Wow! Learned something new today about mouthwash - which I never would have expected. Bee balm (wiki) is the natural source of the antiseptic thymol (wiki), the primary active ingredient in modern commercial mouthwash (wiki) formulas.
I was only looking for companion plants to help tomatoes, and then looked up Bee Balm and now not only can I plant it for helping tomatoes, I can plant it to help me, too - just look at all the uses! Oh yes, and it's pretty to grow and look at, too.
Parsley in Window Boxes
Antioxidants taste better in parsley than they do in pill form. Parsley happens to be on the Farmer's Almanac's list of Best Bets for Window Boxes. So along with the prettiest of flowers, why not add some Parsley this year? What makes parsley so healthy anyway? Here's everything that's in it! I found some parsley seeds at Amazon.com
listed as add-on items with free shipping, too.
listed as add-on items with free shipping, too.
Bean Plant Sizes
So how big do bean plants get anyway? With plenty of space in the garden at first I didn't really care. But now I have shadows to worry about ruining the sunshine other plants need, or do I? Some bush beans get only a little over 2' while pole beans can grow up to 10 feet tall! Ten feet tall is a LOT of shadow to worry about, 2 feet, not so much. I think I'll keep the pole beans at the edges of the garden but be a little brave about placements for the bush beans. Wondering about beans? See The Tall and the Short of It: Beans at Dave's Garden.
The Farmer's Almanac http://www.almanac.com/plant/beans has greatly helpful information about beans, too!
The Farmer's Almanac http://www.almanac.com/plant/beans has greatly helpful information about beans, too!
Mandala garden designs
Never in my Internet life have I ever subscribed so fast to a blog. Simply brilliant pictures. I'm so inspired to make a beautiful yard!
Nature's got me high and it's so beautiful. I'm in this deep eternal universe from death to rebirth: Mandala garden designs
Nature's got me high and it's so beautiful. I'm in this deep eternal universe from death to rebirth: Mandala garden designs
Ways to Train Grapes
Have you ever seen grape plant starts for sale at your local grocery store? Here they are displayed for sale just outside the entry doors around the beginning of Spring each year. For as little as $9.99 each, they are a cheap experiment in growing grapes (or raisins). Seems easier to me than attempting to grow grapes from a seed, and faster than waiting a whole year before growth starts resembling anything grape-like. If your local stores don't offer these sweet temptations you can even find grape plants and grape seeds at Amazon.com.
I indulged and purchased 2 grape plants of different types not being sure which would like growing in my backyard or not - but after I planted them I realized I know nothing at all about how to grow grapes! A quick search led me to Cornell Fruit giving plenty of help on how to get the grapes to grow different ways. Now I just need to choose which method I want to use for training the vines. Easier than I thought with lots of pictures included so I don't actually have to understand all the fancy terms to start training the vines. Whew!
.I indulged and purchased 2 grape plants of different types not being sure which would like growing in my backyard or not - but after I planted them I realized I know nothing at all about how to grow grapes! A quick search led me to Cornell Fruit giving plenty of help on how to get the grapes to grow different ways. Now I just need to choose which method I want to use for training the vines. Easier than I thought with lots of pictures included so I don't actually have to understand all the fancy terms to start training the vines. Whew!
How Tall Are Vegetable Plants?
Planning a garden is supposed to be fun! Yet I grew frustrated looking for plant heights - not even shown on all the seed packets much to my surprise! How should I know which plants to put in the middle of the garden (the tallest veggies) and which to plant around the edges (other than the obvious to me chives)? Finally I found Vegetables - List of Vegetables and Vegetable Varieties. Plant Encyclopedia - BHG.com which does list plant heights & other good info, too.
Maple Grove: Vertical Vegetable Gardening
- I'm impressed beyond words - There's a video embedded in the page to show how absolutely fantastic a 16' x 16' garden can look! Maple Grove: Vertical Vegetable Gardening - A Must-Read for Any and All Gardeners I've linked it here not only to share the ideas, but to remind myself to use at least some of them this year.
Potatoes getting buggy?
