Excerpted from the Alameda Sun

Earth Day conjures up images of volunteers scouring beaches, parks and waterways, picking up trash and recyclables.  If you’d like to help in this way, terrific!  Grab some gloves and bags and go for it.  But if that isn’t your cup of tea or if you are looking for something different this year, there are lots of constructive options available to honor the spirit of Earth Day.

Consider a gardening project.  Plant some vegetables in your yard or in containers on a balcony or patio.  With the reccent global focus on reducing the miles food travels, you can’t get any closer than your own yard.  It’s handy to walk outside and pick a salad for dinner.

Take advantage of free solar and wind energy in your yard.  Put up a clothesline and enjoy the savings in your energy bills (dryers are energy hogs), as well as the scent of fresh air and sunshine in your sheets, towels and clothes.  We did and now only rarely use our gas dryer.  You can pick up a retractable clothesline if you don’t want to install a permanent one. 

Walk, bike, take public transit or carpool on Earth Day to run errands instead of hopping in your car.  It’s a healthy habit to start for you and the environment.  If it’s been a while since you’ve biked, see the “Getting Started” article in the information section of BikeAlameda’s Web site, www.bikealameda.org, for tips on starting bicycling again.

I hope these suggestions give you a few new ideas for constructive activities around Earth Day, and that you have fun doing something good for the Earth this year.

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Posted on April 11th, 2008 by Deborah Carraro
Filed under: Gardening, Holidays | No Comments »

The birds are singing again and it brings joy to my ears. I love sitting outside with my morning coffee listening to their sweet song and trying to imitate their melodies. We
have quite a few that can be heard from my office, with the windows shut tight! I’m convinced they’re there to keep me company.

I can’t think of a better way to beautify your garden than to fill it with birds. Birds add color and life to any garden. If you’re wondering why other’s gardens have birds
galore and yours is lacking residents, follow these tips and you’ll have a feather filled garden in no time.

Shelter: The first thing birds need to be happy is shelter, which can be provided with birdhouses. Birdhouses can be purchased from many different stores, but it’s cheaper and often more effective to build your own. Here is a great resource for building your own birdhouse

http://tinyurl.com/46w5po

Providing adequate shelter for birds also means giving them appropriate nesting materials; this can help them turn their bird house into a comfortable home.  Birds usually use hard materials for structure and soft materials to fill in the gaps.  Good nesting materials include string, hair, twigs, moss, fabric, and even dryer lint.  Basically, they’ll use anything long and skinny, or soft materials that can be pulled that way.  

Water: Another essential factor for attracting birds to your garden is water.  Birdbaths are the best option because they are shallow for swimming and have edges for drinking.  If you have a large garden, you can add more than one bird bath.  If you do, try to have them in sunny and shady places so birds can choose.  Along with attracting feathered friends, bird baths also add a decorative touch.

Food: While water and housing may entice your birds to stay, they’ll probably find your garden in their search for something to eat. You should provide birds with a variety of different seeds, fruits, and nuts. They need a balanced diet just like you do. Birds also like to feast on insects, so make sure your garden has good rich soil to promote creepy crawly critters to stay too.

When trying to attract birds to your garden patience is the key. Even if you provide all the essentials for birds, they still may not show up right away. You should give them time to find your garden and then make a habit of visiting. Even if you don’t get birds right away, keep trying. They’re sure to show up in no time.

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR WEBSITE: You can as long as you include this blurb: The Experts at Everything Outside show you how to get started with the comprehensive book, “Organic Gardening for Beginners.” Learn everything you need to know to garden without the use of chemicals or other harmful substances! Visit http://www.everythingoutside.com/products/organic_gardening/ for more information.

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Posted on April 9th, 2008 by Deborah Carraro
Filed under: Articles, Bird Feeders | No Comments »

By Terry Kramer/For the Times-Standard

April showers bring May flowers, but April frost just might cost. This is why it is vital to plant warm season plants later on, and protect those early planted starts now. A winter day could pay a visit at any time, as we have already seen.

Here’s what you can do this month to make your garden sparkle:

PROTECT – Those in a rush to grow warm season vegetables like basil, peppers, squash and tomatoes should blanket them with floating row covers (Remay) until the weather warms. This white gauzy material prevents frost damage. It will also keep pests at bay.

PLANT – In most areas, April is the month when everything with a root can go into the ground. Plant lettuce, mixed salad greens, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and herbs now. Sow seeds of beets, carrots, chard and peas. Start an herb garden. Plant geraniums, perennials and warm season annuals like marigolds, snapdragons, lobelia, dianthus, nemesia and petunias. If it is still cool in your garden, wait until May to plant impatiens, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, corn and summer squash.

