It’s possible to help reduce mosquito populations around your house without using nasty chemicals. Did you know that dragonflies are the biggest predators of mosquitos and can eat hundreds of them a day? This makes them a great addition to your garden and the safest natural pest control. They keep the mosquito population in check.
Dragonflies eat mosquitoes, both at the larval stage and as adults. Having a few dragonflies in your backyard will ensure mosquitoes do not trouble you during a high mosquito season.
“Based on extensive field research, we found that rural communities often lack the resources and infrastructure needed to access nutritious food,” DeCarli said. “We developed a toolkit that contains all of the core components needed to grow your own food, on a two acre plot of land, without the need for an existing grid. Imagine the good it can do by growing local, organic food for a school, or helping jumpstart food production after a disaster. ‘Farm from a Box’ enables and empowers communities to provide for themselves.” In order make sure that people will be able to use this “box” at its full potential, the farm also includes a training program on ecological farming practices, technology use maintenance and basic business and entrepreneurship. All the boxes are totally customizable to the needs of the future owner, and Fast Company announced that each unit costs between $25,000-$45,000, depending on its technology specs.
Once our bodies are “preserved” and sealed into wooden or metal caskets, they are buried in vast fields of granite tombstones, along with nearly a million gallons of formaldehyde per year.
These cemeteries or “memorial parks” — which together use up a million acres of otherwise fertile U.S. land — are typically covered in heavily watered and synthetically fertilized lawns.
But dying doesn’t have to harm the earth. Burying our bodies directly into the soil without any chemical preservatives would actually enrich it, as it has done for millions of years.
Unfortunately, this ancient, natural way of handling death doesn’t sit well with civilized people who are terrified of the thought of putting bodies directly into the earth and letting them decompose (somehow we’ve convinced ourselves trying to mummify them is less creepy).
A new process called “human composting” or “recomposition” makes the process less scary for people.
It’s planting season in metro Detroit, and gardeners are getting ready to stock up on greenery.
From tiny urban gardens to rolling landscapes in the suburbs, here are 9 hot trends for 2019, according to horticultural experts.
No space? No problem
The biggest issue for most gardeners this year figuring out how to tackle a small garden. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 80% of Americans live in urban areas, which leaves little to no room for outdoor greenery.
According to the experts at plant supplier Proven Winners, consider opting for fastigate shrubs.
Fastigate plants are those that grow with branches sloping upward, nearly parallel to the main stem. These plants save on space by growing upward instead of outward. According to Proven Winners, bushes and shrubs that fit the bill yet offer a splash of color and interest include Hibiscus purple pillar, Rose of Sharon, Japanese holly, or elderberry.
Small gardens are often seen as having little or no scope for design. This couldn’t be further from the truth. You can squeeze a lot into a small plot: be bold, be strong, ensure a lavish backbone of evergreens with spring color to enliven spirits after the long winter gloom – and don’t forget to incorporate the scent. But remember, in small gardens, less is often more: it’s better to do one thing well rather than a lot in a muddled fashion.
Large gardens have an element of safety, deploying swathes of green lawn which is economical to install and covers large areas of ground. A small garden has to work much harder and, per sq meter, can cost more. But it’s worth it: with thought and care, your little patch can be a true extension of your home and provide a haven for you, as well as the wildlife we share our urban spaces with.
Before you start, measure your space and draw it to scale. This may sound ‘designery’, but will help you to figure out the plants and materials you need, what furniture will and will not work and, more importantly, what will fit through the access you have, if you don’t want to run the expense of a crane or lifting equipment.
Photo by: Agonjaka[CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]So spring has arrived, and you’re feeling accomplished! You carefully transplant your young plants out into the garden and sow your seeds into the soil. Days later you come out to find all of your newly planted crops have disappeared! Birds have been eating away at your tiny seedlings faster than they could grow, which devastates your crop.
Let’s explore 10 easy ways you can keep birds from entering your garden:
1. Garden netting: Garden netting is light-weight and easy to install. It is recommended to suspend it over your crops. Not only will netting protect against birds, but it is also great at deterring other small animals. Keep the mesh size small, so that birds can not try to squeeze through and injure themselves or get stuck.
