Gardening

Category: Wildlife

Trying to deal with pesky wildlife

You know how you want wildlife, but you want them to behave themselves while they are on your property? Well, they are not cooperating for me. We just got done seeding our lawn, then we had mole problems, there was the squirrel in the birdfeeder and I was afraid the deer would eat the apple tree.

All those animal problems were swarming in my head as I sat down at my computer to find the answers. I found suggestions such as:

For moles: Put cat litter (used) down their tunnel. The smell of one of their natural enemies makes them want to stay away.

For trees: Cut strips from a paper grocery bag and wrap them around the tree trunk so animals will not nibble on it.

Bird feeder: A friend told me to put cayenne pepper in the bird feed and suet. Squirrels will not touch it but it doesn't bother the birds.

So, yesterday I wrapped my apple tree with a paper sack.

We are going out today to put kitty litter down the mole tunnels and I'll mix in the cayenne pepper when I fill up the bird feeders. Just a few suggestions and it will be interesting to see if they work.

You can catch up with my garden at Gardening in Lower MI.

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Category: Recycling

Living with and without plastic bags

My husband, Bat, frequently asks, "Hey, do you have anything I can put this in so I can throw it away?" I usually have to hunt around for something because the number of plastic bags we bring home from the grocery store has trickled down to hardly any.

I've been pretty good since I wrote Paper or plastic? How about reusable?. Most of the time I remember to take my recyclable bags.

Do you know how addicted I was to plastic bags? I put one in my bathroom for the little trash can, one for the kitty litter, one for when I take things to Mom's and my daughter's house, I put pop cans in one to return to the store and the list just goes on. Oh, almost forgot, now there is the diaper from the grandson - you really need to have one for that.

So, for a while I didn't know how to accomplish these things if I didn't have a plastic bag. How did we do that before?

Then I started saving the plastic wrapping that seems to be around everything these days. They wrap up everything in plastic; have you noticed? Things like apples and the Sunday newspaper, bread and cereal, too. So now I save all those and reuse them instead of throwing them away or recycling them.

I also started using those handy recyclable bags when I take something to someone's house. It's just a little change, but it's amazing how much effort it has been to accomplish it. I guess the next step would be to just stop using anything with plastic - one thing at a time though.

A very good video to watch about the effects of plastics is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

You can catch up with my garden at Gardening in Lower MI.

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Category: Planting

Start thinking now about spring gardening

So if after reading all the gardening blogs, gardening fever has struck and you plan to make a garden next year, here are some tips to get you started. Some of these will come in handy for us "old" gardeners, too:

Make sure you compost: Not only does it help the environment, it's free fertilizer. I have a compost bin but you can start by just making a compost pile.

Don't start too early: It's so hard not to get out there and start gardening the first sign of spring. Of course you can plant early spring crops like peas, but to plant tomatoes or other plants that are not hardy, our date for vegetable gardening here is Memorial Day. Of course, that doesn't mean we haven't made this mistake a few times and lost a few plants.

Buy seeds on sale: If you're new to gardening of course you don't have any seeds saved. Now is a great time to find them in the clearance section and they will be good next year.

Used gardening tools: Look for garage sales or on craigslist this spring to buy your gardening tools: Hoes, shovels, rakes, pots and even rototillers can be found for cheap at the early spring sales. While you're at it, look for gardening books you can read and soak up some more knowledge.

Canning: If you're going to can next year, consider buying your canning equipment used, too. A lot of people are getting out of gardening about the same time you are deciding to get in to it. Good thing I bought extra canning jars this year - I ended up using many of them.

Pot gardening: If you don't have lots of room for a garden consider growing in pots on your deck or plant a few tomato plants in with the marigolds.

Seedlings: If you think you might start seedlings indoors start saving your egg cartons and plastic cups, such as yogurt cups and cottage cheese containers. They make great seed starter pots.

Share: Become friends with other gardeners who love to share plants and seeds from their garden and will give you some much needed advice. My neighbor, Wilma, really helped me when I first got started.

I hope these tips will help you garden next year - and inexpensively.

You can catch up with my garden at Gardening in Lower MI.

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Don't throw away your seeds

Whether you save your own seeds from your garden or you buy seed packets at your local supermarket, before you toss out your leftover seeds and decide you will buy new ones next year just so you'll have "good seeds," stop. These "old" seeds will probably have the same, or sometimes even a greater, germination rate as this past year. Of course, you will need to keep your seeds in a clean container in a dry, cool place. (We keep ours in our unheated den). By keeping them in a cool storage area you will be able to keep most seed for a couple of years.

