Posted on May 23rd, 2008
As you plot and scheme and dream up your 2008 garden, consider which plants might hit it off together the best. Its a method called companion gardening and has proven to help soil nutrition, ward off pests and improve taste. Here are a few examples: Plant sunflowers behind lettuce - the lettuce keeps the soil moist and the sunflowers keep the lettuce shaded. Repel pests through smell - plant onions and garlic to protect strawberries, tomatoes, carrots and roses or use mint to save your cabbage. Marigolds are great pest busters anywhere as well as fragrant herbs like thyme and lemon interspersed throughout. Certain plants can act as decoys, luring pests away from your ...
Posted on May 19th, 2008
For a heavy duty spring clean, collect all your household hazardous waste and make a trip to your local haz-mat depot to ensure corrosive, flammable, explosive, or poisonous waste is disposed of properly. When poured down the drain or thrown in the trash, toxic waste can wind up circling back into our food, water and land. Find a safe and cool out-of-the-way spot in your home or garage to stockpile these items until you can get to the depot. It’s better to store them yourself for a time where you can keep an eye on those nasty bits and bobs and then make one big trip - maybe plan a neighbourhood collection to cut down on ...
Posted on May 16th, 2008
Hey Mary Poppins, have the gusty winds and spring showers put a damper on your trusty umbrella? In keeping with one of our sexy mantras ("I choose to reuse whenever possible") we suggest taking your busted rain shield to the garden instead of the curb. Simply remove the fabric, bury the handle in the ground and let your climbers climb. This impromptu trellis is great for vines and flowers – morning glories would make for a particularly beautiful living umbrella sculpture. Neat huh?
Posted on May 14th, 2008
Welcome, lady! Not only are ladybugs pretty to look at, they are quite the helper in the garden. Ladybug larva can eat about 25 aphids a day and adults can eat over 50, so when you spot one in your garden, throw out the welcome mat and allow your lady to lay.
Lady free? Before you run out to purchase ladybugs at garden centers, consider these fairly unknown facts. Most ladybugs are harvested from their aggregation spot where they hibernate, not bred somewhere. If you purchase lady beetles, they do have a high chance of flying off before the get settled in the garden. If ladybugs are harvested before their hibernation was ...
Posted on April 28th, 2008
Remember the first time someone told you that your favorite (and abundant) chubby, yellow “flowers” were actually weeds? That depressing moment first introduced many of us to the difference between “good” plants and flowers and weeds. If weeds are still just plants to you, stop reading. If weeds have become parasitic nuisances in your life and garden, try ridding yourself of them by dousing them with vinegar or lemons. It's important to note that this method will kill your "good" plants too, so keep the solution away from what you want to keep or use it only on the weeds growing between the cracks in your sidewalk or bricks. If lemons ...
Posted on April 24th, 2008
Do you wish your favorite market labeled its local produce, that compost was accepted at your curb that your local pub offered organic beer? All you have to do is ask...and maybe ask again. It sounds a bit simplistic but a good company will give the customer what they want. It worked on Enterprise Rent-A-Car. A recent ride with one of Enterprise's managers led to an interesting conversation. Mr. Rent-A-Car admitted the company had been holding out on adding the hybrid to its fleet of available vehicles in hopes that the car was nothing more than a trend, a fad, a passing fancy. No such luck - he was plagued with requests to ...
Posted on April 18th, 2008
There is nothing so manly as a manly man with his sleeves rolled up and sweat running down his manly brow as he charges around his sprawling acreage with a push lawnmower. What makes him especially studderiffic is that he can better smell the freshly cut grass because he's not breathing freshly torched gas.
Posted on April 15th, 2008
We love eggs; they’re delicious, versatile, nutritious and inexpensive. Another reason to love eggs is for how useful they can be apart from eating. Should you find yourself hard-boiling eggs for egg salad, deviled eggs or just for salads, consider using the shells for seedling cups and the water for the rest of your plants. That’s right: the water you boiled eggs in becomes enriched with calcium from the egg shells and can be reused as a healthy supplement for your greenest housemates. If you let this water cool (don’t scald your plants!), you can use it to water your indoor or outdoor plants. Giving your greens a healthy drink without turning on ...
Posted on April 13th, 2008
Tell that liar in your dryer that it has a new home - the garden. Yes, dryer lint is one of those crazy things you probably didn't know you could compost. Also on the list? The Sunday comics, tea bags, leather dust, pet hair, your hair, freezer-burned fruit, and grocery receipts.
Just remember one little hint about lint:
skip the dryer sheet in your laundry load so your lint and compost will be chemical free.
Posted on April 8th, 2008
What’s black and white and red all over? You guessed it, your daily delivered newspaper. Though well read and a staple at the breakfast table, this comforting activity is not necessarily a green way to stay in touch. The average newspaper can cost up to 6 ounces in carbon emissions when you factor in logging, production and delivery. The wood pulping required is a pretty dirty business giving petroleum, coal and primary metals industries a run for their money and more often than not, that stack of info has come from a very old tree opposed to a new one. While the verdict is still out as to whether on line ...