2. Soda bottles: Soda bottles are a cheap, easy, and effective way to protect young seedlings from birds, snails, slugs, etc. Just make sure you vent the top, by removing the cap, otherwise, your young tender plants can get too hot and die.
3. Motion activated sprinklers: Highly effective, these motion activated sprinker “scarecrows” will deter more than just birds! Water your garden and keep pests away at the same time.
4. Chicken wire: Chicken wire is cheap and versatile. You may already have a roll laying around that you can cut some small pieces from to protect your newly planted crops. You can also use chicken wire to cover a constructed wood frame that can easily be placed over an entire raised bed.
5. Scare Balloons: Most garden centers carry some type of “scare balloon”. They are generally inflatable mylar balloons with large printed eyes on them. Most have reflective material somewhere on the balloon, and often will have “streamer-like” tails.
6. Electronic scarecrows: While motionless electronic scarecrows can be very effective at chasing away birds, it is recommended to move them often.
7. Garden fleece: Garden fabric helps protect young plants from many things, not just birds! Cover your crops to help protect against light freezes, wind, insects while also providing light shade.
8. Plastic predators (owls and toy snakes): Place plastic snakes and owls in and around your garden space. Often birds flying overhead can’t tell the difference between plastic and the real thing! Move them frequently to keep the birds away.
9. CD’s and mirrors: Birds do not like shiny or weirdly reflective objects. Hanging CD’s can play tricks with the light and cast weird shadows.
10. Bird repellent tape: This works very similar to CD’s or mirrors, but can be easier to work with. Simply cut to your desired length, and tie around objects that need protecting. This can be a very effective tool tied around fruit trees or blueberry bushes.
Here are some useful tips that will help you grow healthy and delicious tomatoes in your garden:
Plant the tomato seedlings in pots, and poke holes underneath to prevent water stagnation.
In order to make them flourish and ripen, you should ensure they receive at least 8 hours of direct sunlight daily. Moreover, water the tomato seedlings twice a day, in the morning and in the evening.
They are ready to graduate to soil beds after about a month. Dig large holes to accommodate the seedling and its additives, of about 20-24 inches (50-60cm).It would be best if they are spaced out by at least three feet (0.9m).
When Dennis and Danielle McClung bought a foreclosed home in Mesa, Ariz., in 2009, their new yard featured a broken, empty. Instead of spending a small fortune to repair and fill it, Dennis had a far more prescient idea: He built a plastic cap over it and started growing things inside. Thus, with help from family and friends and a ton of internet research, Garden Pool was born. What was once a yawning cement hole was transformed into an incredibly prolific closed-loop ecosystem, growing everything from broccoli and sweet potatoes to sorghum and wheat, with chickens, tilapia, algae, and duckweed all interacting symbiotically to provide enough food to feed a family of five. Check out the video below to see what Dennis has to say about Garden Pools..
Months ago I wanted to start making my own kombucha. I was buying bottles of kombucha from the health store and the costs were adding up and I felt it was time for a cheaper way. I researched a few ways for how to grow a kombucha scoby. A scoby is the white alien looking thing floating at the top of the jar. You need a scoby to ferment the tea to brew kombucha. The scoby eats the sugar you add to the tea and you end up with a beverage that tastes great and is full of probiotics and is great for detoxing.
Purchase a bottle of kombucha. The product must have an active bacteria culture and not be pasturized. When I was purchasing bottles of kombucha I noticed that some had a slimy thing floating in it. This is a baby scoby. Look for a bottle in the store that has one but it is not necessary. You can see the baby scoby floating at the top of the bottle.
Anthracnose disease is a plant disease that affects a number of shade trees and shrubs, even ornamental plants during the growing season.
Belonging to the kingdom of fungi, Anthracnose disease is generally common in the eastern parts of the United States.
It was identified in 1875 in Germany. Since then, it has spread all around the world.
Today, a number of nations, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, India, China, Myanmar, and Argentina consider it to be a highly destructive plant disease, especially for the bean crops.
Everyone is familiar with hydrogen peroxide uses as a topical antiseptic and a personal care product.
