Container Gardening For Food Blog

Sep 4, Runner Bean Arch; making the most of available space

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:31:14 GMT

We created a runner bean arch in the strip between our house and the boundary fence. There is a border about eighteen inches wide running along the fence

Aug 24, Gardening Update 23rd August 2010

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:48:07 GMT

Here is my latest video update....

Aug 24, Container Gardening For Food

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:46:06 GMT

Not got enough space to grow your own food? Think again! Container gardening can be your answer. It's simple, healthy, and can save you a LOT of money.

Aug 23, How to Grow Potatoes in Containers

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:03:24 GMT

The skill of how to grow potatoes in containers is a surprisingly simple one to learn. Great news for people restricted by the amount of growing space they have.

Aug 11, My Vertical Hydroponic Growing Setup

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:56:46 GMT

My vertical hydroponic growing setup has enabled me to grow abundant food in a tiny space

Aug 10, Rick - playing catch-up

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:13:34 GMT

It's been a while since I posted anything up on the website lately, but rest asured I am still in the garden every day, reaping the rewards of my labour. The harvest is proving fruitful, although a little disapointing also in places. Hope to be doing a garden update video just as soon as time will allow. I always have multiple projects on the go and this month has been exceptionally busy. I'm rushing around like a mad man at the moment trying to get my Middle Earth Meditations audio project completed before the Festival of the Shire this coming Saturday, where I hope to be meeting potential vendors and buyers to take on my product. Here is a link in case you were curious...

video coming soon. Rick

Aug 2, Possible Improvements for the Hydroponic system in the video

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:39:05 GMT

Could you use 2 pumps with a small 1 gallon tank? You could then have a second pump of the same power but double the height. If you want more guttering

Jul 25, Problems Growing Herbs
Your Tips Needed

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:00:20 GMT

We live in a condo in Hawaii and have tried a few times to grow herbs in pots on our lanai. The pots we have now are new, good drainage and the potting

Jul 18, Peppers

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:23:06 GMT

HI Rick, I'm lewis Wear and I think I know what the problem with your peppers is, you have not put them into big enough pots. If you want to increase your

Jul 14, Sustainability Through the Consumption of Things Conserved

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:10:07 GMT

In other environmental issues we tell people to stop something, reduce their impact, reduce their damage, - US Ecologist Gary Nabhan Since the beginning

Jul 13, Latest Garden Update Video...

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:49:39 GMT

Jul 12, About Me, And Why I Chose to Make This Website...

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:25:02 GMT

This website is the ongoing story of how I am trying to grow my own food and become as self-sufficient as I can, with only my small urban patio garden to work with.

Jul 12, Vlog - How To Relax And Get Inspired....

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:29:49 GMT

It's been a short while since I posted anything on the garden website. I've been feeling a distinct lack of creativity lately, and that has a knock-on effect in everything I do. In an attempt to get myself kick-started again, I took a drive yesterday and made the personal video log below.... PS - Am hoping to film a short garden update very soon. Enjoy. Rick

Jul 1, Gardening update 29th June

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:44:42 GMT

Jun 24, Doesnt suprise me one bit :-/

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:47:24 GMT

...lets just say I only raised one eyebrow when I read this! Some may call me a conspiracy theorist like its a bad thing and that I'm nuts, but who is

Jun 22, First Meal From The Garden! - Cook Along With Rick!

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:42:15 GMT

Broad bean and carrot Risotto. It's still early in the growing season, but I managed to get a decent meal out of the garden - sort-of......

Jun 18, This is a bad year :-/

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:06:58 GMT

This year seems to be a struggle, only my cucumber, lettuce and raddish are really thriving. I think the beetroot, runner beans, leeks and peas caught

Jun 11, Looking for Gardening Magazines? Get a FREE one Here!

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 08:25:34 GMT

Looking for Gardening Magazines? Here's a FREE one! Container Gardening For Food - Get News, tips and ideas in this bi-monthly E-Zine. Subscribe here!

Jun 10, 'Lettuce' grow together...

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:05:08 GMT

As I mentioned in last blog, I've placed the lettuce on the old greenhouse staging as it frees up space. There's a lot to be said for vertical growing

Jun 10, At last my fruit and veg are thriving

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:04:02 GMT

Hi everyone, Finally it looks like our fruit and veg are putting on a burst of growth to make up for the long winter and cold nights of late. The French

Jun 9, Reasons to be prepared

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:22:29 GMT

A series of videos chosen to highlight reasons why prepredness is not a bad idea, and a glimpse of potential future scenarios which you may wish to plan ahead and prepare for.

Jun 8, Best Uses for the Tomato Harvest -- Gourmet Tomato Sauce for Rigatoni

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 10:16:54 GMT

Mmmm! I love fresh tomatoes. My husband and I walked back from the garden yesterday evening with a 3 gallon bucket full. No one in my family complains

Jun 6, My 1st Green Pepper

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 07:45:58 GMT

Several decades ago my wife and I transformed part of the backyard into a vegetable garden in Southern California and it was quite successful (sorry no

Jun 6, Container Gardening for Health: The 12 Most Important Fruits & Vegetables for Your Organic Garden

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 07:43:46 GMT

So happy to find this blog! I've just published a book called Container Gardening for Health: The 12 Most Important Fruits & Vegetables for Your Organic

Jun 4, How to Grow Tomatoes in Abundance

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 08:56:02 GMT

This article summarises some golden rules of how to grow tomatoes in order to get the absolute maximum yields from your crop.

