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Can Cat Feces Go in Compost? Toxoplasmosis is a parasite that causes disease in humans and other animals, but cats are the only animal known to excrete toxoplasmosis eggs in their feces. Most people who contract toxoplasmosis have headaches, muscle aches, and other flu symptoms. People with immunodeficiency diseases, such as AIDS, and patients who are receiving immunosuppressive treatment can become seriously ill from toxoplasmosis. Pregnant women are at significant risk because exposure to the disease can result in birth defects....

Why Plants Won’t Establish Do your plants fail to establish? It’s always discouraging when a new plant you’ve installed in the garden doesn’t grow well. If you see leaves yellowing and falling or branch dieback, it is probably a case of establishment failure. Plants fail to establish for many reasons, including diseases and pests. Generally, plants don’t grow after transplant because of missteps in planting or cultural care after planting. Too small a planting hole and improper irrigation are the leading issues....

DIY Eggshell Planters Eggshells are fragile, which makes them so easy to break when you want to cook an omelet. If you are careful though, it’s entirely possible to get plants to grow in an eggshell. The first step in making DIY eggshell planters is to crack the raw egg carefully. Select an egg, then tap it – about two-thirds of the way from the bottom on the side of the bowl....

How to Prepare Plants for Winter Protecting plants in winter will require research. First, understand winter conditions within your garden, as well as the needs of the plants. While those living in mild climates may only need occasional protection from light frosts, gardeners elsewhere may need to implement several techniques to ensure the survival of garden plants through winter. Protecting plants in winter from light frost is fairly straightforward. With a few simple techniques, plants can survive brief cold snaps....

Hot Pepper Plant Diseases There are many potential problems with hot pepper plants that you will find are caused by viral, fungal, or bacterial diseases. Several viral diseases affect chili peppers. Signs of a viral infection include leaf curl, mottled coloring on leaves, stunted growth, and dropped flowers. The best way to manage these diseases is to start with virus-resistant varieties. Fungal diseases that affect pepper plants include damping off fungi in seedlings and Phytophthora root rot....

Why Has My Jade Gone Limp? When the foliage on a jade plant is drooping or you appear to have a dying jade plant, the usual cause is improper watering. In spring, summer, and fall, keep the soil lightly moist. The plant takes a rest break in winter and needs less water. Overwatering in winter is the most common reason for a dying jade plant. This is because the roots begin to rot when you give them more moisture than they can absorb....

Problems with Sweet Corn Seedlings If your corn seedlings are dying, they are probably suffering from a type of disease that particularly affects the seeds of the sweet corn plant. These diseases can kill the seedlings or affect them enough that the stands don’t grow well. They are caused by a few different types of fungus and sometimes by bacteria, and may or may not cause rot. Diseased or rotting corn seedlings are more likely to simply die if they are planted in cold soil, but if planted in warmer soil, they may still sprout and grow....

Reasons for Pruning Perennials Should I prune my perennials? Absolutely. There are so many reasons for pruning perennials that the practice must be considered an important part of your gardening duties. Restricting Growth – Gardeners often think about perennial plant pruning when their shrubs and trees get too big. Pruning can reduce the plant’s height and spread. Perennials often grow taller or wider than you think they are going to, and can, over time, interfere with power lines or shade out nearby plants....

Pear Tree Leaf Problems When you only see sparse leaves on pear trees, it’s an indication that the tree is stressed or not getting what it needs. Since the tree needs leaves in order to remain healthy, it’s important to figure out the cause of pear tree leaf problems. If you are noticing that your pear tree has small leaves just after leaf break, the situation might right itself quickly. Sometimes, an unusually cool and rainy spring season causes a delay in fruit tree leaf development....

Invasive Buckthorn The buckthorn shrub spreads rapidly. Each plant produces lots of berries that are eaten and spread by birds. Wherever it grows, it shoulders out native plants because it leaves out early in spring and holds its leaves late into fall. The tree may also produce chemicals inhibiting the growth of other species near it. Invasive buckthorn has been found to alter the ecosystems it lives in. Both its fruit and foliage are high in nitrogen and are broken down quickly by invasive earthworms....

