I made sure to add to the Hedge Hog Trimmer to my personal tool kit this past spring, and have been pleased with its operation, and “greener” profile in my tool shed. Black and Decker is following the current lawn tool trend to create cleaner and greener battery operated tools for the mass market. This tool is a must have for any gardener or landscaper with hedges or ornamental grasses that need annual or bi-annual trimming and shaping. Holding a full charge for about an hour of heavy use, this tool may not stack up in longevity against its gas and 2cycle cousins, but for the average homeowner it will tackle your jobs admirably. Batteries for the Hedge Hog Hedge Trimmer are the standard “one battery for all” 18 volt batteries used in all of their tool line-ups, and can be swapped out and charged one at a time for ever-ready power for jobs where you may run one battery down.
Here’s what I like about these tools. Since they are from Black and Decker, these tools are tough, and reliable. Being battery operated they are easier for anyone to store, since they don’t require bi-yearly service, or the storage of gasoline and other chemicals for their operation. They also are easy starters for those of us who struggle with choke operated machinery, and make sense for urban dwellers who need power tools to maintain the rooftop gardens that are quickly coming back into vogue. They are also the safe and preferred choice of landscape contractors who need battery operated tools when traveling through buildings in the city to maintain the courtyard gardens of hotels.
For tougher jobs where trimming may involve more branch pruning Black and Decker also makes Electric Dual Action Hedge Trimmers in 18, 20, and 22 inch.
Look for these tool in your local Home Depot or Lowes, and get to work grandfathering out your gas tools for a greener new year!
I’ve got some corners in my house that would be perfect for a little planter or two, my only problem is that these dark corners are beyond the reach of my windows, and completely unsuitable for large grow lights. I discovered this small scale grow light this week while “window shopping” that was just too great not to share!
Solutions Catalogue online has this great tabletop sized grow light for small spaces, that is perfect for small spaces, tabletop containers, or shelf displays. These grow lights run about 29 dollars, and are a great way to keep indoor plants healthy where window light is scarce. I know a few friends who would love something like this to cheer up a dark corner in a basement apartment, but there are plenty of ways to incorporate something like this into your desk at work or even on a bookshelf at home.
Check it out if you are looking for something small to get things growing in your space!
January temperatures may not always welcome you warmly outdoors, but the dormant period of winter is the best time to heavily trim back your ornamental grasses. Cutting your grasses uniformly back down to the ground will ensure healthy fresh growth in the spring, and keep the sagging reeds and blades from snapping and going limp in winter snows and rain.
Now that the first snows of the year are past, and we’ve been able to enjoy the appearance of the grass for some time covered in snow and ice, it’s time to trim them back, and even sneak a few sheaves indoors to fill in the table arrangements that are now missing their Christmas decor.
How Low Can You Go?
Now that your grasses have died back to the ground, cut the stems back to about four inches above the ground. The Pampas Grass in the picture was cut back this week to keep the grasses from flopping across the sidewalks on either side, and to encourage solid upright growth in the spring. I trim back to about 4-6 inches above the ground.
To achieve a uniform and more formal look in minutes I recommend using a an electric Hedge Trimmer that’s battery operated, and easy to grab and go!
Have you discovered the new online encyclopedia just for us? Gardenology is a new online resource and encyclopedia set up much the same as Wikipedia. It’s growing by leaps and bounds as gardeners and bloggers alike add their own knowledge and photography to it, and learn from other’s expertise.
This is a great tool to bookmark if you haven’t already, and have on standby for all of your garden planning projects. Check it out, and enjoy this great free resource!
Whitefly can become a nuisance year-round for your favorite indoor plants, and over-wintering outdoor plants inside through the cold weather can sometimes compound the problem by bringing new insects into the house. Pesticides in granular form can take care of this problem for you, but for those of us with pets, children, or the desire to use something less toxic, there are solutions that will help you gain control of your problem. Ideally you will want to eliminate all the life stages of Whitefly that may be living on or around your favorite houseplant and do it quickly. Adult Whitefly are not only deadly to plants due to their feeding methods, but they are also carriers of plant diseases from one plant to another.
The fasted and greenest method of control that I use is through a tandem approach using naturally derived oils (easily purchased at any big box, or garden supply store), and common household tape.
Horticultural Oils, both the “heavy” and summer “light” oils are helpful in infestations of Whitefly. The oils are plant based, and when sprayed onto the leaves and stem of a plant render the plant inedible to the adult parasite, while smothering the juvenile still trapped on the plant. Oils are not harmful to humans or animals, and harmlessly evaporate in a few days leaving no residual smell or residue. These oils are deadly to all insects both beneficial and harmful, so care should be taken when using this as part of an IPM program.
