Uncategorized Archives - Grow Your Own Vegetables

Soil Blocks: Considerations and Benefits of Soil Blocking for Your Seed Starting

Wondering if soil blocking is for you? Some people love them, some people think they are a pain in the flower pot. For the latter group of people, they typically feel that way because they don’t realize you need to create a special mixture and often need to add more water so that the media holds together without a container. So getting the mix correct can take a little bit of experimenting, but once you get the hang of it, there are quite a few benefits to soil blocking. But before you jump on the soil blocking bandwagon, there are several factors you’ll want to consider before you decide whether or not it’s right for you.

Cost

To soil block the traditional way, you ideally want soil blockers. So there is special equipment needed for this process. And these soil blockers are an investment. Most decent soil blockers cost around $100. That’s quite an expense for many of us home gardeners. That’s why we were stoked to discover these 2” soil blockers from Bootstrap Farmer.

At the time this blog was written, the soil blocker is going for half of what they normally go for. And often a cut in price means a cut in quality. But Bootstrap Farmer is known for only carrying supplies they use on their farm. So they’re high quality, durable supplies that hold up on a farm. This makes them even longer lasting in most home gardening environments. Bootstrap Farmer also carries a smaller ¾” soil blocker. If you want to plant in the ¾” and then transplant to the larger 2” soil blockers later, be sure to get the inserts for that.

While there is an investment cost up front, soil blockers will last for years and years, often they can last longer than a lifetime with very small replacement costs!

Earth Saving

Not only will they save you money from disposable and plastic pots over time, they save the earth too. Who wants to keep the earth cleaner and their pocketbook more full at the same time? We sure do!

Now, if you’re a first year grower, you might want to wait until you have a few years of gardening under your belt and be sure that you plan to make gardening part of your lifestyle before investing.

Time

Soil blocking can be a bit more time consuming while you’re getting the hang of it. Soil block seed starting mix recipes are a bit different than other mixes because the mix has to stick together to maintain its shape. And it has to be dense enough to keep its shape, but not so dense that it suffocates seedlings.

Getting the mix just right requires patience and persistence. If you’re short on time or in a hurry, this may not be the ideal seed starting method for you. Once you get your recipe down and get
accustomed to filling and emptying the block maker, making your seed blocks will go more quickly. Just be prepared to spend extra time in the beginning getting the hang of it.

Healthier Root Growth

Aside from lasting a lifetime and being a fast process once you get the hang of it, seed blocking offers healthier root growth because the block is exposed to the air on all sides (versus meeting the edge of a pot). This prevents roots from wrapping around each other the way they do in pots. Instead, the roots will grow up to the edge of the soil block and then stop growing.

While you might think that it’s a ‘bad’ thing that the roots stop growing, soil blockers have noticed that while the roots stop growing, they maintain health and often show superior health compared to roots bound to a container.

Avoid Transplant Shock

Transplanting plants grown in containers means disturbing the roots. By disturbing the roots, the plants go into what growers call transplant shock. It can take them up to 3-4 weeks to recover from this shock. In some cases, the plants’ immune system is compromised and the plant doesn’t make it.

With soil blocking, there’s little to no transplant shock since you don’t have to pull the roots and media out of anything before planting. You simply place the whole block into the ground. Reduced stress means a shorter recovery time and an increase in your plants’ ability to maintain optimum health!

Faster Harvests

With a minimized transplant shock recovery time, your plants can resume growing sooner and that means they can mature more quickly and give you more harvests!

Easy Upgrades to Larger Blocks

Indents in blockers allows you to easily nest a smaller block into a larger one, so a baby plant that’s outgrowing its block can be placed inside a larger block easily and keep growing.

No More Sanitizing Trays!

While you’ll still need to clean your soil blocker, you’ll save so much time and chemicals not having to clean and sanitize transplant containers. For anyone with a substantially sized garden, this is a dream come true!

Soil blockers are for anyone who wants to get away from plastic and the constant financial and environmental stress of manufacturing disposable/biodegradable pots, has a little extra time and money, wants a high ROI (Return on Your Investment) over time, and wants healthy seedlings for your garden.

So how do you soil block? Stay tuned for more blogs on soil blocking!

Want to learn more about seed starting?

Check Out Our Seeds Micro Course!

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The Best Growing Trays for Microgreen Success

Microgreens are a great crop for so many growers. Whether you’re looking to supplement your vegetable garden, wanting to add fresh veggies to your plate in the winter months, or growing indoors because you don’t have outside gardening space, microgreens are a fun and easy crop to grow. But finding a good microgreen tray can be challenging.

A good microgreen tray should be food safe, have drainage holes, be non-porous, not be biodegradable, and be sustainable. In addition to the list above, it’s really helpful if all your microgreen trays are the exact same size and fit perfectly in your drainage tray below so no space is wasted and you can maximize your harvests.

