Homeowners and DIYers call them clay pot heaters, while commercial outlets make them sound fancy using terms like Tea Light Oven, Ceramic Radiators, or Terracotta Candle Heaters. Fancy ones on Etsy will run you $300 US? DIY options can be made for $15.
This idea may have started on TikTok a number of years ago, and it is still being promoted to heat rooms, trailer homes, and greenhouses. If you need to heat a space at a low cost, clay pot heaters might fit the bill – but do they work?
Gardeners have come to understand that the microbe population in soil is critical for healthy soil and healthy plants. There is also tremendous chatter on blogs and in social media about “doing the right thing” to increase microbe populations. Companies have packaged microbes to produce garden “probiotics”. Just sprinkle a bit on your soil and watch the magic happen. So I think we can agree that gardeners should take care of their existing microbes and work on increasing their numbers.
More microbes = healthier soil = happier plants
But ….. there is a catch. How does the gardener measure the current microbe population? If you can’t measure it today, how do you know that you have increased the population over time? How do you know which method of soil improvement worked the best?
Do purchased probiotics work the best? How about compost tea, or weed tea? Does compost alone work?
Without a method for measuring microbes, you are flying blind. In this post I will discuss some lab methods, some DIY methods and some new technology that is just coming on the market.
The Lomi electronic composter by Pela is one of the more popular kitchen units offered today. They have great marketing that promotes the the machines benefits. It is good for the environment, it produces “strong” fertilizer, it reduces the amount of kitchen waste and it even composts some types of compostable plastic.
This post will look at some of these claims to see if they are true.
Lead is a toxic heavy metal that can be very harmful to your health. It has been used in a lot of products including paint, gasoline and cans of food. Lead levels in soil found along roads is higher than in soil located farther from the road and some people won’t grow vegetables in a front yard for this reason.
One reason people use raised beds is to grow food in soil that is not contaminated with lead. Is normal garden soil really a problem? Does the purchased soil that is used to fill the raised bed have lower levels of lead?
Should lead levels in produce be a concern and does organic food have less lead?
Bone meal, or bonemeal, is a common organic soil amendment and many consider it to be a good fertilizer. It is a “must add” when planting spring bulbs and it’s claimed to help plants establish after being moved by improving root growth. Plant not flowering? Add bone meal to make more flowers.
This sounds like a great product every gardener should use, but are the claims real or just myths?
Is sugar water good for plants? This is a very interesting question and one that leads to all kinds of fun facts about plants.
Even more interesting is how this myth plays out on the internet. In most cases, popular gardening sites promote the myth, but in this case they tell you NOT to use sugar water for plants, except in special cases. They then give a variety of reasons why sugar water is bad for plants, but these explanations are mostly wrong. They are creating new myths with their explanations!
Many of these writers ignore basic plant biology or are unaware of the correct facts. I’m going to try and sort this thing out for you.
Ticks can be a concern. Lyme disease is real. But a lot of what you’ve heard is bunk!
Funny how quickly people make up stuff and how easily the powerful internet spreads it.
What is the difference between straw and hay? I am always surprised at all of the misinformation that is spread whenever discussions start about using straw or hay in the garden. Which one has more weeds? Do they improve soil? Are lingering herbicides a problem? Should either be used in the garden?
The answers to these questions are quite simple if you first eliminate the myths and that is what I’m going to do in this post.
Mosquitoes are a big problem in many places, and ticks are becoming an even bigger concern. Fire ants are more localized, but they can be a real problem in the garden. Both folklore and modern-day experiences suggest a remedy for these pests based on callicarpa, the beautyberry. Some people plant it in the garden to reduce insect numbers. Others prepare various concoctions to spread on clothing or skin to keep pests off, and some just rub the leaves on their skin for a similar effect. One person even reported that she eats the berries and never gets bitten!
What does science say?
As part of my research on soil products I became aware of the fact that most garden soil is not garden soil. If it is not soil what is it?
Squash, cucumber and pumpkin belong to the cucurbit family and most garden varieties produce both male and female flowers. Since only female flowers produce fruit, gardeners get concerned when they see too many male flowers and like any other gardening problem they invent lots of ways to fix the problem. Unfortunately most of these so-called fixes don’t actually work.
What causes too many male flowers on cucumbers, pumpkins and squash, and what can be done about it?
The first hybrid streptocarpus was released in 1946 and since then hundreds of new cultivars have been developed and yet few people are familiar with them. I predict that will change. Streps are easy to grow house plants that can flower all year long. What other house plant gives you that much star power in a small package? They are even better than orchids because they flower more and are easier to take care of.
However, even this lesser-known houseplant has started to generate some gardening myths. Let’s have a look at some here.
