Posts

Urban Soil Contamination So why might urban gardening occur in bad soil? Urban gardens are often located in areas that were formerly industrial or heavily trafficked roads. There may have been a gas station, factory, or past chemical spill in your little Eden – with any number of chemicals left lingering in your garden plot. A lack of knowledge about how the property was used in the past makes the potential for a contaminated garden more of a reality....

How to Get Rid of Flea Beetles Knowledge of your enemy is the first key to flea beetle control. The insects are small beetle-type pests that hop when disturbed. The larvae overwinter in the garden and become adults in spring. There may be up to two generations of the tiny shiny beetles per year. Some varieties are striped or spotted and may be brown, tan, and black. It is easier to prevent the damage rather than to kill flea beetles unless you resort to chemical controls....

About Kitchen Vermiculture Worms are remarkably un-fussy and just need organic food to eat, a moist earthy bed, and warmth. The first step to this easy and economical waste removal system is the creation of worm composting bins for indoors. In no time you will be feeding the little guys your kitchen scraps, reducing waste, and building a soil amendment that is of amazing benefit to your plants. Kitchen worm composting takes up very little space....

Prior to Washing Fresh Garden Vegetables A clean, sanitized prep area is the first step to reducing food borne disease or contaminants. Wash your hands (with soap, please!) prior to preparing produce. Clean cutting boards, utensils, sink and counter tops with hot soapy water before prepping fruits and vegetables. Clean between the peeling and cutting of different produce since the bacteria from the outside of say, a fresh picked cantaloupe, can be transferred to another item, like the newly harvested tomatoes you are cutting for a salad....

What are Acaricides? Acaricides are pesticides that kill ticks and mites, closely related groups of invertebrates. They are one part of a strategy for controlling ticks around homes and should be combined with measures to reduce tick habitats. An acaricide for tick control will include active ingredients like permethrin, cyfluthrin, bifenthrin, carbaryl, and pyrethrin. These chemicals are sometimes called acaricide insecticides, but ticks are arachnids, not insects, so this isn’t technically accurate....

As a boy growing up on the farm and helping my mother and grandmother tend to their rose bushes, I fondly remember the arrival of the Jackson & Perkins rose bush catalogs. The postman would always tell my mother when the Jackson & Perkins catalog was in that day’s mail with a big smile. You see, back then, the Jackson & Perkins roses catalogs were scented with a wonderful rose fragrance....

What are Wild Grapes? Wild grapes are woody, deciduous vines just like cultivated grapes with a voracious growth habit. Some can reach up to 50 feet (15 m.) in length. They also have tenacious, woody root systems that can persist for years, one reason why some people refer to wild grapes as weeds. Wild grapes use tendrils to anchor onto branches or other surfaces. Their bark is gray/brown and rather shredded looking....

What is a Native Plant Nursery? A native plant nursery specializes in plants that are native to a certain ecoregion. Native plants are those that evolved along with the wildlife, insects, and other life forms that occupy that area. People are interested in purchasing native plants not only because they’re beautiful, but because they offer numerous environmental benefits. Native plants are easy to care for, requiring very little water and usually no pesticides or chemical fertilizers....

What is Timothy Grass? The benefits of Timothy grass are numerous. It has broad appeal as hay for and horses, but when combined with alfalfa, it makes nutritious forage for sheep and other grazing animals. It is also made into food for guinea pigs, rabbits and other domesticated pets. The plant is easily recognized when it blooms by its long narrow seed head. When does Timothy grass bloom? The inflorescence is produced in late spring to early summer or within 50 days of sowing....

Choosing Rose Bushes for Zone 9 When planning your rose garden, first choose a rose type that fits your lifestyle. Old garden roses are among the easiest to grow, but most only bloom once per year. By contrast, hybrid tea roses and other formal roses require more maintenance. They need proper pruning and fertilization, and they are prone to fungal diseases like black spot, Cercospora leaf spot, and powdery mildew, so you’ll need to spray with fungicides to keep them looking their best....

