Breath new life into your rooms

Check out these creative ways to re-purpose your old TV console!

Listen in to our conversation about this topic at the end of the audio segment below:

Compost Tea is a  Cool Cuppa Grow

Included in this article:

• Fertilizer in a Tea Cup… Not
• Brew Up Some Compost Tea
• Eric’s Compost Tea Recipe

You’ve heard me talk about compost before. I love the stuff. It’s great on oatmeal – just kidding. Seriously, compost is like black gold in the garden. It’s an organic way to create a healthy soil environment where microbial life converts organic matter from your kitchen into nutrients that your plants will love. But there’s something even better than compost. It’s something I like to call Cuppa Grow.  Trust me on this, your plants will love every last drop. (read on…)

While this isn’t something you would serve in fine china it is good for your plants.  Compost tea is more than fertilizer. It involves all the good and bad microorganisms living in your soil. You already know adding compost to your garden enriches the soil and adds loads of nutrients to your plants. Well, compost tea is a concentrated solution of plain old compost, brewed into a liquid that can be poured around plants or sprayed directly on the foliage.

Studies have found the microorganisms literally explode when mixed into this special brew. Not only are those good microbes chomping away and creating nutrients, but also their vast numbers squeeze out the disease causing bad microbes.

Compost tea is not hard to brew up yourself. You can buy a commercial system and be ready to go in no time. Commercial systems usually come with a bucket or container for the tea, filters, compost tea catalyst and a pump to agitate the water. The aerating process seems to make the microbes grow faster and needs to run from 12 to 24 hours (definitely not something you’re going to do by hand). The cost can be anywhere from $50 and on up, depending on how large and fancy you want to go.  A good middle of the road system should cost about $100, like this one:  The Bountea Garden Brew Kit http://www.bountea.com/

Buying a whole system in one shot is an easy solution but you can also create your own system with not much work or expense. A five or 10-gallon plastic container should be fine.  Stuff the compost into a filter. Think of this as the tea bag. The leg of an old panty hose works well.  Add a bit of compost tea catalyst, generally a rich brew of seaweed extract and minerals, to enhance microbial growth. Check with your local garden center or order a catalyst online from Bountea as well. A little goes a long way, so follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

You’ll also need a small aquarium or fountain pump. Even a small 10-gallon an hour pump is sufficient for agitating the tea and should cost around $10.

Supplies:

• Five to 10 gallon plastic bucket
• Compost (from your own pile)
• Filter (one leg from a pair of pantyhose)
• String
• Small aquarium or fountain pump

Instructions:

1. Fill the container with water. If you’re using city water, it may have chlorine in it, so let it sit for about a day in order for the chlorine to evaporate. Alternatively, use distilled water so you can get to work right away.
2. Add the catalyst to the water and swish around. You can think of this as munchies for your microbes.
3. Stuff your filter (the leg of a panty hose) with good-quality compost. Tie it off with a string. Just like a tea bag, dunk the filter into the water.
4. Add the aquarium pump to the container and set to run for 12 to 24 hours. It’ll look frothy. That’s good because that’s where the nutrients and microorganisms live.
5. Pour the compost tea around the base of your plants or use it as a spray. Use the compost left over in the filter on your plants, too. Don’t let that good stuff go to waste.

Online Resources:

How to Make Compost Tea & Why You Should from Treehugger
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/02/how-to-make-use-compost-tea.php

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Glass Garage Doors

There are garage doors and then there are those garage doors that add to the design appeal of a home. BP Glass Garage Doors makes glass doors work with any architectural design of a home, with the durability and the energy efficiency that add to the beauty. Rob Reyes talks about the technology behind the doors.

Glass Garage Door Designs

LEARN MORE:
www.GlassGarageDoors.com

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Eco Friendly Dream Home

It’s functional, beautiful, affordable and using reclaimed and sustainable things! Take a tour of Modern Living Show House created by Zem Joaquin and architect Jonathan Davis of Piece Homes. This modern 550 square foot modular home has amazing features that turn this into a home.

Eco Friendly House

LEARN MORE:
www.ecofabulous.com

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Rebates For Going Green

Go here for the gallery of Green Point Rated house!

If you live in L.A. County , you have a chance to get $2,000 back in a rebate for doing some simple things that you have already done and don’t realize – things that save energy and make your home more efficient.   Some of the DIY steps homeowners can take to qualify include:
Have you replaced your lawn with drought tolerant plants?

