White Ceramic Compost Pail
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This white ceramic compost pail holds one gallon of material and features a charcoal filter that helps eliminate any smell. Like most compost pails, it serves the function of dropping off your kitchen scraps and then taking them to your compost pile or compost bin every few days or so. If you’re a little klutzy, you might want to consider a stainless steel or bamboo compost pail instead. Overall though, this is an excellent compost pail for your kitchen, and a wonderful addition to home composting.
For more information on this compost pail, please click the link at the top of this video description. Thank you.
Duration : 0:2:20
Gardening Rhythms: Composting using a Black Soldier Fly
Compost yard and kitchen scraps using the Black Soldier Fly. The fly never appears. It’s first eaten before it flies.
Duration : 0:3:25
Kitchen Composter Program
Having a compost pile in your backyard is good for you but it is also very good for the environment. It is not troublesome or time consuming if done right. There is also a misconception that compost is smelly and messy , but if the pile is put together right this is not the case.
There are those that would buy their fertilizer and soil amendments from their local garden store. I believe it is best to stay as natural as possible, stay away from chemical fertilizers. Really there is no hassle in making a compost in your backyard from items that were destined for the trash can.
When you start a kitchen composter program the materials that you will need and the items that you will use are free. The cost of chemical fertilizers and other items from the local gardening store are constantly on the rise. With a little bit of time and the right ingredients you can produce the best fertilizer known to man in your own backyard.
Compost will provide more of the nutrients and minerals that your plants need. The effects of natural compost will last longer than chemical fertilizers. Compost is also better for the soil structure. It will make the soil more resistant to erosion, improve its retention of water, and in many cases it will prevent the soil from becoming compact.
This factor can be important to large gardens as it will cut down on tilling time and reduce fuel that is used to run machines. The right composting technique can kill weeds, pests and other disease causing organisms. High temperature composting is the technique that I am referring to. This technique usually involves some type of an enclosed structure, it will possibly spin to allow a small amount of aeration into the compost.
There are studies that show that using compost can suppress the growth of diseases in crops. Crops grown over compost rich soils are resistant to pest or insect attacks. There are also observations that crops grown in a field with compost fertilizer can be stored much longer. Compost has a benefit for the environmentalist as well. Using compost along with the soil can build soil carbon which can eventually reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It will take a lot of compost to have a positive effect on the greenhouse gases.
Starting a kitchen composter program is very great for your wallet but it is also great for the environment. It is also recognized that compost works well as a antidote for soils that have a high toxic level from chemical fertilizers. There are some very good reasons to motivate the start of a kitchen composter program.
Hydroponic Cultivation Techniques for Indoor Cultivation
Many indoor growers have utilized hydroponic methods to measurable success. By cultivating plants only in water that is filled with nutrients specifically designed for them growth can be maximized.
All types of plants require nutrients to grow and flourish. Most species have a specific concentration of nutrients that are ideal for them and can promote optimum growth. Many types of growing plants will even have changing nutrient needs as they develop.
The reason that indoor cultivation with hydroponic watering systems are so effective is because they allow growers to provide whatever nutrient solution is best for the crops they are raising, providing the same degree of nutrient delivery with soil mediums is extremely difficult.
Soil is too cumbersome to always recycle and determining whether nutrient concentrations are correct throughout it is not possible. The option to alter nutrient ratios whenever sets hydroponic methods apart from other cultivation methods.
Hydroponics can also help growers provide the right amount of water for their growing plants. Plants need a minimum amount of water to survive. Most species also have a maximum amount of water, anything over that and it could kill the plants.
Plenty of plants have specific water levels they require throughout their growth; an overabundance or not enough can impede growth.
While growing with dirt, whether indoors or outside, it is hard to control the water available for your plants. With methods it is a cinch to precisely alter the water that is available for your crop.
Just by switching up or down and adjusting the rate of flow for your hydroponic system you can dictate precisely how much water and nutrients your plants receive.
For gardeners who do not have a suitable garden outdoors or who would like to grow very highly quality plants indoor cultivation with hydroponics is an excellent option. It can be used to cultivate just about any species you would like.
The writer has many year of indoor growing experience with hydroponic systems and knows about the ever expanding variety of indoor garden methods and supplies including growing lights
Compost Kitchen Scraps
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Duration : 0:3:19
Gardening With A Chipper Shredder
When working on your yard or garden to remove any unwanted trees or plants is really hard work! Not only do you have to cut the bushes down, you are also required to then dispose of it too in an environmentally compatible manner too. This might definitely be where getting a branch chipper or shredder will be perfect.
