Echinacea, Purple Coneflower Organic Compost

To create a little flower is the labor of ages

~William Blake

To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.

~William Blake

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.

~William Blake

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity . . . and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.

~William Blake

The Seed A Giving Tree Gardens Newsletter

Photos and Text by Russ Henry

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Perennial Geranium, Tiarella, Lady's Mantle, Shade Garden Design

THE SEED ARCHIVES:

Heat tolerant gardens, Sedum, Rooftop Garden

Monarch on Tithonia, Healthy Yards, Healthy Living

Redwood Trees, Northern California Sequoia

Rainbow, Freedom, Growing Freedom, Organic Growing

Monarch In Raingarden on Liatris, gayfeather

The Seed, Volume 1 : Compost, Organic Abundance!

In this our first newsletter, we start where every gardener starts, in the soil! Discover how and why healthy compost creates organic abundance in our gardens! For a step by step guide to building your own compost system, read The Seed Volume 32, Compost It's Hot!

The Seed, Volume 2: Save A Little Green!

Save the planet, and save money at the same time! This volume of The Seed shows us cost effective ways of greening up our every day lives.

The Seed, Volume 3: Rain Water Gardens

Rain Water is the our most valuable resource! Click here to find out why we should all run out and build a Rain Water Garden today! For another great example of an organic, native planted rain garden read The Seed, Volume 29, Gardens on Franklin 2

The Seed, Volume 4: Made In The Shade, Shade Gardens

Don't let that shady area in your yard go to weeds anymore! Shade gardens are a great way to introduce natural habitat and year round beauty to your landscape!

The Seed, Volume 5: Ornamental Edible

Food and beauty, you can have it all! Learn how to artfully blend your ornamental and edible plants to create truly delicious home gardens!

The Seed, Volume 6: Beat The Heat

Plan your gardens for success through the toughest years, beat the heat with water wise, heat tolerant gardens!

The Seed, Volume 7: To Mulch Or Not To Mulch?

What mulches should we use?, and how should we use them? All your mulching questions answered!

The Seed, Volume 8: Put Your Garden To Bed

Embrace the fall. Autumn always finds gardeners pondering the same question, Hay or Straw? Get the facts, and put your garden to bed the right way!

The Seed, Volume 9: Reduce Your Ecological Footprint

Take the quiz and learn how to reduce your impact on the environment. How big is your Ecological Footprint?

The Seed, Volume 10: Variety Is The Spice Of Life

Learn to add abundance and beauty to your landscape by gardening the way nature intended. Variety is the spice of life, and that's nowhere more apparent then the back yard garden!

The Seed, Volume 11: Margaret's Gardens

Margaret Wilke has been gardening since her own kids were knee high to a grasshopper, now she teaches her grandchildren to compost and grow. Read this interview with a talented Minnesota gardener!

The Seed, Volume 12: Mother Earth Gardens

Simply the best little plant store in all of Minneapolis. Mother Earth Gardens is any local gardeners one stop shop for organic solutions, native selections, and the best nursery stock available.

The Seed, Volume 13: Sue's Garden

Sue's garden just outside her art gallery door, is a place of respite for the weary artist. Click here to witness the transformation of an urban dead zone into a garden brimming with beauty and abundance!

The Seed, Volume 14: Waking Up With Spring

Spring is just around the corner, are your ready? In this volume of The Seed we cover fruit tree pruning and a few other garden related chores of the early spring season.

The Seed, Volume 15: A Season To Begin Again

It's never too late to begin again. This volume of The Seed highlights the transformation of a landscape in St. Paul, from a dead lawn into a living, thriving, organic garden.

The Seed, Volume 16: Beneficial Organisms

Discover the organic magic of beneficial organisms! Organic gardeners need a little help from their friends, and this volume of The Seed is here to introduce gardeners to some of the best little helpers around!

The Seed, Volume 17: Garden Melodies

At Giving Tree Gardens, good design means planing for the most beauty, health, and positive environmental impact possible. Click here for some great garden design ideas.

The Seed, Volume 18: Garden Design 101

In this the second of our two part series on garden design, we build the framework for understanding how landscape components work together. Garden design is fun and easy, click here to learn more!

The Seed, Volume 19: Mile High Gardens

Denver's mile high altitude and rocky mountain soils create a harsh and beautiful environment where only the strong gardeners survive. Read about the adventures of this Minnesota gardener in the Denver Botanical Garden.

The Seed, Volume 20: Gardens On Franklin

Read about our award winning garden on Franklin Avenue at the former Seward Co-op Grocery and Deli. To learn about the gardens at their new store site, click here for The Seed, Volume 29: Gardens On Franklin Part 2

The Seed, Volume 21: Change Begins At Home

Read this revolutionary volume of The Seed to learn about controversial plants, the political issues we gardeners face, and the solutions we can grow at home every day!

The Seed, Volume 22: Healthy Yards, Healthy Lives

Here's an all around guide to Earth friendly landscaping! We developed this 7 step system to help guide all our gardening friends toward a healthy, happy home ecosystem!

