It's time to get seeds planted indoors

Starting Your Seeds Think clean if you plan to raise your own garden plants from seed. The dreaded damping-off fungus disease lurks in containers that haven't been thoroughly disinfected and in used potting media. In you are using last year's flats and cell packs, wash them with hot water and some bleach. Be sure to buy sterilized seed started. Fill your containers to about a half-inch from the top, then moisten the mix. If using a community pot, sprinkle the seeds on top, spacing them evenly, then cover as directed on the seed packet and spray them with tepid water to bring the seeds into good contact with the medium. Cover the container with a clear cover. Keep the medium moist but not soggy. If you are planting in 1 inch cells, use one or two seeds per cell, then remove the weakest one after germination. If using 3 inch cells, sow three seeds per cell, keeping the strongest one. Follow the directions on the seed packet for light exposure and temperature. Tender seedlings can be set outdoors in the sun, then brought indoors at night. Before the seedlings are to be planted in the garden, harden them off, whether you grew them or they came from a nursery. A cold frame is the ideal place, where they are covered and protected at night. Prepare your garden beds using fertilizer as shown by a soil test, plus lime, to bring the pH to that mandated by the plant, and compost or peat moss for organic matter. Seeds marked to plant out as early in the spring as the ground can be worked can be planted when the soil is no longer soggy and won't clump when worked. Be sure that danger of frost is past. Don't rush the season, If plants are chilled, time is wasted before they regain their vigor.

Benefits of Organic Gardening

If you are a person who is interested in reaping the benefits of organic gardening, you may be wondering where you can turn for helpful and reliable resources and information pertaining to organic gardening practices. As with so many things in the 21st century, the Internet and World Wide Web has become a wonderful resource and source of information for men and women interested in organic gardening in this day and age. There are a growing number of websites on the Net that deal with organic gardening. For example, there are organic gardening coops that maintain websites that provide a whole host of information on organic gardening. In addition to organic gardening and organic food coops, companies that market products for organic gardeners oftentimes now maintain very user friendly websites on the Net. These sites provide information and also include the ability through which you can purchase product to meet your own organic gardening needs. Some colleges and universities now maintain website venues through which you can access information about different types of gardening practices, including organic gardening. These websites can very helpful to a person who is looking for information about organic gardening. There are now enterprises on the Net that publish in cyberspace magazines that deal with organic gardening. By subscribing to these publications, you can have delivered through email organic gardening magazines that can keep you abreast of the very latest developments when it comes to organic gardening in this day and age. These magazines strive to give you the very latest information about organic gardening practices from around the world. In short, these can be very vital resources to a person interested in organic gardening in today's world. There are also organizations that you can join in cyberspace. Through these organizations you can further your own self education about organic gardening. In addition, you can share information with like minded gardeners, with other men and women who are interested in organic gardening practices. Finally, in association with these organization, there are websites that offer community forums and bulletin boards. Through these services, you can link up with other men and women around the world who are involved in organic gardening. In so many ways, the best ways to learn about organic gardening is to share experiences with other organic gardeners from different parts of the globe. About the author: Jena Luthowski writes about Graden Coupons,Save on Gardenning and A pricots

Kids Love Composting

Eco-consicious kids can be a big help in making compost happen at your home. A fun and educational chore to assign young children is carrying the house bucket full of kitchen scraps outside to the compost bin. Better yet, try vermicomposting. Placing red worms in a bin with damp leaves and shredded newspaper will turn food scraps into soil conditioner. Composting is a great way to teach children on how our earth works. Worms and insects work through leaves, grass, and other organic materials, creating air shafts and rich worm castings to replenish the earth's soil.

