Thrift shop finds are great for the garden

 

Thrift shops are a great source for finding inexpensive garden goods.

I love thrift shops AND they are very environmentally friendly, since they keep items out of the landfills. My favorite thrift shop find is anything that can be used in my gardens. I NEVER pass up any sort of usable bird house or watering can. You can never have too many of either. And old chairs, if they are cheap enough, can make wonderful private garden nooks or even plant stands. I put indoor plants in colorful mugs which can always be picked up for dimes or quarters and I love things that can hang from trees or from the rafters of our potting pergola.

And of course, if you want to create a scarecrow to help keep the birds away from your vegetable garden, a thrift store has everything you need.

So next time you drive by a thrift store, think of your garden. The more money you save on pots, planters and garden art, the more money you'll have to buy new plants! And many thrift stores are run by non-profit organizations raising money for their favorite causes. What's your favorite thrift store? Let us know!

Here's a great list I found online to help you start your search: Thrift Shops, Consignment Stores, and other ways to buy secondhand goods in the Washington DC Area

 

13 Ways to Find Good Luck in the Garden this Friday the 13th

Today is Friday the 13th. For those of you who are superstitious and immediately started wondering what sort of bad luck today is going to bring, I encourage you to take a walk around your garden this morning and look for some of these critters, plants and other garden finds that are thought to bring GOOD luck. If you keep looking long enough, you'll be sure to find at least one! And even if you don't, starting your morning in the garden is sure to provide enough pleasure to get you through whatever the day has in store for you.

1) Four Leaf Clover - The four leaf clover is a universally accepted symbol of good luck. According to legend, Eve even carried one with her as she left the Garden of Eden. What do the leaves symbolize? One leaf is for FAITH. The second for HOPE. The third for LOVE. And the fourth for LUCK! All I know is, I was holding a 4 leaf clover when I won a VERY LARGE prize in a local contest and I haven't stopped looking for them since.

2) Crickets - Hearing the chirping of a cricket is said to bring good luck to all that hear. In this case, however, imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery since imitating the sound of a cricket is said to bring bad luck.

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3) Ladybugs - Having a live ladybug land on you is said to brighten your day, give you patience with those around you, and most importantly, lessen your burdens. It must, however, be allowed to fly away of its own accord, and must not be brushed off. You may gently speed it on its way with a soft puff of air, and by the reciting the rhyme , "Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home. Your house is on fire and your children are gone." The deeper the ladybug's color, the better luck it brings. The number of spots on its back are also important. The more spots...the better the luck! Killing a ladybug is considered bad luck.

4) Bees - A bee landing on someone's hand is believed to mean money is on the way! Yay! If the bee settles on someone's head it means that person will rise to greatness. They were once considered to deliberately sting those who swore in front of them, and also to attack an adulterer or unchaste person; it was once held to be a sure sign that a girl was a virgin if she could walk through a swarm of bees without being stung.

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5) Dragonflies - Dragonflies are another lucky insect and were once considered to be a sign of "a good harvest". Other symbolic meanings associated with dragonflies, are prosperity, strength, courage, peace, harmony and purity.

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6) Birds - A bird call from the south is good for crops; from the west is good luck; from the east, good love. Some believe that if a bird poops on your car (or even your head - yuck) it is supposed to mean good luck.

7) Crows - Seeing crows are good luck, depending on how many you see. Two means luck, Three means health, Four means wealth.

8 ) Acorns - In Norse folklore, both the acorn and the oak tree bring good fortune. Carrying an acorn on you somewhere is said to ensure good luck and prosperity. Others believe that carrying an acorn will keep you young. Placing a single acorn on a windowsill is said to ward off lightening.

9) Rainbows - Rainbows are considered lucky because we all know if we find the end of the rainbow there will be pot of gold.

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10) Eggs - Eggs are thought to bring good weather, encourage the growth of crops and protect both cattle and children against misfortune, and ward off evil. I didn't find anything that said what KIND of egg, so maybe bird, lizard and butterfly eggs all count!

