Composting Trials and Errors

Well, I have never really been successful at composting and I'm sure there are reasons why. One of the main reasons is that I have only skimmed through the main instructions and missed the heart of the activity! Well, now that I have 4 different compost devices, one of them being inside the kitchen, I have to learn how to do this, or my house will be a wreck!

    When I first did worm composting (vermicomposting), my worms died not too long after I started the worm bin. I realized that the composting material was too dry, and perhaps that was why they all died. So, I make sure now, that I put all tea bags and moist food scraps into the worm bin so they don't die. But now there is so much moisture and liquid in this worm bin that I am not sure this is right either.

   I have two composting bins in the garage, and bags of this stuff with micro-organisms came with each one. When I first put food scraps into these compost bins, I also layered the food scraps with this micro-organism stuff. The liquid that came out smelled like beer so I knew everything was right on. And it stayed right on for about a month, then all the compost began to smell bad and no more 'beer' smelling liquid. Mold covered the former food scraps now. What went wrong?

   After studying a little on composting, my big mistake seems to be not having enough 'brown stuff' in my compost bin. So now I add some newspaper with black and white print to it. Also, adding leaves to the compost bin is helpful, although I have not had the time to collect the leaves from the back yard.

   I also bought a compost grinder which just tears up the food scraps to make them smaller. Some people have actually bought an extra blender or container to chop up the food scraps to make them smaller. The smaller the food scraps, the quicker the compost. My two compost bins seem to have a lot of liquid in them as well. I think they both need more newspapers and leaves, and also putting more of the micro-organism stuff on it periodically will help.

   This past month I had no time to work on the compost bins, and one of them is beginning to turn it's smell from 'beer' to rotting beer, so it needs attention again. We don't want so much liquid in it that the bad bacteria begins to grow. So, I will fix them up and hopefully use them soon, so I can start them again.

   The kitchen compost bucket is full of scraps. I need to put them into the compost grinder so the results can go into one of the compost bins or into the worm bin. Even the worm bin needs newspaper scraps in it. Those will help make compost turn into good compost, and the worms will thrive on it as well.

Some composting helpers:

I have this book but sadly, have
not had the time to read it yet.

This compost holder is helpful to have in the kitchen.
I used to use a large margarine tub stuck in the fridge,
but this idea is a good one. You can get bags to go inside,
and also it comes with a carbon round thing that goes in
the top to help keep odor down.

I have two of these and think I can use both at the same time.
The Bokashi is a combination of oatmeal bran and micro-organisms.
The resulting compost will have a nice smell, kind of like beer, if it
is made right. I also use this in my kitchen compost bin. Next step
is to find the recipe so I could make my own.

I have this compost grinder. Some just use an
extra blender container for grinding up food
scraps. Food and scraps should be in small
particles for it to turn into compost faster.

I tried to find one that resembles mine, and this is the closest
I could find. A worm bin that holds worms to make compost.
I have heard that worm castings make the best compost. 

Every worm bin needs the worms to go in it!
The worms need to be 'Red Wrigglers'. Many
confuse the worms with night crawlers which
are not good composting worms.

I got this book years ago and
it is easy to read and helpful
in understanding how worms
turn food scraps into compost.
A good 'how to' book on worm
composting

      I hope these items are helpful to you. Some of them are the same exact items that I am using, while others are similar, but probably do the same exact thing.

   Items to use in the compost pile or worm bin might include; vegetable peelings, fruit peelings, coffee grounds, tea bags, leftover bark from tea (such as willow-make white willow bark tea for headaches or use as aspirin), leftover veggies or fruit. Meat products should not go into the composting pile (would attract neighborhood animals and wildlife), although Mary Appelhof puts bones with meat in her worm bin occasionally.

   Of course, you could always get a big tumbler bin to fit in your back yard, or you could make your own compost bin right on the ground. If there is no fencing around it, neighboring animals might like your food scraps and could be visiting your yard on a regular basis seeing what is on the menu today (Been there. Done that).

Happy composting!!

Lasagne Gardening For Growing Tasty Vegetables

  There are lots of books out there on how to do gardening, and I think most of them are pretty helpful. Some of the methods can be combined with others. For example, you can combine lasagna gardening with square foot gardening or raised bed gardening. You can do any of those types of gardening organic style. So, what I am trying to do is a combination of some of those methods (all of the above mentioned).

