Weed Control in Your Flower Beds

I think that "pre emergent" weed control is the best type of weed control. What is pre emergent weed control? A pre emergent is a substance that is used to control weeds before they can germinate or grow. The Happy Gardener carries an awesome pre emergent weed control that is made exclusively of corn gluten and sea vegetables. While initially developed for use on lawns, (called Lawn Weed N Feed) it can also be used in flower beds to control weeds before they can get started. The NPK is approx 3-3-3.

Using the weed control is easy; you simply sprinkle it into the dirt in the flower bed, mix it in a bit in the dirt, water it down and plant your flowers and plants. If you are going to use a weed abatement fabric or other type of weed control along with the pre emergent, put the pre emergent on first, mix it in, water it into the soil, then cover with the fabric before planting. Watering it into the soil allows it to sink deep and catch any weeds that might be hiding down there.

The Lawn Weed N Feed pre emergent weed control from The Happy Gardener protects against crabgrass, dandelions, clover, foxtail, purslane, creeping bentgrass, smartweed, redroot pigweed, barnyard grass, Bermuda grass. So if you want to keep any of those, don’t use this product! Not sure why you would want to keep it, but there ya go. Also keep in mind that this product will not kill already established weeds, but will keep new ones from germinating and growing. So you'll have to pull up whatever weeds may currently be thriving in your plantings.

Also be careful and make sure you know what you are planting. Some plants that have beautiful flowers can actually be considered weeds, especially if you are planting native plants. So know your plants before using this product!

Happy Gardening!

Lauri
Independent Garden Consultant
The Happy Gardener
www.thehappygardener.info
loresgardens@yahoo.com

Why Organic Lawn Products Are Important

Organic Lawn Feed N Weed
from The Happy Gardener








Did you know that seventy million pounds of pesticides are applied each year to lawns that are also home to beneficial species such as earthworms, which actually harms lawn health? And once you use pesticides, what happens to those beneficial species? Well of course they die off and chances are slim they will be back for some time once you’ve used chemicals. In order for your lawn to be healthy, some pests are necessary to create a happy balance in the soil. If you kill them all off, you essentially kill off your lawn too because eventually it will grow weak and die. Earthworms, as an example, do two great things for your lawn; they help to aerate the soil and their “castings” (their poop) are a healthy fertilizer for the soil.

The use of Happy Gardener organic lawn fertilizers can avoid the destruction of those beneficial species. Our Lawn Weed N Feed is made from 100% certified organic sea vegetables and corn gluten. That’s all. It is safe for all plants, wildlife, humans and the environment. You won’t find any other ingredient, and especially no chemicals, in our products. Best of all, used twice a year it will help the roots of your lawn grow strong, the color will be greener and the overall health will be so much better. It will also help your lawn to be a little more drought tolerant and will help to eliminate weeds before they can even begin to grow.

Did you know…

• Many common lawn pesticides are toxic to fish, frogs, and other aquatic organisms.
• Species that live or feed on turf, such as robins, raccoons, squirrels, and bees are highly exposed to lawn chemicals.
• An estimated 67 million birds are lost each year to pesticides on farmland alone.
• Chemical lawn and garden pesticides are a leading cause of bird mortality in New York.
• Domestic pesticide use now accounts for the majority of wildlife poisonings reported to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Why would you want to use anything other than organic? Go to www.thehappygardener.info and check out our lawn products. Remember when you order, use my name, Lauri Brow, as your Garden Consultant. You’ll be glad you did.


Lauri
Independent Garden Consultant
The Happy Gardener
www.thehappygardener.info
loresgardens@yahoo.com

Horned Tomato Worms!

Yesterday I took out my spent tomato plant. It had withered and dried up and it was past time to let it go. I decided to use the pot to grow Sweet Peas in. They were my mom’s favorite and I wanted to grow them for her.

After I took the old tomato plant out, I started digging into the dirt with my trowel to loosen it up and get it ready for seeds. I had been germinating the seeds for 12 hours in water with SeaResults Micronutrient Solution from the Happy Gardener. I dug and dug into that dirt, picking up clumps and breaking them up to be sure the soil was nice and soft for the new seeds. As I got to the bottom, an interesting little item came up with the dirt. It was a cocoon of some sort that had been buried at the bottom of the dirt. “What in the heck is this?” I thought to myself. I had no idea what could have cocooned itself in the dirt as I always thought butterflies, moths and the like were above ground cocoon creatures.









Since I had no idea what it was, I decided to get rid of it. I threw it out and went back to my dirt and planting my Sweet Pea seeds.

