Flora Music

Archive for July, 2009

If you are thinking about making your own compost you need to know what to expect. There are a few basics that need to be followed to successfully have the compost develop correctly. Once you know what to do and how long it takes then making compost is easy.

Depending on how you are curing the compost it may take anywhere from 14 days to a year. The less nitrogen that is in a pile of compost has, the longer it will take to build up enough to heat to break down properly. Weather can also have somewhat of an affect on the compost too, the hotter the weather the better. So be aware of this when expecting your compost to break down fast.

Many different types of organic substances can be used in your pile of composting materials. Here are some things you can begin your pile with: egg shells that have been rinsed off, plants and the pruning scraps from your garden, vegetable scraps including peels, and the grounds of coffee. You can also use the following items: many types of food scraps, clippings of grass from cutting the lawn, a moderate amount of newspaper (be careful with this though due to the ink), ashes from burning wood, leaves especially in the fall, hulls off of peanuts, and dead flower buds and stems.

There are some substances that should not be put into compost though. They are things such as paint, household-type chemicals, human feces and other animal feces, and wood that has been treated. These can be dangerous for your health and will poison your garden. Anything that takes a long time to decompose should not put in there either, things like metal ceramics, glass, and plastics. In fact certain plastics can be quite toxic as they decompose. Oil and grease products can slow down decomposition. Ashes from burned coal also can harm your compost pile. And to keep from attracting rats and other vermin.

If you live out in the country you can have a compost bin where you have to turn the pile every so often. This helps to ensure that the materials break down evenly. It also adds oxygen to the process. You can add some nitrogen to get the composting process started.

But if you live in the city you may think about getting an Urban Compost Tumbler. This is great for small spaces because they are more aesthetically pleasing than a regular compost bin. They also do not take up as much space as the bins do. Also because the tumbler creates even heat any organic materials break down quickly. And this tumbler aids in the materials breakup into smaller pieces through the tumbling action. Doesn’t this device sound easier to use than having to turn a heavy compost pile on a regular basis? These tumblers also come in various sizes for your convenience.

Now that you know the basics on making compost you may consider doing your own. It will save you money over buying the compost offered for sale at the garden centers. Then when your garden blooms bountifully and beautifully, you truly can take all the credit.

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Vegetable raised bed gardening is a very productive pursuit in terms of value for the work effort.This type of gardening can also be very rewarding in terms of the satisfaction derived from growing your own food.

Raised bed vegetable gardening has the distinct advantage of being less tiresome when doing weeding, harvesting, and sowing. If you don’t already know weeding is one of the major maintenance activities to owning a garden. Anything that saves a little of that work is usually well worth the effort.

Raised bed gardens have a long history that starts with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon when flowers were grown in tiers. These ancient civiliazations had the right idea. Efficient landscape and garden design requires defined spaces which is accommodated by vegetable raised bed gardening.

Now some of the easiest ways to indulge in vegetable raised bed gardening is to look at what you want to grow and deciding which plants will thrive in a raised bed and which plants suit you best. Vegetables grown at a height of 1 foot are going to give their produce at your chest level, or stomach level. So you are not going to bend down to harvest those vegetables.

|A one foot raised bed garden is capable of providing a height to a plant that can be harvested at chest level. This means that there will be less bending and wear and tear on the back and knees.[/spin]A raised bed garden also has the advantage of being able to tailor the quality of the soil. One of the benefits of a raised bed is that weeds will be less than a ground level bed due the confined space and less room for weeds to grow.

|A raise bed has the benefit of less weeding than a ground level bed due to close spacing between plants and less space for the weeds to grow.[/spin]
Another benefit is that people in the garden walk around the perimeter of the raised bed and not in the garden itself.

When choosing a place for the garden be sure to select one that has good drainage and plenty of sun.
The side walls of the garden should be selected of a material that will last. This could be pressure treated wood, plastic composites, or wood composites.

Once you have the place, the sidewalls, the soil, fill the bed, sow the seeds, water regularly, and harvest your bounty of vegetables.

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The image of a large, dark-blue panel atop a rooftop supplying solar-powered electricity is now familiar. Though relatively few homes have them, thousands of magazine stories have been written over the past 30 years accompanied by photos depicting them. Because of their relative rarity, such systems have become regarded as ‘the wave of the future’, with that future always just out of reach. The sticking points are always solar energy panels cost and efficiency.

But there are dozens of cost-effective solar-panel applications available today.

Lawn lights are a popular example. They come in the form of stakes about a foot long with lights mounted on the stake. On the top of the light are small solar energy panels. They don’t generate much power, but not much is needed for them to do the job. They can be quickly placed anywhere since they require no wires. They can last for years without any maintenance since they use no batteries and the bulbs are ultra-long lasting.

Calculators that are purely solar powered have been in use for decades now. But that same technology has recently been expanded to encompass laptops. Though they don’t currently generate enough power to run a standard hard drive or monitor, solar power has been combined with new inventions to make that unnecessary. They use something called organic cells.

A standard solar cell uses layered wafers of silicon doped with phosphorus. But other elements and more complex molecules are also subject to the photoelectric effect. Many organic molecules will shoot off electrons when struck with light. They’re not currently as efficient, but they make up for it by being flexible and super cheap. They can be incorporated into certain inexpensive plastic alloys.

That makes it possible to make an affordable keyboard or monitor that can be folded or rolled-up. With this technology, it’s possible to roll up a computer like a newspaper and tuck it in your pocket. Then, it’s unrolled when you want to use it and powered by the available light.

There are yet many more applications that can be powered by a solar system. One common use is electrical fencing. Whether you need to power a dog retainer system or a cattle barrier, low voltage systems are often used to keep animals in check. A small stun doesn’t harm, but it’s often enough to keep them from wandering outside the perimeter. Many can jump over standard fencing, but electrifying the system discourages the attempt.

Powered boats, like cars, have batteries that start the engine and power small electrical devices when the motor is off. Running lights, speedometer and more. But those batteries need to be recharged after use. In the usual case, the running motor recharges the battery, putting back the power needed to start it.

But, clearly, the fact that battery chargers exist means that method doesn’t always work. However, when you’re out on the water, and in many cases even when you’re near the shore, it’s difficult or impossible to use a standard charger. Electrical outlets aren’t universal in docks and nowhere on the water. A solar-powered charger can come in handy just when you need it most.

That same charger can recharge the battery in your RV just as easily. But beyond that emergency use, a solar-powered system can be useful for an RV in lots of ways.

Many times an RV is stationary, with its motor off. Some have generators to power the RV at those times. But generators are noisy and consume gasoline or diesel, producing foul smelling fumes. Not exactly what you want when you’re outdoors enjoying the fresh air. A solar power system can supply at least part of the energy needed. It can run a radio, power a DVD and/or TV, or a small refrigerator.

Electricity generation isn’t the only possible application either. Water heating is a popular home-oriented application for solar power.

Small parabolic dishes can be used to focus the sun’s energy into a small area. That energy is then transmitted to a water storage system. Not all such systems are solely for inside the house either. The hot water supplied can be used to bathe the dogs outside or provide an alternative to washing the car with cold water.

In fact, any kind of washing chore is usually easier with warm water and water from the hose gets cold quickly. A solar heating system can provide a reservoir of warm water to wash the exterior of the windows, supply a sink in the garage and other uses around the house and garage.

Solar energy panels systems today are more efficient and lower cost than ever. They provide freedom from dependence on the utility companies for all your electrical and hot water needs. That makes them a good deal.

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