PRUNE – Pinching the tips of new shoots is the easiest way to control growth on many perennials, shrubs and young trees. Remove spent blossoms from camellias and rhododendrons. “Prune after bloom” is the rule of thumb for ornamental flowering trees and shrubs like crabapple, plum, cherry, quince, forsythia, lilac, saucer and star magnolia and rhododendron.

BAIT AND SPRAY – Trap or bait hungry

FORGET THE HOE – Don’t hoe and chop weeds; mulch instead. If you’re planning to grow in new ground, try smothering the area in question with a layer of compost mixed with weed-free manure. Lay on top of this some newspaper and then cover with composted chipper mulch. By early summer you should be able to plant. Established areas that are mulched now with newspaper and chipper material or compost will be much easier to maintain later this spring and summer. A thick mulch makes pulling a few weeds easy. And, it enriches the soil.

GROOM – Remove spent blooms on daffodils and tulips. However, do NOT cut back foliage. Remaining leaves are necessary for rebuilding the bulbs for next spring’s flowers. Rake and re-seed bare spots in the lawn. Clean up any old flowers that have dropped from camellias and azaleas, to reduce chance of petal blight.

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Terry Kramer is a trained horticulturist and journalist. She has been writing a garden column for the Times-Standard since 1982. To get in touch with Terry, write to Terry Kramer, c/o Times-Standard, P.O. Box 3580, Eureka, CA, 95502.

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Posted on April 5th, 2008 by Deborah Carraro
Filed under: Gardening, Tips | No Comments »

Gardening season will soon be upon us in North America.  The staff at Everything Outside wishes you a long and blooming gardening season.  After a few months indoors, we’re all anxious to get outside and tend to our gardens.  But be careful to not do too much too soon.  Set small goals at first so that you don’t cause undo fatique.  To help you protect your back and enjoy the season, we’ve tracked down some fantastic tips care of Chiropractor Robert Evans.

Follow these simple safe gardening tips and you will find that your entire season is much more satisfying when you are pain free.

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Posted on April 1st, 2008 by Deborah Carraro
Filed under: Gardening, Tips | No Comments »

Welcome to Day 1 of the Everything Outside Challenge.

I’ve selected my patch of nature, it’s a little buried under the snow at the moment but trust me, you’ll love the changes that emerge over the year.  I selected this spot because it’s part of my garden oasis.  In the warmer months, I sit outside with my laptop and work - getting some fresh air, listening to the laughter of the children in the playground, enjoying the smells and sounds of my paradise in the city.

This spot inspires me to enjoy the comforts of my own backyard.  Here’s a composite photo on Day 1: March 20th, 2008.  Click on the picture to view a larger image.

If you’ve not yet joined the Challenge, be sure to do so at http://www.everythingoutside.com/challenge.htm

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Posted on March 20th, 2008 by Deborah Carraro
Filed under: Everything Outside Challenge | No Comments »

Have you ever wondered: what would happen if we started to listen to nature? What would we hear?

–>> What would we hear from the melting polar ice caps?
–>> From the islands in the middle of the ocean that exist just a few feet above sea level?
–>> From the endangered species who no longer have their habitat?

How are they speaking to us? What are they showing us? What are they doing now that is different from 10, 20, 30 years ago?

Have you ever stopped to wonder: How fast is change happening in our own back yard? Have we stopped to notice?

If we chose to stop and notice, how would we go about it?

The Everything Outside Nature Challenge invites you to stop and notice the changes in your own backyard.

The Challenge: Choose one spot and monitor it for one year. It could be a favorite corner of your backyard or front yard or the entire yard. Apartment dwellers can select a favorite patch of nature - in fact any of us can select a favorite patch of nature.

Select a spot and take care of this one spot every day for an entire year. Take pictures or video, create works of art, write about your spot - document the changes in your spot. Take care of it - include it in your daily life.

We’ll announce each of the spots as they’re selected and then invite you to submit your updates to us weekly and we’ll post them on our blog.

Wouldn’t that be easy and fun? Wouldn’t you be curious to see if anything changed over the course of a year?

Document what would happen if there were a heat wave, a torrential downpour, a quick and early freeze…

By monitoring our spot, we begin the process of listening to nature’s message. It would be like a daily practice. At first we may not be aware of much, but as time passes there may be many surprises in store for us.

As our Challenge grows, we’ll have a chance to listen to nature’s message from other corners of the world and compare what we are noticing and begin to understand nature’s message.

So, let us listen and watch as nature does what it does and we do what we do.

To join us in the challenge, please visit

http://www.everythingoutside.com/challenge.htm

Special thanks to Richard Ford for inspiring the challenge.

