Garden & Lawn

Since the victory gardens of WWI and WWII, food gardeners have known that the time their garden requires is well worth the effort. Planting a garden at your private residence is a healthy,...

Do you need manure in compost? The short answer is no. You can make perfectly good compost without manure. While farm animal manure is a very good source of nitrogen (one of the primary elements...

Grapes are hardy and versatile plants. There are many varieties, each one preferring different conditions, so most gardeners can find one that will grow well in their area. The vines are...

Every vegetable or flower garden needs compost added to it in order for plants to grow successfully. Kitchen scraps and garden snippings can easily be converted to compost for next year's garden...

Healthy, nutrient-rich organic soil is the most important factor in growing a vigorous, prolific garden. Building up garden soil is a time-consuming process, sometimes taking several years until a...

Blueberry bushes make up a large family of fruiting bush with species growing both above the Arctic Circle and well into the humid southern reaches of North America. Blueberries are related to...

Compost is a soil-conditioning agent that helps prepare the ground for new growth. Using old kitchen scraps and other organic wastes is an environmentally savvy way to provide proper lawn care for...

There are a couple types of compost bins you can use along with materials such as leaves, flowers and any types of weeds. Use a compost bin in your garden with tips from a third-generation flower...

Have you been wanting to find a way to recycle things such as leftovers? Leaves and other things such as that? Well if you are really trying to go green making an organic compost pile is a great idea.

Composting is a great way to get rid of excess yard waste and kitchen scraps without adding to the landfill or polluting the air with smoke from burning leaves. Not only is it the environmentally...

Compost is a great way to enrich the soil in your garden and recycle kitchen and yard waste at the same time. You could simply make a big pile of yard waste and kitchen scraps, and they would...

Composting is a great way to recycle yard and kitchen waste and enrich the soil in your garden at the same time, but many composting systems seem ridiculously complicated. Composting does not...

Compost is a mixture of plant refuse, kitchen scraps and sometimes manure which is meant to be turned back into a good soil nutrient. Compost, when made properly, can be spread over a garden or...

Composting is a great, environmentally friendly way to dispose of those piles of dry leaves. Not only do you avoid adding bags of leaves to the landfills, and prevent the air pollution caused by...

Getting rid of pine needles isn't a "quick fix." Burning pine needles is dangerous and stinky. What most people don't know is that pine needles are extremely beneficial for lawn and garden care....

Your discarded orange peels make great composting material. They're rich in nitrogen, and adding them to your compost pile can help create a balanced, nutrient-rich humus that will help your...

Compost enriches soil by providing macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Gardeners recycle organic kitchen waste by adding such refuse as eggshells, coffee grounds and tea...

Composting is one of the best things you can do for the environment, as well as for your lawn and garden. It can be accomplished even in the smallest of outdoor spaces without worrying about lots...

Mulch prevents weeds and retains soil moisture, but after a few years it begins to look tired and worn in ornamental beds. Instead of tossing it out and wasting all that organic material, compost...

Human hair is made of protein, and as it degrades, it releases nitrogen into the soil. Mississippi State University research concluded that human hair mixed mixed with compost is an effective...

Soil is the foundation of any successful organic garden. It is impossible to raise bountiful harvests of healthy organic fruits and vegetables unless you start with soil free of the toxic...

In many areas aquatic plants have become invasive and are choking out the native species. Luckily, the fast growth of these plants can be leveraged and the plants used as a high-nitrogen nutrient...

Want to raise your own vegetables but have waterlogged soil? You might think you're out of luck, but the truth is, with a little creative thinking, you can grow a great many vegetables. Although...

No one wants rats running around the yard at night, or even during the day. A rodent problem can be difficult to control because rats multiply at an incredible rate. Prevention is key, and the...

Sandy soil is composed of large, coarse, rapidly-draining particles. Clay soil is made up of fine particles, which when compacted, causes soil to become waterlogged. A grower who knows the...

