Terrarium Centerpieces The other week, my good friend Stephanie and I planned out a craft weekend. Our mission: Terrariums. Not the kind you keep lizards in, but the kind you can seal up and watch the moss grow. Terrariums are meant to be long lasting, so you can even make some months before the wedding and still have them thriving in time for the big day. So lets get down to the nitty-gritty of how you can actually make them: Step 1: Materials • Glass containers in whatever size you heart most. • Good dirt and rocks. • Figurines or decorative rocks to place inside. • Horticultural Charcoal. • Moss (another one of those things you can find outside, but can also order if you don’t live somewhere it doesn’t grow naturally). • Spray bottle (for misting after wards). Step 2: Wash out your containers and rocks (you never know what animal has probably peed on them outside). Step 3: Then start your layering your base. Step 4: Add your moss, and give it a couple shot glasses (depending on the container size) of water.
PlantSF Creative Organic Gardening - Permaculture gardens (permanent culture) is an approach to everyday life that integrates plants, animals, landscape, structures; people who purposely design all the facets of their lives to enhance environmental sustainability within a permanent, sustainable agricultural and cultural system - a diverse, complex eco-system, where the all of the elements interact in mutually beneficial ways to produce a whole which is greater than the sum of its parts. The art of designing garden areas that are modeled on the relationships found in natural ecologies. Permanent is from the Latin "permanens" - to remain to the end, to persist throughout. Culture is from the Latin "cultura" - meaning the cultivation of land, or the intellect. Permaculture is sustainable land use design. Elements in a system are viewed in relationship to other elements, where the outputs of one element become the inputs of another. Planting a Permaculture Garden The use of patterns found in nature are key to permaculture design. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Garden as Sacred Space | Nature - Beauty - Sanctuary Why I Use Epsom Salt in the Garden *Why I Use Epsom Salt in the Garden*By: LL4e14 June 2004 I wanted to show everyone what a difference it makes with and without with only water being added all of these plants was planted on the same day and time. I am showing you ones I am growing with the sq. ft. method. All of these photo's were just taken today. I do have several baby tomatoes now. However now the non Epsom salt plants will be fed it also this was only to show those what a difference it makes. In the Garden House Plants Mix one teaspoon per gallon of water and feed to the plants every two to four weeks. Garden startup Sprinkle approximately one cup per 100 square feet. (10’x10’) and mix into soil before planting. Tomatoes Apply one tablespoon per foot of height for each plant every two weeks. Roses Apply one teaspoon per foot of height for each plant every two weeks. Evergreens, Azaleas, Rhododendrons Apply one tablespoon per nine square feet (3’x3’) over the root zone every two to four weeks.
Indoor Water Gardens - Martha Stewart Home & Garden As anyone who has snorkeled can attest, the cool aquamarine light underwater casts an enchanted glow on everything in its domain. Perhaps this explains the allure of water gardens. Small freshwater gardens are fun to create and simple to care for. And all you need are a few floating or submerged greens in a vintage aquarium, an apothecary jar, or a sleek glass cylinder. You'll find appropriate containers at antiques shops, garden centers, or in your own cupboards. Aquarium suppliers and specialty nurseries sell a variety of suitable plants. Those that can remain entirely submerged in water, such as anubias and parrot's feather (Myriophyllum), are known as true aquatics. When choosing plants, keep in mind that some will need twelve hours or more of bright light daily. Rinse gravel thoroughly to remove dust, which can cloud the water, and salt, which can damage roots and leaves. After a few weeks, begin fertilizing the plants with tablets made specifically for water gardens.
