Worm Barrel

Hello folks! 

I made my first outdoor worm bin this weekend. I used leaves, composted horse manure, peat and coco coir for bedding. Then tossed in some partially decomposed banana leaves and dwarf marigold trimmings on top. It's located in a shady spot under a Crepe Myrtle in a bed on the north end of my house. I'll throw in some landscape cloth to cover it and keep out birds. I got this idea from Rob Bob's You tube channel. If you are interested in worm composting you should check him out.

So...... Until next time......HAPPY GARDENING!

Summer Breeze.....Makes me feel fine!

Hello folks!

Consider yourself fortunate that you can't hear me singing the title to this post. You might never be able to feel the same about that song. HEHE!

Even though we are technically still in the spring season, summer is in full swing here in northeast Florida. We had a high temperature of 91 degrees this week. We had an unusually long winter here this year, although it was fairly mild. Some of my plants that are usually killed to the ground, survived and are still blooming.

My garden is going full steam ahead. This is how it looks now.

Tomatoes are growing like gang busters!

 This is a Riesentrube Cherry tomato. The Southern Exposure Seed Exchange catalog states that it can have flower clusters that produce 30 - 40 fruits. I think this cluster has at least 40 flower buds, maybe more! It should have 1" fruits.

This is a Matt's Wild Cherry. It should have 1/2" fruits.

Dwarf Marigolds are growing well.

As are the Yard Long Beans...

...and the cucumbers.

The Hill Country Heirloom Red Okra is starting to show its color.

The Cassava has really filled out since it was planted.

 I look forward to trying to use the roots ( if I can learn how to use it ).

This is a variegated Confederate Jasmine that grows by my back porch. It is past full bloom, but still smells wonderful when I come out the back door.

Finally, here are some photos of some more blooming plants around my yard.

Blue Plumbago. So true blue! These were a gift from my mother some years back. 

Cigar plant ( I think).

This is some type of Iris ( not sure of the species ).

 They have bloomed 3 times this spring. I love the blast of white color in my yard!

It really pops!

Oh, I almost forgot.This is the Potatoes I harvested from my compost pile.

I stuck my dirty finger into the photo just to give it some scale. I consider this a perk of composting. I didn't have to plant these! I didn't have to water these! I didn't have to fertilize these! They are a gift from my compost pile!

  COOL!

Now that my plants are finally growing and blooming, I feel peace in my soul. Its a good feeling! But now the real work begins.... weeding, weeding,and more weeding. That's what gardening is all about.... keeping it all looking good!

So...... Until next time...... HAPPY GARDENING!

Free Manure

Hello folks!

This morning I was thinking about the fertility of my new beds and heating up my compost piles so that they would decompose faster.
I was thinking..."If I had some manure it sure would be useful." So I got on Craigslist and typed "Manure" into the search box. Up came an ad that read "Free Horse Manure." I called the number and talked to a gentleman named Mike. He said "Sure, come on out and I'll help you load it." So I did just that.

Here is what I came home with!

 

 

 

 

This is going to be very useful. It didn't have any straw or saw dust in it and he assured me that there were no herbicides in it. He used it on his own garden.

 

 

So I'm going to use my compost sieve to break it down into smaller pieces and apply a couple of inches to my new beds. It should be pretty well decomposed by spring planting time. Then I'll turn all of my compost piles and add some to get them heating up. I can also add so to my worm bin. Worms love horse poo!

 

I think this was a great find and I was invited to come get more anytime I need it! I am pretty excited about this. My house mate started laughing and said "It doesn't take much to make you happy, does it." I replied "I'm a simple man!"

 

 

 

 

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

More on composting

Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch have been gardening gurus for many years. I have learned from their gardening wisdom for over 30 years.

Here is a good video from them on composting and more. Although it has some age to it, true gardening wisdom never becomes out dated.

 

In the video it shows them layering brown and green materials. Recent research has show that mixing the materials is better for faster composting. Also, I find that some of the soil amendments like greensand may not be easy to find in some areas. They may have to be shipped which can get expensive. If you have easy access to these products that is great. But I try to use amendments that I can find locally. Actually, my gardening is slowly changing to using only free resources except for lime, which is pretty much required with our acidic soil.

 

 

 

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

Practice What You Preach !!! (Revisited)

Sunday I visited a local Starbucks for the first time. I asked if they had any used coffee grounds. The young lady said "Sure" and gave me two water proof bags of grounds.

Right on the label it read...GROUNDS FOR YOUR GARDEN...FREE... along with instructions for how to use the grounds as a nitrogen fertilizer or in your compost pile. And a "Thank You" for taking the grounds! I was quite impressed! I suggest going to Starbucks for coffee and grounds, if there is one in your area. They cater to the organic gardener and are eco-friendly. WAY TO GO STARBUCKS!!

I left with 17 pounds of grounds!

So I spent the afternoon building a compost pile. Using the leaves I found the day before, I emptied the bags one at a time, spread them on the ground and pulled out the larger sticks.

Then used my bagging mower to shred them.
 I suggest using a dust mask when doing this.

 

Then spread them out in my compost bin and sprinkled on the grounds with the coffee filters.

Then I sprayed it down good with water. I added a little soil from the garden after every other layer to introduce micro-organisms to break down the leaves. I repeated this process till I used up all the grounds. This job took about 2 hours, but I ended up with a pile that's 4 feet by 4 feet by 3.5 feet high.

 

I plan on building some more smaller piles in 3 feet diameter cylinders made with chicken wire. I don't want to get into a jam and not have enough compost for my beds,ever again.

By the way, I was able to pick up 7 more bags of leaves from my neighbor up the street from me. That is a total of 21 bags so far and I'm sure I'll be getting more.


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

 

 

 

 

 

Practice What You Preach !!!

In a recent post I encouraged you to pick up bags of leaves on the side of the road. Well ...... yesterday I was leaving my neighborhood and what did I spy?  A large stack of black bags on the side of the road! I stopped and felt the bags to see if I could tell what was inside..... I had struck the MOTHER-LODE!

14 bags of leaves! I call it the Mother- Lode because I'm going to transform this find into BLACK GOLD!  The Gardener's Gold!  These came from in front of a house that had several Sycamore trees in the yard. I had to make two trips to get it all. And there were more leaves that had fell from the trees.....I'll be able to get more soon. All I have to do is wait for the owner to rake them up for me...Hehehe! Now I'm going to hit up some coffee shops for coffee grounds and build a few compost piles. I'll have plenty of compost by summer.

 I just wanted to show you that I do.... Practice What I Preach!:)


Soooo......Until next time......HAPPY GARDENING! (AND COMPOSTING)

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!

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!

 

Pallet Compost Bin

 

 

 

 I have a three sided bin like this, but I just used concrete blocks on the outside at the back corners to hold the sides up. Simple way to make a tall pile.
 I found my pallets in a dumpster at a construction site where a house was being built. Good scrap lumber can be found in these dumpsters, too. I just asked the guys working there if I could pick thru their scraps. I'm trying to salvage enough materials to build a chicken coop.