It is HOT HOT HOT here this week, and just to give a bit of proof I grabbed this screenshot off the intrawebs.

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Tags: Gardening, Living Green, Pictures by James
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Many of you know we started putting mulch (organic humus) down this past week and got one of the 1/4’s done.  Well this past weekend we finished up the job.  We purchased 15 bags of humus to lay down in the garden and give these plants some relief from the heat and lack of rain lately.  We are hoping this will boost their growth and get everything going 100%.

The bad thing about doing the mulch…  well the work part of it of course. 

Don’t you wish you could just come home with 15 - 40# bags of humus and snap your fingers and they were spread evenly throughout your garden?  Us too.  However, in order for that to happen we had to be the ones to get it spread out evenly… no snapping involved.  We started this project on Saturday around lunchtime and it took about 30-40 minutes to get it all strung out and done.

The coolest part was the fact that about the time we finished spreading it all out, we got a much needed rain. 

Perfect timing… perfect vision.

So you want to see pictures of it don’t you… because you love pictures and you love to see other gardens and you love us…  we don’t blame you.  haha  Enjoy the pics.

Before…

And after…

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Tags: Design, Gardening, Living Green, Pictures by James
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Everyone hates Mosquitoes, unless you’re some weirdo with a fetish for the dart-like demons… if so, you might want to stop reading now.  If you are like us, come summertime, fighting those bloodsuckers is just something you have to do.  At least if you want a comfortable place to hang out with friends on a warm summer day.  The reason we started looking for natural or organic ways to repel mosquitoes, is because of a few things.  Two reasons really. 

We are always looking for a “greener” way to do things, and usually half the time that “greener” way is cheaper in the long run as a bonus.  Then the second reason being that… well, a no-brainer here - we don’t want the pests around when we have get-togethers or when we are enjoying our lives outside on the weekends.  Respectable reasons, and reasons you are likely here reading this now.

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Tags: Gardening, Health, Living Green, Pictures by James
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We are a little worried about the birds that frequent our backyard, there are so many old trees in our neighborhood and so it is just nature being nature.  You would think that our “bird” dog would handle them… but she likes to lay in the sun and watch them peck at the veggies and walk around in the yard, far more than actually chasing/catching/eating them. 

Who would have thought that we would have the best organic method of taking care of birds… yet it is broken?

Damn dog.

So we had heard owls were a good way, but I will be damned if I can catch one or even see one these days… so we went with the artificial one.  It was a lot easier to catch. 

We would like you to meet… Mr. Owl - the wisest bird on the block.

Kiss those pesky birds good bye, or at least that is our hope.  We have heard this is a great method to organically control birds around your garden… let’s cross our fingers.  If nothing else we can just have a nice pet owl that requires very little water and/or food… our kind of pet.

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Tags: Gardening, Living Green, Pictures by James
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You all know we have been fighting ants for a while and not just fighting ants… trying to do it as organically as possible.  Now you have to understand the magnitude of our ant problem.

We are pretty sure one of the big trees in the back is dead for the most part due to wood ants and so we are about to have to stump that big guy down… which is sad to think about.  So we know we have a big ant problem if they are taking out 20-30 year old trees.  Add in the fact that we have a wood pile problem in the back alley that we are working on clearing out - and also another wood pile problem beside the shop that we have yet to tackle. 

Ant problem would be an understatement. 

So let’s get back to the garden part.  As you probably know with ants come aphids - which is a whole other problem.  So ant control is vital, and honestly it can be tough when trying to do it organically.  It seems easy enough to mix this and do this and blah blah - the whole you are thinking… we could go get some sevin dust and murder those lil piss ants in about 5 minutes… BUT NOOooOOoOOo - we want to save the earth today.  haha

We have used a few of the methods, and we will kind of sum it up so far for everyone.

Garlic & Cayenne Mixture - We took garlic and mixed it with pure powdered cayenne.  That was put into a spray bottle with water… and we sprayed the entire garden with it.  Then we even used the pieces of garlic and sprinkled them around the garden as well.  Honestly, we saw it do a little bit of good - but it definitely didn’t fix the problem.

Coffee Grounds - They say if you put coffee grounds around, the ants will take it back eat it and the second they drink water or something - BANG!  It swells and they die.  Well - I can say I never once saw an ant eat the grounds, nor die from it.  I assume it happened… but just not a lot and not in plain view.  We are sick like that and wanted to see one balloon and pop. haha 

Baking Soda - It is supposed to be poisonous to ants… so you put a ring around your plant with it.  I think this actually helped some - but at the same time, we saw little baking soda parties going on… they were swimming around in the white powder… playing catch with it.  You know… like a baking soda party.  It did seem to keep them off the plants though - but now just they run around in the dirt.

Organic Sprays - I can’t think of the name of the stuff we used one day, but it claimed to be organic and after looking at it, it did pan out.  So we covered our garden in it.  I mean ants were drowning in it; we found a big bed and just hammered it with this stuff.  It has worked better than anything so far, and we will try and find the name to share with others.

Organic Granules - Just found some “organic” granules that are meant to be spread around the mounds and also to create a barrier.  We just used it last night and so we have yet to see the results, but we can dream can’t we!  Hopefully this will push the ants out and finally we can have our day of glory.  We will also have to look this one up - don’t have the name handy.

So as you can see we have been busy fighting ants in our garden - as many of you are doing the same as well.  Searches have skyrocketed for organic ways to kill ants.  I guess everyone is trying to be a bit greener in terms of eradicating pests like ants - which is always great to know.  I hope this helps those wondering how the fight was going, and we will continue to update on the organic war on our ant enemies.

Also, if you have any other organic ways to fight them - fill us in, we always want to learn more and if it works… we will buy you a coffee, beer, margarita or drink of your choice.  Seriously.  Keep it organic though.

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Tags: Gardening, Living Green by James
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