Just Because I Want To

There is something to be said that, honestly gardening is just because I want to.  Because it gives me peace.  A way of doing nothing without feeling I'm doing nothing.  A guiltless pleasure. 

I want to learn and grow in my ability to grow good things and not grow bad things.   The veggies I grow are better for my family and the flowers and the landscape helps my family enjoy their home.  I know it is good for the environment; good for my health and very good for my body.  

But it can't be just something that we do but rather part of who we are.

Worm Farmer

Or... put them to work for you!  Taking your compost and material to break them down into usable nutrients.  A great way to get rid of your scraps and old newspapers and create your own fertile soil.   And they are fun to watch!!

I'll never forget the old fish tank turned into a worm bin with shredded paper and watching them turn potato skins and bread crust into soil.

Some ways to make vermicompost: 

1. A container is a good idea.  Lots of DIY types of bins on line.  I'm using an old tote for this time and putting some rocks on the bottom for some drainage and air circulation and putting some holes in the lid.

2. Shredded paper makes good bedding and making sure that it is good and damp is a good idea.  Add some food by putting it in the bedding.

3.  Put the worms in.  I used to put my kids to work looking for red worms but this time I am buying them at the bait shop and dump them in!

4.  Add your food scraps, coffee and tea filter, torn up strips of newspaper and let them enjoy their home.

5. Some people sort out the worms from the compost to use the compost but I just dump the whole tub/bin into the raised bed and flower bed.

I'm making one for home and one for my office!!!   I'll let you know how it goes.

Good Dirt

It all comes down to what is hidden.  What is under the ground.  What is unseen.  We want to focus on the plants and the blooms and the veggies and yet our focus has to be on the soil!

Here are my tips from experience and from the experts!  

Building great soil is a very fulfilling practice as well as a great teaching opportunity for you and your kids to learn together on.

1.  Raised and permanent beds keep our soil loose and able to take in oxygen, nutrients and water!  

* Growing up working on a large farm and ranch in western South Dakota-this was a critical and constant lesson.  If we drove on a field or walked in the garden and worked the trees we were reminded about the critical nature of the soil and keeping it loose.  Basically-Dad taught us that the more we leave the animals and land alone-the better it is.

* Another lesson in Arizona as we explored the desert my Dad explained to us that the desert has a crust that will keep the sand in tack and from blowing if we just stay off of it!

* "Loose soil is a key aspect of fertile garden soil." By Cheryl Loon in her article "Build Permanent Beds and Paths" in Mother Earth News Spring 2011.

* Simply setting up the environment for our beds to succeed.

2.  Add manure to the beds.

*  I bring in old feed bags of chicken manure and older horse and cow manure to put on my beds in the fall.  This fall-I'm using the worms!

3. Simple Compost- What it is.  Why?  How? Who?

* What?  "It reduces the bulk of organic materials, stabilizes their more volatile and soluble nutrients, and speeds up the formation of soil hums." 8 Strategies for Better Garden Soil by Harvey Ussery Mother Earth News Spring 2011

* How?  Harvey Ussery uses "sheet composting and vermicompost.  Sheet Composting includes separating in layers the green and brown compost. "The moist, volatile, high-nitrogen greens go down first, in direct contact with the soil and the microbial populations ready to feed on them.  While the drier, courser, high carbon brown are used as a cover to keep the first layer from drying out."

* Why? It's what your garden needs.  It is setting up your garden and environment to succeed by giving it what it needs.  Raised beds need more compost the first year and less as it matures.  It's easy and inexpensive and sustainable.

*Who?  Ask those neighbors around you. Ask the farmers market producers.  Ask the farmers!!  I'm always walking by a beautiful yard or garden and asking how they did it.  People doing it are the experts!

* When I was a child we chopped up corn and created a silage pile.  I loved exploring the fermenting silage pile and the process of that.  We would use trucks and dump the chopped corn and use tractors to pile up and pack down to intensify the heat and cook the feed.  

Next blog we will explore vermicompost and using what is around us to build up our soil!

Footstep Garden: Desert Garden

Footstep Garden: Desert Garden: "Spending a few days in the desert with my family inspired me to look past the surface and explore the layers. We stayed at a primitive..."

Desert Garden

Spending a few days in the desert with my family inspired me to look past the surface and explore the layers.  We stayed at a primitive camp where they are able to make the yard and area their own.  

Of course, my Dad's place was the best and am amazed at his attention to detail.  An inconvenience or a problem- seems to be a challenge to conquer.  The wind putting out the fire or the grill-no problem.  He had the solution.

They used the beautiful desert rocks Vicki collects to emphasize and bring attention to the plants already there and to define the areas.  An amazing fire pit with space set up for lawn chairs and people to enjoy.  He had created a spot for everything such as the one for napping in the shade of a tree.  A place for playing a homemade game.  The perfect spots for picnics and lunches and of course the laundry area.  He must have spent hundreds of hours leveling and moving rock so it could be just perfect.

Hardscaping such as permanent holes in the ground where poles can be set and moved in order to put up the sun shade/wind break in the exact place needed.  He made these amazing panels that can be moved to the most functional spot.  The fire pit.  The nook for the firewood.  

Bird feeders and waterers placed just right.  I watched little finches and other birds find the water in the shade and a larger bird check the ones further out. Just when I thought I had seen it all I would find something new tucked in a bed.  

A restful, still and beautiful place.

Footstep Garden: Spuds and Spikes

Footstep Garden: Spuds and Spikes: "My bulbs are coming up and enjoying the sun they are getting even though it has been overcast off and on. Have decided on planting pot..."

Spuds and Spikes

My bulbs are coming up and enjoying the sun they are getting even though it has been overcast off and on. 

Have decided on planting potatoes in a topsoil bag with an old tire around it in a spot of the garden that I've not used yet and needs some work!  The tire will allow me to mulch it and add to that mulch as it grows hopefully giving me more out of less!!!  I'll keep you posted.

Have been reading an article the GRIT magazine on growing asparagus.  This article in Sept/Oct of 2010 has inspired me to plant this only perennial vegetable.  High in Vitamin C, B6, Iron, Potassium and Fiber.  I've read that it is the earliest cultivated vegie and loved by the Greeks and Romans as a cure all.  It does need potassium in the soil so begin giving it my banana peel treatment.

I used to feed my wild rose cut up pieces of banana peel to give it that shot it needed and it worked so will use this to add to where I'm going to grow asparagus.  I'll start with one plant this year and see what happens!