Kathy Zengolewicz

Indoor gardens can be made to exude beauty in a room.  They are the perfect solution for apartment dwellers who don’t have room for an outdoor garden. Believe it or not, indoor plants actually filter the air in your home. They do require some maintenance, but if you choose the right plants the maintenance time will be drastically reduced.  Let’s take a look at a couple of different ideas for an indoor garden.

These plants need a minimum of care and are inexpensive to buy.

A pothos plant, or devil’s ivy as it is sometimes called, is the most common indoor house plant. It has even survived bachelor pads, now what does that tell you? It can survive and flourish with changing  levels of light, temperature, humidity and watering. It is one of a few species that can survive without any natural light source.

A spider plant. Everyone knows how easy it is to care for a spider plant. Why not start your plant from a small cutting/clipping and see how big it grows in a few months time.

A bromeliad is another excellent indoor plant. The have colorful foliage and they adapt nicely to growing conditions that exist in most houses.

Another good idea is to create an herb garden to sit on your kitchen counter or window sill. Make sure  to grow only the herbs that you will use in your cooking.

This should be enough information to get you started on your indoor garden.

Indoor plants, however, do need consistency with watering and feeding. I will blog about watering, feeding and decorating with indoor plants at a later time, so stay tuned!

Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!

Post from: Keeping the Castle

After some research, I found some fall blooming flowers that will help to keep your yard looking great.  I didn’t have to look far for help.  Better Homes & Gardens always has great tips for your home.  It’s interesting that many of these flowers are not the traditional fall colors. 

You might want to try these fall blooming flowers:

• aster
• sweet autumn clematis – a beautiful, fast-growing, aggressive vine
• toad lily
• goldenrod
• russian sage
• perennial sunflower
• colchicum
• helenium
• sedum
• red spider lil
• japanese anemone
• turtlehead
• fall crocus
• monkshood
• leadplant
• mexican sage
• anise hyssop
• witch hazel

The Aster, Clematis, and Russian Sage are some of my favorites.  It was hard to pick because most of them are very beautiful.  Which of these fall blooming flowers do you like best?

For more information, as well as pictures of each plant, visit Better Homes & Gardens.  Image from BGH.

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If you plant in late summer, you can grow things such as broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, brussel sprouts, collards, cucumbers, lettuce, kale, onions, spinach, radishes, and carrots.  Even if you’ve missed the spring and summer gardening times, there are plenty of vegetables that grow well during colder months.

NC State University has a list of vegetables that can be grown in North Carolina during the fall months.  The list also gives the suggested planting time, their cold tolerance, how many inches should be between the plants, the depth the plants should be planted, and the days until maturity.  Although the suggested planting times may not be relevant to those in other states, the chart provides helpful information.

Do you plant a fall garden?  What types of plants do you have?

image sxc.hu

Post from: Keeping the Castle

By the end of summer last year, the bush was already a pretty good size.  It was constantly being visited by butterflies and bees.  We really enjoyed the colorful flowers and butterflies it brought into our yard. 

Our house was on the market this spring and we went back a few weeks ago to close on the house. I was absolutely appalled at what a monster this bush was. It was taller than me!  Out of curiosity, I looked online to see how big these bushes normally get.  Depending on the variety that you have, these plants can grow 3-12 feet high.  Wow! 

If you’re a gardener or even if you just love butterflies, a butterfly bush can make a great addition to your garden.  Just be aware of how large they can grow and choose a proper location (unlike us!). 

If you have a butterfly bush or are thinking of getting one, here is some helpful information from ButterflyBushes.com.  The butterfly bush:

• is drought tolerant
• is deer resistant
• grows quickly
• is inexpensive
• comes in a variety of species
• prefers full sun
• can be planted together to product a multi-color appearance
• should be cut back to about 4 feet high for the winter

I hope this information is helpful to you. 

Do you have a butterfly bush?

images (c) Karen Weideman

Post from: Keeping the Castle

Several years ago, my parents gave me some volunteer bushes they had growing in their yard.  I planted the small bushes in my yard and within a year or so, the bushes were tall and well developed.  The bushes didn’t cost me any money.

Volunteer plants are a great inexpensive way to help landscape your yard.  You can check with friends, neighbors, and family to see if they have any volunteer plants in their yard that you might like.  You can return the favor and by offering your extra plants to them.  Also, to help save money you can save the plastic pots from store bought plants.  Transplant the shrubs, bushes, and other plants into the pots to help save on your gardening supplies.

Have you ever used volunteer plants? 

image (c) Karen Weideman

Post from: Keeping the Castle

Everyone knows it’s good to be as green as possible, but the high price of many organic products can have people reaching for conventional chemical-based pesticides and fertilizers. Well, there are plenty of ways to be frugal – and eco-friendly – with gardening and yard maintenance.

