Organic. Period.

Well, if you haven’t prepared your analog TV for the big day on February 17, 2009, you’re not alone. I just read that there were 3 million homes still not ready. Of course, most of those might be here in the areas where the winter storms have taken out power. There are still over 600,000 homes in Kentucky alone without electricity, and the prospect of restoring power is dim. Maybe within a couple of weeks they will be able to make a dent in that number.

And the Northeast is bracing for another round of this stuff.

Anyway, if you are one of the lucky warm people with unfrozen water pipes, and you DO have power, here is something you might benefit from reading.

If you watch any TV, of course.

Anyone Can Install a TV Converter Box
Follow the connection sequence to install your DTV converter box quickly and easily.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1402068/anyone_can_install_a_tv_converter_box.html

Finally, southern Indiana has some winter weather. I measured 11 inches of snow and ice in the little protected area of my kitchen garden where precip just falls and doesn’t get blown in. The driveway was drifted deeper than that. All this from Monday night through Wednesday noon.

We had to cut some ice-laden tree limbs that were blocking the driveway, too. My 12 foot tall lilac is bent to the ground with ice.

The hungry birds met me at the feeders. I left seed heads of liatris, sunflowers, and some other flowers on the spikey stems, and birds have picked them clean. The squirrels and field mice help eat the sunflower heads . . . now they will have to eat store-bought sunflower seeds.

The snowscapes are lovely to look at, but not when thousands of people are without power in the sub-freezing temperatures. Some turkey barns have collapsed from the weight of the snow and ice on the roofs. It’s very difficult to keep water unfrozen for livestock without power, too. What would we do without portable generators?

It’s been winter enough for the apple trees to chill, so we can all hope for a thaw now.

Although we love asparagus, we do not grow our own. This will change this year. So much of our yard is shaded at least part of the day by the woods around us, that there hasn’t been a good open spot to establish an asparagus bed. With the loss of a huge old oak tree recently, some new planting opportunities have “opened up”.

So besides some fruit trees, I am planning a nice big asparagus bed.

Asparagus Bundles
Asparagus is one of those nutrition-packed foods that lends itself to elegant presentation. Try this recipe for something a little different.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1420101/asparagus_bundles.html

If you like the ease of spraying pesky weeds to eradicate them, but you don’t want to use chemicals and poisons, this product is for you. Made by the Perfectly Natural company, it is called Perfectly Natural Weed ‘n’ Grass Killer.

This is a safe and 100% organic herbicide. It is non-selective, which means that it will kill any plant it lands on, so you need to be careful where any mist might drift. You can use this anywhere without worry of chemicals. The active ingredients in this product are clove and citrus oils, so it leaves a lovely scent. Children and pets can play near the sprayed area with absolutely no worry of contamination.

For annuals, this generally works in one application; perennial weeds and tougher plants may require two or more. In only one hour you will notice visible results (withering leaves). Plant knockdown usually occurs within 24 hours. Runoff of the substance will not upset soil balance.

Other organic herbicides use vinegars, and while these work and are safe for your family and the environment, they are not fast-acting and not exactly pleasant smelling.

Perfectly Natural Weed ‘n’ Grass Killer is available in a hand-held ready to use sprayer and a gallon size ready to use with a hose and sprayer attached.

Look for this product at garden centers.

Lawns and gardens are such wonderful areas of our homes, it should be at the top of our list to use our outdoor space as much as possible. Cool mornings and soft evenings spent outdoors begin and end a day on the right note. It is just as important to keep your lawn care organic as your garden. Lawn chemicals are absorbed by the skin, and they can be tracked into your house on your shoes and clothing. Your children should not play on a lawn that has been treated with chemicals. Your pets will be exposed to the chemicals, too, and pets will ingest the chemicals when they lick their fur and feet.

