Going green at home doesn’t have to turn your life upside down. There are simple measures you can take in your kitchen and garden to run a planet-friendly home.

Reduce Waste

Ensure your kitchen is properly outfitted with labeled paper and plastic recycling bins. Keep these receptacles handy to encourage your family and guests to make use of them.

Take your waste reduction a step further by setting up a bin for food scraps, which you can add to your yard trimmings. Composting creates a natural fertilizer that’s makes a planet-friendly alternative to the chemical variety.

By recycling and composting, you can join the ranks of Americans reducing the waste they send to the landfill. In fact, recycling and composting prevented 86.9 million tons of materials from being disposed in 2011 in the United States, up from 15 million tons in 1980, according to government estimates.

Protect Wildlife

You may think of your yard as “yours,” but you are actually sharing the space with furry creatures, insects and birds. Habitat destruction and loss, as well other manmade and natural threats, put beautiful species like humming birds at risk. Make your garden a safe haven with bird feeders and by planting native, sustentative shrubs, trees and flowers.

Unfortunately, bird to building collisions, particularly with windows, are estimated to kill between 100 million and 1 billion birds in the United States alone, according to a new report from the Cooper Ornithological Society.

Ensure the safety of your airborne visitors by applying static-cling decals to your windows, which helps birds detect glass, thereby avoiding injury or death. Decals from WindowAlert, for example, rely on special ultraviolet-reflecting coating that looks like etched glass to humans, but is quite visible to birds, and add a decorative appearance to your home.

The coating can fade over time, so remember to replace decals every six to nine months. More information can be found at www.WindowAlert.com.

Eat Local

Source your food locally to reduce your carbon footprint. If possible, buy local, in-season fruits and vegetables that didn’t have to travel the world to reach your plate.

And while flowers are beautiful to look at — and the right ones can provide nectar for pollinating insects and birds — consider turning at least part of your garden into a space for herbs and vegetables to grow. When dinner comes from your own back yard, it means fresher produce that’s good for your family, and good for the planet.

Don’t just enjoy nature this season, take care of it. With a few small tweaks, it isn’t hard to run your home more sustainably.

Photo Credit: (c) wwing – iStock.com

Every day that I’m not on the road, I look out my office window toward the garden, and walk the property at least once or twice. My mind never stops turning with all the projects and to-dos I see for my landscape. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

My dream is to someday experience the term coined a few years back – “staycation.” The concept applies to the notion of staying home in an environment that is so pleasant, you feel like you’re on vacation. In theory, I love the idea. But in reality, it’s another story. Fortunately, for the lawn and garden, there are some pretty helpful ideas along with a number of undemanding plants that can get us a few steps closer to a truly relaxing staycation in our own little corner of the world.

TIPS AND TRICKS

These are a few of my favorite tricks for getting a little bit closer to nirvana.

– Soaker hoses: Keeping up with watering can rob many hours of precious free time. An easy way to cut down on this time consuming event is to make sure your plants are getting water right where they need it by using soaker hoses. These porous hoses allow water to seep out slowly and deeply. Roots have time to absorb the moisture and there is less risk of over-watering.

– Automatic timers: Simplify watering duties even more by using automatic timers. Use these in conjunction with soaker hoses and drip irrigation systems and put your watering woes on autopilot. The timers can be set to come on automatically from several times a day to once a week. Then, whether you leave home for weeks or want more carefree time in the hammock, you won’t have to worry about your plants or lawn not getting watered.

– Mulch: Usually the most dreaded task in any garden is the weeding. One simple solution to cutting down on the amount of weeds your garden will have is to use mulch. A three-inch layer will block the sunlight most weed seeds need to germinate. The added benefit of mulch is that it keeps your soil cooler, cuts down on moisture loss and helps suppress disease. It even looks great and really shows off the plants.

