The Inside Dirt at iloveplants.com - October 2005

In This Issue:
* Wild About Gardening
* Garden News - Dig In Dirt Garden Blogs
* Garden Wisdom - Compost those Fall Leaves
* Garden Bargains
* From My Garden...

Greetings fellow gardeners and a warm welcome to all of our new subscribers!

Fall is arriving in all of its coloful splendor. While the days may be growing shorter, there is still plenty of time to enjoy the garden. The milder temps have a way of rejuvenating us, and there is much fun to be had planting cool season annuals, bulbs and yes, even raking the abundance of leaves drifting to the ground.

Each month we feature the best garden websites and information on the internet that we can find. This month I've found a website on providing a place for wildlife in your garden, and a very interesting new type of online garden journal called a blog. There's also some handy advice on how to make good use of the fall leaves. And as usual, you'll find some money-saving garden bargains, website reviews, garden folklore, as well as what's new at iloveplants.com and in my zone 9 garden.

I hope you enjoy this month's newsletter and that it contains some helpful gardening information. Drop me a line anytime you like with requests for future information or just to say hi and let me know what's growing in your garden.

Susan

"Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves. We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!" - Humbert Wolfe, Autumn Resignation

WILD ABOUT GARDENING

Plants and flowers create a beautiful garden, but it's the wildlife that brings a garden to life. One can spend endless time watching the antics of busy squirrels or listening to the melodies of song birds. Wild About Gardening is a website devoted to bringing harmony to your garden. It is loaded with valuable tips on how your garden can meet the needs of wildlife, while preventing problems.

Creating habitats that attract a multitude of wildlife is easy with specific information for butterflies and other pollinators, amphibians and reptiles, birds, bats, beneficial insects and hummingbirds. Learn how to provide homes for a multitude of creatures or just for a group or two.

Other information includes features on plants, articles, plant encyclopedia and gardening calendar. There is a lot of great information on this website! Click here to visit Wild About Gardening.


DID YOU KNOW?

Pumpkins and pumpkin pie are a sure sign that fall has arrived. Native Americans dried strips of pumpkins and wove them into mats. They also roasted long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and ate them.

The origin of pumpkin pie occurred when the colonists sliced off the pumpkin top, removed the seeds, and filled the insides with milk, spices and honey. The pumpkin was then baked in hot ashes. Click here for more pumpkin history.

Garden News � GARDEN BLOGS ON THE GROW!

For those of you who like to keep notes and pictures of your garden, there is a new type of online tool available to help you do so. It is called a "web" "log" or blog, for short. A blog, simply put, is an online journal. There are lots of garden blogs currently online and with its current popularity, there are sure to be plenty more in the future.

Blogs are easy to set up and flexible enough so that you can add graphics, photos, link to other websites and receive comments from viewers. You can choose to keep your blog private (for your use only) or you can share it with other online gardeners.

"Dig in Dirt" Garden Blogs is specifically designed with gardeners in mind. It is a community of gardeners writing about and sharing their gardens with others. They currently have about 640 public blogs and 9 private blogs on their website.
Click here to visit Dig in Dirt Garden Blogs

MORE GARDEN BLOGS

iloveplants.com contains a directory of garden blogs that viewers have written to us about. If you have a current garden blog or a soon to be one, please contact me with the URL and I will gladly include it on our list. Click here to read the garden blogs listed on iloveplants.com

Garden Wisdom � COMPOST THOSE FALL LEAVES!

WAIT! Don't toss those bags of raked leaves out to the curb. Those colorful leaves contain magic. Not only do they dazzle us with their striking colors, they also provide our gardens with much needed nutrients. If tossed out, the leaves are unable to complete their natural cycle in the garden. As they die and decompose they bring new life to the soil. Just another reminder that all in nature is recyclable and renewable.

You can find more information on composting fall leaves at Plantalk by Colorado State Extension. Click here to find out more about composting fall leaves.

"Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better." - Albert Einstein

GARDEN BARGAINS ONLINE

Pacific Callas offers cala lily bulbs in all colors at wholesale prices! Click here to visit Pacific Callas.

From my garden...

Autumn is my second favorite season. While it's true that we don't experience the dramatic color display that many parts of the country do, there definitely are signs to be seen by the observant eye. The golden raintrees are breaking out in gold color which will eventually turn to auburn. Holly berries are turning red and squirrels are busy burying their acorn harvest. The days are shorter and the temps are milder. Northern birds are arriving daily and fall vegetable gardens are well under way.

The reduced humidity is drawing me back out into the garden which is in need of a major trim. Hot weather and steamy rainshowers have doubled the size of most tropical-weather plants. The pothos vine (see photo) wrapped around the oak tree has become a monster. It's hard to believe this tame house plant has a truly wild side.

My daughter and I discovered a new butterfly in the yard. It was a white peacock butterfly that summers in Central Florida and returns to South Florida for the winter. We had never seen one before and were excited to make the new discovery. I was sitting outside the other day enjoying the moist coolness of the early morning air and the concert of the mockingbird. He was singing at the top of his lungs. One song after another, he continued on -clear and unabated - delivering his own gift to the new day.

I'll see you next month! Susan