For all my planning I am still having a rough start this year. I started my seeds in a mix of potting soil and mushroom compost. I knew that what I should have was peat moss, and probably a few other things like perilite and vermiculite, but I used what I had. This is another one of those lessons that it is better to learn from someone else's mistakes than to risk losing time in your own garden.
Damping off is a term used to describe sudden seedling death. It can be caused by a lot of factors, but preventing it is easy, and I knew that to begin with!
1. NEVER use soil to start seeds. Always use a sterile soil-less mix, purchased or homemade, but it must be sterile. Peat moss is difficult because it absorbs water and forms a dense structure, that when dry, is impenetrable. You must keep it thoroughly moist at all times, or your seedlings will die from dryness associated with the brick like nature of the peat.
2. Don't over water. The fungi that can cause these dilemmas thrive with excessive moisture. While germinating it is important to keep the mix constantly moist, but as the seedlings emerge, tapering back to moderate watering and light (1/2 strength) fertilizers will allow the little plants a chance to stand up on their own.
3. Be Sterile. washing all of your seed trays, pots, spades and scoops with a 10:1 water/ bleach mix, will help to prevent spread of fungi and any related spores or bug eggs or other pests.
Some information I found at this site, states the following;
Damping-off
Not only will controlling your watering help to prevent fungus gnats, it will prevent the second most common problem, damping-off. This condition is caused by several fungi such as Phtophtora and Pythium. These fungi live at the soil line, just where air meets the moist soil surface.
When your potting soil is kept continuously moist by overwatering, the fungi attack your seedlings. The telltale symptom is a constricted stem, just at or below the soil surface. Once seedlings are infected, they tend to fall over at the soil line.
As mentioned, allowing the soil surface to dry out will go a long way in preventing this problem. If, for some reason, your potting mix remains wet for an extended period of time, look to your kitchencabinet to help prevent the disease. Cinnamon powder is a natural fungicide and has been shown to be particularly effective against damping-off. In addition, Weak chamomile tea (after it has cooled) is another natural fungicide
Honestly I did not know that there was much to be done for it at this stage. Not all the seedlings are infected, some are, some aren't. And prevention is always the cure. I figured my only alternative is to cut my losses, and begin anew. This may also be why I have no tomatoes sprouting as well. Which is of more concern, because my leafy greens can be started all season long, but tomatoes have to been in like YESTERDAY....
I have to get to work, but I thought I would throw that out there.
My broccoli and Brussels sprouts have a few seedlings that are bent at the stem, preventing water or nutrients to help sustain them. I have used unsterilized pots, unsterilized soil, and let my daughter over water. Basically I have done everything that you are not supposed to do, and learned the hard way, yet again. It's a good thing out livelihood does not depend on the earliness of our garden...because I blew it! I guess I will be going to the hardware store now!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
When good compost goes bad: how to fix up the pile
If you have not had any luck in composting, here is the best way I can describe building a hot pile from what is available. Many serious composters may grow green manures and buy straw specifically to compost. Others have secret ingredients to add to the pile such as; fertilizers, dog food, molasses, soured milk or buttermilk. You may want to try these if you have trouble with the reheat.
The best time here is spring and summer....spring more than summer, and I will tell you why. On the first and second really nice weekend in Spring, those odd nice days followed by sleet, rain, hail and snow....we call that March in the Ozarks (and sometimes April, to be honest). That is the time to look for people cleaning up last Fall's leaves. Usually in the heavily wooded neighborhoods like mine, where even if you clean up in the Fall, the wind leaves you even more by spring and you end up doing it all over again. Most people are happy to part with them, because it saves them from hauling them. I stay close to my neighborhood, so that saves me from hauling far as well.
