Tag Archive for plants

How to Set Up and Use a Bokashi Bucket for Indoor Composting

How to set up and use a bokashi bin

Bokashi is an alternative to traditional composting that allows you to turn kitchen waste into a valuable soil amendment for your garden using a process of anaerobic fermentation. It’s an easy, odorless, and eco-friendly way to deal with kitchen scraps.

How to Set Up and Use a Bokashi Bucket for Indoor Composting

Bokashi is an alternative to traditional composting that allows you to turn kitchen waste into a valuable soil amendment for your garden. Though the process is often referred to as “bokashi composting,” it is actually a process of fermenting organic waste material using specialized microbes rather than composting. A bran powder inoculated with specific bacteria is added to kitchen waste in an air-tight container to begin the fermentation process. Once the bucket is filled and allowed to age for two weeks, the fermented pre-compost can then be added directly to the soil to add nutrients and improve soil texture, or it can be added to a traditional compost pile and allowed to finish breaking down.

Bokashi composting can be done indoors and can odorlessly process waste that usually isn’t added to regular compost piles, such as oily foods, cooked foods, bones, dairy, and meat. Because of these unique features, bokashi composting is ideal for people who live in apartments or who are unable to manage a regular compost pile. Bokashi composting can even be a beneficial addition for people who do have a traditional compost pile and/or a worm bin simply because there is virtually no limit to the types of organic waste that can be processed by bokashi.

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A Guide to Portulacaria afra: The Elephant Bush

A Guide to the Elephant Bush

This is a guide to caring for one of my favorite succulents; the elephant bush. It includes information on basic care, propagation, different varieties, and fun facts about this plant.

A Guide to Portulacaria afra: The Elephant Bush

Elephant bush (Portulacaria afra) is a slow-growing, shrubby succulent plant native to South Africa. As a succulent, elephant bush is drought-tolerant and loves dry, sunny areas. It grows best in arid, desert-like environments.

Elephant bush gets its name from the fact that it is a favorite food of elephants. Other common nicknames for this plant include porkbush, spekboom, elephant food, and dwarf jade (though it is not closely related to the jade plant).

Elephant bush is a versatile succulent and can be grown to meet a number of different aesthetics. It’s trailing, leafy stems make it a good choice for hanging baskets. Because of its tree-like growth habit, it also makes for a relatively easy bonsai. Though it is rare for this plant to bloom when grown indoors as a houseplant, it is possible for it to produce clusters of pink or white star-shaped flowers in ideal growing conditions.

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A Guide to Ohio’s 13 Native Milkweed Species

Ohio's Native Milkweed Species

There are 13 native species of milkweed that occur in Ohio. This guide will help you to identify them.

A Guide to Ohio’s 13 Native Milkweed Species

Milkweed is a very important part of Ohio’s native ecosystem. It is critically important for Monarch butterflies, whose population have been in severe decline in recent years due to habitat loss from urban development, agriculture, and pesticide use. Monarch caterpillars rely on milkweed as their one and only food source, so this is where adult female monarch butterflies lay their eggs.

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How to Protect Milkweed Plants From Aphids, Naturally

Protect your milkweed plants from aphid attacks

Are aphids infesting your milkweed plants? Follow these tips to naturally get rid of aphids and prevent them from coming back, while keeping the monarch butterflies that visit your plants safe!

How to Protect Milkweed Plants From Aphids, Naturally

The most common aphid species you are likely to find infesting your milkweed plants is the tiny orange Aphis nerii, also known by the common names oleander aphid or milkweed aphid. These aphids suck the sap out of milkweed plants and can reduce flower and seed pod fertility of the plants. As an invasive species, beneficial native insects are less effective at controlling them than they are in controlling native aphid species. In extreme cases of infestation, aphids may completely kill your milkweed plants, destroying the monarch butterfly habitat you worked so hard to create.