These small machines will chew down small branches, twigs or sticks and plants into fine pieces so that they might be re-used or re-cycled in lots of different ways. For example, a branch from a tree could be turned in to wood chips and then used as a decoration onto your flower beds. Or if you might have a larger number of trees or branches to chip, they can be used to make an area where young people can play safely. Soft items like shrubs or plants could be shredded down by a shredder unit into a fine or coarse mulch and is then perfect for applying onto your pots and used as a natural fertilizer. Mash up the shredded plant with a bit of water and leave to soak and compost in a covered and warm bin and you will have a great locally produced fertilizer to assist your replacement plants and trees grow.
Chipper Shredders are designed in many sizes, from small portable plastic ones designed for home use only, which use tough nylon string to chop the waste plants you insert into it into small pieces, all the way through to larger vehicle towed electric models and model that are built for industrial chipping for landscaping professionals and environmental contractors. In the centre of this range there are shredders which are designed to break up the waste materials that is put into them. They are made to take branches of no larger thickness than two inches and very quickly shred all types of other yard waste material with no problems at all. Products by Troy Bilt or Craftsman are excellent for this work and will last you for a long time.
A smaller leaf shredder is a perfect choice for people with medium to large gardens that feature trees that shed their leaves. Pop the leaves into a shredder and they will be shredded down quickly. The shredded leaves are perfect for making compost or mulching, but the shredded leaves are easily disposed of.
Get together and make it a communal item. Get together with your neighbors and buy the chipper shredder between a group and share it equally around. It is a great idea to part own a chipper shredder as they are not required all of the year.
Container Gardening: Container Herb Garden
Container gardening is a great way to grow plants, vegetables and herbs without needing a lot of space. Herbs do especially well and can be grown right outside your kitchen door. In this video, you’ll learn how to use an old farmer’s market basket to make a great container garden. Fill it with your favorite herbs and your cooking will be full of flavor all summer long.
Duration : 0:6:7
The Magical Beauty Of Mimosa Tree
July with its hot dry days usually puts the brakes on the any landscape gardeners enthusiasm. The brilliant colors of spring have faded and now greens and browns have taken their places.
Trees or shrubs which bloom in midsummer are most welcome connecting links between springs gorgeous flowers and the brilliant show of autumn colors. Two such trees are the Japanese pagoda, Sophora japonica, and silk tree or mimosa, Albizzia julibrissin.
Japanese Pagoda Tree
The Japanese pagoda tree is comparatively rare in the heart of the Midwest, but it surely deserves wider use as a lawn specimen. The tree, introduced from China in 1747, belongs to the legume family and bears the characteristic pea-shaped flowers of that group. The creamy-white blossoms are borne in clusters six to 12 inches long at the tops of the leafy branches.
The fruits are pods which hang in the autumn as bead-like strings, since the seeds are separated by constrictions of the pods. The oldest trees are about 40 feet high. Young trees have a tendency to form low-forked trunks. The leaves remain on the tree until late in the fall, and in winter the green-colored young branches are attractive. The Japanese pagoda tree is fairly hardy and free from insects and diseases. Early spring foliage is sometimes injured by late freezes. Anyone planting this tree must wait patiently for it to flower, since usually about 15 years are required.
The Mimosa
The mimosa or silk tree, a favorite in Southern gardens, has gradually extended its range and is now quite common in the America’s heartland. Here the tree is usually low-headed or multiple stemmed and reaches a height of from 15 to 30 feet.
The species is a native of Persia to central China and its Oriental character is accentuated by its interesting flat-topped head and spreading foliage of extreme grace and delicacy. Each leaf has from ten to 25 pinnae which bear 10 to 60 leaflets. The soft green leaflets are about half an inch in length, sickle shaped and one sided. As with some other plants of the legume family, the foliage exhibits the peculiar sensitivity which causes the leaflets to fold together in pairs at night.
The beauty of the mimosa flower is not a result of colorful petals as occurs in most flowers but rather the presence of a great many stamens about two inches in length which vary in color from pinkish hues to light yellowish pink, to coral red. Just like the beauty of lilly of the valley flowers. Of course. the darker colored ones are in greatest demand. Like the lilly flowers, the flowers are clustered in round stalked heads in the axils of the current season’s growth. The flowers which continue to appear from July to September are followed by the fruits which consist of flat seed pods which become twisted and curly as they mature.
The mimosa is best planted as a specimen in a sunny, well-drained location. This tree may be injured quite often by our winter’s low temperatures, but since flowers are produced on the new growth, a nice display of color may be expected even after the removal of damaged branches in the spring. The mimosa is shy about putting forth its new leaves, but once its mind is made up, the growth appears almost like magic. Propagation is usually by seeds sown in early spring. The seeds are very hard and germination is hastened by soaking them in hot water for about two hours.
Outdoor Lighting Design Secrets
Classic lighting design is about identifying and blending four core lighting groups: ambient, accent, decorative and task lighting. And when it comes to the outdoor lighting very much the same principles to create successful interior lighting apply; but before we examine these further, there are a few key differences to take note of.