I like to save my leaves in a larger compost bin along side my regular compost. Generally speaking, I like to have at least two piles, if not three going at varying stages of decomposition. My set up is pretty big, but can easily be scaled back down to normal. It is nice using pallets for bins because I like my leaves chopped, but that is not usually how they come, so I run my mower into the leaf bin, and use my mower's bag to dump it slowly into the pile I am building. This works especially well for building a hot pile, you can either begin mowing the lawn and dumping it slowly into the pile of chopped leaves, and mix in some dirt and a bit of unfinished compost and stir in some water all in basically the same place. essentially I mow until the bag is nearly full then mow my way back to the compost bin. I try to keep the carbon ratio higher than the nitrogen, and keep it moist as I build...not soggy, but moist. My kitchen scraps end up in one of any of the piles, whichever is least finished, and moved into another pile when it gets moved, usually. When I build it this way it always heats up fast. Other things that we have done to get a hot pile is adding fish tank water from my sister's (full of N in various forms) and I have also used old wood chips that had been seasoned for at least a year or two and were already basically half dirt. That pile was super hot!!! (And I have heard not to do that, but it wasn't half bad compost.) By the following season there was no trace of wood chip and no nutrient lock ups that were visible....(keyword).
And that is basically all I do...
So, here are some of the more common problems with composting that you may have run into and how to solve them. As you know from my stinky story, some of this has come from experience. Currently I garden on the borderline of organic...so if you are organic...well, I guess I am not really...but I do believe in it whole heartedly, but some times I use regular fertilizers that are given to me. Other times I just can't find the appropriate alternative...so this list isn't as green as it at first sounds...being that it is compost.
First, my new favorite:
ODOR
Lack of Air:
1. too much water--------> Add carbons...brown material...leaves, and especially straw will absorb some of the excess moisture. stir it up. Fluff with a pitchfork, use sticks to poke holes in the pile and lift up. The organisms that eat up everything need some air in that steam pit every once in a while, and if you think about building a compost pile like fire...This helps restart the heat as well. Compost can and will suffocate if too compacted...which is #....
2. Compaction------> aerate... that is pretty much it. your pile will always settle if it is heating and that is good, but if there are layers beneath matted and wet it will cause problems....fluff the pile and use thin layers adding greens and browns both....like #
3.Smells like Ammonia------> that is too much nitrogen. Add carbon and stir well.
4. Not enough nitrogen-----> that is another smell, add some grass clippings, dog food, blood meal or some other nitrogen rich amendment like fresh manure. stir well (yes, there is a trend here)
5. Soppy wet------> add more carbon and stir well. They say when build the pile it should be like a wrung out sponge. For me that is a little too much for the imagination, with what goes in a compost pile. So I just make it very damp when I build it and it is usually dry around the edges when I turn it. Sometimes when I water the garden I will spray through the cracks in the side of the bin and a little on top when it is looking too dry..but don't drown it when you build it....you have to wait until at least after the first "baking" before making compost tea!
NO HEAT
1. Not enough water, it may be too dry. Try as above, but also aerate at the same time so some of the water makes it inside. If you use a pole down the center as I do, you can water that as well.
2. It has finished it's initial "baking" and it is time to turn. Either stir it well with a pitch fork, moving all the dry outer stuff in, and vice versa. Or do as I do, and move the entire pile, into the next bin. I add a bit of water to the dry stuff and the damp stuff I leave alone. If I chose to use fertilizers or amendments in my pile, it is usually for the reheat, so I don't have to add any more materials. If your previously hot pile is ice cold, it needs to turn.
3. It's done----> scoop it out and use it!
a small pile will not get as hot, nor break down much at all. If your pile is damp and only slightly warm and only in the center, you must rebuild a larger pile.
SOME MATERIALS STILL IDENTIFIABLE
1 It may still need nitrogen and moisture and more air. You should never let it get too dry, nor too wet, nor too compacted. Watering or withholding water, and fluffing the pile can help to rekindle the heat.
2. Some items may have been too large to begin with and will need to break down longer. I usually sift them out and throw them in the center of my next pile. Try to only soft rotten wood or very fresh prunings and add them to the center where the heat can burn them up. You can still use the compost if there is not a lot that still needs breaking down. Or you can use it to rebuild a new pile, adding lots of fresh nitrogen materials and little if any dirt or compost, since that is what you've got already. It should break down after another good heat. You can also use compost at this stage in the fall, as it will have plenty of time to decompose. I prefer to layer if there is no cover cropping in place...Unfinished compost and chopped leaves with a layer or old straw from the season's mulch. I usually remove the straw in spring and there is not much left below that but nice dark soil!
