Spring Around the Corner? Prepare For Your Garden

Even while many parts of the country are still under a blanket of snow (with more in the forecast!) the calendar tells us that spring is in fact, on the way. It's easy to forget how close it is, but for everyone hoping to put in a garden this spring, there are some things you can do to get your garden ready for the warmer days of spring.

As you are waiting for the last of the snow to melt away, you can start thinking about what plants you will grow. It's important that the plants you choose can grow successfully in the climate you live in. Don't assume that just because your local nursery sells a certain type of plant or flower that it will grow in your climate. You can consult a USDA zone map to find out what zone you live in, and then use books or websites about flowers and plants to find out which zones each variety grows best in. Many gardners end up with problems with pests or having to use chemicals to get their plants to grow- and it could be that the wrong type of flowers were planted for the climate.

Grow Calendar 2011

In addition to the climate conditions, you'll also need to consider the type of sunlight your garden area receives and how much light the plant varieties you are selecting require to grow. Sunflowers need full sun most of the day, and will not grow in areas that are shady. Your local nursery can help you select plants depending on how much sun the area receives, or you can consult a book about plants as this information is generally included.

Once the snow melts, and the danger of cold, frosty nights has passed, you can begin to prepare the soil for planting. Soil preparation begins with testing your soil to find out what pH level your soil is, as well as how much of various nutrients are in the soil, including phosphorus, nitrogen, calcium, potassium and magnesium. You should test your soil before beginning a garden; and then every three years after planting the garden. There are many facilities that will test the soil for you, including many local universities. You just put some soil into a sealed plastic bag, label it and send to the testing service.

The health of your soil depends on the drainage. Root growth is effected by soil with poor drainage, and the absorption of nutrients by the plants is greatly effected by too much or too little drainage. You can test your drainage ability with a simple, do-it-yourself test. Dig a hole about six inches across and twelve inches deep. Put water in the hole and let it drain. Once the water has drained, fill it again and time how long it will take the water to completely drain out of the hole. If it takes more than eight hours, you have a problem with your drainage that will affect the growth of plants.

Spring Around the Corner? Prepare For Your Garden

Grow Calendar 2011

"Green" Can Grow On You - Simple Ways To "Go Green" Without Making Everyone Around You Go Crazy

Yes - you may say - it is about time that everyone got on the same page and started thinking about our earth - the precious gift that we have been given. Yes - you may say it is about time that big business, especially the media, and politicians, especially Republicans are thinking about the earth without once having "pillaging and profiting" coming into their minds.

Yes - you may say - it is about time. But you also should say... Time for what? How much can we really "Go Green" without sounding like environmental snobs? How can we "Go Green" in a way that is easy to maintain - so we won't look like flaming hypocrites when we can't sustain that "Go Green Fever" we started?

Grow Calendar 2011

Well there are a few simple things - and really - they are simple and sustainable and really will do some good:

Walk, Don't Run - or Especially Drive: I think of how many times I could have walked down the street to the pharmacy, Trader' Joes - or even my favorite Farmer's Market spot and how many less carbons I would have contributed to emitting - just simply because I didn't put the "pedal to the medal" but put my "foot to the pavement" - and just simply walked. Sip from your Own Cistern: Making your own drinking water - using one of those very cool low cost filtering system not only saves money, but saves the earth from one more plastic never degradable piece of waste. Can You Hear Me Now? - Don't Listen! And Close your Eyes when you See those Cool Cell Phone Commercials: Though your cell phone is not the Coolest on the planet - it will help the planet stay cooler by not adding more toxic waste to its already overburdened eco-system. Just FYI - did you know that each time you toss your old cell phone or other electronic gadget to get the latest model, your old cell phone, as well as heaps of others are being shipped overseas illegally to be disassembled by workers with very little protective wear - that may not seem so bad - but those electronic gadgets may be cute on the outside - but they carry around a lot of toxic and noxious chemicals like mercury on the inside. Go Whole Foods for a Day: Just by having a nice fruit and salad day - it helps keep you thin and also helps the environment. FYI - did you know that meat production plants have huge energy needs and also the waste they produce is toxic?

I could go on - but these are just a few things you can do - all the time - and be green - but more importantly STAY GREEN!!

For more tips on how to "Go Green" check out our local library. And by the way that brings us to yet another way to Go Green! Borrowing books instead of purchasing them saves the trees and consumes less fossil fuel to deliver them to you.