One of the easiest and best ways to fertilize your lawn is to treat it with Epsom salt at a rate of 1/2 pound per 1000 square feet. It can be broadcast in a granular form and watered in well, or diluted in water and sprayed on. This should be used as a supplement to another organic fertilizer, such as fish emulsion.

Apply these organic nutrients to your lawn after it greens up in the spring, and about mid-summer. If you go through a dry spell that stresses your grass, you can apply more as soon as there has been rainfall. Always water well after you use any dry soil amendment.

Traditional cotton farming in the US now uses 25% of ALL chemical pesticides used. It is the most pesticide dependent crop in the world, with over 50 million pounds of pesticides used per year in the US. That figure comes from the USDA. The chemicals are ruining the soil and polluting our watersheds.

One way to grasp this amount of chemical pesticide used in cotton production is to picture one t-shirt. It took 1/4 pound of chemicals to produce the cotton for that t-shirt.

Organically grown cotton is becoming more and more popular with consumers, and farmers are answering the demand. Besides no chemical pesticides, organic cotton is processed without harsh chemicals and bleaches. Natural fertilizers and soil building efforts are used, as well as organic pest controls like introducing ladybugs.

Dyes used for cotton fibers are all harsh chemicals. This is a problem that organic clothing manufacturers are working to correct. There are now varieties of colored cotton grown, where the color of the fiber is the color it is on the plant. No chemical dyes are needed. This is a new technology, and its successful use and development will be dictated by consumer demand. For now, color-grown cotton comes in browns, reddish brown, green, and yellow. The fibers are very soft, and the colors do not fade but get deeper when washed. Production costs for this color-grown cotton are 20 – 40% less than traditionally raised cotton.

This is the first  really cold blast of winter we’ve had  here in southern Indiana. The temps tonight will be 3 degrees with wind chills around -30. My husband is out in this along with other truckers and agricultural workers. Not exactly a happy thought.

I’ve made sure that plants are covered a little extra tonight. Roses especially take a beating in this kind of weather. Even though they are already mulched, I’ve put a plastic trash bag over them for the night. I’ll remove the bags in the morning, because if moisture builds up inside the plastic it will damage the roses.

I’m still looking at tomato seeds. I’m online now, looking for seeds for slicing-sized yellow or orange tomatoes. Organic seeds, heirloom, if possible . . .  I sure do wish I had time and space to try more tomato varieties.

Plan now for next summer’s garden bounty!

We sat down Sunday afternoon and went through seed catalogs. Plans are being made to plant some additional garden in an area that was formerly shaded by a huge old oak tree. (The diameter of the trunk was over 40″) I really miss that tree; it came down in a storm two summers ago and actually hit the house.

Anyway, we’re toying with the idea of some fruit trees, espalier style, along the fringe of the woods that used to be shaded by the overhanging oak. This method of training fruit trees increases production and makes them easier to prune, pick, and check for insects. Getting the dormant oil spray where it needs to be is much easier with the open growth habit, too. Over the years we’ve had apples, peaches, and pears, but right now we have no fruit trees. So we’re planning replacements this year. We’ll see.

If anyone has experience with espalier, I’d be happy to hear about it. There is a really good article about it here at the Mother Earth website .

Have you ever thought about why you need to fertilize your garden?

I mean besides the fact that it makes your plants grow better.

When you fertilize the soil, you are replacing nutrients that previous plant growth removed.

Soil that has not been fertilized organically with humus and organic matter added has usually lost its tilth and texture. Because it has low organic matter, it also does not have the capacity to hold the nutrients you apply. This is true whether the fertilizer is organic or chemical. Soil needs organic matter to make it “sponge-like” so it can hold the water that contains the dissolved nutrients around the plants’ roots where they can be absorbed.

Besides planning organic fertilizer this year, plan to add plenty of humus to your soil as well. You’ll notice the difference it makes. Building your soil structure will become an important part of your gardening efforts.

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there. It doesn’t matter what you do … so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”

–Ray Bradbury