Today I did a little investigating via our friends at Google. It turns out this nasty creature was the larvae of a horned tomato worm! EWW! I remember these nasty things from when I was a kid. My dad grew tomatoes all the time and he was constantly on the watch for these things. When he found them, he’d go out to the garden with a pair of scissors and cut the darned things in half to be sure they died. Gross!! I still remember that to this day it grossed me out so much! Anyway, once I discovered what this was, I was all grossed out once again. These things can do big time damage to your tomato plants!







Tomato Hornworms feed on leaves and stems of tomato plants. Sometimes they will also eat the fruits in the late summer months. They also feed on peppers, eggplant and potatoes and can defoliate a plant in just a few days. There can be two generations of tomato hornworms every year. A bunch of them can spell disaster in your garden! Once these little buggers have grown up, they become a huge moth called the five-spotted hawkmoth. These guys can get as big as hummingbirds!








It’s important that if you find these guys on your tomato plants or the larvae in the dirt, you get rid of it immediately! They will absolutely eat your plants up.

I can say that while I was grossed out, I’m SO glad I found that thing before I planted my Sweet Peas! Not sure if it would have damaged them or not, but I don’t want to find out.

Happy Gardening!

Lauri
Independent Garden Consultant
The Happy Gardener
www.thehappygardener.info
loresgardens@yahoo.com

Trees - A Breath of Fresh Air!

The ideal time to plant trees and shrubs is during the dormant season in the fall after leaf drop or early spring before budbreak. Weather conditions are cool and allow plants to establish roots in the new location before spring rains and summer heat stimulate new top growth.






Did you know:

• Trees keep our air supply fresh by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen.
  In one year, an acre of trees can absorb as much carbon as is produced by a car driven up to 8700 miles.
• Trees provide shade and shelter, reducing yearly heating and cooling costs by 2.1 billion dollars.
• Trees lower air temperature by evaporating water in their leaves.
• The average tree in metropolitan area survives only about 8 years!
• A tree does not reach its most productive stage of carbon storage for about 10 years.
• Trees cut down noise pollution by acting as sound barriers.
• Tree roots stabilize the soil and prevent erosion.
• Trees improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds.
• Trees provide protection from downward fall of rain, sleet, and hail as well as reduce storm run-off and the possibility of flooding.
• Trees provide food and shelter for wildlife.
• Trees located along streets act as a glare and reflection control.
• The death of one 70-year old tree would return over three tons of carbon to the atmosphere.

Trees renew our air supply by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen. The amount of oxygen produced by an acre of trees per year equals the amount consumed by 18 people annually. One tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year and one acre of trees removes up to 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide each year. Shade trees can make buildings up to 20 degrees cooler in the summer and trees lower air temperature by evaporating water in their leaves.

Tree roots stabilize soil and prevent erosion. Trees improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water, as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds. The cottonwood tree seed is the seed that stays in flight the longest. The tiny seed is surrounded by ultra-light, white fluff hairs that can carry it on the air for several days.

Trees are the largest living organisms on earth. The record-setters are:

• The General Sherman, one of the tallest soft wood trees , is a giant redwood sequoia of California. General Sherman is about 275 ft or 84 m high with a girth of 25 ft or 8 m.
• The 236 ft or 72 m high Ada Tree of Australia has a 50 ft or 15.4 m girth and a root system that takes up more than an acre.
• The world's tallest tree is a coast redwood in California, measuring more than 360 ft or 110 m.
• The world's oldest trees are 4,600 year old Bristlecone pines in the USA.

No matter where you are, there can never be enough trees. So the next time you go to your local state fair and you see the display that gives away trees, pick one up, take it home and plant it! The more trees we have, the easier we can breathe!

Happy Gardening!

Lauri
Independent Garden Consultant
The Happy Gardener
www.thehappygardener.info
loresgardens@yahoo.com

Now is the Time to Start Your Compost Pile

Spring is a wonderful time of year for gardeners. All of the hard work done in the late summer and early fall begins to pay off and flowers bloom, trees grow leaves, grass grows and all things beautiful are in the garden. But one of the most important things you can do for your spring garden now is to start a compost pile. Since it takes a few months for waste to become compost, now is the time to start your compost pile so it has time to breakdown and become some of the most nutritious additions to your soil.

Compost is made up of a variety of items, both from your kitchen as well as your yard. Kitchen scraps such as vegetable peelings, fruit waste, tea bags (remove the staples), egg shells, coffee grounds, etc make excellent compost waste, along with grass cuttings, tree trimmings, leaves and other organic materials from your yard. Be careful not to put tree branches in your compost pile unless you’ve really chopped or ground them up. Otherwise, they’ll stay tree branches. You can also put scrunched up newspaper or brown paper bags and cardboard egg boxes, but know that these things take a little longer to rot so it could delay the “readiness” of your compost a bit.

