How to Make Compost

 Compost is like a mulch and fertilizer all mixed together.  If you're a gardener, you know how great it can be for your soil.  It adds valuable nutrients,  helps clay soil drain better, and sandy soil retain water.  So how do you make a compost pile?

1. Choose an area that is out of sight, yet convenient to your garden.  You don't want to have to look at your compost pile every day, but you also don't want to walk a million miles to get to it.

2.  Gardening stores sell all kinds of composting bins.  Some can get kind of expensive.  If you're short on cash, you can use a stiff wire mesh to contain your compost.  The ideal size is 3 ft by 3 ft by 3 ft.  Compost breaks down quickly with that size.

3.  Compost is made up of two basic things:  green garden debris and brown garden debris.  Green debris includes stuff like raw vegetable peelings from your kitchen, coffee grounds, grass clippings, and animal manure from herbivores (don't use dog feces or cat litter!)  Brown debris includes things like dry leaves, newspapers, and sawdust.  Things NOT to include are meat, oil, dairy, or plants treated with herbicides.  Green ingredients are high in nitrogen.  Brown ingredients are high in carbon.

4.  You'll want a mix with the ratio one part green debris to two parts brown debris.  Too much green debris makes your pile stink.  So, if your pile is smelling bad, up the brown debris - add newspapers.

5.  To jump start the microbial action, toss in a shovelful of finished compost or garden soil.

6.  Your pile should be moist, but not too moist.  Add some water if it starts to dry out.

7.  Turn the pile once a week to keep the airflow continuous.

8. Your compost should be finished in about two months.  You'll know it's done when you can't tell what any of the original materials were.

Crocus

 Have the crocuses started coming up in your yard?  Mine have.  I just love these little flowers.  They're usually the first sign that winter is almost over.  There are about 80 different species of crocuses.  They are native to Europe, North Africa, Greece, the Middle East, and Central Asia.  The word, "crocus" comes from an Arabic word meaning "saffron yellow."

Crocuses have cup shaped flowers that taper into a narrow tube.  They come in an assortment of colors, but the most popular are lilac, mauve, yellow, and white.  They also have thin, grass-like leaves.  Usually when you see crocuses in garden catalogues, they're listed in two categories:  Giant Dutch Crocuses, and Snow Crocuses .  (These include everything that is not a Giant Dutch Crocus.)
So what's the difference?  Giant Dutch Crocuses are, well, bigger.  They're about 4-6 inches tall.  The Snow Crocus, on the other hand, has a smaller bulb, and therefore has smaller flowers.  The plus side for the Snow Crocus, is that it has more flowers per bulb, and that it blooms two weeks earlier than the Giant Dutch Crocus.

 Both catagories prefer sun and well-drained soil.  The Giant Dutch Crocuses are good in zones 4-8.  Plant them at least 4 inches deep.  The Snow Crocuses are good in zones 3-9.  Plant them at least 3 inches deep.  Crocuses are great for naturalizing, and for use in rock gardens.  Since they multiply yearly, you will probably have to separate the bulbs every couple of years.

Leila Arboretum

 Leila Arboretum is located in Battlecreek, Michigan.  It's a place with a lot of history!  Battlecreek is known as "cereal city" because cereal was first invented there by Dr. Kellogg in 1894.  The Leila Arboretum dates back to 1922, when Leila Post Montgomery, wife of the big cereal businessman, C. W. Post (of Post cereal), donated 72 acres of land to the city.  In 1924, landscape architect, T. Clifton Shepherd, designed the gardens.

  

There is a wonderful one-acre children's garden that you'll want to visit, if you have kids.  It features five different sections.  The first is the Healthy Me garden.  It has a big red bowl filled with various salad vegetables.  A huge spoon and fork stick up out of the bowl.  There are also four mini gardens surrounding the bowl:  a pizza garden, a spa garden (growing in a bathtub), a top 10 veggies garden, and an healing herb garden.



There's a Cereal Bowl garden that tells all about the history of the city, and how cereal is made.  The Four Winds garden was designed by local Potawatomi Indians, and it gives the Indians' plant and color representations of the four directions, North, South, East, and West.  One of the most popular features is the Rain and Shine Friends/ABC garden.  It features a giant balloon (pictured above) where kids can step inside and pretend that they're soaring over the gardens.  There's also a feature where kids can be a human sundial.  I really like the ABC garden.  There are plants for every letter of the alphabet.  Finally, there's a Cupola Science Plaza where kids can learn about how plants contribute to science.

 Leila Arboretum is open daily from dawn to dusk.  Admission is free.