Masking or Duct Tape when hung over the affected plants can quickly trap the flying adults. Greenhouses use this method in erradication programs to shorten the duration of the adults reproductive abilities, and to prevent the spread of the adult Whitefly to other plants.
DIY Contol Program:
- Purchase a horticultural oil (Neem Oil, or the like) from a garden center
- Purchase an empty Spray bottle for dilution
- Purchase Duct tape
Firstly, in the spray bottle dilute the horticultural oil to the approximation listed on the back of the container, and prepare a place (front porch, or open area covered in newsprint) to spray the plants down. It is necessary to coat the entire plant, so having a large box to transport your plants back into the house for temporary storage is a must to keep the oils from clothes or furniture.
Secondly, gather up any potentially effected house plants, and Hang duct tape over where your effected plants have been, and where you will be storing the plants as the oil evaporates.
Thirdly, spray the oils to coat the entire plant, including the underside of the leaves, and place them in a box for a few days to dry off. Keep the plants in a climate under 90 degrees, and over 40 degrees (always remembering what temperatures your houseplants prefer). I recommend keeping them in a cooler area like a laundry nook, or basement, if the outdoor temperature is not suitable. Keep the box containing your houseplants where it will not be in constant contact with you or children or pets.
The Recovery:
Expect the plants to smell for a few days, over which time the oils will be killing the pests and evaporating into the air. After four days remove the plants from their temporary place and bring them back to where you enjoy having them displayed. The oil will not have any harmful effect on your plants and should disappear from the leaves.
This treatment will completely destroy any Whitefly you have around your houseplants, and keep your indoor garden healthy.
The colder winter months have a way of trapping you in the house and forcing you to notice all the little home projects that have been stacking up through the year. There’s no time like the present to get the house in order, and save money in the process!
Fred and Ethan at “One Project Closer” are constantly updating an extensive list of coupons from Sears, and will have coupons for hearth and home available and current year-round!
There’s nothing greener than fixing what you’ve got, and saving a few colorful benjamins in the process! Follow this link for an up-to-date list of Sears coupons!
Planning out a new garden path? For the gardener who enjoys a little greenery around their paving stones here are four great low growing perennials you can easily purchase as young plants or ”start” as seeds on your own.
Ajuga Irish Moss
Creeping Jenny Lemon Thyme
Ajuga is a very hardy perennial, with multicolored foliage (check out your local selection of cultivars), that is great for growing between bricks, pavers, or rough stone paths. Many varieties are evergreen, and others are semi-evergreen, doing well in both deeply shady and sunny locations. It spreads quickly and easily through runners, and when left unchecked can become invasive. Care may need to be taken to keep the plant in the designated spot you choose for it. This is a plant you can feel no guilt in walking over, and is a great plant for areas that see a lot of children’s activities. Prune this Ajuga back every year by mowing over it, and thin it out every couple years to prevent rot in it’s dense vegetation.
Irish Moss is a charming classic that isn’t actually a moss. It sends up a tiny carpet of white blooms each summer, which moss never does, and once it is established in good soil, can be easily trimmed back and spread though cuttings. This is not a plant that will take over your pathway easily, and will actually need to be planted in every place you desire it to be. When healthy this plant tends to mound in place, but minimal skill is needed to trim off and place excess growth into new areas. If you keep cuttings planted in good soil, and keep them moist they will establish themselves rapidly, and fill in your pathway beautifully.
Creeping Jenny is a perennial in all but the coldest climates. Aside from having unique evergreen foliage, it also sends up yellow blooms in the summer. This container garden favorite can be found in most garden centers, and will spread quickly in soil that is kept moist. In dry climates this plant needs to be kept moist daily, and cannot tolerate dry roots in hot weather. Without care this plant can become invasive, but with trimming it will remain in place. While Creeping Jenny is an excellent choice to plant in problem areas in your garden that may have moisture issues, or some standing water, it is less foot traffic friendly, and for that reason I don’t recommend it on pathways for families that have small children. Constant walk-overs, or toy trucks driving though it will be hard for the plant to overcome, and it may never fill in your pathway in the manner you would like.
Lemon Thyme may be a plant you will have to start from seed, since it is relatively harder to find, but the crop will be well worth your time. This is another hardy plant that can tolerate rough and tumble pathways, and it kicks up a sweet lemon citrus fragrance every time you walk by and brush it. It can also work double duty as a path accent and a cooking additive. Cooks often use it in chicken or fish recipes, and it also works as a substitute in baking for Lemon or citrus zest!
