Making compost at home is simple. Composting happens whether you are trying or not. Just throw a tomato out into your back yard and it will disappear. Assuming the critters do not eat it, it will just slowly rot away and enrich the soil it is on.
Even if compost happens without your help you can make it happen faster, since you can never have too much compost getting it fast is good.
Choosing a Spot for the Compost Pile
Pick an area that is out of the way but not hard to get to. Although compost piles are nice for gardeners I have yet to see one that is attractive, it should not be the focal point of your garden. Actually building it on the spot that your next garden bed will be located isn’t a bad idea, if you can handle looking at it. It will enrich the soil while it is working and when it’s finished you can just mix it with the soil and call it a day. This method is normally called lasagna gardening but it is still composting.
Bins for the Compost
If you do not want your compost to be completely visible, although who doesn’t love watching maggots at work, you may want to consider a container of some sort. You can use wire, or old thrown out pallets nailed together, or purchase a composting system from a store.
3 bins would be ideal but ideal isn’t necessary if you do not have the space. If you are really low on space you could just dig a hole and bury your organic material.
What goes into the Compost Pile?
Any vegetable matter can be safely composted. Anything that was a tree or plant or the fruit of a tree of plant can be used. Unusual things that are plant based include paper, mulch, coffee grounds, tea leaves, coffee filters, and boxes.
You want equal parts tree based material and non woody plant material. You need both to get the compost working hot and so that it does not become anaerobic. Anaerobic just means that it does not get air, it will still compost just more slow and stinky.
Turning Compost
Once you have a full bin, turn the compost from one bin to the next mixing it up as you go. At this point you will not be adding any new stuff to the pile. If you keep adding new stuff you’ll never get completed compost it will just keep making compost which shrinks, so do not try to keep your bin full.
Turn your pile about once a week or if it gets hot and cools down you can turn in more frequently. The amount of time that is needed for the compost to be finished varies depending on what you have put into it and how coarse or fine the organic material was.
How will I Know When the Compost is Done?
You will not be able to identify any of the items you placed into the bin, and it will be a dark brown crumbly dirt like substance. You might still have the occasional stubborn stick or banana skin just toss it back into the collecting bin and let it go through again.
That is why three bins is best, one for collecting and two for tossing.
A few odds and ends about composting, you want your compost to be damp but not wet. If it is too wet just add some shredded paper or leaves to help dry it out. If it is too dry just give it a sprinkle from the hose. Ok I guess that was just one odd and one end.
Simple compost at home tips for beginning a compost pile.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Garden Seed
Garden Seed is one of the best ways to get the right vegetable for your garden. You can buy transplants but you will only be able to find the most popular varieties that way. When looking for something a little unusual or uncommon seed is the only way to go.
Finding Seeds
If you already know what you are looking for I’d suggest searching online and seeing what is available. You may not be able to find the variety you are looking for in a local store. Find a reputable dealer or a hobbyist that you feel you can trust. Seed is cheap to ship so you should save on shipping and handling if cost is an issue.
Buying Seed
Unless you are looking for the uncommon, any nursery or big box store will have a selection of seeds for you to choose from, normally only the best selling varieties are available this way. They are the best selling varieties for a reason; normally they are easy to grow, productive, and tasty.
Planting Seed
Finally getting to plant that seed that you have been searching for is a fun time. If you are like me and live in cold zone 5 any long season crop you are planning to plant needs to be started indoors. Get some lights, and an empty space to keep the baby plants.
Once the last chance of frost is gone for your area you can harden off the seedlings. Take them outside for a few hours per day for a week or so and then plop them in the ground.
Follow the directions on the packet for planting depth and go nuts.
Growing Seed
Seeds for the garden need to be kept moist but not wet until they sprout. They also need to be warm, the top of the fridge is a common place for people to start seeds indoors, and it’s pretty warm up there. Keep an eye on the seeds though and as soon as they sprout get them down and under lights.
If you are growing the seed outdoors give them a sprinkle of water once or twice a day depending on how near the surface the seeds were planted and how hot it is outside. Seeds that are planted deeper can handle the surface being dry so long as it’s not too crusty for them to penetrate.
Collecting Seeds
Collecting your own garden seed is a great way to save money and to develop your own personal strain of a vegetable. When growing seed you have collected over generations the seed becomes better accustomed to the conditions of your area. Only collect seed from the best performing plants, you do not want to develop a week strain of vegetable.
