1. Save your old seeds (check to see if they still work).
2. Compost for homemade soil – even if your yard is small you can compost. In fact, you can compost indoors if you want.
3. Don’t buy new – garden tools, gardening books, pots, and so on. Most gardening supplies can be easily found at thrift stores. You can also borrow from or share garden tools with friends. It’s also super easy to check out books about gardening from the library.
4. Try some easy DIY landscaping instead of paying someone to do it for you.
5. Always use reusable items and recyclables such as egg cartons for starting seeds or reuse the plastic seed pots you used last year (clean well to avoid disease). You can also make your own growing pots with recycled materials.
6. Be water aware. Build a rain barrel, water at night, only give plants the actual water they need, and so on. Using less water can save you big time.
7. Make homemade weed killer -Mix one ounce orange oil and 1 teaspoon liquid soap with 1 gallon of 10% white vinegar. Shake it up and use it to spot treat weeds.
8. Use the least evasive pest control methods first, which are often much cheaper than advanced pest control supplies.
9. Buy seeds locally from the farmers market or a local farm store. You can often buy just what you need vs. a whole packet. at the local farm store.
10. Swap seeds and plants with neighbors.
11. Plant a garden that will naturally thrive where you live. Plants made for your climate will thrive better with less care than exotic plants.
12. Use what you’ve got such as leaves and newspaper as mulch.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

12 ways to garden on the cheap

Visitors in Martha Stewart's Culinary Herb Garden

What will you see?  For details consult the full schedule of events, but here’s a list to tempt you:

• cooking and entertainment demonstrations
• Martha Stewart’s herb garden (in photo)
• celebrity chefs
• gardening displays
• greenmarket on Wednesday and Saturday
• lectures and classes
• starting a vegetable garden
• composting
• learn how flowers become fruit
• practical gardening tips and suggestions
• and lots more!

The Edible Garden runs through September 13th, 2009.  General admission tickets are $20, and includes admission to all exhibitions and programs on the day of your visit.  Some special events require an additional ticket.  Save time by planning your visit and purchasing your tickets online.  The NY Botanical Garden is a plant museum located in the Bronx at Bronx River Parkway at Fordham Road.  It is open year-round, Tuesday – Sunday, 10 am-6 pm, and on Labor Day and Memorial Day.

Photo credit:  Courtesy of The Edible Garden at The New York Botanical Garden, Talisman Brolin/TALISMAN PHOTO, photographer.

Visitors in Martha Stewart’s Culinary Herb Garden

Post from: Blisstree

Visit New York’s Edible Garden in the Bronx

Pumpkin on a stick grows fast but has thorns to watch out for. The leaves are huge compared to the tiny fruits and plants can be started from seed or cuttings. Normally early summer is a good time to start this plant, but if you’ve got a lot of sun you can still plant some now and you will likely get some pretty red orange fruits in time for fall. Just be sure to stalk and also protect from chills and frost.

This plant is not only totally cute for fall arrangements but it’s edible too (chop and toss into stir fry). If you do use it in decor you can use fresh stalks or allow fruit to dry on the stem (remove leaves) and use as a dry plant accessory.
Buy pumpkin on a stick seeds

Buy organic pumpkin on a stick seeds

Post from: Blisstree

Grow tiny pumpkins trees for fall

WHAT IS JOURNEY NORTH?

A North American adventure for kids that allows them to log-in online (for free) and participate in a “Global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change.” Students K-12, chat and post about their personal nature field observations with other students across the country. Homeschoolers or unschoolers will like this project as well.

The site is kid-safe and encourages youth ro observe various natural changes in their local community as they occur throughout the year. For example, kids learn how to watch for and track things like the life and migration patterns of animals (monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, and bald eagles to name a few), newly sprouting plants, weather changes and much more.

Journey North gives students a view into local natural worlds that they might not otherwise get to learn about. For example, a kid living in New York can get a taste of Oregon wildlife and vice vs.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

Kids can head over to Journey North and register for free. Young children will need an adult helper to get them set-up because while reading is not required to participate, there is some reading involved. Then there’s an easy orientation and after, kids can join up with one or more of the many projects happening at the site.

While Journey North is not a “green” by name program, it is a great way to get kids involved with the natural world – and kids who adore their world are far more likely to preserve it.

Visit Journey North

Is you family already signed on with Journey North? If so, tell us what you think in the comments.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Green Kids Project – Journey North

Philodendron scandens `oxycardium’, heartleaf philodendron

Philodendron domesticum, elephant ear philodendron

Dracaena fragrans `Massangeana’, cornstalk dracaena

Hedera helix, English ivy

Chlorophytum comosum, spider plant

Dracaena deremensis `Janet Craig’, Janet Craig dracaena

Dracaena deremensis `Warneckii’, Warneck dracaena

Ficus benjamina, weeping fig

Epipiremnum aureum, golden pothos

Spathiphyllum `Mauna Loa’, peace lily

Philodendron selloum, selloum philodendron

Aglaonema modestum, Chinese evergreen

Chamaedorea sefritzii, bamboo or reed palm

Sansevieria trifasciata, snake plant

Dracaena marginata , red-edged dracaena

*If you’ve got pets, keep them safe from toxic plants by checking the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center to see which plants to avoid.

You can read the full study here (PDF).

Post from: Blisstree

Daily Detox: Indoor Plants for Cleaner Air