By now, if you have not heard of the multinational agricultural biotech company Monsanto, you have either been living in a cell at Gitmo or have been in a coma since the late 1980′s. It is one of the largest corporations based in the United States with over 21,400 employees worldwide. Monsanto came from humble beginnings in 1901 in the “Show Me” state of Missouri. The company was founded by John Francis Queeny. Mr. Queeny had spent the bulk of his professional career in the pharmaceutical industry. The name Monsanto came from his father in-law, Mr. Emmanuel Mendes de Monsanto. Mr. Monsanto was a wealthy financier of a sugar company in Puerto Rico and based in St. Thomas V.I. (Danish West Indies at that time). The company’s first product was the now famous if not infamous, artificial sweetener Saccharin, which it sold to the Coca-Cola Company. I’m sorry, did I say Monsanto came from humble beginnings. Scratch that. They started big and bad and just got worse with age. Ok, fast forward some 44 years, when Monsanto began manufacturing a now-banned pesticide called DDT. Some of Monsanto’s other carcinogenic gems (and they have more gems than the crown of Henry VIII) are Agent Orange, Aspartame aka NutraSweet, BST aka bovine growth hormone and PCBs. Now, Monsanto didn’t limit itself to simply manufacturing chemicals in an ongoing effort to improve the lives of millions. They branched out into developing the first nuclear weapons. Oh yes, Monsanto operated The Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratories for the Manhattan Project. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and Monsanto makes the pavement.

Now let’s fast forward another 38 years to 1982. This was the year that Monsanto developed its first genetically modified plant cell. You may be wondering, why do they need to modify the genetics of a plant. Well silly, it’s so that plant can grow better in the presence of other Monsanto chemicals such as RoundUp. If you want your corn farm to be weed free, you need to use round up to kill the weeds. But if you spray round up on young corn plants, they die. So, you make “RoundUp Ready” corn. Doesn’t sound too insidious right? Enter, the Terminator Seed. The terminator seed produces plants that produce sterile seeds. Therefore, if a farmer wants to grow his crop again next season, he or she has to buy new seeds for that season. Did I mention that Monsanto was actually able to patent this seed technology. That means that if through natural pollen spreading via wind, your non-GMO crop gets pollinated by a neighbors GMO crop, you are now the proud owner of patented seed technology and must therefore abide by the patent laws of said GMO seed. If you try to resist the power of the dark side, you will be sued. Check out the documentary The World According to Monsanto which is a film by a French journalist named Marie-Monique Robin (see below). It has also been published in written form which has been translated to many languages. It is a real eye opener.

Well, I think I have said enough to peak your interest. Now it’s up to us to fight the good fight. Fight for your rights, fight for your mind, fight for your food. FOOD FIGHT!

For further reading, see:
Vanity Fair
National Geographic

A rain garden is a shallow, constructed depression that is planted with deep-rooted native plants & grasses. It is located in the landscape to receive runoff from hard surfaces such as a roof, a sidewalk or a driveway. Rain gardens slow down the rush of water from these hard surfaces, hold the water for a short period of time and allow it to naturally infiltrate into the ground. A rain garden can be thought of as a water quality system because it filters the runoff from your roof and lawn and recharges the groundwater. ¹

Usually, a rain garden is a small garden which is designed to withstand the extremes of moisture and concentrations of nutrients, particularly Nitrogen and Phosphorus, that are found in stormwater runoff. Rain gardens are ideally sited close to the source of the runoff and serve to slow the stormwater as it travels downhill, giving the stormwater more time to infiltrate and less opportunity to gain momentum and erosive power.

Below the surface of the garden, a number of processes are occurring which mimic the hydrologic action of a healthy forest. Soils are engineered and appropriate plants selected for the rain garden. The garden is a small bioretention cell in which stormwater is cleaned and reduced in volume once it enters the rain garden. Nitrogen and phosphorus levels and overall sediment loads in the stormwater are reduced by the action of the plants and growing media on the water. Multiple rain gardens over an area will have a positive cumulative effect on both the volume and quality of stormwater run off. Some municipalities even offer a small grant for building a rain garden due to it’s beneficial effects.

