Photo courtesy of Fen The Dog Taxi at flickr.com.

While you need to be careful to meet their nutritional requirements, it’s possible for your dogs to eat as organically as you do. In fact, organic diets have significant health benefits for dogs: among other things, a steady diet of organic food can decrease skin ailments and digestive disorders, and increase your dog’s natural immunity.

In addition to organic dog foods, manufacturers have also responded with organic dog treats, most of which are based on organically-produced meats (including chicken and bison), cheese, and peanut butter. Of course, your dog will be happy to share your own organic treats.

One organic product you should always avoid, however, is organic chocolate. Tasty or not, chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

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Photo courtesy of Got Xiney? at flickr.com.

Raspberries, blackberries, and related plants often suffer from crown or cane gall, a nasty bacterial disease that shows up as warty growths on the canes and roots. As with the dreaded black spot that attacks roses, there’s just one solution: prune away and destroy the affected parts of the plant.

Don’t put them into your compost bin, and never use them for mulch. To help the injured plants recover more quickly, spray them with compost tea and mulch their roots with two inches of fresh compost.

While the jury’s still out on the science, it appears that fatty acids in compost can control or kill the bacteria that cause cane gall.

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Photo courtesy of Sheela Suresh at Flickr.com.

Absinthe tea is an easy-to-make, effective way to send common garden insect pests scurrying. The tea is derived from a common medicinal and ornamental herb, Artemisia absinthium, that often grows wild. To make it, you’ll need 300-500 grams of fresh-picked leaves (or 30 grams of dry leaves) for a three-gallon batch. Just pour boiling water on the leaves, and let the mix steep covered for 15-30 minutes. Cool it and strain it, then dilute it one part to three with water, and spray it on plants under attack by aphids, blackberry mites, ants, and caterpillars. The strong smell will drive them away.

Photo courtesy of shimmertje at Flickr.com.

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Photo courtesy of Sandawg at Flickr.com.

In general, water from a rainbarrel is not fit for human consumption. Even though it’s not safe to drink, rainwater is good for watering the yard, orchards, and gardens. Non-potable water works for all sorts of things where food-grade water would be a waste, and using it eliminates the use of chemicals and electricity that have a large impact on the environment. All of the following have to be mined, refined, transported, activated, and mixed with water to make it safe for humans:

chlorine and ammonia (which combines to make chloramine) or ozone to disinfect the water; lime and iron sulfate to remove suspended solids in the water and for corrosion control; activated carbon to control offensive tastes and odors; and fluoride to help prevent tooth decay.

Plants don’t need bottled water! They will thrive with rainwater. On the other hand, people and pets can easily get sick from rainwater due to bacteria, parasites, or chemicals. Even trace amounts of certain chemicals can build up over time, so its important to ensure that your water is safe before using it on fruit trees or vegetable gardens. Some rainwater is dangerous even to plants that are used for landscaping!

If you live in an area where the air quality is bad, then there is a good chance that dangerous soot will collect on your roof. Areas downwind of coal power plants and brick furnaces are particularly at risk. Many factories emit fly ash, which is a toxic mix of silica, carbon, and lime. Fly ash often has significant amounts of alkali, sulfur, mercury, iron, and other particulates. When it rains, these particulates can wash down the drainage spout and into your rain barrel. If the soot in your area contains water soluble chemicals, they will contaminate the water.

Photo courtesy of selmasiddiqui at Flickr.com.

One way to gauge how much soot there is around your home is to leave a white sheet out overnight on a clothesline. If the sheet is stained with dust and grime, then there’s a good chance that the same types of dust and grime will accumulate on your roof. Even if your sheet has some grime, that isn’t the end of the world. Most dirt and grit is harmless, you just might want to test the water to make sure.

If your roof is clean, there may still be unseen dangers. Some asphalt roofing shingles contain trace amounts of zinc. These shingles can produce some dangerous water soluble compounds. If you use this water in your vegetable garden, the compounds may be absorbed by your plants. Some veggies do a good job of filtering contaminants out of their water, but others incorporate environmental poisons into their fruit and leaves.

The expensive (and most comprehensive) way to test your water is to take a water sample from your rain barrel to the local department in charge of environmental monitoring or contact the local community college and see if they offer water testing. There are also professional services that charge a hefty fee for water testing. A less expensive way to check is to talk with whoever put the roofing on your house. If the shingles were zinc free, they should know.

If you prefer an alternative method, you can also test water runoff by putting fish in your rain barrel. After the barrel has been thoroughly rinsed out (to remove any plastic chemicals) put fish in and see if they survive. If you choose to do that, you’ll need to make sure that the fish get enough oxygen and food. Many cities offer mosquito fish to control mosquitoes in abandoned swimming pools, and I would recommend getting a few of those. Just leave the lid off on your rain barrel so mosquitoes can get to the water and that will solve the food and air supply issues at the same time (while also eliminating mosquitoes in your yard)!

Photo courtesy of addicted Eyes at Flickr.com.

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Photo courtesy of Rowan Photography at Flickr.com.

Cabbage family plants are plagued not only with cabbage worms (the caterpillar of the delicate white cabbage butterfly) but also by cabbage maggots, the grubs of tiny flies that attack the roots of affected plants. You can recognize their ravages by the presence of sickly, off-color roots, or yellowing leaves that take on a purplish-red tinge on warm days. To get rid of cabbage maggots, mix a cup of lime (the kind that comes from rocks, not trees) into a quart of water and allow it to sit overnight. Pour the solution around the roots of each affected plant, and it will kill the maggots on contact.

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Photo courtesy of ¢am β. at Flickr.com.

