Donâ€t let a lack of time or space get in the way of gardening your way to a healthy lifestyle.  Plant a container of nutritious vegetables and herbs.  Include a few planters on the front porch, back patio or right outside the kitchen door.

All thatâ€s needed is some potting mix, fertilizer, plants and a container with drainage holes.  A fifteen to twenty-four inch diameter pot or twenty-four to thirty-six inch long window box is a good starting size.  Bigger containers hold more plants and moisture longer, so it can be watered less frequently.

Check containers daily and water thoroughly as needed.  Self-watering pots need less frequent watering, allowing busy gardeners and travelers the opportunity to grow plants in pots with minimal care.

Fill the container with a well-drained potting mix.  Read the label on the container mix bag. Add a slow release organic nitrogen fertilizer, likeMilorganite (milorganite.com), at planting for better results with less effort.  It provides small amounts of nutrients throughout most of the season and eliminates the need to mix and water in fertilizer throughout the growing season. Sprinkle a bit more on the soil surface midseason or when changing out your plantings.

Mix colorful flowers with nutritious vegetables for attractive, healthy results. Bright Lights Swiss Chard, pansies (their flowers are edible), colorful leaf lettuce, spinach, radishes, and trailing ivy make a great cool season combination.  Fresh-from-the-container-garden vegetables make the best tasting salads and the greens provide Vitamins A and C as well as calcium.  Use the pansy flowers to dress up a salad or frozen in ice cubes for an added gourmet touch to beverages.

For summer, use a tomato, pepper, eggplant or peas, beans, and cucumbers trained on a trellis.  All are packed full of nutrients and make a great vertical accent. Surround the towering vegetables with purple basil, tri-color sage, carrots, beets and a colorful trailing annual like verbena, lantana, or bidens.

Donâ€t forget to squeeze in a few onions or garlic.  The fragrant foliage can be decorative and these vegetables help lower blood sugar and cholesterol, while aiding in digestion.

So be creative and add a few small-scale, attractive vegetables high in nutritional value to a variety of containers this season.
Gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has more than 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books, including Canâ€t Miss Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melindaâ€s Garden Moment segments. Myers is also a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers†web site, www.melindamyers.com, offers gardening videos and tips.

The post Grow a Nutritious Garden in a Pot first appeared on River View Observer.

Spring floods, summer droughts and temperature extremes take their toll on gardens and the gardeners who tend them. Help your gardens recover from the crazy temperature and moisture extremes that seem to occur each year.

Start by assessing the current condition of your landscape.  Remove dead plants as soon as possible.  They can harbor insect and disease organisms that can infest your healthy plantings.  Consider replacing struggling plants with healthy plants better suited to the space, growing conditions and landscape design.  You often achieve better results in less time by starting over rather than trying to nurse a sick plant back to health.

As always, select plants suited to the growing environment and that includes normal rainfall.  Every season is different, but selecting plants suited to the average conditions will minimize the care needed and increase your odds for success.  Roses, coneflowers, sedums and zinnias are just a few drought tolerant plants.  Elderberry, ligularia, Siberian iris and marsh marigold are a few moisture tolerant plants.

Be prepared for worse case scenario.  Install an irrigation system, such as the Snip-n-drip soaker system, in the garden.  It allows you to apply water directly to the soil alongside plants.  This means less water wasted to evaporation, wind and overhead watering.  Youâ€ll also reduce the risk of disease by keeping water off the plant leaves.

A properly installed and managed irrigation system will help save water.  The convenience makes it easy to water thoroughly, encouraging deep roots, and only when needed.  Turn the system on early in the day while you tend to other gardening and household chores.  Youâ€ll waste less water to evaporation and save time since the system does the watering for you.

Capture rainwater and use it to water container and in-ground gardens.  Rain barrels and cisterns have long been used for this purpose and are experiencing renewed interest. Look for these features when buying or making your own rain barrel. Make sure the spigot is located close to the bottom so less water collects and stagnates. Select one that has a screen over the opening to keep out debris.  And look for an overflow that directs the water into another barrel or away from the house.

Add a bit of paint to turn your rain barrel into a piece of art.  Or tuck it behind some containers, shrubs or a decorative trellis.  Just make sure it is easy to access.

Be sure to mulch trees and shrubs with shredded bark or woodchips to conserve moisture, suppress weeds and reduce competition from nearby grass.  Youâ€ll eliminate hand trimming while protecting trunks and stems from damaging weed whips and mowers.

Invigorate weather worn perennials with compost and an auger bit.  Spread an inch of compost over the soil surface.  Then use an auger bit, often used for planting bulbs, and drill the compost into the soil in open areas throughout the garden.  Youâ€ll help move the compost to the root zone of the plants and aerate the soil with this one activity.

A little advance planning and preparation can reduce your workload and increase your gardening enjoyment.

Gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has more than 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books, including Canâ€t Miss Small Space Gardening. She hosts the nationally syndicated Melindaâ€s Garden Moment TV and radio segments and is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers web site is www.melindamyers.com

The post Garden Revival first appeared on River View Observer.

Purchased in 2006
Included Desk- Originally Paid $1,779 Lateral File Cabinet- Originally Paid $1,493 Display Case with drawers and interior light- Originally paid $2,143 Oval Chair- Originally paid $510
Total Paid- $5,925
You pay- 3,000 Firm
Excellent condition, a few minor scratches and dings but set has a semi aged look anyhow so its not noticable.
Must pick up, not available until after 12/25/11.

Sad to see this set go, we received allot of compliments and the quaility is excellent.

Please email Chris if interested at cp1975@optonline.net

The post For Sale -Stanley Black (Basque) Portofino Office Desk Set first appeared on River View Observer.

If your decor is looking tired – or you’re just plain tired of it – the holiday season is a good time to gift yourself with a few new items that will also refresh your home for guests. It’s easy to make a big decorating impact if you focus on sprucing up areas like windows, furnishings and walls. Consider these helpful hints:

Windows


The cheapest, most high-impact way to make windows look better is to wash them. Seriously. For the price of a roll of paper towels and some window cleaner – and some elbow grease – you can make your windows look great, not to mention brighten the entire room.

Once your windows are sparkling, reward yourself for your hard work with some new window treatments. If the holiday hustle and bustle leaves little time for a run to the home decor store, online resources like SeventhAvenue.com make it fast and easy to shop for curtains. Whether you opt for traditional or contemporary, replace curtains in rooms where guests are most likely to gather, such as the kitchen, living room or family room. To top off the holiday spirit of your new curtains, replace standard tie-backs with some festive holiday bows.

Furnishings

Replacing every stick of worn-looking furniture in your home’s “public areas” probably isn’t practical for your budget with the expenses of the holiday season looming. But you can refresh the furniture you have with a few simple steps:

* Make sure it’s clean. Polish wood surfaces and vacuum upholstery. Dust and dirt will never be a designer statement.

* Dress up older pieces with new cushions and pillows in eye-catching colors and patterns. A fresh pop of color can draw the eye away from less attractive surfaces.

* If your furniture is just too tired-looking and replacing it is not in the budget, consider concealment. Slip covers and colorful throws are cost-effective ways to refresh older couches, loveseats, dining room chairs, armchairs and even recliners. Choose ones that accentuate your holiday theme, such as “Snowball” slip covers that offer a plush feel and bright colors in a material with a raised, snowball-like pattern.

Walls

Walls are usually the largest design element in any room, and updating them can completely rewrite the profile of a space.

Painting walls is a low-cost, low-labor way to refresh a room’s atmosphere and set the stage for a whole new look – even if you just put the same furniture back into the freshly painted room. Giving walls a fresh coat of paint is well within the capabilities for most do-it-yourselfers, but if you’ve never painted before or are hesitant to take on the project just before the holidays, there are other ways to liven up your walls.

Changing wall decor can be fast, effective and fun. Sometimes simply moving a well-loved piece of art from one room to another is enough to make you see the piece – and the room – in a new light. Or, if you crave something new without the hassle of in-store shopping during the holiday season, you can find wall decor from framed art and mirrors to wall hangings and tapestries online at websites like SeventhAvenue.com.

The holidays and their hectic pace may make it hard to fight your own fatigue, but you don’t have to face the season – and all your house guests – with tired home decor. A few simple, cost-effective upgrades can make your home bright again this holiday season.

The post Easy, cost-effective decor upgrades to ‘wow’ your holiday guests first appeared on River View Observer.

The second annual fair was held yesterday On Saturday April 17 to entusiastic crowds  and  over 60 artists  selling  7500 or more items at Parlay Studio’s 161 2nd St., Downtown Jersey City.  Everything from  jewelry, leather goods, soaps, furniture, cakes, leather bags, paintings  and many other items were on display and being sold.

The doors opened at 11am and the event  ran until 6pm.

Besides the vendors, live entertainment was provided by  Kelly St. Patrick, Hezekiah Jones, Any Day Parade, Chrisitan Alessi, Land of the Look Behind

A portion of yesterday ‘s fair proceeds will go to Arts to Grow a non -profit organization which is dedicated to providing inner city children with a chance to explore the visual, literary and performing arts

Presenting sponsors of yesterday’s event was the Saffron, Boutique Realty and Michael Anthony’s.

Vendors looking to show their wares at next years fair or business looking to act as a sponosor should visit their website at notyomamasaffairs.com

More photos to come

The post Crowds come out for 2nd Annual Yo Mama’s Craft Fair in Downtown, Jersey City first appeared on River View Observer.