Installing proper attic insulation

Wrapping water heaters

Changing light bulbs to CFL bulbs

Adding low – e film on single pane windows

Weather stripping

Adding aerators to faucets

Changing showerheads to high performance kinds

Installing a weather-based controller for sprinklers

Installing CO detectors

Having a recycling center near the sink

Painting with low VOC paint

Replace furnace filter with MERV 6Plus

Compost and recycle garden trimming on site

Wrap  exposed hot water pipes with insulation

Install a gas shut-off valve

Janine Kubert, with Build It Green, talks about how the program works, where the money comes from and how  youcan qualify for this rebate, and potentially an $8,000 rebate for doing more things to  make your home energy efficient.  And we hear from a couple Robert and Monica Fortunado,  who share how their home is not only greener now that it’s Green Point Rated, but it’s more comfortable as well as net zero – meaning they pay NO utility bills and in fact get a check back from their utility provider!

Link:
www.energyupgradegreenlabel.org

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Tomato Tips

Hurry up you still have time to bring homegrown tomatoes to your garden, your patio and your tummy, straight from your own edible garden! Typically you want to plant tomatoes in March but you have until the end of May, ( fudge a day or two) and get them to fruit in July and August. The reason is for most varieties the tomato fruit will not set until the nighttime temperature is above 55 degrees for at least two nights in a row. Tomato flowers need to be pollinated within 50 hours or so, or else they abort and drop off. It takes that long for the pollen to germinate and travel down in the tomato plant to germinate and produce. It takes longer in the colder temperatures and so the clock runs out on the pollen if the temperature is too low.
The most important step for success is to choose disease-resistant varieties that adapted to your area!
Choose plants that stand 6 – 12 inches high. After you buy the plant, place it outside in a sheltered area to slowly acclimate to your outdoor conditions. Move them to a sunny location two to three days before planting. Loosen soil with a shovel Place the tomato plants outside in a sheltered location for a few days to slowly acclimate them to outdoor conditions. Move them to a sunny location two or three days prior to planting. Dig a hole deep enough to accommodate the root system, usually about 6 inches deep. Plant tomatoes so the bottom leaves sit 1 inch from the soil. Water the tomato plants as needed to keep soil consistently moist, but not soggy. Periods of drought or excessive watering can cause problems such as blossom-end rot, cracked skins or limited yields. Apply the fertilizer when the fruit begins to set and every four to six weeks afterward.
Tomato blossoms can drop and fail to set fruit when temperatures remain above 85 degrees for more than a few days, causing a significant problem for gardeners in hot areas. Grow tomatoes in containers and move them to a shady location during very hot weather. Here’s a new breed to try – it is a Purple/Black tomato that just may do your health more good as it is packed with a type of anti-oxidant known as anthocyanins – Developed by Technological Seeds DM, an Israeli-based company, the “Black Galaxy” variety of tomato gets its color from a pigment found in blueberries, which was not present in its genome before
It gets darker and darker as it ripens!

Tomato Growing Secrets

“Indigo Rose” tomato was recently announced from a program at Oregon State University. Perhaps the OSU tomato ,  is “really, really purple” but it can at times it appear black.

Indigo Rose (Photo: Tiffany Woods via KVAL)

“Other so-called purple and black tomatoes have the green flesh gene, which prevents normal chlorophyll breakdown. A brown pigment called pheophytin accumulates and has a brownish color that makes a muddy purple when combined with carotenoids.”

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Garden Stream Design

It’s the centerpiece of Anne Phillips’ outdoor designs at the Pasadena Showcase House that is not only stunning and creative, but water saving!  Phillips specializes in Green Garden designs, meaning not requiring a lot of water, but also shaping the garden in a way that thrives with the environment.  Anne talks about  how she created this waterfall, and “stream” made entirely out of plants that aren’t as thirsty, like succulents, and why you may want to consider similar choices, and how to make it your own in your outdoor spaces!  Check out her very clever use of a Riddling Rack that was used for rotating champagne bottles as home to a vertical garden, filled with succulents!

Pasadena Showcase House

Anne Phillips’ Outdoor Designs

Link: http://www.gogreengardeners.com

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Succulent Stream Steals The Show –And Saves Water