Hope it helps...most of the information I read from the Veg Bible's trouble shooting guide, the organic gardening encyclopedia and of course grow more veggies. Links to these books and why I like them are on a previous post. I have only composted a few years, but I have only had a problem one time so far. As always there is a lot more great information to be had on the WWW.
Good luck, and I hope you get lots of hot compost this season! ;)
The best time here is spring and summer....spring more than summer, and I will tell you why. On the first and second really nice weekend in Spring, those odd nice days followed by sleet, rain, hail and snow....we call that March in the Ozarks (and sometimes April, to be honest). That is the time to look for people cleaning up last Fall's leaves. Usually in the heavily wooded neighborhoods like mine, where even if you clean up in the Fall, the wind leaves you even more by spring and you end up doing it all over again. Most people are happy to part with them, because it saves them from hauling them. I stay close to my neighborhood, so that saves me from hauling far as well.
I like to save my leaves in a larger compost bin along side my regular compost. Generally speaking, I like to have at least two piles, if not three going at varying stages of decomposition. My set up is pretty big, but can easily be scaled back down to normal. It is nice using pallets for bins because I like my leaves chopped, but that is not usually how they come, so I run my mower into the leaf bin, and use my mower's bag to dump it slowly into the pile I am building. This works especially well for building a hot pile, you can either begin mowing the lawn and dumping it slowly into the pile of chopped leaves, and mix in some dirt and a bit of unfinished compost and stir in some water all in basically the same place. essentially I mow until the bag is nearly full then mow my way back to the compost bin. I try to keep the carbon ratio higher than the nitrogen, and keep it moist as I build...not soggy, but moist. My kitchen scraps end up in one of any of the piles, whichever is least finished, and moved into another pile when it gets moved, usually. When I build it this way it always heats up fast. Other things that we have done to get a hot pile is adding fish tank water from my sister's (full of N in various forms) and I have also used old wood chips that had been seasoned for at least a year or two and were already basically half dirt. That pile was super hot!!! (And I have heard not to do that, but it wasn't half bad compost.) By the following season there was no trace of wood chip and no nutrient lock ups that were visible....(keyword).
And that is basically all I do...
So, here are some of the more common problems with composting that you may have run into and how to solve them. As you know from my stinky story, some of this has come from experience. Currently I garden on the borderline of organic...so if you are organic...well, I guess I am not really...but I do believe in it whole heartedly, but some times I use regular fertilizers that are given to me. Other times I just can't find the appropriate alternative...so this list isn't as green as it at first sounds...being that it is compost.
First, my new favorite:
ODOR
Lack of Air:
1. too much water--------> Add carbons...brown material...leaves, and especially straw will absorb some of the excess moisture. stir it up. Fluff with a pitchfork, use sticks to poke holes in the pile and lift up. The organisms that eat up everything need some air in that steam pit every once in a while, and if you think about building a compost pile like fire...This helps restart the heat as well. Compost can and will suffocate if too compacted...which is #....
2. Compaction------> aerate... that is pretty much it. your pile will always settle if it is heating and that is good, but if there are layers beneath matted and wet it will cause problems....fluff the pile and use thin layers adding greens and browns both....like #
3.Smells like Ammonia------> that is too much nitrogen. Add carbon and stir well.
4. Not enough nitrogen-----> that is another smell, add some grass clippings, dog food, blood meal or some other nitrogen rich amendment like fresh manure. stir well (yes, there is a trend here)
5. Soppy wet------> add more carbon and stir well. They say when build the pile it should be like a wrung out sponge. For me that is a little too much for the imagination, with what goes in a compost pile. So I just make it very damp when I build it and it is usually dry around the edges when I turn it. Sometimes when I water the garden I will spray through the cracks in the side of the bin and a little on top when it is looking too dry..but don't drown it when you build it....you have to wait until at least after the first "baking" before making compost tea!
NO HEAT
1. Not enough water, it may be too dry. Try as above, but also aerate at the same time so some of the water makes it inside. If you use a pole down the center as I do, you can water that as well.
2. It has finished it's initial "baking" and it is time to turn. Either stir it well with a pitch fork, moving all the dry outer stuff in, and vice versa. Or do as I do, and move the entire pile, into the next bin. I add a bit of water to the dry stuff and the damp stuff I leave alone. If I chose to use fertilizers or amendments in my pile, it is usually for the reheat, so I don't have to add any more materials. If your previously hot pile is ice cold, it needs to turn.