Planting Small Trees Before you purchase a tree, make sure you can provide the right location. That includes having the type of soil and sun exposure indicated on the plant tag. If your soil is hard or drains poorly, you’ll need to improve it before planting the tree. Dig a hole at least 12 inches (30.5 cm.) deep and about three times the width of the root ball. Amend the soil by mixing the dirt you removed from the hole with compost or composted manure....

Spring & Summer Snowflake Bulbs Despite the name, summer snowflake bulbs (Leucojum aestivum) bloom in mid to late spring in most areas, just a couple of weeks after the spring snowflakes (Leucojum vernum). Both bulbs have grass-like foliage and dainty, fragrant drooping bells. They look almost exactly like snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), which bloom a couple of weeks before spring snowflakes. You can tell the difference between the two flowers by the fact that snowflakes have a green dot at the tip of each of its six petals, while snowdrops have dots on only three of its petals....

Lasagna Compost Garden The simplest way to take advantage of the debris in your landscape is to compost it. Basic compost rules require nitrogen and carbon as the basis of the organic materials. When aerobic bacteria and generous amounts of worms get to work on these materials, they turn it into a nutrient rich source of soil for the garden. Therefore, the easiest use of lasagna composting is in the compost pile....

South Central Winter Gardening Tips Here are some tips in preparation for winter in South Central states: After two to three hard frosts, clean up perennial beds by cutting back dead foliage and mulching with leaves or compost. If you prefer, sturdier plants can be left uncut to add winter interest in the garden and give extra protection to the sleeping perennials. In addition, plants such as echinacea, coreopsis, zinnia, cosmos, and rudbeckia provide seeds for goldfinches and other birds in winter....

What is a Multi-Level Landscape? A tiered or multi-level garden can take many forms, shapes, and sizes. Any outside space with more than one level is tiered. This could include a backyard with grass-covered steps and flower beds, a patio with stairs up to a second level, or terraces created using retaining walls. Why Create a Tiered Garden? A flat, one-dimensional garden can be beautiful. It’s a blank space on which you can create your dream flower beds, sitting areas, and vegetable plots....

Bringing plants inside for winter isn’t as easy as simply moving their pots from one place to another; there are a few precautions you need to take when acclimating plants from outdoors to indoors to prevent sending your plant into shock. Let’s look at how to acclimate plants indoors for winter. Before Bringing Plants Inside for Winter One of the most common issues houseplants have when coming back indoors is bringing unwanted pests with them....

Before you start unpotting your plants and dunking them in water, read on to learn about growing soilless succulent plants and why you might attempt such a chore. Can Succulents Grow in Water? Research indicates they can and that some do well. Some home growers use the option for revitalizing plants that aren’t doing well planted in soil. Growing a Succulent in Water Far-fetched as it might sound, some people have been successful with succulent water propagation....

Why Does my Lettuce have White Spots? First of all, take a good look at the white spots. Actually, do better than look – see if you can wipe the spots off. Yes? If that is the case, it is likely something in the air that has drifted down onto the leaves. It could be ash if there are forest fires nearby or dust from a nearby quarry. If the white spots on the lettuce cannot be removed, the cause is likely a fungal disease....

What is Trench Composting? Trench composting is nothing new. In fact, the Pilgrims learned how to put the theory into action in a very practical way when Native Americans taught them to bury fish heads and scraps in the soil before planting corn. To this day, trench composting methods may be slightly more sophisticated, but the basic idea remains unchanged. Creating a compost pit at home not only benefits the garden; it also reduces the amount of material that usually goes to waste in municipal landfills, thus reducing the expense involved in waste collecting, handling, and transportation....

What Are Tropical Spiderwort Plants? Tropical spiderwort (Commelina Benghalensis) is native to the tropical regions of Asia. Also known as Bengal dayflower, tropical spiderwort weeds are difficult to control due to their ability to spread. Within a short growing season, invasive tropical spiderwort is able to spread through rhizomes, as well as by rooting into the soil from stem segments. Tropical spiderwort plants are also unique in that they are able to produce seeds via flowers which develop both normally and below ground....