A Garden and Home expert from ExpertVillage.com tells us clearly and concisely this important information as part of a larger section on Learning Organic Garden Composting Online. The bottom line is that compost takes a long time to develop, about six months to two years, depending on the carbon/nitrogen ratio and how often you turn the compost. It is ready when there is no recognizable matter in it any more. In other words, your kitchen scraps, weeds, straw or whatever else you have added to the bin should have decomposed entirely and become beautiful natural organic compost.
Here is a professionally produced short video (48 seconds) that reveals interesting information to help you germinate seeds successfully.
First, you should work very cleanly. Wear gloves when working with seeds, and make sure your container is spotless, too.
Second, soak the seeds for 24 to 48 hours in clean water in a clean glass bowl before planting.
Third, when you have planted the seeds in seed sowing compost in a seed tray container (cover the seeds gently with a little soil), and watered the tray lightly, you should cover the container with clingfilm.
Fourth, keep checking that the soil is moist but not waterlogged.
Fifth, only once the seedlings have appeared, should you remove the clingfilm and place the tray in a sunny area.
In just 52 seconds, Jeff and Heather Lacroix of Louisiana introduce you to a new method of killling ants. It is safe for your plants and safe for other critters too - no poisons to be picked up by animals and children. The way you get rid of an anthill on your lawn is, why, with Southern Hospitality. Sprinkle some breakfast grits over the nest, allowing a generous helping for each ant. As Jeff explains in a Southern drawl, “the ants eat the grits and feel nice and full, but then they explode!” Admittedly this is not a scientifically proven ant removal method but for the price of a bit of grits it’s worth a try. And, no, on the video you don’t get to see ants exploding! You do get some nice Vivaldi music though.
Looking for other proven natural and organic methods of killing ants and fire ants? Check here.
TheGardener talks in his chummy style for 2 mins 21 seconds about terra cotta pots, or rather how to manage them. While terracotta pots really “look the business” according to TheGardener, they tend to dry out in summer so you need to line them with a plastic bag with holes in the bottom. The bag need not show above the rim — cut it off so the top will be below the soil level. Much more moisture gets retained that way.
Also you need to feed your plants, so consider using slow release pellets that will release nutrients over 6 to 9 months. Put them in the soil when planting your plant. If you forget, then use an apple corer to create a funnel down to where you want the pellet to be i.e. near the roots. Saves your fingers getting full of soil, says TheGardener, who is the neatest and cleanest gardener you could ever hope to encounter.
So particular is he that the puts a pair of tights over his wellies when he leaves them in the garden shed “to prevent spiders from getting in.”
Don’t forget to consider organic fertilizers for your container plants!
If, like me, you want to believe that throwing potato peelings into the hedge is the same as feeding the shrubbery, then you will be chastened by this introduction to bokashi. Bokashi is the stuff that transforms kitchen waste into useful compost.
Neal Foley is the Podchef and in this video of roughly 6 minutes he really gets into the chemistry of making compost. He gives a demonstration of how to make fermented wheat bran (bokashi) that you can add to the kitchen waste bucket to help transform useless slops into a non-odorous and effective compost.
Bokashi takes quite a bit of making. You need to have wheat bran, mineral salts, ceramic powder and molasses and also a rich microbe/kelp mixture standing by. You combine them all with hot water (in the video Neal gives the precise quantities for the ingredients) and then let it stand, airless, for two weeks or longer, “the longer the better” according to Neal.
In the fullness of time you mix your organic kitchen waste with it and let the lot pickle until the food has begun to break down. It’s great — “not stinky”, says Neal — and the compost gets finer the longer it stands. Then you can use it to feed your plants, to feed your animals and to put it down the septic tank to reduce odors.
Now I know why people just buy finished bokashi instead of making it themselves!
David Epstein of GrowingWisdom.com fame interviews softly-spoken Susan Lane of Home Depot to get tips on how to get the most out of your cut flowers from the garden or florist.
Granted, it’s a vast subject full of the pitfalls of generalizing, but the 2.46 min video pretty much covers the bases. In other words, you can adapt these tips to just about any type of cut flowers. The principles are the same!
David and Susan limit themselves to three types of flowers (tulips, roses and Peruvian lilies).
Remember tulips originated in a cold climate so for them it’s cold water plus you should turn them daily so all sides of the bloom get exposed to sunlight. Top up the water when necessary.
With roses you cut off the leaves from the part of the stem that will be below the water level in the vase and select warm water to speed blooming and cold water to allow the roses to last longer. Cut the stem just once diagonally to allow the free flow of water up the stem. Don’t cut them more than once or too much water will travel up the stem and the blooms will droop.
I love the recipes for pepping up flower water to make your blooms last! Buy a commercially available dissolving tablet, or make your own mix of a quart of water, 1/8 tsp lemon juice and 1/4 tsp sugar. Or just dissolve as aspirin in the water!
Susan says that exotic flowers such as Alstomeria (Peruvian lilies) should have their leaves removed, be trimmed often and the water should be changed just once a week if you want them to last 10 - 14 days at least. Keep them out of direct heat and sunlight.
Enjoy your cut flowers!
