Starting a Worm Bin

 

 In a recent post I made a statement about putting kitchen scraps in a worm bin.

 Here is a good video showing a simple way to start one.

 

 

 

This is an easy way to get started. This is referred to as worm composting. The technical term for it is vermiculture. The worms eat the organic matter and produce worm castings (A.K.A. worm poop).The castings are nutrient-rich and probably the best fertilizer an organic gardener can use.

 

 I would recommend using an 1/8" drill bit to drill holes in the bottom of the bin. Any larger and the worms may be able to escape.....any smaller and the holes may clog and not drain properly. Also, drill several holes under the top lip on the bin for good air circulation.  I also recommend running the news paper through a paper shredder. Its not required, but it helps. You can also add strips of cardboard, shredded junk mail, leaves, and kitchen scraps. Worms love coffee grounds. Materials that shouldn't be used include meat or greasy food items, citrus, or starchy items such as bread or pasta.

 

I recommend using Red Wiggler worms. They are available on-line from many sources. You can also contact your local county extension agency and possibly obtain a few free to get started. I started mine with worms from a friend. He started his with a dozen free worms that he obtained from our county extension agent. They will quickly reproduce if properly feed.

 

So get started and you can produce your own free organic fertilizer!

 

 

Soooo...... Until next time......HAPPY GARDENING!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope y'all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving day!
Its cold this morning in my part of northeast Florida. The weatherman says it is 38 degrees, but there is frost on my roof. It is too cold for this old Florida boy!

  I have a turkey on the smoker and can't wait to taste it. Yum!

I wanted to share this pic of my Thanksgiving Cactus with you.

 

Ain't it a beauty!

 

 

 

Most of the Holiday Cacti that are sold now days are the Thanksgiving Cactus....Schumbergera truncata. Also known as the Crab Claw Cactus because of its pointed lobes.

 

 The true Christmas Cactus....Schumgergera bridgesii  has slightly scalloped lobes and is hard to find anymore. It can be special ordered. Also it only comes with red blooms.

With the Thanksgiving Cactus, commercial growers manipulate the amount of light the plants receive and get them to bloom from Thanksgiving through the holidays. If it blooms around Thanksgiving, it is called a Thanksgiving Cactus. If it blooms around Christmas, it is called a Christmas Cactus. But they are all the same species.

So now you know everything that I know about Holiday Cacti.

I have lots of reasons to be thankful, so I'm gonna go give thanks!(And eat my smoked turkey).

I hope y'all have lots of reasons to be thankful, too.


So...... Until next time...... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!



HUNGRY CATERPILLARS

While tending my garden the other day, I noticed my Milkweed plants looking ragged. I went to investigate and found these.

 

 They are caterpillars from Monarch Butterflies. They were chowing down on the leaves and seed pods. They are beautiful caterpillars that transform into beautiful butterflies!

 

I planted the milkweed just for this purpose.... I only hope they will leave a few seed pods for me. I would like to plant more.

 

 

 

Soooo...... Until next time...... HAPPY GARDENING!

 

Oh yeah......And ......  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Winter Garden Update

What a difference a month makes!
 This is how my winter garden looked just 1 month ago.

 

 

 

Now it looks like this.

 

 

 

In the lower right part of this bed I had originally seeded some Spinach. It came up well, but after getting 1 1/2" tall it started disappearing. Probably taken out by Cut Worms. So I planted a few Collard seedlings to fill in that space. The rest of the plants are doing great. I'm not sure why they are doing so well. Maybe it is because of the double dug bed....maybe it is because of the large amount of compost that I dug in. Whatever the reason I'm very happy with the results. I'll be eating fresh Collards for Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

The Turnips are growing well too!

 

 

 

This is Okinawa Spinach that I started from a cutting. I was surprised at how good it taste the first time I tried it. It is tender and mild with an almost sweet flavor. A very good addition to a salad! If you can get some cuttings give it try.

 

 

 

 I'm not sure what this flower is. It came out of a mix of seeds from a friend. It was suppose to be a mix of Fennel and Cilantro, which were in the mix. Anyway, it adds some color to the bed.

Can anyone identify it?

 

UPDATE: David the Good from www.floridasurvivalgardening.com has identified this flower for me. It is a purple Cosmo...it will self seed and come back every year. WOOHOO!

Thanks David! 

 

 

 

This bed has convinced me that double digging makes a difference and it isn't that much more work once the soil from the first trench is removed. I think it has also shown me that raised beds don't dry out to fast, at least during the cooler months. I'm going to try this method when I dig my new beds for spring!

