You Grow Girl™ - Gardening for the People How To Make TP Roll Seed Pots Guys! Spring is almost here! In Portland I dare say it’s even come early, bringing the daffodils springing from every sidewalk crack and kissing the tree tops in blush pink buds. It’s intoxicating! And it also means we’re coming up quick on planting season. Even if you’re not seeing it out your own front window, I assure you it’s coming . . . and soon! Last year I offered a green alternative to plastic seed pots, with a recycled newspaper version. And once again, it’s just so easy. Begin with your TP roll. Cut! It’ll look like this. Fold down the tabs to make a nice flat bottom. When you’re ready to transplant, just unfold the bottom tabs and then cut the cardboard away. Don’t you love how the green DIY method is also always the most efficient, most practical method?
Homegrown Evolution Welcome to Allotment Growing: Plants That Stop — Even Eat — Mosquitoes While I’m still gathering feedback on DEET -free repellents I thought you’d appreciate some information on plants that may help keep mosquitoes where they belong–far, far away from you. (Note: the leaves of the following must be crushed to release the aroma. Otherwise mosquitoes can’t smell them): Photo: NellsWiki Horsemint has a scent similar to citronella and grows wild in most of the Eastern United States, from Mexico, Texas up to Minnesota to Vermont. Photo: D. If you’re a gardener who disrupts swarms of mosquitoes every time you step foot into your garden, try incorporating some of these plants/herbs: • Citronella • Rosemary (crush this and rub on your skin for protection outside of the garden, too) • Lemongrass • Lemon Thyme • Lavender (questionable) • Basil • Thyme • Penny royal garlic • Rue Photo: Michal Rubeš Have a water garden? About the Author. digg
Organic Gardening Tips Sussex Life Gardening | Great British Life Sussex Life Gardening Wednesday, June 30, 2010 8:31 AM Nigel and Trixie Hall have achieved wonders in a small garden at their home in Worthing. Leigh Clapp was entranced by what she found An Oasis of Green Vistors to this serene town garden are surprised to learn that the natural-looking contoured landscape is actually man-made. Amateur watercolourist, Nigel, sees the garden as an art form with the structure and plants as his canvas. Shrubs form the backbone to plantings of bulbs, annuals and perennials. It is intriguing that so many different views have been created, both from inside the house looking out to different vignettes, as you wander the figure-eight configuration of pathways or take time to pause and soak up the peaceful atmosphere. Hydrangea popular deciduous shrubsgrown for large showy flowerheadsflat or domed clusters of flowers midsummer Growing notes Lazy Daze With full-blown blowsy summer time, take a break and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Summers bounty Thirsty visitors
Best Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs to Grow for Beginners Whether you’re an old hand at gardening but have never grown edible plants, or you’re new to gardening all together, here is a list of plants that are well suited to people who are considering growing something they can eat for the first time. Photo by GNIKRJ I’ve linked to growing information from Organic Gardening magazine to help you get your container farming off to a good start. Going organic is really important when it comes to plants you are going to eat because eating chemicals (whether in the form of fertilizers or pesticides) is not very appetizing. Related Posts:
Plantbombing, Yarn Bombing With Plants « the BUZZCUTT In what may be the sweetest collaboration for a couple ever, urban knitter Heather Powazek Champ came up with a project that combines her love of knitting with her husband’s love of plants. Heather knits adorable little plant pockets and her husband, Derek Powazek, fills them with soil and live plants. They then distribute them around their homebase of San Francisco in a project they call Plantbombing, which is basically a grown up version of yarn bombing and seed bombing. Plant-wise, the trick is to plant them with things that are hardy enough to thrive in neglect.
5 Secrets to a ‘No-work’ Garden 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.
The Lazy Lady’s Guide to DIY: Hanging Herb Garden At some point near the middle of March, I always decide that I’m “done” with winter. The sweaters and jackets get pushed to the back of the closet, the flip flops come out, and I inevitably freeze my butt off for several weeks until the weather catches up with my warm-weather state of mind. Likewise, my cravings for fresh herbs and veggies are always a little ahead of the season. Growing your own herbs is a great way to save money and avoid buying too much at a time and letting most of it go to waste. If it’s still too cold to plant outside where you are (or if you’re short on space!) this hanging herb garden is the perfect project to get you in gear for spring. What you’ll need: Tin containers with snap-on plastic lids (tea, cocoa, and coffee cans are a good bet), coat hangers, pliers, scissors, herbs (I bought basil, rosemary, dill, and cilantro for about $2.50 each), masking tape, coffee filters, a nail, a hammer, X-acto knife, scrap fabric or paper, and glue or spray adhesive.