Sunday, March 25, 2012

Growing from scraps and Compost! ..plus etc.

NEW LEARNING MISSION!

Inspiration: LadyFern!
    She asked me if I had heard of Garbage gardening! I had actually heard mention and had previously gotten some descriptions from people in our gardening group.... and I want to know more.... also when I typed in the search for garbage gardening I got way more info on compost, then on what I was looking for.. I am actually really interested in this and have been gleaning some info on this subject since I have joined the garden group so I'm thinking I want to document as much of that info for later use as possible!
     Actually Lasagna gardening is part of how I found my first Gardening group and found the encouragement and knowledge and support I've needed as a band spanking newbie gardener... Out of the blue an old friend of mine that I hadn't heard from in over a year contacted me, she'd heard I was living in Spokane which isn't far from where she is! So a few days later Winter and I went to visit her and her husband and as they showed us a tour of their new home they got very excited about the yard and said that they were going to be lasagna gardening! My ears perked up and I ask "Oh what's that?!" This launched us into talking about gardening and seeds, we talked about it almost the whole visit and she offered to add me to a gardening group and I had no idea the level of AWESOME I was getting into!!! I have gotten a bit obsessed and joyfully so! SO exciting and FUN!
    Also getting back to the research, this blog entry isn't going to stop with recycling either... I had mentioned earlier in this blog that I don't really know where to start as far as equipment and supplies.... and thinking about compost made me think of tools and such so I am going to be looking into these things too!!!

   Today I am asking around in the 3 gardening groups I am a part of and hunting through old posts that I remember bits of! This mission may also take more then one day to accomplish like the potatoes and Bulb-y things blog entries which got unexpectedly long and full of links and even some trivia... I am rather proud actually of these entries, I really like having the organization with the info in one spot so I can access it on a dime quick and easy. =]



Compost/Fertilizers: 

So asking about on a garden group found a lot of useful info from Deana Ward.
        http://www.artfulgardensbydee.com/
  - "as far as composting goes - easy rule - only put items in that are not man made or cooked - that's the easiest way I can explain it - eggshells, banana peels, apple cores, onion and potato skins - anything uncooked in it's natural state, next add in green grass clippings, leaves from around the yard - get yourself a spot in the yard away from where you sit (cause it might smell a bit from time to time as it cooks down) you can use a homemade container which will compost faster cause you can turn it all in one fell swoop or like me, I use my a pitchfork to turn it over and remember" - 
        http://www.composting101.com/


I also have heard that composted animal poo like from bunnies and guinea pigs is one of a gardeners best bets for fertilizer... I had also heard of Steer compost tea... I will look and see if I can find some links. Oh one of the things I looked up that was mentioned in comments about worm bins and compost was using fish and I looked up fish fertilizers and found a how-to-make-it on it! Who knew I'd ever be so excited about worms, horse poo water and Fish gut sludge!   
How-to-make-fish-fertilizer
About manure tea
Compost Tea
I think I am leaning towards the fish tea or the comfrey like LadyFern does... or maybe both.. Might have to see if I can get some comfrey... Fish will probably be pretty easy to get my hand on some organic non-GMO...

Oh while I was looking around older posts I found this handy bit of soil info...
Onlyone Hillbilly Gardener - an alternative to planting in less than ideal soil

 Onlyone Hillbilly Gardener
‎ - "The soil is a living, breathing organism unto itself, from which all plant-life comes. If you feed the soil, you in turn feed the plants. This said, fertilizers correctly used, do have their place." 
  "Used correctly, there is a place for both organic nutrients and quicker forms of nutrients."
     "But ALL things in moderation. Even too much compost can be a bad thing. Not bad from the standpoint of harming the plants, but bad from the standpoint that too much compost applied at one time, will see many of the nutrients lost to leaching, oxidation, etc. ALL nutrients should be fed in progressive, small doses over a period of time, in a consistent manner as the plants can use them. Anything more is a waste and in the case of fertilizers, can lead to pollution issues and the potential for plant injury."


 LadyFern

- "Compost is a mix of three components, Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium and well as trace minerals and you can most certainly change the ratios of these in your compost and in turn in your soil, by adding amendments such as bone meal, rock phosphorous, crushed coral to up the Phosphorous. Nitrogen can be boosted through the use of Comfrey, Alfalfa Meal and Steer Manure. Potassium can be boosted by adding small amounts of wood ash to your compost pile. As Hillbilly said, everything in moderation. You must feed the soil! If you care for your compost pile, and feed your plants using compost tea, your plants will thank you for it. These are some things that you can do to improve the health of your compost pile organically. Organics is never about the quick fix of a plant but the feeding and caring for the soil instead of the plant, each successive plant benefits."
 "I compost year round. A bucket for inside kitchen scraps with a nice tight fitting lid is a good idea. and you can compost most anything. Most residential compost piles contain leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps and so on, most do not put meat bones or meat scraps in compost because it attracts animals"

"Steer manure tea is wonderful for your plants and safe. I use an old rubbermaid tub with a beat up old cookie sheet as a lid. I leave mine in sun for a couple of days. Then you dip and pour. our plants will literally be greener by the next day."

