Organic Garden Works

Spring Garden - Replenishing the Self-Watering Containers

Digger Jones — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:22:00 GMT

a blog-by-a-dog

Digger

By George, I think Spring may be just around the corner. It's probably safe for me to come out of my comforter. There are signs all around - like ol' Bill dumping out the self-watering containers and "recharging" them. Let's have a look-see.....

Self-Watering Containers - Refilling and Recharging

When the last of the fall garden's plants froze and expired, we dumped the contents of the container pots into some plastic bags. These bags sat through the long, cold winter, just waiting for the Spring. All those microbes (and some earthworms) munched away during this time on the organic materials remaining in the soil less mix.

After purchasing some seedlings from the local "feed 'n seed", we were ready to refill the self-watering containers and plant. Ready for planting were some cabbages, collards, broccoli, and romaine lettuce.

Here's how we "recharged" the soil less potting mix for the containers:

emptied out the bags into a wheel barrel
mixed in some composted horse manure, worm compost, and Pure Black Castings®
stirred it all about
refilled the self-watering containers

These added materials would replace what was lost when we pulled out the dead plants and roots. We added about two cups of the Pure Black Castings® per 18 gallon container.

Remember? Put it together.....

..... like so.

Planting the Spring Vegetables

We needed four containers for our seedlings. After filling the containers, we put our plastic "mulch" on the top and cut out holes for our plants. We planted the cabbages, collards, broccoli and romaine lettuce into the soil all the way up the stem to the leaves. This extra depth produces extra root growth for a stronger plant.

After planting, we filled the reservoir with water, adding 6 ounces of VermaPlex® to each pot as our only organic fertilizer. The romaines seemed a little pale at planting time, but after a few days, they greened-up considerably.

Protection From The Frost

Jack Frost is still hanging around (this has been the second coldest winter ever in these parts), so we will have to protect our little garden for a while longer. Last year, as I recall, we had a freeze around the 15th of April. We lost most of the spring garden we planted.

This year, we're going to be proactive and expect the worst. For now, our self-watering containers are in a little cart behind the Scagg. At night, we pull it under cover if frost is threatened. We can also put another empty container over the top for extra protection. During the day, we move it around to the sun. When things heat up (and I know they will), we can also move these cool weather vegetables into a little shade.

Gives a whole new meaning to the term "truck farm".

Watching all this mixing and planting has just worn me out. I'm heading back to that comforter - Bill's going to have to manage without me for a while.

Composting Red Worms and Cold Weather

Digger Jones — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:21:00 GMT

a-blog-by-a-dog

Digger

Well, this winter is one for the record books. We've been bundled up for several days now, which is very unusual for our area. This extended cold snap can create many problems for the vermicomposter or worm farmer and we are no exception.

How to Raise Worms or Vermi-compost in Cold Weather

The good thing about red worms and European night crawlers: they can tolerate cold weather. But not freezing temperatures. We are taking measures with our worm farm operation to make sure our worms survive this winter blast.

Here are some steps we are taking to lessen the damage and keep our worms happy and alive. You might want to consider these steps for your vermi-composter, as well:

Drastically reduce the amount of worm feed. (Good news for me, they are increasing the amount I'm getting. That's about the only good thing about Winter for me and my four-legged friends - all-you-can-eat!)
Supply heat to keep the temperature above 40, at least.
Keep bright lights on during the cold snap. Worms tend to crawl when it gets too cold, which is not a pretty sight. Smelly, but not pretty.

You can find more info on these vermi-composting precautions for cold weather in the article "How to Worm Farm - Raise Worms in Cold Weather."

As for me, it's a sunny window with a pile of blankets....and a hot, steamy bowl of leftovers. I'm not crawling anywhere.

Organic Fertilizer "News You Can Use" and The Sunday "Funnies"

Bill — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:16:00 GMT

From the Monroe Cartoonist Collection:

Organic Fertilizer in the News

News items on organic gardening you may not find in your favorite news outlet.

Benefits of Organic Fertilizer vs. Chemical Fertilizer

Organic fertilizer or chemical fertilizer: Discussion on which is better for garden soil: organic fertilizer or chemical fertilizer.

