New Product: Alfalfa Tea For Roses 3Pk

For Rose Bushes - Treat your rose bushes to a feeding of Haven Brand Natural Brew Alfalfa Tea. Regular feedings throughout the blooming season will leave your rose bushes with an abundance of full, colorful and lucious blooms.

Check it out now… Alfalfa Tea

 

The Plant Nanny – A Revolution in Watering

Plant Nanny products were developed to make plants healthier; most plants thrive when their roots are consistently moist. Watering globes support hardier root growth by slowly releasing water through a special Ceramic stake as the soil begins to dry.  They are revolutionary due to the fact that the Ceramic stake stays in the soil.  No clogging!  And it releases water throughout the entire stake, not just one tiny area.

Plant Nanny Stakes come in several varieties, to match anyone’s taste.

Hand-blown glass watering globes are a simple solution to keeping your plants healthy. Most plants thrive with consistent watering. Since the stake remains in the soil the plant roots will actually grow around the stake and use water more efficiently. The water level is visible through the globe even at a distance, so you’ll know exactly when to add water.  There are the Clear Glass Globe, The Swirl (in 3 decorative colors) and the Globe with Finial (a gorgeous addition to any planter, in 2 colors).  Just remove the Globe, leaving the  stake in the soil, and refill with water,  you can even add fertilizer if you choose!  They are so easy to use!

For the wine lover and anyone who likes to be GREEN, recycled wine bottles & Wine Bottle Plant Nanny Stakes work together to water your plants. Made from a specially-engineered ceramic, our 7.5 inch Plant Nanny^® Stakes are designed so that a wine bottle rests securely inside, providing a ready supply of water. Designed to water a larger container plant, these can be used indoors or on a deck or porch. Any long neck glass bottle will work, so you don’t have to love wine to love this product.  They work well outside, to keep your summer planters from drying out.  And the size of the wine bottle means you wont have to refill everyday and the water won’t reach boiling temperatures in the sun.

The Add-a-bottle Nanny and the Vacation Nanny are great for any planter as well.  They have the same great stake, only you use your recycled water or soda bottles instead.  They are a great way to make use of water bottles and easily care for your plants.  Decorate your bottles for a one of a kind look.

The Plant Nanny’s are also great in the ground!  Use them to water newly transplanted shrubs or perennials!  This will help to reduce transplant shock.

All in all the Plant Nanny has revolutionized the Watering Globe.  By utilizing a stake that stays in the soil, they eliminate clogging of the globe and disruption of the plants roots.  Your plants will grow healthier for it!

Check out this link for all the Plant Nanny products:

Plant Nanny Watering Stakes

Most Popular Green Products

As an online retailer of green products for home and garden, we at Green Nation Gardens pay close attention to what our customers want. “It’s very gratifying to see that more people within main stream society are becoming interested in products that have some sort of positive affect on our environment”, says Mark Pappas, Co-Owner of Green Nation Gardens. Listed, are just a few of the most popular products becoming widely accepted within the realm of “Green Living”. Do you have a favorite “Green Product”? List it here

Wine Bottle Plant Nanny Set - Cone shaped stakes made from terracotta. Finally put those used wine bottles to work. 

Odor Free Kitchen Caddy – Made from 100% recycled plastic. Collecting kitchen scraps is a must for organic gardening.

All Natural Coco Fiber – Coir Fiber made from coconut husk has numerous uses including potting medium.

TerraCycle Products and Upcycling

You should have heard the name already. TerraCycle is well known as a leader in making useful things from trash and packing it in trash. Tom Szaky, Princeton College drop out took his vision and turned it into reality when he got the idea to make worm poop, liquify it, pack it in used soda bottles and called it plant food. And you know what? It worked! TerraCycle did not stop there…

 

TerraCycle now has many more useful organic gardening products as well as household cleaning supplies, pet supplies, office supplies and are well known for their bags and totes made from used Juice Drink Pouches. TerraCycle has teamed up with Capri Sun, Honest Tea and KoolAid to buy juice drink pouches from nonprofit organizations who take part in a profitable and worthwile cause known as the Juice Drink Pouch Brigade.  Since juice drink pouches cannot be recycled, they are being kept out of the landfills and made into totes, kids backpacks, lunch boxes and pencil cases.   Terracycle “buys” these used juice pouches.  A check goes directly to the Non-profit organization participating.  Schools all over the country recycle these juice pouches, teach the kids about recycling and earn money for their schools.  This is a win-win! Millions of juice pouches are being kept out of landfills due to the vision and purpose of Tom Szaky. Best of all, TerraCycle Products are cheap, they’re supposed to be. This is called eco-capitalism, where useful items are made from trash and packaged in trash. The environment benefits, the economy benefits and our children benefit. Not only that, TerraCycle Products are cool. They are even making coasters from recycled computer parts! So next time you need to feed your plants,  need a bag or tote, or it’s time to clean, remember to use TerraCycle Products. You’ll save money, get some really cool stuff, help improve the environment, help raise money for nonprofits and leave a world in a healthier state for your children their children.