It’s David Epstein of GrowingWisdom.com fame again,this time giving a short (2 min 25 sec) springtime brief on how to prune a rose bush. Here is a useful quick lesson in something that is reputed to be difficult but is really quite easy. Tools are important: David uses gloves (rose bushes can be incredibly thorny) and using clean prune shears (you don’t want diseases spreading from one plant to another through your garden equipment).
David is very encouraging about the act of pruning. He says, “It’s really hard to mess up a rose bush!” Look for the buds on the vertical branches. Leave three or four buds on a branch and prune the stem at an angle about 1/4 inch above the last bud. (Those buds are going to form the lateral branches later on.) Then you prune the bush into a vase shape, making it nice and open for air flow. This discourages disease, says David.
Clever tip: David packs the cut branches in a pile pointing in the same direction so they can be lifted and disposed of easily once you are done. Oh, and after pruning he gives the rose bush a little fertilizer snack of 8:8:8 to promote spring growth.
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This video on “Choosing Annual Flowers” is full of more great tips from David Epstein of Growing Wisdom. This man really is full of lots of useful gardening knowledge and this video is certainly no exception. If you watch this video, you will find it to an excellent resource and of good production quality. The total time on this video is two minutes twenty-nine seconds. This video is highly recommended.
David begins by discussing annuals in general. Annuals are plants that you put in the ground every single year. They are a great way to add a splash of color to your garden all season long. Where perennials have a blooming time period, annuals bloom from the time you put them in all the way to the fall.
David spends the time in the video showing and discussing these annuals:
· Verbena – This annual is great in the sun. It trails off the containers.
· Petunia – this annual loves the sun but tolerates a little bit of drought as well. It will come right back from wilting when watered. You can let petunias run along the ground, put them in a container, or a hanging basket.
· Ageratum – This annual does well in the sun or part sun. It is a great border plant.
· Diascia – This annual is more of a trailer. It will not get very high and loves the full sun.
· Marigold – There are a great variety of marigolds available with a beautiful color selection of yellow, orange, or red.
· Alyssum – This annual is great for the border. It is very low growing and has a great smell.
· Geranium – This annual is very reliable and great for window boxes.
· New Guinea Impatiens – The foliage on this annual is often darker. This plant likes a little sun.
· African Daisy – This annual is great in the center of a container or along the border.
David points out that annuals require some care, although minimal. They need a little bit of feed. You also need to pinch them back through the year and deadhead them.
This video on “Reblooming Flowers” is presented by David Epstein of Growing Wisdom. In this video, David interviews Pam Spry of Weston Nurseries. This video is full of detailed examples of flowers that rebloom. The video is simple yet well done. The production is of good quality. It is excellent information for a beginning and possibly intermediate gardner. The total time of this video is two minutes twenty-six seconds.
If you watch this video, you will learn that there are plants that extend one season by having multiple seasons. If you cut the dead stuff off of these plants, then they will keep reblooming until frost.
Numerous examples were given in the video. They are:
· The Buddleia (also known as the Butterfly Bush) starts blooming in July with nice flower heads. After the flower heads turn brown, you trim them off and a new flower is formed. They have a wonderful fragrance and attract butterflies. This plant requires dry soil and a hot, sunny spot. Some of them even get up to six feet wide. If there is a cold winter, you can trim them up, and in the spring they will flush back up.
· Roses are another example. When the flower passes, you should trim it off and the bush will bloom again and again. Trim the plant if it gets too wide. This plant will bloom until frost.
· Hydrangea (Endless Summer variety) will bloom again and again, even after a cold winter.
· The Potentilla (Shrubby Cinquefril) is another example. This plant requires full sun and very dry soil (sandy soil). It will bloom all summer long under the right conditions.
This video is recommended for your viewing. It is a source of good, basic knowledge. If you watch this video, you will gain the knowledge base needed to have flowers blooming again and again.
If you are an animal owner, animal lover, or just a caring human being, then you must take the time to watch this video. We all know how curious our animals, neighboring animals, even strays can be. It is your job to protect them from dangers in your garden because they just don’t know better. This video is entitled “Discovering Hazards in the Garden for Pets”. David Epstein of Growing Wisdom brings it to you. In this video, he interviews Dr. Sharon Drellich of Angell Animal Medical Center. This video is well done. Production quality is good. The total time for this video is two minutes twenty-three seconds. Everyone should watch this video.
All kinds of useful pet-related information is given in this video. For example, potentially toxic plants are the Foxglove, Monkshood, and Rhubarb. The Castor Bean is also considered toxic to animals.
If you watch this video, you will learn that animals can be quite different. Dogs are very curious. They have a tendency to taste things, but don’t tend to eat plants. Livestock, on the other hand, are a problem if they are around anything poisonous because they do tend to eat plants. With cats, the problem is not that they would try to eat the plants outside, but instead the rodents they would try to kill and ingest. Cats could potentially eat a mouse or rabbit that has gotten into rat poisoning which would be a problem.
Fertilizer is not a problem in general. However, mulches can be a problem. Cocoa mulch is toxic to dogs. You shouldn’t even use it if you have dogs.
If you think one of your animals has gotten into something, you should contact the Animal Poison Control Center. The number is 1-877-2ANGELL
This video is highly recommended. By watching this video you will learn how to protect your pets from garden related harm. You need to watch this video so you can see what potentially these potentially toxic plants look like. It is definitely worth your time.