How To Make Plantains

I enjoyed seeing the outstanding photography and am anxious to get started making my own baskets! I cut a couple of old ballpoint ink pen cases down to make my tubes, but drinking straws, small vacuum hoses and copper tubes are also easy to work with.The...

Compost is 'Black Gold' to gardeners and we are always on the hunt for easier and faster ways to break down our kitchen scraps and outdoor trimmings. Soil enriched with compost retains water better and is usually attractive to earthworms and other organisms.

Students of folk-life, historians and collectors will appreciate this detailed resource. Each family or clan had their own signature style and being familiar with these, helps historians determine the location where the basket was made and sometimes its...

This base can be a specialized living wreath ring that resembles the skeleton of a Bundt cake pan, a double wire ring or a rearranged coat hanger. You can create your own living wreath with succulents, sphagnum moss and a wreath base.

I could feel the heat of the cooking compost today when I held my palm to the side of the container. And the trap door area was dry, despite the frequent rain showers.I've been really pleased with the lack of odor and stability of the composter.

I did made a mistake a few weeks ago by adding fresh watermelon rind to the composter. I really like the continous feed aspect of the Toter. There's a few eggshell pieces and some of my larger dry materials should have been broken up a bit more before...

The resulting plant has giant leaves (up to 9 feet long and 2 feet across!) wrapping around a central trunk or pseudostem. A heavy feeder, a mature tree needs about 1-2 pounds, spread out in a 4-8 foot radius around the plant and then lightly worked into...

I soon discovered the plethora of native North American orchids. Always keep them out of direct, open sunlight.In the landscape, it is useful in limited applications. Goodyera pubescens maintains each leaf up to three or four years, stays low in the soil...

The hotter the weather or the less salt used, the more quickly the sauerkraut will be ready. Check on it periodically to track progress. She's played in the garden for more than 25 years.

However, its usefulness extends well past the landscape. For 1 cup of dried rosemary leaves, you will need to harvest 4 cups of fresh leaves. The leaves dry easily and retain their fragrance once the moisture is gone.

Step 4: Add soil. Use a solution of 10-percent bleach and water to sterilize your container to eliminate any potential pathogens. (Cornell University Cooperative Extension recommends doing this before planting, but because I was unsure of where I wanted...

Plants require enough sunlight to encourage blooming.Plant the mandevilla plants in a garden or in a container. During winter, reduce watering to once a week or so the soil dries slightly between waterings.

Act early; soil amendments can take time to work their magic.The amounts of lime or aluminum sulfate you should add will depend on your current soil pH. Work it well into the soil.

If you have too much tobacco to completely coat, make another mixture of apple and molasses.Put finished chewing tobacco into airtight bag to use immediately, or an oak cask to age further depending on your preference.

Used coffee grounds into a 5-gallon bucket. Plain molasses in 1 pint water and mix vigorously. Molasses will give the plant additional potassium for essential growth processes.Add equal amounts of coffee grounds water, eggshell water and molasses water...

These are typically small, decorative fabric pouches, filled with dried lilac blossoms. When your lilac bushes are in full bloom, capture and preserve their appealing fragrance by making lilac sachets for your linen or clothes closets.

They're eager and will be having fun, and they'll want to finish quickly. Make sure everyone is aware of your candle-making rules. There are tapers, votives and molded candles, but you can't do them all with a group of children in an hour or less.

Make sure the vase is large enough to hold all of the blue roses you are creating. Add more food coloring for darker blue roses, and less food coloring for lighter blue roses.Use a sharp knife to cut a small notch in the bottom of each of the white rose...

Fill it with warm water and blend until the mixture looks very smooth and contains no paper flakes. Cut a piece of window or door screen, stretch it over the frame as tight as possible and staple it to the frame.

The color will be more pronounced with herbs like rugosa rose and calendula. The sugar should slightly turn the color of the herb, and you should still see particles of the herb. Be sure to report back your favorite combinations, so that others can try...

Some gardeners trim the flower spike to one or two nodes, approximately 1 to 2 inches long. Some species may not bloom again until spring, while Phalaenopsis may begin developing new flower spikes from the nodes left on the trimmed flower spike and bloom...

The next time you burn wood in your fireplace or fire pit, save the cooled ashes to use as a natural potassium fertilizer for your landscape. However, it is still possible to get the potassium you need for your garden and landscape plants from natural...

Step 2: Make syrup. (The first time I boiled sap, I cooked down about 5 gallons in our home kitchen with no ventilation—the house was in a wet fog for a week!) Find a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot or Dutch oven (or two or three), fill it with sap,...

Create a soothing balm for burns, sore muscles and dry skin by applying medicinal oils to beeswax. Step 2: Combine ingredients When wax has melted, stir in jojoba oil, olive oil and coconut oil.

In early 2010, they began to consolidate their line into a total of six models, some of which feature an improved electronic grow system controller.There are two types of AeroGardens.

Make the cuts under the water and at a diagonal. Then rinse them with a solution that is 1 part bleach and 10 parts water, and rinse them with water. If the sepals are wrapped tightly around a cut rosebud, the flower will not open.

Being careful to plant it so the seeds are at the correct depth, as noted on the seed packet. Step 4 Jessica Walliser When all the seeds are in place, run a thin line of glue down one side of the toilet paper, about 1 inch away from its edge.