– A garden mailbox: Even the most organized gardeners find themselves running back to the shed or garage for that must-have tool for the job at hand. Placing a mailbox or similar storage box in the garden can eliminate those unnecessary trips back to the tool shed. Fill the mailbox with your most important small tools and you’ll always have them close at hand. Consider adding a trowel, plant labels, waterproof pen, twine, scissors, pruners, insect spray and bottled water. Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference.

PLANTS TO PLANT

When it comes to high-impact, low-maintenance plants, here are three of my favorites. Just keep in mind, even the least demanding plants deserve our attention every now and then.

– Knock Out roses: This is the un-fussy rose. If you’ve been intimidated by growing roses in the past or are tired of the work necessary to keep them disease and pest-free, this is the rose for you. Knockout roses are prolific bloomers and are very resistant to black spot and mildew problems typical of so many other roses. Provide full sun and well-drained soil and this rose will reward you with months of carefree beauty.

– Daylilies: They’re so easy, you can practically lay a daylily on the ground and watch it grow. Daylilies are beautiful and deer resistant with thousands of varieties in a rainbow of colors. They bloom all summer and return the next year thicker and fuller than before. The only work you’ll have to do is to divide them every 3 to 5 years.

– Hostas: If you’re looking for a showstopper for the shade garden, hostas are it. From miniature to massive, these plants known for their bold foliage are available in thousands of varieties. Hostas offer many shades of green, from lemon-lime to blue-green and every shade in between. The bonus with this easy care plant is that some are highly fragrant and all do well in containers. Unfortunately deer resistance is not one of its strengths.

Joe Lamp’l is the host and executive producer of Growing a Greener World on national public television, and the founder of The joe gardener� Company, devoted to environmentally responsible gardening and sustainable outdoor living.

April 9, 2014

Tim’s Tips: Answers to early spring gardening questions

Tim’s Tips

Tim Lamprey
The Daily News of Newburyport

Wed Apr 09, 2014, 03:00 AM EDT

It was nice to have a decent weekend. Sad when the definition of a nice weekend is 50 degrees and howling winds!

People were coming into the garden center with lots of questions. Let me take a few moments and answer some of those questions.

People were asking if it was too soon to put down a crabgrass control on their lawn. The general rule of thumb is that the crabgrass control is put down when you see the forsythia bushes in bloom. There have been years when that was the first week in April, and there are years when it is in early May.

The answer is if you see the bright yellow forsythia bushes in bloom, it’s time to put down the crabgrass control.

Pansies are now in many of the garden centers. People have asked if it is too early to plant the pansies. Pansies are one of the most cold-tolerant of the spring-blooming flowers. There is nothing that says spring like a window box full of colorful pansies. Take some time, and get your planters filled with some beautiful pansies.

People have also asked if there are any vegetable plants that they can set out in the garden. The cold-tolerant vegetable plants are lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, peas, spinach, chives, parsley and kale. There are also many vegetable plants that you can plant from seed in the garden. These include beets, carrots, peas and onions. Onion sets will be available in a few weeks.

Don’t feel that you have to wait to plant something in your vegetable garden. There are many cold-tolerant plants that you can put into the ground now.

A few people have asked about removing the burlap that was placed around plants in the fall. The purpose of the burlap is to protect the plants from the wind and also to help prevent damage from wet snow. If you base the decision on wind alone, then, yes, you could remove the burlap. The ground is reasonably thawed so your plants can take up water to offset any moisture lost to the wind.

2

Next

Text Only
| Photo Reprints

Copyright
2014
NewburyportNews.com, Newburyport, MA. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten or redistributed.

Start planting summer bulbs such as gladiolus in May

 The Rutgers Cooperative Extension offers the following tips for people doing work on their lawn and garden this spring.

Bulbs

Start planting summer bulbs in May. Some favorites are gladiolus, dahlias, calla lilies, caladiums, alstroemeria, lilies, crocosmia and tuberous begonias.

Trees

It is best to plant while plants are still dormant so that the root system is not disrupted. Do not fertilize new trees. You can fertilize next year lightly. Never fertilize when the temperatures are above 85 degrees. First-year trees will need special care when the weather turns hot. You will want to provide deep watering every week unless we have a good rain. An established tree will need watering under drought conditions.