While I've not tried this yet myself, it's on my to-do list of garden experiments: Growing potatoes in containers | 150 square feet At first I was under the impression that since potatoes grow underground, I could plant them in a shady spot of the yard. Since as it turns out, the leafy part of the plant does indeed require some sun, I won't be digging up any dirt for taters any time soon. And yet growing potatoes in a bucket for example is an inexpensive test to try out a potential new source of potatoes! Apparently growing them in containers may reduce problems with bugs, too, so why not?
10 ways to make seed starters
Oh look what I found today when searching to find if newspaper could be used to make "fake" peat pots. 10 different and (yay) cheap ways to avoid spending money starting seeds! 10 ways to make seed starters — never buy another peat pot!
Get Rid of Gnats!
Is there anything more annoying than gnats in the house? Not to me! Gnats are the only part of spring that I dread indoors. They're nearly impossible to clap between my hands and seem to torment me when I'm trying to concentrate. Here's a little cheap test to get rid of them that I'm going to do next time they welcome themselves uninvited:
Plan A Beautiful Vegetable Garden
Looking for new ideas you can do this year in your backyard? This Plan A Beautiful Vegetable Garden by Jack Staub is a really good read full of inspiration for any vegetable garden!
Growing Healthy Seedlings Indoors
Back to basics time! With each new spring season comes picking seeds and seedlings that are meant to grow into happy little plants. I know I'm not alone in wondering each year: "What am I forgetting", "How did I do this last time?" and saying aloud, "Oh yes, that's right, I'm supposed to (insert memory here) first".
There seems to be just enough time between seasons to forget at least one important tid-bit. So here it is, for me and for you: Growing Healthy Seedlings Indoors, a nicely laid out back to basics instruction (or reminder) guide for starting seeds indoors to get those seedlings going without waiting so long for frost free nights!
There seems to be just enough time between seasons to forget at least one important tid-bit. So here it is, for me and for you: Growing Healthy Seedlings Indoors, a nicely laid out back to basics instruction (or reminder) guide for starting seeds indoors to get those seedlings going without waiting so long for frost free nights!
How to Grow a Pear Tree Against a Wall
I don't yet have my dream garden space, so instructions like this are great finds I like to share with others who don't have a seemingly endless amount of garden space either: How to Grow a Pear Tree Against a Wall by HGTV Gardens. (steps 1-4 included with pictures even)
Are onions truly easy to grow?
Onions are for everything from hamburgers to soups, sandwiches to omelets, so many ways to use them! With a vast variety of onion types: sweet, hot, pearl, red, yellow, white... there's a type of onion for nearly any use! But are onions honestly easy to grow? So says Bonnie Plants:
"If you can poke a hole into the ground, you can grow an onion from a little plant."
Space for Fruit Trees
If I had it to do all over again, I'd have planted a new fruit or nut tree (or at least bush) every year. By now I'd have a fabulous collection of yummy things (and healthy) from which to choose simply by walking outside my house. Now I have 2 cherry trees, 2 blueberry bushes (that are debating whether to hang on through the winter or be pulled out in the spring) and 1 extremely slow growing apple tree. And now I have a supreme desire for more than 6 hours of sunlight in as much of my garden as possible. Yet I still wish for fruit trees, but they sure do create shady areas. Enter the solution: Apples and pears: growing and training as cordons by the Royal Horticultural Society.
I was searching of course for something completely different at the time I happened upon the images of these apple cordons, but I was hooked as soon as I saw them. They're basically apple trees (and pear, as well as other fruit trees) that are trained to grow in a particular fashion, such as up against a fence, along a wire trellis - more 2D than 3D and definitely space saving! And the fruit can be full size, too, it's not like a bonsai tree. There are even books (with good reviews, too) see cordon fruit tree books at Amazon.com & a lot of them have sneak-peaks inside, too for even more ideas!
I was searching of course for something completely different at the time I happened upon the images of these apple cordons, but I was hooked as soon as I saw them. They're basically apple trees (and pear, as well as other fruit trees) that are trained to grow in a particular fashion, such as up against a fence, along a wire trellis - more 2D than 3D and definitely space saving! And the fruit can be full size, too, it's not like a bonsai tree. There are even books (with good reviews, too) see cordon fruit tree books at Amazon.com
& a lot of them have sneak-peaks inside, too for even more ideas!
