Sometimes you might find tiny insects flying around your kitchen or houseplants.

There are two main culprits to consider - fruit flies and fungus gnats.

Most of us are familiar with fruit flies.

These pesky tiny nuisances always seem to appear when you have fruit in the kitchen for more than a day or two. They have a very short life span, so they reproduce quickly until a small cloud forms.

I had always heard that one way to get rid of fruit flies was to use vinegar. I tried balsamic vinegar with little success. On the last round, though, I bought a bottle of apple cider vinegar, which I put into a bowl. The fruit flies were soon drawn into the bowl, where they promptly drowned.

I’ve heard of traps that are a little more intricate - jars with small holes poked in the lid, filled with vinegar and honey. Some use bottles covered in plastic wrap. No matter what method, I would highly recommend apple cider vinegar.

There’s another reason you could have tiny insects in the house, though. There are fungus gnats, who love to live in the damp soil of houseplants.

You can kill them individually, but unless you take care of the wet soil, they are likely to return. The easiest way is to put a layer of play sand on top of the houseplant soil. Sand has larger particles, so water flows through it easier and dries out faster. The fungus gnats won’t want to live on the dry soil, so they’ll disappear.

I’ve also tried pouring cold chamomile tea on the soil in an effort to get rid of the fungus gnats. The jury is still out on the success of that one, though.

What do you do when you have fruit flies and fungus gnats?

I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was growing up.

I would visit the tidepools and find the crabs, sea anenomes, limpets and more.

We took trips to a local science center where people could peer at smaller creatures under the microscope.

One kind of tiny ocean dweller is the diatom. These are algae that have developed a hard outer shell. They come in many shapes and sizes and are exquisitely beautiful, as these pictures show. After they die and fossilize, they are ground up into a fine powder called diatomaceous earth.

What does this have to do with urban gardening?

It turns out that many insects can be killed by using diatomaceous earth. The ground outer shell has very jagged, sharp edges that cut the exoskeleton of the insect when it comes into contact. This allows the sun and air into their shell, so they dry out and eventually die.

Since diatomaceous earth is made from natural algae, it’s well suited for use in organic gardens. The main insects that inspire the use of diatomaceous earth are slugs, snails, ants, fleas, aphids, and beetles.

There are a couple of cautions when considering diatomaceous earth in your garden. First, it doesn’t discriminate when it comes to killing insects, so your beneficials may be harmed. If you like your ladybugs, this may not be the solution for you.

Second, since this is a fine powder, you should wear a mask when you’re applying it so you don’t breathe it in.

Have you used diatomaceous earth in your garden? How well did it work?

When I was growing up in Southern California, November wasn’t really so different from the other months.

You could still plant some vegetables, and flowers were still popping up everywhere.

Utah certainly was a shock in that respect.

After watching all of the leaves fall off the trees, I was left with a snowy white canvas for a yard.

In November, many gardeners are tying up the loose ends of the gardening season and getting it prepared for next year.

One of the main tasks waiting in the November garden is raking leaves. One way that we make it easier is to use a large tarp. We raked the leaves onto the tarp, which was easy enough to drag around the yard. When we finished, we could just drag it back to the backyard. You could use these leaves in your compost or mulch.

As an urban gardener, you may have many of your plants in pots. If it gets chilly where you’re at, they should be brought inside before frosts begin. This is especially true of any topical plants you might have.

If you’re lucky enough to have any trees and shrubs, you might need to take some steps to protect them from the winter cold and snow. Look at this article for suggestions.

I would suggest buying a houseplant if you don’t have any yet. It helps me to get through the winter blahs when I have at least some greenery around the house. The houseplant will also help purify the air - an added bonus!

You might also want to put in an order online for some garden catalogs. I love the days in the dead of winter when I open the mailbox and see cheery garden pictures waiting for me.

What do you do to get your garden ready for winter? For more tips, use this checklist.

As a kid, we had both freshwater and saltwater aquariums.

We would put in plastic plants to provide places for the fish to hide and make the tank look less bare.

As I grew older and started caring for my own aquarium, I ventured into the world of live aquarium plants.

They offer more to the aquarium and the fish themselves, since they provide some food for the fish to nibble on, as well as adding oxygen to the water and making the environment more suitable. When my pineapple swordtails had live babies, they hid among the leaves until they were big enough to escape being eaten.