3. It's done----> scoop it out and use it!
a small pile will not get as hot, nor break down much at all. If your pile is damp and only slightly warm and only in the center, you must rebuild a larger pile.
SOME MATERIALS STILL IDENTIFIABLE
1 It may still need nitrogen and moisture and more air. You should never let it get too dry, nor too wet, nor too compacted. Watering or withholding water, and fluffing the pile can help to rekindle the heat.
2. Some items may have been too large to begin with and will need to break down longer. I usually sift them out and throw them in the center of my next pile. Try to only soft rotten wood or very fresh prunings and add them to the center where the heat can burn them up. You can still use the compost if there is not a lot that still needs breaking down. Or you can use it to rebuild a new pile, adding lots of fresh nitrogen materials and little if any dirt or compost, since that is what you've got already. It should break down after another good heat. You can also use compost at this stage in the fall, as it will have plenty of time to decompose. I prefer to layer if there is no cover cropping in place...Unfinished compost and chopped leaves with a layer or old straw from the season's mulch. I usually remove the straw in spring and there is not much left below that but nice dark soil!
Hope it helps...most of the information I read from the Veg Bible's trouble shooting guide, the organic gardening encyclopedia and of course grow more veggies. Links to these books and why I like them are on a previous post. I have only composted a few years, but I have only had a problem one time so far. As always there is a lot more great information to be had on the WWW.
Good luck, and I hope you get lots of hot compost this season! ;)
Compost woes
I have a confession:
I have really stinky compost!
It all started last year, right about the end of the season, my father in law started to bring in "decomposables" from the restaurant he works at, The Farmer's Gastro Pub (in downtown Springfield, by the Moxie).
They wanted to minimize their addition to the waste stream as part of the theme of the place, it seemed the right thing to do. They use local foods from local farms. The premise of the venture is great.
So for a little while I had some extra kitchen wastes coming in. Nothing abnormal about that at all, except for the fact that he was so quiet about bringing it in, and I really wasn't visiting the garden as much as earlier in the season...so when I did, it was UH_OH!
He has never built a hot compost pile and I never said anything about it. He asked if it was OK, I said sure. And one day I went to the back yard and realized he'd been there, a lot! And I didn't have any bagged leaves out there, as I usually do...so I had to get to work....and fast! I layered it all up and got in heated and thought all was well. I left it sitting all winter, expecting great compost. Boy was I wrong! Moral of the story, I have matted food waste in the compost that is refusing to break down, and well, it smells too. By no fault of his own, he has created "the poopy"!!! And this my friends, is how compost became "artificial manure"....because if you mess up, that is exactly what it smells like.
I guess I have been spoiled so far, that my compost was never stinky and always heated up initially and killed off any odor by turning time. But now I have spoiled compost! So you ask.....
What would have prevented the smell and clumping? If I had paid attention at all, (at the time,) would have been carbon. All that kitchen waste is counted as "green" material as far as compost. So with the amount that was there, all that was needed was to mix in thoroughly, some sort of "brown" materials at the same time. The best thing, probably would be straw or chopped leaves, and mixed well as soon as it is brought in. Check the moisture level as you go and all that scrap just disappears! Dump it in by the bucket full and leave uncovered, and well, you have my compost pile!
Currently the restaurant returns their compost to the farmers that bring in their goods for them, which is great! The farmers even pick it up I think and take care of the dirty work. It has finally come full circle.
So I have learned a lesson about compost to share with everyone.....a little goes a long way!
The Saga continues...I have mixed and remixed this compost, re aerating and re layering and re moistening and re heating...and that little booger is still stinkin' it up!!! So today I have turned it, and hopefully it will heat through in the next several days. My lawn mower is on the fritz and that will have to be remedied to start a new pile....hopefully I can get through this one soon, and get back to my own compost again.....good luck to all ....and I will add a post about common "mess-ups" in the compost and what to do about it!
I have really stinky compost!
It all started last year, right about the end of the season, my father in law started to bring in "decomposables" from the restaurant he works at, The Farmer's Gastro Pub (in downtown Springfield, by the Moxie).