 11) Turtles -Turtles are believed to have power over all kinds of Bad luck.

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12) Frogs - The frog has been a symbol of prosperity, wealth, friendship and abundance in many cultures for centuries. For the Romans, the Frog was believed to bring Good Luck to one's home. The native Aborigines of Australia, believed that Frogs brought the thunder and rain, to help the plants to grow. Frogs are also said to be effective in speeding up recovery from disease. The Frog is also said to attract true friends and to help you find long-lasting love.

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13) Rabbits - A Rabbit's Foot has been a good luck symbol for the common man for ages. I think keeping the foot and the rabbit attached are better luck. Rabbits are supposed to symbolize fertility so seeing one could be lucky if you are trying to have more children.

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If you don't see any of these things on your garden walk, you can always try a couple of things to change your luck for the day.  

Knocking on Wood - It was once believed that good spirits lived in trees and that by knocking on anything made from wood, you could call upon these spirits for protection against misfortune.  

Put your clothes on inside out - No one seems to know how this superstition originated, but the belief that backwards or inside out clothing brings good luck continues to be widespread .

Happy Friday the 13th!

10 Tips for Creating a Wildlife Friendly Garden

It is hard to deny the magic that wildlife adds to a home landscape. Birds provide background music. Butterflies perform beautiful ballets as they dance from flower to flower. Squirrels and hummingbirds provide acrobatic displays that elicit both laughter and awe. Providing for these garden creatures allows you to help the environment while bringing a close-up view of nature that can restore a sense of wonder to you, your family and any visitors who are lucky enough to be invited to your private, peaceable kingdom.

Below are ten tips that you can use to create a backyard wildlife habitat:

1) Choose plants that provide food for birds and wildlife. Plants can be both host and larval foods for butterflies; can produce wildlife food sources such as acorns, nuts, berries and seeds; or can attract insects that are food for birds or reptiles.

2) Choose native plants. Native plants are, logically, often the best choice for native (local), wildlife. At the same time, native plants require less fertilizer, water and pest control, which helps to prevent groundwater pollution.

3) Provide supplemental feeders. Providing supplemental feeders often allows us to gain a better look at visiting wildlife. However, feeders need to be cleaned regularly to insure the health of visiting wildlife.

4) Provide a water supply. All wildlife needs a clean water supply for drinking. Others use water to bath, clean their food or even breed. A water supply such as a lake, pond or wetland can be the most exciting element in your garden because of the wildlife it will attract. Supplemental water supplies can be added with birdbaths or man-made ponds. Even shallow saucers of water placed on the ground or puddling areas will be welcome water supplies to low-level wildlife.

5) Provide shelter for wildlife. Dense trees and shrubs make excellent shelter for fleeing birds or small mammals. Add natural elements to your landscape to provide shelter. Rock piles, brush piles, and dense ground cover provide protection for reptiles, snakes and ground birds.

6) Avoid chemicals in your landscape! Chemicals can harm wildlife as well as the insects that they eat.

7) Garden with care. Many birds and other creatures raise their young in low bushes and shrubs. Butterflies raise their young (caterpillars) on some of our favorite garden plants. Mow, prune and trim with caution to avoid critter catastrophes.

8 ) Keep wandering pets out of wildlife areas. Scientists estimate that nationwide, hundreds of millions of birds and billions of small mammals are killed by dogs and cats each year.

9) Provide Places to Raise Young. Many of the items that provide shelter also provide places for wildlife to raise their young. Mature trees, dense shrubs, fallen logs, hollow trees and dens in the ground are perfect nesting locations for many animals. Larval host plants are considered places to raise young for a butterfly garden. Supplemental items such as nest boxes and bat boxes can also be added to a habitat.

10) Practice eco-friendly gardening. Everything you do in your landscape can have an effect on the overall health of the soil, air, water and habitat for native wildlife. Visit the Metro DC Lawn and Garden blog often to learn how to create a landscape that is healthy for you and for local wildlife.