I also had fun exploring some plants that seemed very exotic. We secured mangroves (purchased from eBay) into pieces of styrofoam and let them float on top of the water. They would have done a bit better if the water had been more brackish (mangroves like salty water), but it was fun to explore. We also placed papyrus stems in the water.

An aquarium garden is a fun way to do some urban gardening if you don’t have any space for “real” gardening. You can tend living plants and design entire underwater landscapes, creating a peaceful oasis in your own living room.

A gardening friend on Facebook posted the link to a gallery of award winning underwater gardens. The pictures featured in the L.A. Times piece come from the the last five years of winners in the Aquatic Gardening Association’s Aquascaping Contest.

These pictures will give you some wonderful ideas on how to create your own watery gardens. It makes me want to set up an aquarium again.

Which is your favorite?

When you think of urban cities, you may think of skyscrapers, traffic jams, and pavement everywhere.

However, the urban garden revolution continues to spread.

The Daily Green has created a wonderful article about the top 10 US urban cities when it comes to the number of community gardens.

Top of the list is Seattle, Washington. Our friends the Shibaguyz are right there in the trenches, growing their own food thanks, in part, to the city’s fabulous P-Patch program. I hope I can visit this lovely city soon and see all the good work for myself.

My internship landed me in the city of McMinnville, Oregon for a summer. I enjoyed being so close to Portland (number 2 on the list) - just 35 miles northeast. Known as the “City of Roses”, there are gardens everywhere. It’s natural, then, that they would also have a significant number of community gardens.

I was glad to see that a California city, Long Beach, was number 3 on the list. The climate is great for year-round growing, offering potential beyond what many cities can enjoy.

For number 4, we travel to St. Paul, Minnesota. 17 community gardens are available as part of the city’s efforts to become the nation’s ‘Most Livable City’.

Take a flight over to Honolulu, Hawaii if you want to visit the 5th best city for urban gardening. Community gardening there has been in full force since 1975.

Rounding out the list are San Jose, Baltimore, Washington DC, Anchorage and Louisville. For pictures and facts about each of these gardens, head on over to The Daily Green.

Do you live in one of the top 10 cities for urban gardening?

Detroit is famous for Motown and producing cars.

There’s also a growing new trend there - urban farming.

It’s a positive sign in a city that has taken some of the hardest knocks in this economy.

The silver lining in the plethora of vacant lots is that they offer the potential to help feed the city.

Six years ago the Detroit Garden Resource Program Collaborative was formed. Community gardeners can join for $20 and get anything they need for their gardens, from tools to seeds and seedlings.

There’s also the Grown in Detroit co-operative, which helps local farmers band together to sell their produce to city restaurants, promoting local food and strengthening the economy.

As the Toronto edition of TheStar.com points out, “These farms are small businesses,” says Michael Hamm, a sustainable agriculture professor at the University of Michigan.

By his calculations, there are 1,900 hectares of vacant land in Detroit, not including parks or right-of-ways. Farming all of it could produce 75 per cent of the vegetables Detroiters should eat, and 45 per cent of the fruit, he says.”

Allowing Detroit dwellers more access to fresh fruits and vegetables could help them be in better health.Just imagine - one of the biggest factors contributing to obesity (especially in urban areas) is the lack of produce. These farms and gardens stand poised to help battle that problem.

I would love to see other cities copy what’s happening in Detroit. I see too many empty pieces of land wasting away. It’s sad that times make it tough to sell or develop them, but they could be used for so much good in the meantime.

How is your city doing garden-wise?

Earlier this year I wrote about how Joe Lamp’l, author and star of Tv gardening shows, started up a project where he vowed to create an organic victory garden for $25 or less.

As the main gardening season draws to a close, I thought I would give an update on how the project has gone.

He made greenhouses using empty plastic bakery cake boxes. Inspired by his example, I noticed that the 2 pound strawberry boxes I was buying at the grocery store would be perfect to use as urban garden-sized greenhouses.

Four or five wait patiently in my pantry now. I’ll be planting some pea seeds in there soon as I prepare to plant up my Earthbox.

Many people donated seeds to the project so he wouldn’t have to spend any of his $25 fund. I know I’ve gotten seeds a few times myself through Freecycle, so you don’t have to be a famous garden pro to have people send you seeds (though it doesn’t hurt!). One person on Twitter even sent him hand-painted signs.

