By Vanessa Richins

Sometimes the only place you have to garden is a windowsill or tabletop.

One way to maximize your potential is to build a glass terrarium.

You can buy premade kits or you can recycle old glass (or plastic) into your own beautiful indoor garden.

The San Francisco Chronicle explains that terrariums have been used for almost 180 years now:

“In her book [The New Terrarium: Creating Beautiful Displays for Plants and Nature], Tovah Martin explains the roots of the terrarium: In 1831, when British surgeon Nathaniel Ward picked a fern, stuck it in a bottle and forgot about it. Several months later, the fern was thriving and grass had sprouted in the enclosed container Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

Social media and the Internet changing the world as we know it.

We are able to share information with just one click of the mouse.

I can ask a garden question on Twitter and get answers from around the world within minutes.

It’s amazing.

The Internet is growing at an astonishing rate. New websites pop up every minute. There’s a whole world to be discovered….if you can only find it. Search engines can help, but you don’t always even know what you’re looking for.

Stumble Upon is a social media service that strives to help you find your favorite new websites. You will be directed to random sites based on your stated interests and the recommendations of your friends. I have spent hours just clicking the button and zooming around the Internet.

You sign up for an account with Stumble Upon and check off what kinds of topics and websites you are interested in visiting. There’s a toolbar to be downloaded. Once that is ready, you just start pushing Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

I am absolutely in love with gardening books.

There’s something about flipping through the pages gawking at gorgeous pictures and learning new facts.

I also adore books that teach me new skills.

Down & Dirty: 43 Fun & Funky First-time Projects & Activities to Get You Gardeningby Ellen Zachos should be in your garden library, especially if you’re a novice gardener. The cover proudly declares that the book contains “43 Fun and Funky First-Time Projects & Activities to Get You Gardening”.

Would you like to see flowers blooming in the middle of winter? You’ll learn how to force spring-blooming bulbs at any time of the year. Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanesa Richins

Sometimes you might find tiny insects flying around your kitchen or houseplants.

There are two main culprits to consider – fruit flies and fungus gnats.

Most of us are familiar with fruit flies.

These pesky tiny nuisances always seem to appear when you have fruit in the kitchen for more than a day or two. They have a very short life span, so they reproduce quickly until a small cloud forms.

I had always heard that one way to get rid of fruit flies was to use vinegar. I tried balsamic vinegar with little success. On the last round, though, I bought a bottle of apple cider vinegar, which I put into a bowl. The fruit flies were soon drawn into the bowl, where they promptly drowned.

I’ve heard of traps that are a little more intricate – jars with small holes poked in the lid, filled with vinegar and honey. Some use bottles covered in plastic wrap. No matter what method, I would highly recommend Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was growing up.

I would visit the tidepools and find the crabs, sea anenomes, limpets and more.

We took trips to a local science center where people could peer at smaller creatures under the microscope.

One kind of tiny ocean dweller is the diatom. These are algae that have developed a hard outer shell. They come in many shapes and sizes and are exquisitely beautiful, as these pictures show. After they die and fossilize, they are ground up into a fine powder called diatomaceous earth.

What does this have to do with urban gardening?

It turns out that many insects can be killed by using diatomaceous earth. The ground outer shell has very jagged, sharp edges that cut the exoskeleton of the insect when it comes into contact. This allows the sun and air into their shell, so they dry out and eventually die.

Since diatomaceous earth is made from natural algae, it’s Read the rest of this entry »