GROW A THRIVING GARDEN WHILE SAVING MONEY
BE SURE TO FOLLOW THESE STEPS!
from sprouting and growing in the soil you will add later. Step 2: Add sticks and small logs. Similar to cardboard, adding sticks and logs will prevent weeds and other invasive plants from growing in your
While it may be the fall season now, the temperature is still warm enough to encourage root growth for a garden! During the fall, you can plant blueberries, broccoli, garlic, radishes, spinach, lettuce, and several flowers such as asters, calendulas, and cosmos. However, planting can become expensive, especially if you have large raised beds for your garden. It may take several bags of soil to fill your garden bed, which can quickly put a dent in your wallet. Is there anything you can do to save money? Yes! Follow these four steps and watch your garden — and greenbacks — flourish. Step 1: Lay down cardboard. After setting up your raised garden bed, add a layer of cardboard (any type of cardboard will do) to the bottom of it. This layer will prevent weeds from the dirt underneath the cardboard
You can also toss food scraps on this layer for additional nutrients! Step 4: Top with soil and compost . Finally, you can begin adding your soil. Because the bed is filled with other materials, you won’t need as much! After applying a good amount of soil, you can add compost to the mix if desired. Once everything is to your liking and your beds are full of soil and nutrients, you’re ready to plant. Happy harvesting, everyone! Unrest continued. The Pullman Strike in 1894 followed cut wages and layoffs at the Pullman Company. The monthslong demonstration effectively halted railway transportation across the country. Eventually, in Blue Island, Illinois, protestors set fire to several buildings and derailed a train. President Cleveland subsequently dispatched troops to shut the strike down. But first, he signed Labor Day into law as a national holiday. Historians believe it was his way of offering an olive branch to labor unions, even though the National Guardsman he deployed ultimately killed at least 30 demonstrators. While the United States officially recognized Labor Day for the first time in 1894, labor rights and conditions still had a long way to go. It wasn’t until 1935 that the National Labor Relations Act guaranteed workers the right to organize a labor union. A few years later, after decades of union organizing, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 outlawed child labor, instituted the nation’s first minimum wage, and capped a standard workweek at 40 hours. As you spend time with your family and wave goodbye to summer this Labor Day, remember its origins and the American workers who made our lives better. Their hard work secured much more than an extra day off work.
garden. And these limbs and twigs will provide much-needed bulk, minimizing the amount of soil needed to fill your containers. Step 3: Sprinkle grass clippings and shredded leaves. Nitrogen and carbon are essential to any garden because plants need nutrients to grow. While you can purchase nitrogen fertilizer at the store, recycling grass clippings and shredded leaves is a cheaper and environmentally friendly alternative.
LABOR DAY’S FORGOTTEN PAST The Federal Holiday’s Messy Origins
If you’re like most Americans, your plans for Labor Day probably involve a barbecue, a beach day, a dip in the pool, or a trip to the parade. But while we now primarily know the first Monday in September as the unofficial last day of summer, Labor Day’s origins reflect something much more significant. The Central Labor Union organized the first Labor Day celebration in New York City in 1882. While it featured a parade and other festivities, the gathering was an unofficial one-day strike. Union members took an unsanctioned, unpaid
day off to celebrate American workers and the power of collective bargaining.
Since the event was such a hit, they repeated the celebration the following year. Slowly, states began recognizing the holiday, but tensions between businesses and workers remained high. In 1886, thousands of Chicago workers protested to demand an eight-hour workday. Tragically, the several-day strike ended with an unknown assailant setting off a bomb, and the incident became known as the Haymarket Riot.
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