Some of us live in apartments so this is good info...that you most likely already know! lol Lovely article I found: I love herb plants. I have grown thyme, basil, marjoram, sage, mint, parsley, cilantro, chives, rosemary, oregano and more. My rosemary plant has now made it through two winters and it looks like a small shrub. I love herb plants because I get to eat them, they are easy to grow, and they can be grown quite successfully in containers. My herb plants have all been grown in plain, cheap plastic containers from the local discount store. Some, like mint and the rosemary, have been grown in their own individual pots, while others, like thyme and sage, are planted together in window boxes that sit on the walls of my patio.
These container-grown herb plants are incredibly convenient because they are all about two steps out my back door. If I decide I need an herb in the middle of cooking dinner, I can rush out and grab a little without having to worry if my kitchen will catch on fire (and without stopping to find my shoes). There's really only one rule to growing herb plants: grow what you like. If you never cook Italian food. don't grow basil. If you don't like mint, don't grow it. You should never grow something you won't use just because it looks nice, smells nice, or seems like something that ought to be in your garden. If you cook a lot, you probably already know what kinds of herb plants you'd like in your container garden. If you don't cook, growing some herb plants just might give you a kick-start.
Try easy-to-grow and use herbs like parsley, chives, cilantro or thyme. Or grow things that correspond to the cuisine you like to eat: cilantro for Mexican food, basil and rosemary for Italian, mint and chamomile if you love tea, lemongrass and Thai basil for Thai food, etc. Then get a recipe book from the library and make sure those herbs don't go to waste! There are two methods for growing herb plants: you can buy already established plants or you can start your herb plants from seed. We usually do a mix based on which herb plants are available for sale at our local farmer's market or garden supply store. The easiest herb plants to grow from seed are parsley, cilantro, chives, mint and other similar plants with small grassy stems. The woodier herb plants like rosemary, thyme and oregano are better grown from established plants. If you are planting established herb plants, you plant them in the same way you would plant any other plant; just dig a hole, put the plant in and water it well. If you're starting your herb plants from seeds, scatter them over the soil, cover very lightly with a little bit of soil and water well. The plants will begin to sprout in about a week.
The great thing about starting your herbs from seeds is that you can continue to plant seeds every couple of weeks all season long so you always have fresh herbs available. Parsley and cilantro in particular benefit from this continual sewing, because so much must be harvested to be of any use. Whichever way you choose to start your herb plants, make sure you keep them well watered through the season and they will produce well for you. Established herbs can be harvested by simply trimming off what you need. The potency of dried herbs is about three times that of fresh, so if you are using fresh herbs in a recipe that called for dried herbs, triple the amount called for. Fresh herbs aren't just for cooking. You can also use them in craft projects, flower arrangements, and salads. Dry some of your harvest so you'll have great "fresh" herbs all winter long. You'll never go back to those sad little tins from the grocery store.
We live in the woods and carpenter ants are a huge problem. We have spent thousands of dollars with Orkin and on ant poisons trying to keep them under control but nothing has helped.
So when I read somewhere that aspartame (Nutrasweet) was actually developed as an ant poison and only changed to being considered non-poisonous after it was realized that a lot more money could be made on it as a sweetener than as an ant poison, I decided to give it a try.
I opened two packets of aspartame sweetener, and dumped one in a corner of each of our bathrooms. That was about 2 years ago and I have not seen any carpenter ants for about 9 to 12 months. It works better than the most deadly poisons I have tried. Any time they show up again, I simply dump another package of Nutrasweet in a corner, and they will be gone for a year or so again.
Since posting this information I have had many people tell me of their success solving ant problems with this substance, when nothing else worked.
We found later that small black ants would not eat the aspartame. It was determined that if you mixed it with apple juice, they would quickly take it back to the nest, and all would be dead within 24 hours, usually. I have found that sometimes it will kill them, and sometimes it does not. Not sure why, may be slightly different species of ants or something.
Fire Ants: We got our first fire ant hill about 2 weeks ago. Poison did not work. We tried aspartame and the ants ignored it until we got a light rain. It was just a sprinkle, enough to moisten the Nutrasweet and ground, but not enough to wash it away. They went crazy, hundreds of them grabbing it and taking it back into the mound. When I checked the mound 2 days later, there
was no sign of the fire ants. I even dug the mound up some, and still saw none of them.
How does it Work: Aspartame is a neuropoison. It most likely kills the ants by interfering with their nervous system. It could be direct, like stopping their heart, or something more subtle like killing their sense of taste so they can't figure out what is eatable, or smell, so they can't follow their trails, or mis-identify their colonies members, so they start fighting each other. Not sure what causes them to end up dying, just know that for many species of ants it will kill them quickly and effectively.
As with any poison I recommend wearing gloves and washing any skin areas that come in contact with this poison, and avoid getting it in your mouth, despite anything the labeling may indicate.
I suspect it will work for other insects such as yellow jackets as well, but have not tested that yet.
More information on this fantastic poison can be found at: www.dorway.com
Using coffee grounds in the garden is a great way to add organic matter to your soil. Coffee grounds are also a good source of nitrogen for your garden soil. Being naturally acidic in nature, used coffee grounds are wonderful for acid loving plants such as roses, blueberries, camellias, azaleas, rhododendrons and even viburnum. Should you want to use coffee grounds in the garden on plants that do not appreciate the acidity, you may need to add a limestone supplement.
If you don't drink coffee very often, you may find coffee grounds for the garden at your local coffee shop. Most are more than willing to give you all the coffee grounds your garden can handle. Don't add too thick of a pile of coffee grounds or mold may develop. A nice thin layer of coffee grounds around the trunk of the plant is all that is needed. One more added benefit of using coffee grounds in the garden is that earthworms love the used coffee grounds. They will feed on the coffee grounds and in turn aerate and fertilize the soil around your plants. You'll always enjoy the rewards of using coffee grounds in the garden.
Here are some easy ways to take care of many uninvited pests in your home and the secret weapons are as close as your herb garden.
Did your grandmother ever put a bay leaf in her flour canister or rice bin? Or hang a small bundle of sage in a cupboard? Many herbs act as natural bug repellents. Here are a few "old wives" hints to use in your kitchen:
-Keep ants away by hanging a small bundle of fresh sage wherever you store food. You can also put crushed peppermint leaves on shelves where ants tend to travel.
-Cockroaches won't want to stay around if you "paint" oil of peppermint on surfaces in problem areas (test first if you are concerned about putting the oil of peppermint on wood or another surface that it might stain).
-Herb sachets might help to keep moths away from clothing.
Q. Can I transplant several perennials growing in containers on my patio to my flower garden this fall?
A. Assuming the plants are hardy in your area, yes. Remove the plant from its container, score the roots with a sharp knife to prevent girdling and to encourage new growth, place the plant in a hole roughly the size of the container, cover with soil, and water. In areas with mild but freezing winters, you can cover the potted plants with a layer of mulch up to the tops of the containers. When the foliage dies back, pile some more mulch three- to-four inches above the tops of the containers, and water occasionally. When spring comes, you can remove the mulch and put the plants back on your patio.
Q. How do you transplant a really prickly cactus?
A. First, loosen the soil around the container with a knife. Then fold several sheets of newspaper lengthwise until the batch is about four inches wide. Wrap the newspaper snugly around the cactus, gripping the loose ends tightly. Lift the plant out of its container and place it in the new one, using a trowel to add additional potting soil, and a stick or dowel rod to pack it firmly.