This is not the same as hybridizing; we are not looking to create a NEW hybrid, just a slightly better evolved plant for your area.
How to collect the seed is pretty straightforward for vegetables let them flower and then let the seedpod dry and then collect. Different types of garden vegetables take differing amounts of time for the seed to become mature. Do not be impatient, just watch and when the seedpod has turned brown and seems to be ready to split grab it and get your seeds.
Whether you are finding, buying, planting, growing, or collecting there is always something to keep you busy. Winter is for planting, spring for sowing, summer for growing, and fall is for the collecting of the seeds you have been taking care of. Once you have found all the people hiding so they do not have to take one more cucumber or zucchini.
Good luck with your garden seed!!
Finding Seeds
If you already know what you are looking for I’d suggest searching online and seeing what is available. You may not be able to find the variety you are looking for in a local store. Find a reputable dealer or a hobbyist that you feel you can trust. Seed is cheap to ship so you should save on shipping and handling if cost is an issue.
Buying Seed
Unless you are looking for the uncommon, any nursery or big box store will have a selection of seeds for you to choose from, normally only the best selling varieties are available this way. They are the best selling varieties for a reason; normally they are easy to grow, productive, and tasty.
Planting Seed
Finally getting to plant that seed that you have been searching for is a fun time. If you are like me and live in cold zone 5 any long season crop you are planning to plant needs to be started indoors. Get some lights, and an empty space to keep the baby plants.
Once the last chance of frost is gone for your area you can harden off the seedlings. Take them outside for a few hours per day for a week or so and then plop them in the ground.
Follow the directions on the packet for planting depth and go nuts.
Growing Seed
Seeds for the garden need to be kept moist but not wet until they sprout. They also need to be warm, the top of the fridge is a common place for people to start seeds indoors, and it’s pretty warm up there. Keep an eye on the seeds though and as soon as they sprout get them down and under lights.
If you are growing the seed outdoors give them a sprinkle of water once or twice a day depending on how near the surface the seeds were planted and how hot it is outside. Seeds that are planted deeper can handle the surface being dry so long as it’s not too crusty for them to penetrate.
Collecting Seeds
Collecting your own garden seed is a great way to save money and to develop your own personal strain of a vegetable. When growing seed you have collected over generations the seed becomes better accustomed to the conditions of your area. Only collect seed from the best performing plants, you do not want to develop a week strain of vegetable.
This is not the same as hybridizing; we are not looking to create a NEW hybrid, just a slightly better evolved plant for your area.
How to collect the seed is pretty straightforward for vegetables let them flower and then let the seedpod dry and then collect. Different types of garden vegetables take differing amounts of time for the seed to become mature. Do not be impatient, just watch and when the seedpod has turned brown and seems to be ready to split grab it and get your seeds.
Whether you are finding, buying, planting, growing, or collecting there is always something to keep you busy. Winter is for planting, spring for sowing, summer for growing, and fall is for the collecting of the seeds you have been taking care of. Once you have found all the people hiding so they do not have to take one more cucumber or zucchini.
Good luck with your garden seed!!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Home Vegetable Garden
Growing a Home Vegetable Garden is Done by Many People for Many Reasons
The love of growing plants - A home vegetable garden is a good way to get your plant love going. There is a simple joy that comes from planting a seed and caring for it as it sprouts and grows. Feeding, watering, weeding, and generally meeting the needs of a living thing is necessary for some people.
Saving Money by Gardening – Seeds are cheaper than the final vegetable you get, you can grow a whole packet of seed for the cost of a large tomato, so why not. Actually if you save your own seeds you can even cut out the cost of purchasing seed.
Educational Gardening – Teachers have known forever that kids love to start seeds and see what happens. Who doesn’t remember that Dixie cup or eggshell carton of Marigolds that was brought home from school and probably died soon after. But it was fun for awhile.
Gardening for Recreation – Some nursing homes now have gardens for the elderly people who live there. Older people who are normally bored with their confinement love getting their hands in some garden dirt. A few beds raised high enough for someone in a wheelchair to reach comfortably and you have a new pastime for the old timers.
No matter what your reason is for gardening there is a method that will suit you. From the large city window sill or balcony garden to a large acreage there is no reason not to get your hands dirty.
