Interior Design and Home Accessories

I live in Fargo, North Dakota with my wife and two children. And there’s a reason my wife’s been humming the melody from Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond’s hit song, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers Anymore”. It’s because I don’t bring her flowers anymore. She put a stop to it. She said that with the price of flowers, especially roses, going up so drastically over the past several years there were just too many other things the money had to be used for, especially with two growing kids.

But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t miss the flower delivery person at the door with a beautiful spray of flowers on her birthday, Valentine’s Day, or even Mother’s Day. I don’t want to brag, but I was a bit of a master when choosing just the right arrangement for her. And I’m not talking about just when we were dating. The gift of flowers continued long after we were married. The bouquets were always colorful (and included at least two or three varieties of flowers that grew in her favorite color, yellow) and had such lovely fragrances that it was hard for her to give it all up.

Then one day I woke up. Even though we live in a climate where we have spring and summer for only about five months out of the year, I figured I could still give her a “gift of flowers”, but it would just look a bit different then what she had become accustomed to. I could plant a beautiful garden with all of her favorites in it.

I wondered how I would get such a project underway. I had a feeling that unless I could do this affordably, my wife would not be singing a different tune when it came to the expense.

I had never grown anything in my life and certainly didn’t see myself with a green thumb. But I was determined to learn. So, I started researching on the internet for information about when to plant, what to plant, and how to keep those planted seeds growing, growing, growing!

Early on I ran across a site that did it all. They sold flower seeds, sure. But they did so much more. They had for sale every possible variety of flowers and tons of information posted about each one of them. I found a flower that I hadn’t heard of before, but knew immediately it would be a hit with my wife. It’s called the Shasta Daisy. Here are just a few of her finer points (no kidding, this was all available in one spot):

*She has a bright, yellow center.

*She blooms from early spring through September and is a perennial (that means it grows back on its own each year. That’s right; I’m picking up some new vocabulary here).

*She makes a perfect cut flower, blooming for about two weeks in a bouquet.

*She is easy to maintain and is drought tolerant.

*You plant the seeds at only a depth of about 1/16 of an inch.

*Germination is about 2-4 weeks.

*She grows to a height of 1-3 feet.

I know it seems silly that I am talking about this plant as if it was a human being but this garden was becoming “my baby”.

And, one more thing. Just when I thought I had enough information to get under way, and get my order in, I saw a link to purchase some gardening tools. Oops! I forgot that I needed a hoe and rake and who knew what else. I needed tools that would make my gardening easy and fun. I ran across a name I had not heard of before; Wolf Garden. At first I though it was the name of a rock band we had seen in concert in the late ’80s. Instead I found out these folks sold some pretty helpful garden implements. Basically, they’re easy to store and use because they have just one handle that’s interchangeable with all of their long garden tools (like the hoe, rake, broom, etc.) Cool! I decided to give them a try as well.

So, I am anxious to get started planting. Of course, we had a bit of a late spring with our area flooding and all, but I will not be discouraged. By this time next year, I may once again be in the business of bringing her flowers for some of those special occasions.

No Comments »

The snow is melting and we are finally starting to see our lawns.  It seems like the first thing we see in our lawns every Spring is the yellow flower of the dandelion.  Many people add dandelions to their salads or cook them like spinach since they contain a lot of vitamins A and C and are high in beta carotenes. If you are not one of those people who enjoy eating dandelions, you probably do not want them on your lawn.

Dandelions are a very hardy plant. One dandelion can make up to 15,000 seeds.  Those seeds can survive for as many as six years in the soil. That makes them a difficult weed to get rid of.  Adding to the problem is that dandelions have very deep roots.  That makes them hard to pull out by hand. If you do not get the entire root when you pull the plant it will come right back waving its little yellow flag as if to say” Ha, ha you missed me”! So, how do you get rid of them?

One thing you can do is to mow your lawn before the dandelions bloom and their yellow blossoms mature into seeds. You should also leave the grass clippings on your lawn. They will act as mulch and help prevent the dandelion seeds from germinating .  You can also use a dandelion digger to get them out by their roots. This is, of course, is back breaking work and is very cumbersome.  If you have dandelions in a large area you can smother them by covering them with plastic, cardboard, etc.  You can use anything that will keep them from getting any sunlight. This method is called sheet mulching.

One of the best things you can do to keep your lawn free of dandelions is to keep your grass as dense as possible. Dense grass crowds out weeds and blocks the sunlight their seeds need to germinate. Therefore, it is important to seed any bare spots in your lawn as soon as possible before the dandelions get a chance to take hold.

