It really feels like the thaw is for real, and little bulbs are up, so gardening's on my mind. Here's a list of books that are great reads for new gardeners and gardeners interested in going green outdoors. All have information useful for gardening in Calgary, even the ones whose authors live south of us.

1. All New Square foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. This revised classic focuses on intensive gardening of edibles in small spaces rather than long rows, and is perfect for city gardeners.

2. Eco Yards by Laureen Rama. If you want to go lawn-less in Calgary, this is your go-to guide with excellent information on feeding plants and soil organically.

3. Creating the Prairie Xeriscape by Sara Williams. The updated edition about water-conserving gardens is on order. This is a must-read for its lists of suitable plants.

4. Naturescape Alberta by Myrna Pearman covers a lot of ground and would be a great elementary school teacher resource. It focuses mainly on creating animal and insect habits and is full of information on how to attract birds, frogs, and more.

Feel free to list your eco gardening favorites by commenting. . .

Have you ever heard of global buckets? I hadn’t, until I was at an event at the Area, a great new community space in Inglewood. While a band played, and a campfire crackled, a friend took me over to a line of buckets, out of which grew various veggies. The neat thing about global buckets is that they require very little water, because they are irrigated from the bottom (less evaporation), and they are all connected with a tube, so all you have to do is water one bucket, and atmospheric pressure will ensure every bucket (and every plant) has water.

Check out the website by the two teenagers who thought up the idea, as a way to grow food cheaply and anywhere.

This Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Robert McWilliam, a local permaculture enthusiast will be hosting a free workshop on building Global Buckets at the Old Y Community Centre. Check it out, meet some new friends and enjoy the Old Y’s new backyard patio and garden! Email philip_mcc@hotmail.com for more details.

Learn how to garden affordably and using containers with these books:

The Small Budget Gardener: All the Dirt on Saving Money in Your Garden by Maureen Gilmer

Garden Anywhere: How to Grow Gorgeous Container Gardens, Herb Gardens, Kitchen Gardens, and more – Without Spending a Fortune by Alys Fowler

Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers by Edward C. Smith

Now that we can be reasonably hopeful of weather seasonal enough to allow things to grow, I have begun to obsess about my garden and all those green leaves I will throw into salads directly out of my back yard. Having a garden is a commitment, but it is also a great pleasure, and there is nothing more rewarding than eating food grown ten steps away from your own kitchen. Not every garden need be a waiting game for harvest either, my personal strategy is to plant a multitude of greens and herbs, which provided me with a continuous yield of goodies for the entire growing season.

If you have the space, and really want a garden, but are feeling a little daunted by the task, you might be interested in the Calgary duo known as Leaf & Lyre. These charming farm boys will use your prime garden space for SPIN (Small Plot INtensive) Gardening. In exchange for your land, and a beautiful yard full of food, Leaf & Lyre’s charge is 50% of the veggies they produce; that sounds like a good deal to me. Want more info? Check out this profile on the duo in FFWD.

If you are craving the daily dirt and delight of your own backyard plot, the Calgary Garden Coach is a nice little site that will help you get off on the right track. One of the staples of any garden is the compost pile, to figure out how to make one work head over to Composting Council of Canada for some tips and tutorials.

The beautiful thing about gardens is that they are lovely little ecosystems; with the proper use of composting, companion planting, and water management you can create a really amazing little world of your own, that goes far beyond the cosmetics of landscaping, and actually has the potential to improve the environment around you. If that sounds like your kind of heaven, Big Sky Permaculture offers a great array of courses on the subject, and while you are at it, why not give back to your local ecosystem, providing a home for some friendly pollinators through A.B.C. Apiaries and Bees for Communities.

If you dream of a garden but don’t have any space where you live, the Government of Alberta enthusiastically promotes involvement in Community Gardens, check out the Calgary Horticultural Society’s Community Gardens Resource Network.

When harvest time comes and you are wildly over-productive, or simply have a fruit tree you cannot keep up with, the Urban Harvest Project will lend a helping-hand picking, and putting your unused produce to good use.

If gardening is not your thing, but eating sustainably is, head over to Slow Food Calgary’s Local Food Directory, or the Alberta Farm Fresh Producers Association. If you would like to dine out, you might be interested in a new business initiative called L.E.A.F. (Leaders in Environmentally Accountable Foodservice). The Calgary-based business has developed a certification for sustainability in the food service industry, taking into account such things as waste and water management and support of local farmers and producers.

Happy growing and eating!

By Jennifer C.

I’ve never been squeamish around worms. In fact, I remember hauling a poor wiggler out of my worm bin during a party and regaling my guests with stories about my new pet. I’ve developed a mild case of Scoleciphobia, however, after reading the section on vermicomposting in Composting for Canada by Suzanne Lewis. The description of how worms mate, if you can call it that, was particularly disturbing.

That said this is one of the best books I’ve read on vermicomposting with clear, detailed instructions on everything from setting up and maintaining a bin to troubleshooting tips and information on worm pests and friends. The author has a decade's experience in educating Edmontonians about composting and waste reduction, so the book should be worth its ... dirt.

When I vermicomposted my worms suffered a mould infestation. According to Lewis, mould is simply another decomposer, and is not harmful to your bin. She says mould grows when food is left on the surface of the bedding instead of being worked in. Maybe the mould didn’t kill them after all; maybe I just forgot to feed them. I’m going to re-read it very carefully before I decide to try vermicomposting again.