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We all have to deal with difficult items now and then.
Nasty things — like leftover fish bones, crabshells or spoiled eggs.
Dear things — like a favorite pair of shoes, too stained and tattered to wear anymore. Or the body of your beloved pet.
Smelly things — like spoiled cheese, chicken manure (We’ve got plenty of that nowadays), and those nasty socks with big, unrepairable holes in the toes.
Make those things go away — plant ‘em.
A good-sized hole can hold any amount of vegetable scraps and old bones. Dig it deep — then plant squash or zucchini seeds on top, for a good source of nitrogen as the garbage decays. (I still remember reading somewhere that the “grandest grapevine in Britain” grew where a number of horses were buried some time before.) Native Americans often buried a fish in each hill of squash and corn, for [...]
…Plantwise, that is.
In many parts of the country, perennials are just beginning to show their green, leafy heads. Lilies; herbs like thyme and sage; daisies; lambs ears, snow in summer or dusty miller (that fuzzy green/gray fill-in stuff); iris…even rosebushes are just starting to grow. Now is the perfect time to divide them, and get double the plants for this growing season!
These iris are starting to crowd each other — a perfect time for dividing
It’s not difficult. Get a good sharp-edged trowel or shovel ready, along with a bucket or pan to put your plants in. (A pocketknife can also help.) Dig around the edge of the clump you plan to divide until it’s loosened and can be lifted out of the ground.
Find the center of the plant, then use your sharp edge to make a quick, clean cut. (Banging the plant a [...]
Gardening can be done anywhere. You can pick up a ‘green’ light at the local hardware store and set up an area for yourself somewhere in the home. It’s not really conducive to growing traditionally huge plants like cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash, but there are several advantages to growing your own microgreens, mushrooms, and herbs.
All you really need is some water, some reasonably nutritious soil, some seeds, and good light. Mother Nature takes care of the rest – the plants themselves know how to grow. All of these things, when combined, yield a whole lot more in food for less than you’d pay for fruits, vegetables, and herbs at the supermarket. That, and the fun of getting to play in dirt is quite compelling.
Herbs Here at Penny Thots, there was an article about how your seasoning mixes are wasting you money, and that’s definitely true. You don’t get to control what [...]
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