They wanted to minimize their addition to the waste stream as part of the theme of the place, it seemed the right thing to do. They use local foods from local farms. The premise of the venture is great.
So for a little while I had some extra kitchen wastes coming in. Nothing abnormal about that at all, except for the fact that he was so quiet about bringing it in, and I really wasn't visiting the garden as much as earlier in the season...so when I did, it was UH_OH!
He has never built a hot compost pile and I never said anything about it. He asked if it was OK, I said sure. And one day I went to the back yard and realized he'd been there, a lot! And I didn't have any bagged leaves out there, as I usually do...so I had to get to work....and fast! I layered it all up and got in heated and thought all was well. I left it sitting all winter, expecting great compost. Boy was I wrong! Moral of the story, I have matted food waste in the compost that is refusing to break down, and well, it smells too. By no fault of his own, he has created "the poopy"!!! And this my friends, is how compost became "artificial manure"....because if you mess up, that is exactly what it smells like.
I guess I have been spoiled so far, that my compost was never stinky and always heated up initially and killed off any odor by turning time. But now I have spoiled compost! So you ask.....
What would have prevented the smell and clumping? If I had paid attention at all, (at the time,) would have been carbon. All that kitchen waste is counted as "green" material as far as compost. So with the amount that was there, all that was needed was to mix in thoroughly, some sort of "brown" materials at the same time. The best thing, probably would be straw or chopped leaves, and mixed well as soon as it is brought in. Check the moisture level as you go and all that scrap just disappears! Dump it in by the bucket full and leave uncovered, and well, you have my compost pile!
Currently the restaurant returns their compost to the farmers that bring in their goods for them, which is great! The farmers even pick it up I think and take care of the dirty work. It has finally come full circle.
So I have learned a lesson about compost to share with everyone.....a little goes a long way!
The Saga continues...I have mixed and remixed this compost, re aerating and re layering and re moistening and re heating...and that little booger is still stinkin' it up!!! So today I have turned it, and hopefully it will heat through in the next several days. My lawn mower is on the fritz and that will have to be remedied to start a new pile....hopefully I can get through this one soon, and get back to my own compost again.....good luck to all ....and I will add a post about common "mess-ups" in the compost and what to do about it!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Tee Pee Trio
Audrey, Chas and I built up some tee pees for our pole beans and a trellis for some cucumbers. I have seen pictures in other peoples gardens and thought they were too cute. In fact, in the Veg. Bible, under Pole Beans there is a prettier example...but we do what we can!
I started by cutting out branches and saplings that were relatively long, sturdy and straight. We trimmed all the side shoots off them and put them up. We tied the joining knots with jute twine, and later switched to a shade of blue, when the first roll of natural ran out. Anyways, it's not much, but as usual, we are pretty proud of it, and it will do the trick, meanwhile getting rid of some of the scrub brush growing around here!
(sorry they are kinda hard to see on a brownish background, but you can click to enlarge)
A friend of mine from out of town was talking about putting in something for a trellis for her peas...maybe something like this could work? Anyways, I am glad I tried it! and hopefully I get better at making them in the future...But it beats the farm fence in this bed last year! LOL...this is why my neighbors hate me!! Their back yards are in full view of the compost, but what do you do? It is like eeny meeny miney mo, pick a neighbor by his nose...just kidding...I promise I will back the bin up next year, but no promise I won't have multiples, and one won't be in view! I wanted to put a large set up behind bed 1 if I can clear the brush...I will just have to learn to master the bent wood trellis I saw in a magazine 7 or 8 years ago.....use up all this junk growing all over! (love it!) I also saw a really neat chair made of bent wood trellis. It may look weird now, but as it ages it looks more natural, and I guess I always end up going with more of a cottage garden feel, no matter my original aim.
{the water bottles and milk jugs are for night heat}
I started by cutting out branches and saplings that were relatively long, sturdy and straight. We trimmed all the side shoots off them and put them up. We tied the joining knots with jute twine, and later switched to a shade of blue, when the first roll of natural ran out. Anyways, it's not much, but as usual, we are pretty proud of it, and it will do the trick, meanwhile getting rid of some of the scrub brush growing around here!