Once you have created your wildlife habitat, you can join the thousands of other enthusiasts who have been recognized for their efforts by applying for certification through the National Wildlife Federation's Certified Wildlife Habitat Program.

Creating a wildlife habitat is definitely a wonderful way to help take care of your share of the planet.

Discover the wonders of Wildlife Wednesday

It's another great Wildlife Wednesday! I have a strong belief that one of the best ways to encourage people to help protect the planet is to get them outside, eye-to-eye with the wee wonders in their landscapes! So Wildlife Wednesday was created to encourage everyone to take a break from their routines, step away from their keyboards, and get outside.

I am a self-confessed EXTREME nature nerd. And yet, sometimes even I need to be reminded to pull myself away from life's other details and stop, look and listen to the wonders of nature around me. I hope that I can encourage some of the rest of you to do the same.

Here's how Wildlife Wednesday works.

• Every Wednesday, I encourage all readers to wander through their property and take a photo of whatever critter is visiting at the time. Birds, butterflies, hummingbirds, snakes, deer - think of this as the Noah's Ark of the Internet. Every critter is welcome.
• Next, create a post on your own blog, including a little bit about where and when you saw the critter. Include photos, of course!
• Now, visit the Metro DC Lawn and Garden blog Wildlife Wednesday post and add your name and url on the Mr. Linky widget. Then leave a comment to tell us what wonderful wildlife you saw so we can pay you a virtual visit!

If you don't have your own blog, feel free to email me with a photo. I'll be happy to add your photo to our blog to share with the world!

If you don't HAVE any wildlife in your landscape, then your gardens might need a little eco-tweaking. Environmentally friendly landscapes that incorporate native plants and eliminate chemicals just naturally attract more birds and butterflies and other little critters. So keep visiting the Metro DC Lawn and Garden blog and we'll help you create an environmentally friendly landscape that rolls out the welcome mat for wildlife!

Have fun! I can't wait to share your wildlife wonders with the world!

August is National Water Quality Month

As gardeners, when we think about water, our main thought is often about how to get it to our plants when they need it and we don’t have enough. The water that flows off of our property sometimes seems insignificant. After all, if it’s flowing off, it’s EXTRA water. And it just makes more sense to be concerned about something that is lacking than something that is overflowing.

But the truth is that what happens to water while it is on our property is very important to the health of our local water bodies. Water that flows from our landscapes finds its way into local streams, lakes and other water bodies, taking with it any chemicals, pollution, pet waste or other debris that it picks up in the process. National Water Quality Month was created to help remind people of the importance of protecting our ground water supplies.

To help protect local water supplies, keep these things in mind:

• Reduce rainwater runoff by using rain barrels, or creating rain gardens. Turn downspouts of rain gutters into planted areas instead of toward paved surfaces such as driveways. Make sure sprinklers are not watering the streets and driveways instead of the plants.
• Avoid blowing or sweeping lawn clippings or other debris into the street, where they will eventually be washed into local water supplies. A better solution is to leave grass clippings on your lawn after mowing to supply nutrients back into the soil. Composting is another way to reuse leaves, grass clippings and other small cuttings.
• Practice water-friendly landscaping techniques such as Bayscaping, which encourage the use of native plants.
• Reduce or eliminate chemicals in your landscape. When possible, use environmentally friendly alternatives to pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides.
• If you must use fertilizers with higher chemical contents, weed killers or pesticides, make sure only to use the amount and frequency directed on the label and only on the affected areas. Remember, in this case, more is not better.
• If using a fertilizer, choose one that contains at least 30 percent slow-release nitrogen. Also, check the three numbers on the front of the bag to select the right mixture for the type of plant you are fertilizing. The numbers represent the fertilizer's nitrogen (first number), phosphorus (second number) and potassium (third number) contents. High nitrogen fertilizers on a plant that does not need it is a waste of money and will eventually be washed away by stormwater if not used by the plant.
• Use permeable surfaces such as pavers, stone and mulch. Permeable surfaces allow water to seep into the ground rather than being washed away into the street. This holds moisture in your landscape, where it can be utilized, and keeps pollutants out of the waterways.