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Posted on March 20th, 2008 by Deborah Carraro
Filed under: Everything Outside Challenge | 3 Comments »

Compost is a great tool for any gardener.  It helps your garden hold just the right amount of water, makes it the right texture for optimal plant growth, and provides it with beneficial natural organisms.  While you can buy several different types of compost products at a retail store or gardening center, it’s much cheaper to make your own compost.  Not only will you save money, you also get the added benefit of knowing that you’re not just throwing your yard waste away; it’s actually doing something beneficial for your garden and for your health.

Before getting started on building your compost pile, you should know what to put in it.  To get good compost you need four elements: carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and water.  Grass clippings from your yard provide the carbon.  Nitrogen comes from leaves in the fall.  To make sure your pile gets water, build it somewhere where it will be rained on; just be sure it’s not completely soaked with water.  Lastly, you can add oxygen simply by mixing the pile regularly.  Just turn the soil over once a month with a rake or garden shovel.  Don’t worry if you can’t provide enough nitrogen or carbon to your compost pile through your yard waste, you can always add a little fertilizer.  The type of fertilizer you select will depend on what nutrient you’re lacking.

There are two different types of compost piles you can make; the first is a cool pile.  To make a cool pile, simply throw your clippings and leaves in the bin as they come and stir the ingredients occasionally.  This is a good option if you don’t have a lot of time to devote to composting, but it takes about a year to get useable compost.  You shouldn’t add diseased plants or weeds to this mixture because they can be harmful to the soil quality and weeds will continue to grow once they’re back in your garden.

If you’re anxious and just can’t wait of if you need your compost in a shorter time span, you should try making a hot compost pile.  Unlike cool piles, you need to have a significant amount of yard waste available to start a hot pile; at least 3 feet by 3 feet.  This mixture will require mixing much more often.  You can mix it anywhere from once every two weeks to once every couple of days.  The more you mix, the more you break down your yard waste, the faster you get compost.  This type of pile will kill weed seeds and diseases because it reaches much higher temperatures (about 160°), but be aware that it may also kill beneficial bacteria.  A cool compost is a much better solution. 

Another alternative is to check with your local city councilor to see if your region hosts Community Days.  Community Days are growing in popularity in the United States and Canada.  Hosted twice each year (usually Spring & Fall), Community Days often ask citizens to bring their recycling items, unwanted clothing and used electronics to a central location for collection & re-distribution.  The last five years, Community Days have also included “bag your own compost” services.  Free compost is available.  Anyone with a shovel and bucket can tote away as much compost as they can carry.

It’s easy to know when your compost pile is ready for use.  When your compost pile no longer resembles what you put into it, it’s ready to be used.  Just mix into your soil for strong, healthy plants.

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR WEBSITE: You can as long as you include this blurb: The Experts at Everything Outside show you how to get started with the comprehensive book, “Organic Gardening for Beginners.” Learn everything you need to know to garden without the use of chemicals or other harmful substances! Visit http://www.everythingoutside.com/products/organic_gardening/ for more information.

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Posted on March 18th, 2008 by Deborah Carraro
Filed under: Articles, Gardening, Tips | No Comments »

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Just returned from a trip to the cottage where I experienced a different kind of luck.  The house is swarming with ladybugs.  These cute little critters got in somehow and have been having a good old time zipping around the cottage during the week when no one is around. 

I love ladybugs.  They’ve always been one of my favorite bugs, especially now that I’ve become an avid gardener as they feed on aphids which are pests in many gardens and orchards.  They also bring luck.  Our house was full of hundreds of ladybugs - I really should have bought a lottery ticket on the way home.  Being the crazy Aunt that I am and knowing that this upcoming Easter weekend will be spent at the cottage with nephews in tow, I decided to bone up on my ladybug facts and pick up a cool little science experiment to try.

Ladybug Facts

• There are nearly 5,000 different kinds of ladybugs worldwide and 400  which live in North America.
• A female ladybug will lay more than 1000 eggs in her lifetime.
• Ladybugs make a chemical that smells and tastes terrible so that birds and other predators won’t eat them.
• The spots on a ladybug fade as the ladybug gets older.
• A lady bugs top flying speed is about fifteen miles per hour.

Ladybug Legends

• If you find a ladybug in your house, count the number of spots and that is how many dollars you will soon receive.
• In Sweden, folks believe that if a ladybug lands on a young maiden’s hand, she will soon be getting married.
• In France, if you are sick and a ladybug lands on you, when it flies away, it will take the sickness with it.
• In Brussels, the black spots on the back of a Ladybug indicate to the person holding it how many children he/she will have.
• If you find a ladybug in your house in the winter you will have good luck.

Ladybug Black Light Trap

And finally, since I’m the aunt to two wonderful boys, we’re going to create a ladybug trap.  I’ve found a great little project to do with the boys.  USDA scientists in Georgia developed a trap that uses no insecticide and it catches the beetles alive for future release or disposal. The trap is about 12″ x 24″ and reportedly can be easily assembled or disassembled in as little as two minutes. CLICK HERE to access the details for building your own blacklight trap.

