Plant the Change - The Orta Blog

Seed Saving Nerd Out Part 1: Plant Reproduction

August 13, 2020

This is part 1 of a series that goes deeper than usual into the botany behind seeds to help you become a better seed saver. Mechanically speaking,...

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Tomato Disaster and Recovery (I hope)

August 06, 2020

When we returned home from 2 nights of camping (the first time we've left home since February), the tomatoes had completely collapsed. After about...

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Deadhead to Increase Harvests and Prolong Flowering

July 30, 2020

Deadheading is the single most important garden job to keep flowers blooming for as long as possible. And it's really quite easy. Snip off all o...

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Zero-Waste Gardening Ideas

July 24, 2020

Orta has been zero-waste since we first started shipping seed pots in 2012. In honor of Plastic-Free July, I've dug into the archives to bring you...

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Seed Starting for Fall Veg and Perennial Flowers

July 17, 2020

This post will help you figure out for yourself what to sow now for your fall garden: veggies, herbs and perennial flowers. It does not have, I’m...

Bee Watching is a Thing

July 10, 2020

Have you ever had the experience where giving a name to something clarifies and legitimizes fuzzy mental notions? Bee Watching has done that for ...

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This Weekend: Save Seeds from your Greens

July 03, 2020

As summer hits its stride, many of the spring crops are going over, flowering and going to seed. Now is a great time to save seeds to use for fall...

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This Weekend: Plan Ahead for Fruit Trees, Even in Containers

June 26, 2020

Gardening teaches you to plan ahead and to be patient, two virtues I'm not naturally blessed with. If you want homegrown tomatoes in August, you ...

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Seeds to Start This Weekend

June 12, 2020

As a thank you to my brother-in-law who saved my bacon this week, I put together a little care package of seeds that are appropriate to start righ...

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Greywater, the dump, and restoring my faith in humanity

June 05, 2020

This morning I had a strangely apocalyptic / optimistic trip to the dump with a load of the half-rotten pressure treated wood we pulled out of the ...

This Weekend: Thin Your Apples

May 29, 2020

If you have an apple tree, you probably have lots of baby apples beginning to form on your tree. Now is a good time to thin them, and this post shows you how.

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This Weekend: Irrigation Planning

May 22, 2020

This may seem like strange timing, with much of North America under flood watches at the moment, but now is a pretty good time to plan ahead for y...

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