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AVANT-GARDENING: CREATIVE ORGANIC GARDENING Welcome !  " You Can Grow "

"Confronted with the vision of a beautiful garden,
we see something beautiful about ourselves..."
Jeff Cox

GIANNANGELO FARMS SOUTHWEST


Thirty plus years of organic gardening experience is a pleasure to pass on. It is challenging to explain our connection to the earth and her beauty. For us, it is an expression of Truth, Beauty and Goodness. Truth - discovering predictable patterns and laws of the universe, working with the cause and effect of our actions; Beauty - always seeking its perfect expresssion ; and Goodness - sharing our bounty.

We are heading into "retirement," and a narrowing of our focus to expanding the information on our website, creating a few small gardens around our new Hogan, answering your questions, hearing your suggestions, and giving our series of how-to workshops in the spring and early summer.

Gardening near El Morro National Monument in Northwestern New Mexico is a challenging affair with a high altitude (7300') desert environment, a short growing season, erratic spring winds, and a remarkable range of temperatures. These conditions required a great deal of innovation, planning, knowledge, and persistence.

Our perennial gardens are planted in a clay-based soil which helps hold water, and with a good layer of mulch, everything thrives. Culinary herbs, hardy succulents, sedums, and rhubarb grow among native wildflowers mixed in with the annual and perennial flowers for bouquets. Pinon pine and juniper trees provide needed shade, and years of dropped needles have broken down and made a rich humus and fertile soil for the plants nestled beneath them. A rock garden is interspersed with artifacts, metal objects, trinkets, objects d'art.

In the spring we plant lettuce, spinach, chard, and kale inside the GreenzBox, a self-contained raised bed growing box covered with shade cloth, and vegetable beds are planted with Chardonnay carrots, Detroit and Cylindra beets, Evergreen bunching onions, yellow onions, and asparagus.

Other beds are for Zuni and summer squash, their long vines trailing down a slope. Tomatoes were grown in containers on our front porch, where the warmth of the Hogan keeps temperatures a bit more consistent. In another raised bed, Cucumbers and butternut squash were trellised on hog wire, keeping them off the ground. Behind them, a coyote fence that supported scarlet runner beans and shelling peas.


Flat rocks stacked 20 inches high make a platform for bird and chipmunk feeders. Spaces left between the rocks allow chipmunks to crawl in and out and hide from our cats. Some of the birds we see are House finches, Nuthatches, Pine Siskins, Sparrows, Eastern and Mountain Bluebirds, Buntings, Mourning Doves, Flickers, Flycatchers, Juncos, Scrub Jays, Pinon Jays, Goldfinches, Mockingbirds, Meadowlarks, Lazuli Buntings, Grosbeaks, and Rufus-sided Towhees.

Chipmunks sit in the feeders shelling black oil sunflower seeds, stuffing their little cheeks. We notice clumps of sunflowers germinating where a chipmunk buried them, and when they have sprouted, they eat them too.

Everything we plant is designed to benefit all wildlife - birds, frogs, toads, chipmunks, squirrels, butterflies, moths, bees, and beneficial insects. Large goldfish live in a rock-lined pond with a built-in waterfall. A small pump re-circulates the water and the sound attracts more birds than the seed we feed them. We watch chipmunks drinking water at the pond and birds bathe beside the waterfall.

Sustainable Organic Gardening

"The Acts of Today are the Destiny of Tomorrow."



What is Sustainable Organic Gardening? Soil Building - Lots of basic organic gardening information.
NEW! - Seed Starting Guide When and how to start seeds indoors, and when to plant them outside.
Garden Pests and Organic Control How to recognize those garden pests and control them organically and sustainably!
The "Greenzbox" ™   -   Promoting a Gardening Community The ultimate gardening solution - build one yourself with our free plans - a simple 4' x 8' (32 square feet) raised bed garden based on the principles of bio-intensive planting and square foot gardening that uses fewer nutrients and less water, and could keep a family, or community, supplied with an abundance of healthy, nutritious organic greens, while promoting a more sustainable way of living.

Giannangelo Farms Workshops SPRING/SUMMER WORKSHOPS The Greenzbox™; Sustainable Organic Gardening; Rockwork; Strawbale Walls; and Labyrinths.
Composting for Sustainable Organic Gardening Composting is the ultimate recycling process and the key to sustainability. Improving soil structure, increasing the soils ability to hold moisture,
providing soil aeration, fertilization, and nitrogen storage. Compost
buffers pH, releases nutrients, and provides food for microbial life.
Companion and Bio-Intensive Planting How to maximize the symbiotic and chemical
relationships between plants.
Genetic Engineering and Biodiversity Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson states in
his book 'The Diversity of Life' that we have only identified about 10% of
the species on our planet. Knowing so little about our world,
why are we in such a hurry to alter it?




Botany Basics Basic botany, simplified.
Xeriscape Xeriscaping is landscaping with slow-growing, drought tolerant plants, creating colorful,
beautiful, perennial gardens in which plants are maintained with
water-efficient practices, and heavy mulching.
Permaculture Principles A diverse, complex ecosystem, where the all of the elements interact in mutually beneficial ways to produce a whole which is greater than the sum of its parts.
Creative Garden Design When surrounded by a planned physical beauty, plants will respond to the garden's aesthetics.
Labyrinths A metaphor of life's journey, a pattern that creates a symbolic space. In our labyrinth, the path leads its way into the center of a concentric pattern of seven circles reflecting
fact (physical), idea (mental), and relation (spiritual).

New Mexico's Wildflowers, Plants, Trees, and Wildlife Our high altitude desert area exhibits low precipitation, low night temperatures, strong spring winds, high day temperatures, (anywhere from 20 - 80 degrees in the spring months, 50 - 95 during the summer months, and -20 to 50 in the winter months) and sandy alkaline soil. Even under such harsh conditions, spectacular annuals and perennials bloom. These are photos of plants, trees, and wildlife that we have seen in our area.



