Experimenting in the Garden World

Here it is, the last day of March, and my seedlings experiment has been very successful!  The newspaper 'pots' have held up without any degradation or structural problems, and the seedlings themselves are just so darn cute!  I'm particularly fond of the lettuces.  Raise your hand if you've ever purchased and eaten baby greens.  That's kind of how I feel about the baby lettuces...yummy looking!  The spinach are hanging in there as well, and I think that both are ready for regular dosing of BiOWiSH™ to determine what difference it will make on the growth of the plants.  I've got five seedlings, so I'll start dosing two (one lettuce and one spinach) and leave the other three plants as my test group.  I'll keep you posted on the changes and differences I see.  I'll even post pictures!

It's always tempting at this time of year to jump the gun and start full scale planting outside.  The weather here along the front range of the Rockies has been spectacular this week. Ok, ok, so we had a little snow last Wednesday.  But this last weekend and up until today have been picturesque, so I've been thinking more and more about getting out into the garden.  Last weekend I started digging a new area in front of the house along side the driveway.  I plan a 3 x 3 foot garden there for zucchini.  A neighbor had a front yard planting last year that I always thought so attractive when I'd drive by, that I decided to utilize some of that 'dead' space next to my drive for food!  It's unconditioned soil, so I'm going to be adding in a good amount of 100% organic, home grown compost...I'll try to hold out until at least April 16th!  Goodness knows we get our share of late frosts and spring snows.

Speaking of adding garden space, I've got a question for you woodworking hobbyists out there.  I was planning an addition of a raised bed, maybe 4 or 5 x 3 foot in diameter and two to three feet tall.  My husband fantasizes about using recycled plastic boards and specially designed and manufactured corner pieces to hold the walled sides together...to the tune of about $200-$400!!  Me, I'm more of a "let's see what we have lying around in our garage that we can put together for our purposes" kinda gal.  I know that compromise is important, so in that spirit of compromise, any of you have some ideas about how to put together a low cost, functioning raised garden?  A free Six (6) month supply of BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost to the best designer of a low cost raised bed garden!

Happy Composting!

Seedling Update Deux

This is week three of the trial - changing how we made the seedling pots from the suggested method on the video (see blog dated February 28th "Making Seedling Pots from Newspaper", and wanting to see if and how well they might hold up after being filled with potting soil (yes!  Potting soil!) and compost.

We also want to test out using potting soil instead of a medium made specifically for starting seeds. In the Denver Post article, SEEDS in the Saturday, March 13, 2010 edition of Inside & Out, author Susan Clotfelter  insists that seeds need to be started in 'soiless seed-starting medium' or they will experience 'seedling flop'.  This is otherwise known as dampening off, which causes the seedlings to fail after sprouting due to fungus in the soil.  We're going to try very low dose applications of BiOWiSH™ Aqua  as an 100% natural, organic and safe anti-fungal to test whether that will prevent 'seedling flop' in our seeds started in potting soild and compost.

There are now four out of four lettuce seeds that have sprouted, and two of the four spinach seeds. The pots seem to be holding up just fine, and I was outside today in the glorious Colorado afternoon sun mixing in our home grown, 100% organic compost into our garden soil to prepare for planting. We're especially excited this year to see how utilizing BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost in our compost effects plant growth. I'd recommend that you check out BiOWiSH™ Technologies website and read about studies they've been doing on how their products can boost production! Anyway, I do want to complete the experiment with the pots a full six to eight weeks, though, so I'll save transplanting the seedlings until at least the first week of April...maybe longer, unless I can plan on covering up those baby plants when frost or late snow threatens. Meanwhile, we have seedlings started and seeds for outside ready to sow.


Happy Composting!

Seedling Update, etc.

Our seeds went into my newspaper seedling pots on Monday, March 1st and have been in my kitchen garden window. As of today, Wednesday, March 10th, there are two seedlings sprouting out of the eight pots. Both are lettuces…no spinach sprouts yet. Hubby is worried. I’m more of an optimist, but will note that the first three nights the pots spent in the window, which does get cold at night. Not a whole lot of insulation between the floor of the window and the outside. In fact, I’ve insulated between the pots and the floor of the window to keep the temperature more even, and am taking the pots out of the window at night. Since we keep our house at a brisk 62 degrees at night, hubby recommended that they go in the oven overnight, which I thought was a good idea. So into the oven they go, at night (of course it’s off!) Will keep you posted as to progress. I’m ready, this weekend, to start my impatients.

