Why not spend this 30 mins per day gardening?

Most people get bored walking or using exercise equipment. What better way to get your exercise in than getting your hands dirty in some soil and getting some gardening done, the fun way. Working out shouldn’t be a chore. If only we could all find that special task we love doing that allows us to workout and reap the health benefits. Gardening is the answer.

Spring is here(in the northern hemisphere) and people everywhere are getting back to their gardens.

Experts say whether you’re planting lilacs, squash or roses, when it comes to the fitness benefits of all that pulling, digging, mulching and mowing, you’ll reap what you sow.

“You get exercise whether you’re mowing the lawn or planting a flower garden,” said Bruce Butterfield, market research director of the non-profit National Gardening Association.

The effort involved in planting a garden (including standing, stooping, kneeling, watering and weeding), can burn more than 300 calories an hour, according to the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health and Fitness Journal.

Last year about 68 per cent of all U.S. households participated in one or more types of do-it-yourself lawn and garden activities, according to a national Harris Poll conducted by the NGA.

“That’s about 80 million households,” Mr. Butterfield said.

And a 2009 poll found that of those, 38 per cent gave gardening a green thumbs up as a great form of exercise.

In the United States, the average time spent on gardening activities is 3.4 hours a week for each gardening household, according to the NGA, which considers a household to be 2.5 people.

Thats about 30 minutes per day. Exactly what the doctor ordered. That will lower your mortality risk by 50% according to Dr. Steven Blair as mentioned in the introduction.

So get gardening and enjoy your workout. We would love to hear your thought on your experience in improving your health while spending more time doing what you love.

[Ed. Note. Portions of this article and research has been assisted by a great website called http://www.theglobeandmail.com. You can see the original article here, and also some of their other great information and news they kindly share on a daily basis]

- GGF

Hydroponic Farming in the Philippines Maximizes Yield At a Minimum Cost

Ben Gruber, Reuters.

In the Manila suburb of Twinville, the local vegetable market is bustling. On sale today: hydroponic lettuce. One of several vegetables locally grown using a new and inexpensive system developed by researchers at the University of the Philippines.

Hydroponics is a growing method that uses dissolved nutrient solutions in water without soil for plant absorption. The researchers say they started experimenting with hydroponic systems because they require much less space than traditional farming – making it ideal for poorer farmers with little land.

The university’s Eureka Ocampo says their system is extremely user-friendy. “It’s actually formulated in such a manner that the farmer or anybody who wants to try hydroponics does not have to watch out if there are any sudden changes in the PH that would cause a decrease in the plant growth.” explains Eureka Ocampo.

Researcher Primitivo Santos says that skyrocketing food prices, have made locally grown crops increasingly popular. He says that by using their hydroponic technology, small farmers can grow food even in dry spells. “If time will come when there’s severe water shortage, at least we have a system where we can plant and grow crops with little water.” says University of the Philippines Envirnmental researcher Primitivo Santaos.

In Twinville, the hydroponics programme has been so successful that the community makes a profit selling surplus crops. Homeowner Association President, Sunny Padaguan, says aside from the money, the systems has other benefits. “Aside from not using insecticides, we are sure that the vegetables do not have salmonella, amoeba and heavy metals. That is the big difference between a lettuce grown on the ground and lettuce grown using our system, the hydroponics.” Explains Twinville Subvision Homeowners Association president Sunny Paguduan.

The Philippines government has taken notice of Twinvilles’ success. They plan to begin similar hydroponic programmes in other parts of the country soon.

The Ultimate Plant Cage has taken many forms from the day the idea was crafted into its initial form. It all started about 8 years ago when the founder of Global Garden Friends, Michael Donaldson, recognized an opportunity in the midst of his friends garden. What he witnessed was an arrangement of tomato and pepper plants that were producing large, healthy yields on the perimeter but were extremely bare on the inside, with dead leaves and not as much growth as the rest of the plant. Reflecting back on his vast experiences in a variety of gardens throughout his life he then realized that this was a reoccurring problem. It’s something he also saw growing up helping his mother in the garden. So, instead of accepting this problem as a norm and moving on, this born entrepreneur saw it as an opportunity.

Mike hit the ground running! His first step was to understand why these plants refused to grow within and produced only on the perimeter. “Simple enough,” he said. “These plants are not getting the required sunlight and air flow within to enable this growth. So how can I manipulate the plant in a way which will allow for these essential elements? I need a support that holds the plant almost like a hand that, when secured to the plant, can open up the branches moving the larger leafs away from each other to allow the suns rays to penetrate the roots.”

Taking An Idea And Creating A Product

He was determined to create something out of nothing. The first cage was produced in his garage using scraps that were laying around. He used plastic PVC pipes as the legs and secured it with electrical tape to the ridged base. Mike thought this was the answer! His friends and family thought otherwise. So, back to the drawing board he went.

