Eco Gardeners

Think about how much money you’ve been spending lately on tomatoes, strawberries, onions, lettuce, herbs, watermelon and other fruits and veggies. Expensive, right? With gas around $4 per gallon, all those trips to the grocery store can result in huge gas bills. But growing produce in your backyard garden can dramatically reduce those costs. Gardening can also be therapeutic, and since the warm weather is here to stay for the next several months, why not carve out some space in your yard for a vegetable garden?

If a large part of your grocery bill is from buying strawberries, include them in your garden so you don’t have to waste money purchasing them at the store. Annette Pelliccio, founder and CEO of The Happy Gardener, suggests newbie gardeners try growing…..

To read the whole article go to http://www.mainstreet.com/slideshow/lifestyle/food-drink/summer-gardening-grow-save

Whether you live in an apartment with only a small deck or you want to add color to the patio of a larger home, growing and maintaining plants in pots offers a way to brighten your immediate outdoor surroundings. And growing flowers, vegetables, herbs or other plants in containers is so simple that even the most novice of gardeners may do it. For experts, the possibilities are endless when it comes to design and the types of plants you may grow in pots.

Edibles, which include fruits, vegetables and herbs, bring beginners satisfaction right from the start. As Annette Pelliccio, founder of the Happy Gardener, a national organic gardening company, pointed out, the rewards of growing edibles often encourage new gardeners to continue year after year.

The Happy Gardener’s Eco- Grow Kits make ‘growing your own’ organics  easy and affordable

According to the Garden Writers Association 2009 Edible Gardening Trends Report 41 million US households grew vegetable gardens last year and 19.5 million grew herb gardens. These numbers of edible gardening projects are expected to rise in 2010 and the main reason is to supplement household food supplies.

The Happy Gardener, Inc has been helping families and communities throughout North America grow healthy, organic vegetables, herbs and fruits since 2006 when they introduced their exclusive line of Happy Naturals ™ organic garden products.

“Just Add Dirt” Eco-Grow Kits are The Happy Gardener’s newest product addition. These kits offer the most eco-friendly grow kit on the market by including everything needed for growing organic, nutritious edibles in 100% compostable pots. Simple instructions make it easy for the most amateur gardener and the containers allow for small space gardening too. Also included in the kit are organic seeds, SeaResults ™ Organic Plant Food, soil conditioner and water retaining mats. Just add your own dirt and get growing.

“We wouldn’t think of having our customers pay for dirt. Doesn’t that just seem wrong?” states The Happy Gardener’s founder and product developer, Annette Pelliccio. “Get the dirt from your backyard or compost pile. Our focus is to help families grow nutritious food while saving money. Growing our own berries, salad mix and a variety of vegetables saves my family of three an average of $380 during the summer months alone.”

Saving money isn’t the only reason to grow your own organic produce. Rutgers University conducted a study comparing the nutritional values of organically grown produce with commercially grown. An example of study findings includes organically grown lettuce containing 55 more grams of calcium and 509 more grams of iron than the commercially grown variety.

Gardening is once again becoming part of our country’s daily lifestyle, creating family balance in today’s technology obsessed world. Pelliccio states, “We would love to help the 80+ million virtual gardeners on Facebook’s Farmville take their knowledge of growing animated produce and get back outside in the fresh air and play in the real dirt.”

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For more information and/or photos for “Just Add Dirt” Eco-Kits and Fundraiser Program, and The Happy Gardener, or to schedule an interview, please contact Annette Pelliccio at 877-798-9280 or annette@thehappygardener.info. The Happy Gardener website is www.thehappygardener.info

Whether you consider yourself a gardener or not, herbs are one of the easiest and most used plants to grow.

They can be grown in containers and set out on your deck or patio, grown in formal herb gardens or amongst your perennials, or even on windowsills indoors.

Herbs can be used for culinary purposes, for accents in mixed containers and also as companion plants with your roses and vegetables for effective, organic pest control.

Following are some easy steps to get your Organic Herb Garden prepared:

1. Location: Decide where you want to grow your herbs. In containers or in your garden. Choose a sunny location with at least 6 hours of sun.

2. Soil Preparation: Herbs like rich organic soil with good drainage.

For containers, make sure the pots have drainage holes. Mix equal parts compost, coir fiber (an eco-friendly alternative to peat moss for moisture retention) and potting soil. Fill container and add an organic, slow-release soil conditioner with a balanced NPK ratio. Continue Reading »

Growing fruit, vegetables and herbs in containers is the perfect solution for those with limited gardening time, space and resources.  Here are a few of our favorite varieties that work very well grown in containers on your deck, patio, balcony or anywhere with at least 6 hours of sunlight. We have also included soil depths for specific plant health and growth.

Herbs: mint, sage, rosemary, basil, thyme, parsley, dill, lemongrass

Vegetables: Potatoes, chard, lettuce, cherry and bush tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, summer squash, Asian greens, pole beans.
Fruits: strawberries, blueberries, goji berries
Planting Depth

• 4-5 inches: chives, lettuce, radishes, other salad greens, basil, coriander

• 6-7 inches: bush beans, garlic, onions, Asian greens, peas, mint, thyme, pole beans, carrots, chard, cucumber, eggplant, fennel, leeks, peppers, spinach, parsley, rosemary

• 8-9 inches: beets, broccoli, okra, potatoes, sweet corn, summer squash, dill, lemongrass