When gardening on a balcony it is important to use light weight water retentive soil, regular garden soil weighs too much to put onto a balcony, you wouldn’t want to use regular garden soil in a pot anyway. It just is not a good idea.
Once you have chosen the right type of garden for you, you need to design it. Design is possibly the best way to avoid actually doing something productive and my favorite stage of the garden. Who doesn’t like reading and looking at pictures of gardens that other people have to take care of. That’s the life.
After design comes construction, building any beds, borders, and paths, you need to do this first so you do not have to tear up your garden when you realize that you are always walking through the strawberry patch to get to the shed.
Are you ready to till? My second favorite task in the garden is anything that requires me to play in the dirt. I normally just use a shovel but you can do it however you want.
Plant my friend plant. Get those seeds planted and watered and mulched and growing so we can have dinner in 2 months.
The bountiful harvest, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, oh MY. Get all your veggies harvested and have a nice big salad for dinner. Who said all we eat is junk food? Not me or my garden.
And then it was fall, and cleanup. Rake, cut back, dig under and take a nap until next spring. Where did the season go, just a few short sentences ago it was spring and I was getting ready to start. On the bright side we can start again NEXT spring. So go back to the first step and start designing more gardens.
You want to know something? I really wish I could figure out why MS Word hates my sentence structure. Apparently I’m a fragmented, verbaly confused, not using enough semi colons kind of person. You ever get the feeling that your word-processing program is laughing at you and feeling superior? Personally I do not see anything wrong with the word verbally, it conveys exactly what I mean and so that’s why I typed it.
That’s exactly why I like my home vegetable garden it doesn’t expect me to do any sentence structure, just soil structure. Later.
The love of growing plants - A home vegetable garden is a good way to get your plant love going. There is a simple joy that comes from planting a seed and caring for it as it sprouts and grows. Feeding, watering, weeding, and generally meeting the needs of a living thing is necessary for some people.
Saving Money by Gardening – Seeds are cheaper than the final vegetable you get, you can grow a whole packet of seed for the cost of a large tomato, so why not. Actually if you save your own seeds you can even cut out the cost of purchasing seed.
Educational Gardening – Teachers have known forever that kids love to start seeds and see what happens. Who doesn’t remember that Dixie cup or eggshell carton of Marigolds that was brought home from school and probably died soon after. But it was fun for awhile.
Gardening for Recreation – Some nursing homes now have gardens for the elderly people who live there. Older people who are normally bored with their confinement love getting their hands in some garden dirt. A few beds raised high enough for someone in a wheelchair to reach comfortably and you have a new pastime for the old timers.
No matter what your reason is for gardening there is a method that will suit you. From the large city window sill or balcony garden to a large acreage there is no reason not to get your hands dirty.
When gardening on a balcony it is important to use light weight water retentive soil, regular garden soil weighs too much to put onto a balcony, you wouldn’t want to use regular garden soil in a pot anyway. It just is not a good idea.
Once you have chosen the right type of garden for you, you need to design it. Design is possibly the best way to avoid actually doing something productive and my favorite stage of the garden. Who doesn’t like reading and looking at pictures of gardens that other people have to take care of. That’s the life.
After design comes construction, building any beds, borders, and paths, you need to do this first so you do not have to tear up your garden when you realize that you are always walking through the strawberry patch to get to the shed.
Are you ready to till? My second favorite task in the garden is anything that requires me to play in the dirt. I normally just use a shovel but you can do it however you want.
Plant my friend plant. Get those seeds planted and watered and mulched and growing so we can have dinner in 2 months.
The bountiful harvest, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, oh MY. Get all your veggies harvested and have a nice big salad for dinner. Who said all we eat is junk food? Not me or my garden.
And then it was fall, and cleanup. Rake, cut back, dig under and take a nap until next spring. Where did the season go, just a few short sentences ago it was spring and I was getting ready to start. On the bright side we can start again NEXT spring. So go back to the first step and start designing more gardens.
You want to know something? I really wish I could figure out why MS Word hates my sentence structure. Apparently I’m a fragmented, verbaly confused, not using enough semi colons kind of person. You ever get the feeling that your word-processing program is laughing at you and feeling superior? Personally I do not see anything wrong with the word verbally, it conveys exactly what I mean and so that’s why I typed it.
That’s exactly why I like my home vegetable garden it doesn’t expect me to do any sentence structure, just soil structure. Later.
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