16 Things You May Not Know Are Compostable |Maryjane's Blog

Composting is a great “green” thing to do for your garden. It provides organic nutrients for the soil, which could help it produce more. Obviously, you can compost leaves, grass clippings, fruits and vegetable peelings. But, these are not the only compostable items! The following are sixteen things you may not know are compostable.

1. Coffee grounds and filters – When you finish your last cup of coffee and clean out the filter to get your coffee maker ready for the next pot, keep your coffee grounds and filter. Toss them in a bowl or bucket to be taken to the compost pile the next time you go out there.

2. Tea bags – If you enjoy a cup or gallon of tea, you can also compost your tea bags.

3. Paper bags – Some grocery stores still give paper bags. Tear the bags up and add them to the compost pile.

4. Plain cooked pasta – Did you cook too much pasta but not enough for leftovers? Instead of tossing it out, add it to the bowl to be taken out and composted.

5. Stale bread – Let’s face it, stale bread does not taste good. You can break the bread up in smaller pieces and compost it instead.

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6. Used paper napkins, paper towels and paper plates (non-waxed) – Used paper goods will easily decompose.

7. Stale pretzels, cereal and crackers – Like stale bread, these things simply are not appealing. Adding them to the compost pile, rather than tossing them, will at least be of benefit for the plants and you will not feel like you have totally wasted your money.

8. Pizza crusts – Some people simply do not like eating the pizza crust but throwing it away would be wasteful. Add this to the compost pile in the same way you do other bread or pasta.

9. Nutshells – Nutshells provide additional nutrients to the compost mixture. It is, however, important that you keep walnut shells out of the compost because the shells are toxic to plants.

10. Moldy cheese – Normally you would not compost meats and cheeses, but the fact this is moldy makes it all right.

11. Eggshells – Eggshells are a great addition to your compost pile if you wash them first. The reason you wash eggshells before adding them is that there may be salmonella on the outside of the egg, which would be transferred to your compost and could spread to your garden.

12. 100% cotton balls – ‘Cotton balls’ made of other content than cotton should not be added to the compost pile because they most likely will not decompose.

13. Old loofah sponges – Loofah sponges are organic matter and therefore can be added with other items.

14. Dryer lint – If you wash and dry your clothes, you will have dryer lint. Instead of throwing it away, add it to the compost pile.

15. Old cotton clothing – Clothing, as long as it is 100% cotton, can be composted. It will compost better if it is torn or cut up into smaller pieces before adding it to the pile.

16. Paper you have shredded – It is possible to add shredded paper for composting, which will keep your personal information out of the landfill.

When thinking about things you can compost, you may not have known about these. These are not the only items, either. In fact, any organic material can be composted. The things you will want to keep out of your compost pile include used cooking oil, diseased plant, treated wood shavings, milk products and any type of meat. 

Maryjane Angelo

Aquaponics / Plant Nutrients |Maryjane's Blog

This is an article I read at the end of last summer,my husband liked the idea of
a garden without using soil,so we are going to give this a try out this summer. I have encluded a few of the links if anyone has an interest in Aquaponics within the article.
Maryjane

                   Aquaponics / Plant Nutrients

In Aquaponics, the sole source of plant nutrients is fish waste. As unbelievable as this may seem, with a properly managed Aquaponics system, plants can thrive on this source of nitrogen. The key is to have a healthy bacterial colony growing in the system, which will convert the toxic fish waste into harmless nitrates which are an excellent fertilizer for the plants. The bulk of the bacterial colonies will be in the grow bed medium, often gravel.

In a newly set-up Aquaponics system, the bacteria will need some time to colonize the medium. This is why a process called ‘cycling’ is used. There are two methods of cycling your system – using fish right from the start or putting the fish in only when the bacteria have established themselves. The first method takes 4 to 6 weeks, while the latter is quicker and can be done in about 10 days. Cycling without fish (using ammonia) is also safer.

