Todd Alexander our expert of the day, writes:

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a natural antibiotic that would not cause antibiotic resistance? Wouldn’t it also be great if you could take this natural antibiotic and get other health benefits, without having to worry about some of the nasty side effects of prescription antibiotics? And if you could get antiviral benefits, that would be really great, wouldn’t it?
Ladies and gentlemen, introducing…bee propolis!
Bee propolis is the product is not exactly a biological product of bees. They collect a resinous tree sap and mix it with honey back at the hive, and that’s propolis. They use it to seal their homes, the way we would use a caulking gun to seal ours.
You may never have heard of bee propolis, but it has long been known to provide significant health benefits. The most important of these benefits may be propolis’ use as an antibiotic.
Why would bees need to make antibiotics?
We know bees are among the most efficient creatures on earth. They use everything they make, and they don’t make anything they don’t need. So why would they need antibiotics?

Jimmy Cox our expert of the day, writes:

The grower of orchids is favored above other men. He belongs to a starry-eyed fraternity, to whom each small chore, accomplished in its turn for the better culture of his orchids, is a source of never-ending and absorbing delight. The beauty of the orchid’s line and color is known to all who bask in the offerings of the florist’s window.

The appearance of each new growth and root is cause for rejoicing; the slimy mark of a snail or the cottony warning of the presence of scale is cause for distress. The habits and idiosyncrasies of every species and plant are subject to absorbed study. Different methods of growing and the relative merits of hybrids and species are endlessly discussed among fellow growers. The orchid grower checks his mundane worries at the door of the greenhouse and enters a world that offers surcease even to the heart heavily burdened with sorrow and loss.

The beginnings of the orchid family are shrouded in mystery. Since most orchids are epiphytic - that is, having aerial roots through which they receive sustenance from the minerals in the moisture-laden air of the tropics - they have left no traces such as the fossilized remains of ground-growing plants.

Dael Leathe our expert of the day, writes:

If you’re not a big fan of getting dirty in the outside garden, then fear not. Most of the vegetables grown at home can be grown equally well in containers. By finding the right container and filling it with the right potting mixture, you will be able to grow anything you want in it, even tomatoes.

First you need to find the right size container for your plants. If you want the little cherry tomatoes (which are excellent in salads) then you can use the regular size hanging baskets, but if you prefer the larger tomatoes you’d do best to purchase five gallon buckets, because your plants need plenty of room to grow, you don’t want them to be cramped. Next you need to go to a nursery and purchase your tomato plants. You don’t want to get too large of a plant, you can buy a determinate tomato plant, that stops growing after they reach a certain size, or indeterminate that will continue to grow and produce larger tomato plants. Two very popular indeterminate tomato plants are Big Beef and Better Boy, which are also very resistant to plant disease and will give you tomatoes for a longer period of time.

Steve Cownley our expert of the day, writes:

To Compost or Not to CompostWell, there’s no doubt about it, composting is a good practice that any self-respected gardener should learn to do. But the question really is what materials we could make into a compost and which ones we cannot. We have been told that composting can be done with any organic material. Well, in theory that may be true, however, in real life it may not be always so.

There are a several organic materials that should not be included in the compost pile unless you know how to do it properly while there are other materials that should not even be attempted even by the experts. To compost or not to compost, that is indeed the question. And let’s see if we can provide the answers. For home composters like you and me, we have a number of materials available inside our own home and even our own backyard. The big, industrial composters have a little advantage over us. 

Eric de Fontenay our expert of the day, writes:

According to his official biography, Charlie Nothing “was not born, did not go to school, did not die,” and his main instrument is the dingulator. Obsessive record collectors may recall his name from the 1967 LP The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing, one of the only non-guitar records released on John Fahey’s Takoma label. Contemporary listeners might know Nothing from his powerful performance of dingulation, as he calls his music, in Chicago at the 2005 Two Million Tongues Festival. Featuring a roster of difficult-to-categorize musicians, it was the ideal venue for this difficult-to-categorize performer. Josephine Foster, who was also on the bill, describes him as being like “the incarnation of Ubu Rex” and says, “Charlie seems to lose himself deeply in the raw spirit of performance.”

In the years between 1967 and 2005, you might have crossed paths with Nothing at any number of places. Perhaps it was in a New York loft in the mid 1960s, when he gave a series of performances that had grown out of the drug scene and the jam sessions around his house. Nothing’s first band included himself on sopranino sax, a classically trained Indian tabla drummer and a young Japanese woman who recited litanies of everyday items such as “underarm deodorant, soap, green shoes, pink shoes, lipstick…”

Susan Fielding our expert of the day, writes:

Hydroponics is the cultivation of plants in a nutrient rich solution rather than in soil. It involves growing plants inside without using real sunlight. The word hydroponics comes from two Greek words, meaning “water working”.