Jun 3, Too Much Water... I Think

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 10:22:58 GMT

Thank you so much for your watering tip. I am new to container gardening as we are doing our first gig as a RV workamper. I planted these gorgeous tomato

Jun 2, Gardening Update from Rick's Garden

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:30:42 GMT

May 30, Gardening with Vertigo

Sun, 30 May 2010 20:15:54 GMT

The Container-Gardening-For-Food website is excellent. I too have a small garden and it is new in that there was nothing but grass when I moved in. Two

May 25, Growing Green Beans

Tue, 25 May 2010 13:31:44 GMT

There is something extremely satisfying about growing green beans, and in the right conditions they will provide you with a fabulous, delicious crop of food.

May 24, Pinching Out Your Growing Tomato Plants

Mon, 24 May 2010 15:12:35 GMT

May 23, Gardening Update Video From Rick's Food Garden

Sun, 23 May 2010 20:29:46 GMT

May 21, Garden Pests - Keep Your Guard Up!

Fri, 21 May 2010 11:38:55 GMT

Garden pests are a fact of life, but I'm trying to deal with them in ways nature provided instead of using chemicals...

May 21, My First Harvest!

Fri, 21 May 2010 09:15:03 GMT

Heirloom Cincinnati Market Radishes. All of these came from ONE 5 gallon tub. Container gardening FTW! My first harvest this year. They are VERY spicy,

May 17, Thoughts on Survival Gardening

Mon, 17 May 2010 08:30:55 GMT

Survival gardening is something many of us might not have ever considered, but as each day passes, the world in general seems to be heading deeper into a tailspin.

May 16, Growing Tomatoes

Sun, 16 May 2010 08:37:20 GMT

Growing tomatoes can be quite a hit-and miss affair for some. Not any more! This page tells you how to grow more tomatoes than you can shake a stick at!

May 16, A Quick Tip for Pollinating your Tomatoes

Sun, 16 May 2010 08:27:26 GMT

May 14, Eggshells!

Fri, 14 May 2010 16:13:23 GMT

Try using crushed eggshells round your plants, they're pretty good at stopping slugs etc

May 13, Dealing With Garden Slugs Without The Chemicals

Thu, 13 May 2010 12:41:22 GMT

How to deal with garden slugs without the use of pesticides and chemicals.

May 12, Seedlings Watch

Wed, 12 May 2010 09:39:12 GMT

This is a page where I keep pictures of my seedlings and young plants in chronological order as they grow up

May 10, I'm a Gardener!

Mon, 10 May 2010 18:55:07 GMT

Thanks to RickVanMan on YouTube, I have been inspired to start a garden this year! It's a raised bed garden, and so far, it seems to be going well! I

May 10, New Video Update From Rick

Mon, 10 May 2010 18:51:00 GMT

May 7, Stinging Nettles - More than a food source.

Fri, 07 May 2010 13:07:25 GMT

Hi Rick, Just reading about your experiments with Stinging Nettles reminded me of a time when I experimented with making a biodegradable nettle insecticide...

May 7, High Percentage of Seed Germination Failures

Fri, 07 May 2010 13:03:29 GMT

I know the weather hasn't been too good of late but I'm beginning to see how low soil temperatures is preventing a high percentage of crop seeds from either

May 4, I've Finally Taken The Leap...

Tue, 04 May 2010 10:15:37 GMT

I have a wonderful friend who is a true pioneer. She makes her own soap, bread, clothes, etc. Her next adventure will be purchasing a dairy cow and teaching

May 1, May 1st - Potatoes are living up to to their name; "Rocket"!

Sat, 01 May 2010 10:16:59 GMT

This will be the forth time in two weeks I have had to 'earth-up' the potatoes. For seed potatoes that didn't seem to want to do anything at first,

Apr 30, May 1st - My Pampered Tomato Plants are Doing Fabulously!

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:41:10 GMT

So here we are, about to hit May 1st and my main tomato plants are looking as healthy as it is possible to look! These are the four main plants that I

Apr 30, Harvesting Wild Stinging Nettles for Tea!

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:19:27 GMT

Apr 30, Natures Larder - The Stinging Nettle

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:12:08 GMT

To most people, the Stinging Nettle is just a nuisance, but to the better educated, this luscious green plant, is an amazing provider of food and medicine.

Apr 29, Natures Larder - Dandelions

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:28:23 GMT

To most people, dandelions are a nuisance weed, but to the better educated, this little plant is a miracle that can provide a whole myriad of healthy edible benefits

Apr 28, How To Make a Solar Food Dehydrater

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:33:46 GMT

After a re-think if my food preservation ideas for later on in the year, I decided to build a proper solar dehydrator that could handle large quantities of food. The following video shows how I did it. The link is to an additional written article all about it.