Stool or Table?

I love these multi-functional stools by OFFI and Company. The design is inspired by Tiki mugs and barware from the 60’s. Why bother with standard folding chairs? This is a fun solution for entertaining family and friends, inside or outside.

Attracting Wildlife To Your Garden

Pest management comes to mind when I think about attracting wildlife to my garden. Pesticides are often used to eliminate those annoying creatures from damaging your tender plants. However, you also eliminate the beneficial insects and increase the risk of contaminating your local water supply. Harmful pests have natural enemies like birds, snakes, frogs and other beneficial insects. Selecting plants that provide food and shelter is a great way to attract beneficial predators. For more information on environmental friendly ways to eliminate pests click here. More resources for designing beautiful gardens that attract wildlife:

• A garden for birds
• Another great article from High Country Gardens on how to make birds happy
• Attract butterflies to your garden
• The Hummingbird Garden

Functional Ivy

There are no headaches with this Ivy Coat Rack from YouSayTomayto. You can have as little or as much ivy you want spreading across your walls. Create functional displays in your entryways, office or bedroom.

Weed Or Not To Weed

 

Yesterday’s temperature was 50 something degrees. Warm enough for me to go outside and see the first weed colonies trying to propagate every inch not claimed by my favorite perennials. Some gardeners have learned to live with a few weeds, or even eat them. I’m not one of them. However, I don’t suggest to go out to the local garden store and buy a big bottle of Roundup either. Glyphosate resistance has been reported in Austrailia and a handful of states in the US. Here are a few suggestions to tackle those undesirable perennial weeds:

 

• Hand-picking This is pretty self-explanatory. Many have found this method to be extremely time consuming, not to mention back-breaking, if you wait until summer. Commit this to memory, “give a weed an inch and it will take a yard!”

• Tools People have their favorites. Golden Rule: if a tool makes your job harder, then give it to your neighbor. Click here for 5 must-have tools, and pictures of how to use them, in an article from Fine Gardening Magazine.

• Pre-emergents For larger areas, a great organic alternative to chemicals is corn gluten. This is used to prevent new weed seedlings from growing but does not work on existing weeds. Be aware that corn gluten also works on grass seeds so don’t apply in combination when trying to patch bare spots in your lawn. Apply in spring or fall.

• Solarize This is a great way to let nature do the job for you. Stake down clear plastic over the area you wish to eradicate. Allow the sun to bake the weeds into oblivion for 4-6 weeks during the hottest part of the year. I used this option as a last resort one year in my 4 by 20 foot parking strip. The downside to this method is that many of the beneficial microorganisms that live in the soil can be killed in the process.