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Posted on March 17th, 2008 by Deborah Carraro
Filed under: Gardening, Holidays, Tips | No Comments »

We’ve been hard at work compiling an eBook about Organic Gardening to offer to our readers.  Statistics show that nearly thirteen-percent of us consume harmful chemicals at the dinner table each and every night.  Our produce is routinely covered with pesticides.  We know that pesticides are definitely dangerous to human health.  We also know that one of the best things we can do to avoid pesticides is to consume organic food. However, this isn’t always possible due to several restraints: availability, price, etc.  Take a look at the list of the top 8 contaminated fruits: 

#1: Peach
#2: Strawberry
#3: Apple
#4: Nectarine
#5 Pears
#6 Cherry
#7 Red raspberries
#8 Imported grapes (Chile, Mexico, etc.)

Some of these fruits, such as peaches and nectarines and raspberries, can contain up to 45 different pesticides!  Overall, studies show that those fruits have a high chance of being contaminated with a good number of different pesticide residues.

As for the vegetables, those that are the most likely to expose you to pesticide residues are:

#1 Celery
#2 Spinach
#3 Potatoes
#4 Sweet Bell Pepper

So what can you do to protect your health and the health of your family?

With our comprehensive book, “Organic Gardening for Beginners”, you can learn nearly everything you need to know to garden without the use of chemicals or other harmful substances!

Organic gardening isn’t a new age science. What it can be, though, is a new way of looking at the way you feed yourself and your loved ones! It’s all really quite simple. Learn organic gardening the simple way – with this amazing eBook!

Click here for more information.

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Posted on March 11th, 2008 by Deborah Carraro
Filed under: Gardening, Product Spotlight | 1 Comment »

Here at Everything Outside we recently featured Citrus Fruit Trees on our blog.  Turns out, Martha Stewart loves these little trees too!

Excerpted from MarthStewart.com

Many people have a misconception that fruit is difficult to grow indoors, but it’s not. Fruit can be maintained in a pot and does quite well inside as long as you have a sunny window.

Calamondin Orange (Citrofutnella mitis variegate)
The calamondin orange, a cross between a kumquat and an orange, is a favorite among gardeners for its variegated foliage and its small ornamental fruit. The flowers are extremely fragrant and the fruit, which is very sour, is used to make marmalade. Once established in a pot, the calamondin orange is very easy to grow. Keep it in full sun and fertilize it twice a month in the active growing season. It will flower in late winter or early spring and fruit thereafter. The fruit will hold on for an awesome ornamental display for months.

Citrus “Sunquat”
The sunquat, one of the most prolific and free-fruiting citruses, is a cross between a sweet Meiwa Kumquat and a lemon. Unlike other citruses, there is no uniformity to the size of the fruit, which is determined more by the size of the plant and the amount of fruit on the tree. To create a full specimen of the sunquat, which, like a giant kumquat, is eaten skin and all, prune it at an early age to encourage branching, which, in turn, produces stronger limbs for the fruit to hold to.

Cinnamon (Cinnamonum Zelanicum)
Many people don’t realize that cinnamon is harvested from bark by simply scraping it. In the summer, spires of white flowers form on the plant. The leaves have a scent but the richest cinnamon scent is in the bark. Cinnamon, which is a slow grower, is easy to grow and doesn’t need an acidic potting soil. To make perpetual cinnamon, place three or four cinnamon sticks in a glass bottle and cover it with vodka. After four weeks, the cinnamon flavor will be extracted out of the cinnamon. Use the cinnamon extract just like you would cinnamon powder. Each time you use the extract, simply refill with vodka. Perpetual cinnamon lasts for three or more years.

Papaya (Carica papaya)
Papaya will keep growing, but to maintain it as a manageable container plant, you can prune back the big stems. Fruit will form on a 12- to 24-inch-tall plant. A papaya plant will begin fruiting within 6 months; it takes seven to eight months to ripen once the fruit appears. Papaya requires full sun, warm temperatures (65-plus), moderate fertilizer, and regular watering.

Coffee (Coffea Arabica)
The coffee berries are ripe and ready to be harvested once they have turned red. Once harvested, the berries must be split open; they contain two beans that bust be dried, roasted, and ground. There are enough beans on a tree to make a whole pot of coffee. A coffee tree, which has extremely fragrant flowers, will produce beans year-round and usually flower twice a year — in the spring and fall. The plant needs full sun, must be kept above 60 degrees, and must be watered and fertilized every other week during the active growing period.

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Posted on March 1st, 2008 by Deborah Carraro
Filed under: Potters & Planters | No Comments »