Happy Garden News - April 26, 2007

We have a lot of great tips this week, including advice about composting seaweed.

Thanks for reading,

Susan

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Photos:

• Kids And Pumpkins
• Strawberry Pot Side Table
• Spring Tulips and My Grandmother's Quilt
• Creative Planter Ideas

Tips and Articles:

• Bees - A Honey of a Deal for Your Garden!
• Dryer Lint For Seed Balls
• Paint Can Flower Pot
• Living With Dandelions Poem
• Squirrel Feeder
• Plant Complementary Veggies Together
• Plastic Folgers Container For Compost
• Protecting Grapes from Birds
• Bathroom Tile Planter
• Ants for Peonies
• Discounts From Your Local Nursery
• Yard and Garden Footwear
• Storing Flower Bulbs
• Ideal Plant Companions When Growing Vegetables
• Make Your Own Mulch
• Composting Seaweed

New Requests:

• Boot Planter
• Overwatered Hibiscus
• Keeping The Ground Under a Bird Feeder Clean
• Starting a Butterfly Garden
• Bittersweet Not Blooming
• Honeysuckle Foliage Dying
• Struggling Pine Tree
• Planting Pine Trees

Growing Guides:

• Tips on Growing Roses

Crafting for Fun and Money!

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Kids And Pumpkins

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Strawberry Pot Side Table

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Spring Tulips and My Grandmother's Quilt

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Creative Planter Ideas

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Bees - A Honey of a Deal for Your Garden!
By Ellen Brown

Bees are the honey in any garden! As a pollinator, they offer an essential ingredient for healthy gardens, both flora and vegetable. And they are especially important as primary pollinators of entomophilous plants - plants pollinated by insects, as opposed to wind pollination. In fact, about 30-percent of our diet is the direct result of bee pollination to a flowering fruit tree or vegetable plant.

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Dryer Lint For Seed Balls

Make seed balls so small hands or old fingers don't have to strain with the smaller seeds. In a styrofoam egg carton, drizzle washable white glue down the sides of an egg "compartment" about 1/3 of the way down and on the bottom. Cover the glue with pieces of dryer lint (about 1/8th inch thick layer). Drizzle more glue and drop in a few seeds, using a toothpick or something to move the seeds into the glue (I used 8 seeds). Top the seeds with a second piece of dryer lint and use the toothpick to stir that together then pick it up and form it into a ball.

These could be strung and then planted in a row with each seed ball spaced as you like. Make a small basketful, possibly using different colors of the lint to distinguish flower types or vegetables and give them to an elderly friend who has arthritis so that gardening isn't so impossible!

This tip is one that can be improved on in many ways. For instance, you could make glue drops spaced as directed and "plant" the seeds onto sections of lint or swirl on the glue and shake on a packet of seeds and tamp off the excess (like you would when crafting with glitter). Add a little potting soil and a few egg shells and coffee grounds before you put a second piece of lint on top, sealing with washable glue!

Tie a coffee mug into a tree or shrub with cord that you have glued in a "seed cloth" you have made with dryer lint and maybe a pretty bird will make a nest there.

Make a small eggshell planter the same way by glueing a small piece of dryer lint to the inside of an egg shell and add a small amount of potting soil & a small bit of coffee grounds & seeds that produce small blooms! Top with a second small piece of lint to help preserve the moisture!

By melody_yesterday from Sedalia, Missouri

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Paint Can Flower Pot

Here's a great way to reuse an old paint by making a nifty painted planter. You could also use a new paint can which you can purchase in the paint section of your home improvement store.

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Living With Dandelions Poem

Though we dug them out and sprayed 'em
And we mowed 'em into shreds
We were powerless to dissuade 'em
From filling up our beds
They doubled and quadrupled
And it was the cruellest thing
Oh, when it comes to weeds, I swear
The dandelion is king

Yes, we dumped on glycophosphate
But they came back anyway
So we poured the vinegar on straight
(The grass died right away)
We weren't stingy with the 2, 4-D
It hardly did a thing
For when it comes to weeds, indeed
The dandelion is king

By M. Whitsell from U.K.

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Squirrel Feeder

I love watching both the birds and squirrels in my yard and have found an easy way to keep the squirrels away from my bird feeders. I took an old board from the garage and hammered two nails into it. Then I got some of that dry corn from the hardware store, and put it on the nails. The squirrels love it! I also put apple and pear slices on it for the mockingbirds. Easy and very inexpensive!