However, most people are unaware of the fact that this simple substance has amazing benefits and is something of a miracle product when it comes to gardening. In every phase and type of gardening, H202 can be extremely useful and helpful.
In this article, we explore the many reasons why hydrogen peroxide may just be the gardener’s best friend. Read on to learn more.
For All Hydrogen Peroxide For Plants Users – Handle With Care!
In addition to health and beauty applications, H2O2 has many household cleaning uses such working as a bleaching agent or for first aid applications.
It’s important to note that; although it is a valuable and generally safe product.
However, it does possess corrosive and combustible qualities. Always use hydrogen peroxide in a diluted form and handled it with care.
The best container would be the one used in hydrogen peroxide production.
Dye Easter Eggs The Natural Way! Dyeing Easter eggs is a fun tradition that’s been around for centuries. So, how did our ancestors make all of those bright colors back before commercial egg dyes were sold in stores every spring? They used natural Easter egg dye colors.
Making Natural Easter Egg Dyes With Fruits and Veggies
Making natural Easter egg dye colors out of fruits, vegetables, and other everyday items you can find in your home or garden is both easy and fun. Everything from onion skins to grass can be used to make vibrant all-natural colors. Just throw the raw materials into the boiling water while you cook the eggs — you’ll need to boil each color separately — and you’re good to go!
For really vivid color, be sure to add at least a half a cup of the dyeing material (such as berries), and two teaspoons of vinegar, for each cup of water you use.
“John from http://www.growingyourgreens.com/ shares with the easiest way he has discovered to rid his vegetable plants of aphids and whiteflies without using any insecticide.
In this episode, you will learn about how a Ryobi tool on clearance can be used to remove aphids and other soft-bodied insects from your plants.
You will learn how the Ryobi High Volume Power Inflator can be used to blow aphids and whiteflies off even the most delicate areas of your plants in your garden without spraying or using any kind of chemicals.
You will discover how you can easily blow bugs off your plants all day on a single charge.
You will see aphids getting blown off plants at high velocity in slow motion.
Finally, John will share his opinions on using this high volume power inflator as the best soft-bodied insect control tool in your garden.
After watching this episode, you will learn if you should purchase a Ryobi High Volume Power Inflator to blow soft-bodied pests such as aphids and whitefly off the plants in your garden.”
Make the most of your space by choosing quick growers like lettuce, radishes or beets instead, vegetables that offer high yields or repeat harvests such as zucchini or chard, or high-value herbs.
Space-saving forms of fruits such as cordon or step-over forms of apple and pear, cane fruits such as raspberry and, of course, compact strawberries are all wise choices for small gardens.
Efficient Plant Spacing
Grow plants in beds narrow enough to reach into the center from each side. This makes it easier to grow in blocks, with plants spaced equidistantly. As well as making best use of the space, growing plants like this crowds out weeds, helps to concentrate resources where they’re needed, avoids the risk of compacting the soil by stepping on it, and makes tending your crops easier.
The Square Foot Gardening takes intensive growing one step further using deep raised beds and a special soil mix designed for optimal root growth.
Use Containers
Containers are easily moved to make the most of sunny areas or to protect plants from harsh weather. They can be used on any surface.
Think of a formal yard or garden, and you likely envision rows of neatly trimmed bushes along with meandering walkways and sitting areas. Homeowners spend a ton of money, time and resources in an attempt to recreate that image. But another equally beautiful option for your home is a wild garden.
What is a wild garden?
A wild garden can carry a variety of definitions. For some, it means limiting the amount you tame your plants, letting them become what others might define as overgrown and unsightly. Others might associate wild with the types of plants you choose for your space. If you think about your walks in the fields or forests where Mother Nature is the only landscaper, plants are “overgrown and unsightly” around every corner. So, it might be time to change your definition of what makes a desirable garden space. The idea of a wild garden is to create a more naturally flowing space with less rigid lines and rules.
Gardening can be tricky even when you are graced with good soil, but what if you’re dealing with unpleasant growing conditions? Or does the very idea of endless weeding give you a backache? Starting a straw bale garden this spring may be the answer to all your gardening prayers. This method of gardening uses bales of straw as your garden beds — with no soil — and is a versatile, thrifty, and easy way to garden.
