Organic Gardening

What’s Wrong With My Fern? Brown Leaves on Ferns

November 1, 2011 2 comments

Does your fern have shriveled, brown fronds or a bleached, discolored appearance? We know that people are susceptible to sunburn, but we don’t think of plants as being able to get sunburned as well. It’s a common problem. When shade-loving plants like ferns are put into a sunny situation, their fronds shrivel around the edges, [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Lawn Hacks for Organic Gardening Geeks: Garden Designers Roundtable on Lawn Alternatives

August 23, 2011 20 comments

Lawn care, at first glance, seems pretty straightforward. Mow, water, apply various bagged items, and take the time to frolic playfully on your fancypants expanse of greenery. But after owning a lawn for any period of time, most of us start to ponder the deeper questions surrounding lawn. Questions like, “dang, why does my water [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Book Excerpt: Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies by Owen Dell

April 20, 2011 2 comments

A couple weeks back, I reviewed this deliciously funny and extremely useful guide to sustainable landscaping by Owen Dell. You can check out my video and written review here. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to share an excerpt with you, so you could get a feel for Owen’s writing style, which is [...]

Click here to continue reading →

The Slug Shield Copper Snail and Slug Repellent

April 15, 2011 20 comments

***Giveaway below! Comment to win one of SIX sets of slug shields!*** EDIT: Winners have been chosen and contacted. Thanks everyone for entering! I’ve written before about how nasty the usual snail and slug baits are. In fact, here in California, metaldehyde snail bait is the #1 poisoning agent of dogs. Hmmm…. Fido or slug-free [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Fall Leaf Raking: Finding the Middle Ground

November 6, 2010 17 comments

All gardeners evolve. There is something about being outside and working hard in nature that inspires learning and growth. The issue of fall leaves is one I’ve been struggling with lately. Last year I wrote about why you shouldn’t let your fall leaves stay, and all of those reasons are still true, but… This year [...]

Click here to continue reading →

The Evolution of a Gardener: Finding the Middle Ground Between Neat and Natural

October 20, 2010 24 comments

Debbie’s post over at Garden of Possibilities was a catalyst for me to really think over an issue I’ve been having a lot lately – the Neat VS Natural debate. It’s not a debate I’ve been having with anyone else, it’s more been an internal struggle. You see, the more I learn about gardening, the [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Honeybee Love: Keeping Honeybees Safe While Using Pesticides

May 16, 2010 12 comments

We’ve all heard about the plight of the honeybees by now – pesticides, hive infections, and other causes are combining to make it a very hard time to be a honeybee. If you’re thinking to yourself that it’s not the worst thing in the world to have one less type of stinging insect around – [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Vinegar Weed Control that Actually Works

March 4, 2010 14 comments

When I was in horticulture school, the old-skool dudes teaching pest control were all about the chemicals – they just didn’t believe organics could be as effective as the lethal stuff. Yet every so often, a hint of doubt would creep into their voices about safety. I’d hear, “well, this one’s actually pretty bad” or [...]

Click here to continue reading →

How to Kill Dandelions in Lawn Organically

February 11, 2010 13 comments

I just got a nifty tip on how to kill dandelions organically when they are growing in your lawn or in the center of another plant: injection with vinegar-based organic weed killer. You may have found that if you spray non-selective herbicide, organic or otherwise, on your dandelion that you end up with a dead [...]

Click here to continue reading →