Perennials

The better you prepare the soil at planting, the better chance you have of your plant surviving. Include fertilizer in soil preparation process by mixing fertilizer in the soil you replace in the hole before planting your plant. Transplanting and division of summer and fall flower perennials can be done if necessary. Spring flowering perennials can be divided or cut back after flowering.

Vegetables

After May 15 you can plant your warm-season crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. If you are transplanting seedlings from indoors, remember to harden off the plants before placing them directly in the garden. A side dressing of fertilizer is beneficial in the middle of the growing season. Water all transplants at planting. If you are direct seeding vegetables (cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, green beans, etc) you will need to water daily until germination. Taper off watering after germination.

Lawns

After May 1, is it too late to do any seeding. Cool season grasses are growing rapidly and need to be mowed. Never cut below 3 inches. Grubs may be feeding, but you will have to wait until mid-July to August for effective treatment. Chinch bugs may be seen. Control in late May to early June. When using insecticides, remember to follow all directions on the label and be sure the product includes the insect on the label.

As with all of our gardening tips, contact our Master Gardener Helpline with any of your gardening questions at 609-625-0056.

Whether in an urban, suburban or rural landscape, tending the home or garden comes with a number of challenges involving insects, weeds, trees, shrubs, turf and critters. New Jersey residents spend significant time and money coping with these challenges, but not alone, thanks to the vast array of services offered by Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. Cooperative Extension, a unit of the experiment station, serves homeowners through factsheets, master gardener hotlines, workshops, and services that test soil and diagnose plant disease.

While extension personnel and master gardeners are on the frontlines providing information to residents, Rutgers researchers are working behind the scenes developing plant and turf varieties that are more resistant, drought tolerant, or environmentally friendly by requiring less input.

See http://njaes.rutgers.edu/garden/.

---

Herbs – If you’ve limited space, even if you just have a balcony or window boxes then grow herbs. The best way to pep up your cooking is with incredibly fresh and flavoursome herbs – rosemary with lamb, basil on your pasta dishes, parsley with fresh fish – I could go on forever but it really is true. At this time of year almost all herbs can be planted outside now. Make sure the soil’s warm enough and get your kitchen garden in the ground. Your meals will never be the same again!

Prepare you seed beds – Everyone loves a freshly made bed and your plants are just the same. If you’ve done this before you should have added your homemade compost to the bed last autumn to give it time to thoroughly rot down, but fear not some decent compost or manure that’s well rotted can be added now to get your planting off to a great start. Soil varies from place to place but any hard material like stones and sticks should be removed where possible – get the rake out and aim for the finest soil you can get – you can even sieve it if you want to go the extra mile (and are slightly crazy).

Have you heard of aquaponic gardening? It’s a gardening style that incorporates the symbiotic relationship between fish and plants. Sylvia Bernstein, author of the book “Aquaponic Gardening: A Step-By-Step Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together,” provides parents with five reasons on why kids should grow a garden, whether it’s aquaponic or not.

“The skills they learn gardening will remain with them well into adulthood. They will also make a connection to and appreciation for the process of how food gets …

Click here to login or subscribe and see more.

More from Family

• 

  Is your teen obsessed with a celebrity?

  Like it or not, your teens look up to at least one celebrity. How can you help them follow positive role models?

• Broughton: We need more compassion and less judgment

  A teen’s death sparks a mob mentality on social media.

• 

Every day that I’m not on the road, I look out my office window toward the garden, and walk the property at least once or twice. My mind never stops turning with all the projects and to-dos I see for my landscape. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

My dream is to someday experience the term coined a few years back – “staycation.” The concept applies to the notion of staying home in an environment that is so pleasant, you feel like you’re on vacation. In theory, I love the idea. But in reality, it’s another story. Fortunately, for the lawn and garden, there are some pretty helpful ideas along with a number of undemanding plants that can get us a few steps closer to a truly relaxing staycation in our own little corner of the world.