Mike then visited the local junk yard in Windsor, California. There he gathered the necessary steel pieces to bring his vision to life. Luckily, a good friend allowed Mike access to a welding machine to bend and shape these pieces into cage #1 that you see in the picture. He slid the PVC pipes on and viola! The next few months were spent in this garage manufacturing around 100 or so. Enough for himself to use and share with friends.

Research And Development

The feed back was tremendous. This was seen as the first stage of research and development of the cage where the feedback was used to get to the next iteration as you can see in the picture. This cage actually worked, he thought. “So, what is the next step here? Do I stop and enjoy the few hundred that I have now created or do I reach higher? “ Again, as a natural entrepreneur who spots profit opportunities in areas the others do not, and with the desire to help others, he decided on the latter.

Evolution Of The Ultimate Plant Cage

Protecting An Idea

Next step, secure a patent. Mike seeked out one of the most prominent patent attorneys in the county, Risto Rinne. Risto crafted and sent an order for the patent of Mike’s design in both the US and international. If it would work for us here in the US then will certainly work for the international markets. The global economy was now Mike’s playground. It was up to him to share the concept worldwide. Before these patents Global Garden Friends was just going to be called “Garden Friends”. The idea of going sharing a product internationally was an exciting one to Mike so the word “Global” was attached to the name. This created a guiding hand to the companies future plans, even though Mike had no idea how to go “global” at the time. “At the time I thought if I put ‘Global’ in the name I would figure out the rest later”.

As the patents were processing, Mike knew that his basic design was secured but the actual product needed much more improvement if it were to be distributed internationally. Luckily, Mike stumbled across a young and extremely talented engineer based in Berkeley, Misha Young, who was eager to get to work. Both Misha and Mike communicated constantly in the following months going back and forth on subjects such as materials and functionality. You can see the results of these communications and subsequent prototypes in the picture.

The Long Process

Sometimes in life you get involved in something without knowing what really is involved. Your passion overrides your ability to see forward, and you take part regardless of the obstacles ahead. You believe you will figure them out and you underestimate the commitment required or the time it takes to follow through. That was the same case here with figuring out how to take an idea, create a product, and build a business around it. Mike calculates that the Cage went through 9-10 iterations and changes. Some small, some more substantial but none the less, the changes took place over a 6-12 month period. Hard work and persistence payed off in the end, resulting in the Ultimate Plant Cage that you see today. Finally with a product he was proud of came the time to sell, and take all the hard work and investment put in and get the product to market. Although that story will have to wait for another day. (Coming soon, “How To Take A Product The Mold To The Market”.)

Over here at Global Garden Friends we wouldn’t go as far to call Mike “picky” but we can all agree that he has strong opinions as to what is a quality product and what is not. The Ultimate Plant Cage is a great product but Mike being Mike we understand that improvements will inevitably be made. What is next we have no idea, but we are all excited to see where his wild imagination takes us.

Click Here to see the Ultimate Plant Cage in action on video, and you can grab one in the store to try one for yourself

Let the good times grow!

- GGF

Recently the U.S. Department of Agriculture has, for the first time since 1990, changed growing seasons and zones for California’s microclimates. Click here to see for yourself. It shows you a “Plant Hardiness Zone Map”, and it’s a great help. It will help you decide on your planting schedule and give you a good idea of the changing climate and how it affects your gardening in relation to when you would normally plant.

“Now the zones have shifted northward.” The article stated. “The new map shows that in much of the country, winters aren’t as cold as they used to be, and spring planting comes earlier.” Now’s the time to plant fruits and veggies, like tomatoes and watermelon, according to the map.

It’s the smart play to be sure your planting things at the right time or be at the mercy of the weather. Another way to hedge against the weather is to move your gardening indoors as many people are doing nowadays. We’ve talked before about why to move some of your gardening indoors in our article titled, 5 reasons to grow indoors. But today we want to share the how. We found this great article, which will help you get started in getting your first indoor grow room going. It breaks down the basics and will give you an idea of what to do. Click here to give it a read.

That’s all for today folks. Don’t forget to let the good times grow!

- GGF

P.s, Don’t forget to check out the store to get the “Ultimate” in plant support. We’re helping to create order out of chaos one plant at at time

 If you an aspiring inventor or just want to get a bit of an inside scoop of developing a product from an idea to a point where you can sell it, you might enjoy these 5 answers our founder Michael Donaldson is sharing with us today.

1.    What was your inspiration to create the “Ultimate Plant Cage”?

I’ve been gardening with my mother since I was a young boy so I had her in mind when I came up with the original concept. My inspiration was I wanted to make a plant support that would allow a gardener to train a plant and open a plant up while training it to grow more fruit on the lower branches. Also, I wanted something that would work with flowers like orchids because I thought it would look nicer to have up to 6 orchids in one pot instead of just one.