 

 

 

Soooo...... Until next time...... HAPPY GARDENING!

 

 

 

 



Southern Cross Cane Grinding 2013

 Yesterday, I attended an annual event that is hosted by my sister and her husband. We call it "The Cane Grinding". They grow sugarcane and make cane syrup.  This event is held every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving near Hilliard, Florida. This is at times a huge event with as many as 400 people showing up. Actually, it ends up being a celebration of the old ways of farming from a time gone-by. Farmers from all over the deep south come and display their antique tractors and old engines. Some are even steam powered.


                                       Welcome to Southern Cross Farm!

 

My brother-in-law is a collector of old farming tools and equipment. This is his barn where he stores some of his collection. The sugar cane grinding and cooking operation is here also.

 

 

Lets take a look inside. This is some of the smaller parts of his collection. A lot of it is donated, but he will buy or accept anything that is old and rusty.

 

 

 

Here is some of the cane and the grinder.

 

 

 

And here they are cooking down the juice to make the syrup.

 

 

 

My sister always cooks up a big batch of Brunswick Stew in an iron caldron. Yum!

 

 

 

And they also have the smokehouse fired up.

 

 

 

This year there weren't as many tractors on display as usual, but here are a few.

 

 

 These are old steam powered tractors ( I guess they could be called tractors).


                       

                                                  This one actually runs.

 

 

There are always old vehicles on display.

 

 

 

Here is an old horse powered cane grinder.

 

 

 

 

And that old antiquated gardener on the left is yours truly.

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful day and a wonderful time with friends and family.

 

What more could a guy ask for?!

 

 

Soooo...... Until next time...... HAPPY GARDENING!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USE YOUR LEAVES!

 The leaves have finally started falling! Its starting out slow, but they are falling. At this point I can't get enough to cover my new bed at the south end of my house, but it won't be long.

Leaves are a valuable gift from our trees. I know... a lot of people, especially non-gardeners, probably wouldn't agree with that statement. But its true.... they are a gift. Leaves are nutrient-rich. Trees put down roots deep into the soil and absorb nutrients and minerals that aren't available at the surface. The roots send these nutrients and minerals through the tree to the leaves, where they are stored. When the tree drops its leaves, it is dropping this free fertilizer at our feet. All gardeners should take advantage of this gift.

You can rake the leaves and just pile them up and with time they will decompose and make compost. They can be used as mulch, but whole leaves can pack down and not allow water to penetrate to the soil. Alas, there is a better way! Shredded leaves aren't as likely to pack down and they will also decompose faster.

 Leaves can be shredded in a few different ways. The most common is to run over them with a lawn mower, and a bagging mower means.... no raking!  Another method is with a leaf blower that converts to a leaf vacuum. With these the shredded leaves are blown into a shoulder bag.... again.....no raking! Then there is the least favorite method..... raking! Rake the leaves and put them into some kind of container. This could be a cylinder made of chicken wire or a large garbage can. Then use a weed eater to shred the leaves in the container. (Be sure to use eye protection with this method). After the leaves are shredded they make a great mulch or can be used in a compost pile.

When composting leaves alone, it can take quite a while to get compost from them. We need to mix the leaves with a nitrogen source if we want to speed up the process. Kitchen scraps aren't really all that rich in nitrogen.  They are too old to have a high level of nitrogen. But, one source from the kitchen is an excellent source of nitrogen....coffee grounds. Coffee grounds are high in nitrogen and also high in phosphorus and potassium. Coffee shops are always willing to give away used grounds.... so here is another source for free fertilizer. If you're like me (a tight wad), free is always good!  So build a pile 4 feet across and 4 feet high and mix in 10 - 15 pounds of coffee grounds....the pile will heat up, then you can use it as a hand warmer when you are doing your winter chores in the garden. Its probably better to feed your kitchen scraps to your worm bin if you have one. This produces the only thing better than compost for feeding a garden....worm castings. But that is another story for another post.

If you don't want  to use the leaves, shred them with your mower and leave them on your lawn. They will decompose and help build fertility for your lawn. Whatever you do, don't bag them up and put them at the curb. I know we have all seen the bags by the road, waiting to be picked up and hauled to the landfill. Mike McGrath, who was the editor for Organic Gardening Magazine at one time, called these bags--SPGs-- Stupid People Bags. These people are throwing away free fertilizer! Why not use this fertilizer on their property?!.If you don't have many leaves in your yard, you can collect these bags and have all the leaves you need. If you can't shred them, use them anyway. I don't shred all my leaves. Some I use as mulch in my ornamental beds. The soil under them is black and crumbly and full of earthworms. With the help of the worms, I don't have to fertilize and almost never water these beds.