It’s hard to find decent paint for less than $15 per gallon these days, but you can both go green and save some green by choosing recycled paint. As the name implies, this is leftover paint that has been recycled, reblended, and repackaged for resale, usually for less than $10 per gallon. To earn the recycled paint label, it has to contain at least 50% recycled content. A variety of brands are available; a quick search on Google will give you an idea of what’s out there, and where to find it. Remember that recycled paint is generally consistent in color, but not nearly as consistent as new paint; it’s best used for areas when color consistency isn’t crucial.

Photo courtesy of ktpupp at Flickr.com.

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Photo courtesy of Happy Monkey at Flickr.com.

It’s that time of year when Cicadas are swarming again. If you live in an area with an active brood, it seems like Cicadas and their empty shells are everywhere. They make noise all night and seem intent to strip leaves from all of our plants. Don’t worry though! Before you reach for the bug swatter or call up the exterminator, here are a few benefits of cicadas that you might not know about:

First off, Cicadas don’t eat leaves. They are sap suckers and don’t do much damage to plants. In fact, they generally help stimulate plant growth by targeting damaged or dying leaves. By nibbling on these parts, they encourage plants to focus their energy on fewer leaves, which results in healthier foliage and stronger growth.

Cicadas also perform vital services underground. Before they come to the surface, cicada larvae tunnel through the soil and help aerate plant roots. This process goes on for 17 years! They also consume organic matter and break up debris, just like earthworms. When the cicadas emerge, their exit holes further aerate the ground.

Cicadas are a great natural source of fertilizer. They only live on the surface for a few short days, and after they pass away, their bodies quickly break down into nitrogen and other nutrients that plants can use.

When cicadas swarm, they offer a high protein buffet that many animals gorge on. Animals such as birds, coyotes, and monkeys enjoy eating cicadas and benefit from their arrival. If you’re a bird watcher, this is a great time to observe migrating birds that are happy and full. Believe it or not, some people even consider Cicadas a delicacy!

Photo courtesy of refmo at Flickr.com.

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Photo courtesy of Fotomom at Flickr.com.

Climate change is causing all sorts of unexpected shifts around the world. Many species are migrating to higher elevation as temperatures change, reproducing at unusual times, or simply going extinct.

Some plants and animals have found other ways to adapt. Warm, wet weather is ideal for poison sumac and poison oak. Urushiol (the oil in Poison Oak and Poison Sumac that causes blisters and rashes) lasts longer on the surface of plants in this type of weather, and it builds up to a higher degree. Even more frightening, global warming may be causing rattlesnake venom to get more potent.

So, not only is the weather uncomfortable and extreme, but more plants and animals are trying to kill us. Great. It’s almost like they know who to blame for climate change.

For protection against poison ivy, we carry Buji Poison Ivy Blocker and Wash. These natural lotions can help you avoid rashes and blisters by protecting your skin, and the wash is a safe way to get rid of harmful oils without spreading them for later contact. The rattlesnake venom is a bit trickier to avoid.

Photo courtesy of jdeboer152 at Flickr.com.

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Photo courtesy of ESOX LUCIUS at Flickr.com.

The hardy perennial comfrey, a human medicinal herb, is also good medicine for plants: it contains high levels of easily absorbable nitrogen and potassium, two of the elements in the all-important NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium) triumvirate. Even better, it’s easy to grow and it’s tough; it responds well to being repeatedly cut down to ground level. If you’ve got a little room in your garden, why not grow a small crop of comfrey and regularly harvest the leaves? They make great mulch for nitrogen- and potassium-dependent plants and seedlings, and can enrich your compost heap with N and K as well.

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Photo courtesy of Scorchez at Flickr.com.

Ants are tenacious little creatures, and they can make a meal out of the things that we throw out. Unfortunately, that means that ants love to turn compost bins into buffet lines. That’s not such a terrible thing if you’re trying to return food scraps to the earth, but ants can be a real nuisance (destroying electrical equipment, eating through insulation, and even eating worms in your composter). Here are a few tips on how to control ants around your composter.

If the ants are coming from outside and foraging in the container, then I would suggest isolating it from the outside. You may need to find a new place for the container, preferably one where there are no cracks to the outside or somewhere that the container is physically isolated from the ground (ie; on a plastic sheet or shelf).

Start by moving the container. Ants rely on scent trails to find their way, so when you move it, no new ants will show up for a while. I would suggest moving your composter twice - once so that no new ants find their way inside, and again after all the residual ants have left. If you only move the container once, the departing ants may be able to lay new scent trails which will undo your hard work.

Depending on the type of ants, it should take between 10 and 30 minutes for all the ants to leave. You might be able to speed up the process by putting a repellent in the container. If your composter uses worms, then make sure you use a worm safe repellent.

Before you move the container to its new location, it would be a good idea to eliminate whatever attracted the ants in the first place. Scrubbing the bottom of the container with soapy water should eliminate any spilled material and it will also wash away the ant scent markers. In extreme cases (for example, on island communities where ants are particularly persistent) you may want to use a physical barrier that the ants can’t cross. You could put the legs of the composter in bowls of water or organic ant repellent.

Another solution is to spread diatomaceous earth around the base of the composter. DE will kill any foraging ants and prevent them from bringing in reinforcements. It also works against other pests, such as silverfish, cockroaches, and slugs. The type of diatomaceous earth you use is important - some varieties are chemically treated and heated in ways that make them unsafe to use indoors, so make sure you check for a type that’s safe to have around the house. Ground Cayenne Pepper also works against some ants.

If the ants are coming from inside the container, it can be trickier to get them out. After ants have built a nest, the easiest way to deal with the problem is usually to empty the contents outside (in a compost pile) and start over. If that’s not an option, here are some other ant control methods that we recommend.

Send those ants packing!

Photo courtesy of Photo Plus 1 (Kamran Ahmed) at Flickr.com.

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