“Too often I see students growing in trays that aren’t safe to grow food in or trays that don’t support microgreen growth. A good microgreen tray set up can mean the difference between a healthy harvest or a failed batch.” – Crystal Meserole, Commercial Microgreen Grower.

The Micro-Dream Tray

Recommended by commercial microgreen grower, Crystal Meserole, these trays are truly one of a kind! So many of the trays on the market are downright junk and you’ll be lucky if you get two plantings from them. Not these trays! Meet the most amazing microgreen tray on the market.

A perfect size for the home grower, these 5×5 inch trays are listed on their site as ‘Ultra-Durable, Top-Quality BPA Free Plastic Trays…Will last multiple seasons’. This is a serious understatement!
“I bought a batch of 800 of these microgreen trays 5 years ago. After 5 years, I still have most of them in near perfect condition. They’ve been in and out of kitchens, gone through dozens of wash and sanitize cycles, and just as many plantings. These trays are the most superior trays on the market.” – Crystal Meserole

Because these trays are all uniform, you can hone in on the seed amount you need for each planting. No more winging the amount or having to measure different amounts for different sized trays.
While the taller 5×5’s are best for larger rooted greens such as pea, nasturtium, and sunflower shoots, their shallow 5×5 mesh trays are best for small rooted crops like broccoli, kale, amaranth, and more. Don’t let the mesh fool you, these shallow trays are equally durable.

These extra strength 5×5 trays (called 801 inserts in the commercial world) are made of heavy-duty, BPA- free, FDA-grade, polypropylene plastic and guaranteed not to warp or break.
“These trays are so easy to use and clean. I can’t imagine growing my microgreens without them.” – Crystal Meserole
Not only are these trays safe and durable, they’re great for anyone wanting variety! Fitting eight 5×5 trays to one 1020 flat, these trays reduce environmental waste, AND save you money.
The design provides better drainage than competing trays, saving you even more with reduced crop loss. As an added bonus, they can be run through most dishwasher cycles with no problem. Say goodbye to flimsy non-sustainable trays for good with Bootstrap Farmers’ superior quality 5×5 Microgreen Trays.

In addition to your 5×5 trays with drainage holes, you’re going to want a flat with no holes to catch water draining out below. Use these for the deeper micro trays and these ones for the shallow mesh trays.

Humidity Domes

Bootstrap farmer also makes a seriously durable dome to fit over the 1020 flats to protect your seeds while they germinate. And the openings in the top allow you to slowly adjust your baby microgreens to your indoor environment.

From safety and durability to maximization of space, Bootstrap Farmer microgreen trays are where it’s at for anyone who wants to grow microgreens as a crop. Whether you’re a home grower or commercial grower, these trays are far superior to anything else we’ve found on the market. See for yourself! Get the 1020 flat and dome starter kit here and the microgreen 5×5’s here.

Share Your Thoughts!

How do you like these microgreen trays?

Why Water Retention is Important for Our Vegetable Gardening

Water is the life support system of this earth. It’s what makes everything possible. Watch the video below and learn why it is important to us and future generations of vegetable gardeners.

The Earth’s surface is 75% water, similar to our bodies. Some of our organs, like our lungs, are up to 90% water. Without water, we can’t even breathe. Without water, we can’t live.

Our plants are much the same: water is vital. It’s important that we make sure that there is water around for years and years to come. Water retention is about holding water in our landscape systems so that future generations can benefit from those systems and be able to grow food.

The oceans are 97% of the earth’s water. The remaining 3% is fresh water. That means that there’s a very small fraction of water that’s available for us to use to water our vegetable gardens. Of that 3% fresh water, much of it is in a frozen state, in glaciers and ice caps, and some of it is in the groundwater.

There is this little teeny bit, this 1%, that’s accessible surface fresh water. A small part of that is what is available as a means to naturally irrigate our crops. Since a very small percentage of water is actually available to us, we want to conserve as much as possible and be very aware of our water usage.

Now, let’s link water retention and its importance to global warming and climate change. With global warming, we’ve been seeing high temperatures all across the globe in the last couple of years. What’s happening is that the earth is sweating as a response. Basically, when water is in its ice state or in its liquid state, it starts to melt and then it starts to evaporate into the air. That’s what the earth is doing, It’s trying to cool itself off. That’s what we do when we try to cool ourselves off; we sweat. As a response to all of the sweating, more and more water is in the vapor state.

And what does that lead to? It leads to larger storm events like hurricanes. There’s much more vapor in the air creating cloud formations; different currents of vapor create different storm conditions, like tornadoes, etc.