Most rain gardens are populated with either herbaceous perennials, woody shrubs or trees. This does not mean that annuals are not possible for such gardens; rather it means that the gardens have been designed for habitat and low maintenance goals rather than purely seasonal aesthetics,color effects or production. Some annuals are good candidates for a higher maintenance version of a rain garden. ²

Rain gardens are a great example of the ingenuity and adaptability of gardens and gardeners to their local environment and resources. With nature and technology plants can be grown under any circumstances and in any environment, so while I enjoy the plants of the rainy pacific northwest I hope everyone takes a look at the unique properties of their local climate and environment and how that effects both indoor and outdoor gardening this winter!

Additional resources

About Rain Gardens:
Wikipedia
Sue Ellingson

How To Guides (PDF)
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Oregon State University

Notes:
¹ Low Impact Development
² Rain Garden Network

The view surrounding GH Sebastopol changes month by month as the once prominent apple orchards yield to the ever expanding vines of progress. Western Sonoma was once renowned for its Gravenstein apples. Today when people think of Sonoma County I am confident that the first thing that tickles the brain is the melody of flavorful grapes in their favorite wine. On our property here at GH we have about a dozen Gravenstein trees that we plan on keeping for the long run. We often take “apple walks” from mid summer to fall, up the hill to our favorite tree for fresh pickings. Around the neighborhood, tractors can be seen plowing down the orchards to make way for new vines as the crop of choice has changed. This changing of the guard got me thinking about this very specific variety of apple and how it became so popular and dominant in this area. The great botanist, horticulturist, and agricultural pioneer Luther Burbank once proclaimed “”It has often been said that if the Gravenstein could be had throughout the year, no other apple need be grown.”

If you want to know more about the Gravenstein, and what it has meant to this area of the country, below are a few links you may enjoy:

The Gravenstein Apple Fair
Gravenstein Apples Struggle to Survive in Sonoma County
US Presidia: Sebastopol Gravenstein Apple
Wikipedia: Gravenstien

Such is the thinking behind vertical farming. The idea is that skyscrapers filled with floor upon floor of orchards and fields, producing crops all year round, will sprout in cities across the world. As well as creating more farmable land out of thin air, this would slash the transport costs and carbon-dioxide emissions associated with moving food over long distances. It would also reduce the spoilage that inevitably occurs along the way, says Dickson Despommier, a professor of public and environmental health at Columbia University in New York who is widely regarded as the progenitor of vertical farming, and whose recently published book, The Vertical Farm, is a manifesto for the idea. According to the UN’s Population Division, by 2050 around 70% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. So it just makes sense, he says, to move farms closer to where everyone will be living.

Better still, says Dr Despommier, the use of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides can be kept to a bare minimum by growing plants indoors in a controlled environment. Soil erosion will not be a problem because the food will be grown hydroponically—in other words, in a solution of minerals dissolved in water. Clever recycling techniques will ensure that only a fraction of the amount of water and nutrients will be needed compared with conventional farming, and there will be no problem with agricultural run-off. It doesn’t seem to be a matter of if, simply when this becomes commonplace.

Randall's peppers in June

He’s growing both green and red bell peppers in a WaterFarm® and a PowerGrower®. Randall kept them healthy and successful with the ever reliable Flora Series™, with help from SubCulture B, a probiotic bacterial root inoculant that helps increase the vitality and yield in all plants. He’s also been using a brand new GH product called RapidStart®! RapidStart® delivers a powerful blend of natural plant extracts, amino acids, and nutrients to generate prolific root growth. It stimulates abundant root branching and development of fine root hairs that enhance nutrient uptake. Stay tuned to this blog and the GH website for more details coming soon!

Randall's peppers in August

This summer has been one of the hottest on record for the east coast! The average temperatures during the life of these pepper plants have been 95° during the day (80° at night) with 88 – 90° water and 65% humidity. Peppers generally like warm weather but, even for them, this was a bit much. During the peak temperatures of July, the plants would produce flowers but they fell off due to several 100° days in a row. At the beginning of August, when the temperatures finally lowered to 85-90°, the peppers began to hold their fruit. Now that it’s back to a comfortable range, the pepper has been exploding with flower sites that are rapidly bearing fruit. And just look at that tall, lush foliage!

