Organic Granny

In our area we are not allowed to use chemical herbicides and pesticides in our gardens .  I have noticed that the cloying, toxic odours emanating from the fertilizer aisles in the big stores have diminished somewhat, but surprisingly, they are still selling some stuff. To whom I wonder? People who live further afield, in the more pristine areas of our community perchance? ick. Several years ago our bio-dynamic son introduced me to the idea of making my own fertilizers by soaking the vital rejected plants in my garden, the weeds. Imagine harnessing the power from these pernicious little flora freaks… some of them (like bindweed) are almost impossible to stamp out entirely. What is their secret? It certainly seems that they have a desire to have Plant World Dominance. I have a big pail of weed tea brewing out in my backyard and my husband found some great paint strainer bags so that I will (in a week or so) just strain off the fermenting weedy brew and apply to my various hungry pl

I'm doing some Late Spring Cleaning ... (meaning it's almost summer-- and I felt the need to name this rare and exceptional activity : )  I seem to have accumulated a number of spices that are NOT organic or that have lost their essential zest (i.e., have gone flat).  I thought briefly about bundling them up and offering them on freecycle  but before I did that I googled and here-- gleaned from several sites-- are some excellent ideas for recycling those seemingly useless "expired" spices: simmer on the stove in water with a little vinegar to 'spice' up your kitchen and banish stale cooking odors (or put in a crockpot on low) pour this mix down your drain to freshen it (won't harm septic tanks) pour this mix at your front or back door path-- you  (and visitors) will have a pleasant fragrance whenever coming in or leaving your home decorate and scent your home-- ex., cloves stuck in an orange, cinnamon sticks with ribbons tied around them, etc. sprinkl

I have a son who is well-versed in biodynamic growing... I wanted to pass this blog entry along from www.theorganicgarden.org.uk because they give a pretty good explanation of some of what biodyamic is and isn't: "It is important to understand that biodynamics is a way of gardening or farming. It is not a religion, or a faith, but a proven way of getting higher yields of high quality crops. There is evidence that it works and I suggest the curious look at “The Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar 2009 by Maria Thun and Matthias K. Thun where they will find evidence of ongoing trials. This is the best moon planting calendar and includes details of planting trials. Please note: moon planting is based on ASTRONOMY and NOT astrology as some critics suggest. I have used the above moon planting calendar for many years. I can’t prove whether it works or not in the ’scientific’ sense because I have never done any double blind trials. What I can say is that people have remark

Eileen over at her blog Organic Gardening for the Clueless has discovered that leaving the leaves in the garden and the dead heads to bob in the wind is actually not so clueless ... it's good environmental science. The leaves turn to compost, the odd seed heads provide winter munchies for the birds.  And, now, WILD BEES are also benefited by my messy yard! Turns out that winter is the prime season for the lazy gardener... I personally wonder how I can convince my neighbors of this in my pretty pristine retirement ghetto? (I do care what my neighbors think, alas). The Bee Friendly Garden @Amazon.com @ Amazon.com Bee Garden Colouring Book