By Thriftymomof2 from Pasadena, MD

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Plant Complementary Veggies Together

When planting tomatoes, plant okra in the spaces between. This saves space and the okra with it's broad leaves helps protect the tomatoes from sun scald. Also plant running beans or peas in between your corn. Saves having to stick them, saves space and they seem to compliment each other in growing. Corn needs to be up before you plant the peas/beans.

By Eula from Killeen, Texas

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Plastic Folgers Container For Compost

I like to save scraps for the compost, but needed something to store the scraps. I like using the 38 oz plastic Folger's coffee canisters to use as storage. It looks good, has a handle and is airtight. I also use the canisters for soil and gardening supplies.

By Donna from Philadelphia, PA

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Protecting Grapes from Birds

Protect your grapes from birds by inserting the grapes into a small paper bag and stapling at the top until ripe.

By MARIANN

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Bathroom Tile Planter

For an unusual looking planter, take 5 bathroom or floor tiles and glue together with epoxy (4 sides and 1 bottom).

By Truerblue

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Ants for Peonies

Did you know that ants are good for your peonies? They lick the sap off of the flower buds to help them to open. Never wipe off the ants!

By Sunnybun

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Discounts From Your Local Nursery

With planting season upon us, check with your local nursery to see if they give discounts if you bring back the pots and trays that you have at home from previous purchases (if still in good condition).

By Terri H.

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Yard and Garden Footwear

Buy an inexpensive pair of rubber garden clogs for working in the yard and garden. They are great -- slip on and off and clean up easily with a hose. Not safe footwear for lawn mowing, of course.

By Truerblue

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Storing Flower Bulbs

You can use an egg carton, that's been cleaned, to store your plant bulbs till you're ready to plant them. Just label what they are and put where you won't forget they're there.

By Terri H.

How do you store bulbs? Post your ideas below.

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Ideal Plant Companions When Growing Vegetables

A couple of years in a row, after we moved here, we planted a garden. The first one did really well. The 2nd one didn't. We'd always planted the same way, or so we thought. We finally figured out, after seeing the list below, what we were doing wrong, once we corrected it, it's been great gardening ever since!

• Beans: should be planted away from onions, garlic, shallots, and leeks.

• Beets: Plant away from pole beans and mustards.

• Broccoli: Avoid planting close to strawberries and sunflowers.

• Cabbage: This group doesn't mix well with strawberries, sunflowers, and grapes.

• Carrots: Keep away from dill.

• Corn: Don't plant too close to tomatoes and sunflowers.

• Eggplant: Keep away from potatoes, tomatoes and peppers.

• Garlic: Avoid planting near beans and peas.

• Lettuce: Avoid the cabbage family and sunflowers.

• Onions: Do not plant near beans and peas.

• Peas: Keep away from onions, garlic, shallots, and leeks.

• Peppers: They don't mix well with eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, and fennel.

• Potatoes: Best if planted away from eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins and sunflowers.

• Strawberries: Keep away from members of the cabbage family.

• Tomatoes: They don't get along with corn, potatoes, peppers and eggplant.

By Terri H.

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Make Your Own Mulch

Change grass clippings and vegetable peeling "trash" into gardening "treasure" by staring a compost pile. The ThriftyFun community shares their experience. Post your own tips here.

Use Yard Waste

To save money and help save the environment, make your own mulch. Don't burden landfills with your yard waste. Composting lets you produce rich nutrients to fertilize your garden the natural way, with leaves and yard clippings. Plus, it's free.

By Kathy

Kitchen Scrap Composting

I also put in any vegetable scraps from peeling potatoes to used tea bags. I have a "scrap bucket" on my counter and just push all those scraps into the bucket to be emptied when full. I also add watermelon rinds, squash seeds, etc. This past growing season, I "grew" several acorn squash from seeds in the compost bin. The plants were lovely and large and covered the bin with lost of foilage then the added bonus of the squash, delish!

A couple of years ago, when I spread compost on my flower beds in front of my house, I had the added bonus of growing "cantaloupe". The seeds did not compost the year before, just laid dormant and warm in the other "stuff" that was composting. The flower bed was not only mulched with the compost, the foliage and flowers was as much an added bonus as the cantaloupe was.

I get my "extra" leaves and grass clippings from my boyfriend. He is a nut about raking and putting everything into bags. He just transports the bags to my house and I compost it and then use it as mulch. Don't forget about adding newspapers in the summertime. The dry "brown" stuff balances out the wet "green" stuff from the grass clippings.

