Aroebe Gardens Blog

I dream of having a vast home garden where 70% of my produce will come from my garden. I dream of walking into a veggie garden with an orchard section and even having chickens. Right now, my husband and I do not live in our home, so we are limited in space.  Eventually, I will have the space and resources for that dream, but I am using the 10ft by 5ft space I have to grow and learn. I want to see how much I can grow in that space. I want to enjoy gardening now, experimenting and trying new things here and now without complaining about having this space or resources.  This is a reminder for you to enjoy your garden no matter how little your space is or how many plants you have growing. These little beginnings can help you develop simple garden routines, discover your strengths and likes, and build the capacity to manage a bigger garden. Happy Gardening!

Welcome back!  If you read part one and encountered some confusion, a better place to start that subject is answering the question of where seeds come from. For plants with fruits like apples or oranges, it is easy to answer that question. The apple seeds can be found in the apple fruit, and the orange seeds can be found in the orange fruit.  It is not as straightforward with leafy greens or root crops that have no fruits. The key to the answer for these types of plants is the flowers. Plants need flowers to make seeds. In fruit-producing plants like apples and oranges mentioned earlier they need the flowers to produce fruits that produce seeds. Let us take lettuce as an example. It is a leafy green that has no fruits. You can eat all the leaves; many are cut right from the base of the plant. Let your lettuce plant continue growing till it begins to produce flowers. You will eventually be able to save the seeds produced from the harvest. Is this clearer? I would love to hear what you t

Seed saving is simply collecting seeds for the purpose of replanting them. Seeds are collected from already grown plants that have  gone to seed .  Gone to seed  is agricultural lingo for letting your plant produce flowers, begin to lose their petals, and produce seeds.  Letting your plant go to seed should only be encouraged after you have harvested all the edible parts you desire. Once a plant starts flowering, its energy becomes more focused on growing those flowers, and if that process remains undisturbed, it will begin to produce seeds.  Saving seeds was a way of allowing the regrowing of plants with desirable qualities. For home gardeners, it will enable you to build a seed collection of plants with various desirable qualities previously grown in your garden.  If you have a small garden with only a few of each type of plant, an excellent place to start would be to assign one of your plants as your seed-saving plant. You can leave that one to seed and then save your seeds.  This i

 As the seasons change, the amount of sunlight available in different locations changes. It is helpful to consider this change and how it may be beneficial for your plants or detrimental for your plants. Its effects are based on the plant's needs, growth phase, and planting location.  In a previous blog post, I spoke about the skill of observation, which you will need to properly understand the effects seasonal changes may or may not have on your plants.  You want to ask yourself, are there changes I need to make because of seasonal effects on my garden? If there are, you can start considering what to do We will discuss this subject in a later blog post, but this should help us get started. Happy Gardening!

  Gardening like many other things require that you do a little bit every day to reach the goal. Here is a simple encouragement for you to keep at it and not give up. Happy Gardening!

 According to Oxford dictionary, observing means to notice or perceive something and register it as being significant. One of the greatest skills a successful gardener has is observing his/her garden and taking note of little and significant changes. In a garden, there are tons of things to observe.  What do you need to observe in the garden? Everything! For some helpful pointers, you want to focus on the soil and plant parts like leaves, stems, fruits, etc. As you observe them, you want to take note of their color, size, presence of damage, intrusions, wanted visitors, and presence of moisture. As a side note, for any parents out there, while working with kids, I have seen that this is a fun way of getting them involved in the garden.  With time, you will not need to go through this list to remember these things; they will become instinctive. Once you notice these things, you can make an informed decision of what to do next. If you see something that you do not recognize, there is a v

I fail to remember when I first encountered the word "Weed". I am sure it was somewhere in my science class in primary school when we were first introduced to plants.  I remember that through my years in primary and secondary school, weeds were the problem farmers did their best to eliminate. They were not something desired or wanted.  Fast forward to November 2022. I had started a great job as a garden educator. This job gave me the opportunity to meet with children of different backgrounds and teach them about gardening.  On this day of classes, I had a second-grade class come to the garden for their lessons. The topic of the day was, you guessed it, weeds!  This is a moment I will never forget. Pardon me as I tell this portion with as many details as I can remember. About 10 kids sat around the garden bed on their knee pads. Some were excited to be outdoors, but some were distracted by a bug or a butterfly. I began to ask them who had heard of the word weed or weeding. In

Water is one of the most essential things a plant needs to grow. Just like humans who drink water based on their needs and seasons, plants have different needs in different seasons. As you grow your garden, one thing you learn from reading and experience is how much water your plants need. Some herbs may need less water than some other plants. Overwatering them can lead to problems. It is, therefore, essential, especially if you water with a hose or watering can, to take note of how much water you are giving your plants. This is also important in container gardens as the soil may dry out faster than growing directly in the ground or even in a much larger garden bed. If you have an automatic watering system, turning it off may be helpful if you have a few days of continuous rain to avoid overwatering. As you think of the water needs of your plants, think in terms of plant size, conditions, seasons, and growing style. Happy Gardening!

One some days showing up to care for your garden may take only a few minutes with little effort.  Today was that day for me. Showing up looked like positioning my grow bags to get maximum water from the rains as it poured today. It took less than 2mins but it was all I had today. It was enough. You may not always be able to put in the minutes or hours in your garden but you can do something, no matter how little. What does showing up today look like for you? Happy Gardening!

If you already have a garden or a home, you know what it is like when a simple problem seems to take over your garden or home.  Recently, I noticed a weird-looking thing in one of my garden bags with rosemary herbs growing in it. I noticed it many weeks ago, but I assumed it would go away by itself. I should have done the research to check what it was and what its effects were. Fast forward to late last week, I decided to look at it. To my surprise, it had almost completely covered the soil all around the rosemary plant. I did a little Google image search to find out what it is. Turns out it is called bird's nest fungi that acts as a decomposer. It comes out when a plant is dying or decomposing. Overwatering and being in a shaded area for too long cause it to grow and spread quickly. The two major things that caused it could have been dealt with! I only needed to water less and move this particular garden bag into a more sunny area. At this point, I will probably need to replace th

 There is a popular quote that says  "The best time to start was yesterday, the next best time is today." - Unknown. In every single area of life, this is such a true saying. We often find ourselves spending time calculating how long it will take, in this case, for the plant to produce fruit, or leaves to fully grow. We forget that no matter how many times we look up the information on how long it takes, and calculate that time from our today, that future time will still come.  For example, you want to have fresh lettuce and kale by January, and you calculate how long it could take to grow, let's say its about 60days to get both. If you do not start today, 60 days from now you will check again and it will still be the same 60 days only that you still will not have the lettuce and kale you have dreamt of harvesting.  Here's a reminder that you can start that new seed today, start the habit today, make that move today, book a consultation for your dream garden today, et

  Welcome to the Aroebe Gardens Blog This blog will take you on a journey with me, Itohan, to start, grow and enjoy your edible home garden. It will also contain updates on Aroebe Gardens services and products as we progress. Subscribers will receive great snippets of the blog posts as newsletters.  I will share some updates from my personal garden, and my thoughts on bigger food sustainability issues. I hope you enjoy every blog post! Today, I want to share 10 crops that grow well in temperatures 50F to 70F. Please note that if you are in warmer climates you can grow some of these and many others. 1. Lettuce 2. Arugula 3. Kale 4. Rosemary 5. Onions 6. Beets 7. Carrots 8. Peas  9. Cauliflower 10. Broccoli This list is not exhaustive but it is a great place to start. If you do not already have a home garden, it's a great day to set up a consultation using this link . Here's to your thriving edible garden!