What does this mean for us as vegetable growers? In the future, there will be some changes when we’re gardening. It might not happen all at once, but it’s important for us to understand. Many crops are going to benefit from increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations because that’s how they photosynthesize, They will benefit from low levels of warming in areas where it’s cooler. But where temperatures are already high, more warming is going to negatively impact growth and yields. We know that plants stop growing and stop yielding when they start to get above 86 °F (30 °C) hat’s one way in which our gardening is going to shift, these extreme weather events will likely reduce crop yields.

Another negative impact is that weeds, diseases, insects and pests love warmth. These are all increasing with warmer weather. The biggest thing you might notice, and maybe you’ve already noticed where you are located, is that your growing zone may change and your soil may change as a result of changing weather.

These are things to have our eye on. They aren’t going to change overnight, but being able to conserve water and retain as much moisture as we can in our soil will reduce the amount of climate change that is happening. This is our contribution.

Watch Stacey’s Masterclass Trainings FREE on YouTube:

Vegetables & Herb Plants 101: Plant Biology and Lifecycle
Masterclass: 10 Garden Hacks for Small Plot Gardening

Have you noticed shifting weather in your area?
Share how it has impacted your gardening!

The Hidden Gems of Garden Journaling

The garden journal is one of the least used tools of gardening. Those who keep a garden journal, often do so because they simply love journaling. Those who don’t journal often find the idea daunting or a frivolous waste of time. But under the surface of this seemingly extra-curricular activity exists a giant underground cavern of insightful gems waiting to be discovered.

Like other historical records, a garden is a place where we can look back to examine the why’s of the present moment–and make better choices for the future.

Why am I having a challenge with this one area of my garden? What’s wrong with my plants? Is it the soil?

If you’re not journaling about your garden and keeping a history, your garden experience will likely be filled with moments when you can’t remember events that happened. Without that history, learning what to do and what not to do becomes more difficult and time consuming than if you had just taken a few minutes to make a few notes.

Sometimes, the insights a garden journal can bring are so profound that it changes your entire journey and launches you the equivalent distance from here to the moon.

I remember waking up one day during my second year of market gardening. I was getting success, but not quite like I wanted. And while I was feeling successful, I was getting burnt out. As the season continued, that exhaustion got worse. I had trouble reaching goals and staying on track. Then abundance season hit and with it, all the pests and disease. I woke up one morning and realized I was so exhausted that I was no longer happy. I felt like I was trying to force nature to cooperate. So I walked. I left the food in the garden and just walked away.

I didn’t return to gardening for an entire year. But when I did, I looked back and realized that so many of my days were filled with journal entries of frustration. How I felt that year was exactly what was happening: I was trying to force nature to cooperate and fit in my box.

That’s when everything changed.

I began to ask questions about how I could partner with nature so that I was letting her do as much of the work for me as possible. I realized that the language I was using for my entries was all about how ‘I was growing a garden.’ So I changed my perspective and started writing, ‘Nature is growing this garden, and the soil is growing my plants.’

And she did. Nature grew my plants. And because I wasn’t trying to grow plants, I could focus on growing the soil and being a steward of the land.

Were it not for my garden entries, I would not have had anything to reflect on to make the connection of how my approach to gardening was creating the very frustration I was working so hard to avoid. Writing down my new mindset to partner with nature and filter my garden choices through that lens helped me set goals properly.

Because of that one insight, gardening became more effortless than ever. Staying on track with my goals became so much easier. Had I not seen those entries of frustration later after I had long ago walked away from my garden, I may not have seen the pattern I was creating. When you journal, positive change is possible and can catapult your journey forward.

A garden journal isn’t just a place for you to look back and gain knowledge and wisdom. It’s a place where others can too. Whether you share lessons you’ve gained from your journaling with other growers in your community or you gift the journals to your grandchildren to pass on your garden insights, mindsets, and recipes, the record of your garden journey is absolutely priceless.

My grandmother didn’t garden, but she did make the most delicious chicken noodle soup! The are many moments in my life that I have wished for that recipe and a photo of her and I enjoying that amazing meal together. But there’s no recipe. There are no photos. And so there is a gap where her smile and her creation should be.

By keeping a journal of your garden harvests and recipes, you are recording the creation of your life. Someday they may become precious to your children and grandchildren.

When you choose to keep a garden journal, so many gems can be found that may otherwise have remained hidden and lost to time. Keeping a garden journal is a way to light your path and the path of those who will follow in our footsteps.

Crystal Meserole
GYOV Instructor and Harvest Club Support

Crystal owns and operates a one-woman wholesale commercial living microgreen operation in the mountains of western North Carolina. After working and managing local restaurants for over a decade, she saw the need for chefs to have access to more affordable, organic food for the delicious creations they craft for our communities.

