Privacy Policy

Updated: 5-6-18

Your privacy is important to us. Small Garden Ideas will not ask for personal information unless we truly need it (for example to send requested information or contact contest winners.) Nor will we share your personal information with anyone except to comply with the law, develop our site or protect our rights. It is Small Garden Ideas’s policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our website, SmallGardenIdeas.net.

Information We Collect

Like most website operators, Small Garden Ideas collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. Small Garden Ideas’s website. From time to time, Small Garden Ideas may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.

Small Garden Ideas also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments on SmallGardenIdeas.net blogs/websites. Small Garden Ideas only discloses logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below, except that commenter IP addresses and email addresses are visible and disclosed to the administrators of the blog/website where the comment was left.

Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information

Certain visitors to Small Garden Ideas websites choose to interact with Small Garden Ideas in ways that require Small Garden Ideas to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that Small Garden Ideas gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who sign up for newsletters at Small Garden Ideas to provide an email address. Some users may voluntarily share personally-identifying information through email, use of contact forms, or comments. Those who engage in transactions with Small Garden Ideas are asked to provide additional information, including as necessary the personal and financial information required to process those transactions. In each case, Small Garden Ideas collects such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor’s interaction with Small Garden Ideas. Small Garden Ideas does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below. And visitors can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities.

Information We Collect Automatically

We collect some information automatically:

Log Information: Like most online service providers, we collect information that web browsers, mobile devices, and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, IP address, unique device identifiers, language preference, referring site, the date and time of access, operating system, and mobile network information. We collect log information when you use our websites.
Usage Information: We collect information about your usage of our websites. For example, we collect information about what happens when you use our websites (e.g., page views, button clicks) along with information about your device (e.g., mobile screen size, name of cellular network, and mobile device manufacturer). We use this information to, for example, provide our websites to you, as well as get insights on how people use our websites, so we can make our websites better.
Location Information: We may determine the approximate location of your device from your IP address. We collect and use this information to, for example, calculate how many people visit our website from certain geographic regions.
Information from Cookies & Other Technologies: A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. Pixel tags (also called web beacons) are small blocks of code placed on websites and e-mails. We use cookies and other technologies like pixel tags to help us identify and track visitors, and usage, as well as track and understand e-mail campaign effectiveness and to deliver targeted ads. We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyze data about webpage traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system. Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website. Third party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to your website. Google’s use of the DoubleClick cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to your users that are based on their visit to your sites and/or other sites across the Internet. You may opt out of using the DoubleClick cookie for interest-based advertising by visiting Ads Settings.

How We Use Information

We use information about you as mentioned above and as follows:

To monitor and analyze trends and better understand how users interact with our websites, which helps us improve our content, share relevant information, and even help determine event locations;
To monitor and protect the security of our websites, detect and prevent fraudulent behavior and other illegal activities and fight spam;
To communicate with you about new book releases, promotions, and recommendations of other books and media by others we think will be of interest to you, or solicit your feedback; and
To personalize your experience using our websites, provide content recommendations and serve relevant advertisements.

Sharing Information

How We Share Information

We do not rent or sell our users’ private personal information.

We share information about you in the limited circumstances spelled out below and with appropriate safeguards on your privacy:

Subsidiaries, Employees, and Independent Contractors: We may disclose information about you to our subsidiaries, our employees, and individuals who are our independent contractors that need to know the information in order to help us provide our websites or to process the information on our behalf. We require our subsidiaries, employees, and independent contractors to follow this Privacy Policy for personal information that we share with them.
Third Party Vendors: We may share information about you with third party vendors who need to know information about you in order to provide their services to us. This group includes vendors that help us provide our websites to you (like web hosting vendors) and those that help us understand and enhance our websites (like analytics providers). We require vendors to agree to privacy commitments in order to share information with them.
As Required by Law: We may disclose information about you in response to a subpoena, court order, or other governmental request.
To Protect Rights and Property: We may disclose information about you when we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Small Garden Ideas, third parties, or the public at large. For example, if we have a good faith belief that there is an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury, we may disclose information related to the emergency without delay.
Business Transfers: In connection with any merger, sale of company assets, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company, or in the unlikely event that Small Garden Ideas goes out of business or enters bankruptcy, user information would likely be one of the assets that is transferred or acquired by a third party. If any of these events were to happen, this Privacy Policy would continue to apply to your information and the party receiving your information may continue to use your information, but only consistent with this Privacy Policy.
With Your Consent: We may share and disclose information with your consent or at your direction. For example, we may share your information with third parties with which you authorize us to do so, such as the social media services that you connect to your site.
Aggregated and De-Identified Information: We may share information that has been aggregated or reasonably de-identified, so that the information could not reasonably be used to identify you. For instance, we may publish aggregate statistics about the use of our websites.
Email Contact: If you are a registered user of an Small Garden Ideas website and have supplied your email address, Small Garden Ideas may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what’s going on with Small Garden Ideas and our products. If you send us a request (for example via email or via one of our feedback mechanisms), we reserve the right to publish it in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or

Protection of Data

While no online service is 100% secure, Small Garden Ideas takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information.

