Gardening the Organic Way

There are so many ways that our bodies are bombarded with pollutants every day. The air we breathe into our lungs and that is absorbed through our skin includes industrial air pollutants, automobile emissions, and household cleaning agents. The water we drink has trace chemicals in it from rain water, fertilizers and pesticides. And let's not forget to mention the chemicals we ingest on our foods. It's extremely difficult to combat the effects pollutants have on us...shall we live on a mountain top or in the middle of a rain forest? Instead, why not choose to increase your intake of antioxidants by growing and eating your own organic vegetables? In a study by Newcastle University in England, researchers found that "organic food has a higher nutritional value than ordinary produce" with "up to 40% more antioxidants in organic fruit and vegetables than in non-organic." Those antioxidants combat the effects of pollution, slowing aging and reducing risks of disease.
An effective and easy way to start an organic garden is by cutting out chemical fertilizers and replacing them with compost. Mix it into your soil as an enhancement and/or use it as a top mulch...it will provide nutrients for your plants and encourage earthworms to keep your soil healthy. I love our tumbling composter because it's so easy to use, keeps pests out because of it's tight seal, and keeps the heat in which helps the breakdown process work more quickly. You can see our full range of tumbling composters at www.BestComposters.com. You might also want to include some of our BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost to make the process really easy! You won't have to worry about getting the proper mix of nitrogen and carbon into your compost bin, or the odors that can be associated with an improper mix. 100% organic BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost will enhance the output of your compost bin in multiple ways, while keeping with your goal of going and growing organic.
Happy composting!

Compost for Roses

I've got a rose bush that I planted for the fragrance that it has. It's not blooming yet, but has numerous buds just about to spread their lovely scent throughout my garden. I read yesterday that this month is the time to feed roses with fertilizer OR mulch one inch thick with compost. Well, you know which I'll be doing! Our tumbling composter, along with BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost from www.BestComposters.com has made an abundant supply of rich organic compost, thank goodness. We've used it to revitalize older garden beds, plant new beds like the raised bed my husband built to my specs, and start the garbage can potatoes. Seems like there can never be too much compost ready for the gardens! So when it stops raining, out I go to feed that lovely rose bush with an inch of compost all the way around. Better plan to add more compost to that raised bed, as well. The straw/alfalfa mix has been decomposing and the vegetables in the bed are in need of more soil and compost to send those roots out into. 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!