Not all types of soil are alike, and clay and sand represent opposite ends of the soil spectrum. In order to successfully grow plants in sand or clay, it helps to understand the unique...

Composting is the process by which organic matter such as table scraps, leaves and grass clippings are placed into an outdoor pile and allowed to decompose. The heat that is generated by the...

Composting is a great addition to any garden, and is an environmentally-friendly choice. Not only can you recycle kitchen scraps and yard waste, but you avoid chemical fertilizers that can seep...

Chicken manure has the highest content of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium of the animal kingdom and thus is a potent garden fertilizer. Although you can spread the fresh manure in the fall and...

Growing healthy organic produce in the home garden starts with good organic soil. The soil in container plants and seedling trays shouldn't be from a bag at the store, as these often are treated...

Lettuce is a hardy vegetable, growing best in cooler weather. It should be planted in early spring or late summer. Lettuce can be planted from seed or transplants. Using raised beds to grow...

Compost is the black gold of gardening---with many metro governments encouraging city residents to reduce waste through composting, why not give it a try? Vermicompost is a great indoor or...

Composting is not only great for your garden, it's great for the environment too. The process is quite simple, and doesn't require any specialized equipment, chemicals or skill. All you need for a...

Composting yard and kitchen waste is not only great for the environment but great for your garden as well. Compost is an all-natural fertilizer that adds nutrients to your garden soil and improves...

Rose bushes add romance and formality to just about any backyard garden. With their thorny stems and intricately layered buds, they are ideal for picking and placing in a vase indoors. Their...

Lemons are a useful fruit for many different cleaning jobs around the house. Gardeners also find lemon rinds to be useful for composting. When creating a compost mixture, nitrogen-rich "green"...

Making your own compost is easy. Compost is decomposed plant material that provides nutrients and organic matter to the soil. It can also be useful for loosening the soil, making it easier for...

With all the media hype of late, you've probably heard of the Green Movement, and if you're like most Americans, you'd like to do something to help our planet. One of the first things you can do...

Fresh berries in the morning are a true luxury, and even more so if the fruit is home grown. If you want to plant raspberry seeds you can buy seeds in packets, but it's much more fun to sprout...

The thick, lush leaves and delicate tendrils of grapevines have enchanted artists for centuries. Growing most varieties of edible grapes requires bees and wind to pollinate them, but if you are...

Yes it's a gross thing, but almost any type of feces from mammals, fish, or birds is some of the most nutrient rich fertilizers for plants. This includes your family pet's feces as fertilizer as...

Gardening can be tricky business, especially because so many aspects of the soil must be considered. The ph level, consistency, fertility and more are all aspects that can mean all the difference...

So you did some research, followed the steps, and now have a nice big heap of compost. Yet your not quite sure what to do with it. Compost is a versatile material and is only limited by your...

Powdery mildew is a fungus that attacks a number of plants in the garden, leaving a white powdery substance on the plant. This is one of many fungal infections that can damage your garden and your...

When using compost to amend a garden, you will encounter two types: finished compost and unfinished compost. Unfinished compost is compost that still contains microbes that break down the organic...

Soil condition affects the health and beauty of a lawn, as well as water runoff and weed and pest control. Organic soil treatments help give nature a boost by balancing the lawns ecosystem.

Rooting bougainvillea is a great way to enhance your garden, as it is is one of the most beautiful and versatile plants year-round. Bougainvillea is native to South America, found from Brazil west...

Companion planting can be a recipe for success for gardeners. Planting some herbs and vegetables with or near others can help fend off some common garden diseases and insects, in effect working as...

There are plenty of benefits to composting--it's a great way to recycle kitchen scraps and improve the quality of your garden soil at the same time. Unfortunately, it can take weeks or months for...

Worm castings provide a nutrient rich medium for plants and fauna to grow. Mixed into soil, a night-crawler excrement can drastically improve the quality through fertilization. Night-crawler worms...