If you’ve ever watched those informercials on TV you’d no doubt have spotted a number of fun looking gardening products.
Have you purchased any? I’d love to hear about it.

Recently I’ve been investigating these products to see if their just gimmicks. I’ll report back my findings soon, but I’m actually quite impressed with some of them! They are easy to use, can get people who would not otherwise be into growing food organically into the whole process (which of course can then lead to some more serious gardening), and of course they can be used indoors which is perfect for apartment-dwellers.

I’ve chosen a few of the better ones to talk about here, let me know your thoughts.

Hanging Strawberry Basket

Strawberries are normally a seasonal crop, so it can be frustrating when you can’t grow them at certain times of the year, depending upon where you live. But the Amazing All-Season Indoor and Outdoor Hanging Strawberry Garden turns these delicious fruits into a year round treat.
It grows a new variety of perpetual-bearing strawberries called Tri-Star Strawberry. It is very easy to get going and if you buy one now, you get one free as well so you can either grow double the amount of strawberries, or make someone else happy by surprising them withn a gift.
Click here to buy one and get one free today

Cucumber Vine

Love cucumbers? There’s nothing healthier than eating your own home grown cucumbers. They are great for you as they provide nutrients that assist in keeping your skin, hair and nails healthy.
With the Cucumber Vine kit it takes around 50 days only until you can pick your first foot-long cucumbers. This is a bitter-free (burpless) variety of cucumbers which like to climb. So rather than having sprawled across the ground (which is not convenient for a small area), they go upwards instead.

The cucumbers themselves grow extremely straight and quite large – around a foot long. You won’t get that undesirable curling effect as can happen when cucumbers are grown on the ground rather than hanging.

At the moment you can Buy Two and Get One Free at this link.

Little Giant Blueberry Plants

Who doesn’t love blueberries? They are great for your skin and body as they contain antioxidants, and above all that, they’re delicious!
But they can be very expensive to buy in fruit stores and the supermarket and they have become somewhat of a luxury item in some places. So growing your own at home can certainly save you a lot of cash.

You can easily harvest lush, giant blueberries from home with the Little Giant Blueberry Plants kit. These blueberry plants virtually grow themselves in the sun or shade. You could get up to 16,000 blueberries from a single plant (or 4 pints of juicy berries daily!). The plant can grow 8 feet tal
Grow the most delicious blueberries ever – they are the most delicious, sweetest blueberries ever developed by U.S. plant scientists

Buy 2 Plants for $10.00. Get One FREE (click here)

Tomato Giant

The tomato products are the most famous of the packaged home organic products that you often see advertised on television. That’s because they are one of the easiest foods to grow and they appeal to almost everyone.
The benefit of the Tomato Giant Topsy Turvy Tomato Tree is that you don’t need a lot of space – in fact you need hardly any space at all to grow up to 200 tomatoes on one 6 foot tree (it grows tall, not wide and therefore is highly suitable for small spaces like apartments or small gardens).
Click here to get it at the best price.

Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens – 4th Edition

Raising Chickens For Dummies

The Joy of Keeping Chickens

Choosing & Raising Chickens

Not everyone has time to make their own chicken coop or chook house.

Buying a premade set up can save you a considerable amount of time.

Here are a few options I’ve recently found. I’ll post more as they come to hand.

Portable Hen House

Designed for the backyard and urban farmer, the Portable Chicken Coop is an affordable and space efficient home for your backyard chickens. Modeled on the classic chicken ark that has served British hen-keepers for decades, the coop provides a healthy, predator-proof home for up to 4 medium laying hens or 6 Bantams.
More info here

Wooden Chicken Coop

It has a raised sleeping area well off the ground for no dampness, with ramp for easy access.
The added benefit of having a raised house means that rats and other vermin cannot burrow underneath the house.
There are several openings in the house for easy access and to allow light in the house.
Made from top quality dried fir (semi hardwood).
More info here

Buildling your own chicken coop is rewarding, fun and best of all, it saves you money. You can also build to your very own specifications, are not limited by size or materials and can literally go wild with your imagination.

Here are some books and guides which will give you ideas, assistance and instructions on building your own chicken house.

Fresh-Air Poultry Houses: The Classic Guide to Open-Front Chicken Coops for Healthier Poultry

Building Chicken Coops

Chicken Coops: 45 Building Plans for Housing Your Flock

If you really want to keep chickens but can’t afford an expensive commercial hen house, then homemade chicken coops is the best option.

You can save hundreds (and in some cases, thousands) of dollars just by building your own coop with simple, easy to find materials. My motto is: why spend more than you need to!?

Consider these points before you start building your own hen house. Remember, the better prepared you are, the easier and cheaper the end result will be! Read the rest of this article…

One of the first things you’ll notice after a few days of having your chicken house up and running is that it will get awfully dirty.

Chickens, like all birds, poop regularly. This results in a rapid build up of faeces on the ground. Whilst this is a good thing for fertilization, when it occurs all in one spot it does more harm than good, not only to the ground but to your chicken’s health too. Read the rest of this article…