Black beans

Everyone should grow black beans. I bought some "New York Grown" maybe organic black beans from the bulk section of the Co-Op this spring, and stuck them in the ground. They just grow. they like to climb on things...they don't require much effort. Each bean produces many many more beans. It is a bean investment. I can save some of these beans and plant them next season. I can eat the rest.

Guerilla Gardening Installation Art?

Guerilla gardening has become a fairly popular concept. It is this impromptu beneficial form of trespassing that was the precursor to many community garden programs. Nearly every DIY book nowadays has instructions for making seed bombs (soil balls filled with seeds for tossing somewhere you want the seeds to grow). This, however, brings together street art with guerilla gardening, which heretofore were fairly distinct forms.

Amazing!

Digging in the dirt: Good for your Soul?

While we were shoveling compost during my community garden work party, I gave up on my shovel and began grabbing the last piles of dirt with my hands. Rich black stuff, quality compost; you know the type. Someone asked me if I wanted gloves, and as I refused, another girl working on the same task said that she had heard somewhere something about touching dirt releasing serotonin. I really wanted this to be what she said. I really wanted her to have been serious about it, but I wasn't sure. I went home and looked up to see what I could find, and sure enough: a bacteria in the soil causes your brain to produce extra serotonin. So if you're ever feeling a little down, you should really get digging in the dirt. Plant your favorite vegetable. It is totally worth the effort.

Read the article.