By Norma

First Grade Composting No-No's

My 7 year old learned about composting as part of their Earth Day/Recycling curriculum. He learned these "no-no's" about composting. They are basic rules that are actually helpful for beginning composters

1. No Hot Dogs: No meat products because they might attract dogs, raccoons and other pests. They can also cause more odor problems as they are breaking down.
2. No Cheese: No dairy products for the same pest prevention reasons.
3. No Dandelions: No weeds. Although, if done properly, the weeds and their seeds will break down and be harmless, they are tenatious. It is wonderful to get volunteer squash or potatoes in your compost heap or garden, it is less charming to have a weed breeding ground.

By Jess

Use Leaves

Fallen leaves are a great mulch. It is good to chop them with a lawn mower. Composting the leaves is good. They should be piled separately from other compost. They take a long time but will eventually become leaf mold which is a very highly valued compost. I have a large vegetable garden. It is piled rather high with leaves this fall. I am planning to top them off with some wood chips so that they don't blow away. The garden will be weed free in the spring. Then I have a choice of tilling them into the soil, or planting without tilling. Ruth Stout is a proponent of that style gardening.

By Barbara

Watch Out For Eucalyptus

Verify that you can mulch the leaves successfully before you do it, please. For example: if you live in areas (southern CA for one) where certain varieties of genus EUCALYPTUS are planted as "street" trees, do not mulch them. I did and the mulch killed everything I put it on. They, like Black Walnuts and some other types of plants, produce a chemical that will not let other things grow near them.

By leila78238

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Composting Seaweed

Can I use seaweed for composting? The ThriftyFun community gives advice to coastal dwellers. Post your own tips here.

Add To Compost Like Leaves

I saw part of a really interesting movie filmed in Scotland. The farmer was hauling seaweed from the sea to spread on his field. I think seawood would be a great compost material, added like leaves. Maybe layer soil, seaweed, newspaper and kitchen scraps. I sometimes catch rain water in big plastic tubs. Algae grows in it and I dump it on my compost.

Liz

Liquid Fertilizer From Seaweed

I'm not sure about composting seaweed, but you can make a fantastic seeweed liquid fertiliser. What you do is to find an old metal drum, or plastic garbage (trash) container of 10 gallons capacity. Half fill it with seaweed, topping it up with water and allow it to stand for 3 months. This liquid is very strong and must be diluted before use. If it's too strong, it can cause burning of plant roots. A solution of half a cup of stock liquid fertiliser to a bucket of water, or 4 fl oz for every 2 gallons. I have used this once and had a great success. Now that I've moved close to the beach again, I will probably adopt this once more.

Cheers

Bev in Oz

Composting Tips

I do a lot of gardening and composting. The first thing you would want to do is go to sites and learn about composting in general. There are ratios of the dry to wet matters, usualy given in a carbon ratio (carbon is the dry stuff). If you do not have a lot of leaves, torn newspaper is a great substitute as it has a very high carbon content and if you have a lot of green/wet matter it will break down faster (cellulose in the newprint breaks down slower than leaves and other things). One thing to keep in mind with seaweed is the salt content. Usually seaweed is used as a benificial additive to a compost pile for trace minerals, but too much and you might run into a problem with salt. This could be one reason the reader making seaweed fertilizer found it very strong and caused some damage if not diluted.

I also live by the coast and contacted the local extention to ask about added salt to my compost. Their suggestion was to only gather seaweed after a storm. The fresh seaweed has a lower salt content than seaweed near the shore that is exposed repeatedly with the tides. Also, they said if you are using it regularly, it would be a good idea to rinse it off to remove some of the salt water as a precaution. (just so you know, used coffee grounds are also a great addition and count as wet matter but well worth finding more dry to compensate). I did take care of the "where do I find more dry" problem a couple of easy ways. I went to local churches, especially the orthodox and others which have to burn or return plants used in services back to nature. They are more than happy to have someone come and return these plants to the earth and also get benefit from them. let them completely dry before adding them to your compost. Another cool benefit of this is they use a lot of bulbs like tulips and lillies. You can cut the tops and plant the bulbs. You get compost, free bulbs and brand new pots.

I have three huge compost piles (4'h x 6'diameter rounds in fencing) in varied degrees of "doneness". I'm thinking of adding another church to my "repertorie". I also drive the neighborhoods when it's "leaf time". When people are raking, I ask them if I might take a bag of leaves for my compost. Never got a "no" yet, and have met some really nice people that call me when they will be cleaning up so I can stop by if I want too!! (I bring or supply "my regulars" with the huge lawn debris bags so it saves them from buying bags and they don't have as much sitting in front of their house waiting for trash day, kind of like everyone benefits!). Never can get enough of that "black gold", ya know!