There was a bit of a rough start as it didn’t seem like it would ever stop raining for the first part of spring. (It was the same way in my area!). The seedlings that had been planted outside suffered from too much water and too little sun.

The weather improved and the garden blossomed. As I write this, his blog proudly proclaims that he has gathered over 105 pounds of produce, and he’s only spent $15.05 doing it!

This project is a good example that gardening doesn’t have to be expensive. With a little creativity, hard work and help from free sites like Freecycle, you can grow your own food too.

I end up visiting a lot of nursery websites as I research plants for articles.

I noticed from time to time that I ended up at one called TyTy Nursery.

Each time I noticed how strange the pictures were, but didn’t think much of it.

One day I actually stopped and started laughing at the pictures on the page. I started clicking around to the different plants and noticed that all the pictures featured plants that had images like bikini-clad women and shirtless men inserted.

I visited again today for a giggle and noticed that it’s gotten even better - now they have videos, too! I watched the one about the “Italian White Fig Tree”, fascinated as someone moved a fig around the screen, with a painting of an Italian street in the background.

I do wonder how much research they put into these videos. I watched one about the “wildlife strawberry bush”. The strawberry bush (Euonymus americanus) is a native US plant that is also called fun names like wahoo and hearts-a-bustin’.

The first picture of fruit they show, however, is that of the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo). Most of the other pictures do seem to actually belong to the strawberry bush, though I saw another picture later featuring strawberry tree fruit.

I can understand to some degree how it happened, with similar names, and the fruits look vaguely similar (emphasis on vague). However, a good nursery should make sure that they are advertising the right plant.

I did want to include a disclaimer: I write about this nursery for the photo/video entertainment value only. I have not personally shopped with them, but my research about the company turned up a lot of…interesting opinions that would make me very hesitant to place an order.

What’s your favorite video or picture from TyTy Nursery?

Vonnie writes:

“I plan to eat beets grown inside my kitchen in containers and would love any tips!”

Hi Vonnie. That should be a fun project!

For starters, make sure your container is deep. It should be at least 12″ deep. Since beets are root crops, the more room you can give them, the better.

Also, since a large root is being formed, the soil needs to be loose. Sand is the best soil for producing well-formed roots. Make sure there are no rocks or sticks that could make the roots grow strangely.

When you go to plant your seeds, it’s important to give them a good start in life. Plant them 1″ apart in your container. As Marie Iannotti points out, “Beet seeds can be slow to germinate, because of their tough outer shell. Soaking the seed clusters over night will help soften the shell and speed germination”.

Once the beet seeds have sprouted and they have had a little time to grow, you’ll need to thin them out. Give them enough room between each other — about 3″ –so that the beet root can form.

As the plant grows, you can pick some of the leaves for salads and more if you like. Be sure to leave some at all times, since plants get their energy through photosynthesis in the leaves.

You’ll be able to track how big your beets are growing because part of the root will sit above the soil. Once it reaches around 2″ in diameter, they are ready for harvesting.

Good luck - let us know how your beets turn out!

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Pomegranates were so mysterious when I was growing up.

We’d buy them once in a while at the store and would break them open.

There were all these little red fruit pieces throughout, each one nestled away in its own cell.

I would have to break it apart bit by bit so I could nibble on the delicious bounty.

As I grew older, I learned interesting facts about the pomegranate. Some say that this, not the apple, was the fruit of the Garden of Eden. The seeds are covered in bright red flesh, which is called an aril. They are considered to be, hands down, one of the best sources of antioxidants. Hummingbirds just love to visit their red flowers.

What’s the best fact of all? You can get this as a dwarf shrub, so it can fit in many an urban garden!

If you are growing these outdoors, you need to live in USDA Hardiness Zones 7-10. In cooler zones, you can just plant it in a container and bring it indoors for the winter. Give it a home where it will receive plenty of heat and light.

Another happy fact about pomegranates is that they can do well in most kinds of soils. The best location would feature soil that drains easily so the roots do not become waterlogged. They can even tolerate some drought as needed.

I also enjoy that these ripen at a time (fall) when many fruits have stopped producing. You’ll know they’re ready to eat when they turn fully red and sound metallic if you gently thump it.

Have you grown your own pomegranates?

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