So we have something going on lately, one being a HUGE ant population that we are working on and something else going on that we can’t figure out.  We are treating everything, hoping we can win this battle.  We are doing soil tests to make sure we aren’t crazy, then of course we will do our best to get the soil where it needs to be.

I say that to say this…

Last night we ran to Ace to pick up a few things and saw some lady bugs that you could buy, along with some praying mantises.  I was sold instantly, since we had seen them before - but with the fight going on at the moment… it seemed like a no-brainer.  Shala was down with the lady bugs, however she was fighting me with the mantises.  We decided to do the lady bugs first and hope that the mantises come naturally.  We had seen a few around, so hopefully they would bring their friends.

We got back home and I got the job of letting them go.  Which was fine with me.  I like them.  So we popped open the tub they came in and started putting them where they could find some food and a home.  It was pretty cool to see them all running around and trying to find a place to call home. 

You can see them crawling around on me and what not… kinda cool.  Freaks you out for a second, because you think they are all over you… but it goes away quickly.

So as we were dropping these guys off Shala noticed something on our Hibiscus and so we started looking in there and sure enough we had a young praying mantis just chilling out.  We were happy we didn’t buy any yet, we will hope this guy throws big parties and invites all his friends over.  Check him out, he was fast so it is a lil blurry.

We got all the lady bugs situated and our hopes to have a pest free garden are high.  If you would have told me a year ago that we would be buying lady bugs and sprinkling them around our garden… I would have laughed in your face.

Now your laughing in mine.

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Tags: Gardening, Living Green, Pictures by James
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I think this one falls under that “Make a difference” category.  If this doesn’t hit you in the face like a ton of bricks… then you have no heart Tin Man.  No heart at all.

Pictures of Our World of Waste - see just what you are contributing to.

By stopping your addiction to plastic, you can really make a dent in this HUGE problem we have.  Stop buying individual drinks in plastic containers.  Even when recycled, it takes a lot of resources to do the recycling.  By cutting down on the amount of bottled water or soda you drink it can be an easy way to make a difference today.

Hope this hits home with a few people at least.  That is the point.

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Tags: Link'age, Living Green, Make A Difference by James
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I have been reading Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano and am really enjoying the book.   Her main point is to change things a little at a time.  She never says to throw everything away in your house and completely start life over, instead she encourages you to buy one thing that is organic when you go to the store or change one thing about the way that you live.  Her steps are gradual and easy to do.  Or in other words… my kind of green!

Although we have already made a few changes we still have a long way to go to become Gorgeously Green.  Perhaps my favorite change so far is our decision to grow our own salad greens.

I hadn’t even thought about growing salad greens when we were making plans for our garden, so needless to say there isn’t any room in there to grow anything else.  Sophie recommended growing salad greens in a wine barrel planter and I thought that would be a great idea.  Since the greens don’t enjoy too much direct, hot sunlight we placed the planter on our porch so that it would get some morning sun and would be protected from the late evening sun.

I bought two packages of Mesclun salad greens and scattered the seeds on top of the organic potting soil and then covered the seeds with about 1/4 inch of soil.  If you are going to try this remember that greens like a lot of water, so make sure to keep them moist, not soaking, but moist.  Mesclun will grow well into the fall here in West Texas and if well tended to you can expect around 3 different harvests.  That will provide some good salad for most of the year.

Here is our Mesclun all planted.  I can’t wait until the greens start to show.  Not only will it be some great salad it will really add some life to our porch.  Oh… and did I mention the barrel still smelled like wine??  It took ten minutes to get James away from licking it.  He has a problem I think.

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Tags: Gardening, Living Green, Pictures by Shala
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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

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Tags: Gardening, Living Green by James
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When we started gardening as a hobby we learned so much about ourselves.  Gardening isn’t just about pulling weeds and watering veggies.  Deep down it teaches us how to live life, how to expect the unexpected and so much more.  We took the time and listed the 6 Lessons We Learned From Gardening in hopes to open the eyes of everyone that isn’t gardening and to help shed light on the deeper meaning behind it.

Enjoy our list and make sure to share this article with your friends and fellow gardeners.  If you haven’t, subscribe to our RSS Feed and view our blog entries at your leisure.

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Tags: Gardening, Living Green, Make A Difference, Self Help by James
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