Dante spent hours last week working on figure four traps for himself and as gifts.Monday, June 9, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
planting more
Last year, in late winter, I laid out newspaper in a circle and piled soil, compost, manure and leaves on it. The pile quickly flattened to about 4 inches high, but even so, later we grew quite a bit on it: morning glories, pole beans, bottleneck gourds, cherry tomatoes. Not super yields, but a lot better than I'd expected, since this soil was pretty much dust.
This year, feelizing lazy, I decided to do an experiment. On one half of the circle, I loosened the soil and took out most of the weeds, and dumped on a thick layer of compost. On the other half, I scooped out a lot of the soil, added compost to it, mixing it in by hand, and covering it all with an inch or two of compost. I was feeling overwhelmed by all the digging, so I worked on a foot or two of space at a time and it felt more manageable. Hypothetically, the soil here will be much looser and richer than the other half, so the plants should do better.
All filled in and planted. This year we have: Boston Pickling cuke, thai loofah, heirloom zucchini and crookneck squash, bottleneck gourd, tomatoes, morning glories, sweet peas, nasturtiums and arugla. I might stick some scarlet runner beans in if I can find where I put the seeds. I misplaced a bunch of things I want to plant now -- grrr.
Hard to see a difference yet -- I put in some herbs to soften the borders. Mostly oregano and chives from the herb bed near the deck, but also some corsican, spear- and peppermints, several types of thyme, sage, rosemary, with basil and parsley interplanted with the tomatoes and peppers.
The lettuce is pretty much shot. We'll harvest one more time and turn it under. And plant those seeds I lost -- carrots, red russian kale, collards, head lettuce, spinach, etc.
This year, feelizing lazy, I decided to do an experiment. On one half of the circle, I loosened the soil and took out most of the weeds, and dumped on a thick layer of compost. On the other half, I scooped out a lot of the soil, added compost to it, mixing it in by hand, and covering it all with an inch or two of compost. I was feeling overwhelmed by all the digging, so I worked on a foot or two of space at a time and it felt more manageable. Hypothetically, the soil here will be much looser and richer than the other half, so the plants should do better.
All filled in and planted. This year we have: Boston Pickling cuke, thai loofah, heirloom zucchini and crookneck squash, bottleneck gourd, tomatoes, morning glories, sweet peas, nasturtiums and arugla. I might stick some scarlet runner beans in if I can find where I put the seeds. I misplaced a bunch of things I want to plant now -- grrr.
Hard to see a difference yet -- I put in some herbs to soften the borders. Mostly oregano and chives from the herb bed near the deck, but also some corsican, spear- and peppermints, several types of thyme, sage, rosemary, with basil and parsley interplanted with the tomatoes and peppers.
The lettuce is pretty much shot. We'll harvest one more time and turn it under. And plant those seeds I lost -- carrots, red russian kale, collards, head lettuce, spinach, etc.
worms, glorious worms
A couple of weeks ago, we popped over to our friend Claire's. We'd split 5# of worms (red wigglers from Happy D ranch), and they'd been delivered. What a bonus -- we got to peek at her ducklings, with their sweet little waggling tails.
Once again, the livestock arrives before the housing is even begun. So we put this worm bin together in a hurry while the poor worms sat in a cardboard box in the kitchen.
We cut 4 pieces of 6" wide board into 2 1/2 foot pieces. Nailed them together, and nailed on some hardware cloth. Lulu's assistance was instrumental, as always.
We flipped it over onto a piece of plywood, and filled it with shredded paper. These were old bills and statements, but I don't think I would use those again. They just don't seem to absorb or hold water very well. Newspaper holds much better, but I think this fall, I will add a bin to the compost area for shredded leaves. I would like that for their carbon bedding better than newspaper.
The blue and green buckets hold compost tea. I had to move them off the deck once we started using the bubblers because I figured that the constant vibration would drive the worms nuts.
To the shredded paper, Dante added the leaf-mold compost delivered by Jessica's Garden to give it an infusion of microbes that will help decompose the scraps faster.
On top of the compost, we added a few spadefuls of soil for more local microbes and to provide the worms with grit. And on top of that, the worms and the bedding they were shipped in.
