is patronized.  This creates the impression that animals are raised purely as food source for people.  And because of this, vegans stay away from these items.

A lot of vegans prefer this lifestyle to support a more civilized and compassionate world.  They are aware of their imperfections, yet believe they have accountability, and must try to do everything within their capabilities to forward their cause.

Reason for shifting to Veganism:

Most often, vegans are thought of as fringe diners with an abnormal passion for promoting the rights of animals.  Though it is true that quite a number of vegans fervently support the animals, it is time for the general populace to understand that a vegan diet cum lifestyle goes further than mere animal rights.

Religiously adhering to a healthy, stable and balanced vegan regimen ensures a multitude of health values.  It had also been found to be a good way to prevent some of the life-threatening diseases afflicting the people globally. Health is the usual major reason in the shift to a regimen with few or no animal products.

Obese people and those with high cholesterol level simply have to understand the effects of animal fats in their daily food intake.  But ethical issues about food protection, animal well-being, and the antibiotic defense created by feedlots are also making a vegan diet better.

And A sneak peek of how it will motivate you

                    Vegan First Impression

                    Vegan Lifestyle: Myths and Facts

                    Vegan Nutrition

                    Vegan Shopping Guide & GMO

                    Vegan Cuisine

                    Vegan Countries and Links

                    Much, much more!

Click http://amzn.to/XaDLKG to download a copy of the same.

Other Books

Click here to view Body Butter Organic Body Butter Recipes to Treat, Moisturize, Nourish, Love your skin as it deserves!

Or copy,paste the below link

http://www.amazon.com/Body-Butter-moisturize-deserves-Skincare-ebook/dp/B00MWZ17GM

You are about to discover how to transform your skin into smooth, soft and irresistible to touch beauty with these organic, safe, decadent body butters according to your type of skin and climatic conditions. 

Irrespective of how tall or short we are, black, brown or white skinned; blonde or brunette, young or old the single most ruling factor which makes us most appealing and attractive to the eyes of the external world is the health of our skin. Since we all realize the importance of this most sensitive organ of our body, it is of great significance we need to learn to take care of this precious organ and safeguard it for the rest of our lives. 

It makes sense to be chemical free, cruel free and be as organic as possible in the long run, which contributes to an overall healthy living for us and our families. Here comes the simple answer to all the challenges mentioned so far 

HOMEMADE BODY BUTTERS

Home Made Body Butters are not only vegetarian and healthy, but are also organic, chemical free ,cruel free and are so much better for treating our vulnerable,ageing skin against the onslaught of harsh toxins, exposure to sun ,cold and pollution we are subjected to everyday. 

Go ahead to learn the basics of body butters, body butters for different skin types ,chemicals to avoid , how to protect your skin from the harmful UV rays naturally ,simple recipes you can try at home with easily available ingredients in your local store or Amazon and different options to store these decadent body butters. 

Here Is A Preview Of What You'll Learn...

                    Know your skin emollients better

                    Humectants vs Lubricants

                    Body Lotion Vs Body Butter

                    Harmful elements found in Commercial Body Lotions

                    Different Needs for Different skin types

                    Sun screen Body Butters

                    Winter Body Butters

                    And much, much more

Download your copy today!