   Raised beds are good because they provide drainage and enough good soil for roots to go down deep. Square foot gardening is good because it provides order to the garden, plus, unless you have really  long arms, you can reach into all areas of the garden bed from whatever angle you are standing from because the garden bed is only 4 feet by 4 feet. Lasagna gardening is good because you have to protect the soil from erosion and from drying out on the top, thus losing nutrients. And organic gardening is a must if you want to produce pure food without using chemicals or pesticides around the plants.

  What is lasagna gardening all about, though? It has to do with layering different items in the garden bed. For example, you can layer newspapers (black and white print only), then a layer of compost, then a layer of wood chips, maybe a layer of straw, then another layer of newspapers, then more compost or organic plant food, then more wood chips or straw, etc. Another good layering item is leaves. Most suggest grass clippings, which are fine, except if the grass has been sprayed with chemical fertilizers and/or pesticides. I would not want to take a chance of grass seed being in it either, but I think those who recommend grass aren't concerned because supposedly the heat of the compost will kill the seeds.

    I finished one of the garden beds in this style. As soon as the strawberry plants that I ordered come in, most will be planted in that bed. Now to figure out what to do about the Squirrels and birds for as soon as the strawberries turn red, birds and squirrels will have a picnic!

   The plant food that I use are worm compost, azomite, organic plant food by Jobes or Espoma. Also, bone meal and blood meal are good too.

   Here is a web site describing lasagna gardening: http://organicgardening.about.com/od/organicgardening101/fl/Starting-a-Lasagna-Garden.htm
Lasagna gardening is similar to the Back to Eden gardening method by Paul Gautschi? You can find his video on Vimeo somewhere (I tried finding it on Youtube, but failed to find his main one).

   The soil is protected in lasagna gardening, and it also helps to keep in moisture so the plant does not dry out. The decomposition breakdown provides the way for nutrients to be developed and grow in the soils. All kinds of good microbes will grow in healthy soil and the plants will take these nutrients in and be healthy as well. Plants will only be as healthy as the soil allows it to be.

Peppers For Petra And The Mystery Of Vining Plants

  I am doing the happy dance, symbolically speaking, of course. One of my pepper plants is really prolific and that is encouraging since I have been trying to go Pepperoncini peppers for the past several years without success.

  Pepperoncini peppers are the ones you get in the Pizza box from Papa John's Pizza. I have always envied them since I first saw them, and when I saw the seeds available, I had to have them, but the plants never grew right. That is, until now.

(I would post the picture of the plant that now has several little peppers on it, but the picture I took was too blurry).

Upon further inspection, one of the pepper plants on the balcony has a couple of little peppers on it too. This pepper plant is called a 'Bird's Eye Chili' plant. The peppers will be small, long, and hot. Of course, my initial thought of why I bought the seeds in the first place is in order to grow them for my bird, Petra, who likes peppers (or is supposed to like peppers). I found a recipe for making chili oil and can use the peppers for that as well.

Bird's Eye Chili Pepper plant. You can
see the pepper on this plant. 

     I just found a copy of a picture of the pepperoncini plant and the other plants around it. If you look really hard, I'm sure you can find the peppers although they will be hard to see with all the green around it.

     But what is fascinating are the vining plants. I have two plants that are beginning to trellis and they are looking for a place to trellis on. One of them is a mystery plant, meaning that I have no clue what kind of plant it is, but it is probably something I planted at one time that never germinated until I used the soil it was in to try to germinate another plant. 

See if you can guess what this plant is! The
Bible says that 'by their fruits you will know
them.' I won't know what kind of plant this is
until it bears some kind of fruit.

        But here is my favorite plant, well one of my favorites. It is called a Giant Granadilla which is a Passiflora plant. When it is ready, it will produce beautiful bluish purple flowers and then a fruit. This also is a vining plant and it all of the sudden wants to find a place to trellis to. 

Giant Granadilla Passiflora plant

       The thing that is so neat about this, is to watch the plants look for a place to find to trellis to. You can't tell me that this instinctive trait of certain plants just came by accident over billions of years. You can look at this plant and see the handiwork of God. This plant was wonderfully designed by an Intelligent Designer. 

  I think plants are fascinating to watch as they grow and as the whole culture around the plants come together to work together to make the plants happy and to ultimately serve us by producing food and beauty. 

Take Care Of Your Soil

  This should be a no-brainer, but in case it isn't, here are some thoughts on soil that I have.

  A quote here by one of our presidents in the past, “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.” That’s a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt, who clearly knew something most people, including farmers, have since forgotten.

