Some of you might have noticed a little widget on our side bar showing what we have growing in our garden and everytime you come to our site it shows a different plant.  This neat little tool comes from a great site that I found called My Folia.

I have been trying to keep track of the goings on in our garden and have gone through several different methods, none of which seemed pratical or efficient. 

During one of my many searches through gardening websites I ran across My Folia and it was the answer to all of my garden tracking needs.  The site allows you to journal when a plant was sown, when it started to show true leaves, when fruit appeared, harvesting and anything else that you could imagine.

Along with keeping track of your garden, the site is also a great way to interact with fellow gardeners.  There are plenty of garden pictures to look through to find inspiration for your own garden and as a first time gardener I find that very helpful.

If you are starting a garden of your own (ahem… Tim & Jess, Benny & Mari…. ahem) or already have one established I would highly recommend this site.  Even if you aren’t quiet as OCD as James and I, it is still nice to look at other people’s gardens.

Bookmark It

Tags: Gardening, Link'age by Shala
2 Comments »

I have always said it was important to have at least one good dog in your life.  I feel like I have had more than my share.  In fact I feel like we have two right now.  We laughed about the fact that Izzy is now 50 lbs. and it is strange when you have a big dog roaming around your house.  If we were out in the wild and saw an animal that big we would probably scream and try to climb a tree.  Instead… here she is a freakin’ human if you ask me. 

It is strange… but awesome at the same time. 

Here’s to having a good dog or two… here are a few pics of Mikey & Izzy, enjoy.

Bookmark It

Tags: Personal, Pictures by James
4 Comments »

We moved into this house we live in now in November of last year, so some of the plants that came up this spring have been a suprise.  For the most part they are easy to identify and a Google search usually eases our mind.  However there are these plants coming up in one of our flowerbeds that we have NO CLUE what they are. 

We are hoping that everyone that frequents our blog can help us in trying to figure out what these guys are.  We have a million of them coming up throughout the flowerbed and we would like to know.  What if it is a deadly plant that we are keeping going because they are so green and abundant?  I doubt that is the case, but we just would like to know ok!?

So here is a few pics of the unknown plants… come on gardeners HELP US OUT!

Bookmark It

Tags: Gardening, Pictures by James
17 Comments »

We have a bit of an ant problem in the garden, well in the backyard in general.  I hate just grabbing the nearest pesticide and spraying the whole backyard… including the garden.  We are trying to be organic here!

So in the past week or so we have been searching the “intra-webs” for the organic answer to ant control and have found some quite interesting ways to get rid of ants.  All of these are organic, so if you are looking for the same thing - read on below.  The tips below should keep ants from having a party on your plants.

10 Ways To Kill Ants… Organically

1. Baking soda is poisonous to ants, spinkle it around your plants to ensure ants will stay away.

2. Flour & Baby Powder will keep ants from reaching your plants, ants will not cross the powder - so circle your plants with it.

3. You can use coffee grounds, chili powder, cinnamon, peppermint or black pepper.  All deter ants and if you pour coffee grounds directly on an anthill, they will eat the coffee grounds and implode.

4. Grits, instant rice & cream of wheat can be sprinkled around plants.  The ant will eat a piece of whichever you sprinkle, drink water and the grain expands and kills the ant.

5. Fill a spray bottle with 1 part vinegar and 1 part water and spray on plants. The acid in vinegar will kills ants.

6. Mix together one-third cup of molasses, six tablespoons of sugar, and six tablespoons of active dry yeast into a smooth paste. Use the mixture to coat strips of cardboard. Keep out of reach of pets and small children. You can leave mixture on a saucer outside anthill and they’ll eat it and die!

7. Fold contact paper in half, with the sticky side out and make a circle around base of plant. The ants get stuck on the paper - problem solved.

8. Cut off the bottom of a paper cup and cut a slit up the side of the cup and coat outside with vaseline and place around base of plant. You can also use packing tape.

9. Mix one cup of borax, two-thirds a cup sugar and one cup water. Dip cotton balls in the solution and place in areas near your anthill Ants will leave the plants alone and ingest the sweet mixture. The borax kills the ants.

10. Diatomaceous Earth is a commonly sold organic pesticide that will destroy the insects outer skeletons, causing the pests to die from dehydration.

Read our update to this post - where we tried some of the methods: Organic Ant Control Update

Bookmark It

Tags: Gardening, Living Green by James
12 Comments »

One of our gardening blogging buddies over at Nestmaker, Megan, has put together a great post giving 8 tips For Building Your Garden.  Designing/building your garden might seem easy, and in some respects I guess it is.  However, there are some things that you have no clue about until you get in there and get your hands dirty.

If you have time - run (don’t walk) over to Nestmaker and check it out.

Building a Garden - Nestmaker

Bookmark It

Tags: Design, Gardening, Link'age, Read Blogs by James
No Comments »