Common Ground Organic Garden Center

Common Ground in Palo Alto, CA is a project of Ecology action, and provides a wide selection of applied classes and events in sustainable living and organic gardening, seeds and plant starts, tools and garden supplies, a demonstration garden, and a community of fellow farmers and gardeners.

Upcoming events include classes in seed saving, seed propagation, double -digging and composting, taught by Ecology Action's staff and apprentices, as well as a series of GROW BIOINTENSIVE subjects taught by Ecology Action's Director John Jeavons.

If you are near Palo Alto, and are interested in sustainable living, please stop by and see us!

Click here see a schedule of classes!

Special Offers

As a celebration of our first
e-newsletter, we're offering a special opportunity:

Join Ecology Action or make a donation through January 31, 2011 and we'll enter you in a drawing to win your choice of two tickets to a 3-Day GROW BIOINTENSIVE Workshop held at Ecology Action's Research Garden in Willits, CA, or a garden starter kit with books and seeds from Bountiful Gardens!

Make a Donation or Become a Member of Ecology Action!

Sign up for a 2011 Three-Day GROW BIOINTENSIVE workshop with Ecology Action in Willits, CA before June 30, 2011 and get a coupon good for $10 dollars off your next purchase at Bountiful Gardens or Common Ground in Palo Alto!*

Find a Workshop

Download a Free 2010 Catalog from Bountiful Gardens (3.78 MB PDF)

Bountiful Gardens: Seeds, Tools and Books Online

The new 7th edition of John Jeavons' classic Biointensive gardening handbook, How to Grow More Vegetables... is updated with the latest information, has a foreword from Alice Waters, and is available, along with organic seeds, quality tools and other books, articles and videos on sustainable living from Ecology Action's online store, Bountiful Gardens.

Click here to shop Bountiful Gardens!

"Maybe a person's time would be as well spent raising food as raising money to buy food." - Frank A. Clark

GROW BIOINTENSIVE^®

The GROW BIOINTENSIVE method developed by Ecology Action uses small-scale, organic, non-mechanized food-raising techniques to create a way of life that is both abundant and sustainable. It is successfully being used in 141 countries around the world. When using the GROW BIOINTENSIVE method correctly, farmers and gardeners have the potential to:

•  Use 67% to 88% less water.
• Buy 50% to 100% less fertilizer than standard organic or conventional    methods.
• Expend 94%-99% less energy than conventional agriculture, while using a    fraction of the resources.
• Increase yields by 200-600%.
• Build soil up to 60 times faster than in nature, and increase soil fertility by    100% or more.
• Reduce the amount of land under cultivation by 50% or more, increasing the    wild land available to support biodiversity and ecosystem stability.
• Sequester significant amounts of carbon in the soil to help alleviate global    warming.
• Create a healthy, sustainable mini-ecosystem that can grow delicious    food and provide a modest income almost indefinitely!

Read More...

Other Links Of Interest

John Jeavons' Website: Workshops, Biography, "A World of Hope".

EA's Spanish Website: ¡CULTIVE BIOINTENSIVAMENTE^®!

The RenewAll Garden Project Website: A website sponsored by Ecology Action where you can find anwers and inspiration.

Garden Hints

Winter is on the horizon, and there's a lot to do in the garden! Here are some things you can do to prepare your garden for winter:

•  When many growing areas are empty, do soil testing to plan for    Spring gardens. We like the basic and trace-mineral package          available online at: www.timberleafsoiltesting.com

•  Build compost piles as you are cleaning up summer garden
   beds. Compost is free, and it builds healthy, productive soil!

•  Learn the hard and soft frost dates for your region (click here
   for US dates) and be prepared to protect plants from frost
   with row covers.

•  Fall is the time to plant bulbs! Plant onions and garlic to harvest next    summer, and ornamental bulbs for beautiful blooms in the spring!!

•  At the end of the season, clean, sharpen and oil garden tools
   and handles, including wooden handles, to be ready for the
   next planting season.

Want more? Subscribe to our e-newsletters by clicking the link below.

In the News

John Jeavons discusses soil fertility, the future of sustainability and the GROW BIOINTENSIVE Mini-Farming method in the March 2010
issue of Ode Magazine,
in the article The Joy of Dirt!

Click here to read the article!

*Coupon good for $10 off any single purchase of $50 or more at Bountiful Gardens' online store or at Common Ground in Palo Alto. Limit one coupon per person. Offer limited to Ecology Action workshops held in 2011. Registration and payment for the workshop must be made by 6/30/2011; coupon valid through 12/31/2011. You must pay for and attend the workshop you sign up for in order to receive your coupon. Offer cannot be combined with other offers, or discounts.