My Two Favorite Fertilizers

Two of my favorite organic (that’s all I use) fertilizers are Milorganite and Merrill’s Compost Tea.

I love them because they are 100% Natural Organic Products. These companies each make a product that is organic and beneficial from waste.

Milorganite has been around for over 80 years and is a by-product of Milwaukee’s water treatment system. It is safe to use in any climate at any time of the growing season…even drought.

Milorganite contains no salts (that can burn turf) so it doesn’t even need to be watered in to work. It relies on natural microbes in the soil to break down the nutrients.

Milorganite not only contains Nitrogen and Phosphorous, it also contains calcium, which is essential for nutrient uptake and Iron that makes everything a nice dark green. I use Milorganite on my lawn, trees, shrubs and perennials.

Merrill’s Compost Tea is one of the most fantastic products I’ve ever used. They look like tea bags (don’t drink them by mistake!). Keep an old gallon jug handy. Fill it up with tepid water and drop in one tea bag. Let it steep for an hour or so and then water your plants. I like to let my “tea” steep overnight. This is the best fertilizer for houseplants, annuals, roses and perennials. You can water as you normally would or foliar feed with a spray bottle. The first time I used this was in the middle of winter on my houseplants. The results were amazing! If they could have my plants would have jumped up and done a jig!

Both companies are committed to using natural resources and sustainable agriculture. These are truly earth friendly products. They are easy to use and inexpensive. The results will astound you!

Grass Cutting, Green Options

Grass Cutting in many parts of the nation has become a huge business. With our hectic, over scheduled lives most of us choose to let someone else do the chore of cutting our grass.

The Landscaping industry in general is a wonderful business. They create beautiful landscapes, install tress, shrubs, plants and flowers. This enhances our environment and beautifies our homes. There are a few things about the industry that is negating all the positive work they do.

Grass cutting is a big part of the business. Everyday, 5 days a week, they drive from home to home, get on their gas guzzling mowers, start up their gas powered line trimmers and blowers. They probably spend no more than 30 minutes on average at a home. Then they are back in their vehicles and on to the next house. This is an extreme amount of gas usage from the machines and the vehicles and an extreme amount of ozone destroying pollution.

We can reduce the amount of pollution going into our atmosphere if we make the time to cut our own grass, in a non-polluting way. There are more and more rechargeable mowers and trimmers coming onto the market. Most of these rechargeable mowers will cut about 1/3 of an acre on one charge. This will accommodate many residential lawns. This however still takes energy. There is one option that takes nothing more than human energy…a rotary mower.
These mowers have come a long way in recent years. They used to be heavy, awkward and required sharpening often. The rotary mowers of today are lightweight, ergonomically designed, and the blades require little sharpening. These mowers are easy to use, less expensive than traditional gas powered mowers and lawn cutting services.

Rotary mower pricing starts around $90.00 US dollars and can go as high as $300 US dollars. On the better models bagging attachments are available. The Brill Rotary Mower is the best I’ve come across. The blades only require sharpening once every ten years or so. A bagging option is available for about $50.00 US dollars. They are lightweight and have a smooth easy cutting action, even through thick turf.

The way a rotary lawn mower cuts is also better for the turf. It cuts the turf with scissor like motion, leaving a clean cut. A gas powered mower blade spins at a high rate of speed pulling the grass up and slicing it. If the blade is not sharp, it tears the turf. You can tell if the blade is not sharp by the white edges at the top of the grass that looks like split ends.

Maybe we as a nation would be a little healthier too, if we cut our own grass. So many people live sedate lives now more than ever. By cutting our own lawns with environmentally friendly equipment we are not only improving our planets health, but improving our own as well.

 

Vera Pappas is the co owner of Green Nation Gardens, an online store selling green living products for the home and garden. Vera has been in the Green industry for over 20 years and writes to share her knowledge and love of gardening with others.

Green Living

We at Green Nation Gardens have recently expanded our business to include “Green Living” products.  You will now be able to find Accessories for the Home, an organic paper department, Fun and Learning, Active Wear, and Personal Care Products.  Keep an eye out for energy saving home products and much more. We are adding new Green Living products daily.