A general guideline for length of time to store seeds:

One to two years: corn, lettuce, parsley, leek, onion, spinach and parsnips

Three to five years: asparagus, beans, cabbage, carrots, celery, chicory, endive, okra, peas, peppers, radishes, pumpkin, squash and eggplant.

Five years or more: beets, cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, kale, melons, mustard, peppers, radish, rutabaga, sunflower and turnip.

If your seeds might be older than this, you can still do a germination test to see if they are still good, before you throw them away.

To test for germination: Put 10 seeds in a paper towel, then fold the paper towel in half and place it in a plastic sandwich bag. Make sure you put the date and the name of the seed and keep moist. Depending on what seed your testing this could take up to a couple of weeks.

If at least seven seeds sprout they are just as good as new ones.

I have heard stories about people who have found seed in their grandmother's attic from 30 years ago and they still grow.

You can catch up with my garden at Gardening in Lower MI.

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Category: Planting

How to garden for next to nothing - next year

Here I go again already thinking about next spring's garden. I've recently found ways to garden next year more cost effectively. Some of these ideas you may want to start getting prepared for now so you can garden for next to nothing next year.

You can grow seeds outdoors in the winter and you don't need a greenhouse! Bat will just love this one because I've been wanting a greenhouse forever. How is it done?

Well, you can sow seeds into mini greenhouses made from recyclables. After they are sown, you place them outside until the end of winter. As the weather warms the seeds start to germinate. You can find out more by going to the Winter Sown Web site. I'm starting to save my recyclables to do this.

How about a seed exchange in which you try new plants without spending too much money? I thought about doing one here and I had the Web site up and ready until I found out there are many good ones already going. There's a seed exchange at the Backyard Gardener Seed Exchange , The Garden Web seed exchange and the Blossom Swap Seed Exchange , plus many more listed on the Internet.

Did you have too many hostas, lilies or Black-eyed Susans this summer? You can swap some of the extras at a local perennial exchange. My library has one every year and I've always thought about going, so this year I will do it. I already know which plants I want to exchange - the Black-eyed Susans have taken over my flower garden this year and I know someone will want some. If your community doesn't have a perennial exchange maybe you can exchange with friends or neighbors.

Craigslist is another source. Under the "free" section many people give away dirt and plants that they have divided.

The ultimate way to garden for next to nothing is to save your seeds. You'll be able to grow wonderful pumpkins, heirloom beans and tomatoes from the seeds you saved this year. You just can't get any cheaper than that!

You can catch up with my garden at Gardening in Lower MI.

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Category: Fall gardening

Clean up gardening tools at end of season

The gardening season is essentially over and I'm a little behind in the cleanup as it seems as though we are trying to skip fall and go right into winter here in Michigan. Although we could have a Indian summer anytime now, forecasters are predicting snow in parts of Michigan next week. Brr.

It will come spring again, (I keep telling myself) and I want to be prepared to go out there and start digging. The garden tools I use - hoe, shovels, the handheld little garden tools - all need cleaning before they get stored. So I got busy and started by cleaning off the dirt - believe me there was lots of it. Then I used a scouring pad to help get rid of the rust.

I read on the Web site Wiki how about using tea to help get rid of the rust the scouring pad won't take off. I tried it and found it a good way to clean green. Between the scoring pad and tea my clippers look like new.

I heard about another way of cleaning the tools that I will try out next year: Have a bucket with sand mixed with a bit of motor oil and just punch your tool down in the sand a few times to clean and oil the tool at the same time.

Bat put a sharper edge on my hoes for the garden back in the summer. Now all I need is to make a quick trip to the store for some lubricating oil to spray on them to help prevent any more rust.

You can catch up with my garden at Gardening in Lower MI.

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Category: Herb gardening

What to do with all those herbs

With all the herbs that I've dried this summer I needed to know more about cooking with them, so I recently signed up for a community education class called the Spice of Life. It was truly one of the best classes I have been to in a long time. The class was taught by a lady from the Genesee County Herb Society who's love for herbs was definitely contagious. I thought you might want to know some of the things I learned about herbs.

Did you know?

* Herbs only have a shelf life of one year. After that the flavor is just not as good. Some in our class confessed that they needed to take a trip to the compost bin.

* Freezing your herbs is better than drying them: If you have the freezer space, freeze your herbs because it's easier to do and you can use them the same as fresh.

* You should add your herbs the last 20-30 minutes of cooking because they lose their flavor with longer cooking. I am definitely guilty of this one.

* Wrapped in wet paper towel, fresh herbs will last in the refrigerator about a week.

