Feel Good...Garden!

The news is rife with articles about gardening and I'm loving it! We have the Grow insert in our Denver Post weekly which overflows with information about plants and gardening, and there was the article about the woman who had survived WWII teaching school children about victory gardens, and then the school that dedicated a portion of their grounds for some third graders to grow a garden and learn about where food comes from. It's all the rage, I tell you! The reasons are varied, but one of the best reasons that gardening is popular is that it's just plain good for you.

Gardening provides physical exercise that helps prevent heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. It helps prevent osteoporosis if you're lifting water jugs, pushing a garden cart or turning compost.

When you're working in the garden you're most likely relieving stress and getting lots of fresh air. There's a connection to nature, and a brain boost as you plan your garden and research tools and plants.

Then there's the obvious: if you grow it, you'll eat it. Fresh vegetables and fruits improve your physical wellbeing. You can control the use of pesticides and fertilizers. You will notice how much better the food tastes when it's picked and consumed the same day, and need we talk about using fresh herbs to enhance the flavors of your meals? Think about how much sugar and salt you can cut back on when fresh herbs are used instead.

So get out there and dig in. Garden with your kids, or the neighbors, and build relationships through gardening. Don't forget to add organic compost in your garden for healthier, more productive plants, and a healthier you. Happy Composting!

Springtime Rant in the Garden

This time of year is so exciting with all the new growth going on in my garden! I enjoy checking it every day - ok, sometimes two or three times a day - to watch for the first leaves of the beet plants, see how the peas are almost tall enough to start reaching for the bean poles set out for them to climb, and the flowers as they appear on the tomato plants. Glorious birth!
I can really tell a difference this year in the growth and health of my garden vegetables with the addition of home grown organic compost. It ‘s my hope to have a bumper crop this year, and I plan on filling my freezer with produce. I've also started to think about whom else might benefit from the abundance I've planned for. The article in yesterday's Denver Post about school children in Denver who are learning about where food comes from made me think about how many families could benefit if every school had a vegetable garden. So many kids would be empowered with the knowledge of how to feed themselves and their families, as well as the nutritional benefits that they would reap with their harvests. Surely someone at each school could find the time to sponsor a garden; if not a teacher, then a parent, volunteer from the neighborhood or an employee of nearby nursery. I’d like to donate my time to teaching students how to compost and it’s various uses in a garden. Some schools might even find themselves being able to donate their garden produce to food banks and co-ops. With good weather, and the good soil that I’ve laid down this year, that’s what I plan to do!
Maybe we need a grass roots movement to contact school districts and request that space be made available at each school for a classroom garden, rather than the lawns that most schools have surrounding their facilities. Oh, how my mind does travel along a meandering pathway at times, leading me to consider ideas and dreams that crop up along the way!
And speaking of composting, I’d better get the latest batch of kitchen scraps into the composter, and put on my to-do list to shred some cardboard to mix in as well. After all, can one have too much compost?
Happy Composting!

Perennials and Annual Soil Amendment

I just read an article in the Grow insert of the Denver Post, May 23, 2010 about the “Generous, forgiving, beautiful” nature of Salvia. It reminded me of the reason why I had planted one in my backyard garden: Salvia is (like me) exceedingly thrifty. One reason it is considered thrifty is that many varieties will reseed themselves, so while you may pay $12 or more for a potted Salvia plant, you can very well expect that it will triple next year and be able to transplant these plants to other areas of your garden. Word to the wise: have some empty places in your garden to accommodate the new Salvia plants, or give them to friends and neighbors to beautify their gardens!

Another reason Salvia supply their monies worth is that they do transplant readily. An easy dig up and relocation in many instances will provide you with sustained blooms from May through October. They come in a wide variety of colors, including purples, blues, pinks and reds. Salvia is also a hardy plant, so they typically thrive at elevations up to 8,500 feet above sea level, as well as being drought tolerant.

So, reading about Salvia’s many attributes reminded me that I have been remiss in amending the soil in my perennial beds. I know that it’s important to turn soil over and mix in compost. But the Newport Plum bushes along the back fence with perennials in between make it difficult to turn the soil over; I am reluctant to disturb the perennials’ roots for fear of disturbing the bloom. But this year is the year of organic compost! We have an abundance of 100% organic black gold, after composting all winter long with kitchen scraps, fall leaves, shredded newspaper and BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost. The latter’s organic enzymes kept the compost heap at a heated average of about 145º F degrees all winter, so all the composting materials were broken down just right. This Spring we have plenty of soil amendment to spread around, thank goodness, since we’ve added a raised vegetable bed and two garbage can potato planters to our otherwise sizable garden.