Choices

You have several choices available when it comes to information about you:

Limit the Information that You Provide: If you choose to comment or publicly interact with the website, you can choose not to login to a WordPress account, or limit what information you provide there (which email address, name, etc.). Please keep in mind that if you do not provide this information, certain features of our websites may not be accessible.
Limit Access to Information On Your Mobile Device: Your mobile device operating system should provide you with the ability to discontinue our ability to collect stored information or location information via our mobile websites. If you do so, you may not be able to use certain features.
Opt-Out of Electronic Communications: You may opt out of receiving promotional messages from us. Just follow the instructions in those messages. If you opt out of promotional messages, we may still send you other messages, like those about your contest prizes (if you’re a winner) and legal notices.
Set Your Browser to Reject Cookies: You can usually choose to set your browser to remove or reject browser cookies before using our websites, with the drawback that certain features of our websites may not function properly without the aid of cookies.
You can also opt out of cookies using the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page at this page: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/

Other Things You Should Know

Transferring Information

By accessing or using the websites or otherwise providing information to us, you consent to the processing, transfer, and storage of information in and to the U.S. and other countries, which may have rights and protections that are different from those in your home country.

Ads and Analytics Services Provided by Others

Ads appearing on any of our websites may be delivered by advertising networks. For example, we currently participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Other parties may also provide analytics services via our websites. These ad networks and analytics providers may set tracking technologies (like cookies) to collect information about your use of our websites and across other websites and online services. These technologies allow these third parties to recognize your device to compile information about you or others who use your device. This information allows us and other companies to, among other things, analyze and track usage, determine the popularity of certain content, and deliver advertisements that may be more targeted to your interests. For example, Google Analytics for Display Advertising. Google Analytics Demographics and Interest reporting is activated and collects information like age range, interests, location. Using the Ads Settings, users can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize Google Display Network ads.

Third Party Advertisers include ad networks, advertisers and demand side platforms. Third Party Advertisers may collect usage data or have usage data transferred to them for behavioral advertising purposes. You may opt out of this data collection process by visiting this site: About Ads

Please note this Privacy Policy only covers the collection of information by Small Garden Ideas and does not cover the collection of information by any third party advertisers or analytics providers.

Privacy Policy Changes

Although most changes are likely to be minor, Small Garden Ideas may change its Privacy Policy from time to time, and in Small Garden Ideas’s sole discretion. Small Garden Ideas encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.

Everything You Need to Know About Bokashi Composting

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compostguy.com

Bokashi is Japanese for “fermented organic matter.” Although it’s often referred to as a composting method, it’s really an anaerobic fermentation process.I’ve heard this described as pickling your organic waste.

When you use the Bokashi Method you layer organic scraps (fruits, veggies, meat, dairy) with a Bokashi mixin a bucket. The Bokashi mix is made of wheat germ or sawdust, molasses and starter microorganisms You can either make the Bokashi mix or buy it.

After layering, you put an air-tight lid on the bucket and let it ferment. After 10 days or so you can use the results of the Bokashi fermentation in your compost pile or you can mix it into your garden soil.

It’s easy, can be done on a small or large-scale and is virtually odor-free. In this article, The Compost Guy explains everything you need to know to start using the Bokashi Method. He explains:

What Bokashi Is
Advantages
Disadvantages
How to Get Started
A video that explains how to make your own Bokashi mix
A bunch of helpful resource links

This is an example of a complete Bokashi Composting Kit that includes a 5 Gallon bucket, air-tight lid, bottom drain, and everything you need for fermentation.

Click on the Everything You Need to Know About Bokashi Composting link below to learn more about this interesting composting/fermentation method.
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Everything You Need to Know About Bokashi Composting

How to Make a Strawberry Pallet Planter (Includes a Video!)

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lovelygreens.com

Tanya wrote a blog post last year about how to make a strawberry planter out of a wooden pallet. I featured the article because I loved both the repurposing of the wood and the wonderfully clean look of the final planter.

