Articles and Tips August, 2009
Kid’s Gardening – How to Get Your Kids Interested
It may be difficult to imagine your kids gardening or even interested in it. They cannot even feed the puppy that they begged for 6 months ago. Interested or not, it can be of benefit to at least talk to your children about your love of gardening, and why you do what you do. Children may need to be coerced at first to peel away from the television or video games, but once they become …
Organic Lawn Renovation
Fall is a good time to renovate the lawn, if your lawn needs lots of work. Cooler temperatures and shorter days allows the grass seed to sprout and grow a strong root system before the winter. Organic lawn renovation is not terribly different than conventional lawn renovation, with the exception of removing or knocking down any existing lawn grass. Conventional practices call for spraying an area to be renovated with roundup before …
Pump up Your Perennial Garden this Fall!
Now is a perfect time to plant perennials. The summer is winding down, the evening temperatures are cooling off, and plants are transitioning from flowering (reproducing) to stockpiling nutrients and energy for the winter. Most garden centers are trying to clean out their nurseries, and mail-order catalogues are getting rid of excess stock before moving it up to the next sized pot. That makes the fall a perfect time to find great …
Tomato Blight: The Worst Outbreak in Years
Any gardener living in the northeastern regions of the United States has probably some knowledge of the devastation of the tomato blight this year. Brown spots, yellowing leaves, decreased production. It is particularly frustrating if you are an individual who relies on tomatoes to can or freeze for use later in the year.
The Cause of This Year’s Outbreak
Late tomato blight is a disease that often appears late in the summer affecting only a few plants, …
Using Mulch in Your Garden
There are many individuals who automatically think of mulch as being the shredded bark that is colored red, brown or black and is used primarily to beautify the landscape in flower gardens. This method of mulching has its benefits which should not be discounted. Any type of mulch retains moisture and suppresses weeds. However, this should not be the only type of mulch that is used in the garden. What other types of mulch are …
Lasagna Gardening: The Easy, No-Till Way to Great Garden Beds
There are many tools in the organic gardeners bag, but no matter how dedicated, organic gardening is often more difficult and time consuming than conventional gardening. Lasagna gardening is a great way to make organic gardening less taxing. It is especially recommended for those with physical limitations, or the elderly. It is basically a method of sheet composting that if constructed in the fall will provide beautiful garden soil in the spring.
So, why not rototill …
How To Grow Green Tea in Your Garden
Nature’s Fat-Burning Herb
When you buy tea in the store, you can’t be completely sure of the quality of its production and packaging. Was it grown fully organically? How far was it shipped before it arrived at your local store? Packaging waste is another concern for the eco-conscious tea-drinker. And let’s not forget the expense of buying tea at the store, an unnecessary expense in these strained economic times.
Growing your own tea is a rewarding project …
Guerilla Gardening – Prepare for Combat
Guerilla gardening is a term that is becoming more popular and well known, particularly in large urban areas where folks who would like to garden do not have yard space to do so. Guerillas are also people who find it unacceptable to leave perfectly good gardening space wasted. What they all have in common is that they want to make something grow in a place that is unconventional, unapproved, or sometimes, illegal.
Some group are organized, …
Organic Pest Control: Milky Spore
Late summer is a perfect time to treat Japanese Beetle Grubs, if you have a grub problem. During the late summer, the adults have stopped feeding, laid eggs, and the eggs have hatched into vulnerable larvae susceptible to treatment. In order to treat Japanese beetles, you need to understand their life cycles.
Japanese …
Plant spotlight: Spinach!
He’s strong to the finich ’cause he eats his spinach, he’s Popeye the sailor man!
Nutritional benefits
Good Source of: vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), calcium, potassium, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), tryptophan, dietary fiber, copper, vitamin B1 (thiamin), protein, phosphorus, zinc, vitamin E, omega 3 fatty …