Crystal hopes to stand as a clear message to anyone who thinks they can’t grow: You can. Anyone can. With the right system, mindsets, and mentor, everything becomes possible.

If you are interested in learning more about how mindsets & journaling techniques can help you grow a thriving and enjoyable garden check out our new micro-course led by Crystal.

Click here for details

Masterclass on YouTube:

Spirit Gardening

Do you journal about your garden? Share an insight below that you have gained through your journaling!

Build Your Own Garden Essentials Holiday Gift Basket

There’s no better gift than a gift of health this year! When you help your loved ones garden, you are boosting their immunity and improving the quality of their life. They will thank you all year round… and maybe even send you garden-fresh food in appreciation.

Whether you’re shopping for a loved one who is new to growing food or a seasoned gardener or anything in between, we’ve got you covered. Get quality essential garden tools and soil fertility supplies so you can save time, work with ease, and maximize your harvest yield and nutrition. And for all you folks who love to give gag gifts and stocking stuffers, check out the fun bonus section!

A Tip for Gift Shopping in A COVID Economy

This year, it’s all about finding new ways to celebrate our family and community. How special will the gardener in your life feel when you get together with friends and family and pool your resources for a unique gift. Tell everyone to ship one or two garden items to you, then you can create a customized basket. Make sure each item is labeled with the gift giver’s name. And remember to have everyone send a sweet card wishing them an abundant first harvest.

The Number One Gift Every Grower Needs

The number one tool every new grower needs first is a good garden mentor that can show them the ropes, empower them and support them when they come up against challenges. This is what GrowYourOwnVegetables.org is all about. Here’s three programs that provide the best garden instruction for everyday people. You don’t need a science degree to grow amazing food, just easy to understand lessons.. And right now, take advantage of bonuses worth hundreds of dollars when you grab these courses today.

The Grow Your Own Vegetables Course is ideal for step-by-step methodical people who like thorough instruction and a solid foundation. It’s everything you need to grow any vegetable or herb, anywhere.

The How to Grow $400 of Vegetables & Herbs in 40 Days Course is great for beginners and self starters that want quick results their first 40 days of growing. It’s a fun 40-day garden adventure to kickstart your garden fast.

The Superfood Garden Summit features the top garden experts & visionaries to help you create a garden supercharged with nutrients

Holiday Gift Basket: Choose Your Garden Harvest Container

When you’re building your Holiday garden gift basket for your loved one, forget placing the gifts in an actual basket. Instead, use the container as an opportunity to give your loved one of the most essential garden supplies: a harvest container.

Our top choices for harvest containers are great for small, household gardens. They were chosen based on the following criteria: durability, ease of use, , and multi-functionality.

RSVP Green Polyester Collapsible Market Basket with Pocket:
This tear and water resistant harvest basket doubles as a basket for grocery shopping. How cool is that?!

SAMMART 2.37 Gallon Collapsible Tub with Handle:
BPA Free Collapsible Tub doubles as a basket for grocery shopping too. Plus an extra feature: throw it in the dishwasher for easy washing!

Multipurpose Garden Harvest Basket Mod Hod Blue:
Harvesting fresh from the garden can bring unwanted soil inside This Garden Harvest Basket is ideal for rinsing your harvest outside so you keep your kitchen clean.

Garden Hod, Small:
This wood and metal harvest container makes this the eco-friendly choice. PLUS, it allows you to wash your harvest outside while it’s still IN the basket so you keep your kitchen clean.

Our top harvest container choice for large garden harvests is none other than the original Tub Trug with the flexible 3.7 gallon colander. This flexible and extremely durable harvest container is the number one garden container for all your garden tasks. Made from 100% food grade plastic, these containers are frost and UV resistant!

Great for:

– Collecting and transporting weeds, making weeding easier with less mess.
– Carrying compost and amendments along while you plant seeds and seedlings, You can even DRAG it preventing awkward hauling of bulky bags.
– Washing harvests so you keep the soil out of your kitchen.
– Collecting larger harvests in the garden eliminating back and forth trips.

Holiday Gift Basket Garden Essentials

When it comes to gardening, there is such a thing as too many tools. The more tools you have, the more cleaning and upkeep you do and the more things you lug around the garden. So when it comes to the essentials, less is best. The most important tools for growers are gloves, pruners and a set of hand tools.

A growers gloves should not be big and bulky (we aren’t going snowboarding here!), but rather be thinner and mold to the growers hands. Showa Atlas Nitrile Garden Gloves are one of the most beloved gloves among gardeners… and for good reason! They’re tough and feel like a second skin.

The Flex Dial Bypass Pruners will be the best pruners you’ll  EVER have. Do your hands get tired pruning and harvesting?  Adjustable grip fits YOUR hand & reduces fatigue during  repetitive cuts. Includes full steel core & ComfortGEL Grips.