The article goes into the benefits of organic fertilizers over chemical fertilizers. One of these benefits is the addition of micro-nutrients. Another benefit is the improvement to the soil structure.

However, the article also mentions that, because organic fertilizers contain less nitrogen than chemical fertilizers you must use more, making organic fertilizers cost more. This has not proved to be the case from our experiments.

By adding VermaPlex® to the water reservoir, which is diluted at 20:1 to 80:1 with water, the microbes feed upon the organic content of compost and worm castings, releasing sufficient nitrogen and nutrients for the plants without the addition of any chemical fertilizers at all. Our corn (which is a very high nitrogen user) grew 8 feet tall in the self-watering containers using only organic methods.

Plants can only use so much nitrogen at a time. While most of the nitrogen from chemical fertilizers simply leach away before the plants have a chance to use it, this excess nitrogen can also burn you plants. You will never have this problem with organic fertilizers.

Is Comfrey Safe?

Safety concerns with comfrey in gardens: Do toxic levels build up in humans from eating plants fertilized with comfrey?

Apparently, the research that comfrey can be toxic in humans at high levels raised concerns about its use in gardening. We're cautioned to let comfrey compost for one year before applying it to our gardens.

Global Warming and Organic Fertilizer

Returning to Organic Agriculture: How changing to, or rather, returning to organic methods and away from business-as-usual to grow our food can help reduce green house emissions.

With declining fossil fuels, erratic weather, and water scarcity, we may have no choice but to return to organic farming. The upside - organic methods reduce greenhouse gases.

The section on cities and municipalities selling their "toxic sludge" as "organic" fertilizer is an eye opener.

Happy New Year from all of us at Monroe Works!


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Winter Garden Duties - Compost, Worm Compost, and Worm Castings

Digger Jones — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:10:00 GMT

"a-blog-by-a-dog"

Digger

Now that Christmas is over, maybe we can get something done around here besides eating. Oh, never mind. We must always work around that.

Piling up the Compost

One thing's for sure, we're going to need a bunch of compost for filling all our self-watering containers come spring time. Our little experiment this fall using that method of growing vegetables proved to be the answer to our adverse growing conditions here in North Central Florida. We plan on going full steam ahead with our self-watering container vegetable garden.

Self-watering container ready to be filled.

Our potting soil mix, if you recall, was 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost, 1/3 perlite. The mix from our fall garden planting can be reconstituted with fresh compost and worm castings, which won't require very much material. But that stack of new containers Bill just completed will need a goodly amount of the mix if we are going to plant our entire garden using this method.

The plan: pile up as much horse manure as we possible can (Her Royal Shiekyness is doing her best to contribute) and feed it to the red worms, as well as traditional compost piles of manure and organic matter from household waste; inoculate all of these various piles and worm beds with VermaPlex® for added microbes; cover the compost piles with dark plastic for added solar heat; sit back and let it rot.

Come on, we need more poop!

Worm Compost or Worm Castings

Now might be a good time to discuss these terms and what the difference is between worm castings and worm compost. We have received questions from time to time about this. Worm compost, or vermi-compost, is composted organic material via earthworms, usually red worms. There's no "heating-up" of the material (at least, not intentionally. It would kill the worms.) The decomposition of the material is actually accomplished by the earthworms as well as by microbes. The microbes "pre-digest" the organic material, which makes the worms able to digest it. That's why it is so important to have a healthy supply of microbes present in the vermi-composting bin or worm bed.

The result of vermi-composting is a mix of partially decomposed organic material and worm castings - the "poop" from the earthworms. It's a great way to compost organic matter and kitchen waste, because it is nutrient-rich and adds great "texture" to your garden soil. Composting with worms is also faster than traditional composting, which can often be a hit or miss thing if the mix is wrong or you if don't turn it, or what-ever.

Worm castings are worm poop and nothing but worm poop. It's used as a fertilizer in much smaller amounts than worm compost. An excellent slow-release fertilizer, worm castings have everything you need for growing vegetables. The "slow-release" is the result of each casting being coated with calcium by the worm as it passes through its body.

Often, when you purchase "worm castings" you are actually getting worm compost, since the process of getting "pure" castings is not that easy. "Worm compost" is an excellent addition to your growing medium or garden, but should not be confused with "worm castings". When buying worm castings, don't pay a premium for just worm compost.