An important aspect in the system that is needed to ensure a steady supply of plant nutrients is pH. If this is not optimal, an accumulation of toxic materials will build up, and nutrient generation by the bacteria will be halted. In addition, pH outside the range will make it harder for the plant roots to take up nutrients and can harm the fish. Try to keep your pH at around 6.7 to 7. If your pH is outside the range, get commercial pH regulators to increase or decrease the pH. Alternatively use vinegar to lower the pH and calcium carbonate or baking soda to increase the pH.

Although some Aquaponics farmers use nutrient supplements, in a properly managed system supplements are never required. In addition, if you use supplements you need to be very careful, as some can harm the fish. As long as you keep the pH at 6.7 to 7, and the water well oxygenated, the bacteria will provide more than enough nutrients for your plants.

The only substance that it may be beneficial to add is salt. Salt is often added to Aquaponics systems at 1 to 2 ppt (parts per thousand; meaning 1 kilo to 1000 liters of water). Adding salt increases the resistance of the fish to disease and infections, because it has a positive effect on the mucus layer of the fish. If you decide to add salt, it is important to keep the concentration below 2ppt and to use pure sea salt – not table salt.

Maryjane Angelo

                                                   

7 Tips On Gardening |Maryjane's Blog

I have been gardening for a long time, my backyard is an ideal place

because my backyard is facing south with full sun. I am  firm on organic

growing of my vegetables. I spray my garden but not with pesticides.

“Break-Through Organic Gardening Secret Grows You Up To 10 Times The Plants, In Half The Time, With Healthier Plants, While the "Fish" Do All the Work...

Here are 7 tips to help with your gardening.

1 Plant your garden in full sun light

2 Use Trellises for tall plants, like Tomatoes

3 Seeds for your area you should start indoors

4 Bush type squash takes up less space

5 Always have a plan so tall vegetables 
    will not shade other vegetables.



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6 Trellises should be placed where tall plants
    are planted especially climbing vines

7 This is what I use for spraying my vegetable garden
     take a spray bottle add two or three drops 
     of dishwashing liquid add water shake gently you may
     have to spray everyday but it works keeps the pests
     out for  me.
    You will have to respray after it rains also as the spray 
     is  washed off from the rain.
      Maryjane Angelo

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Planting Seeds |Maryjane's Blog

Any reliable seed house can be depended upon for good seeds; but even so, there is a great risk in seeds. A seed may to all appearances be all right and yet not have within it vitality enough, or power, to produce a hardy plant.

If you save seed from your own plants you are able to choose carefully. Suppose you are saving seed of aster plants. What blossoms shall you decide upon? Now it is not the blossom only which you must consider, but the entire plant. Why? Because a weak, straggly plant may produce one fine blossom. Looking at that one blossom so really beautiful you think of the numberless equally lovely plants you are going to have from the seeds. But just as likely as not the seeds will produce plants like the parent plant.

So in seed selection the entire plant is to be considered. Is it sturdy, strong, well shaped and symmetrical; does it have a goodly number of fine blossoms? These are questions to ask in seed selection.

If you should happen to have the opportunity to visit a seedsman's garden, you will see here and there a blossom with a string tied around it. These are blossoms chosen for seed. If you look at the whole plant with care you will be able to see the points which the gardener held in mind when he did his work of selection.

 In seed selection size is another point to hold in mind. Now we know no way of telling anything about the plants from which this special collection of seeds came. So we must give our entire thought to the seeds themselves. It is quite evident that there is some choice; some are much larger than the others; some far plumper, too. By all means choose the largest and fullest seed. The reason is this: When you break open a bean and this is very evident, too, in the peanut you see what appears to be a little plant. So it is. Under just the right conditions for development this 'little chap' grows into the bean plant you know so well.