Choosing a hand tool set is so important! A gardener’s work is physical so it’s vital to care for your body and avoid unnecessary strain. Even having the proper tools can put stress on your body if they are poorly designed or not super durable.

Originally made for people with arthritis, these stainless steel tools are really just good for anyone wanting to take care of their body. They feature non-slip soft grip handles that keep hands and wrists in a neutral position, taking the stress off hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders and backs with the ergonomic design. Choose the long handled set for your loved ones who need to sit while gardening more often and those who are wheelchair bound.

More Holiday Garden Essentials Gifts

If you’re looking for a more complete garden gift basket for your loved ones, the following list are supply essentials that increase productivity and help growers maximize the nutrition and yields of harvests.

Journaling is essential for planning and improving garden skills. But gardening and paper just don’t mix well. When we found this Waterproof and Reusable Journal, we were stoked! YES, seriously… this awesome tear resistant paper is 100% waterproof so you can journal in your garden without worrying about damage. Stone paper is manufactured with ZERO trees with a tiny water footprint so it’s super eco friendly. Plus, it’s REUSABLE if used with Frixion pens.

Nowadays there are all kinds of digital measuring gadgets for growers. They’re very expensive and most aren’t necessary for a successful harvest. And when you’re just starting out, the high-tech garden gizmos can actually make gardening more confusing for new growers. Stick to simplicity with this 3-in-1 Soil Meter that measures the three most important factors for a successful garden all at once! No Battery Needed. Measures pH, moisture, and light.

Every gardener should have a good quality watering wand that quickly and deeply saturates the garden soil without damaging plants. The Dramm One Touch Rain Wand is a GYOV team favorite. The 16” wand allows complete and total water flow control with just one touch of your thumb.

PRO TIP: For successful gardening, watering less often and more deeply is best for plant health. The best method for deep watering is to water lightly, then come back and water more deeply after about 10-15 minutes.

The Holiday Garden Premium Gift Basket Additions

Of course there can be no gardening without seeds and soil fertility! But before we showcase our unique seed finds, you should know: garden set ups are often extremely costly. And if you’re just starting, on a tight budget, or renting your home, you may not want to spend a bunch of money and time on garden set ups only to walk away later. That’s why we love these!

100 Gallon Raised Bed Grow Bags These 4 feet (1.2 meters) diameter, 12 inches (30cm) deep bags have reinforced handles for transport, and they are durable! They last three years in normal gardening conditions. And the best part? They are only $29.99 each. That’s only $10 per year for a whole raised bed.

Perfect for:

– New gardeners
– Gardeners on the Go
– Growers with physical limitations
– Busy Growers who need to have it done already!

Buy, open, fill with raised bed soil media, and start growing! Built to last, even commercial growers use them. So if you’re looking for the perfect raised bed for your gardener, the 100 Gallon Grow Bag is where it’s at. Need something deeper? Check out the 200 gal bags.  Oh, and they’re also sustainable, made of food safe recycled plastic and felt!

Garden Holiday Gift Basket Top 3 for Soil Fertility

Soil Fertility is EVERYTHING! Studies show that about 80% of all pest and disease issues come from less than ideal soil conditions. And while chances are your gardener will need more than what might fit in your harvest gift basket, a sampler pack can help set your new grower on the right path. And for seasoned growers, a sampler pack can help them experiment with soil fertility options they might not yet know about.

Worm Poop: Studies show that worm castings improve your plants ability to resist pests and disease. That’s why so many growers add this before planting all their seeds and transplants. Recent analysis of the Urban Worm Company’s castings shows high humic content and nitrogen cycling microbes. And, they’ve got a perfect 2 pound sample bag!

Bio Char: Biochar reduces nutrient leaching and the bioavailability of contaminants in our soils while increasing water retention, microbial life, and overall soil health. It’s superb for increasing your harvest yields and nutrient density. Check out Aries 4- Quart Green Biochar Soil Amendment. It’s the perfect size for a garden gift basket!
*Not recommended for Alkaline soils

Azomite Trace Minerals: Trace minerals should be replaced once a year. This slow release mineralization is vital to plant health and azomite has over 70 trace minerals. The Nitron AZOMITE is micronized into a fine powder that can be applied dry or easily dissolved in water for application. Pro Tip: Apply azomite with a spice shaker.

Garden Holiday Gift Basket Seed Collections

For gift baskets, variety is where it’s at! Luckily, Botanical Interests has a fabulous selection of seed collections. Here’s a list of our favorite collections and who they’re best suited for:

Baby Greens: This collection is great for brand new growers who are dedicated to a healthy lifestyle full of fresh, nutrient dense food or anyone who wants to add a handful of health to every meal. Also a good choice for indoor winter growing.