   The key to good gardening is in the soil. Soil provides the environment for the roots to develop and take in the food the plant needs. Most of our soils are depleted from being overused or they are polluted because of the carelessness we as human beings have put on the ground. Because fluoride is put into our water systems, we now have plants that are taking fluoride in and the fluoride is showing up in the fruit. 

  In the olden days, they had it right. Most yards were like small farms. Many had their own chickens and other livestock kinds of animals. When these animals go to the bathroom, so to speak, they make plant food. Because these animals live on or near the soil, the soil was nourished by the waste products from the animals. But today, we are more concerned with aesthetics than we are with nourishment, so, we remain ignorant of how to garden effectively. 

  Building up our soil is a topic we need to be studying, especially as more and more areas become developed in our country. Much of our soil is now under asphalt and cannot be accessed anyway. 

   The environment of the soil will provide a place for microbes to grow, and microbes are necessary for making plant food for in the soil. The soil must also have the proper amount of moisture and the circulation of air is completely necessary for healthy plants to grow. Earthworms provide aeration as well as other critters in the soil. Placing mulch on top of the soil protects it from the sun and from being eroded. It also helps keep moisture in the soil around the plants. 

  So, while we baby our plants and watch them grow, we need the soil to help them to grow big and strong. This does not negate the benefits of hydroponic gardening though, which does not use soil. The plants in a hydroponic garden are not grown in soil, but receive the nourishment they need by the water they get with the supplements in them. Hydroponic plants grow very well, as long as they get enough sun. 

  So, take care of your soil. Feed it, weed it, and let your plants grow in it. Add any natural ingredients that may be lacking. Check the PH also. Some plants require a soil with a lower PH than others. Make adjustments where necessary. 

  

How Does Me Garden Grow?

  I just gave the plants on the balcony their nightly check and they are doing fine! My 2 Mystery plants are growing very well, and the Passiflora is very green and healthy looking.

   There are about 6 tomato plants on the balcony, and, unfortunately they would have been better off if I would have put them in the pots in the yard, along the fence, but, they are all growing well, except one that I planted in the pot where the Dixie Yellow plant died. I don't know what kind of tomato plant this one is, but it was growing alongside a pepper plant, which I do not know what that one is either.

   One of the mystery tomato plants is a German Lunchbox plant, so it is not a mystery anymore. I pulled the tomato off the plant last week and made it into a sandwich. Now, if I could only grow my own wheat, lettuce, and cows (to make cheese with), I would have the perfect sandwich! Well, the lettuce I can grow, and even the wheat, but I don't have any cows to make the cheese with. Not yet, anyway.

   There is one problem that is aggravating the tomato plants, and that is simply the caterpillars that are enjoying the plants. I check them every day to see if any new ones appear, and I haven't seen any fruit worms lately, but what I have seen is the leaves curling on some of the tomato plants, and the edges turning brown. Many times, I take those leaves and squish them between my fingers and that's how I get rid of those little pesky caterpillars. Once I spend a lot of time doing that one a plant, the plant shows much improvement after that.

 Now that the weather is a little cooler, I am seeing some blossoms on the tomatoes and peppers. I have 2 banana cream tomatoes growing on that plant. The plant itself looks sick because the leaves are all wilting, but the plant keeps growing and blossoming. If I would have listened to the advice I read in a Rodale book on plant diseases, I would have removed the plant and would have to have replaced it with a disease resistant variety, which would defeat the whole purpose of what I am doing.

   I want to plant as many heirloom plants as possible. Non of this hybrid stuff. Definitely no GMO plants! Some of the heirlooms are just beautiful. One such plant is called 'Red Warty Thing' which is a plant that looks like a pumpkin, but is full of bumps and it is bright orange. If I could get those to grow, they would make nice fall decorations as well as provide nourishing food for my family, that is, if I cut it up and cook it!

Red Warty Thing - Carried by Tradewinds fruit

   I already pulled off a Pepperoncini pepper that I didn't even realize was there until I was showing the garden to a friend who came over. I took it off and cut it up, then took some butter and sauteed it, and added frozen corn and cooked the pepper and corn together. Because of the overabundance of lima beans in the back yard garden, I will often take those off and cook them with corn to make succotash. Now I might be wrong, but it seems like in the olden days, when succotash was made, wasn't there pork in it too?