Therefore, before it gets too hot out in my South facing backyard, I’m heading out to (gently) turn the soil around my perennials, including that lovely Salvia, and add a generous amount of homegrown organic compost, worked in and as mulch, to feed those perennials and bushes that add so much enjoyment to my backyard experience. Happy Composting!

How to Start a Square Foot Garden

I've seen lots of articles lately on square foot gardening. It's exciting, all the interest in gardening there seems to be in the media these days, from potato boxes to roof gardens to hanging tomato planters. But one of the things I love about gardening is basic...good soil! So make sure you start with that. If you're fortunate enough to have decent soil in a yard, you can start with that. If you lack decent starter soil, you'll need to purchase vermiculite and top soil from your local garden center or hardware store. To your soil, add organic compost, about 1/2 compost, and 1/4 vermiculite, 1/4 top soil. Please make the compost yourself with your kitchen scraps, cardboard, shredded newspaper, coffee grounds, grass clippings, etc. The easiest way is in a tumbling composter, but you can also put toether a bin with fencing, cinderblock, an old barrel or anything that will provide plenty of air circulation! Be prepared for pests if your compost is not enclosed, though.
Next visit your local hardware store (again) for lumber to make each of the however many you want to build 4-foot-square boxes that will hold the garden. If using multiples, make sure to leave room in between them for walkways.
Once you've filled the box(es) with your good soil mixture, place a grid on top of each box to make 1-foot-square sections. You can use string for this, or dowel rods...you get the idea.
Next, the planting. Plant each 1-foot-square section with one variety of plant, like 1 tomato plant, or 9 spinach plants, 1 squash. Once each plant is harvested, you can add more compost and plant another kind of plant in their place for another harvest. Yum!
Happy Composting!

Planter Box Gardening for Less

Well, we finally got it done, in spite of all the weird weather we’ve had! Our garden is planted!! My husband got the new planter box made, we got our plants and seeds assembled and got them all planted. Whew, what a relief!
The planter box was a big thing, even though there is a lot more area to plant in the ‘in ground’ garden. We are experimenting with the box. We’d gone back and forth for a couple of weeks trying to decide how best to fill that planter box. We knew we were going to use a good quantity of our organic home made compost, straight from our tumbling composter. But what other medium? Top soil was my initial plan…shopping at our local hardware store had me doing the math. The planter box is 12’ x 3’ and 16” deep…a lot of box to fill. That’s some 500 cubic feet of top soil needed, at $2.50 per cubic feet equals $1,250. Even if we mixed the top soil with compost 50-50, we’d be buying $625 worth of top soil. Then I ran across an article about hay bale gardening. This gardener takes hay bales, dowses them with nitrogen (fertilizer), digs a whole in the center and fills it with soil and plants. Sounded intriguing, so I talked with hubby. And he had his own idea. This is what we did: Two bales each of straw and alfalfa, run through a chipper to break it up and mix it well - $32. Into the planter it went, with two gallons of BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost and warm water – under $5. Mix garden soil excess that we had from last year, that wonderful black compost and a little perlite, add to holes dug down into the alfalfa and straw mix and plant. The BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost has already started the decomposition process, heating up the mix and starting to turn it into more compost. Hubby and I are both excited to see what results we’ll have in our new planter box. It was big enough to fit three tomato plants, six broccoli, and 16 onions, for under $100 inside the planter. We won't talk about the redwood lumber that went into building the thing, but it sure is pretty!
By the way, readers remembering the blog about our newspaper planter pots will be interested to know that the single half sheet of newspaper held up just great! I ended up peeling it off of the lettuces very easily when it was wet. The spinach and broccoli seeds planted in them germinated; however, they did not get very big. Next year we’ll get some real grow lights to start them under, and maybe get an earlier start….like February?!?

Twice As Nice Plants

The other day, I was reading the book "Grocery Gardening" (2009 Cool Springs Press) by food and garden writer Jean Ann Van Krevelen and her co-authors. It speaks to the frugal gardeners about planting, preparing and preserving garden produce. I believe I've said before that while I love my fresh from the garden vegies, I haven't done much in the way of preserving that produce. So far I've left that up to my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. They are pros at canning and freezing! No, I really don't leave it all up to them, but volunteer to help in other ways while they're preserving. But this year, I've vowed to at least do my own freezing, and this book has me motivated!
What really piqued my interest in “Grocery Gardening” was a discussion about vegetables and herbs that have double functionality, providing twice the benefit from growing them! My very favorite vegetable discussed in the book is beets and beet greens. Sometimes I think I love the greens more than I do the beet, but they're really good paired together with a little sautéed onion and just a touch of bacon grease. Yum! Chives are another favorite, are easy to grow and being perennial, will come back every year to bless your garden. Use the chives all through the growing season to flavor your recipes, but don't neglect the flowers in Spring! Clip those lovely purple flowers young and tender, rinse and pull apart into separate florets and toss with your favorite salad.
Some of the other plants listed as twice as nice are:
· Garlic and garlic scapes
· Cliantro and coriander
· Dill weed and dill seed
Fennel was listed as a TRIPLE duty plant since it has fronds, seeds and bulbs that can all be used and enjoyed in different ways. You might try looking up a recipe for Braised Fennel online - look for one that includes grated Gruyere cheese for a really yummy treat.
All these vegies, and more, will benefit from a hearty dose of home grown organic compost. Use it as a fertilizer, soil enhancer and mulch! Make composting easy with a tumbling composter from www.BestComposters.com. It's even easier when you add BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost: even if you don't have the exact mix of nitrogen and carbon materials, BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost will help those digestive organisms get heated up without any harmful chemicals - it's all 100% organic, from nature, for nature!