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This little plant must depend for its early growth on the nourishment stored up in the two halves of the bean seed. For this purpose the food is stored. Beans are not full of food and goodness for you and me to eat, but for the little baby bean plant to feed upon. And so if we choose a large seed, we have chosen a greater amount of food for the plantlet. This little plantlet feeds upon this stored food until its roots are prepared to do their work. So if the seed is small and thin, the first food supply insufficient, there is a possibility of losing the little plant.

You may care to know the name of this pantry of food. It is called a cotyledon if there is but one portion, cotyledons if two. Thus we are aided in the classification of plants. A few plants that bear cones like the pines have several cotyledons. But most plants have either one or two cotyledons.

From large seeds come the strongest plantlets. That is the reason why it is better and safer to choose the large seed. It is the same case exactly as that of weak children. 

There is often another trouble in seeds that we buy. The trouble is impurity. Seeds are sometimes mixed with other seeds so like them in appearance that it is impossible to detect the fraud. Pretty poor business, is it not? The seeds may be unclean. Bits of foreign matter in with large seed are very easy to discover. One can merely pick the seed over and make it clean. By clean is meant freedom from foreign matter. But if small seed are unclean, it is very difficult, well nigh impossible, to make them clean.

The third thing to look out for in seed is viability. We know from our testings that seeds which look to the eye to be all right may not develop at all. There are reasons. Seeds may have been picked before they were ripe or mature; they may have been frozen; and they may be too old. Seeds retain their viability or germ developing power, a given number of years and are then useless. There is a viability limit in years which differs for different seeds. 

From the test of seeds we find out the germination percentage of seeds. Now if this percentage is low, don't waste time planting such seed unless it be small seed. Immediately you question that statement. Why does the size of the seed make a difference? This is the reason. When small seed is planted it is usually sown in drills. Most amateurs sprinkle the seed in very thickly. So a great quantity of seed is planted. And enough seed germinates and comes up from such close planting. So quantity makes up for quality.



You'll always have the ideas and plans you need for your next project.

But take the case of large seed, like corn for example. Corn is planted just so far apart and a few seeds in a place. With such a method of planting the matter of per cent, of germination is most important indeed.

Small seeds that germinate at fifty per cent. may be used but this is too low a per cent. for the large seed. Suppose we test beans. The percentage is seventy. If low-vitality seeds were planted, we could not be absolutely certain of the seventy per cent coming up. But if the seeds are lettuce go ahead with the planting.

Maryjane Angelo

How To Decide On Where To Put Your Garden |Maryjane's Blog

In deciding upon the site for the home vegetable garden it is well to dispose once and for all of the old idea that the garden "patch" must be an ugly spot in the home surroundings. If thoughtfully planned, carefully planted and thoroughly cared for, it may be made a beautiful and harmonious feature of the general scheme, lending a touch of comfortable homeliness that no shrubs, borders, or beds can ever produce.

With this fact in mind we will not feel restricted to any part of the premises merely because it is out of sight behind the barn or garage. In the average moderate-sized place there will not be much choice as to land. It will be necessary to take what is to be had and then do the very best that can be done with it. But there will probably be a good deal of choice as to, first, exposure, and second, convenience. Other things being equal, select a spot near at hand, easy of access. It may seem that a difference of only a few hundred yards will mean nothing, but if one is depending largely upon spare moments for working in and for watching the garden and in the growing of many vegetables the latter is almost as important as the former this matter of convenient access will be of much greater importance than is likely to be at first recognized. Not until you have had to make a dozen time-wasting trips for forgotten seeds or tools, or gotten your feet soaking wet by going out through the dew-drenched grass, will you realize fully what this may mean.

Exposure.
But the thing of first importance to consider in picking out the spot that is to yield you happiness and delicious vegetables all summer, or even for many years, is the exposure. Pick out the "earliest" spot you can find a plot sloping a little to the south or east, that seems to catch sunshine early and hold it late, and that seems to be out of the direct path of the chilling north and northeast winds. If a building, or even an old fence, protects it from this direction, your garden will be helped along wonderfully, for an early start is a great big factor toward success. If it is not already protected, a board fence, or a hedge of some low-growing shrubs or young evergreens, will add very greatly to its usefulness. The importance of having such a protection or shelter is altogether underestimated by the amateur.