Chef’s Herb Garden: Some herbs (like rosemary) can be a little tricky to germinate, but overall, this herb collection is a great choice for those interested in a kitchen herb garden and people who just want to dip their toes into the gardening world.

Container Veg: This collection is a great choice for container gardening, raised bed gardening and gardening in small spaces. It’s also a good option for new growers who want to dive in to gardening and learn how to grow a variety of fresh food.

The Heirloom Collection: This collection is for growers with at least a few seasons worth of experience. But we don’t want to deter new growers from going all in either! If your new but you’re diving straight into larger scale homestead gardening, this collection is an amazing collection of seeds. All these open pollinated varieties have been around for at least half a century. Pro Tip: Store seeds in a cool dry dark environment. An airtight container in the fridge works well. They will last much longer this way.

Fall Veg Collection: When most people start growing, they immediately head for the summer season vegetables like our beloved juicy tomatoes! But warm season crops can be more challenging than the cooler season crops. That’s why we like the fall garden collection for new growers. Start with the easy wins like radishes, beets, and kale in the cooler weather of fall… and bonus! These crops can be grown in spring too so you get double the harvest!

Stocking Stuffers and Gag Gifts

The holidays aren’t complete without fun! So we’ve put together a list of some fun stocking stuffers and gag gifts.

The Funky Veg Kit:

Taste the rainbow with purple carrots, striped tomatoes, red Brussel sprouts and Bright Lights Chard! The Funky Veg Kit sports 20 non-GMO seeds per variety, the perfect amount for a small vibrant colored garden.

Save the Bees Wildflower Seed Bombs:

Wildflowers are beautiful and attract bees and butterflies for pollination! Eight “Throw N’ Grow” organic seed bombs (chemical-free & non-GMO). We love this idea for people who want to have some outside fun with the kids.

The Ultimate Garden Gag Gifts

Authentic Flying Reindeer Droppings: For all the sunflower lovers out there, the non-GMO, pesticide free sunflower seed reindeer poop is sure to bring a laugh this season!

Authentic Elf Droppings: Give your gardener non-GMO, pesticide free vegetable seeds and a laugh with these compost and clay seed pods, err… elf poo! Not just a great gift but a great ice breaker for parties.

Heads up! This article contains affiliate links. If you click on them and take action, I may be compensated. We choose these products carefully. We have a strict policy of only recommending products we LOVE that will help growers on their journey to a fresh food lifestyle!… well, okay, the elf and reindeer poop is just for fun… but joy is a big part of gardening too, just like the holidays. We hope your season is filled with joy, love, laughter, fresh food flavors, and let’s not forget… health!

Holiday Garden WishList – Top Ten Garden Tools for 2020

Finding the right holiday gift for a gardener isn’t easy. Gifts that often appear helpful aren’t. And sometimes the ones that seem mundane can be fantastic. It can take years for growers to find gadgets and supplies they love. So how can friends and family find the perfect garden gifts this holiday season? We’ve got you covered! Here’s the top ten most useful and exciting products on the market for your holiday gift list.

#10 The Gift of Time

Even when a garden is optimized, growers typically spend 40% of their time harvesting. That’s almost half our total time in the garden! That’s why this tool can make all the difference. Check out these 5 Blade Scissors!

Why waste time harvesting your food, hauling it inside, pulling out the cutting board and knife, and using a bunch of energy and time chopping? Just grab the scissors and cut your harvest right into the bowl! And with five blades, you’ll save even more time and energy.

Check out the Video Review Here

Even when you harvest leaves you want to wash first, you’ll spend one 80% less time and energy cutting with these 5 blade scissors. Plus, these multi-blade scissors come with their own special cleaning tool, making clean up a breeze.

#9 Garden Like A Superhero

Okay, so while this tool isn’t going to make you more powerful than a locomotive, you will be able to prune with 3 times the cutting power with the Fiskars 32-Inch PowerGear Bypass Lopper.

Fiskars makes great products in general, but this Lopper is made with reinforced fiberglass composite making it lighter than others.

It also sports a unique gear technology giving you more power without straining your hands, wrists and muscles cutting those thick branches. In fact, you can easily cut branches that are up to 2” (5cm) in diameter with this puppy. And the corrosion-resistant, non-stick, fully hardened blade means it will last a lifetime. In fact, they stand behind their product with a lifetime warranty and their claim to pruning fame: “This superior- grade tool is lighter, stronger, and more powerful than anything you’ve ever used.”

#8 The Mini-Superhero

For smaller pruning tasks, check out our favorite tool in the garden, the Bypass Pruner by Corona . Because no two hands are alike!

The flex dial allows you to set the pruners to match YOUR hand size and to adjust to the size branches you’re cutting, reducing hand fatigue.

