Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange
Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [sustainability]

For questions about sustainable practices for gardening, landscaping materials, plants or for questions about techniques and practices that would make gardening, farming more sustainable.

22 questions
30
votes
5 answers

What are some sustainable alternatives to peat for potting compost?

I've just finished writing the tag wiki for organic and was thinking about wider issues of sustainability. Perhaps the best area where I could improve things personally, would be to use an alternative medium for seed trays. At the moment I use…
winwaed
  • 20,373
  • 4
  • 61
  • 115
19
votes
7 answers

Calorically dense crops that can be grown in southern Ontario, Canada?

I'm experimenting with growing my own food, and have been for a few years now. My goal, in the very long term, is to be able to homestead and grow as much of my own food as I can. In terms of sheer number of pounds of food grown, I think that…
Michael Stachowsky
  • 323
  • 2
  • 7
16
votes
2 answers

Do chemicals leach from the sides of raised beds?

Around a year ago I went to a local hardware store to buy some treated pine logs to make a raised garden bed. The guy at the store asked if I was using it for a vegetable bed and he explained that chemicals from the treated pine would leach into the…
going
  • 6,342
  • 6
  • 35
  • 64
13
votes
6 answers

Is it a good idea and how to introduce frogs in my garden?

I am trying to sustainably get a grip on the flies, mosquitoes and other such insects' population. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area. We have a decent sized backyard (about 3000 sq ft of garden/landscape space). We have a bird feeder and a…
perennial_noob
  • 253
  • 2
  • 8
7
votes
1 answer

How many years does it take to grow a tree big enough for firewood?

There is some land we have doing nothing, and the idea of being semi-sustainable long-term in firewood is attractive. I believe in the northern UK, silver birch is a good choice for fast growing firewood, but realistically how many years does it…
Mr. Boy
  • 2,427
  • 3
  • 21
  • 36
7
votes
3 answers

Advise from experienced farmers

I don't know whether I should ask this question here or not, but I could not find any stackexchange website related to agriculture, so I found this website most near to agriculture, and I think that there are experienced plant growers of many…
Praveen Yadav
  • 201
  • 2
  • 6
6
votes
1 answer

What is the name of the French pioneer of organic/sustainable farming?

I can't remember his name. I think he was active in the 50's to 70's. His techniques involved creating berms of fallen branches and twigs, and later incorporating the decayed matter into his soils. Any help would be appreciated!
Jiminion
  • 163
  • 3
5
votes
3 answers

Is rock dust a non-renewable resource?

I've heard many people talk about using rock dust when talking about organic gardening. From what I understand rock dust is made from crushed rocks. If they are to be used in an organic garden I assume they are made from real rocks; rocks that took…
going
  • 6,342
  • 6
  • 35
  • 64
5
votes
1 answer

What sustainable and affordable way is there to control rose chafer beetles?

We are trying to establish a permaculture farm in northwestern New York. We have very sandy soil, and everything we grow is ideal food for the rose chafer beetle. We first noticed them last year and tried to fight them. We thought we had controlled…
Dana
5
votes
1 answer

How to grow vegetables from kitchen scraps?

I have heard a lot about growing vegetables from scraps e.g. using potato eyes, or sprouted garlic/onions to grow new vegetables. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with this? And which vegetables were the best to do this with?
queenslug
  • 153
  • 4
5
votes
1 answer

Stimulate lower stem regrowth of pepper plant

I've got an indoor pepper plant that has already been through one harvest of 8 peppers. Nearing the end of the first harvest, many of the leaves on the lower stems died off. This may have been due to insufficient nutrients. I'm fairly sure it has a…
Enigma
  • 1,993
  • 5
  • 21
  • 40
3
votes
1 answer

Self Sustainable farm for Beginner

I am a beginner in farming. I would like to learn on self sustainable and self reliant farming. Any advice on best way to start, sites or books that I can look into. I am hoping to learn basic farming from small garden to small live stock.
otaku
  • 139
  • 2
3
votes
2 answers

How would we make our vineyard more "green" (environmental)?

What is some ideas that we could practice to make our vineyard more environmentally friendly, and/or sustainable? We are already a carboNZero certified organisation, but wondering what we can do to improve more.
Petah
  • 133
  • 4
3
votes
3 answers

Perlite and Vermiculite sustainability

Are perlite and vermiculite sustainable? For potting mixes, I have to use quantities of perlite and vermiculite. But I am concerned about their sustainability, and how they are obtained.
Aksh
  • 351
  • 2
  • 7
2
votes
2 answers

Spring onion regrowth and seeding

I have been growing spring onions and am not sure whether or not I am regrowing them the best way. I have a few questions. I have been cutting the spring onions at their base so that the regrow and I don't have to plant more spring onions. Can I…
user16579
1
2