I also wanted to comment on an article I read in March/April AARP magazine (oops, just gave away a hint as to my age!) The article is called “It Is Easy Being Green”, and talked about a global group of eco-minded organizations called Earth Day Network. This network is trying to encourage people worldwide to one billion Earth Day “acts of green” on April 22nd this year; something as simple as picking up litter to organizing cleanup crews for a polluted river. I’m going to see if hubby wants to participate by donating BiOWiSH-Aqua™ to the local Parks and Recreation Department. Since it is a completely organic and ecologically harmless method of maintaining proper pond chemistry, and since it would be FREE, I think they will be very interested!

You can register your green act online at billionactsofgreen.net. The article also referenced a link for new tool kits that offer simple tips on going green. The link is createthegood.org/diy-toolkits.

Skunk Odor Removal

I've been fortunate to never have a dog that got sprayed by a skunk, and I think it's remarkable!  My last dog, Indy, a Brittany Spaniel whose ancesters were bred to flush birds in the fields for hunters, loved to chase rabbits.  Birds were only mildly interesting, but rabbits!  He was no dummy...he knew he couldn't get a bird, but a rabbit stayed on the ground, and ran, and could be chased.  Maybe it was all in the chase.  I'll never know, but he surely loved to run in open fields and flush out bunnies.  He used to get down in the dry stream beds, where I was certain that someday he'd flush out and get sprayed by a skunk.  He never did get skunked, but I have plenty of friends and relatives that have experienced it and were anxious to share their horror stories.  Tales of folks not realizing that their dog has been skunked until a moment too late, when the dog has run into the house, given a good shake and promptly jumped on the nearest couch, chair or bed.  The better to share the smell and spread it around! 

I know of a woman here in town that owns a doggy daycare who's been having multiple horror stories occurring in her place of business.  My husband says it's skunk season, when they are waking from their light hibernations.  Anyway, this woman sent out an S.O.S., as she was spending a small fortune on shampoos and the old standby - tomato juice.  Wouldn't be so bad if they worked, but they typically are very effective.

We suggested that she try BiOWiSH™ Cleaner & Deodorizer  100% organic, it utilizes the unique core BiOWiSH™ Enzyme Technology to quickly remove odors at the molecular level and does not simply mask odors as is common with many deodorants or deodorizers.


Additionally there is a residual action that continues to remove odors in between applications.




A representative from BiOWiSH™ Technologies suggested that this doggy daycare owner mix up a batch of the BiOWiSH™ Cleaner & Deodorizer by adding one of it's sachets to 16 oz. of warm water.  Let it set for 15 minutes or so to allow the enzymes to activate.  While she waits, she can use a regular shampoo (I always used a no tears generic baby shampoo on my pooch) to clean off some of the oil.  After the shampoo is rinsed out, spray the dog's fur thoroughly with the solution of Cleaner and Deodorizer.  And If they have, like stories I've heard, infected every nearby surface with skunk odor, the next most cost effective step would be an application of BiOWiSH-Odor™.  Made with the same enzyme technology, BiOWiSH-Odor™ benefits include:



· Fast acting


· Removes rather than masks odor


· Cost effective


· Operative at low dosage rates


· Wide range of operative conditions


· Long residual effective period


· Natural anti-microbial action – sanitizes as it works


· 100% organic


· Non-toxic, non-chemical, non-pathogenic


· Harmless to humans and the environment

Since it's enzymes need to be kept moist to remain active, she may benefit by covering those smelly inanimate objects that she's needing to deodorize with a plastic sheet.  Once the enzymes dry out, they die out.

The first five people to try this and respond will receive $5.00 off their next order of any BiOWiSH™ Products.  Happy composting, and happy deodorizing!

An Experiment with Starter Pots

After I made bunches of seedling starter pots and packed them snuggly in their trays, I spoke with a friend about what I'd accomplished.  We discussed the various changes to the procedure that I'd made, why I made the changes, and what I might expect as a result.


This friend (we'll call her JS) expressed her concerns about using only a half a sheet of newspaper, rather than the whole sheet that had been suggested by the video on Ehow.com by the Ehow Presenter Willi Evans Galloway. JS was concerned about the efficacy (I just love that word, don't you?!) of the pot, whether it could hold up during the 6-8 weeks of water and sun.  And so the experiment has begun.  As of this morning, eight newspaper seedling starter pots are filled with a mix of potting soil and home made, organic compost  Four of the pots have lettuce seeds, and four have been planted with spinach seeds.  They are basking in the southern exposure of my kitchen garden window, soaking up the light and warmth from the sun, drawing in nutrients from the compost and water.  I'll keep you posted on the progress of the seedlings and their pots.  Will the pots last?