Well now Tanya has added a terrific DIY video that shows each step of building a strawberry planter with pallet wood. It takes approximately 2 hours to build. She also explains which type of pallets and tools to use. It’s a really helpful video.

Click on the How to Make a Strawberry Pallet Planter (Includes a Video!) link below to see Tanya’s article and video.

How to Make a Strawberry Pallet Planter (Includes a Video!)

What is Square Foot Gardening?

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melbartholomew.com

Square foot gardening works in both small garden spaces and in larger gardens. The idea was created by Mel Bartholemew. It’s a form of raised bed gardening that is very popular.

You build a 4’ x 4’ planter box, line it with weedcloth, and fill it with a particular blended mixture of soil. Then you add a wooden grid that partitions the box into 1’ x 1’ squares. After that you can plant your crops in each square using Mel’s recommendations on number of seeds.

I like a lot of things about this method. It can be used in areas with poor soil. It reduces seed and water waste. It also looks pretty neat. I think you could raise the boxes higher by adding legs or putting them on top of wooden platforms. This would greatly reduce bending and stooping for all gardeners.

Mel claims that you can grow your garden plants with:

50% of the cost
20% of the space
10% of the water
5% of the seeds
2% of the work

This article explains everything you need to know to start gardening using square foot gardening. There’s also a short video where Mel discusses the method.

Click on the What is Square Foot Gardening? link below to read about this exciting gardening method.

What is Square Foot Gardening?

How to Make a Mini Garden

youtube.com

This is a nice video that demonstrates how to make a Mini Garden (Also known as a Fairy Garden). These are small container gardens that are often landscaped and contain a variety of plants, a focal point like a ceramic house, and other features like tiny stone paths.

These are real gardens and are really growing in popularity. There are online website shops that sell miniature bird baths, benches, fencing, furniture and more. It’s perfect for people who have no space for gardening or have health or mobility problems.

Click on the How to Make a Mini Garden link below to see the video.

How to Make a Mini Garden

How to Harvest Lettuce in a Container Garden

youtube.com

In this short video, Mike demonstrates how he harvests lettuce from a container in his urban garden. One of the neat things about lettuce is that if you harvest it correctly, the plant continues to grow new lettuce leaves. Nice video!

Click on the How to Harvest Lettuce in a Container Garden link below to see the video.

How to Harvest Lettuce in a Container Garden

How to Build a Garden Potting Bench

designdreamsbyanne.blogspot.ca

I love potting benches because every single one had its own personality. Anne needed a new potting bench for her mudroom. She decided to build it herself.

She provides a link to the plans that she used for her bench. If you go down to the “Getting Started” section, you’ll see another link that will give you the materials list, cut list, a detailed drawing and step-by-step build instructions.

Ann explains how she built the potting bench and customized it for her needs. I think she did a wonderful job.

Click on the How to Build a Potting Bench link below to see the complete tutorial.

How to Build a Garden Potting Bench

Smart Self-Watering Devices for Plants

gardentherapy.ca

Keeping your plants and flowers watered while you’re away on vacation can be a challenge. Having a friend or neighbor water your plants doesn’t always work out. Praying for rain also doesn’t always work. This post by Stephanie offers several solutions.

As she says:

“Summer is the perfect time for weekend getaways like camping, cottaging, and boating. It’s also the time that the garden works the hardest. Summer heat and sun can be brutal on plants, with new plants, containers, annuals, and vegetables needing daily watering. Just one three-day long weekend can mean the end of these plants as they dry up and scorch in the hot sun.

I’ve had this happen to me often enough that I have put in some research and tried out some cool high-tech and low-tech products that can help to save the day (and your plants!).”

She then goes on to share information about a variety of devices you can use to water your garden while you’re away. Some devices are better for larger gardens, but some would work well for smaller gardens.

Here are just a few devices she discusses:

Bubble spot soaker
Vegepod® Container Garden
Plant Nanny™ Watering Spikes (I like these a lot for container gardens)
+ 6 Others!

Click on the Smart Self-Watering Devices for Plants to see all of the self-watering devices that Stephanie discusses.

Smart Self-Watering Devices for Plants

[Read More…]

How To Choose Garden Gloves

gardeningknowhow.com

If you’re debating using garden gloves or want to know what to look for in selecting garden gloves, Darcy has written a post that may help you.

