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What’s the most important thing you want to know?

Spring is finally here!

And that means my online organic gardening course is now open for enrolment! The Academy
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What has been your biggest gardening challenge?

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Introducing – The Gentleman Known As “New Gardener”

I have a new friend.

His name’s Tyler, but he likes to call himself NG (New Gardener).

I told him I’m opening up my online gardening course for enrolment this week and he got REALLY excited (apparently he’s been waiting for that).

And since he’s not only a handsome lumberjack-type fellow, but also quite entertaining when a camera is pointed at him, I asked him if he’d like to make a few videos this week sharing a little about his story.

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Videos from my garden…

Today I’ve been playing around in the smoldering heat.

I made some quick videos for you while I’m at it 🙂

What has been your biggest gardening challenge in the last 12 months?

More to come later on this week, but for today:

What’s the most challenging situation you’ve faced in your garden in the last 12 months?
Why is this one so important to you? What would you be able to do if you got past it? What would you want to create?

Let me know in the comments down below and I’ll see if I can help…

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Guess What I’m Doing Right Now!

My sis took this photo late last summer while we were digging up some potatoes.

If you have any questions this week about my:

…my sister is going to do her best to answer them for you.

That’s because I’m currently in the middle of a 10 day Vipassana course.

As some of you will know, what that means is that I’m in a place with no access to phone or internet or even a pen and paper.

And I’m meditating.

I actually wrote this post early last week, a couple of days before leaving, and scheduled it to go out to you today, so by the time you’re reading this, I’m probably sitting as still as possible, trying to not let my mind wander. Read More

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Some Questions – I’d Love To Hear Your Thoughts

I don’t usually create many videos and articles once summer rolls around.

That’s because you guys seem to stop tuning in as much this time of year and I often get into other projects of mine as well.

Of course I don’t stop gardening, but that doesn’t take much work once you have a garden that’s functioning pretty well, especially when you’re focusing on perennial plants… Read More

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What’s Going On In My Life… (Plus A Free Download)

Friends’ cottage overlooking Lake Huron.

Hey guys, I have a free article for you to download today about organic fertilizing with biostimulants!

Ongoing fertilizing throughout the summer can really help boost plant health/nutrition/yields.

But first, I haven’t posted here for 4 weeks, and I thought I’d catch you up on what’s been going on. Read More

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Heather And I Are Splitting Up After 10 Wonderful Years

I mention my wife Heather here from time to time, and she certainly mentions me regularly on her website because I’m so involved with it.

So I think it’s fitting to let you guys know we’re splitting up after 10 years together, nearly 3 of those in marriage.

The good news is that so far, about 10 days since the decision was made, we’re still hoping to continue as distant friends and virtual business partners from our respective cities (wherever those may be). Read More

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Organic Gardening Lessons From The Amazon Jungle

Click for video transcription

Phil: Hey, guys, its Phil from smilinggardener.com and as you may be able to tell by the vegetation around me, I’m not where I usually I am. I am in the jungle in the Amazon. Heather and I are in Peru for about three months and we’re basically kind of working away as usual. We always have plenty to do, but we’re doing it from Peru for a little while. And while we’re here, I’m trying to learn a little bit more about growing food in the tropics. But as while we’re in the Amazon here, I’m mostly just trying to pay attention to the jungle around me to the nature around me, you can learn a lot about gardening by paying attention to nature.

Over the next week or so, I’m going to be making three videos for you to show you how we can take some lessons from the jungle here and bring them into our organic gardens to grow healthy plants, plants that are pest free and especially if you’re growing food, plants that are really nutrient, dense and full of nutrition for you. And well it happen to be in the Amazon jungle here, I could just as easily be in a temperate forest or even in a grassland and all the lessons that I’m going to be talking about here, really apply to every one.

I could certainly make a lot more than three lessons about looking in to nature for design tips that’s very much for permaculture culture is interested in as learning from nature, talking about maintenance, there are all kinds of things I could talk about. But what I want to focus on for these three videos are how to create really healthy soil and what we can learn from nature about creating healthy soil in our gardens. So I’m going to be filming these over the next few days and sending them to you as I make them that you happen to be in the middle of my other lessons right now that means you’re going to get a lot of e-mails from me this week. So I hope that’s okay. But I just really want to film these this week and send them off to you. So I hope you enjoy them.

Hey guys, guess where I am?

Okay, I gave it away in the title. I’m in the Amazon jungle!

Heather and I are living in Peru for 3 months. While we’re here I’m learning a few things about growing food in the tropics.

But while we’re in the jungle I’m mostly just trying to pay attention to the nature around me.

You can learn a lot about organic gardening if you take the time to observe nature.

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