Along with the 1/3 compost, which can be either traditional compost or vermi-compost, we add about 6 cups of the Pure Worm Castings® to the mix before planting to supply the plant with slow release fertilizer. Then, throughout the growing season, we add VermaPlex® every 7-14 days to the water reservoir or as a foliar feed. In a future post, I'll share what we've learned about foliar feeding with the microbe-rich VermaPlex®. It not only feeds the plant, but also prevents pests and diseases from attacking our plants. It's truly a miracle....

.....and so is the fact that, after all that Christmas ham and turkey, I'm still hungry. Chow!


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Moving The Garden To The Greenhouse

Digger Jones — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:04:00 GMT

"a-blog-by-a-dog"

Digger

Unfortunately, we didn't escape the frost after all. Yes, Jack Frost paid our self-watering container garden a call, taking out the corn and okra. The tomatoes and peppers made it to the greenhouse just in time.

The Greenhouse Garden

Let's take a look at those peppers and cherry tomatoes.

Greenhouse to the Rescue!

One of the good things about container gardening: the pots are mobile. We were able to load these pots of cherry tomatoes and green peppers onto our little trailer and take them to the greenhouse without much effort. For my part, there was absolutely no effort whatsoever, seeing as how I don't actually participate in anything that requires lifting. I have to save my energy for writing. Besides, that's why we keep Bill.

Gardening in the Greenhouse

It looks like, out of necessity, an experiment on greenhouse gardening is in the works. How well will the plants ripen? How long will the pepper plants and cherry tomato plants keep producing?

Lots of blooms.

We'll continue adding VermaPlex™ every 14 or so days and try to keep everything warm once we get into the really cold weather of January-February. Last year we had 3 straight nights of 15 degrees. That probably doesn't sound like a big deal for you guys in Minnesota, but I can tell you, if you're outside in a dog house without any clothes on, that's as cold as a well diggers you-know-what. Try it sometime. On second thought, maybe not. The neighbors might talk.

We keep the greenhouse warm overnight with a heater or incandescent lights. Another method is to place black barrels of water inside the greenhouse to solar heat throughout the day, then provide warmth at night. The greenhouse still heats up during the day, so we open the windows and turn on a fan if needed.

I'm wondering....could we possible squeeze my dog house into that greenhouse?


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Gearing up for Winter Vegetable Gardening

Digger Jones — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:25:00 GMT

"a-blog-by-a-dog"

Digger

Looks like we're out of the woods with the previously forcasted freeze. Which is a good thing for the fall garden left-overs. Although we're going to have wind and heavy rains, the freezing temps are not going to materialize. Still looks like a good day to just lie around and chew bones.

Winter Threatens Our Vegetable Garden

With any luck, in a couple of weeks the corn should ripen up before the colder weather gets here for certain. As you can see, the corn is almost there.

Jolly Green Giants

Thought about putting them in the greenhouse, but they are way too tall. It's incredible they got this big in a pot.
(See our "Self-Watering-Container-Pots" construction and soil mix. No extra nitrogen was need, just the worm castings and VermaPlex®.) I'd say, these results show you can grow corn successfully using this method.

We'll do what we can to keep the corn going in hopes of being able to harvest it. What did we learn? For the fall garden, we need to get corn planted by early September. Even though it's very, very hot and the sun is very, very strong, it will be easier to protect them from the sun while they are still small than to deal with the November frosts and freezes when they are giants.

Say Hello to my little friend.

Gardening in North Central Florida has been more of a challenge than we ever could have anticipated (I'm speaking for Bill and Kayce, of course. Quite frankly, I don't do "anticipation". Living in the moment - that's ole' Digger). But, as we (they) build up our sandy soil over time, these self-watering containers are proving to be a viable way of vegetable gardening in the meantime. Perhaps, we (they) may just dispense with the in-ground garden altogether and stay with self-watering container gardening as our (their) only growing method. As for me personally, I'm not that emotionally involved, being a carnivore and all.

Tomorrow we'll check out the green house, where all our pepper and tomato plants are hanging out. And where I've found some tasty little rabbits, I might add.