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The soil.

The chances are that you will not find a spot of ideal garden soil ready for use anywhere upon your place. But all except the very worst of soils can be brought up to a very high degree of productiveness  especially such small areas as home vegetable gardens require. Large tracts of soil that are almost pure sand, and others so heavy and mucky that for centuries they lay uncultivated, have frequently been brought, in the course of only a few years, to where they yield 
annually tremendous crops on a commercial basis. So do not be discouraged about your soil. Proper treatment of it is much more important, and a garden- patch of average run-down, or "never-brought-up" soil will produce much more for the energetic and careful gardener than the richest spot will grow under average methods of cultivation.

The ideal garden soil is a "rich, sandy loam." And the fact cannot be overemphasized that such soils usually are made, not found. Let us analyze that description a bit, for right here we come to the first of the four all-important factors of gardening food. The others are cultivation, moisture and temperature. "Rich" in the gardener's vocabulary means full of plant food; more than that and this is a point of vital importance it means full of plant food ready to be used at once, all prepared and spread out on the garden table, or rather in it, where growing things can at once make use of it; or what we term, in one word, "available" plant food. Practically no soils in long- inhabited communities remain naturally rich enough to produce big crops. They are made rich, or kept rich, in two ways; first, by cultivation, which helps to change the raw plant food stored in the soil into available forms; and Second, by manuring or adding plant food to the soil from outside sources.

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"Sandy" in the sense here used, means a soil containing enough particles of sand so that water will pass through it without leaving it pasty and sticky a few days after a rain; "light" enough, as it is called, so that a handful, under ordinary conditions, will crumble and fall apart readily after being pressed in the hand. It is not necessary that the soil be sandy in appearance, but it should be friable.

"Loam: a rich, friable soil," says Webster. That hardly covers it, but it does describe it. It is soil in which the sand and clay are in proper proportions, so that neither greatly predominate, and usually dark in color, from cultivation and enrichment. Such a soil, even to the untrained eye, just naturally looks as if it would grow things. It is remarkable how quickly the whole physical appearance of a piece of well cultivated ground will change. An instance came under my notice last fall in one of my fields, where a strip containing an acre had been two years in onions, and a little piece jutting off from the middle of this had been prepared for them just one season. The rest had not received any extra manuring or cultivation. When the field was plowed up in the fall, all three sections were as distinctly noticeable as though separated by a fence. And I know that next spring's crop of rye, before it is plowed under, will show the lines of demarcation just as plainly.

Maryjane Angelo

Planting A Wildflower Garden |Maryjane's Blog

A wild-flower garden has a most attractive sound. One thinks of long tramps in the woods, collecting material, and then of the fun in fixing up a real for sure wild garden.

Many people say they have no luck at all with such a garden. It is not! they are like people and each has its personality. What a plant has been accustomed to in Nature it desires always. In fact, when removed from its own sort of living conditions, it sickens and dies. That is enough to tell us that we should copy Nature herself. Suppose you are hunting wild flowers. As you choose certain flowers from the woods, notice the soil they are in, the place, conditions, the surroundings, and the neighbours.

Suppose you find dog-tooth violets and wind-flowers growing near together. Then place them so in your own new garden. Suppose you find a certain violet enjoying an open situation; then it should always have the same. You see the point, do you not? If you wish wild flowers to grow in a tame garden make them feel at home. Cheat them into almost believing that they are still in their native haunts.

Wild flowers ought to be transplanted after blossoming time is over. Take a trowel and a basket into the woods with you. As you take up a few, a columbine, or a hepatica, be sure to take with the roots some of the plant's own soil, which must be packed about it when replanted.