The instructor passed around many herbs for us to look at that I never thought about growing, but will next year. The lemon thyme had just an unbelievable lemon smell. You can use it in place of lemons in any recipe. Another one I would love to try would be winter savory. My herb garden is not that big so I'm really not sure how I will get another herb plant in there but I'll give it a try.

Some more good hints:

* After you strip the dried leaves off the stems don't throw them away, make them into fire starters. Just tie them in a bundle with raffia and keep in a basket by the fireplace. I'm sure the smell it produces will be wonderful. It kind of upsets me that I didn't think of this about two months ago.

* Make an herbal wreath. Take a grapevine wreath and put fresh sage all around it. You can hang it in your kitchen and when the steam from cooking warms it up the aroma flows through the kitchen. I hope it's not raining tomorrow because I know there have to be more grape vines that need to be taken down in my neighbor's yard and I have plenty of sage.

The instructor brought in rosemary sugar cookies (I loved them) and lavender sugar cookies (they were OK). Next Friday she'll bring some recipes and we will get cooking with herbs. I can't wait - all of her recipes just sounded delicious.

You can catch up with my garden at Gardening in Lower MI.

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Category: Fall gardening

Great bargains in plant prices and wise plant energy use

It's a great time to grab those bargains at the nursery, whether it's plant material or a much-needed new trowel. Nurseries prefer to sell as many plants as possible so they do not need to move them into protected areas or care for them in any way during the winter.

Now is the best time to plant or transplant ornamental trees and shrubs. Because plants are beginning to send all their food resources to their roots at this time of the year, they are not using their energy on pushing forth leaves and flowers. With their roots as the focus of the activity, they are strengthening existing roots and establishing new roots for next season. Additionally, the plants have a great deal of time before the ground freezes (usually around Christmas time) at the beginning of winter and when it starts to thaw in late winter to work on establishing healthy new roots. The ground starts to thaw sometimes toward the beginning of the year as well. Whenever the ground is not frozen, the roots continue to develop and grow.

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Category: Yards

Creating a backyard refuge for birds takes just a little planning

Although there is still much to do in the garden, the season is starting to wind down, leaving more time to pursue old and new interests. I've always loved watching and feeding the birds but I never really got serious about it until last week, when I decided I would love to be able to take pictures of them. I found that one of the ways to attract more birds to your yard is make it a refuge.

I didn't quite know what a backyard refuge is and wondered how much it would cost to create one. After reading the list on National Wildlife Federation's Web site I realized I already had most of the requirements to have a certified backyard refuge and the ones I lacked were inexpensive to obtain.

The lists includes:

• Food for the birds or wildlife: It can be a mixture of natural vegetation or feeders.
• Water supply: including ponds, lakes, birdbaths, etc.
• Cover for wildlife: Shrubs and brush piles are good.
• A place for wildlife to raise their young: nesting boxes, plants that moths or butterflies can lay their eggs in, etc.
• Let your garden grow green: by going green you can conserve natural resources and by planting native plants you stop using as much fertilizer.

I do have a bird feeder and see evidence that birds have used it, but they haven't stayed too long. I think it sits too close to the house (the other side of the post has our house number) and they probably don't like the activity. So I'll be looking for more birdhouses in the future.

We already have many trees with fruit and bushes for wildlife to find shelter. but I think it would be neat to have a butterfly bush so I'll be staking out a place in our backyard to plant one next spring.

One more inexpensive easy way to provide shelter is a brush pile - maybe in the far corner of our backyard there is room. I'll get started tomorrow with leftover grape vines. Hope Bat won't mind too much.

I think it will be awhile before birds come back to my backyard, so to encourage them I've put another bird feeder out and yesterday I also bought suet and a holder to put it in. I found a web site with a easy to make suet recipe at Organic Garden Buzz so next time I need to replace the suet it will be homemade.

If you are interested in making your backyard a wildlife refuge, most of these things are easy and inexpensive to get us on your way.

You can catch up with my garden at Gardening in Lower MI.

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Finally, it's truly hummingbird season

After fretting and fussing about the lack of hummingbirds earlier in the season, we're now seeing them almost every day. And they completed the Tour de Garden last weekend by hitting up one of the newest and most risky plantings: a honeysuckle plant in a small square planter, smack dab against the front of the garage.

It's in a very exposed location, so we wondered if the hummingbirds would brave the concrete and open setting, not to mention the garage door, to feed on the honeysuckle nectar. We've had good luck with one planted in the front yard, but it's in a very sheltered location.

Once more proving our "we'll try anything once" philosophy, the honeysuckle found an audience.