Plant Gardens 101

There is no need to let kitchen waste go to waste! Gardeners can spend lots of money buying good soil or compost to make the garden grow. There is, however, no need to do that if you eat at home more than once a week! Composting kitchen waste solves several problems simultaneously by converting kitchen scraps that would otherwise be thrown away into rich, organic soil for the garden. Incorporating compost into the soil helps keep the soil alive and life-sustaining. Creating your own compost saves money and helps the environment.
Composting 101

There are a few things that every new composter needs to know: · Kitchen compost can include any vegetable matter or paper. Do not add oils, meats or fats to your kitchen compost, as it will cause your compost to smell and attract animals. Additionally, you need certain conditions of heat and bacterial activity to properly compost these materials. · Shred your scraps or tear them up into the smallest pieces possible. This will help the scraps break down faster. · Compost operations need green and brown materials. Kitchen waste falls into the category of green materials. In addition to the kitchen waste, you will need to add dried shredded leaves or other brown matter. · One of the most efficient ways to compost kitchen waste is to use worms. (more…)

The bane of every gardener’s existence is clay soil. In addition to feeling like you are gardening in your driveway, clay soil makes ordinary tasks like watering and feeding plants a major problem. Soils with high clay content hold water and do not drain well, which causes root problems in plants. If the roots are in trouble, the whole plant will soon be in trouble. Clay particles also hold tightly to nutrient particles, which makes it more difficult for plants to take up the nutrients they need from the soil. There is a way to help your hard-packed, low organic matter clay soil: add a soil conditioner with humic acid.

Chemical Problems in Clay Soils
Humic acid benefits plants in numerous ways. The first is that it facilitates ion exchange. Humic acid has a higher cation exchange capacity, or CEC. That means it is easier for soil nutrient particles to move within the soil, and thus to be taken in by plants. Soils treated with humic acid have much better nutrient availability. Humic acid does not directly supply the plants with nutrients, but it does make what nutrients are in the soil easier for plants to access. Humic acid also influences the pH of the soil, which affects nutrient availability. Clay soils with very low humus levels can become overly acidic, resulting in poor conditions for plant growth. Humic acid increases the buffering capacity of the soil, and allows pH to remain steadier. (more…)

Bacteria are the unsung heroes of gardening. Without bacteria, gardeners would not have the rich, loamy soil in which plants grow without bounds. Bacteria are single-celled organisms that chemically digest organic matter in soils into smaller nutrient components in forms available to plants. There are hundreds of thousands of different kinds of bacteria, and many types of bacteria can digest hundreds of different forms of organic matter into humus. The bacteria are able to do this because they can produce many different types of enzymes to digest different compounds.

Bacteria in Soil vs. Bacteria in Compost
Each type of bacteria works best under certain conditions. In a cool compost pile, or in garden soil, bacteria that thrive in cool conditions will form the bulk of the bacterial population. In hot compost, other bacteria that can survive the high temperatures dominate. When considering a bacterial soil conditioner, keep in mind the way in which you plan to use the conditioner. Understand the bacteria you are adding, if you are adding bacteria as soil conditioners, so that you add the right kind of bacteria. Once conditions change drastically, bacteria that cannot function in those conditions will perish. (Bacteria are not very mobile, unless they have water to float along in or wind to carry them.) The upside of bacterial immobility is that they will stay and multiply in place as long as conditions are favorable. (more…)

Imported from Japan to the western world is the Koi pond. Koi are a form of carp fish that look like giant, majestic goldfish. When these fish are added to a beautiful and artistically crafted pond, Koi can truly make the exterior of a property look incredible. Of course, building the pond is not enough. The pond – and the Koi that inhabit it – must be maintained for longevity.

For Koi to survive and thrive they will need a water environment that is conducive for their survival. For this it is helpful to have water test kits that tell you the basic parameter readings of your pond such as pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as these readings are critical so that you can monitor the levels of toxins in your water. For example, a pond should contain no more than .5 ppm of ammonia (with as close to 0 as possible) and no more than .25 ppm. Other testers to monitor the dissolved oxygen levels can also be helpful. (more…)

Anyone who has added a pond or water garden to their property is probably enjoying the beautification benefits such an addition provides. After all, how could exotic goldfish or aquatic plants not improve visual allure? Of course, plants and fish have to be visible in order to provide that benefit. When they are obscured or, worse, harmed by algae these benefits decrease. That is why removing algae are important. The most popular way to remove algae is through the use of algaecides. While this is a good method, it is not a perfect one. So, let’s look at a few of the pros and cons of using algaecides.

Cons

• Some algaecides such as copper sulfate can cause harm to certain fish like koi that may live the pond. This is why it is necessary to select an algaecide that has a good reputation in the consumer marketplace. Also, if the algaecide comes in granular form it needs to dissolve as soon as it comes in contact with the water. If not, it could possible be ingested by birds or pets. This could poison the animal. (more…)

If there was one thing that could enhance the look of a property’s exterior, it would be the presence of a water garden. Water gardens can be designed in a multitude of fashions. In many cases, the craftsmanship of a water garden can reach virtuoso levels. However, designing and building a water garden is not enough. A water garden must be properly maintained. For some, this may seem like a ponderous (pardon the pun) task. But it really isn’t. While water garden maintenance does require effort, it is not overly complicated.

So, let’s look at a few common steps for proper water garden maintenance.

Reducing the presence of algae is critical. As far as ecosystems go, algae are quite helpful. However, algae can seriously detract from the look of a water garden when they become overpopulated. So, reducing the presence of algae is of paramount importance. One way to go about this involves using algaecides. Unfortunately, some algaecides can be dangerous to fish and only offer a short term solution. (more…)

Many pond owners face the un-enviable task of fighting aquatic weeds every year, particularly during the late Spring and Summer months. Different approaches are taken to combat these problem plants such as chemical treatments, manual removal or even hiring a service company to manage them.If you are a pond owner who deals with these problems, there is a highly ecologically responsible way to manage your aquatic weeds and put them to work for you…compost them.

Composting is the controlled decomposition of organic matter that results in the formation of humus-rich material that contributes nutrients and beneficial soil life and improves soil structure and water retention. Virtually anything organic can be composted, including aquatic vegetation and is fairly simple to do. (more…)

There are many products on the market that can serve as a soil conditioner to help correct deficiencies in the soil to help it better support plant life. One of the most impactful organic soil conditioners out there has got to be humic acid.

Humic Acid is still a relatively new concept to most and is not widely available at most lawn and garden stores, but serious organic gardeners and organic farmers are very familiar with what it can do and how it helps all types of soil.

Humus materials are complex aggregate of brown to dark colored amorphous substances, which have originated during the decomposition of plant and animal residues by microorganisms, under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, in soils, composts, peat bogs, and water basins. “Humic acid” is the commercial term often used to refer to the combined humic and fulvic acid content found in these naturally occurring deposits. Humic acid is known to be among the most bio-chemically active materials found in soil. The best humic acids come from Leonardite coal which is made of of humified substances dating back thousands of years. (more…)