TIPS AND TRICKS

These are a few of my favorite tricks for getting a little bit closer to nirvana.

– Soaker hoses: Keeping up with watering can rob many hours of precious free time. An easy way to cut down on this time consuming event is to make sure your plants are getting water right where they need it by using soaker hoses. These porous hoses allow water to seep out slowly and deeply. Roots have time to absorb the moisture and there is less risk of over-watering.

– Automatic timers: Simplify watering duties even more by using automatic timers. Use these in conjunction with soaker hoses and drip irrigation systems and put your watering woes on autopilot. The timers can be set to come on automatically from several times a day to once a week. Then, whether you leave home for weeks or want more carefree time in the hammock, you won’t have to worry about your plants or lawn not getting watered.

– Mulch: Usually the most dreaded task in any garden is the weeding. One simple solution to cutting down on the amount of weeds your garden will have is to use mulch. A three-inch layer will block the sunlight most weed seeds need to germinate. The added benefit of mulch is that it keeps your soil cooler, cuts down on moisture loss and helps suppress disease. It even looks great and really shows off the plants.

– A garden mailbox: Even the most organized gardeners find themselves running back to the shed or garage for that must-have tool for the job at hand. Placing a mailbox or similar storage box in the garden can eliminate those unnecessary trips back to the tool shed. Fill the mailbox with your most important small tools and you’ll always have them close at hand. Consider adding a trowel, plant labels, waterproof pen, twine, scissors, pruners, insect spray and bottled water. Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big difference.

PLANTS TO PLANT

When it comes to high-impact, low-maintenance plants, here are three of my favorites. Just keep in mind, even the least demanding plants deserve our attention every now and then.

– Knock Out roses: This is the un-fussy rose. If you’ve been intimidated by growing roses in the past or are tired of the work necessary to keep them disease and pest-free, this is the rose for you. Knockout roses are prolific bloomers and are very resistant to black spot and mildew problems typical of so many other roses. Provide full sun and well-drained soil and this rose will reward you with months of carefree beauty.

– Daylilies: They’re so easy, you can practically lay a daylily on the ground and watch it grow. Daylilies are beautiful and deer resistant with thousands of varieties in a rainbow of colors. They bloom all summer and return the next year thicker and fuller than before. The only work you’ll have to do is to divide them every 3 to 5 years.

– Hostas: If you’re looking for a showstopper for the shade garden, hostas are it. From miniature to massive, these plants known for their bold foliage are available in thousands of varieties. Hostas offer many shades of green, from lemon-lime to blue-green and every shade in between. The bonus with this easy care plant is that some are highly fragrant and all do well in containers. Unfortunately deer resistance is not one of its strengths.

Joe Lamp’l is the host and executive producer of Growing a Greener World on national public television, and the founder of The joe gardener� Company, devoted to environmentally responsible gardening and sustainable outdoor living.

Comment

Add a review

INDY Week publishes all kinds of comments, but we don’t publish everything.

• Comments that are not contributing to the conversation will be removed.
• Comments that include ad hominem attacks will also be removed.
• Please do not copy and paste the full text of a press release.

Rating
Roll over stars and click to rate.

Subscribe to this thread

FAIRBANKS — There are many gardening items worth spending money on, such as lighting fixtures to insure healthy seedling growth. But as I look through the back of the seed catalogs I am accumulating, where they sell equipment that is supposedly essential to gardening, I am horrified by the many things readers are encouraged to buy in the name of insuring a good harvest.

First of all, you don’t need all those plastic four and six packs, or the flats, for seed starting. And you most certainly don’t need peat pots or pellets, which dry out quickly and do not disintegrate in the garden but instead stunt the growth of roots. It is criminal that local stores are allowed to sell them and thus take advantage of unsuspecting, newbie gardeners.

Build flats out of scrap lumber. Or, take cardboard milk cartons, seal the pour spouts with tape, lay them on their sides and slice off the top sides to make flats. If you want flats that are more square, cut down plastic milk jugs and they will function perfectly well. Or save the clear plastic clamshells that grocery stores provide for salads or put half dozens of muffins in and use those as flats.

