Tending What You Have

I’m dying to try whatever new and experimental gardening method comes out. I have raised French intensive garden beds, a cinder-block composter, a drip water system, companion plantings, cold frames...you name it. Recently I got on a straw-bale garden kick. The pictures look great, the gardens produce, and it wouldn’t take much of an investment. But suddenly I found myself visualizing the work involved in getting the bales ready, the intensive watering required, and I realized I’m not ready to add to my existing collection of garden beds—I’m not even taking care of the ones I have!

So today I re-sketched the front and back yards and all the different gardening areas. It’s easy to see from the drawings where the weak points are. I do these sketches in pencil so I can erase and rename areas that change and are added to.
Following the paperwork phase of taking care of the yardens, I

spent two hours weeding and grubbing onions,

spread a cup of blood meal each on the compost heaps and watered in,

fed the seedlings, indoors and out,

and mowed around the raised bed gardens.

Small chores, true, but necessary to the health of the garden, the compost heap, and the neighbors’ happiness. My gardens will reflect the level of attention and care they’ve received from me. I learned that it’s more fun to start a new project than continue with an old one, but that continuation is what brings about good results.

Where Do I Start?

This year you want to make a garden. You’ve tried before with little success, and you’ve decided to make it happen this year. But there’s all this ground in your yard and you don’t know how to start. Where do you begin? My best advice to new gardener’s is to use raised-bed gardening. It helps cut down on weeding and provides an instantly wonderful growing medium for your plants.

Now is the time to build your garden. Here is my list of steps to help you get started this year. No tools needed.

Materials Needed:

16 cinder blocks

Newspapers

One bag manure

One bag sand

One bag peat

Six bags of top soil

Find a spot that gets sunlight for at least eight hours a day. No shade trees nearby, no other plants growing around the area that might pollute your food garden.

Lay the cinder blocks out in a square or rectangle.

Line the bottom of the square with thick, thick layers of newspaper. Be sure to line under the cinder blocks to keep weeds from growing out of the holes in the blocks.

If you have raw compost, spread a layer over the newspaper.

Pour three bags of dirt over that layer.

Add a layer of leaves if you have them.

Pour the sand, peat moss and manure next.

Top with the remaining top soil. Add top soil into the holes in the cinder blocks.

Congratulations, you’ve built a raised-bed garden. Think of it as a large flower pot where you will be growing your veggies.

PLANTING

 You have 4 square feet of earth to grow foods in. Using the French Intensive gardening method, you place your plants in such a way that they shelter and mulch each other. Here are things you can plant in your garden bed.

Beets

Carrots

Romaine

Spinach

Sweet Pepper

Cabbage

Onions

Chard

You choose the seeds according to when you’ll be planting. For a good planting guide, go to http://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-dates/zipcode/38401. Choose your planting dates according to where you live.

Remember when you plant, slightly water the soil first, and then put the seed in the prepped soil. You only want to plant as deep as the seed is large.  For myself, when I plant a new bed outdoors, I cover it with landscape cloth to keep the cats from digging in the soil. That also allows me to plant early. 

These plants need their own beds or prepped areas away from your raised-bed garden:

Zucchini, Eggplant and other squashes

Tomatoes

Peas

Cukes

Pumpkins

Some herbs

Look around your yard for other planting spots. Do you have a fence or trellis that gets lots of straight sun every day? Perfect place to plant peas. Peas are very forgiving, they are easy to grow and harvest. Mine grow up the trellis on the deck and on the fence in the courtyard.

 

 Tomatoes need a huge growing area. You can see from the photo of my September tomatoes that by fall you’ll have your hands full. I grow mine on hills along the fence next to each other. 













HERBS
You can plant herbs with your other foods. Stay tuned for more information about planting herbs.

Winter Wait

February is a tough month. The weather can be relentless, and those sunny days are few and far between. I sit at the window like a cat, gazing out at the gardens. Although it’s not too early to start some seedlings, it’s too cold to put out seed in the ground, and I’m tired of my household projects. Let me rephrase that: I’m tired of having to do projects to get me through winter. I want to get my fingers in the dirt, to feel the “freshening breeze” on my face and neck, I long to be one with the earth again. I have a bad case of spring fever.
So what do we do in late February to get by?