You DO NOT want to put the following in your compost pile; meat of any kind, oil of any kind, dairy products, animal (or human) waste (including cat litter), weeds (such as dandelions and thistle), and of course any type of plastic, metal, glass, etc.

Normally compost can take 6 to 9 months for before it is ready for the soil, but there are a few things you can do to speed up the process a bit.

. Put your compost pile in a sunny spot. This will help the waste break down more quickly.
. Keep paper and fallen leaves out of the compost pile. While good for compost, these take longer to break down; it will take your pile longer to be soil-ready.
. Turn the pile once a week or more. Turning allows the compost to “cook” faster by aerating it.
. Add a little misting of water once a week or more. Water will help the breakdown process. Water is also important to help cool off the pile. As the waste breaks down, it heats up. You don’t want it getting above about 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
. Add a little dirt once in a while, but not too much; just a shovel full will do.

The Happy Gardener has an excellent compost bin (shown above) that you can use instead of putting a pile in your yard unprotected (generally not a great idea if you have mice or small animals around). Our backyard compost bin is high quality and made from recycled plastic. Its 11.4 cubic foot capacity can serve a household of up to five people and it has a locking lid that helps keep animals out and the compost in. It also has dual slide up doors that allow for even compost removal and custom placement including into a corner. It measures 11.4 cubic feet, 28” x 28” x 32" high and assembles quite easily with no tools needed.

We also have an odorless kitchen compost caddy. Made from recycled plastic, it has a strong, molded handle and includes a carbon filter in the lit that reduces odors. The snap-lock lid opens with one hand and it has a wide opening for easy access and cleaning. Dishwasher safe, it also has holes in the back for mounting on a wall or cabinet if you prefer. It measures 8 ½” x 9” x 11” and holds 2.4 gallons of kitchen waste. I love this product for two reasons; the filter keeps the nasty odor in instead of stinking up the kitchen and I don’t have to go out to the compost pile every day to take waste out. The caddy can hold enough that I only have to take it out every few days, even once a week.

I can’t stress enough how beneficial compost can be for your garden, whether you plant all over your yard or in containers. Adding some of the rich, luscious (for your plants) compost to your soil, along with some SeaResults once a month, will do a world of good for your garden and help keep it healthy all season.

We also have a variety of items to help you with your compost once you’ve got it going. Take a look at http://www.thehappygardener.com/ and click on “Shop with us”. There you will find a section of composting and rain barrel kits, along with accessories.

Don’t forget, if you’d like to place an order, use my name (Lauri Brow) as the Garden Consultant so your order is processed appropriately.

Happy Gardening!

Lauri
Independent Garden Consultant
The Happy Gardener
www.thehappygardener.info
loresgardens@yahoo.com

The Street Fair

The street fair went pretty well I think. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun and it was great meeting so many fellow gardeners, all with stories to share. I had a lot of questions on how to treat trouble spots in the garden and most of the time, the answer was one of our Happy Naturals™ Products from The Happy Gardener.

I had several compliments on the booth itself and how nice it looked. That made me feel really good. A few days before, my husband and I had spent the day setting up, making sure everything went where we thought was best and then taking it all down. Kind of a “trial run” so it was great to know the work paid off.

The next project is the Scripps Ranch Farmers Market. I have every Saturday scheduled there for the next 6 weeks. I’m going to take a few of the things that I learned from the street fair and use them at the Farmers Market. I think they will definitely improve things. The first Saturday at the Market is their grand opening at their new location. There will be a lot of people and a lot of publicity there, which should be good for business. The 2nd Saturday will be fun; it’s their Halloween costume day and the kids can come in costume, get candy, play games, etc. From what I understand there will be Star Wars characters there too which should be fun.

So it’s going to be a busy several weeks. My husband has graciously offered to help me because it’s all too much for one person (especially my age! Lol). He’s a huge help and I’m so glad he’s there!

On another note, this is true fall weather. Last week we had wonderful 75 degrees with cool ocean breezes coming in. This week, it’s 95 degrees with no breeze and hot hot hot! By Saturday, it could be drizzly and will definitely be cool. So with all these weather changes, I have to keep a close eye on my garden so my plants don’t get weak and confused as to which season it is. That could bring on disease and I sure don’t want that!
I am off now to do a little watering.

Happy Gardening!

Lore
Independent Garden Consultant
The Happy Gardener
www.thehappygardener.info
loresgardens@yahoo.com