Vegetable gardening is the most popular hobby in the United States. In addition to the pleasure gardening provides, many gardeners cite a desire for organic food as a motivation in vegetable gardening. Yet, plant diseases in the garden can thwart your efforts to grow chemical-free produce. How much your garden is affected by disease depends partly on your climate. Gardens in dry climates with cold winters suffer fewer disease problems than warm, moist climates. This is one aspect of gardening that you don’t have much control over. Fortunately, how you tend your garden also plays
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Did you know that you have some powerful medicines right in your kitchen? Herbs and spices do more than add delicious flavors and variety to meals. They are potent natural medicines. Many herbs and spices were traditionally used to preserve food, which they do well. The same properties that keep foods from becoming rancid prevent the human body from infection, aging, and a multitude of illnesses. Let’s take a look at some common herbs that you can use to create healing medicines with. Basil Beyond being an essential ingredient to pizza and pesto, basil has
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Buying hydroponics equipment in Kansas is apparently justification for a search and seizure warrant. The Harte family’s desire to live a more sustainable existence resulted in a gun-toting raid on their home recently. Robert Harte’s “crime” was the purchase of growing equipment to raise melons and tomatoes in his basement. Harte stated during interviews with local media outlets that the raid was like a scene from the Zero Dark Thirty movie when soldiers stormed the compound. Police dogs entered the Leawood, Kansas home, followed by armed agents. The law enforcement officers then reportedly accused the
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A cooking staple, button mushrooms are actually a lot easier to grow than even the most seasoned of gardeners are aware. Some may feel hesitant about growing their own mushrooms, but the reality is that when you purchase spores from a reputable company, you won’t need to have any concerns about the mushrooms that you grow. There are numerous growing kits available from so-called mushroom boutique stores, and they can allow you the opportunity to grow portabella, oyster, shitake, and button mushrooms, along with several other kinds. This is a great way to experiment with
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Living off the grid is a great choice that families across the world make day in and day out, but not everyone has the opportunity to move to a spacious plot of land and leave the city behind. For those who love the tenets of living off the grid and running self-sufficient households, there are a wide variety of strategies that can be employed in a crowded urban environment to start your home on this path. Don’t fool yourself— it is impossible to transform your city home into a self sufficient, green space overnight. It
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Aloe vera (Aloe barbendensis) has been used for more than 6,000 years to treat a variety of ailments, from burns to indigestion. In fact, this humble plant was so highly regarded by the Greeks that it fueled Alexander the Great’s desire to conquer the island Socotra, where the plant was cultivated. Native Americans knew of aloe’s healing value, as well, and called it “the wand of heaven.” Ancient Egyptians referred to the plant as the “plant of immortality” and sent it as gifts with deceased loved ones on their journey through the underworld. Modern researchers
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While it is certainly great to enjoy your garden’s bounty fresh every day, it can also be nice to enjoy a lot of those same vegetables when they are not in season. Preserving your garden’s bounty can help you to ensure that your pantry and freezer are well stocked so that you are never short
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True frogs and their dry-land relatives, toads, are semi-aquatic amphibians that are found on every continent except Antarctica. Toads are in fact a type of frog and are generally distinguished by their dry, bumpy skin, smaller hind-legs, stout bodies, and drier habitat needs. Both frogs and toads belong to the order Anura, and both are very beneficial to farms and gardens throughout the world. Benefits Frogs and toads are a valuable asset to the vegetable garden. Their appetite for pests like insects and slugs makes them a handy ally that keeps the bugs at bay.
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Ladybugs, also known as lady beetles or ladybirds, are a favorite of many insect enthusiasts and the rest of us. Their petite, circular bodies with cheerful black-on-red polka dots make this bug downright cute. Perhaps it was the appearance of ladybugs that inspired so many myths and children’s rhymes. The popular nursery rhyme, Ladybird, Ladybird, has its counterpart in the German language and similar poems throughout the world. They are also considered to be lucky in many of the world’s cultures. In Turkey, ladybugs are called good luck bugs. In many places, including the U.S,
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Editor’s note: This article is the third piece in our series on gardening for your specific location. Check back every day this week for a new featured area of the country! The Pacific Northwest is a gardener’s paradise in many respects. Few areas in the country are as naturally lush and green, and some plants seem to spring up with almost no help from you. On the other hand, if you live in the coastal regions of Northern California, Washington and Oregon, there are a few unique gardening challenges you face. Gardening Tips This region
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