1. Plan your garden layouts.
2. Check all your tools. Take the mower and tools that need spring checkups and sharpening to the shop now, before the rush.
3. Spread chicken manure on the garden beds.
4. Make a list of the seed you need. Set up a Seed Exchange with friends. Don’t forget flowers!
5. Get your seedling pots and trays in order.
Mix seedling dirt.
6. Plant below-ground seed now: carrots, onions, turnips, garlic, beets, potatoes. They grow best if planted after the full moon.
7. Plant peas on February 28th, the full moon day

What do YOU do during the winter lull? How do you get through garden fever? Planning seems to be key. Also staying in touch with other gardeners. Blogging about gardening helps, at least I can talk about the gardens and dream about July, when the gardens come to fruition and the long winter wait will seem to be worth it.

Cinderblock Composter

A quick way to make your raised bed gardens is to use cinder blocks to enclose the garden area. Cinder blocks are about $1.30 each. I like my gardens to be small enough to reach across, so I used 24 blocks for a cost of about $30.

Line the bottom of the area and under the cinder blocks with thick layers of newspaper to kill weeds.

Fill garden area with compost, leaves, sand and soil. Cover with a landscape cloth that allows rain to run through. Allow the heap to rest for a week. Then pour a beer over the whole pile. Cover.

Fill the holes in the concrete blocks with garden soil and plant with herbs and flowers. Petunias and marigolds help repel pests and beautify the cinder blocks.

More Compost News

Your compost should not smell bad. When you pack it in the garbage can mentioned in the former post, you should be careful to pack everything loosely. I sometimes spread a little dirt over the top of mine, but I use dirt sparingly. I follow the directions I’ve given on my posts.

Recently our composting garbage can filled up with compost layers, so Alan built a square wooden frame for the next raised garden bed in the back yard. We lined the bottom of the frame with a thick layer of newspaper to kill weeds. The inks and soy in the paper decay and are beneficial to compost. Next, we upended the garbage can. Try to keep from tipping over the pile. Pour a can or bottle of beer over the pile. Cover the pile with a tarp to keep the rain from washing out all the ingredients. My tarp allows water to slowly seep into the compost pile, wetting it and keeping the enzymes active.

Love your compost pile. Rake through the pile after a week, then once a week rake the pile backwards and forwards. Gradually, miraculously, a rick dark earth will form.

Steps to Making a Compost Pile

1.       Cut the bottom out of a garbage can.

2.       Mount wire mesh across two pieces of wood to create a screen raised slightly off the ground.

3.       Upend the garbage can onto the screen.

4.       Cover the screen with a thick layer of newspaper.

5.       Spread a thin layer of kitchen waste on the newspaper.

6.       Mound a layer of dry leaves and dirt on top of that.

7.       Sprinkle with worm casings

8.       Make a second layer of kitchen waste.

9.       Cover with soil and dry leaves. You can also use dry grass cuttings from your yard.

Keep the compost loose.

Never add anything harmful to your compost. Some shrubbery is poisonous so don’t add anything except grass cuttings to your compost. Don’t use meat or meat juice. Shrimp shells are good. Eggshells are good. I do not use manure in my compost because I don’t have access.

If possible, grind up or chop up whatever you add to compost. This step creates more work for you in the beginning, but the end results are well worth it.

Boosts

Worms

Instead of using animal manure in your compost, try using worm castings, a super boost. Follow directions for making worm casting tea.

Leaves

Every fall I beg for leaves. I keep some of the leaves in bags to add to the compost. The rest I spread liberally in a thick layer on my garden beds. I tarp them down with landscape cloth that allows the rain to filter through. By planting time the leaves having decomposed enough to be turned into the soil.

Grass

During grass-cutting season, we let the grass on the back half of our land grow long. When it is cut, I let it lie in the sun until dried out before raking up to use in compost. Grass acts a green manure in your compost, eliminating the need to use animal wastes.

Beer

You can add a half bottle of beer per 2 bushels. The beer contains yeast which will ferment.

Charcoal

We have an outdoor fire pit. I dump the cold ash and charcoal directly into the compost. Be SURE you allow ample time for the ash/charcoal to cool.

Blood Meal

If you use blood meal, remember it is high in nitrogen and can burn your plants. It will speed the breakdown process in your compost. Be advised that blood meal is a slaughterhouse by product.

Herbs for the garden

Comfrey tea is a wonderful addition to compost. After making poultices and tinctures, always bless the herb and put it into the compost to go back to the earth.

Bone Meal

Adds phosphorus to the soil and can be used liberally. Sprinkle on compost.

Epsom Salts

Add magnesium to the soil.

Endgame
At the end of one month, I lift the garbage can off the compost pile and cover the pile with a tarp. Once a week I uncover the heap, stir the compost, then wet it down and re-tarp. I use a tarp so that rain doesn’t wash out all the nitrogen in the pile. With care and boosting, you can produce good compost in 3 months.  Just in time for spring planting.