So, I hope this post has made you look at your leaves through different eyes. Don't forget....Leaves are a gift. Use your leaves!

Soooo......Until next time......HAPPY GARDENING!

Hugelkultur

In a recent post I used a planting technique that is well established in permaculture circles referred to as Hugelkultur ( I also misspelled it). For anyone that may be unfamiliar with Hugelkultur, here is a video that explains a few different ways of using it.

 

 

I think this is a great planting method for sandy soil. 

 

Baby Mulberries

About 2 months ago I was helping a friend in his permaculture style garden. As we were finishing, he trimmed a couple of limbs from a dwarf Mulberry tree and let me have them. I thanked him and brought them home, hoping a could get a cutting to root. I LOVE FREE PLANTS! The next day I cut the limbs into smaller cuttings and planted all of them in one pot. Within 2 weeks I noticed new growth and this is how they look now.

 

If you look closely (click on the picture for a larger image), in the center you can see a red fruit already starting to form. I now have 9 baby Mulberry trees that I can plant around my property. The birds may get all the fruit, but maybe some of them will also help with pest control.

 

 

Soooo..... Until next time.....HAPPY GARDENING!

First tree in the food forest

Today I transplanted a small Fig tree that was in the area where my future vegetable beds will be. This is the third time I have transplanted this tree since I moved here . It is being planted in the area that will become my food forest, so this should be the last time it gets moved.

I'm going to be using hugel culture methods for my food forest. I've read that hugel culture is German for mound culture, which means growing in a mound. This would be accomplished by placing a stack of wood (tree trunks and limbs) on the surface and covering it with a mound of soil. But in Florida's sandy soil, I think a mound will dry out too fast. So I will be burying the wood, then planting on top of it, creating a bed that is only slightly raised.

I started out by digging a planting hole about 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide.

 

 

Then adding 2 layers of well aged fire wood with a rotten stump in the middle.

 

 

 

On top of that I added some rotted moss covered limbs that came out of my Oak trees during some recent high winds. This layer along with the rotted stump, should start soaking up water quickly, to retain water during dry spells.

 

 

 Then I topped that off with some leaves and palm fronds that came out of a load of wood chips.

 

Then I backfilled with soil and planted the Fig tree, creating a watering ring as I watered it in.

Inside the ring I mulched with leaves and twigs from a Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera), which is a nitrogen fixing, native plant that grows in this area. I think this should start decomposing by spring, releasing nitrogen into the soil to replace nitrogen that it being used up by the rotting wood. Outside the ring, I mulched with a thick layer of wood chips, creating a bed for this tree that is 6 feet in diameter.

 

 

In the spring I will plant some beneficial plants around it to create a fruit tree guild. By this time next year, we should be able to see the benefits of this permaculture method.

 

 

Sooo.... Until next time....HAPPY GARDENING!

 

 

Orchard of the Future

Hopefully this is how orchards will be in the future. Its starting to catch on.

 

Salvaging Lumber

In a previous post I mentioned salvaging lumber from home building sites. This is a scaffold that I built from lumber that I salvaged from a dumpster on one of these sites. I have to do some repairs on the eaves of this building.

 

 

I also have a large pile of 2x4 and 2x6 lumber stored in this building that I have salvaged. It may be enough to build the framing for a chicken coop. The only thing I'll have to buy is the plywood for the sides. I have some metal roofing that came from a shed I tore down.

 

So, if you need material for a project at your home, hit the construction sites. Just be sure you are taking scraps that are being thrown out. Ask someone that is working on the site. You will be helping to keep this stuff from going to a landfill and saving yourself some money.

Composting 2

As I mentioned in my last post, to build hot compost piles we need to mix brown (carbon) materials with green (nitrogen) materials. Brown materials are usually dead plant matter such as fallen leaves, straw, corn or sunflower stalks, saw dust or aged wood chips. Green materials can be garden waste, kitchen scraps, hedge trimmings, grass trimmings, spent cover crops or manure (even though manure is brown, its considered green because of its high in nitrogen content). All of these will attract earthworms which will build tunnels that help oxygen get into the soil and provide fertilizer with their castings (poop).