First there are significant differences in scale. Inside rooms have walls and ceilings that define their extent and they are actually quite compact when set against even the smallest garden. Outside the ceiling is literally sky high and such boundaries as there are tend to be quite low and pretty much disappear altogether at night.
This brings both opportunities and challenges for outdoor lighting design. Most indoor lighting is reflected from ceilings and walls and contributes to the overall ambient light. Outside however, lights appear to us as zones of brightness that, rather than spilling onto surrounding areas instead create a contrast, making then seem even darker.
This lack of reflected ambient light means that many common indoor lighting techniques won’t work in the garden; but it also means that you can use this darkness to create interesting effects and in extreme cases design a night time garden that apparently bears no relationship to the daylight version by emphasising certain features and concealing others.
There is also the matter of how you plan on using your outdoor spaces. A classic garden design theory is that you should regard your garden as an additional room (or set of rooms) and design accordingly, lighting included.
You most probably use quite different lighting for specific rooms largely to suit their functional purpose; bedroom lighting for example as compared to kitchen lighting. Accordingly, if you intended to designate your deck as an entertainment area then you would also expect to fit lighting designed to support that purpose. And looking at other zones in the garden, say a water feature or walkway, it is again likely you would adapt the lighting to the intended purpose.
Which leads us back to the four core lighting groups and their use outdoors.
Whereas ambient light is used indoors as a foundation for the other lighting types, outside it is difficult to use it this way due to the lack of reflective surfaces and so ambient light tends to be deployed as a lighting form in its own right. Ambient light in a garden is often used simply to create a pleasant indistinct background glow and solar powered garden lights are ideal for this application.
Accent lighting is concerned with drawing attention to and showing off detail and/or color in whatever garden features you want to emphasize. It can also be used to draw the eye in particular directions. Spotlights are commonly used for outdoor accent lighting and for a really contemporary look, LED spot lights that deliver sharp, vibrant light and also run cold and can thus go places where hot incandescent lamps can’t.
Decorative lighting serves much the same overall purpose as accent lighting in that it is there simply to look attractive and catch your eye; the principal difference is that decorative lighting doesn’t illuminate anything else – it is itself the focal point. And like accent lighting, most modern decorative lighting is in fact LED based.
Garden task lighting is not really concerned with being able to read a book and such like but simply providing enough light for people to move around in safety. So path lighting, those LED deck lights that seem to get installed everywhere (and not just in decks) and lighting around areas where people might want to have some vague idea what they’re drinking or eating.
The key to effective garden lighting is the same as with interior lighting design, which is to combine all four of the basic lighting types (it also helps if you can arrange to be able to operate task lighting separately). Like indoor lighting, reliance on just ambient light will result in a drab and indistinct look, while using only accent lighting is likely to come across as harsh and over dramatic, and if you over rely on decorative lighting it will almost certainly come across as disconnected and frankly cheesy.
A really simple way to get a rich combination of the main lighting types is to just buy an assortment of varied light fittings. So pick up some spot lights that cover a range of beam angle and luminosity plus the standard lanterns and path markers. Introduce a few coloured lights to the collection and also aim to use both solar powered and mains low voltage powered lights. As you might expect, contemporary examples of both formats are now LED based.
The Secrets Behind A Great Compost Program
Composting is a way of getting in touch with nature. Stay away from the chemically enhanced fertilizers at the stores. You can make your own fertilizer through a process known as composting. In the process you will probable have the opportunity to get down on your knees and get your hands a dirty, and nothing is dirtier than compost.
Compost is the process where biodegradable materials are turned into a soil like substance. The material is mixed with air, water, nitrogen in the proper proportions. The result is a compost material that will serve as a soil conditioner, mulch, and fertilizers. It will feed your garden soil the microorganism that plants need to grow strong and healthy.
When starting a compost program it is best to find a spot close to your garden, but some where concealed from plain site. When you show people your beautiful garden you do not want the first thing they see to be your compost heap. They are practical but not very pretty.
After you decide on a suitable area you will start the pile with green and brown organic materials. Green materials are high in nitrogen while the brown material contain lots of carbon. These two elements form the basic foundation of a compost pile.
A properly formed compost pile will not give off any odors. When the ratio of green and brown materials are correct the pile will not emit any odors. Compost should have an earthy smell and not that of rotting material. If the latter is present then something may be in the pile that should not be there or the ratio of green and brown material is off.
Adding some finished compost to the mix helps to kick start the composting program. This will help start the microbial activities in a compost pile.
Make sure that the pile is moist. Keeping the compost pile damp will help to quicken the breakdown of the organic materials. Add water to the pile it should be damp like a sponge
Producing compost is really a pretty simple matter. It just takes a little know how and a fair amount of time.