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Five Great Native Flowers for Pollinator Gardens in Northeast Ohio

Ohio native plants for pollinators

Attract local pollinators, including bees and butterflies, to your Northeast Ohio garden with these 5 native flowers.

Five Great Native Flowers for Pollinator Gardens in Northeast Ohio

A pollinator garden is simply a garden that features many plants preferred by pollinator species, such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Of all the food that humans (and all other creatures) rely on to survive, 80% requires pollination by insects or other animals. Due to human influence in causing climate change, habitat loss, and pollution, pollinator species populations have been rapidly declining in recent years.

By planting a pollinator garden in your own backyard, you can help to do your part in restoring populations of these important species. By planting native pollinator-friendly plants, you help to feed and restore habitat for these creatures that we rely on for our own survival.

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The Magical History of Garden Gnomes

The Magical History of Garden Gnomes

Garden gnomes are fun and whimsical additions to any garden, but did you know that these figurines have a rich and fascinating history?

The Magical History of Garden Gnomes

If you have a garden or front yard, you are likely familiar with the popular garden ornament known as the “garden gnome.” Though you may have never considered the origins of these whimsical little tchotchkes, these miniature statues have a long and mysterious history. Garden gnomes as we know them today have only been manufactured in the last two centuries, but earlier versions of these garden guardians have been livening up gardens for hundreds of years.

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How to Set up the Worm Factory 360 Vermicomposting System: Getting Started With Worm Composting

How to Set Up the Worm Factory 360

I’ve been using the Worm Factory 360 for about a year and a half now. I got it mainly to use as a means of reducing waste that I sent to the landfill. The resulting compost/worm castings are great for using in the garden and on flower beds. Since starting the Worm Factory, I’ve also started a regular compost pile in my back yard, and I’ve just started a “lasagna” compost bed where my garden is going to be next year. There is no reason to send kitchen scraps and yard waste to the landfill when you can use them to create excellent fertilizer for your lawn and garden. This article is about setting up the Worm Factory 360 to get started with vermicomposting.

The Worm Factory 360 vermicomposting system makes composting accessible, even to people with little space. Though initially setting up a worm bin may seem daunting, this system is easy to set up and maintain by following these simple guidelines.

How to Set up the Worm Factory 360 Vermicomposting System: Getting Started With Worm Composting

The worm factory 360 is a vermicomposting system consisting of stackable trays, which makes indoor vermicomposting easy for anyone, even people with little space. This stackable vermicomposting system makes it simple to create and harvest vermicompost in your home. With traditional one-compartment vermicomposting bins, it is difficult to sort the worms and in-process compost material from the finished compost material. With this stackable worm bin, the worms migrate upward toward new food materials, and away from the finished compost, making harvesting the finished vermicompost easy. This nutrient-rich organic compost can be used on house plants or in your garden. Because the system allows new trays to be stacked on top of each other, this system also takes up little space, allowing anyone to begin composting in their home. If properly set up and maintained, the Worm Factory 360 does not smell bad, even when kept indoors. Even people living in city apartments or houses in the suburbs can compost at home and reduce the amount of trash they are sending to the landfill using this method.

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3D Printed Pokemon Planters

Pokemon-3D-Print-Planters

I recently decided that I needed some house plants, so I got a few 3D printed Pokemon planters from Etsy. I got the obvious Bulbasaur and Oddish, plus Chikorita, which has always been one of my favorite Pokemon.

Since I’m not much of a green thumb, I decided to go with succulents, cacti, and an air plant. These types of plants are supposed to be easy to take care of and difficult to kill. The planters are a bit small, so these plants may need to be transplanted to bigger containers eventually, however.

Pokemon-3D-Print-Planter-Bulbasaur-Oddish-ChikoritaThe Bulbasaur planter is really awesome. I bought this little guy from Etsy seller 3DUniPrint. It’s a high quality print and has a drainage hole on the bottom so I won’t drown my plant if I over-water it. I originally kept the plant with its original plastic pot sitting inside Bulbasaur, but then decided to just re-pot it directly inside of Bulbasaur using better cacti potting mix.