She begins:

“Ok, not everyone is a fan but wearing loves in the garden is actually important if you want to avoid pricks from thorns, splinters or nasty blisters. What’s every bit as important, though, is the type of gardening glove you choose.”

She goes on to discuss:

Why gardeners choose to wear garden gloves
The danger of fungal infections
The Pros and Cons of 4 different types of garden gloves

Click on the How to Choose Garden Gloves link below to see Darcy’s complete post.

How To Choose Garden Gloves

[Read More…]

Growing Pet Bowl – Cat Grass

SeedsNow.com

The Growing Pet Bowl – Cat Grass includes everything you need to grow wheat grass in a bowl for your cat. As it grows, you can clip some off from the tips and sprinkle it over your cat’s food.

Note: As with anything you give your cat to eat, start out slow and don’t overdo. I regard wheat grass as a treat. I give a little to my cat and don’t give it to him every day. I also make sure that he can’t get into the bowl where the wheat grass is growing.

Wheat grass has a lot of health benefits for your cat.

Constipation – It helps your cat to be regular
It stimulates blood flow which results in more energy
It flushes out toxins
It contains all sorts of vitamins: vitamin A, E, B, calcium

Click on the Growing Pet Bowl – Cat Grass link below to learn more.

Growing Pet Bowl – Cat Grass

[Read More…]

Which Seeds Do You Direct Sow & Which Seeds Do You Start Indoors?

SeedsNow.com

There are some seeds that do well when you directly plant them in the ground. These are generally plant seeds that tolerate cooler temperatures and are also at risk if transplanted. Other plant seeds do better if started indoors and are then transplanted when the weather is warmer.

This post lists vegetable and herb seeds that are either best planted directly in the ground or are better started indoors.

Click on the Which Seeds Do You Direct Sow & Which Seeds Do You Start Indoors? link below to read more.

Which Seeds Do You Direct Sow & Which Seeds Do You Start Indoors?

[Read More…]

SeedsNow – The Best Organic, Non-GMO, Untreated, Heirloom Seeds

SeedsNow.com

Now that Spring is here (Yay!), I wanted to share one of my favorite sites for buying garden seeds online. Seeds Now has a huge assortment of organic, non-GMO heirloom seeds. These are open-pollinated seeds and are reasonably priced.

They have veggie, herb, and fruit seeds. These are quality, heirloom seeds that grow really well. The individual seed packets are really economical.

One thing I really like is that they have “seed banks.” These are collections of seeds in a category. For example, the All-in-1 Herbal Medicine Seed Bank contains 20 different popular herbal remedy seed varieties so that you can put in a complete herbal remedy garden. You get 13,000 seeds with that collection. Another example is a Spring/Summer Seed Bank that includes 20 varieties of veggies, herbs and fruit. There are several other seed bank collections.

Then they have variety packs of seeds for herbs, hydroponic greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, mosquito repellent plants, medicinal herbs and more.

They also have all sorts of gardening supplies and gifts for that special gardener in your life. I love the Garden in a Bag and Garden in a Pail gifts, which are perfect for kids!

If you place an order be sure to use Coupon Code “SAVE10NOW” to get 10% off of your order.

Click on the SeedsNow Online Organic Seeds link below to check out SeedsNow.

SeedsNow Online Organic Seeds

Prepping for Fall Planting and Gardening

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gardenupgreen.com

Carole starts prepping her garden and planting in July for the plants she wants to see in the Fall. In this article she explains how she prepared a raided bed garden for a little crop of miniature pumpkins.

She uses a Hoss Wheel Hoe to till the soil. She also shows how she set up a wire frame using cow panels. This will allow the pumpkin vines to grow up and out.

Click the Prepping for Fall Planting and Gardening link below to read the complete article.

Prepping for Fall Planting and Gardening

53 Favorite Backyard Projects

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Photo Credit: E Spencer Toy

If you’re looking for inspiration and tutorials for backyard projects to tackle this summer, this article could help you! Sunset has collected 53 different backyard projects. Some would work well in smaller spaces.

There’s a wide variety of DIY projects: fun, gardening, furniture, decorative, landscaping and more. If you see a project you like, click on the picture for a more detailed description. You’ll also see a link to a tutorial.

Here are just a few of the projects:

Lay a Flagstone Path
One-Pot Vegetable Garden
Wavy Picnic Table Project
Small-Space Salad Box
Votive Chandelier
Party Umbrella
Shed Roof Birdhouse
DIY Garden Swing
Green-Roofed Bird Feeders
DIY Fountain
And MORE!