So what do you do with the pesky dandelions that survive despite your best effort?  Regular table salt will kill them. Once you pull them, just put a tablespoon of salt in the hole. You just need to be careful not to get the salt on any neighboring plants as it may kill them as well. Boiling water will have the same effect on the dandelions, but will not harm the soil.

Another thing that will help you get rid of dandelions is vinegar. Once you pull them, just spray vinegar in the hole. It will kill the root.  Regular white vinegar does work.  However, if you boil the vinegar it will work better. Boiling the vinegar increases the concentration of acetic acid. Since vinegar does not stay in the soil, it is a safe way to kill the weeds. You will need to re-apply it in spots.

Once you successfully get rid of the dandelions on your lawn, spread corn gluten meal on it.  It will keep the roots of weeds from forming during seed germination. If the root cannot grow, neither can the plant. Corn gluten meal is a natural herbicide that will not harm animals, people or your yard. The nitrogen in it is also good for your lawn.  You will need to apply it every five weeks or so.

If all else fails, you can use a weed burn torch to get rid of the dandelions. You will need to be careful with it so that you do not burn up your lawn or garden. Never use this during a drought or you may start a major fire.

No Comments »

When Valentine’s Day, or any vacation rolls around, you may notice that the value of flowers jumps a bit. Although the price might make you blink it probably doesn’t slow you down all that much when it comes to paying. After all, you’re giving them to a very special friend or to a special event and the additional costs are well worth the smiles and joy that will likely result. But, when you think about it, fresh flowers are a year round adventure that can bring joy to everybody on every day of the year. Use a garden box or a backyard plot of land. It’s not too arduous if you go about it in the correct manner and is sort of fun and restful as you go about doing it.

Where you should farm your fresh flowers

For the most part, you are bound by the environmental place that you thought to grow in. If you have the space, you can grow flowers in a green house, or a hothouse but you can also grow flowers on your bathroom window sill. Really, fresh flowers can be grown year round just about everywhere but outside in your personal yard space is best and most enjoyable.  What you do need is a good patch of dirt that has not been used as a construction waste zone where soil conditions are very poor. Start by taking a sample of your earth to the grounds center or educational outreach centre for examination and add amendments as necessary. From a different visual aspect, just go to the yard centre and stock up on organic fertiliser and grow the flowers from this medium.

What type of fresh flowers you should grow

There are; annual flowers which flower for one season and then are done, perennial flowers which bloom year after year and biennial flowers which flower in the second season and are done. All are great flowers but if you’re going to do it right you may as well go for the perennials that come back season after season. As you chose the fresh flowers you’ll be producing consider the climate they prefer and time them through the year. If a flower typically comes out in early spring plan and plant for that blooming time. As the season progresses plant according to that time in parts of your garden that give that flower optimum growing conditions for the time that the flower blooms. For instance; carnations tend to really come into form in mid-summer. They bloom from early summer to fall but really hit their stride in mid-autumn. Plan for this part of the year, but understand that cutting and giving them occurs through the season. Additionally, cutting them actually makes them bloom more and look better for the peak season.

A 0 hole for a plant

Ideally, you will want to plant once and then tend your flower garden season after season. The placement part is the difficult part so doing it once is the better way to go about it. Make your hole a bit deeper then the plant root ball and a few inches wider. Put some organic fertilizer in the bottom and a bit up the sides. Make another hole in the organic fertilizer to put the plant. The top of the plant rootball should be just above ground level. Fill in with more organic fertilizer pressing out any air pockets in the manure infill. Make a soil dish around the plant to hold water. Give the plant Nitro0gen feed once a month.

Feed and cut

Once the plant is ingrained, after a couple of months or so, it will need feeding and care. When a flowering plant does flower it uses up quite a bit of energy and will need this energy has to be renewed. For the most part, the main nutrient needed is Nitrogen. Potash and Potassium are also needed so check the back of the seed pack or a plant info tag for required amounts. Cut regularly to promote growth but be certain to not over cut for a full season of flowers.

The Attitude cannabis seeds bank www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk chats with Franco from Green House Seed Co about their world famous cannabis seeds strains Kings Kush, Kaia Kush, Bubba Kush, and K-train
Video Rating: 4 / 5

No Comments »

If you are reading this blog post, we bet you are torn between bulk vegetable seed mail order or planting flower seeds in your garden. We can’t stress enough the importance if planting organic vegetable garden and as much as possible, we will try to convince you into planting that one instead of flower plants. Of course, who doesn’t love flowers right? But bulk vegetable seed mail order is more practical to buy than flower seeds and we will point out to you specific reasons why.