A friend of mine from out of town was talking about putting in something for a trellis for her peas...maybe something like this could work? Anyways, I am glad I tried it! and hopefully I get better at making them in the future...But it beats the farm fence in this bed last year! LOL...this is why my neighbors hate me!! Their back yards are in full view of the compost, but what do you do? It is like eeny meeny miney mo, pick a neighbor by his nose...just kidding...I promise I will back the bin up next year, but no promise I won't have multiples, and one won't be in view! I wanted to put a large set up behind bed 1 if I can clear the brush...I will just have to learn to master the bent wood trellis I saw in a magazine 7 or 8 years ago.....use up all this junk growing all over! (love it!) I also saw a really neat chair made of bent wood trellis. It may look weird now, but as it ages it looks more natural, and I guess I always end up going with more of a cottage garden feel, no matter my original aim.
It will be pretty sweet once there is stuff growing on it. I cannot wait for the last frost! I am so excited!
We put out our Broccoli and Brussels sprouts, spinach, lettuce and onions into the prop box. All that is indoors right now is the tomato and a few dicentra root cuttings.
{the water bottles and milk jugs are for night heat} I am having really low germination for some reason and can't figure if it is moisture or temperature related. I finally found some roma seeds...in my dehydrated tomatoes! I froze some last year and was using them in a pizza, and thought....why not give it a go? They were ripe, and were dried in their membranes, then frozen. I doubt that more than 75-80% of the moisture would have been lost, so they can still ferment to break the seed coat. I will be disappointed if nothing other than the romas sprout, even though their taste is so great, I planned on using them as an early crop and the others as main crop...OH well, I will just have to make due, as usual. Nature has a way of pushing us around and we are better off to just try to go with the flow!
So I guess that is it for today....more planning and nifty ideas to come. My bottle stoppers for my hummingbird feeders got here, I just haven't had another rainy day to mess with it, and I don't think it is time yet....I should look that up...... ;)
Monday, March 29, 2010
New *Improved* Berry Bed
It is so nice out today I decided to do some clean up and mess around in the garden. the soil is still too cold for most things, but worse still, it is too wet to even touch!
I cleared out bed #2, to let the soil warm up a little and dry out. I left the straw for later use in compost or mulch if it isn't too soggy.
I planted some mint in the "cabbage patch" so to speak, where the broccoli and Brussels Sprouts will be soon. It is supposed to help deter the cabbage moth, which was a real pain picking caterpillars last year. hopefully it helps. I brought out the seedlings, and put them in the prop box. I have been keeping an eye on them, and will have to watch the nighttime temperature and cover them if it gets too cool. They are a hardy group of crops though, so I am hoping this sturdies them up and gets them ready to transplant. I know that their growth will improve drastically once they can stretch out their roots. I also took the lettuce that I seeded and put in the prop box as well, in hopes that it will improve germination. I am trying ot use up all the old seeds I have and get use of them, while at the same time, not holding on to valueless goods!
So...I have also been coming up with clever ways to recycle trash from the yard, and just general ideas to make the yard look nice.
I am sure that my round-up spraying neighbors, who have the most direct view of my lovely garden, will appreciate any changes in that department. I am pretty sure that they do not value my pallet compost bins nearly as much as I (and my veggies) do! =) But hey, all in good time. All in good time!
I cleared out bed #2, to let the soil warm up a little and dry out. I left the straw for later use in compost or mulch if it isn't too soggy.
I planted some mint in the "cabbage patch" so to speak, where the broccoli and Brussels Sprouts will be soon. It is supposed to help deter the cabbage moth, which was a real pain picking caterpillars last year. hopefully it helps. I brought out the seedlings, and put them in the prop box. I have been keeping an eye on them, and will have to watch the nighttime temperature and cover them if it gets too cool. They are a hardy group of crops though, so I am hoping this sturdies them up and gets them ready to transplant. I know that their growth will improve drastically once they can stretch out their roots. I also took the lettuce that I seeded and put in the prop box as well, in hopes that it will improve germination. I am trying ot use up all the old seeds I have and get use of them, while at the same time, not holding on to valueless goods!
So...I have also been coming up with clever ways to recycle trash from the yard, and just general ideas to make the yard look nice.
