Mulch, a cover over the surface of your garden, keeps the soil moist, moderates temperature, lessens weed growth, and adds nutrients to soils as it decays. Best of all, you probably have something around your house or yard that you can use as mulch. Mulch can be free. A Few Mulch Choices I like the … Read more
If you grow lettuce or other greens, you may have noticed that your leaves have been nibbled. You may even have caught the culprits on your plants. Snails and slugs love leaves. What do you do? Salt them? NO! Salt will certainly make them shrivel up and die, but it won’t help your soil. Poison them? … Read more
Since we’ve been experimenting with our own cleaning recipes and since both of my children came whining to me, “Mama, we’re out of toothpaste,” I decided that it was time to work more kitchen magic and create our own tooth powder. Because of questions about skin irritation or diarrhea-causing effects of Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS)—which is used to … Read more
If you are considering using simple basic cleaners for your household cleaning, you can easily add a nice smell by infusing with herbs or other aromatics. My children and I have been making and using herbal cleaning solutions as chemistry lessons. Yes, very sneaky! The cleaning is part of the lesson as we figure out which … Read more
Antimicrobial cleaners and treatments—disinfectants—kill bacteria, viruses, and fungi, but they also have potential harmful health and environmental effects. They don’t distinguish between good bacteria and bad bacteria. But, a lot of people continue to use antibacterial household products that promise hygiene and safety. Everyone wants to be safe, don’t they? Use of disinfectants such as nano silver … Read more