What Is Monocotyledon

(As did the giant pot of chili I made Monday night; my mother always said there was no better food in winter than a steaming bowl of soup.) Lo and behold, the polar vortex eventually gave way to “normal” January temperatures across the country—Lexington...

Life-threatening injuries and illnesses can be treated with homeopathic remedies, but it's best done under the direction of a homeopathic veterinarian. This procedure is called “potentizing.” The more potent, the longer and deeper the remedy acts...

Teach children never to eat fruit from the winterberries in your garden or your home.Whether snitching berries from the bush or off holiday decor, animals that ingest leaves or berries from the winterberry plant can suffer adverse effects from the alkaloids...

Keep your eyes on hatchery catalogs, and before you know it, you'll be raising those Lakenvelders you always dreamed of. I've been chastised in the past for having my head in the clouds instead of focused on the here and now, but I take Gloria Steinem's...

Of course, none of the folks who are writing about it are sharing what plant this really is, so I went digging. I called Richo, and after he very kindly looked up his planting records, I asked him what first drew him to grow the plant.

Lean On Your Cooperative Extension Most gardeners can easily ID adult insects that they encounter either through published insect guides, university resources, entomological websites or garden centers.

Soil that is ready for planting is easy to dig and yields to your shovel. Be very leery of any early spring digging, especially if you live in a northern climate. Digging in your garden too soon or in the wrong conditions results in two things: frustration...

The otherwise healthy looking seedling will discolor or wilt suddenly, or simply collapse and die.Other signs of damping off include stunting, low vigor, or wilting. Typically, germinating seeds are killed by the damping-off fungus prior to emerging from...

Healthy immune systems can usually fight off histoplasmosis, although infections can become serious if large amounts of the toxin are inhaled, or if the infected person has a weakened immune system.Legionnaire's Disease is a respiratory infection that's...

The interest in heritage turkeys is just one step away from backyard chickens.What are heritage turkeys, and why would we want one?For one thing, they are “green”, that is, they are sustainable.

I always keep dry laurel leaves in a glass jar for spicing my winter meals: sauerkraut or dry beans in a casserole, sauerkraut stuffed rolls, marinated sauce for meatballs, beef belly sour broth, Christmas pork dishes and pickled sweet peppers.

This high-humidity houseplant can grow to heights of nearly five feet.Dracaena sanderiana is considered non-toxic to humans.The ASPCA's Poison Control Center lists lucky bamboo as a toxic substance to dogs and cats.Although Dracaena sanderiana is considered...

It's worth your time to seek out different species, especially native species; not only will this help in creating biodiversity in your community, but it will also reward you with fewer garden pests and plant problems.

Letting a field lie fallow, free from any cultivated crop, is often part of a good crop rotation program. As the name suggests, arable fields were divided into threes. This process had the intended effect of replenishing the soil, but it left half the...

On the Janka scale, a standard measure of wood hardness, Okoume's rating is only 380. It is considered very soft, rendering it unsuitable for use in situations requiring durability, such as flooring.

We are really enjoying them, but to our surprise, one of our ladies has grown up to be a gentleman! He's a beautiful Rhode Island Red rooster that has taken nicely to his little harem of hens.

Novelty is the great parent of pleasure. My family loves to reference an early-'90s home movie of a New Year's Eve party where a gaggle of my cousins are watching a cartoon, giggling and chatting, while I'm willingly sitting in a corner with a book, facing...

Although deer may occasionally munch on bougainvillea, they usually don't like the plant enough to destroy it. It can also be grown indoors year-round. Frost will kill it. These sprawling plants are vines that can grow up to 30 feet long or tall if they...

At pH above 7, phosphorus becomes unavailable, and the build up of calcium carbonate and other toxic salts can inhibit root development. It is unlikely there will be a noticeable difference in the health of a plant grown at pH 6.5 compared to one grown...

But by taking the time to give some extra care and thought to your soil at the beginning and end of each gardening season, you'll cultivate soil that will support the growth of healthy fruits and vegetables that you'll enjoy for years to come.

In our zone-4 abode, the minimum recommended R-value is 25. With renovations kicking into gear—something that seems to happen only when we pay someone else to do the work—it's time to talk insulation.

However, a photo of an Australorp you find online might look a lot different than your Australorp. Having had a Red Star myself, I guessed that she actually had Rhode Island Reds based on their deeper feather color.

One folk remedy combines sugar cane juice with dry ginger to stop hiccups, another uses equal parts sugar and yellow soap to treat boils. If the top part of the sugar cane is cut but the roots remain intact, the plant will regrow from where it was cut.

The carefree vinca provides color all summer in flowerpots and the garden. If you have a deer problem in your region, surround your vegetable garden and other plants deer eat with vinca and other plants that deer don't like.

However, neither of these items contains animal fat.Despite its resemblance to lard, vegetable ghee is cholesterol-free. It is also used as a spread on bread or vegetables.Both traditional ghee and vegetable ghee have a texture and appearance similar...

It is sometimes planted with other crops such as soybeans, which provides an additional food source for deer and minimizes the growth of weeds. It is also an ingredient in grain blocks, which are compressed blends of seeds, grains and fillers combined...

However, Native Americans in years past often used extracts from the uncooked agave leaf to poison the tips of their arrows. Dependent on the species, the majority of cacti flower on a regular basis.Another significant difference between an agave and...