Instead of those four or six packs, you can use virtually anything that will hold soil and will allow a drainage hole to be punched in the bottom. Yogurt, cottage cheese, hummus, sour cream and whipped butter containers will work, as will cut-down plastic pop and water bottles. In the name of saving money I’ve thrown out all pretense of pride and asked colleagues at work meetings to give me their plastic Solo cups instead of throwing them out as they walk out the door.

And what is with buying pieces of wood or plastic to make markers identifying the crop in each row? A pair of scissors and a Sharpie will turn plastic milk jugs into markers as large or small as you want. If you have an old blind hanging about, then cut off the slats to your desired length and use those.

Instead of expensive cloches, plastic gallon milk jugs can be used to shelter new transplants. Slice off the bottoms and put one over each plant, pushing the bottom a few inches into the soil. Leave the caps off, so that plants don’t get over-heated or too wet from condensation. I leave mine on until the leaves are pushing against the sides, begging to be set free.

Tuna cans, opened at both ends, work well to foil cutworms. Coffee cans, open at both ends and pushed into the ground several inches at the time of transplanting, make perfect water bowls. Filling them insures sufficient water and that it goes straight down to the roots, so it cuts down on water waste and starves weeds outside the bowl.

Plastic pop and water bottles can be used to lighten a large planter and reduce the amount (and thus cost) of the potting soil you need to fill it. Simply put a bunch of them in the pot, stopping when the pot is one third to one half full of bottles, and add the dirt on top. You can also use packing popcorn to the same ends, but be sure to encase them in plastic bags first or you will soon find them migrating to the top of the soil. It is also a pain to pick loose popcorn out when you want to change or refresh the soil the following season.

There is, alas, one item I have not been able to replace by repurposing some other item — my onion starting flats. They enable me to start 200 leek or onion seeds in each flat, without having the pesky problem of intermingled roots and many damaged plants when I go to transplant them. I paid $8 for three of them and have reused them for years, so unless I can figure out a replacement I will keep buying them as they wear out.

Not every recycling effort will pay off. For example, I have used toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, cleaned out egg shells and orange halves with the flesh removed for seed starting. All I can figure is that people who recommend those alternatives have never really tried them. But before you trade your life (which is what you are doing when you spend money you worked to earn) for a gardening item, look around and see if something around the house will work just as well.

Linden Staciokas has gardened in the Interior for more than two decades. Send gardening questions to her at dorking@acsalaska.net.

For those who hold fast to the tradition of planting peas and
onions in the garden on St. Patrick’s Day, chances are it didn’t work this
year.

That was the week the area narrowly avoided a snowstorm but
was left with bone-chillingly cold days.

It’s not just the temperature that has avid gardeners
waiting and wishing.

Jim Heck, sales manager for the Northampton Farm Bureau Co-op
in Tatamy, says people are waiting for the ground to dry so that they can get
out in the garden to till and prepare the soil for planting.

Doug Hall, managing editor of Rodale’s Organic Gardening
magazine, echoes the sentiment.

“If I step on the ground it’s like stepping on a wet sponge —
a sign it’s too wet to be in the garden,” Hall says.

Heck worries the harsh winter will shorten the growing
season, chiefly by hampering the early planting window that some gardeners are
used to taking advantage of in mid- to late March.

But is there something home gardeners can be doing now to
prepare?

“That’s a million dollar question,” Heck says.

Get ready

“People are buying seeds now, and starting to purchase soils
and starting mixes for transplants,” Heck says.

Beyond that, it’s kind of a waiting game.

The farm bureau is celebrating its 80th year and sells a
variety of plants and gardening equipment. He says that in a week or so, they’ll
have some frost-tolerant vegetable transplants for sale.

“The weather’s that secret ingredient that none of us control
but has a huge impact,” Heck adds.

Heck advises customers to start with a soil test, especially
for those gardeners who haven’t had success with backyard gardens in the past.