The bed into which these plants are to go should be prepared carefully before this trip of yours. Surely you do not wish to bring those plants back to wait over a day or night before planting. They should go into new quarters at once. The bed needs soil from the woods, deep and rich and full of leaf mold. The under drainage system should be excellent. Then plants are not to go into water-logged ground. Some people think that all wood plants should have a soil saturated with water. But the woods themselves are not water-logged. It may be that you will need to dig your garden up very deeply and put some stone in the bottom. Over this the top soil should go. And on top, where the top soil once was, put a new layer of the rich soil you brought from the woods.

Before planting water the soil well. Then as you make places for the plants put into each hole some of the soil which belongs to the plant which is to be put there.

I think it would be a rather nice plan to have a wild-flower garden giving a succession of bloom from early spring to late fall; so let us start off with March, the hepatica, spring beauty and saxifrage. Then comes April bearing in its arms the beautiful columbine, the tiny bluets and wild geranium. For May there are the dog-tooth violet and the wood anemone, false Solomon's seal, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wake robin, bloodroot and violets. June will give the bellflower, mullein, bee balm and foxglove. I would choose the gay butterfly weed for July. Let turtle head, aster, Joe Pye weed, and Queen Anne's lace make the rest of the season brilliant until frost.

Wood Working

Let us have a bit about the likes and dislikes of these plants. After you are once started you'll keep on adding to this wild-flower list.

There is no one who doesn't love the hepatica. Before the spring has really decided to come, this little flower pokes its head up and puts all else to shame. Tucked under a covering of dry leaves the blossoms wait for a ray of warm sunshine to bring them out. These embryo flowers are further protected by a fuzzy covering. This reminds one of a similar protective covering which new fern leaves have. In the spring a hepatica plant wastes no time on getting a new suit of leaves. It makes its old ones do until the blossom has had its day. Then the new leaves, started to be sure before this, have a chance. These delayed, are ready to help out next season. You will find hepaticas growing in clusters, sort of family groups. They are likely to be found in rather open places in the woods. The soil is found to be rich and loose. So these should go only in partly shaded places and under good soil conditions. If planted with other woods specimens give them the benefit of a rather exposed position, that they may catch the early spring sunshine. I should cover hepaticas over with a light litter of leaves in the fall. During the last days of February, unless the weather is extreme take this leaf covering away. You'll find the hepatica blossoms all ready to poke up their heads.

The spring beauty hardly allows the hepatica to get ahead of her. With a white flower which has dainty tracings of pink, a thin, wiry stem, and narrow, grass-like leaves, this spring flower cannot be mistaken. You will find spring beauties growing in great patches in rather open places. Plant a number of the roots and allow the sun good opportunity to get at them. For this plant loves the sun.

The other March flower mentioned is the saxifrage. This belongs in quite a different sort of environment. It is a plant which grows in dry and rocky places. Often one will find it in chinks of rock. There is an old tale to the effect that the saxifrage roots twine about rocks and work their way into them so that the rock itself splits. Anyway, it is a rock garden plant. I have found it in dry, sandy places right on the borders of a big rock. It has white flower clusters borne on hairy stems.

The columbine is another plant that is quite likely to be found in rocky places. Standing below a ledge and looking up, one sees nestled here and there in rocky crevices one plant or more of columbine. The nodding red heads bob on wiry, slender stems. The roots do not strike deeply into the soil; in fact, often the soil hardly covers them. Now, just because the columbine has little soil, it does not signify that it is indifferent to the soil conditions. For it always has lived, and always should live, under good drainage conditions. I wonder if it has struck you, how really hygienic plants are? Plenty of fresh air, proper drainage, and good food are fundamentals with plants.

It is evident from study of these plants how easy it is to find out what plants like. After studying their feelings, then do not make the mistake of huddling them all together under poor drainage conditions.