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Self Watering Container Pots and Winter Vegetable Gardening

Digger Jones — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:50:00 GMT

"a blog-by-a-dog"

Digger

Hope you'all had a great Thanksgiving. I know I did. I'm absolutely stuffed.

Our Thoughts Turn To Winter Vegetable Gardening

With the first real frost of the season forecasted for last night, we were scrambling around yesterday trying to save our pepper plants, tomato plants, cherry tomato plants, okra plants (yes, they're still producing), corn (please hold on, little ears, you can make it!), and pole beans.

For Thanksgiving, we had a great big "mess" of beans, okra, tomatoes and peppers from our self-watering container garden. What we couldn't eat, we put in the 'fridge.

Thanksgiving Feast From Our Self-Watering Container Garden

Winter Gardening Means Protecting Your Fall Vegetables

That left the still ripening fruit to worry about. Knowing the frost was expected last night, we picked off the green tomatoes from the towering indeterminate Brandywine tomatoes. There was no way to cover these giants. The tomatoes are in window sills slowly ripening up. We hauled the cherry tomato and green pepper plants to the green house and carted the corn containers to the south side of the house beside the still-blooming okra.

Gotta move'em, Bill

This morning, just before sunrise, when they let me out (earlier than usual, all that turkey and stuffing, you know) we hosed down the corn, okra and beans, 'cause there was a bit of frost on them. Not bad, but enough to burn them. The beans may not make it, there was no way to protect or move them since they were staked and up too high to cover.....

Be right back.

.....Just checked the corn, okra and beans. By hosing off the frost before the sun hits them, there doesn't seem to be any damage. If you leave the frost on the vegetables, when the sun hits, the cells in the plants explode and poof! there goes your plant.

Vegtables in Pots For Our Winter Garden

For our winter vegetable garden, we have some collards and kale going in their self-watering pots and, of course, they're loving this cooler weather. With our mild winters, we should be able to keep them growing all winter until the first hot weather in the spring.

Great Winter Vegetable Gardening Plants
Collards and Kale

The Trials of Winter Vegetable Gardening

We'll probably be able to keep the cherry and pepper plants going in the greenhouse until the first really hard freeze. But, maybe, just maybe, we can keep the green house warm enough so the peppers will keep on going.

One way to heat a green house without using electricity is to fill a black barrel with water and put it in the green house. (Better yet, put the barrel in the green house first, then fill it. No since in giving yourself a hernia, Bill.) The solar radiation will heat the water through the day, which will help maintain the temperatures of the green house overnight. We'll be trying this idea over the winter to see how it works out. We do have to worry here in Central Florida about the green house getting too hot when the temp's rebound, but that's no biggy.

Hold it. Do I smell turkey left-overs? Gotta go!


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

How To "Juice-Up" Your Compost Heap

Digger Jones — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:48:00 GMT

"a-blog-by-a-dog"

Digger
The world's smartest dog

Making Compost For Spring

The time for action is now if we're going to have enough compost for our spring garden. Our potting soil mix recipe calls for 1/3 compost, so to fill all our self-watering container garden pots next spring, it's going to take a large volume of compost. Thus far, Her Royal Shiekyness, (the horse-of-course, revisit my composting friends), is making the major contribution, giving us copious amounts of horse manure for "worm food" or for the major component of our compost heap.

From our gardening results this fall, composted horse manure is a proven winner in my book, providing lots of organic matter for the microbes in our soil inoculant, VermaPlex ™, to feast on. We apply the VermaPlex™ every couple of weeks to the water reservoir of the self-watering container as our only added fertilizer.

Our Pole Beans in a Self-Watering Container

Composting Horse Manure and Wood Chips

The good thing about manure is it contains lots of microbes from the horse, which is how horses digests their food. Fresh horse manure will still retain a goodly amount of these microbes. However, if the poop has been lying around the pasture in the hot sun, the microbe content will dwindle.

Also, manure gathered from stalls will contain wood shavings, which can take forever to break down. Not to worry. We've found adding VermaPlex™ to our compost pile as we add new composting material provides a tremendous amount of beneficial microbes that accelerates the composting process and we've seen the wood chips decompose at a much faster rate. In most compost piles wood will just stay there, seemly never decomposing at all.