How to Plant a Vegetable Garden If You Never Have Before

Growing your own vegetables has regained it's popularity, as evidenced by seed packets virtually flying off shelves at our local stores. This renewed interest is not without merit, since your own garden can significantly cut your grocery expenses, help you eat healthier, is a stress reliver, and the food is just plain yummy! So how does one get started?

First step is to plan where you're going to set up your garden. The best spot is one that gets good morning sunshine. Ideally, you'll also want a spot that will be somewhat protected from the elements and allows for good runoff of excess water.

Next step is preparing the soil. Check the soil for it's pH level, which ideally should be 6.5. Your local hardware/garden center will have usually have test kits available, and from there it is a simple matter of following the directions. Adding home grown compost will provide your vegetables with the best nutrients available, without chemicals to muck things up.

Now that you know your soil will provide the proper nutrients, it's time to get your hands dirty! This is the first lesson that my dad taught me about gardening. Every spring we'd take our shovels and turn the soil over, digging down to about 12 inches. This allowed for the removal of weeds at the same time, since their roots will be loosened from their grip on the soil.

Finally, chosing what vegetables to grow will be somewhat dependent on what region of the country you live in. For beginners, I recommend seeking out a reputable garden center and getting advise and seedlings from them. We grew some vegetables from seed this year, and while it's more cost efficient to grow your vegies from seeds, it is labor intensive. You must ensure the proper amounts of light and water, and the right medium to plant in. So, beginner, have your garden center helper guide you in chosing healthy seedlings that will thrive in your area.

With good compost, planning and initial investment of time and the cost of seedlings, your garden should provide you with luscious fresh and nutritious vegetables with very little maintenance. It's awesome being able to stroll out into the yard and pick from your garden what you want to eat that day!
Happy Composting!

The Facts on Waste

You may be astounded, like I was, to find that approximately 3 thousand TONS of garbage are added to our landfills each year! The EPA further estimates that almost a ton of waste is generated by each person in the US each year, and that 70% of that can be recycled and composted. That's a heck of a lot of what could be wonderful soil amendment that's instead getting added to the landfill each year!
I know that it's easier to throw it out than to compost it, but the benefits, to me, far outweigh the drawbacks. After all, nobody wants a landfill in their neighborhood; the smell, pests, the eye sore, decreasing property values, etc. And most of us these days are fairly good at conserving our water resources, but don't realize that about 3 gallons of water is used each time we run the garbage disposal to grind up kitchen waste. Instead of building better bigger landfills and wasting precious water, we could be making our own compost that will provide our gardens and lawn with a valuable boost of natural fertilizer. We can also be sharing this activity with the next generation, spending time with the children in our lives and teaching them how to better care for our world and ourselves.
Composting can be accomplished many different ways. My grandparents had a pile next to their garden that they added to each day. I don't remember them every turning it, so it may have taken quite a while to break down. A three sided apparatus can be put together with almost any materials: cinderblocks, old pallets, cyclone fencing, almost anything that you can build with can be used to build an area for compost. It just needs to allow for air circulation and a surface to keep things together. This method is inexpensive, but you'll need to put your back and arms into it, turning it over with a pitchfork or a compost 'tiller'. You'll almost most likely be dealing with pests...the kind that like decomposing food. Ick! Finally there are bins commericially available that can be sealed up pretty tight to keep pests out, but there would still be the issue of having to manually turn it at least once a week.
Or you can splurge a little and get yourself and your family a tumbling composter. www.BestComposters.com has a selection of the finest tumbling composters available anywhere. An easy turn of a handle and you’re providing your compost with the aeration that it needs to keep all those wonderful organisms happy and heated up. You'll be helping reduce the amount of trash added to landfills, reducing the water consumption and waste, and making some great soil amendment that will help your garden and lawn prosper! Come on in and order yours today!