Try any of these plants in your garden during the summer months, or order them as seeds mid-winter to place them in the ground this spring, and really get a jump on your garden projects!
Happy Gardening!
I’m tough on Sneakers. In fact I go through about three pairs per year with all the walking and gardening I do. You might say I’m the perfect candidate to recycle my sneakers since I do more than my part to contribute to their collecting in land fills!
I recently discovered a location north of Baltimore that participates in Nike’s “Reuse-a-Shoe” program, turning 100% of any athletic brand shoe into either a running track, basketball court, tennis court, or golf surface. The program has donation centers all around the country and describes how it creates these useful surfaces on Nike’s main website. Most collection programs accept donations in person or via mail, and you can donate shoes from all over the country to the effort. Since I plan on accumulating a few pairs before I make the trip to my local project collection site, I’ll add a bin in my trash container to save both my shoes and that of my family’s.
Curious as to how to recycle your own sneakers, check out this link and watch the video on how they reuse unwanted sneakers from around the country!
When the snow is both inside and out, ’tis the season for my winter village display to be growing in one of the lobbies at the senior community center. What a great way to cheer people up! This year a co-worker and I created this sweet mountain resort, and town-scape out of collections new and old. What’s become a work-funded hobby for both he and I these past 5 years has blossomed into quite a collection, which we rotate out each year according to the theme we like.
We carved and spray painted sheets of styrofoam to create the climbing mountain’s layers, binding them together with floral picks. We left a few areas level on the mountain so we could set in this years new Lemax hunting lodges, and light up camping tents.
This is the view of the town on the other side of the double table, complete with dairy, barn dancers, and a school with kids playing outside of it.
The only industrious homeowner in the whole display, trying to make sense of his driveway.
Our holiday shoppers in the town square Gift Shop
The Chocolate Factory, and a few of the movie and comic book characters we sneak in for the kids to find as part of a treasure hunt!
A few M&M’s trying to blend in at one of the Swiss Chalet’s. Not Working Guys!
And finally, my personal favorite, Mickey and Minnie out for a date at the Ed’s Diner! What was set up originally as Mickey holding the car door open for Mini has apparently been adjusted by viewers (I notice belatedly) to have her getting her own car door. Drats! Apparently thumb-sized chivalry is suffering a blow in my miniature Christmas Village, but I’ll hold out hope for next years display!
Thanks for taking a peek at what I’ve been working on these past few weeks, and I hope to show you something completely new next holiday season!
Happy New Year!
I view my pets as important members of my family, and I’m always on the lookout for new ways to keep them healthy and happy without breaking the bank. As expensive as veterinary bills can be, I recently decided that in non-emergency cases I would use natural remedies on my pets to lower the cost of maintaining them, while providing them with natural care that won’t have the adverse side-effects that common drugs can have.
My male cat recently supplied me with a reason to do some research into natural remedies for bladder and urinary tract infections, and in the process I discovered Native Remedies”UTI-Free” . The product is created by Homeopaths, and Pharmacists to treat the symptoms of, and prevent occurrences in cats and dogs of urinary tract infections. While the product is registered with the FDA, and uses plant extracts (Berberis vulgaris, Cantharis, Staphysagris, Sucrose) that have been used by herbalist for thousands of years to treat various ailments, the product does not promise to fully cure a serious infection. I propose that the formality is mostly legal in nature, because I used on tiny bottle to treat a serious urinary problem from Thanksgiving day to New Years, and found the change in his health to be a relief to both myself, and to the cat.
This particular formula is administered in pinch form to the pet’s tongue directly, or can be sprinkled and mixed in with a pets moist food to become dissolved and digested. Each small bottle provides a thirty day supply, runs about $34, and comes with valuable prevention insights for the future. UTI-Free is safe enough to be purchased and administered to dogs and cats even on a maintenance schedule to prevent re-occurrences, and will not cause any adverse side effects in pets.
This little cure in a bottle helped me out greatly, and saved me hundreds in vet bills, while sparing me the time it usually takes to have the cat examined, and run through the usual battery of tests needed to perfectly ascertain his illness!
If you are interested in exploring a homeopathic remedies for your pets, or currently have a pet suffering with the pain of a urinary tract infection, try this out! A quick trip to nativeremedies.com “For Pets” section will provide you with lists of pet health issues, symptoms, and many prospective products to assist in the healing process associated with them. Homeopathic remedies are a great way of greening your health choices, while providing cost-effective ways of treating your pet’s at home!
(As with all health issues, be prepared to make an appointment with a veterinarian if symptoms persist or get worse.)
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