I always have a feeling of personal affection for the bluets. When they come I always feel that now things are beginning to settle down outdoors. They start with rich, lovely, little delicate blue blossoms. As June gets hotter and hotter their colour fades a bit, until at times they look quite worn and white. Some people call them Quaker ladies, others innocence. Under any name they are charming. They grow in colonies, sometimes in sunny fields, sometimes by the road-side. From this we learn that they are more particular about the open sunlight than about the soil.

If you desire a flower to pick and use for bouquets, then the wild geranium is not your flower. It droops very quickly after picking and almost immediately drops its petals. But the purplish flowers are showy, and the leaves, while rather coarse, are deeply cut. This latter effect gives a certain boldness to the plant that is rather attractive. The plant is found in rather moist, partly shaded portions of the woods. I like this plant in the garden. It adds good colour and permanent colour as long as blooming time lasts, since there is no object in picking it.

There are numbers and numbers of wild flowers I might have suggested. These I have mentioned were not given for the purpose of a flower guide, but with just one end in view your understanding of how to study soil conditions for the work of starting a wild-flower garden.

If you fear results, take but one or two flowers and study just what you select. Having mastered, or better, become acquainted with a few, add more another year to your garden. I think you will love your wild garden best of all before you are through with it. It is a real study, you see.

Maryjane Angelo

How to Grow and Make Your Own Loofah Sponge

With spring upon us soon, I thought this was a fitting topic for all our early gardening  lovers whom I might add have green thumbs.This is also a great 

project for beginners.

The loofah sponge (also called luffa or loofa) is related to squash and watermelon, which are both trailing vines. People use the fruit’s fibrous interior for exfoliating the skin in a shower or bath. Rather than spend a bunch of money on a loofah sponge from the store, why not grow one, make it yourself and save money?

The loofah plant has a long growing season. It needs full sunlight and is best suited for hardiness zone 7 or higher, so you will need to know your hardiness zone before choosing try planting them. If you live north of Kentucky, you may not have the success you would like.

You can increase the plants' growing cycle for northern states by starting them indoors at least a month before the last expected frost. You can germinate the seeds by placing them between two damp and warm paper towels.

When you are ready to plant them in the ground, plant them 8 to 12 inches apart. You can also create hills, 4 to 6 feet apart, in which you have planted four seeds 1/2-inch deep. If possible, plant the loofah near a trellis or fence to give the vines a place to grow. Once the plants have come up, thin them out to only one plant per hill. The best time to thin them out is when they have grown an inch or two.

Adding nutrients to the soil is also important for loofah plants. After adding compost, you will also want to mulch around the plants to help keep the soil moist and warm. Train the vines along the trellis or fence. Wrap the end around the trellis to get them to grow there.

Pay attention to the plant. When the plant first flowers, pluck the first flowers and cut the first four lateral branches back. This will allow the better fruits to grow.

At the end of the growing season, remove the gourds from the vine. Leave them on the vine as long as you can to ensure they are ripe. The skin should begin to turn brown, they will weigh less than when they were unripe and the skin may have opened slightly. If the weather turns cold and it frosts, you will want to harvest the gourds whether they are ripe or not.

If the skin of the loofah has not begun to open on its own, you may want to slam the gourd on the ground. Roll it back and forth to loosen the skin, or puncture it with a knife so you can remove the fruit from the skin. Allow the seeds to dry out completely and then freeze them so they are ready to plant next year.

To make the loofah sponge, spray off the loofah to remove any remaining seeds and wash away the sap. Then place the loofah in a bucket of bleach water – one cup of bleach for the entire bucket – and soak it to remove all black spots. This may take a while. Then remove the loofah and rinse it well; allow it to air dry in the sun. Be sure to turn the loofah occasionally as it dries.

You have several options at this point. You can leave the loofah in its original shape, cut it to a shape you like, or cut it into slices and place them in homemade soap. You can place a string through the fibers of the loofah so it is easy to hang and dry between uses.

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More to come on gardening and on a new way to garden it's called Aquaponics

  Maryjane Angelo