The Art of Weeding: Part 2 In Part One of this series on organic weed control we learned about how weeds affect our garden and tips to prevent them in the first place. In this article, we'll learn how to get rid of weeds, naturally, tools for the job and how weeds can even be good for you and your garden. Real tips for getting rid of weeds As the saying goes, the bigger the elephant, the harder it is to move it. In the garden, the bigger the weeds, the harder it is to control them. The first step to controlling weedis to get into the habit of going on patrol in your garden. The best--and worst--times to weed Some gardeners prefer to pull weeds early in the morning while the soil is still damp with dew and after they've had a cup of coffee. Develop your own strategy Let's say you return from vacation only to find the garden overrun with strange plants. Still overwhelmed? Dry soil vs. damp soil You only have to try pulling weeds once from dry, compact soil to know that it it's hard work. Small is beautiful
4 Simple Steps to Grow a Hundred Pounds of Potatoes in a Barrel Container gardening isn't only for savvy urban gardeners and folks with limited space to grow, it can also be for folks who want to maximize their yields in a controlled environment. Not only does growing potatoes in a barrel reduce the amount of weeding and exposure to pests and fungi, you don't even have to risk shovel-damage to the tender potatoes by digging them out of the ground when they're done, just tip the container over! After extensive research to plan my own potatoes-in-a-barrel, I've boiled all of the recommendations down to 4 simple steps to a winning potato harvest. 1. Select and prepare a container You'll need to pick out a container such as a 50-gallon trash barrel or one of those half whiskey barrel planters. Good drainage is critical for the cultivation of healthy potatoes so you'll want to cut or drill a series of large drainage holes in the bottom and bottom sides of your container. 2. 3. 4. Other tips to grow bushels of barrel potatoes More gardening tips
Natural Fertilizer Science Project Natural Fertilizer Science Projects For The Urban Farmer Every farmer, right from an urban backyard hobbyist down to one owning acres of land, knows the importance of soil enhancement in producing healthy plants. If the soil is frail and imperfect, the produce will be weak. Many urban folks are under the impression that backyard farming is cumbersome and expensive. Seaweed-based Natural Fertilizer One of the easiest methods of making a natural fertilizer is by using seaweed. This exercise is for decomposing the seaweed, and you will know the seaweed has decomposed when the water turns brown. So, after the seaweed has decomposed, all you have to do is take out the concentrated liquid from the drum, dilute with water and spray or pour it on your plants. You may add some fish emulsion to your seaweed liquid concentrate; such a mixture will make your plants grow well and will also act as an insect repellant. Earthworm Compost Another easy natural fertilizer you can make is earthworm compost.
5 Secrets to a ‘No-work’ Garden | Eartheasy Blog It took over 20 years of gardening to realize that I didn’t have to work so hard to achieve a fruitful harvest. As the limitless energy of my youth gradually gave way to the physical realities of mid-life, the slow accretion of experience eventually led to an awareness that less work can result in greater crop yields. Inspired in part by Masanobu Fukuoka’s book, One Straw Revolution, my family experimented with gardening methods which could increase yields with less effort. Fukuoka spent over three decades perfecting his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort. Here are the strategies we used which enabled us to greatly increase our garden yield, while requiring less time and less work. 1. With ‘no-till’ gardening, weeding is largely eliminated. 2. Gardeners are always on the lookout for free sources of clean organic mulch to add to their garden.
How to Turn a Pallet into a Garden Good news and bad news. I had planned to film a short video showing you how to make a pallet garden, but the weather didn’t cooperate. I was stapling the landscape fabric onto the pallet when it started drizzling and got really windy. That’s the bad news. But I know I promised a tutorial today, so I took photos and have kept my word to share how to make the pallet garden. So keep reading my pallet loving friends, instructions on how to make your own pallet garden are just a few lines away… Find a Pallet The first thing you need to do is–obviously–find a pallet. Don’t just take the first pallet you find. Collect Your Supplies For this project, you’ll need the pallet you found, 2 large bags of potting soil, 16 six packs of annual flowers (one six pack per opening on the face of the pallet, and two six packs per opening on the top of the completed pallet garden), a small roll of landscape fabric, a staple gun, staples, and sand paper. Get Your Pallet into Shape Let the Stapling Begin!