Just watch that salt! PH is adjusted very well in the normal process of composting so that's not as big a worry. Good luck!

By kathy

Seaweed Is A Composting Goldmine

Absolutely, it is prized as compost. Better than cow manure in nutrients. You are sitting on a goldmine

By Ciro

Dry Seaweed Before Adding

To use your seaweed as fertilizer it is best to dry it out, then crush it and mix into soil. This is the method I use each year with fantastic results. Good luck! PS: You will need a lot of seaweed for this, it dries up to a small amount!

By Lynda

Expert Advice

"In a compost heap, any material that once lived can be recycled. Anything that will break down into good organic matter may be used. Such as: animal and bird manures, kitchen scraps, seaweed or seagrass, grass clippings, straw, weeds, shredded vegetation, newspaper, untreated sawdust."

http://www.organicdownunder.com/Compost.htm

"An important consideration is the effect of salt from the seaweed on the sodium absorption ratio (SAR) of the soil, which in turn affects soil permeability (High SAR is associated with decreased permeability in clay soils). Without going into a lot of detail on soil chemistry and calculations to determine SAR (consult a soil chemistry text if you want to know details), you want to keep SAR low (generally below 10) by minimizing the amount of sodium (salt) you apply to soil. This is propably of greater concern in low rainfall climates (rainfall will leach out excess sodium). As a precaution, you may want to rinse seaweed before composting if you live in a dry climate."

Source: Colorado State Discussion List (Archive No Longer Available)

"Someone else has replied about the nitrogen, but I should like to point out seaweed is a good source of most of the trace elements which plants need for good health. As the land erodes away all the mineral elements in the rocks eventually end up in the sea where they are taken up by both sea plants and animals. (So both seaweed and fish wastes are good mineral sources.) In addition seaweeds have been found to contain plant growth hormones and other goodies which enhance their fertilizing capacity. While fresh seaweed has the most "goodies" even the black stuff should have value and if it has lain about in the rain probably most of the loose salt has washed off."

Source: Colorado State Discussion List (Archive No Longer Available)

From the Recycling Advisory Group Scotland

"Yes seaweed can be composted but there are both good and bad sides." The article is rather long. You can read it here:

http://www.rags.org.uk/

Happy Gardening!

Doris in VA

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Boot Planter

I want to make a planter out of work boots. Do they have to be lace up ones?

Linda from NW Iowa

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Overwatered Hibiscus

My hibiscus was severely overwatered! I left on a business trip after I put my plants outside in their drained pots and we had an awful week of rain. Upon returning my plants had yellow leaves and they fell off. Will my plants come back or is it too late?

Hardiness Zone: 7b

Rosemary from Taunton, MA

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Keeping The Ground Under a Bird Feeder Clean

How does one keep the ground below a bird feeder clear of the cracked seeds?

Olly from Victoria, Canada

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Starting a Butterfly Garden

I'm wondering what I would need to start a butterfly garden with, also if anyone would have any seeds or plants to share for this garden.

Hardiness Zone: 6a

Edwin from Ashland, KY

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Bittersweet Not Blooming

I bought Bittersweet at a reputable gardening shop and planted it. It has been three years and had grown wonderful with lots of leaves and vines but no blooms. Does anyone know why this happens and what I can do to get the Bittersweet to finally bloom?

Hardiness Zone: 5a

Pattie McIntyre from Bridgton, Maine

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Honeysuckle Foliage Dying

I have long established honeysuckle growing on east facing fence and in early spring it appears very healthy, then much of foliage dies off. Any help as to why?

By Maurice from Cambridge, England

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Struggling Pine Tree

I cut back my dying pine tree - was that a mistake? It was a live Christmas tree that we neglected to plant for 4 months and it was dying. Will it come back? Anything I can do to save it?

Hardiness Zone: 7b

Mary from Shelter Island, NY

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Planting Pine Trees

I am looking for information on planting pine trees.

Thanks,
Pheinritz

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Tips on Growing Roses
By LeAnn R. Ralph

I certainly cannot claim to be an expert on roses -- and I cannot claim to have a green thumb -- but I've got a couple of rose bushes that have been growing in my yard for quite a few years. And here's what I have learned about roses and how I take care of mine:

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