Companion Planting Top 10 Plants

One of my organic gardening habits is to plant marigolds with my peppers and tomatoes since they assist in keeping the pests away.  Making small changes in your gardening routine can make a big difference.

The blog Imperfectly Happy has posted an article on Companion Planting that is very helpful and informative if you are interested in adopting some of these practices in your garden!  Click here to go to the article.

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How To Grow Plants From Seeds and Cuttings

Although I love to go shopping for beautiful blooming plants, there is something about the challenge and wonder of nature that growing from seeds and cuttings brings.  My love for propagating plants goes back to my childhood days!

Click here for a very informative article on seeds and cuttings, excellent for a beginning gardener, but also informative for the seasoned gardener.  The article is from one of my new discoveries, Empress of Dirt.

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Small Garden Inspiration

Even though The Captain and I have a large property with way too many future projects, we decided to start in the Carport Jungle.  Now that our tomatoes, peppers and herbs are on their way, it is time for us to concentrate on landscape design.

Even if you have a large area that needs landscaping, start small or you may overwhelm yourself.  I speak from experience!  Better to concentrate on a small area at a time rather than nothing because of overwhelm. It is something I have a problem with in every area of my life . . . overwhelm!

One of my favorite things to do is browse the internet for some garden inspiration.  Love the small garden in the photo, which is from the Fine Gardening website, sent in by one of their readers Lily Jacobi.  Love the layering on different levels and the use of container gardening along with the visual pleasing rocks.

I've always loved container gardening versus hard landscaping.  The problem is that when my first husband passed away and I neglected the massive gardens on the property, the container plants grew out of control and took root into the ground.  Anyway, tackling that problem is a future project!  This year, The Captain and I have been transplanting our grown seedlings into containers since we could not decide on exactly where to put what.

Click here to go to the article at Fine Gardening.  Other readers have sent in their photos for more inspiration.

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Best Plants for Harvesting Seeds

As a little girl growing up, my dad taught me the joys of growing plants from seed.  For as long as I could remember, I had a little patch of my own to plant whatever I wanted . . . I always picked red zinnias.  He also taught me to check my zinnias often, cutting off the spent flowers so I could increase my inventory of seeds to plant in the future.  To a little girl, it was amazing to watch nature in action and exciting that I had a part in it.  

One of my favorite publications and website, Birds and Blooms have published a wonderful article on the 10 best plants for harvesting seeds.  Of course my beloved zinnias are listing . . . but there are nine more!  Click here to go to the article.

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Need More Space in Your Garden?

It is also about pest and disease control and convenience.

No doubt about it, I tend to gravitate toward container gardening for ease of movement, seasonal gardening, herb and veggie gardening . . . it is so much easier for me even though we have more than enough space in our garden.

Want some ideas?  Click here for an excellent article from Organic Daily Post.

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Central Florida Gardening Calender

June is a great month to propagate those landscape plants!  Don't spend a lot of money for future landscaping by multiplying your inventory.  Click here for an article on propagation.

Central Florida gardeners (zone 9) will love the gardening calender from the University of Florida Extension Service that includes links for each topic.

Even if you don't live in Central Florida, the different educational topics are applicable to many other areas and gardening zones.

Click here for the complete list!

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DIY Garden Fountain

Can you imagine building your own garden fountain in one weekend?  I have wanted another water feature for the longest time . . . 

The tutorial shows you, step by step, how to make a garden fountain out of anything.

Click here to go to the tutorial.

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DIY Gel Fire Pits

What an awesome idea!

I love concrete projects and this one is unique, different and something we would use every night for our concrete jungle.  The little fire pit would make an awesome gift for someone who spends a lot of time outdoors.

If you would like to make one for your garden, click here for the tutorial!

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Grow Coleus As A Tree

There is nothing like a coleus plant to brighten up the garden with big splashes of color.

The coleus plant is one that I always include in my garden every year.  Through the years, I discovered that it is very easy to grow from seed (and it even self-sows effortlessly).  There is also a wide variety of leaf shapes and colors in the marketplace for big splashes of various colors.

They also propagate from cuttings easily.

I never thought of growing it as a tree!  What an awesome idea!

Click here for step by step instructions . . . I'm going to try it this year!

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Using Eggshells in the Garden

Recycling . . . I love using something that is usually thrown away in useful ways.  Eggshells are free and so beneficial in the garden.

As long as I can remember, eggshells were always put in the soil mixture when first planting tomato plants. We sprinkle eggshells as a mulch when slugs become a problem.  Those are the ways we have used eggshells in our organic garden.

I never used an elaborate technique for preparing the eggshells . . . just dried them out before using them. However, I have since learned it is important to prepare them for use in the garden.  Here is an excellent article on how to prepare your eggshells before using them.

11 Ingenious Uses for Eggshells from Good Housekeeping

Other links with information on using eggshells in the garden . . . from eHow and How Stuff Works.

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