If you enjoy gardening, but have limiting factors such as very little gardening space, problems with pests or unsuitable weather conditions, then hydroponics could be the answer for you. For many people, the thought of successfully gardening indoors all year around has only been a dream. However, with hydroponics this is possible.

General hydroponics is a hobby many people are picking up today. Hydroponics is simpler than what most people think, and is proven to have several advantages over regular soil gardening. The following are some of the many benefits of growing plants using hydroponics:

Less space is required, and plants can be grown closer together. Growing plants with hydroponics is possible almost anywhere.

Less water is required as there is no soil which soaks it up before it reaches your plant’s roots. Hydroponics is great in areas where there are water restrictions, as less water is lost to evaporation. When you water your regular garden plants, approximately 10% of the water actually makes it to the plants.

Joseph Martin our expert of the day, writes:

With so many affiliate marketers on the internet nowadays and so much competition you start wondering, how can I get myself out of the bunch?

How can I become a better affiliate marketer or better yet how can I build an extremely profitable affiliate marketing business and continue to make money for many years to come.

The answer is very simple, “Help Others In The Process”. You see anybody can make a quick buck with affiliate marketing but only the ones that provide other people with a solution to their problems are the ones that are set to stay in business for many years to come.

What I mean by this is, promote products that really work, products that bring the solution people are looking for and not simply the first product that gets in your way. For example if you were to promote a product that teaches how to grow tomatoes don’t just pick the first ebook on how to grow tomatoes you see, look for different products, buy different products if you must and try them out. Put them to the test and see if they really work.

Muna wa Wanjiru our expert of the day, writes:

Rain Bird lawn sprinkler systems are the most commonly known and used by irrigation professionals and farmers around the world because of its efficiency. Rain Bird was invented around 1933 and its first patent was given to its inventor ‘Orton Englehart’ in 1935. Today Rain Bird has become the best known and widely used irrigation system around the world.

The most widely used lawn sprinkler heads are the 5000 series sprinkler rotors. The sprinkler rotors are the best and the sprinkler heads are tough, durable and moderately priced gear-driven sprinkler heads. Then there is also the Rain Bird T-Bird series. The rotors of T-Bird series come in 4 common sizes. The shrub rotor to be mounted on fixed risers, four inch pop-ups for shot grass, for taller grass there is six inch pop-ups, and the 12 inch pop-ups for behind the shrubs.

Ann Marier our expert of the day, writes:

Pergolas are open designed gazebos intended for garden areas; the pergola can be a free standing feature like a gazebo or are attached to the home like a deck. The open work ceiling of the area still provides shade while opening up the area to the sky; this can make small spaces seem larger.

Pergola garden designs all begin with the pergola itself. A pergola is a simple structure that only takes boards, a little cement, and wood screws or nails to build. There are several supporting columns which are planted in the ground using cement for stability and an open design ceiling that is either beams or a loose cross hatching design.

Staining is usually the most pressing maintenance required the pergola portion of the pergola garden design. To make a terrific comfortable pergola garden design choosing the plants, the motif, and the accessories will bring the space together.

The Plants

Because the areas are often floored with tiles, concrete, or gravel potted plants are often pergola garden design style of choice. Potted plant gardens are easy to begin and to maintain, as an added bonus they can be easier to control than a traditional garden, plants have a harder time spreading and weeds are easier to catch.

Ellen Bell our expert of the day, writes:

Composting has occurred since plants first existed on the earth.  When leaves and fruit fall from trees, and when plants die, they drop to the ground, enriching the soil through the process of natural decomposition.  This is nature’s way of composting.
Humans have been composting for decades, maybe even centuries.  In our recent history, agricultural communities have used composting as a way to enrich their gardens and farmland.  In the last two decades, a much larger movement of composting in urban areas has begun, and in recent years, composting has taken on its own popularity as a new way to “go green.”  City dwellers are becoming more aware of the benefits of compost in their gardens and flowerbeds, and they are realizing that it is best to recycle natural products back to the earth.
Municipalities have had a major influence in this movement with programs to dispose of recyclable waste.  These programs allow, and sometimes require, citizens to collect their organic waste such as leaves, branches, grass, and other yard trimmings for composting.  These programs vary in season and structure but they all have the same goal of recycling natural material to the earth’s benefit.  In many cases, after the material has been composted, the city sells the compost back to citizens who wish to purchase it for their yards or gardens.  In this way, city composting programs provide two services: they allow city dwellers to compost their organic waste, and they also make compost material available for sale at reasonable prices.
A municipal composting program may seem simple, but it can be a large project to manage.