organic gardening
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Herbs to plant = Herbie heaven!
There is something so gratifying about setting plants in fertile soil. They just look healthy and green in the contrast to the rich black to red soil that they sit in. Yes, red clay is a way of life in Georgia. As long as it has a balance of other nutrients, it’s becomes a necessary if not welcomed component of good garden soil. This week, it is herb planting time at Rock Star Farms. The farm has grown by leaps and bounds over this past year. Last year, the medicine wheel was sporting many vegetables along side herbs. This year, vegetable garden beds surround the medicine wheel. The wheel can…
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Greens for the "green" month
I have all these greens this month that I’ve been getting from Rock Star Farms CSA. What do I do with them all? Discussions are beginning to take shape among the CSA members. Here are a few things that I do with them. I’m considering making this dish tonight with my Collards from Rock Star Farms Winter CSA: Collards and Potatoes . We’ll see if Canada is as good at Collards as they are hockey! :-O Save your own environment by not cooking your collards till they are beyond mush! This tidbit of advice goes for any green veggie you get your hands on. All those wonderful vitamins are long gone…
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Things going on at Dr. Flower headquarters…
If you look at the picture of the week, you’ll see a line up for fruit bushes purchased on sale that will be planted in a minimum of 3 backyards and one Farm! We are just a little bit excited to do some landscaping with the fabulous plants that are antioxidant producers! Will these lovely organic homegrown fruits end up in Dr. Flower’s All Natural Handmade soap? I’m betting NOT! They will however, nourish those that make these all natural goodies. What do we have? Blueberries, Raspberries (red and fall producing gold), thornless blackberries, kiwi, and figs! Chances are that you might see a few updates on the landscape…
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Tis the season…that poison ivy blooms!
As summer winds down and the kids go back to school, there are changes also happening in the backyard. The fall blooming plants are beginning to do their thing. Some of this is good….some of this is bad! Perhaps not as bad if you know how to identify it. In the past, I’ve blogged about how to identify poison ivy in your yard. What was missing from those pictures is what the plant looks like in full bloom. I’ve gotten close enough to the plant to snap a shot. Why is blooming bad? Well, blooming means more seeds which means this plant is going to procreate. ACK!! What do…
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Wordless Wednesday – 08-05-09
Beneficial Camo, Beneficial presence!
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Wordless Wednesday 6-17-09
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Mud Daubers, friend or foe?
Why all the sudden interest in mud daubers? You know how you hear talk about a certain subject and that subject comes up again? It was that way with mud daubers for me. Since I was at the Alabama Soap Meeting on Friday and Saturday, I got another facial from Tammy Doering of Dead Sea Bulk Materials. My new friend Aimee Morhan of Magnolia Soaps that I met at the conference was suggesting that mud daubers would be a cute name for young girls that use facial mud. Being the earthy chick, it sounded like a neat idea to me! Tammy was not so sure about it. That got me to…
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Plant Identification: Poison Ivy
It occurred to me this week that not everyone is aware of how to identify this itchy plant. Those of us that are allergic have it burned in our brain! Do you know what it looks like? Here’s a few shots as fresher for plant identification: And here is the Elderberry bush that I dare not walk to as poison ivy currently surrounds it… Remedies could include vinegar sparingly painted on the sunny leaves of the plant. Why so sparingly? Vinegar will kill most of the plants around it, most microorganisms and leave a brown spot of nothing in it’s wake. Goats I hear will eat poison ivy. I’ve entertained…
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Time to get out the neem oil! "spot" the bug, beware!
I took some shots of the garden over the past week. If you follow me on twitter, then you know that I celebrated my first little squash. (here) Here’s another growing: And here is a seemingly cute little bug that will DEVOUR said squash lovelies! ACCKK! What do I do? (btw, here’s a list of plants he likes for lunch: melons, squash, pumpkin, corn, beets, cucurbits (cucumbers), tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, and even some fruit trees. His stripped cousin likes flowers too!) Before reaching for the pesticide bad bad bug spray, try a little neem oil. It’s safer, organic and does the job! Here are a few more facts about neem…
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Herbal tea is good for your new seedlings!
I saw this headline on an email from Organic Gardening: “Herbal tea for healthy seedlings”. It got my attention as I have been saving my tea leaves from past tea brewing for another project. What has happened is that I have way more discarded loose tea than I need for that project. To hear that my tea can have yet another use besides compost makes me want to learn more! “To prevent damping-off from killing seedlings, try watering them with chamomile tea. Make a strong tea with 3 teaspoons of dried chamomile in 6 cups of boiling water. Let the tea steep and cool. Water the seedlings two or three…