Grow Seeds Faster
The end of the winter season is near torture for me waiting for the timing to be right for planting seeds indoors - for later transplanting to the garden after the average frost date for my area, which happens to be in April! Frankly I'm going going nuts but have traded nearly all temptations from planting to more elaborate garden planning. I'm surely biting off more than I can chew but that's nothing new. This Grow Seeds Faster – Imbibition by "In the garden with judy" however is something new to me!
I got so excited I dug right into my seed packets and picked out 5 plant types for which I had extra seeds. (read: ripe for experimenting) I carefully selected 5 random baby food jars I had lazily tucked onto a shelf last year "just in case", and filled them about a quarter full with water. I boiled and cooled the tap water first in hopes of eliminating any probable chlorine the day before. After I soaked the seeds overnight, I carefully used a spoon to, well, spoon them out, and place them ever so carefully onto pre-moistened seed starting mix.
With a big grin on my face I got to label the very first containers of the season. Now it's time to wait and see if any of them sprout - and how FAST they sprout. Most have 7-10 days listed on the seed packets, but hopefully soaking them beforehand will indeed make the seeds grow faster! Oh it's so nice to find potential short-cuts when impatience is nearly overwhelming.
I got so excited I dug right into my seed packets and picked out 5 plant types for which I had extra seeds. (read: ripe for experimenting) I carefully selected 5 random baby food jars I had lazily tucked onto a shelf last year "just in case", and filled them about a quarter full with water. I boiled and cooled the tap water first in hopes of eliminating any probable chlorine the day before. After I soaked the seeds overnight, I carefully used a spoon to, well, spoon them out, and place them ever so carefully onto pre-moistened seed starting mix
.
With a big grin on my face I got to label the very first containers of the season. Now it's time to wait and see if any of them sprout - and how FAST they sprout. Most have 7-10 days listed on the seed packets, but hopefully soaking them beforehand will indeed make the seeds grow faster! Oh it's so nice to find potential short-cuts when impatience is nearly overwhelming.
Do you think about seeds?
I think about them in spring and fall. Either for planting times or wondering how to save them. But mostly I wonder what will happen if I ever run out. Will I be able to successfully capture them with good timing in the garden? How will I know which seeds are ready to be "saved"? Is it too late to save them after they've already been scattered by the wind onto the mulch - or plain soil top? How long will they really last in a zip lock bag? Should I store seeds in mason jars instead? Or in paper bags in a dark cupboard? Will this particular type of seed need light to start germinating? Oh so many curiosities overlap each other and lead to even more!
Today while I was searching for answers to the above for the few seeds I wanted to plant today - and many subsequent questions, I found that some seeds travel up to about 60miles per hour (initially) and travel without help from an ant or bird for up to about 49 feet away from the seed pod on the plant. Here's the techie-type scoop on this and generalities about self-dispersal of seeds.
Today while I was searching for answers to the above for the few seeds I wanted to plant today - and many subsequent questions, I found that some seeds travel up to about 60miles per hour (initially) and travel without help from an ant or bird for up to about 49 feet away from the seed pod on the plant. Here's the techie-type scoop on this and generalities about self-dispersal of seeds.
Companion Planting Guides
From reducing or eliminating the need for garden pest treatments, to adding color and texture to an otherwise mundane space in a garden, companion planting is a win-win technique for improving a garden space. Here's my most recent find at Burpee.com in their growing tips section: Companion Planting Guide
Organic Tomato Seeds
Missing Summer? Me, too! Simply looking at the tomatoes for these organic seed packets brings back memories of last summer! Organic Tomatoes Seeds I can almost hear the birds chirping and hear the squirrels scrambling along the fence tops already! The little rodents love watching me dig holes and plant seeds - almost as much as they enjoy sneaking around to steal fruits & vegetables when I'm not looking. Though they don't seem to be too interested in the tomato plants, they will at least try one or two. Oh but how I do miss spending time gardening.