I got my Oddish and Chikorita planters from Etsy seller MultiForm3D. They aren’t as nice looking as Bulbasaur. They are both kind of rough around the edges. Chikorita has a weird bump around the top, and Oddish has a weird discoloration on his face. The discoloration is present on both Oddishes, so I believe it is an artifact from the printing process.

Pokemon-Plant-Collection-Chikorita-Bulbasaur-Oddish-CactiMy first Oddish had his foot broken off in transit, but the seller was nice enough to send a replacement. Oddish didn’t have drainage holes on the bottom, so I used the broken one to see if I could drill holes in it without cracking the plastic. Since the drilling was successful, I added drainage holes to the second one and super glued the foot back onto the broken Oddish. The foot came off again after the first super-gluing attempt, but the second attempt seems to be holding.

The opening on the Chikorita planter is too small for any regular potted plants I’ve seen, so I filled it with stones and got a small air plant to stick on top of its head. It looks cute, but the plant had a tendency to fall off sometimes. It would have been better if they had made this planter just a little bit bigger so that small plants that come in 2″ pots would fit.

Maractus-and-Cacnea-CactusI also got another cactus that wouldn’t fit in the Oddish planters, so I got a bigger ceramic planter and added a plastic Maractus and Cacnea figurine to keep with the Pokemon theme.

I’m thinking about getting a Venus fly trap later on and planting it in a similar way with a Carnivine figurine. I might wait and see how these plants do before getting types that need watered more often. If these plants do well for me throughout the winter, I will get some more types in the spring.

Don’t Buy Cacti from Home Depot

Angel Cactus in Oddish Planter with R2D2

I decided to get some house plants recently. I got a few cute Pokemon planters from Etsy and wanted some plants to put in them. I decided to go with cacti and succulents since they are supposed to be difficult to kill.

I bought two cacti at Home Depot earlier this week. When I got home and went to re-pot them, I found that one of them was already dead. The Copper King cactus I bought barely  had any roots attached and upon closer inspection, was hollow inside. I’m not sure the employees there ever actually water the plants.

I also realized that the flowers on each of the cacti were fake and glued on. Apparently this is a common practice at big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes, and Walmart. They glue dyed straw flowers to cacti to attract buyers, since people like colorful things. They are taking advantage of people who don’t know a lot about plants. Having random things glued on can’t be very good for the plant either. It’s like if a pet store were to glue a wig onto a dog to make it look fluffier.

I ended up returning the dead cactus and removing the fake flower from the living one. I should have thought to look closer at the plants before I bought them, especially after seeing some other plants in the store that were painted odd and unnatural colors. It just never occurred to me that a well-known store like that would do something so underhanded. Lesson learned. From now on, I will be buying all of my plants from local nurseries.

Here’s the dead Copper King. After researching online, I found that it’s supposed to be green in the middle with coppery brown spines. This one is brownish all the way through. While looking closely through the spines, I noticed a few holes in the body. It was hollow! Also notice the glue under the straw flower.

Dead Copper King with Strawflower from Home Depot

Here’s the Angel Wing cactus with the fake flower, and then without. After just a little bit of research on these cacti, it is pretty obvious that it’s a fake flower. I managed to get it off with minimal damage by heating up a knife and carefully cutting at the glue. The final bits of glue on the top of the cactus came right off as I pulled on the last bit of glue holding the flower on after cutting through most of the glue. Ignore the R2-D2 measuring cups in the background. Actually, don’t ignore them. They’re awesome!

Angel Wing Cactus with Fake Flower from Home Depot Angel Cactus in Oddish Planter with R2D2

Have you ever seen an Oddish with a cactus on his head? A leafy plant would have made more sense, but cacti are awesome!