- I decided to use Mickey's old holey work boots as a flower pot. {why not? they'll just go to a landfill anyways, why not let them be fully rotten by the time they get there?}
- I took an old broken chair of the kids and sunk a flower pot into it, and added a gimpy trellis. I plan to find something to plant in it, just as soon as I decide where I want it.
- I decided that I am definitely interested in vining hops up to the treehouse. It is the perfect height and would give some much needed shade for the gardeners and skate boarders below. I may do grapes up one side and hops on the other and put some garden furniture under the decking. Sounds pretty.
- I would love to make a hammock. Or two, or four.
- I would love to make garden furniture from saplings, and stumps, etc. Then plant with vines!
- I want to put a Tee Pee up in my garden (not just the ones for my pole beans). My mom gave me one made with treated 1x2 and muslin cloth. It just needs to be set up. I was thinking that by the end of the week, it should be less soggy out and we can do that!
- When I plant my corn, I want to make a maze. {Maize? Anyone? tee hee} Granted, it will be a rather small maze, but who cares? Not my kids! So, instead of just planting blocks of rows, I will have to make up a design, and incorporate that into my succession sowing plan. It may complicate it a bit, but that seems to be the way I like things!
- Help Chas plant a real garden. Since I stole his blocks.....well, I feel like he needs a small domain to master. We will figure out what stuff he would like and get him growing, too. Audrey gets the area around the swingset, until we decide to move it, and I am also going to occupy much of the space below his treehouse. (but hey, he gets a sweet treehouse, so fair is fair!) So he gets to decide. Either that or he can take over the soon to be herb garden, that seems to be his favorite thing, MINT TEA!!!!
- Planting of Elderberries and Jerusalem Artichokes.....hmmm...this one is trickier for me. First, I just read in the Wiki that elderberry plants contain cyanide. Although the flowers and berries are safe to eat, the leaves, twigs and roots can build up to be toxic. {I DID NOT KNOW THAT!!!}. And honestly, from the talk of the Perennial sunflowers being 'like' potatoes, I thought the tubers were larger and/or perhaps the plant would be larger. HMMMM.....I just don't know which would be better in the garden area, if either. I thought I preferred the elderberry because of it's ability to spread and fill quickly, it has a nice perfume to the flowers, the berries are adored by many native birds, as well as native people, and has been consumed, as such for centuries. Not to mention making wines an jams....but I did not, however, know that the rest of the plant was a natural (aren't they all?) source of cyanide. *I think I will have to think about it*
Yep, I thought all that up, today! And, I also got something done from my summer list!
I took away the old compost bin from between the Asparagus, and the Blueberries! YAY! =)
It worked out pretty well, with the "core samples" I "borrowed/stole" from Chas' garden of last year.
The concrete tubes fit about right as the back of the bed, and they are officially "full sun" now....not that they were in dense shade before, but they are no longer sheltered at all. I really like it and it is a real improvement aesthetically.
It is improving. And I am designating directives left and right. this will be this, and that will be that. Later this is that and that is this.....it's a fun daydream for me, to decide what is best for a given situation....and trial and error, as always! Like my Ajuga....a failure in the Box elder Bed out front...but success in the side yard to the east. Same for tulips and other bulbs...they need to head east as well...it is all just a try and see how it goes adventure. Sometimes it is all gravy....and sometimes it's a rock-hard biscuit! But it is just how you learn why things work and why they don't or how to trick them into growing anyways! Fun stuff.....and today is no different!
Oh, and speaking of today.....PEA SPROUTERS!!! Audrey was so excited to hear that they sprouted! and from what I could tell, they have grown since this morning! Seriously! When I first saw them up, I brushed the straw away and they had just broken the surface and they are at least 1/2 " now, and probably taller later. It is just amazing! If you actually had the patience to ( and I do) you could literally watch them grow. And I have heard of Hops being even faster growing, and can, on a good day, gain a foot in one day! Awesome!
No carrot sprouts, as of yet. I plan to plant out another patch in succession and pray that the first still sprouts. If not, I will get back around to their turn again. I put in a few more spinach in a little cellpack, as well....just keep sowing, sowing, sowing.....OH! I am so excited Spring is finally here! =)
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