Choosing The Best Indoor Plants For Your Interior It’s no secret that I’ve been a wee bit obsessed with plants lately. After taking a good look at my interior and realizing that multiple areas of my home are a bit bare, I’m convinced that a few houseplant purchases will help breathe new life into my living room, bedroom, powder room and home office. I’m fairly good at keeping plants alive, but when I get busy, I tend to be forgetful about watering. And sometimes I water all of the plants the same way, without paying attention to their individual needs. Succulents in a light-filled window For starters, several of my favorite blogs have recently featured posts on caring for houseplants. Today I thought I’d share some tips and tidbits for choosing and maintaining the best indoor plants for your interior. Indoor Plant Ideas I thought I’d begin by sharing a few houseplant ideas that experts consistently recommend as sturdy indoor greenery. Fiddle leaf fig in a woven pot Zee zee plant in a colorful pot Rubber plant in a red pot 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Architecture for Humanity Urban Agriculture: A Guide to Container Gardens A Guide to Container Gardens With inexpensive containers and suitable soil mix,you can create an urban garden virtually anywhere - on roof tops,vacant city lots, borwn fields, and unused portion of parking lots Job S. Ebenezer, Ph.D.President, Technology for the Poor, 877 PELHAM COURT, WESTERVILLE, OHIO - 43081technologyforthepoor@yahoo.com It is estimated that by 2030 AD nearly 50% of the world’s population may live in urban areas. As a consequence of this many millions of acres of productive farmland are expected to be lost to housing and other usage. Due to the recent terrorist attacks, food security and safety are seriously compromised. Migration from rural areas also brings into the urban areas many persons with very little formal education. Urban agriculture has the potential for creating micro-enterprises that can be owned and operated by the community members without too much of initial capital. Urban farming is not new. Wading pools should be set on a level ground.
Re-Growing Celery Did you know that you can grow another complete celery stalk from the bottom piece that you cut off and throw away? This is new to me, too, but I have been doing it this year and it works! I use a lot of celery when cooking and I hope to save quite a bit by re-growing it throughout the spring and summer. When I bring the celery home, I cut the end off first then put the rest into the refrigerator. I usually set the bottom piece on a saucer of warm water overnight to get it started. When I have time, I will take that piece and plant it just like it is, in the vegetable garden with the stalk side up. This is one planted about three days ago. This one was planted about 10 days ago. It will grow a brand new top to be cut and used. I plan to start planting my cut celery bottoms in small pots or trays late next winter so that I have a few dozen to plant out into the vegetable garden in May. I may never need to buy celery again! You can also find Sheryl at Providence Acres.
Are Coffee Grounds Good For Plants? You only need to walk past a coffee shop in any American city to see that our country loves java. With so much coffee being consumed on a daily basis, it’s encouraging to learn that there is a productive use for all those grinds. Next time you make a cup, save your coffee grounds and add them to the soil in your garden. Coffee Grounds as a Mulching Agent Coffee’s breakdown materials can be used as a mulching agent, as well as a fertilizing agent, for gardens. Coffee Grounds as a Compost Addition Adding coffee to your compost or worm bin is a great idea. Coffee as a Fertilizer As a fertilizer, used coffee grounds are slightly acidic and full of nitrogen, a mineral that aids vegetable and plant growth. Coffee as a Pesticide Coffee-ground mulch has the added benefit of deterring veggie and flower-munching slugs and snails. How to Use Coffee Grounds in Your Garden Don’t use coffee grounds that have fermented or rotted. Where to Get the Grounds? - Dr. References: Oregon State University.
Second Hand Building Materials – Recycled Timber, Second Hand Kitchens & more Let’s Make 2-Liter SIPs! Photo: Rachel Glass My mom and I have really been expanding our gardening knowledge lately. Though there is a lot more to learn, we have been sharing that gardening knowledge with kids and families in our community. When we were asked to teach children at a special event sponsored by the AUA (Advocates for Urban Agriculture) and Hull House, we decided to teach a workshop on making SIPs. A SIP is a Sub Irrigated Planter. Sub meaning bottom, irrigated meaning watered, and planter meaning… well you know. “First the water at the bottom of the SIP is wicked or sucked up by the fabric. After teaching the Becker girls (above) how to make SIPs I took a quick break. My mom and I invented the seed match game so people could learn what seeds go to which plants. The Becker girls extraordinarily (unlike some other kids I’ve taught) seemed to want to learn more about gardening. After the kids constructed their SIPs, we gave them chocolate mint seedlings to plant in their new homemade planters.
Four ways to creatively grow your own fruits and vegetables using principles of permaculture (NaturalNews) Modern industrial agriculture is a disastrous failure, as it defies practically every natural law related to food cultivation, ecological and environmental protection and stewardship, and human nutrition. But there is a new agricultural revolution sweeping the land that is changing the way humans eat and grow food, and its methods are derived from the concepts found in permaculture. Permaculture is basically an all-encompassing term used to identify the strategic and creative ways through which human structures and agricultural systems are unified into harmonious, sustainable entities. With food costs on the rise and the economy increasingly on the brink of collapse, more and more people are turning to the self-sustaining methods of food production found in permaculture that will persist in the event of a regional or national crisis. If you have a fairly sizable growing area, you may want to consider creating a mandala garden. Sources for this article include:
How to Build a GeoDome Greenhouse - Northern Homestead When it comes to gardening in colder climates, a greenhouse is almost a must have. It extends the growing season and gives the plants a lot more heat. With a greenhouse, we can actually pick ripe tomatoes here and grow some plants that we would not be able to without one. A greenhouse can also be a great place to hang out on those cool spring days and summer nights. When we started to look out for one to build, our expectations were very high. Very unique, lightweight structure Stable in wind and under snow Optimal light absorption Has the most growing ground space A unique hang-out place An eye catcher The GeoDome greenhouse seemed to be just what we were looking for. What materials to use? We looked at dozens of how-to instructions and even bought a pricy e-Book (with very little value). Here we share our GeoDome building experience for anyone who wants to build a GeoDome -Wood. Acidome is one of the best Geodome calculators we were able to find on the internet. Finished struts: .
BaseHabitat How to Make Moss Graffiti - The Step by Step "Grow" Guide Before getting into our guide on making moss graffiti, let’s talk about the impact of paint in the graffiti world. Obviously paint is not the most environmentally friendly medium for artistic expression. A significant number of these products contain substances that may be harmful to the environment such as lead, cadmium, formaldehyde, CFCs in paint spray, and many other similarly toxic substances. An alternative to using paint is to use moss instead. This medium is not only ecologically sound but also grows with time. Choosing The Right Spot Areas that are exposed to the sun throughout the day are not conducive for moss growth. Planning The Graffiti Piece Good artwork takes careful preparation. Gathering The Materials Once a tentative plan has been chalked out, it is now time to collect the materials needed to churn out the moss paint”. Preparing The Moss For Processing Wash the moss carefully. Mixing It All Together Place the washed, broken up moss in the blender. Applying The Moss Paint