Weed Control
There are many ways to deal with weeds. You could use stand-bys like Round-Up, which is readily available. But did you know that there are eco-friendly options that are safer for pets and kids – and cheaper? One option is to get a weed puller. There are many options out there, with names like Weed Twister, Weed Queen, and more. These can be found at most hardware/home improvement stores, and work for weeds in the lawn – and do some aerating at the same time. For weeds that are in sidewalks and patios, mix vinegar with a splash of dish soap (the dish soap helps it stick to the weeds). This works best if you get the weeds while they are still small. Pickling vinegar is more effective than standard kitchen vinegar. You can also pour boiling water on these weeds. Be careful with these two methods though – they’ll kill everything, whether or not it’s a weed. For good pre-emergent weed control, spread corn gluten-based fertilizer on the lawn. This is usually not much more expensive than traditional fertilizers, and if you live near a feed mill you can get plain corn gluten for very cheap.

Fertilizer
Natural fertilizers are the best bet for safety of pets and kids, and are also much better for our water systems because of run-off. As mentioned above, corn gluten makes a good fertilizer. You can also make your garden and landscaping using native plants, which grow more easily and require less care.

Lawn Care
Keep your lawn right around 3 inches. It will require less water. When you mow, leave the clippings behind. It takes less effort than bagging and is good for the law. Consider replacing your gas mower with less expensive electric or manual ones – save gas and get a better workout at the same time. Buy a rain barrel – just an inch of rain from part of our roof runoff filled our 55-gallon barrel last week. We’ll use that to water the garden and our freshly planted trees until it runs out (or rains again). And don’t over-water. Lawns are typically healthy with only an inch per week. Water early in the morning for the most effective watering – and don’t water at all unless it’s been over a week without rain. Use sprinklers that go low to the ground to avoid water loss from evaporation.

image by Karen Weideman

Bekah blogs at Motherhood Moment where she shares freebies and tips on eco-friendly living, parenting, and saving money and time.

Post from: Keeping the Castle

Lilies are a wonderful addition to a garden. They have their own unique beauty and grace. I started small in my own garden and planted dwarf lilies. I’d like to “graduate” to the bigger varieties, and have been eyeing some of the plants that are available locally. I think they are really beautiful grown in a medium-sized group in the garden.

Jos Van Hage, for Opinion 250, describes the six major groups of lilies… ‘Oriental Lilies’, ‘Asiatic Lilies’, ‘Tiger Lily’, ‘Trumpet Lily’, ‘Pot Lily’, and ‘Double Lily’. They vary in size from 46 inches tall to smaller 26-inch plants. But their planting and maintenance methods are pretty much the same:

Lilies are propagated by planting bulbs which are now available in the garden center. It is important to start with a large, firm, healthy bulb that is undamaged and plant it as early as possible. They can be planted directly outside in early May when you can get a shovel in the ground or started earlier inside planted in peat pots which are later transplanted outside giving them an early start. Lilies need a rich soil which is well drained so that they do not rot. They also need moisture and hate to go dry. Plant them in a sunny location but they do like cool roots and warm stems so covering them with some extra mulch is beneficial.

After lilies have finished blooming, the old flowers should be removed before they set seed which takes away important energy from the bulb. Lilies are left in the ground for several years and are dug up and divided when the bulbs have become overcrowded and you can see the flowers are smaller than before. Dig up and divide the bulbs in mid-September and replant them right away.

Want to dress up your garden? Try lilies.

Post from: Keeping the Castle

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals presents its list of the 10 most poisonous plants for pets. Surprise — poinsettia is not on the list. If you are planting any of these varieties, put them in a fenced area inaccessible to your pet or supervise him when he is playing in that area.

Number 1 on the list is marijuana.

No kidding.
I trust, though, that you’re not planning on growing marijuana this year (or ever).

The rest of the list would be helpful to keep in mind, in order to make your garden safe for your pets:

* Sago Palm – All the parts of this plant are poisonous, but the seeds or “nuts” are specially so.

* Lilies – Toxic to cats, even in tiny amounts.

* Tulip and Narcissus bulb

* Azalea and Rhododendron

* Oleander

* Castor Bean

* Cyclamen – The poison in this plant is concentrated in the roots, although other parts are dangerous too.

* Kalanchoe

* Yew

These plants can cause various malfunctions in the digestive, nervous and circulatory systems of animals, and may even result in death. So watch out for these if you have dogs, cats, and other pets at home.

[Source: The Leaf-Chronicle]

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