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Planting a Container Garden
If you are a person not blessed with a big sunny backyard, you need not be deprived of the joy of gardening. You just need to think on a smaller scale. The perfect...read more on organic gardening
Growing and Caring for Rhododendrons and Azaleas
You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information at the end. Website URLs must be...read more on organic gardening
Natural Fertilizer Science Projects
Every farmer from some fifty years ago - whether a farmer of large acreages or an urban backyard farmer, knew that to produce healthy plants, you had to improve the soil. If...read more on organic gardening
Using Hydrogen Peroxide in your Hydroponics Gardening System
There are no doubts about the benefits of using hydrogen peroxide properly in a hydroponics system. This becomes especially true if your nutrient reservoir...read more on organic gardening
Freedom
In the land where "the sun always shines," the heavenly globe had not shone its bright face for many days. I drove into town during a torrential downpour. I had yet to see...read more on organic gardening
Plant Now for Colorful Spring Blooms
(ARA) - Tracie Andrescik plants up to 200 bulbs every fall. “I guess I’m the bulb queen. I love the waves of color and early spring blooms I get with bulbs,” says...read more on organic gardening
Interior Design Ideas For 2006
Where we live and how we live today, reflects our culture and environment. Our homes, now more than ever, are sanctuaries from the harsh realities of the world outside....read more on organic gardening
Starting a Shade Garden
Starting a Shade Garden The shade garden can be exploding with color and texture. No matter how much shade is in your landscape, the right flowers, plants, bushes and...read more on organic gardening
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Copy-write 2005 Jan Money.
A great perk of organic gardening is finding different ways to achieve the same or improved result.
Many items that are normally binned can be of great use to the outdoor enthusiast. Here are ten ideas that won’t cost you anything.
1.Food leftovers: All leftover food is to be composted. Composting is becoming quite a thing to do, and special composting bins can be bought or even made quite easily. There are many different stories of what to do and each person will find the way that suits them. Keeping the temperature quite warm is the key to success. If you need quick results then just keep chucking it on the top and then just pull some out of the bottom of the heap, then sieve it and the compost will be ready to use for seeds and small plants.
2.Hedge cuttings: Instead of ordinary composting or burning it on the bonfire, see if you can get a hold of an electric garden muncher.
This takes branches of up to one inch thick and you just put them into a hole in the machine and it munches it up into little chips. These are great for keeping the moisture in the soil, so just spread them around the base of shrubs and fruit trees to control the temperature of the ground.
3.Decorating trays: Keep all roller paint trays and anything similar to use as seed trays. Get a pen and make some holes in the bottom of the tray for drainage. Add a little vermiculite or small pieces of gravel and fill with seed compost.
4.Thrown-out carpets, old cardboard boxes, and other bits and bobs can be put over the vegetable plot in Autumn to prevent those early spring weeds from coming up. Spread over the whole area and weigh down with rocks, lift off on a sunny spring day a few days before you want to work on it.
5.Recycle glass jars: One’s with sealable lids are the best for storing seeds, peas and beans until next year. After cleaning the jars, make sure they are totally dry by popping them into a warm oven before storing your seeds. Try and collect dark coloured jars, or wrap paper around clear jars to prevent light damage to the seeds.
6.Yoghurt cartons: In fact all dessert pots are great for re-potting seedlings. Again, make a hole in the bottom, put a little fine gravel or vermiculite and then fill with compost or soil.
7.Metal coat hangers: Make little cloches with old wire coat hangers. Make them into a square and then put the hook in the soil push down until the curve rests upon the top of the soil. Put another one a small distance away to make the two ends of the cloche. Then chuck over a sheet of plastic and weigh down the corners of it with rocks.
8.Lolly sticks: These make great row tags in your greenhouse rows or seed trays. They don’t last indefinitely but they are really good for writing the names of seeds on.
9.Aluminium bottle stops: Keep these from milk or juice bottles and coloured foil around drinks bottles. String together with cotton to make a bird scarer and put on fruit bushes before the birds start munching on the fruit.
10. Transparent plastic: These can be placed over a plant in cold weather to protect from frost damage.
For more info go to:http://www.gardeningsupply.info/articles
About the Author
Jan Money is a freelance writer from Poole, in the
UK and has been writing gardening articles since 2005.
For all your gardening needs and supplies:
http://www.gardeningsupply.info/
Written by:
Jan Money
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