Compost is one of the best things that you can add to your garden. It allows you to use organic materials that would normally go to landfills. Organic materials make up approximately 24 percent of items send to landfills. It’s very inexpensive and much better than spending money on commercial fertilizers. It helps with soil texture and structure. It also adds nutrients to your garden. The best time to start your compost is in the spring. It will decompose faster due to the warmer temperatures. Just remember ordinary items may be used to create your compost, such as hair trimmings, kitchen scraps, newspaper, pine needles, cardboard, and wood ashes. Items that you should avoid: ashes from charcoal, kitty litter, diseased plants, dog or cat droppings and bones. It’s good to pick a site which is close to your garden and very accessible. It you have to walk the length of a football field then it will be very unlikely that this project will be successful.
Compost is decomposed plant material, so you don’t need to spend a lot of money on anything fancy. You can create a compost pile on top of ground which can be unattractive to others. You can spray paint it on the outside it you want to be artist about it. Many people purchase a compost bin but you can create your very own with garbage can. It can be old or new.
Items you will need:
- garbage can
- newspapers or cardboard
- plant materials
Step 3: Spray water over plant material and newspaper just enough to get it wet but not soggy.
Step 5: Turn the can as often as possible or you can open up can and stir or mix with a gardening hoe or pitchfork.
You may add more plant material and newspaper at any time. Keep watering as you add materials. You can use your compost after a month or so.
Indoor hydroponic gardening involves careful management of complex biological systems. When you garden indoors, you are essentially taking over the roll of mother nature. You provide the sun, the food, and the air that your plants need to flourish. The idea is to optimize each of these systems so that you are doing a better job than nature can. This involves a delicate balancing act that can be difficult to maintain at times. When things start to go wrong, it can be difficult for a beginner to diagnose the exact cause and decide on a course of action.
There are many sources online that are at your disposal when searching for answers but the sheer amount of information can be overwhelming unless you are able to search for the exact problem. It also helps to establish a relationship with your local hydroponic or organic gardening store. They are experts and enjoy sharing their knowledge with those interested in the hobby.
Whether you are searching online or asking a local expert, there are some general questions that you will be asked:
- What is happening in your garden?
- When did the problem first occur?
- What size is your grow room?
- How many lights and what type are they?
- What type of hydroponic system are you using?
- What type of grow medium is being used?
- What is the day and night time temperature?
- What is the temperature of your nutrient solution?
- What is the pH of the nutrient solution and the medium?
- What is the strength of the nutrient
and what type? - What stage of growth are the plants in?
- Did the problem start on one plant and spread or where all plants affected at the same time?
- What do the leaves look like?
- Are only certain areas of the plant effected?
- Have you seen any bugs on the bottom or top of leaves or in the medium?
- Have you done anything different?
Have you sprayed the plants with anything recently?
Knowing the answers to these questions will make your search for answers much easier. Who knows, you may even figure out the problem yourself.
To understand the mechanics of nutrient lockout and how to prevent it from occurring, you must first have a basic understanding of how plants take in nutrients. (WARNING! Science content!) Most of a plants sustenance is taken in through the roots through a process called osmosis. Osmosis is the physical process by which a solution of low concentration translocates through a semi-permeable membrane to a solution of higher concentration on the other side of the membrane. This process is what allows roots to absorb water from the surrounding soil. As osmosis occurs, energy is released and used to fuel plant growth. Now enter nutrient lockout.
The passage of water and nutrients through the root membrane is controlled by the relative concentrations of individual nutrient elements on either side of the membrane. If the concentration is higher in your grow medium than in the roots, then the plant can dehydrate by releasing water and nutrients from inside of the roots to the grow medium.
So, in laymans terms, if you have a very high concentration of nutrients going to your grow medium then you can seriously mess up the plants biological processes. For hydroponic hobbyist, this usually occurs because of an adjustment to the nutrient solution in the reservoir to compensate for a nutrient deficiency. Since nutrient lockout has the same symptoms as nutrient deficiency, it is often hard to diagnose and recover from.
The passage of water through the semi-permeable membrane is controlled by either the TDS (total dissolved solids) or EC (electrical conductivity) of the nutrient solution. So, if the EC of the solution you’re feeding is excessively higher than the EC currently in the roots, the plant can dehydrate by drawing water out of the roots and into the medium via osmosis.
The best defense against nutrient lockout is to routinely monitor your nutrient solution at the reservoir topping off as needed and flushing every two weeks.
Because it always provides “something to do,” gardening can be a year-round activity. And if you can’t think of any gardening tasks for the winter months, here are some tips to get you going.
Some assume that just because the weather is cold the ground must be frozen. “But the ground takes longer to cool off than the air does,” says Sharon Yiesla, Unit Educator, University of Illinois Extension. “As long as the ground isn’t frozen and can accept water, you should water at least your evergreens. Most of the other plants are fairly dormant by winter and not using much water. Evergreens, on the other hand, keep their needles all winter and can lose water through those needles.
“Keeping water supplied to the evergreen’s roots on a weekly basis as long as possible into the fall and winter season will help reduce stress.”
Winter means the threat of snow and ice damage to trees and shrubs is always a possibility. “When snow piles up on evergreens, try to gently brush it off,” Yiesla said. “Don’t shake the branches as this may cause them to break. If the snow is frozen on the branch and will not brush off easily, it’s best to let it melt naturally to avoid damage to the tree or the shrub.
“If tree limbs break due to the weight of ice or snow, it’s advisable to have the broken limbs removed as soon as the weather permits. Hanging branches can be a danger to passing pedestrians. Also, the tree will be able to heal the wound better in spring, if the wound has clean edges instead of ragged tears.”
A sudden warm spell in mid-winter is a good time to check for problems. If roses are covered with cones, it may be time to ventilate the cones to prevent heat from building up inside. The same should be done with cold frames. “If it is a warm, sunny day, the temperatures may be rising in the cold frame more than you expect,” Yiesla noted. “Remember to close vents as the temperatures drop again at night.”
Indoors, it is important to keep holiday plants fresh and blooming. Most of the blooming holiday plants prefer to be in a cool room. This keeps the plant in flower longer. Most holiday plants also need a bright room (some do well with direct sun, others do not). Keep these plants out of drafts to keep them in good health.
“If you order seeds from catalogs, get your order in by the end of January,” Yiesla recommended. “Early orders help ensure that you get the seeds you want and that you have them in time to start them indoors if you want.” It is very common to find insects meandering around the house in winter, she added.
“All of these critters come into the house looking for a place to rest for the winter. Common nuisance pests are box elder bugs, house flies, squash bugs, and the multi-colored Asian ladybeetles”. As you encounter these insects, just vacuum them up. Avoid smashing them as some leave stains or odors when smashed.
It is important not to store firewood in the house. Insects can come in with firewood. “Leave the wood outside until you are ready to build a fire,” Yiesla said. “Firewood should never be treated with insecticides, and insecticides are often not needed for most insect home invaders.”
Sharon Yiesla is a Unit Educator at the Horticultural Department of the University of Illinois Extension. For more information about gardening, visit the University of Illinois Extension website at http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/state/index.html.