See - You Can Do it! So the next time you see one of those corny but true commercials about the environment - know that you can change things - a little at a time and also provide a good role model for your neighbors. You know how that goes - Keeping up with the Jones' - you could start an Enviromendemic (Don't bother looking it up - I know it isn't a word - but bear with me here I am on a roll!) Pretty soon your whole neighborhood will be going green. Ok, I am calming down now, no need for restraints. But I think I have made my point - we can all be environmentally conscience without making ourselves or more importantly those around us - go Nuts.

"Green" Can Grow On You - Simple Ways To "Go Green" Without Making Everyone Around You Go Crazy

Grow Calendar 2011

Predictions of Mayan Calendar Followers? 2012 is Just Around the Corner

Well have you heard the latest of the newest Doom and Gloomers? This on; the Mayan Calendar, which officially ends in 2012 the last year being 2011. Yah check this out; http://www.ioon.net/mayaonics/EngPages/summary.htm.

Actually either on December 21, 2011 or on October 28, 2011. The studies of the Mayan Calendar are interesting in that many have said the Mayans, Aztecs and event the Incans were visited by alien extraterrestrials. Perhaps, and that their calendar came from them. Cool, free calendars, you know I got one in the mail the other day from a company advertising their wares. Maybe that is how the free calendar advertising idea began? But remember that all possible futures can be controlled by free will. If you want to have fun with some math here is how they get to the number of 2012, you might be surprised what that number coincides with in higher mathematics.

Grow Calendar 2011

However realize that the Chinese Culture has historic writings in excess of 10,000 years back, which predates these cultures writings. Not saying that either is older than the other since the DNA (please read the "Seven Sister's of Eve) show that the Chinese and the American Indian are related and the African (maybe you have some type B blood in your family?), European and US populations excluding the American Indian are all similar to each other. Two distinctly different groups, everything is different down to the type of earwax your glands produce. Perhaps it was the Neanderthal DNA influences in all of that. Never the less the Indians of the Americas came over from the land bridge across the area we now know as the Bering Straights and formed the population bases here and mixed with whatever was here already if anything which would then include the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas prior to any involvement with the Spanish Armada brigade and Spanish Explorers. Were they visited by aliens? Who knew of a possible future? Who knows, probably possible if one believes of the reverse engineering projects on spacecraft in New Mexico. There has been so much debate in all of this and mathematicians constantly try to reason the dates with our faulty numerical system based on ten.

http://www.2near.com/edge/maya/index.html

and I can recommend a book on this subject which I bought and later decided not to read;

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D1...7948249-9099856 .

Now remembering that the Earth Wobbles and therefore has cycles of non-perfect elliptical orbits of the sun and gets hit by meteors, comets and asteroids every 12,000 or so years which just screws up everything including and debated life on Earth (Dinosaurs for instance) it would be hard to say if this was accurate at all. Now if the Earth does pivot on it's axis in 2012 which is entirely possible and actually should have happened already, but did not to any large degree in the 1936-1956, then one might infer that the calendar is absolutely correct? I would differ such an opinion but would not preclude it from possible future realities of the Earths changes, which could incite a global cooling or warming. If such an event takes place there will be extreme problems near the waters edge as the planet moves it's axis.

Extreme weather would be an understatement, volcanic activity, Earthquakes etc, would occur, major activity. So with all this study having been available should one be concerned? Yes, because the cycles although may not come in our lifetime, they surely will come as they have come before. Can we do anything about such possibilities? Yes, we can balance out the planet by moving ice around, changing reservoirs (China is doing this now, not that they have figured it out yet), etc on the surface and in the perfect balance will come a better orbit.

With that better orbit will also come changes we may not want such as changes in trade winds and cycles we count on to grow crops and shift the availability of water resources to areas that are now highly populated. However if we can change the weather and create the weather and the rain and the rain cycles to our needs we can control the actual destiny of our species and be the better for it. And actually everything will work better since their will be less wobble and more control over inertia guidance systems, satellite placement, smart bombs to fly a cruise missile through Saddam's bathroom window, and self flying planes, trucks, trains, boats, submarines, cars and ships.

Anyway it does appear that we nearly have the necessary technologies to serve mankind in fixing these issues before 2012, the question really is will we and is the Mayan Calendar even an issue?

Predictions of Mayan Calendar Followers? 2012 is Just Around the Corner

Grow Calendar 2011