We are also loading up for the Holidays!  We have Green Games such as Earthopoly and Green Toys for kids made from Recycled Milk Jugs.  We also have Ready to Grow Gifts, such as the Amaryllis Rice Hull Garden and Scotch Pine Christmas Tree to Be. Our all natural soaps make great Stocking Stuffers!  They are 100% natural, long lasting and they smell great too! Eco-lips are another great little gift!

Gift a Green Gift this Holiday!  Green Nation Gardens also has Gift Certificates!  Shop early and watch for special deals and discounts!

Earthopoly

Just wanted to tell everyone about this new game.  It is called Earthopoly and we just added it to our site under the  “Fun and Learning” category. This is one of those must have holiday gifts.  It plays like Monopoly, however, its Earthopoly.  The entire game is made from recycled materials, the board and the pieces.  It is a super fun and educational game, especially for those who want to learn more about the Earth and Green Living.  The whole family will love it!  They are selling like hotcakes!  Makes a great holiday gift!  Get yours before they sell out.

The Jora Composter

When I find a product I love, I want to share.  This particular product is revolutionary in the world of composting.

The Jora Composters are by far the best composters I have ever come across!  And I have tried many.  The Jora comes in two sizes, the JK125, for up to 4 people and the JK270 (which I have)  for the larger family, up to 12 people.(We have 7)

This composter was invented in Sweden, where the recycling regulations are very strict.  Jora designed the JK125 and JK270 for the homeowner.  They also designed commercial composters for schools, businesses and Apartment Complexes.

The major difference between the Jora Composters and others is that the Jora is insulated.   It regulates the temperature for year round composting.  Both sizes have a dual chamber, so you are always making fresh compost.  Once one chamber is full, simply start on the other chamber and let the first mature, so you always have a fresh supply.  The first batch takes less than 8 weeks, once you have both chambers going you will have fresh compost every 3-4 weeks year round!  Most composters stop composting in the winter months when the temperatures drop. Not the Jora!  I know I enjoy composting throughout the winter months.  My food scraps don’t end up in the trash and I have fresh soil for indoor gardening and seed starting.

Another benefit of these composters is that they are made of metal.  They are recyclable and they are packed and shipped flat (like most things from Sweden) and that saves on shipping and fuel.  You gotta love a company that thinks green.

Try one of the Jora Composters!  I know you will love it.  I do.  The environment and your plants will thank you.

A Bird Habitat

Creating a habitat for birds can be a fun and rewarding hobby. To attract and keep birds coming to the new environment you’ve created, there are a few simple things you need to do.

Hang a variety of birdhouses for different types of birds. Many birds will come back year after year to roost in the same house. Do some research to find out what types of birds you want to attract, where and what kind of houses they like.

You will also want a variety of bird feeders and food. This is key…if you want to keep the birds around you must provide food and shelter for them year round. If you forget to feed for a while them or stop feeding them all winter, they will go elsewhere.

Birds also love a good bath and a drink. A birdbath is a great item to have in your yard for the birds. They can cool off in the summer heat, take a bath, etc. I find a shady place for a birdbath to be the best. In the summer it won’t dry out as fast or grow algae. Make sure you put fresh water in regularly to keep away mosquitoes. They also need a water source in the winter. A Bird Bath Heater is a great way to provide a water source during the frigid winter months.

Birds are super fun to watch. Each species of bird seems to have their own personality, song and dance routine. It is like a guessing game to find the bird and match it up to the song. Get a pair of binoculars and keep them handy. A close up view of the birds will give a whole new perspective of their beauty. A book about birds of your region will also help you identify new birds and learn about their habits and environmental needs.

I’m no expert on birds by any stretch of the imagination, however, I know I love to watch the pair of House Finches come back to the same bird house each season. This bird house has been hanging in the same spot on my front porch since the previous owners lived here. In the early spring they have to fight off other birds to keep their home. It is an amazing sight. My family all love to watch the birds come to the window feeder. They are so up close, it is the only time my 3 small children stay still and quiet.

Providing a good habitat for birds can also be just having good natural shelter. Trees and shrubs can provide natural shelter, shade and protection. Shrubs that have berries in the fall and winter, like Viburnum, Oregon Grape Holly, and Pyracantha provide food for the birds into the winter. Sunflowers are a great summer treat for the birds.

Be patient when creating a new habitat for the birds. It takes a little time for the birds to discover a new environment. Once they do, you will be surprised and pleased at the variety of beauty now in your yard.