Tag Archives: Eartheasy

Great List of Top Spring Yard Chores

Posted on April 6, 2017 | Leave a comment
Spring list of chores

Spring list of things to do!

Got a lot of energy now that Spring has sprung?

Looking for some ideas for a little outdoor fun?

Your backyard is waiting and Eartheasy has the perfect list of ways to spend some sweet hours in the dirt!

Here are some of my favorites:

  1. when it’s dry enough, ‘top dress’ beds.
    Top dress garden beds with compost or well-seasoned manure in preparation for planting. Resist the urge to dig the bed; established beds have a complex soil ecosystem which is best left undisturbed. Nutrients added from the top will work their way down into the soil.
  2. protect seedlings from hard frosts.
    Early spring plantings are vulnerable to hard frost which can set in overnight. If you expect a hard frost, cover seedlings overnight with anything you have on hand – an overturned bucket or cardboard box (with a rock on top) or large flower pot, a portable garden cloche, or a cold frame. I use old bushel baskets.
  3. apply horticultural oil sprays to pear and apple trees.
    Apply oil spray to pears just as the buds begin to swell and then again 10 days later to control pear psylla and pear leaf blister mite. Make a single application of oil on apple trees when a half-inch of green tissue is visible in developing buds.

All of these chores are ones that should be done early in Spring and with all that restless energy just looking for an outlet, now is the perfect time to get the tools, and your gloves and get outdoors.

Enjoy!

 

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Posted in Farming, Gardening Tips, Organic Gardening, Organic Pest Management, Tools for the Organic Gardener

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Bees Susceptible to Neonics Used on Seeds & Seedlings

Posted on May 4, 2016 | 2 comments
Bee on sunflower.

A bee visits one of my sunflowers.

If you’re an organic gardener, you don’t use neonics which we know are killing bees and damaging the environment. Or so you think.

But, if you are not buying organic seeds and organic plants, you very well may be poisoning bees right in your own back yard.

Eartheasy shares the latest information on neonics and on how these deadly herbicides and pesticides have slipped into just about every aspect of the farming and gardening world and the result is devastating.

For example, Marta Spivak, an entomologist and Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota, suggests that  this could be the foundation for “…the problem of the Varroa destructor mite, which spread widely in the 1990’s. If a bee’s immune system is already compromised by even a low dose of neonics (for example, the concentration found if only the seed of a plant is treated) it can make it all the more difficult for the bee to recover when it encounters the dreaded mite.”

Eartheasy provides more information and more insights on their site. Check it out and find out how we might just be undermining the health and well-being of our bee friends and not even know it!

 

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Posted in Beekeeping, Gardening Tips, Organic Gardening, Organic Pest Management, Seeds & Seed Starting

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Water Saving Tips From EarthEasy

Posted on July 19, 2015 | 3 comments

I tend to save water all year round and as much as possible.

But the heat waves of July and August and the temperatures in the high 90’s just remind us all that water conservation should be an integral part of our gardening regimen and, frankly, our lives.

This month, my favorite newsletter includes an article that is just packed with water saving tips and I wanted to share it with you.

Most gardeners know how to water during a hot spell or a drought — soaker hoses, gray water and conservatively.  But some of the products Eartheasy recommends, especially the ones for cutting down the gallons of water we literally flush away, were new to me and are now on my shopping list.  I want

Save water by flushing less.

Practically plugs in & reduces water waste.

to try the conversion kit installed in the toilet tank, which saves thousands of gallons of water a year.

Eartheasy’s newsletter is one of my favorites for a whole lot of reasons but it’s articles like this one that ensure I will keep opening and reading their monthly online tips.

Hope you enjoy this article and Eartheasy’s newsletter as much as I do!  And hope you stay cool during the dog days.

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Posted in Gardening Tips, Organic Gardening

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Eartheasy’s Composting Tips

Posted on November 5, 2014 | 2 comments

If you are retired or you just like to work hard at gardening, Eartheasy offers some good tips on how to make compost over the winter.

The tips tell you how to cope if you have really cold, snowy winters or really wet ones.  And they cover location, additions and protection of your compost.

But if you are a lazy gardener, like me, one who thinks God handles composting pretty well, then you might want to read about my method of composting.

And if you want to know why composting is so important, check out why the magic of gardening truly is, “…in the dirt.”

BONUS:  two of my very favorite books on dirt are included in the Magic of Gardening.  Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth by William Bryant Logan and Holy Shit: Managing Manure To Save Mankind by Greg Logsdson.

If you’re looking for a gift for your organic gardener, you can’t dig up any better than these two tomes.  Perfect for reading on the coming winter days!

 

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Posted in Gardening Books, Gardening Tips, Organic Gardening, Tools for the Organic Gardener

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6 Health Reasons to Garden

Posted on October 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

Eartheasy does it again!

The Eartheasy fall newsletter has a lot of wonderful information in it (as usual) but gardeners will love the article by Robin Jacobs.

Jacobs, who holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology, with special interests in holistic nutrition and community systems, identifies 6 ways gardening positively affects health!

Most of us gardeners know that our hobby is good for us, intuitively.  Jacobs provides some substantive information that shows that our hobby is definitely good for our health.

Enjoy the article….and all the other lovely fall bits and bobs of information that Eartheasy offers.  And sign up for their newsletter!

This family owned business offers information, innovative products and incredibly good articles about living lightly (and well) on our mother Earth.

 

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Posted in Gardening Tips, Organic Gardening

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