Click on the 53 Favorite Backyard Projects link below to see all 53 projects.

53 Favorite Backyard Projects

21+ Stunning DIY Greenhouses You Can Make for Your Gardening

mixer2mower.com

If you have any space at all in your backyard, you can build a greenhouse. It allows you to start seeds and grow plants in a controlled environment with a lot of focused light. This article features 21+ different greenhouses that you can build yourself. If you see a design that you like, just click on the link under the picture and you’ll get the details for that greenhouse.

There are:

Basic Wooden Box Greenhouses (I like this one)
A $50 Greenhouse
A Storm Window Greenhouse
A Flea Market Greenhouse (Beautiful!)
Barn-Style Greenhouse
And MORE!!

Click on the 21+ Stunning DIY Greenhouses You Can Make link below to see all 21 greenhouse ideas.

21+ Stunning DIY Greenhouses You Can Make for Your Gardening

Suncalc Sunlight Calculator by Luster Leaf Review

: lusterleaf.com

I had quite a few emails about sunlight calculators and why I like the Suncalc 1875 Sunlight Calculator by Luster Leaf. So I decided to write a short article and review. You can see it here: Luster Leaf 1875 Rapitest Suncalc Sunlight Calculator

When you buy plants or flowers they have a tag that among other things lets you know the lighting requirements: Shade, Partial Shade, Partial Sun and Sun. These categories specify a range of time that the sun hits a spot in your garden.

Shade: 0-2 Hours of sun
Partial Shade: 2-4 Hours of sun
Partial Sun 4-6 Hours of sun
Full Sun 6+ Hours of sun

One of the challenges of gardening is to understand how much sun each area of your garden gets during a sunny day. Once you do, you can match plants, veggies and flowers with the same sunlight requirements to a good spot in your garden. This can greatly improve your gardening success.

In the past, one method gardeners would use is the creation of a Garden Sun map. This involved sketching a picture of their garden area, including any building or trees. Then every hour they would note where the sun was hitting their property and mark the time on the map. They would also draw a line to show where the sun stopped and the shade started. By the end of the day they would be able to draw a new map showing areas of sun with start and end times. That would help them to identify the shade, partial shade, partial sun and full sun areas of the garden.

It’s a tedious process and many gardeners don’t have the time or inclination to create Garden Sun maps.

An alternative to manually creating a Sun Map is to use a Sunlight Calculator. This is a device that measures the amount of accumulated sunlight in a specific garden location. Some sunlight calculators require multiple readings and you then take an average of the readings. Others give you a reading after a testing period of a given number of hours.

So I love gardening – the digging in the dirt, planting, watering and nurturing my plants. I grow flowers, herbs and vegetables. The last thing I want to spend my time on is manually mapping the sunlight in my garden. I also think the process is somewhat subjective. That’s why I use a sun calculator.

I picked the Suncalc 1875 Rapitest Sunlight Calculator by Luster Leaf for a number of reasons. Here are the Pros and Cons.

Pros

It’s simple

I have to elaborate on this point. This calculator is so simple that a child could literally use it. Wait for a sunny day. Put it in a flowerpot full of soil and place it where you want to test. You can also stick it in the ground but I use the flower pot. Make sure the round gauge is parallel to the ground. Turn it on. Go do something you enjoy. Come back in 12 hours. An LED light will be blinking next to the sunlight type: shade, partial shade, partial sun or full sun. Voilà you are done. You can then test another area of the garden.

This works for container gardening too. Just put the Suncalc in a flowerpot filled with soil and put the flowerpot in the location you want to test. This can be on a balcony, patio or anywhere.

It’s accurate

We did a manual check of a normally sunny spot in the garden. Our manual calculation was 5 hours and the Suncalc reading was Partial Sun which was accurate.

It saves time

The price was right

Cons

Some people might like the exact number of hours of sun an area receives. The Suncalc gives you a category that represents a range, for example Partial Sun 4-6 Hours of sun.
I have read complaints that the SunCalc is not waterproof. I haven’t had any problems with this. But I have always used it on days when the weather forecast predicted sun and no rain. I saw one suggestion to put plastic wrap over the gauge. However, I wonder if that wouldn’t affect the accuracy of the gauge when the sun was out.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a nice, simple, reasonably priced sunlight calculator, the Suncalc by Luster Leaf is a good choice. If you need the exact hours of sunlight an area receives or if you need a sunlight calculator that’s waterproof, you should research other products.

Where to Buy

I checked online and the best price I found was at Amazon.com. Visit the link below to see current pricing.

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