What Is Basswood

So, as wintry weather continues over the next few months, and you find yourself despairing while you muck out the chicken coop, just remember: Winter is going to have to eventually give up the ghost and spring will be right on its heels.

Homeopathy was very popular during the 19th century, when one in five doctors was a homeopathic physician. When a mother tincture is diluted, for example, six times it's called 6x potency, because X is the Roman numeral for 10.

Humans who ingest berries can suffer symptoms associated with caffeine poisoning. When used in indoor arrangements, keep winterberries out of the reach of curious pets.Proper planning keeps winterberries safely away from humans and pets that could be...

The same goes for heirloom vegetable varieties or that redesigned compost pile : all of the hard work you put into farming stems from a dream, and if you keep working toward that dream, before you know it, it could come true before your eyes.

Here in Ohio, I harvest Angelica archangelica in the fall to make use of the root, though some folks still candy the leaf stems. Ashitaba was growing at one of the facilities, and he was quickly hooked.

Assassin bugs are wonderful beneficial insects that consume a wide range of pest species in the garden and should be encouraged. Lean On Your Cooperative Extension Most gardeners can easily ID adult insects that they encounter either through published...

If you begin to dig and your shovel seems to be hitting a brick wall, it is evidence that the soil is frozen. Be very leery of any early spring digging, especially if you live in a northern climate.

Also,thoroughly before reuse and discard contaminated soil.Now that you know the answers to what is damping off and what does damping off look like, you can successfully keep it from happening to your seedlings.

Concrete blocks are also often used to contain compost. The disease killed a 47-year-old British man after he was engulfed in clouds of dust from the compost he had intended to use in his garden.The symptoms of Farmer's Lung resemble pneumonia, and may...

There is a growing concern over our food supply, and gardeners everywhere are joining in the effort to increase the quality of our foods. But is your turkey "green"? Gardeners are becoming increasingly diversified, and getting into more sustainable practices...

But they only bought candies, crackers, snacks, chocolate, wafers or other sweets. I always keep dry laurel leaves in a glass jar for spicing my winter meals: sauerkraut or dry beans in a casserole, sauerkraut stuffed rolls, marinated sauce for meatballs,...

Better known as Dracaena sanderiana, this plant is a fixture in many households.Connoisseurs agree that not all bamboo is created equally.Lucky bamboo, also known as "Belgian evergreen," is a woody shrub with shiny green leaves.

If an area has many species, the distance between specimens of the same species increases, and insects and diseases can't hop conveniently from one to the next, decimating an entire species.

It was commonly done in Medieval times, long before technologies existed to permit persistent, large-scale plantings. The farmer left the third field unplanted, or fallow, so that nutrients could increase in the soil.

The grain is straight to slightly wavy and may be slightly interlocking. The wood has a high silica content, which tends to blunt cutting tools more than might be expected of so soft a species.

(I'm reminded of a certain “Seinfeld” episode… Remember “little Jerry”?) Anyway, if you know anyone in western Pennsylvania who is in need of a nice, robust Rhode Island Red, please, please send them my way! On a totally different note, the...

My family loves to reference an early-'90s home movie of a New Year's Eve party where a gaggle of my cousins are watching a cartoon, giggling and chatting, while I'm willingly sitting in a corner with a book, facing the wall.

Indoor plants can become infested by common houseplant pests such as mealybugs and scales. It can also be grown indoors year-round. The plants take severe pruning very well and should be pruned back in the fall to maintain their shape and remove dead...

The concentration of hydronium ions at pH 4 is ten times greater than it is at pH 5. Although plants tolerate a small range of soil pH quite well, extremely acidic or alkaline soils need to be adjusted for good plant health.The easiest to understand definition...

Depending on the size of your garden, mulching may take a couple hours to a couple days of heaving lifting. If you intend to use either of these materials in your garden, it will be wise to know their source.

This has been, by far, one of our fastest projects on the house to date. I was curious to see how the insulation could be contained, knowing that spray foam expanded once sprayed. Seeking to make the 100-plus-year-old house as efficient as possible, we...

This made for simple comparison the day my chicks arrived. Are the chicks known to be short and round, or tall and thin? The Australorp will feather out with black iridescent feathers, and the Black Sex Link will be black but with brown neck/hackle feathers.

The migrations have also resulted in hybrid sugar cane plants. The leftover juice is sold as molasses.Along with making sugar, sugar cane roots and stems are used to treat skin and urinary tract infections.

Originating in Madagascar, this tropical plant will often naturalize in warm climate zones. If you want to fertilize your plant or plants, use a granular or water-soluble fertilizer once each month, but plants generally do well with no care.Deer will...

It is made up almost entirely of hardened vegetable oil and is free from any milk products.It is ideal for various forms of cooking, such as baking, sauteing and deep frying. The liquid is then separated from the solid and packaged as ghee.Vegetable ghee...

Corn is a demanding crop that is best grown on well drained, highly enriched soils, and it does not tolerate drought, making supplemental watering during dry spells necessary.There's a marked difference of opinion as to the wisdom of feeding deer as well...

However, Native Americans in years past often used extracts from the uncooked agave leaf to poison the tips of their arrows. This includes species like the well-known century plant, Agave Americana, which may live as long as 30 years or more -- but never...