Manure is probably the best green material for heating up a pile. But I have read a lot recently about using manure from outside sources. Apparently, if  the livestock has been fed on hay or grass that has been treated with herbicides, these herbicides can pass through the animal and the composting process and effect crops that this compost is used on. So we must make sure the manure we use is free of herbicides

In my piles I try to use material from my own property. For brown material I use oak leaves, pine needles, banana stalks and leaves and palmetto leaves. For green materials I use lots of kitchen scraps and grass clippings. At this time I'm searching for a clean source of manure. Next year I'm going to start planting cover crops to grow materials for feeding the soil and composting.

If all of this seems like too much work, you can just start a pile with what ever you have. Keep adding material as it becomes available until your pile is 3 - 4 feet high, then just let it sit. After a year or so it will decompose.

 If you have an abundance of leaves, just pile them up. After a year or so they will rot down and provide what is referred to as leaf mold.  Leaf mold is a very good soil additive. It may be necessary to dig into the pile to find the leaf mold..... the outside layer doesn't decompose as quickly as the inside. A method to get leaf mold faster is to stuff leaves into a big yard waste bag and add a little water. Store them somewhere out of the way, laying the bags on their side. Then flip the bags over every couple of weeks and make sure there is still water in the bag. This speeds up the decomposition of the leaves and it won't be long till you have a bag of leaf mold. It can be dug into the soil or used as mulch. Either way it is great for your garden. Try some of these methods and see if they help. If you know of other methods, please comment and share them.

Soooo..... Until next time...... HAPPY GARDENING!

Composting 1

Compost is like gold for the organic gardener. It is simply the best additive there is for your soil. It adds organic matter and nutrients, helps sandy soil retain moisture and helps clay soil drain better. It also inhibits some diseases when applied to the soil surface as a mulch.

Composting can be as simple as piling up organic matter and letting it decompose over time, or as complicated as mixing carbon rich materials and nitrogen rich materials at the right ratios and monitoring the temperature of the pile with a thermometer and turning the pile frequently.

I usually build my piles by mixing brown (carbon rich) and green (nitrogen rich) materials at about equal volumes and adding a couple of shovels of soil (for micro-organisms), wetting the pile down as I build it. If the pile is built properly it should start heating up in 2 or 3 days. If it doesn't heat up, it could be because it is too wet or not enough green materials were added.

I checked my pile the other day and it wasn't hot. I decided to turn the pile and add some grass clipping to help it heat up.

 

I pile up a layer from the pile, add a layer of grass clippings and mix them together, then continue this until the original pile has been turned. I also add organic fertilizer or blood meal to help it heat up.

 

This is the fertilizer I use.

 

 

I will add more information about composting in my next post. There is a lot of information that I would like to share.

 

 

Soooo......Until next time.........HAPPY GARDENING!

 

Gardening Glove

I love gardening and digging in the soil.  I feel that it is a connection to nature and God's best creations. But unlike a lot of gardeners, I don't like getting dirt under my finger nails. I also didn't care much for wearing gloves until I started using these.

 

This is the MaxiFlex Ultimate glove made by G-Tek. They have a tight fit with thin rubber-like coating on the palm and fingers that keep my hands clean and dry while digging in the soil. They help maintain a good grip on tools and provide protection from blisters without sacrificing the ability to feel what you are doing. Also, when they get real dirty, I just toss them in with a load of laundry and let them air-dry afterwards..... they come out sparkling clean. 

 

I ordered mine from pksafety.com.

 Or you can search g-tek gloves for more dealers.

 

 

Fall Bloomers Part 2

The name of this plant escapes me at the moment ( when I look up the name I'll do an update), but it is one of my favorites because it draws in Zebra Longwing Butterflies.

UP DATE: The name of this plant is Firebush (Hamelia patens). Its related to Gardenia and Coffee. 

 

 

This plant dies back to the ground every winter, then grows back during the summer to a size of 8 feet high and 10 feet wide.

 

It has tubular blooms that also brings in Hummingbirds

 

 

 

Cannas are still blooming..... starting to look tattered at this time of year.

 

 

 

 

Here is a Knock-Out rose that needs to be cut back.....it makes long lasting Roses for a vase.

Then we have Milkweed which is a host plant for Monarch Butterflies. They lay eggs on them, then when the young hatch they eat all the leaves, but the plants always recover.

I found this bug on the Milkweed. I also found one laying eggs on my Collard Greens.

 

                                            Can anyone identify this bug?


And finally, this isn't a bloomer, but I'm happy with the way this turned out. I planted a few sprigs of Fern around an Oak tree in my front yard about 4 years ago. This is what it looks like now.

Soooo...... Until next time.......HAPPY GARDENING!