July 2017 Newsletter

Organic Gardening Tips for an Abundant Harvest

Welcome to the July Newsletter. Lots of quick tips to get you thinking about the food you eat and grow.

This month, I’m sharing another quick ‘How To’ video in my Sow Simple series of free tutorials to help you grow and use food wisely in just minutes. Dig in and help others by sharing these tips!

Clean out the Fridge Soup

In this quick video lesson, I share an easy way to use up small quantities of vegetables, herbs and spices in your fridge.  I call it my ‘Clean out the Fridge’ Soup – a simple idea for using up leftovers! Recipe below – I hope you enjoy it.

Link

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

Vegetable Leftovers Soup Recipe

Click to print, share and save this recipe!

How to Use Compost + 7 Benefits of Composting

Many of the problems gardeners have with their plants are caused because of poor soil. Plants are often ‘hungry’ or ‘thirsty’ and suffer ill health as a result! When you improve the quality of your soil, your plants automatically benefit.

Compost is one of the easiest ways to help you resolve these issues. In my latest article, I share 4 easy ways to use compost to grow healthier plants and boost the quality of your garden soil. Compost will help you save money on expensive fertilisers and reduce the amount of water you use too. That’s something to smile about. 🙂

I also give you 7 powerful reasons why composting should be on your gardening ‘to do’ list.  CLICK HERE to read now.

Reduce Your Kitchen Waste

Think about how much food you eat in an average week. What happens to the food scraps? Like peelings, stalks, seeds, outer leaves, roots and inedible bits.

What do you do with food scraps?

One option is to regrow more free food from some of the leftovers. Another is to feed to pets, chickens or your worm farm.

What about spoiled food in your fridge or pantry? I call them UFO’s (Unidentified Food Objects)! In your house, do these squishy or furry foods get binned or recycled to avoid waste? Old food may look a bit yucky, but these ‘science experiments’ as my husband calls them, are nature’s way of decomposing into nutrient-rich plant food. It’s just the lens you look through!

“When plants die, they’re recycled into basic elements [by the biota in the soil] and become a part of new plants. It’s a closed cycle. There is no bio-waste.” — Alice Friedemann

According to FoodWise foodwise.com.au in Australia, “Up to 40% of the average household bin is food.” Around 345kg or $1000 worth of food is thrown into landfill annually, producing harmful greenhouse gases. It’s pretty similar in other countries too. When binned, the water, fuel and resources it took to get the food from paddock to plate is also wasted. That’s a huge amount of organic matter ending up in garbage, that could be used to grow a healthy garden.

I hate waste. I try to see the embodied value in materials and look for sustainable options to repurpose and reuse whenever possible. Simple habits can make a difference.

3 Quick Ways to Preserve Food

One of the easiest ways to reduce waste is to only buy what you need. Ideally, grow as many of your own foods as possible, so you only harvest what you want. Menu plan around fresh ingredients from your garden and use up food before buying more.

I create meals from daily harvests of colourful fresh ingredients from my garden

Check your fridge weekly. I have a drawer for salad ingredients, one for vegetables and another for fruit. I can quickly see what I have left and menu plan around them. Here are a few quick tips to store food rather than waste it:

1. Herbs: Collect any unused herbs and hang to dry. Or put on a tray in a low oven until crisp. Store your dried herbs in clean jars. This helps preserve the nutrients and flavour.

When herbs are air dried in a sheltered warm spot, they will become crisp and easy to crumble into a jar for storage.

2. Vegetables: Chop any leftover vegetables and freeze. I use these as the base for my dog’s vegetable soup or to make my own vegetable stock.

3. Fruit: Not going to use up all your fruit? Try slicing leftover pears, apples, citrus and bananas thinly. Dry in your oven until they are like ‘fruit leather’. Enjoy as quick dried fruit snacks.

Leaving skin on your apples when drying saves prep time and is also nutritious if organic.

What are your tips for avoiding food waste? Share in the comments!

“The preservation of health is easier than the cure for disease.” – BJ Palmer

Affiliate Links: Your support of this site is appreciated!

If you missed the tips in my last newsletter, CLICK HERE. For all past newsletters, CLICK HERE.

Missed an Article?

There are a wealth of tips & techniques, DIY projects, container gardening and inspiring ideas in my free Online Library.

Follow me on Social Media …

If you haven’t already, I invite you to join me online:

Please SHARE these tips with your friends and invite them to join my newsletter too.

Thanks for reading! Until next time, I encourage you to embrace dirty fingernails, muddy boots and the joys of growing your own.

I look forward to sharing more ways to grow good health soon.

Happy gardening,

Anne Gibson, The Micro Gardener

P.S. I really value your opinion. I’d love to hear your feedback anytime. Leave a comment below or CONTACT ME!

Like this article?

Please share and encourage your friends to join my free Newsletter for exclusive insights, tips and all future articles.

© Copyright Anne Gibson, The Micro Gardener 2017. https://themicrogardener.com. All rights reserved.

Some links within this newsletter are affiliate links. I only recommend products or services I use personally or believe will add value to my readers. If you purchase a product via an affiliate link, I will earn a small commission. There is no additional cost to you. It’s a way you can support my site, so it’s a win-win for both of us. You directly support my ability to continue bringing you original, inspiring and educational content to help benefit your health. Thanks! Please read my Disclosure Statement for more details.