Thanks to Randall’s hydro skills and his good choices on what GH products to use, he‘ll be enjoying the fruits of his labor before the summer is over. Good luck keeping cool in the meantime, Randall!

Written by GH’s South Western Sales Rep, Nels Hansen:

After the sun began to set on this record-breaking hot day, I figured it was the perfect time to start teaching my boy about the growing and feeding of plants. What better way than to introduce him to General Organics™?

Living in a city with nothing more than a large concrete patio makes growing vegetables a little tricky. But, with some imagination and creativity, I figure anyone can have their own little farm! I used some cinder blocks that I found laying around the house to make walls for my garden bed, which gave me roughly about eleven inches to fill. Man, it took lot of soil to fill this thing! But after all was said and done, with a few inches of Ancient Forest® spread across the top, I had completed my very own raised garden bed!

My son is really excited about helping, maybe almost as much as I am to have him help! We started with the nutes at the full strength veg dosing. We began by mixing BioThrive®Grow at 10 mls per gallon of water with our twenty-five gallon res.  Then we added the CaMg+™ at 5 mls, BioRoot® at 10, BioWeed® at 2.5 milliliters per gallon. To finish it off, we added DiamondBlack™ at 1 tablespoon and BioMarine® at two tablespoons per gallon.

Once we had all our GO nutrients mixed together, in the proper amounts, we sprayed 25 gallons of solution (using a 400 g.p.h. pump) and top fed the entire 6’X12’ garden plot. No need to adjust the pH with the GO line so we were ready to go!
     
In our garden, we are growing many different herbs and spices, like cilantro, basil, and thyme. We also have a handful of onions, artichokes, tomatoes, kale, a blueberry bush and more! We expect a bountiful, delicious harvest, thanks to the GO. My son is so excited to watch the plants grow and taste everything that comes out of our garden.

Stay tuned for updates from our garden periodically (sooner if something pops up!) With the help of my son, and General Organics, before you know it, I will be enjoying the fruits of my labor!

We eat all sorts of plant parts so not every vegetable needs pollinating. Leaf and root crops (lettuce, kale, beets, etc) do not need to be pollinated because we eat them before they get to the flower stage of their life cycle. However, there are plants that we eat (like tomatoes, lemons and almonds) that need to be pollinated in order to produce the fruit or seed that we want to eat.

Quick botany lesson:

Male squash flower

Bees (and other pollinators) travel from flower to flower, drinking nectar and spreading pollen. Pollen is the male component of a flower (flower sperm, if you will). When it’s transferred to another flower, it goes into the pistil (female flower part) and fertilizes to make fruit. This process can’t be done without the aid of a pollinator. There are some plants, however, that have both male and female parts and can self-pollinate but you can still give them a little help.

Since there (presumably) aren’t swarms of bees flying around your hydroponic system, you might want to lend a hand to a few of your edible crops. It’s pretty simple. Here’s how to do it:

• Leaf and root crops (like spinach, carrots, onions and garlic): don’t worry about it! They don’t need to be pollinated. Just crunch them and enjoy.

• Self-pollinators (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, beans and peas): They can generally take care of things themselves but you can help: jog the pollen loose by gently (very gently) shaking the plants, tapping the flowers or try this method:

• Cross-pollinators (squash, cucumbers, melons and most fruit): These plants need to trade pollen in order to produce fruit. The squash, cukes and melons have separate male and female flowers. The male flower will have pollen-laden stamens and the female flower will usually have what looks like a tiny fruit bulging at the base. These guys need the most help and must be pollinated to produce fruit. The how-to:

1. Wait until both male and female flowers are in full bloom, petals open.

2. Get a watercolor paintbrush or a Q-tip. Brush it against the male flower (you should see yellow or orange pollen on the brush or Q-tip).

3. Brush it against the pistil on the female flower (the pistil is tall and gooey and right in the middle. You can’t miss it.)

Female squash flower

That’s it! You’ve done it! You should see fruit begin to form in the next few days. Keep repeating the process with subsequent flowers and you should have lots of fruit in no time.

One of our readers recently wrote in to ask for an update on the Aerogarden strawberry hack. Andy replied, and I thought his comment would make a great post:

Hey David,

Happy Growing!