   Over  a year ago, I threw out some vegetable scraps in the garden and this time, sweet potatoes started growing. This year, the sweet potatoes and the lima beans have taken over the garden. I planted a couple of blue potatoes last year and unfortunately, some animal came by and dug them up. I sure hope there is one left in the ground as I can't find blue potatoes anywhere for sale. The nurseries which carry them are all out of stock. Disappointing!

   Pretty soon saffron will come in the mail and I will plant them in their pots that I already bought. Now all I need it the dirt to go into the pots. Saffron blooms in the fall, and it requires a season without water. So, the saffron will have to go on the balcony somewhere, so I can monitor how much or how little water it will receive. This is only my third time of trying to grow saffron and hopefully it will grow in the pots.

   The strawberry papaya plants are doing very well. One is on the porch though, and I wish we could bring it down but the pot, along with the dirt and plant weigh over 100 pounds. That's quite heavy to try to move downstairs. Hopefully, it won't get angry when the top hits the ceiling!

  All the Alpine strawberries died in the hydroponic setup. I have a few left in pots, but they aren't doing all that great. Not sure why Alpine strawberries don't grow well around here. Pretty soon I will get some regular strawberries and will put them in the hydroponic setup. I have a sun lamp to help them get enough sunlight now.

  Oh, I forgot about the tomato plant on the front balcony. It is either a Delicious tomato, or a Black Zebra tomato. Only time will tell. It is in a hydroponic bucket and it is growing extremely fast! I need to change its water though, or it might not stay happy!

This plant is either a Delicious Tomato or a Black Zebra.
This plant was not thriving on the back balcony, but came
alive when I moved it to the front.

   More is to come. I planted 2 Java Plums and 2 Lychee seeds, and 1 of each has sprouted already. Still waiting for the pink bananas, bay leaf, soursop, mysore raspberries, soap plant, and a whole bunch of others to germinate. Also planted Dragon fruit (red). Hopefully, all those plants will sprout and be happy. They can take up to several months to germinate though.

Hiding Our Plants And Gardens To Protect The Cause

    For many years, I have heard of people storing their food, like beans and anything dried. I'm not sure why anyone would do this, but there must have been a good reason for it.

   As I think about it though, I would like to come up with a back up plan, for there is talk of authorities who want to outlaw gardening. Why would they want to outlaw gardening, a nice, safe, way to produce good food? The reason is, it would interfere with the industrialized agriculture and what they are trying to do. It is too much competition with Monsanto and the genetically modified foods they are planning to produce and use to control the food economy with.

   So, the simple answer is to either start a farm, mini farm, or organic garden. But if laws are passed, we won't be able to do that because people will not be able to have gardens anymore.

   But, there is still some good news. We actually can grow some things inside our homes or apartments. There are some disadvantages though. One of them is the lack of sunlight. Another would be the question of how the plants would be pollinated. The obvious problem would be the lack of space. But, we can work with all of those, although there would be some challenges with them.

   Plants are actually good to have inside, for they give out oxygen. We take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. So, in that way, we would be living mutually with our plants that are inside.

    We can grow plants in containers, and we also can grow some plants in a hydroponic setup. Fabric containers are really nice, but, they might not be an object of beauty in the home. There are pots that you can put the fabric pots inside of.

   While aesthetically, it might have some disadvantages, there would be some advantages. Plants can be very pretty, but plants can also be very messy and dirty. Plus, some of the plants would be too tall for being inside a home. But it is rewarding to have a plant that is pretty as well as productive. I should make a list of plants that produce food and, at the same time, are pretty.

   There are hydroponic setups that can be setup inside a house. They will need a light or a type of sun lamp. The rays of the sun need to be brought inside the house to benefit the plant. It is necessary for plants to have sunlight in order to produce chlorophyll, which is the pigment that makes the plants green. You can grow strawberries and herbs in a hydroponic system. There are also aeroponic systems too, which are small, yet can grow herbs and lettuce. Juice Plus puts out a 'Tower Garden' which can produce a lot of food in a limited space area. It will need a lamp on it to recreate the sunlight that is needed by plants. Instead of using up a wide area, the space used in the Tower Garden is vertical. Here is a website that explains the Tower Garden and where you can order one: http://www.ss.towergarden.com 

   One of the harder problems would be how to pollinate the plants. It is possible to hand pollinate some of the plants. I have done this with squash plants. If the bees are not doing their job, then you can take over. I don't know how bees would do inside a house, but I don't think they would be preferable to have. Of course, you could have a Mason bee house, as Mason bees do not sting. But would they be able to thrive inside a house? I don't know.