Combined with the full steel core handles and ComfortGEL grips for superior comfort it’s no wonder these pruners were a 2017 finalist in the International Design Excellence Awards.

#7 Love Yourself As Much As Your Garden

Body abuse is common in the garden. Growers, you know what I’m talking about. There is that weed that just won’t let go and you won’t give up even though you left the proper tool in the shed. Or you’re determined to finish shoveling mulch or compost even though you’re tired. For us seasoned growers, perhaps you simply turn your head to look at a beautiful butterfly and crick your neck. 🤣

A gardeners work is physical and it’s important to take care of your body and avoid unnecessary strain. Even having the proper tools can put stress on your body if they are poorly designed. That’s what makes these tools so great.

Easi Grip Long Reach Garden Tools Set of 4

Originally made for people with arthritis, these stainless steel tools are really just good for anyone wanting to take care of their body. They feature non slip soft grip handles that keep hands and wrists in a neutral position, taking the stress off hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders and backs with the ergonomic design.

The tools also allow gardening from a seated position as well. This is especially helpful for anyone with knee issues or where bending is restricted. The long handles allow for reaching to the back of the beds.

A long trowel, fork, cultivator and hoe are included in this set of 4. Don’t need all four? They sell them separately, so you can just grab the ones you need!

Want the short handled version? Good news, they have those too! Easi Grip Short Handle Set of 4.

#6 Worms in the House

Yep, you heard me right! Vermicomposting can now be done right in your family room with style… and without mess. While we haven’t tested this product out yet, we couldn’t wait to share this brand new composting bin for all of you who boldly go where no gardener has gone before!

Marketed as suitable for a family of 1 to 3 people, the design of this indoor ecosystem is super sleek. According to company, the Biovessel aesthetics were accidental as it is designed from almost two years of biological research, experiments, and observation on the process of food waste decomposition to maximize efficiency.

The ease of use makes it perfect for busy people; simply add food waste and it does the work for you. No more running out to the garden every time you need to discard your scraps (which makes it good for cold winters!). Even for large families, this Biovessel makes a great mini composter for smaller scraps.

There is a bit of monitoring of moisture, light, and pH levels, as with all composting. When done correctly, there is NO ODOR. And with the exception of the 7 Liters of bedding soil and 500–600g of composting worms, the Biovessel comes with everything you need to start composting.

This is an awesome learning tool for teaching kids about composting and encouraging good environmental habits. With so much waste generated by modern ways of living, this design brings sustainability home for even the most densely populated cities, transforming waste into one of the most precious resources on the planet: worm castings.

#5 Bringing the Indoors Out

We love nature so much that we talk about bringing the outdoors in most of the time. But in this case, we’re bringing the indoors OUT to save you tons of time and energy in your garden with one simple tool: a hose trolley.

A Hose Trolley is a greenhouse growers best friend. And
for the outdoor gardener who uses a hose to water, it
makes watering plants a breeze! It keeps nozzles clean,
reducing the chance of spreading plant diseases, prevents hose wear and tear, and eliminates potential for tripping and accidental plant damage that happens when hauling the garden hose all around the greenhouse.

There are many hose trolley’s on the market, but we chose one most likely to stand up to outdoor elements, so you can rig this in your OUTDOOR garden too (for those without greenhouses). This Hose Trolley Kit includes an aircraft cable corrosion-resistant stainless steel pulley, hose supports, rope clip, hose turnbuckle, 10 additional feet of hose to get to the spigot, a trigger released lance, and their best hose – the Gilmour Flexogen. It also comes in 75’ and 100’ lengths for the extra large gardens.

To see this hose in action and hear more about how it can work in the garden, check out Stacey’s Youtube Video: Overhead Hose Trolley for Small Gardens & Greenhouses.

#4 Craftsmanship at its FINEST

Few tools are hand-crafted nowadays. No tools that we’ve found can compete with the more common mass-produced tools on the market… with one exception.

Handcrafted Garden Tools

Made with hand forged steel, wrought iron, hand turned American Black Walnut wood, each tool is built individually using traditional blacksmithing techniques. Each tool is set into its own hand-turned hardwood handle so there are no welds increasing the strength of the tool.

Of all our years and experience gardening, we’ve never come across such beautifully handcrafted tools. Each tool is unique and put quite simply, a masterpiece.

This set of five garden tools is perfect for both beginner and experienced gardeners. You’ll receive a large planting trowel, a narrow perennial trowel, square hand hoe, pointed hand hoe, and a three- tined rake. So if you’re shopping for a special someone with an eye for high-quality traditional crafts and an interest in gardening, this collection will light up not just their holiday season, but every growing season too!

Want to get just one?

We recommend starting with the trowel or garden hoe.