My good friend Mark sent me this excellent video of his sister-in-law Gail brewing up a nice batch of compost tea. Instead of keeping a giant pile of rotting compost, she uses our Ancient Forest and Floralicious Plus and a few other select ingredients. Her instructions are simple, and her results are amazing- tomato plants to die for.

Related Content:
Actively Aerated Compost Tea Q&A
What does it do? Floralicious Plus

Today on Huffington Post, “Hydroponics” is included in a list of the 30 Most Underrated Innovations of 2010. Here at GH, we have actually been bringing innovation to hydroponics for 3 decades, but I am glad to see that hydro is gaining more mainstream recognition. It’s an amazing tool for providing fresh crops, no matter where you are on the globe. I’m also glad to see that they linked to the rooftop Rainforest 318 video:

#14 — Hydroponics, no, not intended for home marijuana growth
Another interesting green initiative, hydroponics, was picked by none other than Shawn Connally, Editorial Director of MAKE and CRAFT magazines. Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil, using water as the base because mineral solutions are what are vital to plant growth, not soil itself. Here’s a geeky DIY, how-to one Brooklyn dweller did to create a Hydroponic Herb Garden on her rooftop. Green is good!

Powdery mildew (PM) is one of the most disturbing problems in any garden. First of all, it’s just disgusting- the smell and the nasty texture are just awful. But even worse is the damage it does to crops. Once infected with mildew, your plants are weakened and any crops contaminated should not be consumed. Indoor gardeners are especially prone to developing PM, mainly because high humidity and overcrowded plants are ideal conditions for the disease.

The ideal solution is prevention:

*Keep your temperature in check, and don’t overcrowd your plants.

*If you visit a friend’s room, be sure to change your clothes and especially your shoes before you re-enter your room.

*Treat your room with Azamax to prevent fungus from taking hold.

*Remove any leaves with PM, and then wash your clippers or scissors.

But if you do find yourself battling PM, I recommend checking out the solutions in this article from Urban Garden Magazine. They break down many different methods for eliminating the problem, including using hydrogen peroxide, a milk solution, and even pH up. I hope that you never have to deal with powdery mildew, but if you have any tips, please share in the comments!

Photo of powdery mildew on pumpkin leaves by Jeff Kubina on flickr.

All kale, all the time. It’s the kaleblog, a distant cousin to the famous lolcat. I don’t get it, but I like it.

This project, featured on Treehugger.com is one of the best home greenhouses I’ve ever seen. The ambitious garden was built by Jim Dunn and is totally tricked out with features. The dome is all about providing a stable growing climate. To achieve this, the location was carefully chosen to maximize exposure to the sun, and 600 gallons of water are used as a thermal mass to trap heat and slowly release it. The planting beds sit on top of heat pipes to keep the root zone perfectly warm, and the dome structure features a solar panel and temperature activated vents. The farmer isn’t growing hydroponic veggies, but I’d imagine that the water tank could be easily converted into a reservoir!

Dude. These banana trees are out of control! Rick Kolceski of Hydroponic Shops of America sent in these great shots. He has three stores in New York- one in Syracuse, one in Ithaca, and a brand new store that just opened this month in Albany.

I honestly can’t believe how happy those trees look. They obviously are getting exactly what they need, and are producing a ton of fruit! Each tree is planted in a General Hydroponics MegaFarm, made specifically for growing monster plants. The system is a 20 gallon grow chamber sitting on top of a 20 gallon reservoir. You can set up the drip rings to grow multiple plants in each setup, or just go big! As Randall said, “Ridic!”

Related Content:
Banana Flower in the General Hydroponics Greenhouse

Aquaponics is extremely popular in Hawaii. In fact, I’d say people are as aware of aquaponic methods as they are of hydroponic methods. One reason could be that the taro root is traditionally grown in water. Taro is a starchy root that thrives in water, and has long been eaten by island dwellers around the globe. While I was visiting the University of Honolulu, I came across these really beautiful taro bogs. I love that you can see the different stages of growth in each patch. Click the photo for a larger image, and check out the history of taro on this great website, friendlyaquaponics.com.