More shredded paper and newspaper, topped by a damp cardboard box. And then topped with a sheet of plywood. So we take our scraps (I'm either chopping stuff up a little or using table scraps
Once we grow and mow the buckwheat or alfafa, I'd like to try that out as a mulch on top to keep things below moist instead of the cardboard. And I have to find some similar wood to build the next few trays. I'll stack them all through the summer and possibly move them into the basement for the winter. That's the plan, we'll see how it goes. If we get the bunnies in the fall, I might also see if I can insulate a satellite location with hay bales or something under the bunny bin. Evidently the worms love the bunny manure, and the castings are one of the best plant/soil foods around.
Once again, the livestock arrives before the housing is even begun. So we put this worm bin together in a hurry while the poor worms sat in a cardboard box in the kitchen.
We cut 4 pieces of 6" wide board into 2 1/2 foot pieces. Nailed them together, and nailed on some hardware cloth. Lulu's assistance was instrumental, as always.
We flipped it over onto a piece of plywood, and filled it with shredded paper. These were old bills and statements, but I don't think I would use those again. They just don't seem to absorb or hold water very well. Newspaper holds much better, but I think this fall, I will add a bin to the compost area for shredded leaves. I would like that for their carbon bedding better than newspaper. The blue and green buckets hold compost tea. I had to move them off the deck once we started using the bubblers because I figured that the constant vibration would drive the worms nuts.
To the shredded paper, Dante added the leaf-mold compost delivered by Jessica's Garden to give it an infusion of microbes that will help decompose the scraps faster.
On top of the compost, we added a few spadefuls of soil for more local microbes and to provide the worms with grit. And on top of that, the worms and the bedding they were shipped in.
More shredded paper and newspaper, topped by a damp cardboard box. And then topped with a sheet of plywood. So we take our scraps (I'm either chopping stuff up a little or using table scraps
Once we grow and mow the buckwheat or alfafa, I'd like to try that out as a mulch on top to keep things below moist instead of the cardboard. And I have to find some similar wood to build the next few trays. I'll stack them all through the summer and possibly move them into the basement for the winter. That's the plan, we'll see how it goes. If we get the bunnies in the fall, I might also see if I can insulate a satellite location with hay bales or something under the bunny bin. Evidently the worms love the bunny manure, and the castings are one of the best plant/soil foods around.
Monday, June 2, 2008
two wild and tasty foods
Our resident wild food forager didn't have to look far for some spring favorites -- stinging nettles (cluttering a corner of the garden until I insisted it all get harvested) and ramps, or wild leeks.
Ramps are abundant in the woods up here, including those behind our house.
Gotta love the gloves. Can't say I blame him.
Ramps are abundant in the woods up here, including those behind our house.more from boot camp
Never put these up, but more cool climbing stuff the kids had fun with at Camp Ingersol in Portland back in April. First up, they had to walk on the wire, using the ropes to keep their balance.
dante shoots birds
with his camera. He sneaks onto the deck, and sits still underneath the feeder until a bird comes along. Then he slowly rises over the edge to capture their image. As you can imagine, not a lot of birds enjoy dining in the shadow of this lurking threat, so only the bold little chickadee has humored him.
Chickadee
Red bellied woodpecker and a cardinal visit the feeder at the same time.
Chickadee
Red bellied woodpecker and a cardinal visit the feeder at the same time.tea time
Lulu and I have made a few batches of compost tea lately. It's pretty easy to make, and has more than minerals to fertilize the plant -- it also contains thousands of microbes that help eat organic matter in the soil and make more nutrients available to the plants in the area.
We took about 3lbs of compost and put it in some old stockings of mine. We covered that with water, probably about 3 gallons. For the first batch, we kept an old stake nearby to stir frequently. For the second batch, we've upgraded to a tag-sale aquarium bubbler which can finish a batch of tea in less than 2 days.
Straining the tea through cheesecloth into the sprayer. After all that, it clogged the sprayer anyway. I'm on the lookout for an apparatus that will enable us to hook this up to the hose and have it diluted and sprayed at the same time.
We took about 3lbs of compost and put it in some old stockings of mine. We covered that with water, probably about 3 gallons. For the first batch, we kept an old stake nearby to stir frequently. For the second batch, we've upgraded to a tag-sale aquarium bubbler which can finish a batch of tea in less than 2 days.
Straining the tea through cheesecloth into the sprayer. After all that, it clogged the sprayer anyway. I'm on the lookout for an apparatus that will enable us to hook this up to the hose and have it diluted and sprayed at the same time.
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