1)    Fresh Greens you can Eat
Buying bulk vegetable seed mail order would supply you with fresh greens all you can eat and need for your family. You know it’s fresh and organic and it’s something you take pride of growing it in your own backyard.

Bulk Vegetable Seed Mail Order: Why not flower seeds?

2)    Maintenance
Bulk vegetable seed mail order will allow you to have easy maintenance of your vegetable garden because you just order them online and it will get delivered in your doorstep when you need it the most when you are rotating your vegetables.

3)    Earn Income
If you are in need of extra cash, you can sell the vegetable you planted with your bulk vegetable mail order. Everybody eats vegetables and in no time you can earn money with minimum capital.

4)    Flowers are Seasonal while vegetables are not
The thing about flowers is that they are very seasonal. Not everyone buys flowers all the time and so in line with point number 3, flowers are not for everyday consumption. Maybe this coming valentines, your flower garden will be a hit but not for the rest of the year.

5)    Insects
The thing about flowers is that they attract insects and a lot of bugs for your garden and home. Whereas, if you have bulk vegetable seed mail order, you can plant all type of vegetables that don’t attract bugs or insects and they won’t have to infest your house.

6)    Storing flower seeds v. Storing Vegetable seeds

Storing vegetable seeds is easy. You just have to place them in a dry place inside a sealed paper bag, mark it and it’s ready to be stored in the garage or in the shed. Whereas, storing flower seeds are a bit different. Some seeds need to be put in the refrigerator or in a cool dry place so they don’t mold up or else you just wasted your dollars buying them because they become useless. Bulk vegetable seed mail order also delivers your seeds in the right container already so it’s up to your when you want to plant them or not.

Bulk vegetable seed mail order is quite useful for the everyday busy gardener who may not have the chance to go to stores and buy their seeds. For those who are flower enthusiasts, you can still plant flowers but we suggest you put them on a different bed far from your organic vegetable garden because to avoid the insects of your flowers from infesting you vegetable garden. You can have one or you can have both but as we said, bulk vegetable seed mail order is more practical and really gives you value for your money.

Strain Hunters are people that cant sit still for too long. After completing the Malawi expedition in 2008, Arjan and myself began to think about the next mission. We had many destinations in mind, because the list of places where amazing landraces are awaiting is a long one. After much thinking and talking we selected a few top-spots on our list, and started gathering information and ideas. It became very clear that there was one place that could not be overlooked: the region of the Himalayas, particularly the Indian side, where the best charras and creams are from. Ever since 1993, when the Green House won the Cannabis Cup with a cream from Malana, Arjan wanted to explore the origins and the history of this wonderful hashish. His last trip to India was in the 1980s, when he acquired the genetics that gave birth to the Himalaya Gold, one of the most acclaimed outdoor strains ever produced. So we decided time had come to go strain hunting in India. Now we needed a good guide, someone that could show us the right path to the highest fields, the tastiest creams, and the holiest of mountains. A few years back, during one of the Cannabis Expos we attended in Europe, we met Italian book writer and connoisseur Franco Casalone, author of the most famous books on cannabis written in Italy. He lived in the Indian Himalayas for several years, living the life of a true charsí (master of charras-making). We suddenly had the feeling that he was the right man for our mission, so we …

No Comments »

A beautiful arrangement of flowers can be used as a focal point and gives freshness in the house. Flowers can be used to beautify the look of your interior. Color flowers you want to use to decorate the room should be adjusted with the dominant color space.

When the color of the walls or furniture in the room tend to be dark, give a soft touch on the arrangement of flowers with bright colors. Use flowers in bold colors like red or yellow to make it more turn. Flower color nuances can determine who want to make a statement or presented in a room. As a strong red with a white or a romantic element that helps give the impression of clean and relieved at the room.

Tropical style, also with more use of green leaf elements and alloys of various types of leaves. Spaces that need to be added to the aesthetic value of flowers in the bedroom, dining room, bathroom, living room and family room. Colors that are suitable for this room includes a romantic note in red, or white with a soft impression. Lavender is soothing also suitable placed in the bedroom, because in this room that you need to feel relaxed to rest after a day of activities. While the dining room can use colors such as yellow, such as sunflower.

Flower color symbolizes happiness, so you can cook or eat with the family to feel cheerful. For the bathroom, the necessary interest include white lilies accented with berries or fruits other mini. In addition, also be combined with a series of purple lavender. This circuit is very appropriate to create a comfortable atmosphere in the bathroom, so you feel comfortable when entering the bathroom. Especially if you have a tub for bathing.

No Comments »