   We could grow a lot of beans that could be dried and stored. At present, we don't have to worry too much about going to jail for having a garden, but it would be wise to learn how to grow as much as we can indoors. That way, we could prepare our children and grandchildren for surviving the situations they might find themselves in. Right now, we can learn container gardening and use our balconies and porches. We can use gardening, not only to grow food, but, along with food growing, we could have pretty flowers mixed in, or, have plants that bear both food and pretty flowers. That way, the home owners associations will have less to complain about.

Hydroponic system with Alpine strawberries. Unfortunately,
all plants died probably due to lack of enough sunlight. 

Old Wives Tales and Are They True?

  I came across an article in my email box on asking if some of the old wives tales that pertain to weather are true. To my surprise, well maybe, many of them are.

   Some of the old wives tales are really stupid, like the ones that say that the way a woman carries her baby indicates what sex that baby will be. I actually heard someone mention that a pregnant women I knew was carrying a boy, but guess what, it wasn't a boy! I guess you really can't always trust everything you hear!

   But some of the ones that pertain to the weather are pretty accurate. For example, the saying that goes like this "Red sky at night, sailors delight" is accurate, even scientifically. Now we know a logical reason why this works. A red sky at night is full of dust particles, which indicates a high pressure system. It means that good weather will follow.

   But this saying, "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning"  means that the precipitation in the atmosphere is high, and it will be raining.

  Here is another one that is true; "When windows won't open, and the salt clogs the shaker, the weather will favor the umbrella maker.". It too, is based upon principles that work, and now are known because of our technological advances.

   Oh, but I didn't read about my favorite one which is "If it rains before 7, it will end by 11". So far, it seems like it is true from my own observations. What do you think?

Read more: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-weather/stories/take-warning-when-the-sky-is-red-in-the-morning#ixzz3ER0T3PiV

Recent Pictures of the Garden on the Balcony

I am going to post some pictures of the plants that are growing on the balcony. I hope to encourage people to garden by doing this. Gardening is a lot of work, and sometimes, even with the best efforts, crops fail. So far, I have lost a few plants, but many survived babyhood, bug attacks, some diseases, and a few other unexplained events. So even look hardy, like the papaya plants. I wish I could have gotten more of the Giant Granadilla plants to germinate. The one that did germinate is really healthy looking. The coffee plant died one day, and I don't know what caused that to happen.

The plants from this angle are papayas, tomatoes, peppers, a passion fruit,
and avocado, although the plants are hard to see.

This pic is from the opposite end of the first pic. You can see the mystery plant, avocado, papaya, and tomato
on the end.

This is a passion fruit plant. It is called, Giant Granadilla, and it will hopefully have a blue/purple flower and
pretty good sized fruit. It is a vining plant, I believe.

Featuring one of the strawberry papaya plants

Here is an interesting tomato plant. It is growing well, and even has blossoms, but,
the leaves always look like they are wilting.

Some plants that are just getting started. I planted one of the tomatoes tonight and placed it in the yard.

What I wish that I would have done, is to have made labels for the plants using my laminating machine. I made labels using strong clear mailing tape, but water still got in and ruined many of the labels. On these cups, I wrote some of the names with a marker. But something confusing started to happen. Most of these plants grew squash plants in the cups. No matter what the seeds were that I put into each cup, squash plants came up! Some of the other plants came up though, and I put some of them in fabric containers outside. 

See if you can figure this one out: I am trying to grow bananas, as well as banana melon. I also have a tomato plant called cream banana. I planted a tomato plant and had a hard time reading what the words were on the cup, that I wrote. All I saw was the word 'banana'. So, is the plant a banana cream tomato plant, a banana plant, or, banana melon? 

Another plant was something else in a cup (possibly a squash), but a pepper and a tomato plant were growing in the cup! It's made it very interesting to try to relocate the plants in the proper size container, since I don't know which plant I actually planted in many of the cups!

There's Not Enough Sunlight on The Balcony!

   With all the problems with wildlife on the other side of my back yard, animals are enjoying the garden before I can harvest the produce from it. As a result, I am growing my plants in containers, and putting them on the balcony in order to protect the plants from the animals.

   Raccoons are adorable as well as squirrels are, that is, until you see them in the garden area. Forget growing sunflower plants or corn in the garden as the animals get into it and destroy the plants.

   So, I have a bunch of plants, mainly tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries, growing on the balcony that is in the back of the house. The Peppers and papaya plants are doing fine, but the tomatoes and strawberries are suffering big time. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what is wrong, and my conclusion is that there is not enough sunlight on the back porch.

