I really wanted marble, but...
jenncent
8 years ago
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jayferg
8 years agoRelated Discussions
I really don't want to use chemicals but.....
Comments (10)Thanks Kimmsr, for that dense and concise post. I wish I could be more concise. [g] Very good advice. Even after gardening organically for 30+ years, I appreciate the reminder of growing plants that attract beneficials. You can never have too many. I'd like to encourage the OP that it is a journey and a very rewarding one to go chemical free. When I started gardening I was fascinated to discover that there was a whole ecology in my backyard. And while I make the effort to identify pests when I see them, often I just accept that there will always be more that I don't know than I know. I try to leave the garden to work out the balance itself because they know what they are doing better than I do. I try not to interfere unless the damage is major and even then, I search for a non toxic solution. On the other hand, I do try to see what my role is and work at that. Long ago, I took to heart the often repeated advice, to improve the soil with organic matter. The more I have worked at that the more I have seen my garden evolve in a positive direction. I also pay attention to growing clean and keeping up with the weeds, mulching, taking care of any disease issues quickly and growing varieties that are resistant to disease. I am focused on adding plant material that attracts beneficial insects and when that works out, it makes me very happy to see that. I'm always looking to add more and more. This year, I have more parsley and dill for the small parasitic wasps that take care of a lot of pests. I add alyssum for those small predators. Lots of long blooming perennials around the vegetable garden for the bees. I keep trying to sequence the bloom so there is always something to feed the beneficial insects. I've seen aphids on plants disappear in a week after ladybugs had a feast on them. I still get leaf miners on my columbine, but I cut all the foliage back to the ground after bloom and they grow a fresh batch of pristine, leaf miner free foliage. The leaf miner leaves go in the trash. I still get small amounts of Oriental Beetles which I knock into soapy water to dispose of them. Same with Red Lily Beetles and used the same technique two seasons in a row when I was overrun with earwigs. So it's learning as you go how to manage your garden in a different way. You won't get that in one season, it takes time. I haven't used any chemicals beyond an occasional home made spray made up of 1 drop of soap, garlic & red pepper. And in 30 years I can count on one hand the number of times I've used that. Later today, I'll take a photo of one of my vegetable beds that is looking pretty good at the moment and post it here. Interestingly, I was forced to purchase organic soil for raised beds when we increased the size of the vegetable garden in the spring. I was curious to see how the beds that had the soil from our old vegetable beds grew in comparison to beds with the new soil. There were two large beds of our soil and three large beds of new soil. Every year in our old beds the peppers were wonderful. Full, bushy plants with a very good amount of peppers. This year I planted peppers in the new soil and the peppers are pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. I don't think there's anything wrong with the soil. It is organic soil that had 10% organic compost added to it and other organic amendments. It does seem to have a higher clay content then mine. The water is puddling on the top of the beds when it rains. But I can stand over the beds with the soil from my old beds and spray the hose full force with the nozzle set to shower and the water just drains right down even standing there for 15 minutes. So I am about to pull those peppers. They are not going to produce much if anything and I don't want to have the same problem next year, so I'm going to add more compost and sow a cover crop, let it grow until the end of the season and turn it in come Fall. It won't be perfect next season either, but I'm on the road to improving it and at some point it will be as good as what I had in my old beds. Am I disappointed that I'm not going to have peppers this year? Sure. Peppers are one of our favorite crops. But I know it's a temporary setback and an investment in next season's garden to work it out this way now. I spent a lot of time reading books. First, the book by Ruth Stout on the no work garden. Later, Eliot Coleman's books on organic gardening. I'm sure there are a ton more books to read, but I spent a lot of time on GW in the Organic Gardening forum, many years ago when there were a lot of very dedicated organic gardeners happy to answer questions. I'm happy that I did, it's worked out very well for me. Good luck!...See MoreI don't really see them as pests...but...Yellow Jacket problem?
Comments (9)Well, There is good news and bad news... First of all, the good news is that honey bees and hornets are totally of a different nature. Honey bees survive winters by keeping each other warm while not leaving the nest. You can even move them from one place to another. They are beautiful and very beneficial to all plant life including human.... I would love to have these around for many useful purposes. As for your yellow jackets.... They too are beneficail to nature and they will die off if the nest is partialy exposed to those kind of winter temps kimmsr is talking about. BUT, the bad news is that, if their nest is to deep in your foundation, or you have no idea where it is, there could be a problem. They will survive the winter if to deep where they can stay a bit warmer than you expect, yet they will slow down quite drastically, be lethargic, almost asleep. But they WILL survive. The only way you can get rid of them if they are not going to die off, sadly, is by extermination. Now I am not a fan of this or of any kind of mass murder to insects beneficial to our enviroment, but that is the only way to rid them, SADLY. There a powder you can buy that you can place at their entry way, that gets on their fur and wings, which in turn they carry to the nest, rubbing it all over the others. Your local extermination office should have this stuff, or you can hire a professnonal to do it..To bad they have to loose their natural habitat to human developement..:-( Hope this helps....Goodluck....See MoreAll I think I really need is a basic dryer but...
Comments (3)there aren't any new washers or dryers, FL or TL, that will last 20 years anymore. they are purposely made to self destruct or some such thing in about 7-8 years. seriously! it's really awful.IMO, that's an exaggeration, although "robustness" isn't what it used to be. The Whirlpool washer my parents bought new in January 1962 was replaced in June 1976 (14.5 years), and had numerous repairs, including replacement of the bearings TWICE. The Whirlpool replacement ran for 18 years, with *fewer* repairs, and the bearings *never* changed. The KitchenAid that came next in 1994 has had two repairs thus far, neither one considered major ... we also recently replaced the pump (which had not yet failed but was getting iffy), and did some rust-treatment on the cabinet. I realize these examples are not quite equivalent to a new machine bought today, but it perhaps illustrates that newer machines (as compared to "older" ones) don't necessarily equal more trouble. I have a Fisher & Paykel GWL08 bought in 1999 (8 years old now) that's still going strong with no repairs needed....See Moresl OT but, Oh no, now I am really scaring myself
Comments (6)We've lived 13 years on our house and only did a few projects (play ground for kids, deck & shed, finish 1/3 of basement). But, now that I'm almost done with my kitchen, I find myself looking at the rest of the house and thinking what I want to do in each room....and I want to do it NOW! Of course, then my DH reminds me we have no remodel $$ left...that we need to *gasp* save before we can tackle anything else! (No loans for remodeling!) But I so know how you feel (when I'm in our MBA I find myself looking askance at the vanity, faucets, lights, floor, ...). I think it's all your fault TKOers! You turned me first into a TKOer when all I originally planned to do was tell my KD...do whatever! You showed me the error of my ways and, of course, it doesn't stop w/the kitchen! So....are we really THOers or TROers (Totally House Obsessed, Totally Remodel Obsessed)?...See Moreromy718
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