For more information about protecting water quality from your landscape, visit these sites:

Water Quality Stewardship Guide from Fairfax County Virginia

Bayscapes – Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay

Home Landscape Practices to Protect Water Quality – Virginia Cooperative Extension

Follow Friday - Wonderful local garden blogs

When it comes to gardening, one of the best places to learn is from our fellow gardeners. So I've started a list of some of the great local garden blogs (Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia) I've found. The list is by no means complete. If you have a local garden blog, or know of one that is missing from the list, please send me the info through email or add it in a comment below this post. If your blog is listed and you would also like people to be able to follow you on twitter, include that info too! I'll keep the list up to date, so feel free to link to it or share it with others. And thanks to all of the great garden bloggers out there who have chosen to share their gardens with the world!

** Some local garden blogs I've found:

• A Leafy Indulgence: A backyard gardener's journal that shares the experiences, thoughts, and resources from Alexandria Virginia.
• A Maryland Country Garden: blogger Julia Green writes about her garden in an outer suburb of Washington, DC on 6.4 acres
• Bumblebee: Living the Good Life: Blog about making gardens that are beautiful as well as bountiful, written by Robin Ripley of Calvert County, MD.
• Caroline's Garden Record: A year in a zone 7 Virginia garden, recorded in words and pictures...Created by Caroline
• Central Virginia Organic Gardener: A guide to organic gardening in the mid-Atlantic states, with some specifics to central Virginia..and some information applicable across the country! Written by Judy Thomas
• Diggin' In: Kathy Van Mullekom specialize in habitat, organic and environmentally friendly gardening. She loves gardening for songbirds!
• Garden Putter:Where in the world does it all come together? In the garden. Written by Beth Py-Lieberman
• Garden Shoots: A Landscape Designer Branches Out: Beautiful blog by local garden designer / photographer Melissa Clark
• Garden Variety: A blog for the Mid-Atlantic gardener by The Baltimore Sun's Susan Reimer
• GardenWise Blog: Tips and advice to keep your garden beautiful by local landscape expert, J. Mark White, ASLA
• GCV Horticulture: Horticulture Updates from Members of the Garden Clubs of Virginia
• Gotta Garden:passionate gardener (no!); former master gardener volunteer; daylily enthusiast;
• Greenish Thumb: sharing the thrill of the dig, the joy of the harvest, decadent eats, and profoundish musings along the way... Created by Wendy in Maryland
• MacGardens: A gardener's world from the hill on Ball Rd •This blog is meant to capture my observations as an itinerant gardener on seven acres of stony hillside in mid-Maryland (Frederick County to be precise). By John Willis
• My Brown Thumb: I am a scientist in Bethesda, MD (Zone 6B). I love my pets, good food, good beer, and trying to garden.
• My Virtual Maryland Garden: A blog exploring the pleasures of gardening in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA...created by Jim McKenney
• One Plant at a Time: Maryland Gardener Zone 7. Digging into her thoughts and passions about her Gardens,Photography, Crafts, Life and her Family.
• The Photo Garden Bee: Another beautiful blog by a photographer who loves to visit gardens
• Virginia Organic Gardener Podcasts - by Judy Thomas
• Washington Gardener: Blog for Washington Gardener Magazine

** Please only submit blogs that are written to share gardens, NOT sell products.

Thanks!

Kid's learn about beneficial insects the fun way!

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) has come up with a fun, hands-on way to teach local youths about the benefits of beneficial insects.

On Thursday evening, August 5, between 7:30 and 8:30 pm, volunteers -- including two 4-H groups and two Girl Scout troops -- will release 450,000 ladybugs into WSSC's Azalea Garden in an effort to rid the garden of mealy bugs.