  I did an experiment and it worked! I had a tomato plant in a bucket hydroponic setup. The setup is easy to use, yet, the plant did not do well. It was not thriving, so I moved it to the front balcony which has more sunlight, and the plant is really growing fast and big!

 If my plants really need more sunlight, the only way I can remedy this problem is by getting a lamp that is similar to sunlight, at least as far as the plants are concerned. So, I picked up a light from amazon.com which had good reviews. I will update and give the report of whether this light helps or not. I still have one strawberry that is alive in the hydroponic setup, and maybe this light can help the surviving plant to live.

Here are a couple of pics of the balcony from the ground, while the new light was on. See how cool it looks!

Most sunlights are just powerful lights, but this one is red/blue in color

Angle from side of the house using the LED lamp I bought from amazon.com


Here is a picture of the lamp from amazon.com

And here is a picture of the lamp holder that is necessary to have to put the bulb in. Notice that it already has a bulb, but not the blue/red LED one that I ordered and is pictured above.

A New Organic Plant Food

I was watching a Youtube video on organic gardening a couple of weeks ago, and the guy highly recommended something called 'Azomite'. I had never heard of azomite, but I learned that it is basically rock dust. It contains lots of necessary trace minerals that plants need to have.

  One thing I have learned about organic gardening, is that plants need food. That should be a no brainer, but I was not diligent in feeding my plants for most of my gardening years. No wonder my plants never grew!

   I posted a message in a gardening forum many years ago. I believe I called it, 'Nothing grows in my garden'. Someone responded by saying that they had an uncle who could never grow anything. No matter what it was, it always died. Even plants wouldn't grow on his grave site.

  I am hoping that my brown thumb will turn green. Maybe Azomite will do the trick.

Mystery Plants

It's kind of funny but I planted yellow mangosteen, goji berries, and soursop last year. I honestly did not know what I was doing, nor how long it would take for the seeds to germinate. 

  Instead of these plants coming up though, some other plants came up, which I could not identify. Thinking that maybe they were plants that were named from the list above, I had high hopes. But my hopes were dashed when I looked for pictures of goji berries, soursop, and yellow mangosteen plants. 

None of them resembled my mystery plants. That is why they are called 'mystery plants'.

This one looks like a Christmas tree. It's definitely not soursop!

   Here is another plant which is growing just fine. It looks a little like a kiwi plant. It's growing very well and is becoming a strong plant.

What will this plant become? What kind of fruit will it bear?

 But what is really funny, is, that I planted tomato plants in little pots. Well, in these pots are growing beautiful squash plants! Not sure what happened, but, I think that the plants came from seeds that were placed in the worm compost bin. Whatever they are, they had to come from a raw fruit, not cooked. So, I have had cantaloupe, cucumbers, and some squash plants where the seeds may have come from. Only time will tell what they are, and what kinds of seeds will be planted. 

  

Gardening With The Back To Eden Method

   If you have never heard of the 'Back to Eden' gardening method, you should take a look. I became aware of it a couple of months ago, and it is fascinating. The guy who developed this method basically took a plot of land that was useless, and made the whole thing arable. He's got all kinds of foods growing in his yard, even food that isn't supposed to grow there!
  I started out, years ago, doing the square foot method, using raised beds. You can get a lot of plants together in a garden bed, if you have raised beds and are using the square foot method. So, the question is, can I incorporate both the Back to Eden gardening method with Square Foot Gardening?
  I've been saving newspapers to shred, to layer the garden with. On top of that, you would put compost, and then you put wood chips. I will use mulch for right now, because I don't have a chipper/shredder yet. I want to get the one on the side of the page, and amazon has them at a lower price than before, but I have to get more Smart Pots first before I can invest in the chipper/shredder.
  One of the advantages of the Back To Eden method, is that there are supposed to be no weeds. The soil under the newspapers and mulch will be rich. Can't wait to get going on this, but I still need to collect more newspapers. Only the black/white sections of the papers can be used. I also use them in the compost bins, so I really need a lot of newspapers.
  Amazon carries the 'Back to Eden' video, but you can also find it on the internet and watch it for free. It is called, 'Back to Eden' and it is a Vimeo video. Youtube has some related videos, but does not host the main 'Back to Eden' one.