Aullwood Park

 Aullwood Park, located in Dayton, Ohio, is a 31-acre park that was donated by Marie Aull to the Five River Metroparks in 1977.  It's an historic estate garden with numerous native and exotic flowers.

 

There are hiking trails through the park that allow you to enjoy all of the beautiful plants.  Every season is different.  In the spring, you'll see tulips, daffodils, lenten roses, and wildflowers.  In May, the Lilac Lawn smells absolutely heavenly.  You might even see clematis vines growing in the shrubs.  In June, look for the gorgeous peonies.  And in July and August, check out the butterfly garden, magic lilies, and begonias.

 

If you visit the park, take the time to find these attractions:  a bur oak tree with the 1913 flood watermark, and a twin sycamore tree that was alive in 1492, when Columbus discovered America.

 The gardens are open April 1 - October 31 from 8 am - 10 pm, and November 1 - March 31, from 8 am - 8 pm.  Since it's part of a park, admission is free.

Ness Botanical Gardens

 The Ness Botanical Gardens are located near the English and Welsh border in Merseyside.  The gardens were first begun in 1898 by Arthur Kilpin Bulley, a cotton merchant from Liverpool.  Mr. Bully was very much interested in rare species of plants, and also in introducing plants from abroad to England.  He was particularly interested in Himilayan and Chinese mountains plants.  He sponsored expeditions to collect these plants, thus launching the career of renowned British plant collector, George Forrest.  To this day, Ness Botanical Gardens is known for its collect of rare and unusual species.

In 1948, Mr. Bully's daughter, Lois, gave the gardens to the University of Liverpool.  Most of the gardens are open to the public.  They cover about 50 acres, and feature a rock garden, water garden, herb garden, azalea walk, heather garden, and in indoor conservatory with tropical displays.

   

The Ness Botanical Gardens are open year-round from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm.  The cost is 6.50  British pounds for adults, and 3.00 British pounds for children.

Choosing the Right Fertilizer for Your Garden

It's almost time for gardening to begin.  And that means a little bit of soil fortification through fertilization.  Do all of the different fertilizers have you a bit confused?  If so, here's a brief tutorial.  There are three main ingredients in fertilizer bags:  nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.  Nitrogen is for foilage growth, phosphorus is for flowers and roots, and potassium is for overall health.  When you look on a bag of fertilizer, you'll see a set of three numbers.  These represent the percentages of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that are in the mix.  So, a 5-10-5 mix has 5% nitrogen, 10% phosphorus, and 5% potassium.

"Okay," you say.  "So what do I need?"  Well here's how you decide:

1.  Test your soil.  Those tests you get at the store will tell you your pH, but not necessarily what nutrients are missing in your soil.  So I would recommend contacting a government agency or local university to have a soil test done.  These are usually free (or there might be a small fee).  This will tell you exactly what kind of nutrients you will have to add to the soil in order to grow your desired plants.

2.  If you aren't able to test your soil, then pay attention to your plants to see what they need.  If the leaves on your plants are yellow and unhealthy, select a fertilizer with a high nitrogen count (21-3-3).  Be aware, if a plant has too much nitrogen, it won't produce flowers.  If you want to produce more flowers or fruit, choose a fertilizer with more phosphorus.  Note:  purplish leaves usually indicate a deficiency in phosphorus.

3.  If you want a general guideline, follow this:  1-2-1 is a great mix for vegetable gardens, 5-10-5 is a good all-purpose fertilizer.

4. There are also fertilizers for specifc plants.  Always follow the labels on the packaging when fertilizing your plants.  

Pine Trees

Pine trees are evergreen conifers that can be found all over the world.  There are about 115 species of pine.  Most are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but many have been introduced to places like Chile, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
    

Pines range in size from the smallest Siberian Dwarf Pine, which is a foot tall, to the Ponderosa Pines located in southern Oregon, which are over 250 feet tall.  Pines can live 100-1000 years.  The oldest is the Great Bason Bristlecone Pine in California, which is thought to be 4,600 years old.  It is the oldest living thing on earth.
 
Pines grow well in acidic soils.  Most require good drainage.  Pines make attractive ornamental plantings for larger gardens.  Some of the dwarf cultivars can be used for smaller spaces, though.

Did you know that pine trees can be used as a source of food?  You probably know about pine nuts.  Some species have these large seeds that can be used for cooking and baking. But I bet you didn't know that the white inner bark can be eaten.  It's surprisingly high in vitamins A and C.  A little trivia for you:  the Adirondack Indians get their name from a Mohawk word meaning "tree eaters."  They used to eat the wood of the pine.  A tea can also be made by seeping  young green pine needles in boiling water.  This too, is high in vitamins A and C.  Who knew the pine tree could be so versatile!