What is Flame Weeding? Flame weeding entails passing a flame over a weed briefly to heat the plant tissues just enough to kill them. The goal is not to burn up the weed, but to destroy plant tissue so that the weed dies. Flame weeding kills the above ground portion of the weed, but it doesn’t kill the roots. Flame weeding kills some annual weeds for good, but perennial weeds often regrow from the roots left in the soil....

But bulbs sprouting in winter isn’t normal in the cold winter climates of the East Coast, Midwest and the South. Are early flowering plants safe? What happens when it freezes again? Will the plants be permanently damaged? Will they bloom? People wonder how to protect plants that sprout early. Flowers Blooming too Early Climate is the major reason for plants flowering early. If the soil and air temperatures are above average for an extended period of time, leaf and flower buds may sprout ahead of schedule....

Why Won’t My Freesia Bloom? You’ve done everything right. You planted your freesia corms in well-draining soil, in full sun in spring, and they didn’t experience any hard freezes. Now you are asking, “Why won’t my freesia bloom.” Freesias are native to South Africa and prefer things hot and dry. In some regions, the conditions after planting are extremely wet due to spring rains. This can slow or even stop sprout production, but it may not be all that is going on....

Before you use any tree wound sealer, it pays to find out what the experts have to say on the topic. Read on for an overview. The Idea Behind a Tree Pruning Sealer A tree wound sealer is a commercially available product that is applied to the cut section of a recently pruned tree or shrub. In many ways, the idea of applying a tree wound dressing makes sense to a gardener, as a kind of Band-Aid for the plant....

Common Reasons for Leaves Turning Yellow There are many conditions that affect plant growth. Plants are susceptible to temperature variations, sensitive to chemicals and excesses of nutrients, require specific soil compositions and pH levels, have varying lighting needs, are prey to certain pests and diseases, and many other factors influence their health. Yellowing leaves on plants can be a sign of any of these out of balance or even certain nutritional or chemical influences....

Growing Conifers in Zone 8 There are countless benefits to growing conifers in zone 8. Many provide beauty throughout the bleak months of winter. Some provide a barrier for wind and sound, or a screen that shields the landscape from less attractive landscape elements. Conifers provide much needed shelter for birds and wildlife. Although conifers are easy to grow, some zone 8 conifer varieties also create a fair share of cleanup....

The best strategy is to determine where flowering trees could be used effectively and only then consider the proper variety. Experts recommend that someone picking among the types of flowering trees take many factors into account when picking a tree. Consider a tree’s mature size, season of bloom, and duration of blossoms. In addition, make sure the tree’s cultural requirements match up with your environment and preferences. Picking a Tree with White Flowers As you make your own shortlist, here are 10 of our favorite flowering trees that engage us with their white flowers....

Cardboard toilet paper rolls now serve their purpose in the bathroom then go on to a second life of cradling little seeds as they germinate. Even broken dishes, mirrors, etc. can find a new home in the garden when crafted into mosaic stepping stones, pots, birdbaths or gazing balls. You can even recycle tin foil in the garden! Read more about uses for aluminum foil in the garden. Aluminum Foil Gardening There are many benefits to using aluminum foil in the garden....

Black Swallowtail Butterflies and Carrots Carrots are generally unbothered by above the ground insects but, in some regions, their foliage can be entirely decimated by the presence of black swallowtail larvae. Adult butterflies prefer nectar from various plants, but they love to lay their eggs on carrot family members and the caterpillars chow down on their leaves. If you love to attract wildlife, growing carrots for black swallowtail butterflies is a sure way to entice them....

Boll Weevil History The little gray beetle with the funny snout entered the United States from Mexico in 1892. From state to state, the early twentieth century saw the advancement of the boll weevil. Damage to cotton crops was widespread and devastating. Cotton farmers, who didn’t succumb to bankruptcy, switched to other crops as a means of staying solvent. Early methods of control included controlled burns to eradicate the beetles and the use of homemade pesticides....