The Day God Protected My Gardens From Catching on Fire or The Benefits of Using Wood Ashes in the Garden

   I was going to be making soap tonight, but today was a little hectic, so I will do something more relaxing, like writing on my blogs.
   There are benefits to adding wood ashes in the garden. Here is a link to an article by Washington Post on using wood ashes in the garden. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home-garden/the-benefits-of-wood-ash-in-the-garden/2012/03/18/gIQAVBSEgS_story.html
  Many years ago, when we used pure wood in the fire place, I would take the ashes and put them in the garden area. The day after we had the fire in the fire place, I took the ashes out from the fire place and put them in a paper bag. Later on that day, I spread the ashes in the garden.
   The next morning, when I was looking at the gardens from my window, I saw smoke coming from them! The gardens were on fire! Actually, it was the wood that surrounded the garden beds that were on fire. A couple of the logs were charred.
   So, when using wood ashes in the garden, make positively sure there is no fire in the ashes. Use only pure wood in the fire place or place where the wood is to be burned. Do not use charcoal or artificial log ashes in the gardens.
   One benefit of wood ashes is that of getting rid of ants. Another benefit is to add potassium to the soil. There is no nitrogen in the wood ashes, but wood ashes are rich in other ways. Adding wood ashes will make your soil more alkaline, so it is not recommended to use them around blueberries, or other plants that need a more acidic soil.

Healthy Plants Can Fight Off Disease

 I have learned a couple of things recently that can help our plants be healthy. When the plants are healthy, they are less likely to be susceptible to disease.
  Two big problems in gardening; plant diseases and insect damage. You might recall in the olden days, how insects destroy large crops. If you ever read the Little House series, you can learn a lot about farming and gardening in the last century. One time, Pa and Ma had sown a large crop of wheat, I believe. When the crop would be finished, the money they would have made from that crop was going to pay for a loan. Unfortunately, a horde of grasshoppers came and polished off all the wheat. It happened on every farm in that area. I don't know how this disaster could have been prevented, but maybe if we know it is coming, ahead of time, we could figure out something to do to avert the inevitable grasshoppers, or whatever they were.
  Plants become weak when insects nibble on them. I found that out first hand when I inspected my tomato and pepper plants, only to find them disappearing! I found the culprit, which were fruit worms, and used DE and BT on them. But I still check a couple of times a day to see if there is anything on the plants.
   The key to having healthy plants is to have healthy soil. Every soil needs microbes. As the plant grows, the roots grow as well, and the roots take in the nourishment from the soil. It is harder for insects and diseases to attack healthy plants.
  I lost a melon plant last week due to a fruit worm, probably. I went out in the morning, and the leaves were all gone. I replaced it with a Minnesota Midget melon plant. Now my melon plants get dusted with DE and poofed with BT as well.
  Here two things I have learned that can help our plants be healthy. One of them is specific to tomato plants. You can take an aspirin which is 325 mg, and dissolve it in a gallon of water, then spray it on the tomato plants. You only need to do this once a month according to the article. The other idea is to use Epsom salts in the soil, or on the plants. It is supposed to make the plants healthy. No more need for Miracle Gro! Now we can make our own.
  Here is a url leading to a page on the article describing Epsom salts on plants.
http://www.garden.org/articles/articles.php?q=show&id=68

Happy Gardening!

Amarillo Carrot

Amarillo carrot pick from garden tonight

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, And More Colorful Tomatoes!

   I'm stepping out in faith here, trusting that all my different tomato plants will grow and bear fruit. If that does happen, we will have a wide variety of vegetables, especially tomatoes and peppers. Wouldn't it be cool to make a salad from vegetables in the garden including black tomatoes (dark purple in color), red tomatoes, pink tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, and striped tomatoes? What will I do with all these tomatoes if they grow?
   I was looking on the Internet for recipes and found a few. Sun dried tomatoes make a very pretty filled jar. Have you ever had tomato soup cake? It tastes really good! How about tomato sauce for pizza or spaghetti? How about yellow tomato sauce? That would be interesting! I can make salsa, sauce, ketchup, barbecue sauce, and several other things with tomatoes. Plus, tomatoes are good for you!
  On the side of the page, you can go to the tomato recipes board on Pinterest. I will be collecting tomato recipes on there and you can browse through them as well.
  In my research for recipes, I even found a tomato recipe for tomato cobbler, tomato jam, and filled, fried tomatoes. Tomatoes can also be dried and used in other recipes.