2. How long did it take you to get from the idea to a prototype or working model?

I made a prototype right away out of stainless steel and tested other materials. After using these for a few years, effectively my “research and development” phase I was then was confident I had a winner and had something to bring to the market place that would help other people. I then went through many stages of different materials and figuring out it would be best in plastic and did testing and re testing, and then more testing. It was a long process! All in all it took me about 5 years from initial idea to a product you see in stores.

3. What were the biggest challenges in getting your product to a level that you were proud to sell?

The biggest challenges were the materials and manufacturing. Trying to figure out which material would be the best for the end consumer was definitely a challenge. I also wanted to keep it a recyclable product after many years of use, and not add to the world’s pollution issues. Figuring out the manufacturing process and creating a cost effective solution to have a product which can be produced for the masses, yet is still affordable to the end user.

4. What was your biggest lesson learned in bringing a product to the masses?

My biggest lesson has been that bringing a product to market on this level takes a great team of experts in their fields. From designers, to mold makers, manufacturers,etc. There is no way you can do it yourself. So you must be persistent! This trait is the most important value you can have when starting from scratch.

5. Any final words of advice for fellow innovators or inventors that are just starting out?

Make sure they have lots of passion for whatever they are trying to invent or manufacture. Once again without persistence you will not last long. The countless phone calls, and back and forth communication mixed in with the constant learning of processes that are usually new to someone starting out can be quite draining. You must really want it and be able to push through hard times to come out with a product you can be proud of. Even once you have something to be proud of you then need to sell it! After all, you need to make money right? Persistency will then help you figure out the next step in the process and learn how to build a team about around a product and then do the marketing, sales, customer service, etc, that it takes to have a winning product.

The Dervaes Family

Today I would like to do something a little bit different. I would like to share with you a story, and a very cool one at that…

In a town located north of Los Angeles called Pasadena you will find the Dervaes family. They might seem like your normal family at first until you realize that on their small property located amongst the hustle and bustle of the city and right near the freeway that they are actually producing and providing all the vegetables and food they need to survive. They actually produce so much that they are able to sell off the excess to the local restaurants and caterers. They produce around 6,000 pounds(3 tons) of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs per year. Now, thats what I call impressive!

I know a lot of us talk about this dream of how great it would be to be growing our own food for our families to save money and so that we can know where our food comes and ensure its safe to eat. But the Dervaes family is actually doing it! And, they’ve been doing it for a while now. Since the 1985, Mr. Jules Dervaes and his three adult children, Anaïs, Justin, and Jordanne, have steadily worked at transforming their ordinary city lot in Pasadena, California, into a thriving organic garden that supplies them with food all year round. The family also runs a successful business, Dervaes Gardens, providing fresh produce to local, high-end restaurants and caterers.

In 2001, the family began an impromptu journal on their website, PathtoFreedom.com–the first, largest, and most comprehensive Urban Homesteading website. By documenting and freely sharing the steps they have taken towards a self-sufficient life, the Dervaeses have inspired millions of readers to pursue a sustainable future and have generated a 21st century Urban Homesteading movement.

He and his family produced a short, award-winning documentary about their project, Homegrown Revolution, which was shown at film festivals around the world. Clips from the film were featured on Oprah’s Earth Day 2009 special.

This aerial view give you an idea of how their property location.

Mr. Dervaes and his family have been the subject of numerous articles in newspapers and magazines worldwide, including The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Mother Earth News, Telegraph Magazine (U.K.), The Times of India and FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), and have been featured on ABC’s Nightline, CNN, Sundance Channel and Food Network. Mr. Dervaes is a sought-after speaker on a wide variety of topics related to the Urban Homesteading movement and pressing environmental issues.

Jules Dervaes and his family have earned tremendous credibility because they are really living—and defining by DOING—the urban homesteading lifestyle. They do not just talk about it or write about it. They show it. As a result, there is a palpable energy that people pick up, online and in their film or other media pieces, but especially in person. The family touches people in profound ways that are very real and that bring about significant change.

They have proven what you can do with a small space. It really is possible to have your own small garden and at the very least you will be able to start producing food for your family. This is the way of the future and we can already see the trend developing with more and more people producing their own foods instead of relying on the super market and not wondering where their foods are actually coming from.

For all those people out there who feel like this is something you’ve wanted to do you should just start small and use the Dervaes family as your inspiration!

They have an awesome website where you can learn more and become inspired to take action, just check out urbanhomestead.org for more information. Or, to get started on your very own urban homestead click here.

Let the good times grow!

- Global Garden Friends

The idea of clock building is very similar to the popular adage that most people have heard. “Give a man a fish, feed him for one day. Teach a man how to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” -Author Unknown-. Simple but very powerful.

