If you see the white butterflies in your garden, you will soon have green caterpillars. They will eat holes in your cabbages, kales, and related plants. This Knol is about identifying the pest and removing it by hand. I wrote another Knol on BT control of caterpillars which I linked to this one.

Our community psychiatry program is looking at using text technology as a clinical tool. Mood 24/7 is text based system that allows patients to rate and comment on their mood. We are looking at how this technology can improve care to our patient as currently designed and what modification can be made in the future to better meet the clinical needs of our patients. We are looking at designing a complete model to help clinicians and patients use Mood 24/7 as a tool to improve care.

Tomatoes are subjected to many diseases and pests. There are strategies you can employee to reduce the risk of disease. While I can’t guarantee you won’t get a disease in your garden, these three steps will make it more difficult for soil born diseases to establish themselves. The main disease in my area is Early Blight. Follow these three steps for a better year of gardening.

A vegetable trellis will give you more gardening space. Take the vine crops upward and off the ground. Not only will you have more growing space but you also create a healthier garden. The trellis will lift vines and provide the garden with more air circulation and better disease management. This trellis can be built for $10 and only takes about 20 minutes to complete.

All organizations and institutions can flourish or become fallow because of their vision. Vision is the key to growth at all levels of an organization be it a large institution or a small program. Developing a modern model for your organization, business, or program starts with a shared vision. Vision is the first step of many steps in creating a modern program. I will present the steps and use my expertise area to help describe the process. My expertise is in community mental health.

Your garden soil has a PH value that determines whether or not the soil is on the acidic side, alkaline side, or relatively neutral. Vegetables and other plants do have a preference for soil PH but it is often a range. This is a good thing. Generally speaking you want your garden to have a neutral PH. This Knol will answer all your questions about garden soil PH.

If it were only that easy to turn tomatoes into gasoline. This Knol is about a budget. If you have to give up more to feed the energy demons… why not grow your own vegetables and feed yourself? A 4 foot by 4 foot plot is enough to hold 3 tomato plants. Three plants can serve tomatoes to a family of four over the summer and save you nearly $200. That’s $200 more for gasoline or other expenses. It isn’t that hard to grow your own tomatoes and vegetables.

Gardening is good for your mind and body. It is a great place to think while you get exercise. One of the best parts of gardening, unlike other work, is that you get to see the progress of your labor. You can easily save hundreds of dollars a year… but before we get to calculating costs and savings… you need a place to plant your vegetables. One step at a time! I will help you dig past that barrier that has been stopping you from having a garden. Yes, that barrier is you!

Leaf eating caterpillars typically attack my cabbages and kales. Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) is a way to control caterpillars in your garden. Bt is a bacteria that kills the caterpillars by interrupting their digestive process. The caterpillars starve to death. Bt is documented as having an extremely low toxicity to humans and other forms of life. Simply put… Bt targets the caterpillars.

I just built a hot-house tomato cage and put in my 50 day tomato. I should have tomatoes in May. This Knol will give you a basic design to create a warm micro-climate around your tomato plant. The benefit? You can start planting 4-6 week early. It is April 3rd here and I have a tomato in the ground.