"Comfrey, I grow in my yard and the poor plant never sets bloom. It's the first thing to pop up and grow large in my garden and as soon as its got several sets of leaves on it I'm over there ripping them off to stuff in a bucket. Comfrey tea STINKS heed my word on this. For comfrey tea you need an out of the way location in full sun. Cram as many comfrey leaves as you can in a bucket, fill to the top with water and add a lid, and a rock, and maybe even another rock just to be sure. Every couple of days you get a big stick and stir your vile brew. in 3-4 days your brew will begin to change a sickly brownish green goopey consistence. If you open the bucket quickly and catch a whiff and it makes you gag, it's ready. You add a couple of cups of this nasty to a 5 gal bucket of water and water everybody. I keep mine like a stew pot all summer. Sounds disgusting but it really seems to do the trick. Remember though Tory, there's no wrong way to garden ♥"



Worm Bin:
(AKA Vermicompost bins)

LadyFern
 - "you may want to research making a worm bin instead, you feed the wormies your kitchen scraps in a very small container and they eat the mess and make you good soil in return, I'll look for some good links for you"

Deana Ward
 - " you will read numerous methods on the net - some fancy which teach you to feed the worms kitchen scraps (again organic scraps only) and make use of a double plastic bin with newspaper and cardboard etc - When I want to draw worms to certain areas I will ensure there is a good layer of old, decaying leaves (with 6 acres that's never a problem LOL) and then I lay cardboard on top - wet it down - and quite literally forget about it - the advantage is you can use whatever size cardboard for the size you have room for - for instance hubby just bought a new grill - that huge cardboard box - will be cut int two and laid on a leaf bed (I do this in shade BTW) - that's it that's my easy method - but there are tons of methods - I just like to keep it simple :)"

This^ is pretty and rather cool but yikes! Too pricey for me, now to find some other sort of container I can use! Love the idea of a big old ice cream tub...
Oh! Here this is really interesting about worms!

Stop Waste - Bins



Lasagna Gardening: 

LadyFern

- "Lasagna Gardening is basically layers of 'stuff' a layer maybe 6 sheets thick covering the entire area in newspaper, then a layer of cardboard and a layer of grass clippings, one of veggie scraps and one of dried leaves, another of newspaper and so on... and all of this breaks down to give you a nice thick, healthy layer of good black soil to plant your babies in. and all you really have to do is water it in when you are finished and wait for weather to do the rest. If you are in a high wind area make sure its good and saturated so layers don't blow away."

Oh wow, I'm two pages in and this is such a great read!!! <3
Apparently the older way of doing this is mulch gardening?



Growing From Scraps:

Kitchen Scraps Garden 
There is very little info on this online!

My friend Beverly's garbage garden
Beverly's Garbage Garden!

Pineapple 
Awesome Pinapple YouTube Video
I had seen a video for this ages ago and always thought it really cool!
This guy that did the video has a lot of interesting stuff! I had no idea the pineapple already has roots on it and you don't need the top of the fruit...



Equipment/Tools/Supplies:

Suggestion number 1 on garden equipment is....
"A big sturdy garden rake and hoe would be top of my list. and a shovel." -Amelia


Suggestion number 2 - Pitch fork, for compost! Cape Cod weeder.. or a dutch hoe. (I looked them up and I bet they help a lot! Thank you Lolly!
Cape Cod Weeder
cape cod weeder
Dutch Hoe


Pitchforks are apparently very popular!!! Makes sense! 


Gardening gloves!!!!! Thick and rubber! 
flex gloves
Late foam gloves

The hori hori Japanese gardening knife looks so so so cool but so far the decent looking ones are 20$ and I'll have to see what I can afford.... make a priority list... For I very much am on a budget!
Hori Hori Japanese Garden Knife




Onlyone Hillbilly Gardener - Keep it simple with specialized tools

 Ok I have got to share this what a great idea!!
fiskars rain barrel



Ok this is all that I have time to post on this stuff!!!!! I may update this at some point! I hope this is helpful!!!!! I learned a LOT!!!! <3





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