There's still a thick blanket of snow on the ground but I'm already prepping to plant seeds. Now's the time to get a jump on Spring so there's plenty of seedlings ready to transplant once the weather warms. After a slight disappointment with Roma Tomatoes last year (the flavor simply wasn't as good as expected) I'm going to focus on cherry, yellow pear, and beefsteak varieties of tomatoes this year. Oh I can hardly wait to walk out, pick one, and eat it right there in the sunshine!
Eggshell Seed Starters
I confess I'm not this cute & clever when I'm starting seeds yet using Eggshell Seed Starters for starting seeds indoors seems like a fabulous idea for people who are indeed good at being cutesy with their seed starting!
It does seem more logical to be able to transplant the entire seed starter container, whether it's an eggshell seed starter or paper egg container seed starter because those can be set directly into the dirt. However I have tried the egg container method before and not been successful with it at all! The humidity levels here are too high and I tend to over-water, so for me the paper (or cardboard) of the egg containers tend to attract mildew.
I prefer the plastic seed starting containers that I find free from time to time. They look like this when I'm cleaning them & filling the cells with seed starter soil:
Yes the upside down containers are drying though not sure why I dry them before I fill them up with seed starting soil just to get them wet again. It's just become a little routine - out with the old, in with the new! Once the seeds are sown and sprouting they look promising:
Those are ice-cream sticks for seed labels, which work wonderfully! I do use Sharpie pens because even with weeks of watering over the sticks the plant names remain easy to read.
It does seem more logical to be able to transplant the entire seed starter container, whether it's an eggshell seed starter or paper egg container seed starter because those can be set directly into the dirt. However I have tried the egg container method before and not been successful with it at all! The humidity levels here are too high and I tend to over-water, so for me the paper (or cardboard) of the egg containers tend to attract mildew.
I prefer the plastic seed starting containers that I find free from time to time. They look like this when I'm cleaning them & filling the cells with seed starter soil
:Yes the upside down containers are drying though not sure why I dry them before I fill them up with seed starting soil just to get them wet again. It's just become a little routine - out with the old, in with the new! Once the seeds are sown and sprouting they look promising:
Those are ice-cream sticks for seed labels, which work wonderfully! I do use Sharpie pens because even with weeks of watering over the sticks the plant names remain easy to read.
Cheap Indoor Seed Starting
What's the best way to start seeds indoors for transplanting outside after the weather stops freezing? Maybe there is no "best" way, but here's good comparisons of different ways to try.
Seed Starting: a Comparative Study on Cheap Indoor Methods
Seed Starting: a Comparative Study on Cheap Indoor Methods
Seed Starting Tips
Have you been starting seeds indoors this week? I have because it is the 1st week of Spring! Here's a handy little article for sharing ( Seed Starting Tips – Learn About The Best Time To Start Seeds ), especially this part:
" The plants that should be started the earliest are broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and head lettuce. Sow seeds for these indoors 10 weeks before the date of the last frost. "
I have about 100 different seed types this year and while it's fun to look through them all to pick & choose what I want to try in the different soil types, it's important to remember what should be started earliest. I didn't plant any of those types of seeds yet because I was working on getting the companion herbs & flowers started first. So I'm thankful for the reminder & now thinking about organizing seeds not only by type: companion, herb, root, etc. but also by when to start the seedlings!
" The plants that should be started the earliest are broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and head lettuce. Sow seeds for these indoors 10 weeks before the date of the last frost. "
I have about 100 different seed types this year and while it's fun to look through them all to pick & choose what I want to try in the different soil types, it's important to remember what should be started earliest. I didn't plant any of those types of seeds yet because I was working on getting the companion herbs & flowers started first. So I'm thankful for the reminder & now thinking about organizing seeds not only by type: companion, herb, root, etc. but also by when to start the seedlings!
Cold Frame VS. Hot Bed
Know the difference? I didn't! I thought I've been wanting a cold frame, as it turns out I need a hot bed. Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet: Cold Frame, Hot Bed Construction And Use (and here's a handy PDF from Purdue University)
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