Gardening Tips - 7 Habits of Successful Gardeners Originally published January 2009 Or is it the Seven Pillars of Horticultural Wisdom? As everyone's resolutions remind us, we love attaching a number to advice, a number smaller than the one I regard as most realistic: The Twenty Three Thousand Four Hundred and Sixty-Two Things It's Important to Remember Before Getting Out of Bed. So be warned: I haven't really honed it down to only seven; these are just the first seven essentials that came to mind when I decided to do this. And not in order, either. Make CompostUse CompostPlant Crops in Wide BedsMulchFeed the Soil, Not the PlantsShare SomethingBe There Photo: The compost bins at Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, N.Y. 1. Short version: Mother Nature never throws anything away. Longer version: Composting is the rare silk purse from sow's ear, something for nothing, win-win. It's easy to fall into thinking that compost's last name is bin, and that careful layering and turning are part of the deal. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Got seeds? 7.
Index Cardboard Love (by @baekdal) #design Design Art Cartoons Cars About Follow RSS Advertise Search Cardboard Love - /by @42concepts . Written by Thomas Baekdal | Wednesday, April 22, 2009 You only need a small piece of cardboard to show that you care about someone. (via Cardboard Love) Follow: 42Concepts Brilliant Censorship Towel » The Eatable Cookbook » The Secret Forest Cabin, HemLoft » Indy Bag for iPad » A Heffalump Ate My Laundry » Roaarrrr!! The Real Power Nap » Iron, White panelling, Bookcase Wallpaper? Victorian Steampunk Wedding » Your Morning Mug of Coffee » WWII Navy Mines Furniture » A Cradle For Relaxation » Fioriness, Lamps in a Bottle » Bonjour Poupette » Turn Your Drawings into Stuffed Animals » Beautiful Richards' Trunks » MegaPhone for the iPhone » The Breakfast Express » Apple Campus 2 High-res Renderings » Paradise and The Floating Island » BookBook for iPhone - Wallet and iPhone in one » Android Heroes and Villains » Tribeca 1930s Styled Lamps » Stunning Bamboo Lamps » Balloon Bench » Green Walls » Felt Mouse »
Vegan Chocolate Pudding!!! Chocolate pudding that's good for you!? You're going to freak out when I tell you that it takes only 3 minutes to prepare... In a blender, mix: 1 avocado (pitted and peeled, of course) -should be a ripe one 3 heaping Tablespoons of raw cocoa powder (you can use normal cocoa powder if you don't have raw)- *make sure it's fair trade though! Make sure it's really creamy, use a spatula to get the pieces of avocado that get missed. Freeze it in a container and it looks like this when you scoop it out: If it's too hard let it thaw a bit before serving. Raw cacao has lots of antioxidants, and... "Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. Avocados and Cardiovascular Disease "Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, but a healthy diet and exercise plan may help reduce your risk of developing the life-threatening illness.
How to Grow Raspberries Raised beds eliminate root rot The original 20 plants have grown into a full bed from which the author picks 2 gallons of raspberries a day during the summer months, roughly a pint per plant, though the amount tapers off as fall approaches. Raspberry plants hate wet feet, and they are gross feeders. We addressed these two critical points by building a 20-inch-high raised bed and filling it with a mixture of four-fifths good garden topsoil blended with about one-fifth sand, peat, and well-rotted manure. If you have rich, deep soil that drains well year-round, you can simply plant your raspberries in a permanent garden site. It is important that you do not establish your raspberry patch in an area where you have recently grown tomatoes, peppers, or potatoes, to avoid verticillium wilt, which these vegetables can carry, and raspberries can catch.
Hobbit Houses: 15 Grassy Hill-Shaped Dwellings “In a hole in a ground lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing to sit on or eat: It was a hobbit hole and that means comfort.” This line by J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the beloved The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels, has inspired hundreds of copycat underground hobbit homes around the world – and is itself inspired by ancient Viking hill houses. The World’s First Hobbit Motel (images via: wayfaring.info) For tourists the world over, New Zealand will forever be associated with The Lord of the Rings, since it served as the filming and production location for the film version of the saga. Modern Hobbit Home in Switzerland (images via: toxel) From outside, this home is like any other hobbit hole: half-hidden in a grassy hill, sheltered from the elements and blending in seamlessly with its surroundings. Rent-a-Hobbit-Hole: Hebridean Earth House (images via: webecoist) Hobbit Shed
Building a Two-Can Bioreactor Purpose Two-can bioreactors are designed to be used as small-scall indoor composting units for families, and for composting as an educational tool in the classroom. Materials 32-gallon plastic garbage can 20-gallon plastic garbage can drill brick spigot (optional) duct tape (optional) insulation (optional) Construction Using a drill, make 15 to 20 holes (0.5" to 1" diameter) through the bottom of the 20-gallon can. Note: A system of 10-gallon plastic garbage cans that can fit inside 20-gallon cans can be substituted if space is a problem. The composting process in the cans will take from three to five weeks. Credits
MUST READS Real Food Nutrition & Health E-Course An online course of 12 in-depth multimedia lessons specifically geared to teaching Nutrition from a Real Food perspective. Sick of the sub-par standards of the USDA’s food pyramid? Now you and your teenagers can learn about REAL nutrition. Beautiful Babies Online Nutrition Course Want to get pregnant? In this e-course of 12 in-depth multimedia lessons, you’ll learn the ins and outs of proper nutrition for fertility, pregnancy, breastfeeding, & baby’s first foods. Beautiful Babies: Nutrition For Fertility, Pregnancy, Breastfeeding & Baby’s First Foods Did you know that simple changes in your diet could increase your fertility by 60%? Simply Salads by Season Tired of picking up bottles of salad dressing with ingredients labels that read like chemistry texts? In this e-book you’ll get dozens of new recipes for dressings, condiments, and salads — all organized by season. Real Food Nutrition & Health Real Food Nutrition FOR KIDS! Click here to view more details.
Dandelions by Anita Sanchez Whether you love them or hate them, dandelions are among the most familiar plants in the world. They're one species that just about anyone can identify at a glance, as familiar to humans as the dog. Dandelions are, quite possibly, the most successful plants that exist, masters of survival worldwide. Nowadays, they're also the most unpopular plant in the neighborhood – but it wasn't always that way. To get us back on the right dandelion track, here are 10 dandelion-related facts. 1. 2. 3. 4. 6. 7. 10. Dandelions probably will never be eradicated, but we can learn to be more at ease with dandelions and other wild things – and maybe even to love them a little.