The $10-$12 kit, sold at the farm bureau, lets a homeowner
know exactly what they’re working with and what will flourish or may need help
in their soil. Heck says the directions are easy to follow, and gets sent to a
reputable lab for testing.

Other tips could be to start applying compost or fertilizer
to the ground in the near future, though Heck says most people wait until
they’re ready to till the soil.

Heck cautions against jumping into the garden too early, as
overworking the soil when it’s wet can compact it and degrade the soil
structure.

“You have to hope there will be some sense of normalcy for
the month of April,” Heck says.

And his best advice is to buy seeds and equipment now so that
gardeners are ready to jump in once the weather breaks.

Best tips for success

For Hall, gardening has been both a job and a hobby that he’s
been honing for more than 40 years. Hall studied horticulture in college, and besides working for Organic Gardening, he’s also the manager in charge of
Rodale’s test garden at the Rodale Institute near Kutztown,
Pa.

The weather may not be very encouraging at this point in the
year. But Hall says this is the time for possibility, likening the garden to “a
fresh slate to be reimagined.”

Those with a sunny window sill or growing light can get seeds
started indoors to give their garden a jump start.

Hall planted pepper seeds last week, which need eight weeks
to grow before being planted outside. And he hopes to get some tomato seeds
started this week (which need, on average, six weeks to grow).

The ground may not be ready for the heat-loving crops like
peppers and tomatoes until next month, though he’s optimistic he could be
planting those outside as early as Mother’s Day.

Hall says gardeners don’t gain anything by setting those
tomatoes out early. It’s better to wait to be sure the overnight lows won’t dip
below 40 or 50 degrees.

Once the ground dries out, hopefully in two weeks or so,
plants that are frost-tolerant should be ready to be planted, Hall says.

Peas, onions, leeks, broccoli, collard greens and kale would
be likely contenders.

Try something new

Every year Hall tries a few new things in his own garden and
the test garden, the latter of which fuels the magazine’s stories and
photographs throughout the year.

This year nearly half the test garden is dedicated to
varieties of baby vegetables, ones designed to be harvested at an immature stage
and those bred genetically dwarfed.

What will work in your garden? It’s hard to say.

Experience is the best guide for gardeners, Hall says. Those
new to the hobby could gain tips on the best varieties to plant in the area
from friends or co-workers who garden or by reaching out to a local master
gardener program or cooperative extension.

“Anyone that gardens knows there’s no one way to do things.
Just leap in and plant something,” Hall says. “It’s just amazing that nature
will take it from there.”

* * *

Best varieties to plant locally

• Heck says he’s found:

“Leaf or cutting lettuce is easier to grow than a head of
lettuce.

“Beets take a little longer to grow but are relatively easy.

“Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, tomatoes and beans, are
all good starters, though each may have its own feeding requirements.”

• Hall says:

“Pennsylvania
has a very accommodating climate, and evenness of rainfall.”

He adds leafy greens, onions, radishes and green beans to
Heck’s list. 

He directs curious gardeners to Penn State Cooperative
Extension’s Vegetable Variety Recommendations list.

The guide outlines the days to harvest, disease resistance, growing
notes and specific varieties that have proven successful. Find it here: http://tinyurl.com/l5qhp6o

Find other gardening tips from fledgling seeds to natural pest control methods, plus monthly gardening to-do lists, at organicgardening.com.

* * *

A sale’s cropping up

Rodale Institute will
host a Cold Crop Plant Sale at its farm, 611 Siegfriedale Road near
Kutztown, Pa.

Stock up on organic lettuces,
broccoli, cauliflower, kale, chard, herbs, trees, shrubs, tools, compost, seeds
and equipment.

When? 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 11 and 12.

Rodale will also host a Preview
Party 4 to 6
p.m. April 10 with the first pick
of plants, light refreshments, music and expert tips. Tickets cost $25 per
person and $40 per family. Call 610-683-1443 or email megan.kintzer@rodaleinstitute.org to
reserve a spot.

Source: Rodaleinstitute.org