Fall composting in the garden

Fall composting in the garden- Leaves, grass clippings great additions to a compost pile By RICHARD POFFENBAUGH News Journal columnist Compost is to fertile soil as clean air is to healthy lungs. Both are vital to our survival. Composting is a process in which bacteria and fungi break down organic matter into humus -- the black crumbly material that improves soil structure. There is no substitute for generous amounts of organic matter in soil for the growth of healthy plants. Generally, it takes a year to produce compost. The process can be speeded up if selected materials are included in the pile. Over the many years I have combined grass clippings (pesticide-free) with shredded leaves as an excellent base for compost. The nitrogen in the clippings gives the compost pile a kick-start to generate heat for the composting process. Keeping the pile moist and turned every week or two will add to quicker break-down of plant material. Urban gardeners lack access to cow or horse manure. Compost from leaves and other plant matter offers an effective substitute. If added to a garden each year, the soil will become fertile, loose and receptive to root growth. The better the soil, the better the roots and more productive a plant. It's that simple! My garlic and sweet onion plants are planted in the same general area each year. It works well without rotation. These two crops are not eaten by deer and thus don't take up valuable space in my fenced-in garden. These are deer-proof vegetables. But each year a generous amount of compost is worked into the onion/garlic patch. This is done in the fall just before garlic is planted (this week). As a result, the soil is loose, fertile and easy to work without tilling. The compost does wonders for the production of these two crops. If you don't have a shredder to chop up the leaves, a rotary mower can be used as a shredder. For a finer product, mow over the leaves once. Then attach a bag to a mower and mow over the leaves again. The bag will accumulate leaves that have been chopped up twice. These will be ideal small-size particles to add to the compost pile. Some do's and don'ts for composting: DO recycle fallen leaves and other plant refuse into compost. It's a cycle that occurs naturally in woodlands and forests. DO start or add to a compost pile each fall. This provides a continual supply of organic matter for soil enrichment. DO make the compost pile at least 4 feet tall and wide, a 4 foot cube. If smaller, the material loses heat and won't heat up properly. DO locate a pile so it is convenient to water and turn the material over. DO begin the pile on soil with a layer of coarse material like corn stalks or other tough stems. This allows some air to enter from the bottom. DO create the pile like a sandwich. A layer should be at least 4 inches thick with a one-inch layer of soil between each two layers. Pest-free grass clippings combined with shredded leaves provides nitrogen and heat that will begin the decomposition process. DO chop or shred leaves, stems and other plant materials to increase their surface area. This will increase the rate of decomposition. DO add several shovels of finished compost to a new pile and mix thoroughly. This will introduce microorganisms to the new material. DON'T add these items to a compost pile: charcoal, meat or dairy materials, fish scraps, bones or fat, pet droppings, pesticide-treated grass clippings of other treated materials; or any materials that will attract rats, dogs, raccoons, skunks or other animals. DON'T compost diseased plant materials. While some pathogens may be destroyed due to heat inside the pile, odds are some will survive and be carried over from year to year. DON'T compost weeds that have seed heads. Seeds are survivors and likely will produce more weeds when the compost is spread over a garden area. DON'T add materials such as poison ivy or black walnut plant residue. This is a case where avoidance is the best protection against carryover of unfavorable chemicals. DON'T worry if you don't have a composting bin or enclosure. All it takes is a pile in a sunny location with a mixture of shredded materials and kept evenly moist. DON'T layer a pile higher than 5 feet. A tall pile is awkward to turn and the organic matter becomes compacted with poor aeration.

Making Compost tea

Making compost tea is not difficult and has many benefits. Compost tea-When plants need some immediate care, perk them up with nutrient-rich water made by soaking a cloth bag full of compost in a watering can or barrel for a couple of days. Dilute the resulting solution to a weak tea color-reuse your tea bag a few times, then apply the remaining solids to your garden. Here are some resources for you. http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html/105-0647806-1860457? http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/compost-tea-notes.html

Trees-provide oxygen and help us breathe

Imagine what it would be like if you had to put on a space suit to go outdoors, depending on an oxygen tank instead of fresh air to breathe. It might be fun for the first couple of times, but after that we'd grow tired of putting on and taking off the space suit several times a day. Could such a thing happen? Not if we're careful. The air we breathe becomes a little less pure every day, while the population on earth increases, causing the need for more fresh air. How do trees help? They make their own food in a process called photosynthesis in which leaves and needles take in carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone and other poisons from the air. In return, leaves release large amounts of pure oxygen into the atmosphere. In one year, a large tree produces enough oxygen to fill 800 houses!

What is Compost?

Compost is any organic material-from leaves to manure to municipal waste-that has broken down into a rich, black, crumbly substance called humus. It feeds the soil, improves its texture, often contains micronutrients, encourages important microbial activity. Compost is one of the best things to add to all soils because it both fertilizes and improves soil texture. Some compost is poor quality. Aged forest products make the best-quality compost. Composted manure is very rich in nitrogen, so be careful to not work in too much or plant growth may be overly lush. Composted manure may have a lingering odor. And remember: With any compost, you pay a premium price for something you can easily make in your own yard.