Update on my Balcony Garden

  I am writing and recording the events of my gardening on the balcony. My latest dilemma has been the battle with the fruit worms. Fruit worms look like caterpillars, and they literally eat the plant. The smaller the plant, the easier it is for the fruit worm to destroy it.
  I have a big tomato plant which has been attacked by the fruit worm. I don't know if it is just one fruit worm or several, and I don't know where they come from. Are they in the potting soil, or do they find their way up the plant?
  For a long time, I had been wondering what was happening to my plants. I never saw anything on them, yet, the leaves would disappear, sometimes overnight. My big tomato plant was severely attacked and one night I went out there and found the culprit. Oh no! Would I actually have to pull this thing off the plant? Yuk!
  I found some tweezers and put some peroxide in a bottle, then went out there and pulled the thing off. My, he had a good grip on the plant! I would be checking periodically and did find more of them. Then I started dusting the tomato and pepper plants with Diatomaceous Earth and also BT. I found some fruit worms on other plants and pulled them off. Unfortunately, one night, I lost 3 plants due to the fruit worms. I replanted them and continually check over them.
  There are less fruit worms now. My wounded big tomato plant is growing again, and the little pepper plants are getting bigger too. But another disappointment happened. One morning, when I was checking over the plants, the banana melon plant disappeared! It too, must have been attacked by the fruit worm. Now everything gets dusted with DE and BT, not that by dusting them, it will prevent the fruit worm from attacking again. It will kill the fruit worms, but they can still do a lot of damage before they ingest those ingredients.
  One more thing for me to research; I remember vaguely about learning to use tanglefoot, or angel hair on plants to prevent cutworms from chewing up the plants. I'll look into it again and see if my memory can serve me right.
  I hope what I write on my blogs will help other gardeners with their dilemmas. Feel free to post your gardening victories or struggles in the comment box.

So, Where Can I Find A Nearby Willow Tree?

   This morning, while reading through my email, I found an article on helping tomatoes to stay healthy and give better yields.
   In case you haven't been following my latest tomato adventures, I have a couple of tomatoes planted on the balcony that are in containers. I also have at least one pepper plant, or, should I say, had one pepper plant.
   The first tomato plant planted on the balcony was big. The label got lost so it was either a German Lunchbox tomato, which is pink, or it was an Amish Paste tomato. I was going to be surprised to see which one the plant turns out to be.
  Well, I am still waiting, for, the plant, although it was growing well for a while, started having problems. The leaves on the bottom were turning brown and the plant doesn't seem to be growing. On top of that, the leaves looked like someone was eating at them. But whenever I checked, I didn't see anything on the plant. Seems like this same thing happened to a cherry tomato plant that grew from compost in my garden last year. Little by little, the plant disappeared.
  After contacting several different forums trying to find out whatever it was that was wrong with my tomato plant, and not finding any answers that seemed to be the ones that would solve my problem, I went out with a flashlight one night and there it was! A big dark colored caterpillar on my plant. Now we know the culprit.

Step #1 in identifying the problem. 

  I went out the next day and found some more caterpillars. I started checking the other tomato and pepper plants and a day later, the leaves were gone on these plants as well. Someone suggested using Diatomaceous Earth on them, so, even though it may be too late, I am dusting any pepper or tomato plants out there.
  One of the plants looks like its making a comeback. The big tomato plant isn't growing, but the top is still very green. I will nurture them back to health, if possible, or, I will just plant the seeds again and keep them scrumptiously clean.
  Now, back to the plants and their health and hopeful recovery. I read an article this morning on giving aspirin to tomatoes to help them be healthy and produce better fruit. Well, I don't have any plain aspirin in the house, but, I know that aspirin can be homemade, as well. So, with that in mind, I am looking for a way to make aspirin from willow tree branches. If I don't have a willow tree around here, I can actually order the extract from amazon.com .
   I have posted the url to article on giving aspirin to the tomato plants below:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625661/Problems-growing-tomatoes-Feed-ASPIRIN-say-scientists-fight-disease-boost-yield.html
Here are some links to pages describing how to make aspirin from willow bark:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Aspirin-if-You're-Lost-in-the-Woods
http://home-remedies.wonderhowto.com/how-to/make-aspirin-from-willow-tree-0142525/
http://firstways.com/2011/04/12/how-to-make-willow-bark-medicine/
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread984883/pg1
Also note: Someone told me that the willow tree used to make this medicine is not the Weeping Willow. I will have to ask my nursery or extension agency about what kind of willow tree is used for this.

Willow Tree. The bark is used to make aspirin by soaking
in water or alcohol.