We have found this simple strategy helps eliminate unnecessary conversations, document sharing, repetitious teaching, and the list goes on. Just today I think we implemented 2 different clock building techniques. They may have been small but they will serve their purpose in the coming months. Oh you said that you want to hear about one of these? Okay, okay, I’ll share one.

We have a couple young individuals in our shipping department who, at the moment, are entering and exiting at spontaneous times. Communicating with both of them is rather difficult. So today we needed a few sample packages sent to various individuals boxed and ready for shipment ASAP. Only problem is they didn’t know exactly what came in the sample box. My first instinct was to simply tell one of them what a sample box consisted of, right? Well not exactly. What I did was type out Word document in large bold letters listing exactly what came in a sample box. Took it upstairs to the shipping department and pasted it on their wall. Easy. Now they don’t have to ask me again if they happen to forget and they don’t have to pass this information on to the other shipping employee. Once it’s up there, it has been resolved and we can all move on.

In the book Built to Last, Jim Collins demonstrates the importance of clock building by comparing two companies in direct competition. One who follows clock building strategies and the other who fails to understand.

In this case, Sam Walton was the clock builder. Built to Last says, “Walton valued change, experimentation, and constant improvement. But he didn’t just preach these values, he instituted concrete organizational mechanisms to stimulate change and improvement. Using a concept called ‘A Store Within a Store,’ Walton gave department managers the authority and freedom to run each department as if it were their own business.”

Ames, on the other hand, was run differently. According to Collins, “Whereas Walton concentrated on creating an organization that would evolve and change on its own, Ames’s leaders dictated all changes from above leaving no room for initiative.”

“Whereas Walton groomed a capable successor to take over the company after his death (David Glass), the Gilmans has no such person in place, thus leaving the company to outsiders who did not share their philosophy.”

This is the ultimate test to determine whether you are “clock building” or “time telling.” Imagine that you step away from your business for a long period of time, let’s say 6 months, and honestly determine whether it will remain on the same path towards the company goals or completely crumble.

Plant cages stink. They’re unwieldy, made of cheap metal, and they always seem to block the sun and stunt the growth of your plants. Bamboo stinks. But gardening WITHOUT cages and bamboo also stinks in its own special way. Your plants grow chaotically, they grow out instead of up, and you have no control over them.

Tired of dealing with all the mess sometimes? So were we. That’s why we created the Ultimate Plant Cage. It’s the first-ever FULLY ADJUSTABLE plant cage. The Ultimate Plant Cage’s unique, patented design OPENS up your plants to the sun and lets those nourishing rays penetrate from the fruit to the root.

The cage revolves around a stable, durable and 100% biodegradable plastic base and six adjustable support poles that direct your plant’s growth but does not stunt it. The poles extend up to 32” – giving your plants plenty of room to grow.

Now you’re wondering about that headline – well that’s how I want you to think about the Ultimate Plant Cage – it’s the best teacher your plants ever had. It gives them room to grow but hovers nearby to make sure they’re heading in the right direction. It doesn’t smother them with unneeded attention, stifling their growth – but it doesn’t ignore them and let them get into all kinds of trouble.

Using the device’s simple, snap-together design, your plants can be turned or moved with NO fuss. No more annoying afternoons spent wrestling with cheap metal plant cages. And best of all, with the Ultimate Plant Cage, the branches and fruits of your plants are fully secured to the support poles.

And finally, the Ultimate Plant Cage doesn’t just work great in your potted plants – it works in any medium. Your plants will thrive in rockwool, soil and Hydroton.

Six Reasons to use the Ultimate Plant Cage(U.P.C.)

• 100% Made in the USA
• First-ever Fully Adjustable Plant Cage
• Opens up your plants and allows light to penetrate from the fruit to the root of your plant
• Branches and Fruit are secured in the UPC – no more falling down
• The UPC is the Ultimate Garden Organizing Tool – no more nasty, chaotic, and embarrassing gardens for you
• The UPC makes it simple to turn or alternate potted plants WITHOUT damaging them

Buy a set of our Ultimate Plant Cages now. Try them out – and if it isn’t the most fuss-free, useful, and nourishing plant cage you’ve ever used – I insist that you write us for a refund. Just let us know that the Ultimate Plant Cage isn’t for you and we’ll refund your money.

We’re so confident that the Ultimate Plant Cage is the best plant support product out there, this money back guarantee doesn’t expire. For as long as you own the Ultimate Plant Cage – if you ever become dissatisfied with our product – let us know via email and we’ll return your money immediately.

Let the good times grow!

Well, this used to be our office…

Another shot of the Global Garden Friends offices.

Here are the guys from the shipping department.

A pallet being loaded into the truck!