What Is Straw Bale Gardening?
Straw bale gardening is essentially a form of container gardening with the container being the bale of straw itself. Straw’s hollow tube design helps to soak up and hold moisture, making it an ideal material for growing vegetables. These mud-free and weed-free gardens can be started anywhere that gets six to eight hours per day of direct sunlight. Arrange as few or as many bales as you wish right on your lawn, or even in your driveway (maybe you will inspire a neighbor or two!).
Whenever I cook or use up the eggs that are in my refrigerator, I always make sure to save the shells so that I can use them again for one of these many garden-specific applications. It doesn’t seem to take long to accumulate a huge baking sheet of eggshells that I can then bake to dry and clean.
Consider these tips for using eggshells, and implement them in your garden this spring.
#1. Fertilizer
Ground eggshells serve as a fantastic source of calcium for your plants. While you can put them into the soil or toss them out into your garden whole, it may be more effective for you to dry and grind them first.
This will help keep any scavenging pests away and also allow them to break down more quickly, releasing their nutrients back into the soil more rapidly.
Most people don’t realize this, but many soil types are deficient in calcium. This is especially true if your soil has been exposed to extensive tilling or has seen lots of cultivation in the last few years.
Calcium is vital for building healthy cell walls in a plant – which are essentially the “bones” of the organism. Plants need calcium for these cell wall s just as we need calcium for our bones!
Eggshells decompose quickly because they have a high surface area to volume ratio. To add eggshells to your soil, you don’t have to dry them first or even grind them up – although keep in mind that ground eggshells will break down more quickly.
While you can till calcium into the soil at any time during the planting season, there are two best times to add eggshells to your garden. The first is when you’re planting in the spring.
Simply grind up your eggshells into a fine powder, and then place them at the bottom of the hole before you plant. This will help all of your plants, but particularly tomatoes, thrive. You can even mix your eggshells with coffee grounds, which provide lots of nitrogen. Together, the two pack a powerful dose of plant-boosting nutrients.
You can also add eggshells in the fall or in the spring in their whole forms, but remember that they will take longer to break down. In addition to providing your soil with lots of calcium, eggshells can also reduce the acidity of your soil and provide a nice aerating effect – a must if you have heavy, compacted soils.
One thing you may have noticed about a plant-based diet – it’s expensive! Growing your own Keto garden and these five low-carb vegetables can save money while providing you with fresh, local produce for your family. After all, you can’t get more local and fresh than your own backyard! Tips for growing in container-growing, too, for you small space gardeners.
Five Low-Carb Vegetables to Grow
There are a lot of Keto diet approved vegetables we could discuss as we find the best low-carb vegetables to grow, but we’re going to stick with just five. If you’re new to growing your own food, I don’t want to overwhelm you. If you’re a seasoned gardener, you may already be familiar with these crops but are getting used to thinking of them as low-carb vegetables for your new eating plans.
The five low-carb vegetables we’ll be covering here are:
Plants are big business in Florida. According to the University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences’ most recent survey, sales related to the environmental horticulture industry accounted for over $10.7 billion in 2015 of which native plant sales were estimated at $427 million.
Nurseries employ over 19,000 people around the state. More people are flocking into local businesses and farmer’s markets for flowers to attract butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. As our springtime flowers burst into view, you probably have noticed that the neighbors are out in the yard, removing limbs and sprucing up the flower beds.
Two main ingredients comprise most yards in Tallahassee and the entire U.S. for that matter. The first is lawn: a carpet of non-native grass (must be green) that has been an American standard since the 1950’s. The second consists of non-native plants growing around the non-native lawn.
Who hasn’t seen those pesky yellow weeds pop up in the garden from time to time? Yet try as you might – from picking them to poisoning them – nothing keeps them at bay for too long.
Perhaps it’s time you embraced the tenacious dandelion and all the benefits it can bring?
The Health Benefits of Dandelions
Dandelion has been used throughout history to treat everything from liver problems and kidney disease to heartburn and appendicitis.
Every part of this common weed – from the roots to the blossoms – is edible. It’s a good thing too, as the humble dandelion is bursting with vitamins A, B, C and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc.