The Seed, Volume 23: In Love With The Redwoods

Some gardeners are such shameless romantics. This real life love story takes place in the amazing Redwood National Forest!

The Seed, Volume 24: A Farm In The City

Yes, you can build a farm in the city. In this San Fransisco urban farm, healthy soil and plants help grow hope for neighborhood residents!

The Seed, Volume 25: Let Freedom Grow

Celebrate your freedom to grow, garden and green up your life! While your at it, read up on some of the hottest news in composting, and eco-wise landscaping.

The Seed, Volume 26: A Community Of Gardens

Garden with your kids, and you grow a healthy future! Giving Tree Gardens has been lucky enough to garden with some great young people, click here to read some of our youthful gardening adventures!

The Seed, Volume 27: Container Gardening

Apartment and condo dwellers can garden too! Pots, soils, and plants, this newsletter is your one stop resource for container gardening!

The Seed, Volume 28: The Salad Bowl Garden

The Salad Bowl Garden is a rain water garden that produces plenty of healthy, delicious food. Nutrition for your family and your environment!

The Seed, Volume 29: Gardens On Franklin Part 2

The Seed, Volume 30: Fermentation Fever

The Seed, Volume 31: Food Justice

The Seed, Volume 32: Compost, It's Hot!

The Seed, Volume 33: Toolin' Around

Tripling the size of their previous award winning gardens on Franklin Avenue, The Seward Co-op has moved down the road to expand their store, and their positive impact on the neighborhood and world.

Fermentation preserves health and enhances flavor! Read here for easy and effective vegetable fermentation methods and links that are guaranteed to please!

Good food should be a human right. Giving Tree Gardens is working hard to realize this right for the folks living in Minneapolis. Read here to learn about the growing food justice movement in Minneapolis and beyond.

Healthy lives start with healthy gardens, and healthy gardens start with healthy soil. In this special co-written volume of The Seed we learn how to make an easy and effective home composting system!

Good gardeners need good tools. In this timely tool review, we share the scoop on some of our favorite tools for getting the organic garden job done right!

This is a resource for any business or organization looking to improve their environmental standards! Click here for a list of resources that will help your family or organization make Earth-wise food decisions as well as a how-to guide for building a low cost compost bin!

The Seed, Volume 34: Compost Grows Community

The Seed, Volume 35: Worms Go To School

Worms are our squiggly wiggly allies! Not only can red wiggler worms turn our food scraps into compost, but if we look close enough, we'll see that worms can teach us how to grow a healthy community! Click to find out how the community at Anishinabe Academy is learning to grow worms, compost, and health in the classroom!

Gardening with friends is fun and rewarding. Click here to see how some of our friends turned their little garden patch into a place to grow community, health, and good times!

The Seed, Volume 36: Garden Friendships

A gardener in love is a beautiful thing! Click here to read about Sarah Grienfield's love for her organic urban vegetable gardens. Earth friendly landscaping, combined with organic gardening creates a harvest of health and love!

The Seed, Volume 37: In Love With The Garden

We are living in evolutionary times. Change is happening all around us and our best response will only come when we honor our environment! Click here to see some of the ways that Giving Tree Gardens has been working to show honor to the Earth that is our home!

The Seed, Volume 38: Evolutionary Gardening

Don't believe the hype! Weeds are your ally and friend!!

In this Summer Solstice issue of The Seed we explore how and why weeds are so darn terrific! Free lunch, Free medicine, and Free beauty, just a few of the benefits of weeds!

The Seed, Volume 39: Eat A Weed

The Seed, Volume 40: Butterfly Gardening

Butterfly gardens are good for the whole world! Not only will you love watching the beautiful butterflies flutter by, but even a tiny new butterfly garden can give a huge boost to an ecosystem in need!

Click here to learn how to make your own Earth-friendly butterfly garden at home.

Where once there was a parking lot now there is a farm. Thanks to the hard work and brave imagination of Stefan Meyer, Minneapolis has a new urban farm. Stefan's good work is a shining example of how to live with abundance and health in the city!

The Seed, Volume 41: Stefan's Fantastic Farm

Katherine Krumwiede is a Twin Cities treasure. Learn how you can connect with this talented healer. As a garden educator I get asked all the time about what herbs are used for various ailments, and I always send folks to Katherine. As the owner of Diamond Stone Oriental Medicine, Katy's the lady for those aches you can't shake!

The Seed, Volume 42: An Introduction To Health

Rule Breakers, This issue of the newsletter pulls back the mask and reveals the rebel gardener in all of us.

Check out the fun class video and learn how you can be a hero rulebreaker in your own garden!

The Seed, Volume 43: Breaking the Rules

The Seed, Volume 44: Get Involved

Food is the basic tool for achieving health and wealth. Access to gardening reduces the cost of food and increases our food's health-giving potential. If you are a gardener with time to give, consider volunteering time at any of the great organizations listed in this volume of The Seed, and help your community grow strong!

Imagine a city filled with gardens of all kinds and you've begun to see the future of sustainable cities. Read this volume of The Seed to learn what a couple Minnesota cities are doing to build sustainability through their urban farming and community gardening efforts.

The Seed, Volume 45: Sustainable City