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Control Garden Mildew with Baking Soda PDF Print
Lawn & Garden TipsPlain household baking soda can help control powdery mildew in your garden. Dissolve 1/4 ounce of baking soda in 1 gallon of water. Spray it onto plant leaves weekly or after a rain. The baking soda serves as a preventative spray. Mildew spores cannot spread or reproduce so their development is stopped.
 
Black Gold (not oil) for the Garden PDF Print

What to add to your compost bin

At the end of the growing season, clean up flower and vegetable beds and add disease-free plant debris to the compost pile. If you catch grass clippings in a mower bag, put these into the compost, too! Try mixing brown (dried leaves) materials with green (fresh grass clippings), moisten and cover the pile. The pile will decompose over the winter and transform the organic matter into "black gold" to enrich your soil next season. However, we don't suggest that you should use this "black gold" in place of oil!
 
Seed vs. Sod PDF Print
gardening tipsA lawn grown from seed is a lot cheaper than laying sod, and in the long run it will also be healthier since it adapts better to the area. Plus, if your yard doesn't get much sun, shade-friendly fescue seed may be your only option. Given that sod is farmed in full sun conditions it will struggle to stay alive under such circumstances.

Fall is the best time for seeding a new lawn or patches that need special care. Why? By then trees have dropped their leaves, so seedlings get more sun early on when they need it the most. They will then go dormant in late fall and wake up in time for spring to arrive. At that time the sun will be high and the tree leaves will not have developed, so they'll have another chance for a growth spurt.

Before you plant the seeds, you'll need to prepare the soil by breaking it up with a rake. Remove any big clumps or dips where water may collect and then add a 10-10-10 fertilizer. Apply seed with a spreader and keep the seeds moist until they germinate. Continue watering regularly until the ground freezes but wait to mow until spring.


 
 
Building A Compost Pile

compost_farmer1 Veteran gardeners swear by compost. It's great for adding to their garden to help transplants along and to keep soil healthy. Plus, it's an environmentally smart way to turn household waste into something besides a bulge in your garbage bag. If you're the lazy type, starting a compost heap can be thought of as piling stuff that will eventually rot, then waiting for it to ferment. But if you have any aesthetic sense, building a compost bin is in order.

 

1. Choose a Location Choose a site that's level and shady, has good drainage and allows easy access to wheelbarrows, garden paths and hose hookups.

2. Select Building Materials A compost bin has three permanent walls and one that's removable, allowing you to "turn," or mix, the materials within the bin. Whether you use wire mesh or wooden slats for the walls, you must have aeration to speed the decomposition process, so don't build anything airtight. If you decide to use wood in the bin be sure to purchase cedar or cypress wood because they will better resist the decaying effect from the bin's contents.

3. Bin Dimensions Commonly, gardeners build two bins with a shared middle wall: one bin to store already composted materials; the other for material that's still composting. Bins tend to be three feet wide by three feet long, and three- to four-feet high. There's no need for a top; moisture's a good thing because it speeds up the decomposition process.

4. Layer Compost Materials Once you've built the bin, start by laying in a foot or so of material. compost100You want a mix of fresh green lawn clippings, weeds & sod and inert materials such as bone meal, sawdust & shredded paper. Next, put in a layer of manure or fertilizer, followed by an inch of topsoil. Repeat these layers until the bin is filled.

5. Mix the Material After about three weeks have passed, take the removable wall down and use a shovel or pitchfork to mix the material. Throw fertilizer on top of the mixture of compost. About two weeks later repeat the process. Forget to turn it? No problem, it will just take longer to decompose. If it seems too dry, just hose it down. Once it's turned a uniform brown, crumbles to the touch and is nearly odorless, it's all set for spreading.