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