Reference GardenDesigner.com - Garden care, climate map, plant database, resources and garden links GardenDesigner.com Reference Garden & Landscape Reference Section Search for Plants in the USDA Plant Database Use the USDA search engine to look up the right plant for sun or shade, large or small or find new plants materials to use in your garden landscape. U.S. Look up your climate zone for average minimum temperatures in your region of the country to check the minimum plant temperatures before you plant. Garden Care & Maintenance Make taking care of your garden can be easy with these garden maintenance tips. Garden Links and Resources Browse our resoures and links section to find more great ideas for landscape and garden design solutions. Recommended Garden Books Check out our selection of garden books that include everything from garden design, to how the maintain garden beds, to garden construction.
Organic Lawn Care For the Cheap and Lazy Lawn care in a nutshell: Must do: Set your mower as high as it will go (3 to 4 inches). Water only when your grass shows signs of drought stress and then water deeply (put a cup in your sprinkler zone and make sure it gets at least an inch of water). Optional: Fertilize with an organic fertilizer in the fall and spring. I recommend the Ringer brand. Now for the verbose details on lawn care: A little knowledge makes it so damn near anything can qualify for the "cheap and lazy" label. The key to the lawn care game is competition. lawn care must do: mow high There is a fight for sun. MYTH: "If I mow short, it will be longer until I have to mow again." If you have a serious weed infestation, consider mowing twice as frequently as you normally do. Finally, when mowing, be sure to leave the clippings on the lawn. Mowing higher gives the following perks: Check out this pic. lawn mower My lawn care mower of choice? Update! There has been a lot of discussion about this in our forum.
Growing Your Own Garlic - Planting Growing Harvesting and Storing Garlic As far as I'm concerned, garlic gets the blue ribbon for growing your own. It's absurdly easy to plant and care for; it tastes great; it looks beautiful and it takes up so little ground that even those with very small gardens can raise enough to be self-sufficient in garlic for a good part of the year. All you have to do is choose the right varieties; plant at the right time, in the right soil; then harvest when just right and store correctly. 1. Choosing Types of Garlic If you look in a specialist catalog like the one at Gourmet Garlic Gardens, you'll find dozens of varieties of garlic listed. You see where this is going – and you can see a lot more types of garlic on either of those websites, but for general purposes the most important difference is the one between softneck and hardneck. Softnecks are so called because the whole green plant dies down to pliancy, leaving nothing but the bulb and flexible stems that are easy to braid. Gardeners in most of the U.S. can try some of both. 2.
You Grow Girl | Gardening for the People. 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
How To Save Tomato Seeds {Plus Tips When saving seeds from this year’s harvest for next year’s, you’ll find best results with heirloom tomatoes rather than hybrids (hybrids are typically the ones you purchase in grocery stores and regular greenhouse seedlings). Once you make your initial purchase of heirlooms, you’ll be able to do this year after year. Farmers markets are a great place to find them. Here’s how you do it: Cut tomatoes in half then squeeze out the pulp into a clear glass container (wide mouth mason jar or small bowl for example).Add a couple tablespoons of water (double the amount if there isn’t much juice) then cover jar or container with a piece of cheesecloth (a coffee filter will work well too), secure in place with an elastic band.Leave the container to sit at room temperature for about 4 or 5 days until you notice a layer of white scum/mold form on the top (this process is fermenting).Skim off the white scum then pour into a large bowl, fill with cool water and let sit for a minute or two. A few tips:
Worm Composting Published by City Farmer, Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture City of Vancouver - City Farmer Wormshop See these links first. City Farmer's Step-By-Step Photo Guide to Worm Composting See City Farmer's wormshop instructor describe how a worm bin works. (Video) See City Farmer's wormshop instructor describe how to harvest a worm bin. (Video) Metro Vancouver Worm Composting Brochure See a list of red wriggler worm suppliers.
Pet Waste Composting Published by City Farmer, Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture See City Farmer's Step-By-Step photo guide to making a dog waste composter in your back yard. Sharon Slack's Dog Waste Composter About 15 years ago, I dug a hole in the back of my ornamental garden, away from my food crops. The hole is about 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep, and is covered with a plastic lid from an old compost bin. I empty my dog's waste in the pit every day so that it will break down as compost. Occasionally I add Septo-Bac, an enzyme-active biological compound formulated to increase the digestion rate of sewage. 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.