Loudoun on Earth

Composting is not just the bedrock of an organic garden or home ecosystem, it is fundamental to reducing household waste. Organic and Great for Plants Composting is a natural (well, ultra-natural) process of making what seems useless highly usable and valuable.  As your banana peels, potato peels, grass clippings, potato peels, brown leaves, shredded paper and other natural byproducts are blended and given oxygen and time to decompose, they will fuel the small but vital piece of organic matter that can propel you into building a natural, organic ecosystem around your habitat. One of the amazing things about compost is that there is only one element you cannot overdo in composting - the application of oxygen.  Compost could have excessive green matter (grass clippings, vegetable peels, vegetable byproducts, plant and flowering plant byproduct) or too much brown matter (leaves, paper, cardboard, dryer lint).  However, compost can never have too much air.  Thus,...

Recently, neighbors have asked me a flattering question: how do I keep our lawn greener than theirs as an organic gardener...I responded- I am the organic mechanic I bleed seed I feed seed I am mean and green. Just kidding, of course, we organic gardeners should never take on a condescending tone or posture.  It takes a long time to learn and hone organic gardening techniques and none of us have the soil, weather, seeds, plants, pollinators, and wildlife figured out.  No one.  So, we are all learning. Back to the real answer to the question.  The only thing I use on my lawn is homemade fertilizer tea.  As mentioned previously on this forum, I am aiming to minimize the surface area of my lawn in favor of productive plants, plants that benefit the consumption of pollinators and humans.  However, some lawn space is inevitable in American-designed homescapes.  For that space, I use fertilizer tea. I aim to cut the lawn only once every couple ...

I have owned the EGO Power 20" 56 volt lithium battery-powered mower through two grass cutting seasons thus far, so I wanted to write a brief review. Like most organic, native plant enthusiasts, I dread lawn care.  I definitely do not want to divert precious compost to the lawn, I loathe the heavy water consumption of the American lawn, and I especially dislike the lawn's less than useful purpose for wildlife.  So, I am vying to reduce the amount of lawn coverage on my property as much as possible.  My basic philosophy is productive, pollinator-friendly plants in, lawn out. However, some law space is inevitable and for the upkeep I have chosen the EGO Power 20" 56v mower as well as the EGO weed whacker/trimmer that operates off the same battery.  Other than the annoying way in which the company capitalizes its entire name ("EGO POWER"), I have been quite pleased with the mower and trimmer. The main benefits of EGO are the use of battery vice fossil fu...

Toward the end of this past spring I planted milkweed from some seeds I received from SeedSavers , a non-profit located in Iowa that I endorse,  Anyway, I did not have much of an issue in growing the milkweed, I planted about 15-30 seeds in some soil in the corner of my side garden that receives full sun most of the day.  Incidentally, milkweed is an amazing plant, as I have learnt, it attracts and benefits a range of insects.  Like most people, I planted it to help the monarch butterfly.  Monarchs depend on milkweed to survive, female monarchs lay eggs on it and the larvae feed on the milkweed as they develop. Yet, the first life I saw on my milkweed were aphids.  Aphids are essentially garden pests that feed off the sap from plants like milkweed. What was amazing to me, and some would not necessary classify as "amazing" were the aphids appeared one day, seemingly out of the blue.  I tend to check on my plants regularly, just to see what is happening...