Monthly Newsletter "Avant-Gardening Tid-Bytes" Sign up and receive our monthly e-mail newsletter featuring insights into the creative and spiritual aspects of organic gardening, sustainability, and community.
"Tid-Byte Insights" All of the back issues of "Avant-Gardening Tid-Bytes" since 2001 - Soon to be part of our new book  "Growing with the Seasons" which will be published in New Mexico by Sunstone Press in Santa Fe and available in summer 2008!

Virtual Tours "One picture is worth 1000 words" Virtually visit our New Mexico gardens and the surrounding environment
nestled within New Mexico's beautiful 7,300' high mountain desert
Photo Tour I Former Home and Gardens, Building a Straw Bale Wall, Formal Tea Garden, Vegetable, Herb, and Flower Gardens
Photo Tour II Rescued Cats and Kittens, Pets, New Mexico Wildflowers and Wildlife, and Unique Ridges and Rock Formations
Photo Tour III Winter in New Mexico, Native Trees and Shrubs, The World Around Us
Photo Tour IV Hand Building a Hogan Home, Perennial Herb and Vegetable Gardens, Birds and Feeders,
a Kiva Fire Pit, and a Goldfish Pond
Hardiness Zone Map and First and Last Frost Dates Use this map as a general reference when determining what garden and landscape plants will survive the climate in your area. First and last frost dates, and frost and freeze definitions.
"You Can Grow" Organic Gardening CD Extensive Sustainable Organic Gardening Information, Planting Techniques and Garden Design, Inspirational Sayings, Quotes, Poems, Photos, An Introduction to Avant-Gardening, a compilation of Seasonal Essays, and more!
Organic Plants, Seeds, Foods, and Supplies Herb, Flower, and Vegetable Seeds, Bulbs, Trees and Shrubs, Soil and Nutrients, Gourmet Foods, Baby Foods, Grocery Items, Clothing, Personal Care, Cleaning Supplies, Pet Foods, and more!
Gardening Books Gardening & Horticulture, Sustainable Living, Greenhouses, Japanese Gardens, Landscaping and Garden Design, Animal and Pet Care, Home and Garden, Gardening Techniques, Regional Gardening
Gardening Supplies Backyard Birding, Garden Tools, Water Garden and Pond Supplies, Garden Decor, Patio Furniture, Grills, Hammocks, Outdoor Products and Supplies
Resources and Links Web sites with abundant educational information about organic gardening,
sustainable growing techniques, and links to many other helpful sites

PROMOTING A GARDENING COMMUNITY A garden is more than just a means of providing food, it is a model of what is possible in a community. Everyone could have a some kind of a garden and grow healthy, nutritious organic food - thereby promoting a more sustainable way of living, encouraging a local economy via a farmers market creating an arena to discuss gardening experiences, sell their extra produce, and share the bounty. Since most of the nation's food is produced by less than 2% of the population, by using this organic bio-intensive mini-gardening method, everyone could be part of the solution. We nurture ourselves as we nurture our gardens, renewing our connection with the earth and her beauty, thereby reducing stress on the world's finite resources, and strengthening our community as a whole in the process. Without community we can be overwhelmed by forces that seem outside our control - we can pool our enthusiasm, our resources, our knowledge, and, together, we can grow. We hope that you enjoy the gardening information gleaned from years of experience, and we wish you many days of enjoyable, successful, and sustainable, organic gardening! "You Can Grow"!

New! BLOG: add your comments - read the comments of others "YOU CAN GROW" - organic gardens, community, and sustainability Live RSS Feeds: Google News, World Vision; PBS Nature, U-Tube streaming videos, garden slide show.

Watch Frans Lanting's - A lyrical view of life on Earth

TED - Technology, Entertainment, Design - an annual conference bringing together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives - watch the best talks and performances, for free! Join TED - create a profile page, contact other members, comment on the individual talks, save items to your favorites, and more.

"The more contemplative gardener, seeing the garden as a whole, the design of it, and its nature as a still place of delight and refreshment, will wait and hope for the moment when it seems to achieve perfection. Awareness of when such moments are most likely helps to make them happen; they will not be entirely accidental, but anticipated; everything will be planned to encourage them." Susan Hill and Rory Stuart, Reflections from a Garden, 1995

Rural New Mexico paradise! For Information:  Expansive View - Hilltop land for sale by Giannangelo Farms Southwest

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"Go to the people, Live among them, Learn from them, Plan with them, Work with them, Start with what they know, Build on what they have, Teach by showing, Learn by doing, Not a showcase, But a pattern, Not odds and ends but a system, Not to conform but to transform, Not relief but release." The Credo of Rural Reconstruction, developed by Dr. Y.C. James Yen

         

Website designed and maintained by Giannangelo Farms Southwest Feedback? Comments, questions, suggestions? contact us Created by Frank and Vicky Giannangelo, copyright (c) 2001-2008 by Giannangelo Farms Southwest

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Organic Products    Gardening Books   General Gardening Supplies Home Page    Sitemap    Botany Basics    "You Can Grow!" Workshops    Composting    Soil Building Hardiness Zone Map   WebRings    "You Can Grow" CD's   "Tid-Bytes" Insights   Garden Pests & Organic Controls Biodiversity and Genetic Engineering    New Mexico    Companion & Intensive Planting     Permaculture Labyrinths    Free E-Letter    Xeriscape     Photo Tour I    Photo Tour II    Photo Tour III    Photo Tour IV About Us    Seed Starting Guide    Creative Garden Design    The Greenzbox    Recommend This Site    Resources & Links

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