#3 Garden Smarter, Not Harder

Garden set ups are often extremely costly. And when you’re just starting, on a tight budget, or renting your home, you don’t want to spend a bunch of money and time on your garden set up only to walk away later. That’s why we were excited to find these:

100 Gallon Raised Bed Grow Bags

These grow bags are just over 4 feet (1.2 meters) in diameter and 12 inches (30cm) deep. They have reinforced handles for transport and are reusable lasting three years in normal gardening conditions. And the best part? They are only $29.99 each. That’s only $10 per year for a whole raised bed.

While these raised bed grow bags are great for anyone who wants to grow, they are perfect for gardeners just setting up and those on the go. They’re also great for gardeners with physical limitations, eliminating material hauling, heavy lifting, and best of all ZERO labor. Buy, open, fill with soil media, and start growing!

Built to last, even commercial growers use them since they have superior aeration and drainage to raised beds with solid sides. In fact, the only products that Bootstrap Farmer sells are ones they use on their farm. So if you’re looking for the perfect raised bed for your gardener, this 100 Gallon Grow Bag is where it’s at.

Want to get more than one? Get 3 for $69.99. Oh, and one more thing: they’re also sustainable, made of food safe recycled plastic and felt.

Need something bigger? Check out the 200 gal bags.  Need something smaller? They’ve got grow bags in 4, 5, 7, 10, 25 gallon sizes too.

#2 The Micro-Dream Tray

As a commercial microgreen grower, having the right trays are invaluable! So many of the trays on the market are downright junk and you’ll be lucky if you get two to three plantings from them. But these are different…

Meet the most amazing microgreen tray on the market.

Combine them with these extra strength 5×5 trays (also known as 801 inserts) made of heavy duty, recycled, food grade, polypropylene plastic and guaranteed not to warp or break. I was skeptical, so I put them to the test. And I cannot imagine going back to what I was doing before.

These trays are great for anyone wanting to grow more varieties per batch (fits eight 5×5 trays to one 1020 flat), reduce their environmental waste, and save money. Not only that, but their design provides better drainage than the traditional inserts, saving even more with reduced crop losses. As an added bonus, I ran them through the dishwasher with no problem. These trays are the stuff of dreams for micro growers.

Say goodbye to flimsy non-sustainable trays for good with Bootstrap Farmers’ superior quality 5×5 Microgreen Trays.

#1 The Garden Tower® 2

Grow up to 50 plants and vegetables in 4 sq. feet (1.2 sq meters) with this Garden Tower! So much thought went into the materials and design of this indoor or outdoor growing container there was no way it could be anything but number one on our list!

The Materials

The Garden Tower® 2 is made of 100% food grade HDPE (non-toxic, BPA & PVC free plastic) components), FDA-approved dye and UV-protection for health, durability and recyclability.

The Unique Design

Supporting up to 1,000 lbs, the feet allow the tower to be anchored securely to any platform while still being able to rotate 360° for optimized sun exposure and growing in tight spaces

Planting pockets allow for easy planting and fast harvesting.

For mobile growing, you can get the Premium Caster Kit.

With a patented GT2 vermicomposting tube right down the center, you can compost directly into the tower where plant roots can access nutrients and oxygen from the perforated holes.

Compost release gate allows for seasonal removal of finished compost not used by the plants & provides for aeration from below.

Removable compost/nutrient tea drawer can collect up to two gallons of nutrient enriched water for another pass by plant roots.

The Garden Tower®2 is perfect for growing lettuces, herbs, kale, chard, smaller varieties of peppers and other plants with smaller root systems. To top it all off, it comes with a whopping 5-year manufacturer warranty. This container can last up to twelve years in the harshest of climates!

With all the thought that went into this special grow container, it’s no wonder it was recently named the “Worlds Most Advanced Container Garden.”

The only question we have for the company is, ‘Is there anything you didn’t think of!?’

Order this unique container at their website here.

BONUS! For Your Winter Pantry

This isn’t a garden gadget. Actually, it’s for you, right now. While you’re busy running around prepping for your holiday season, we wanted to remind everyone to take care of yourself and give your body that extra boost your immune system will need to stay healthy.

As the immune support and other benefits elderberry provides us becomes more realized, good quality elderberry syrup is getting harder and harder to find, especially at an affordable price. This is your place to do that.

Our good farmer friend, John Moody and his wife’s potent elderberry syrup is the best on the market. You can get a huge 16 ounce bottle of their original formula for $24! That’s normally what a decent quality 4 ounce bottle costs! Plus, they have low carb, low honey, and an infant friendly formulas. No need to take it like a cough syrup though, use it in your everyday life; from hot teas and lemonades to glazes and marinades, elderberry syrup is for every day immune support. My personal favorite is as a spread for turkey sandwiches and on waffles!

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