Located at 2 Brighton Dam Road in Brookeville, WSSC’s Azalea Garden is more than 50 years old and features 20,000 bushes. In addition to being a perennial favorite with visitors, the Azalea Garden helps prevent erosion at Brighton Dam. But recently, the azalea's have been invaded by mealybugs.

Mealy bugs suck the fluids from leaves and stems, robbing plants of essential nutrients. They feed on all parts of the plant, but especially on tender new growth.

Ladybugs are known enemies of mealy bugs. WSSC decided to follow the USDA’s environmentally friendly recommendation of using lady bugs to eat the mealy bug. Chuck Shuster, Montgomery County Extension Director, helped WSSC calculate the number of ladybugs needed for the five-acre garden.

On the night of the release, volunteers will don dark clothing and use spray bottles to apply sugar water onto the azalea bushes. They will then help release the ladybugs in three separate areas. Drawn by the sugar water, the ladybugs will begin their task. Because ladybugs are attracted to light, the dark clothing won’t distract them from their main mission: to reach the bushes and the mealy bugs.

For more information, contact Kim Knox, 301-206-8100

Construction projects aim to “green” Virginia’s Capitol

Gov. Bob McDonnell broke ground Tuesday on a set of construction projects that will retrofit the Capitol and make it one of the greenest in the nation.

Key projects on the capitol grounds and Richmond streets will include:

• Porous brick pavers will replace terraced steps leading down from the Washington equestrian statue.
• Rain gardens will be installed in front of the Bell Tower, the Darden Garden parking area, and on 9th and 10th streets.
• A system will be developed to collect stormwater runoff and redirect the water into the irrigation system on Capitol grounds.
• Porous pavers will be installed in the alleys of 5th and 12th streets.
• A new sidewalk with porous pavers will be installed that will run by the front of the Edgar Allen Poe statue and adhere to the Capitol Square Landscape Master Plan. The entire project should be complete by spring of 2011. Click here to read MORE

Great Maryland Lawn Mower Event on August 14

Trade in gas-powered mowers for discounts on electric models. Help protect regional air quality.

BALTIMORE, Md., Aug. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, August 14, Maryland residents are invited to turn in their old gas-powered lawn mowers and purchase deeply-discounted, select electric lawn mowers at The Great Maryland Lawn Mower Exchange event. Most people identify air pollution problems with industry and power plants, and the emissions from cars and trucks. However, lawn mowers and other outdoor gas-powered equipment account for much of the region's air pollution and impact public health as well. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a conventional, gas-powered lawn mower can spew more pollution into our air in a year than a car driven more than 20,000 miles. Electric lawnmowers are more convenient and environmentally-friendly than gas-powered mowers.

Participants will receive up to 66% off a new Neuton CE 5 or CE 6 battery-powered mower for trading in their old gas-powered mower. READ FULL ARTICLE

It's Wildlife Wednesday - What's in Your Garden?

Welcome to our third Wildlife Wednesday. This is how it works.

• Every Wednesday, I encourage all bloggers to wander through their property and take a photo of whatever critter is visiting at the time. Birds, butterflies, hummingbirds, snakes, deer - think of this as the Noah's Ark of the Internet. Every critter is welcome.  
• 
  
• Next, create a post on your own blog, including a little bit about where and when you saw the critter. Include photos, of course!
• Now, visit the Metro DC Lawn and Garden blog Wildlife Wednesday post and add your name and url on the Mr. Linky widget. Then leave a comment to tell us what wonderful wildlife you saw so we can pay you a virtual visit!

If you don't have your own blog, the National Wildlife Federation has a Facebook Page for posting Wildlife Wednesday photos.

If you don't HAVE any wildlife in your landscape, then your gardens might need a little eco-tweaking. Environmentally friendly landscapes that incorporate native plants and eliminate chemicals just naturally attract more birds and butterflies and other little critters. So keep visiting the Metro DC Lawn and Garden blog and we'll help you create an environmentally friendly landscape that rolls out the welcome mat for wildlife!

Have fun! I can't wait to share your wildlife wonders with the world!