Compost Activator: Accelerating Your Compost Pile With Microbes

Check out this article that goes into the whole compost activator or compost starter thing, as well as explains more about composting wood, why it takes so long and why your compost pile containing wood can benefit from the addition of microbes. And don't take my word for it, here's the low-down on microbial activity in wood composting from folks lots smarter than me. They're phd's and such - heck, I flunked obedience training, whatdaya expect from me? Scientific formulas? Grammar and composition are pushing my intellectual capacity to the limit, thank you very much. You have to be impressed with me, though. Can your dog write?


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Self-Watering Container Garden Improvements

Digger Jones — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:58:00 GMT

a blog by a dog

Self-Watering Container Pot Improvement

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I'm here to say that ole' Bill is still learning. Why, just the other day he learned that we should have put a sheet of landscape cloth in between the potting soil and the water reservoir in our Self-Watering Container Garden Pots. The landscape cloth will keep the plants roots from growing through the holes and into the water reservoir, thereby plugging up the water wicking process. Duh!

Our extensive root system plants, like tomatoes and watermelons, will more than likely, sooner or later, suffer from this fate. As a matter of fact, the watermelons, after growing like crazy and producing some very promising looking fruit, suddenly started dropping leaves up close to the soil and the fruit itself was getting no bigger. When we pulled out the plant yesterday, sure enough, there were roots growing down into the reservoir. Nuts!

Watermelon in Self-Watering Container Pot

The vine looks terrific, but look up next to the blue container, you can see the naked vines. So much promise. Sigh!

Always optimistic, never deterred, Bill just sucked it up and headed for Lowe's to purchase landscaping cloth for our next planting. May the Green God of Bountiful Harvest be with him. Amen!

Meanwhile, I'm off to play with my new toy - a half-grown, unripe watermelon. Yeah!


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

First Harvest From Our Self-Watering Container Fall Garden

Digger Jones — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:07:00 GMT

a blog-by-dog

Okra Harvest From Our Fall Self-Watering Container Garden

We only have two containers with seven plants, so we'll have to cut each okra before it gets too big and store them in the fridge until we get enough for a meal. The first day, Monday, we harvested (1), count'em, one. But today we cut off three. So, eventually we'll have enough.

It's best to have more plants to get enough ripe ones at one picking, so you can prepare them immediately after harvest. When they start to come in heavily, we can just freeze the excess for the lean months.

Okra Receipe

Here's our receipe for "oven" fried (have to watch that cholestrol) okra that's a good alternative to the southern pan fried grandma used to make:

Cut okra into 1/4 inch slices.
Dip into egg white.
Roll in salted and peppered cornmeal.
Double spray non-stick cookie sheet with Pam.
Place prepared okra single layered on the cookie sheet.
Spray the okra with pam.
Put oven rack on bottom rung of the oven.
Place cookie sheet with okra in oven, preheated to 400 degrees.
Bake until bottoms of okra's are brown
Turn okra's over and brown the other side.
Eat!

Next Harvest Very Soon ..... Watermelon

Our fingers (or in my case, claws) are crossed that we can get these beauties ripe before a frost. We're getting a cool down this weekend (thank god), but the lows are only going to be in the 50's, with high's in the 70's. Perfect!


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Self-Watering Container Garden Update

Digger Jones — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:39:00 GMT

a blog by a dog

The fall planting season is well underway here in North Central Florida and boy are were ready for it. We've been busy (rather, Bill has been busy) building our self-watering containers. Here are some progress pictures of the results to date:

                                                    Pole Beans

                                                       Tomatoes

                                                        Okra and Beans

                                           Watermelon

We've had to move the pots around trying to escape the late summer heat. Intermittent sun through tree leaves seems to do the trick. October has remained hot, although we had a slight cool down of a very short duration a couple of weeks ago. The tomatoes and peppers suffered from the late afternoon sun the most. The tomatoes were a little leggy from leaving them in too much shade at the beginning, but they filled in nicely once we found the perfect location.

Our plans are to build a ramada for the containers on the south side of the house, install shade cloth to roll out in the hottest times and frost cloth for the early and late freezes. This arrangement should help extend our growing season while eliminating the need to constantly move the containers.

How this all self-watering container gardening stuff got started

For those of you who may have just found this blog, let me outline our reasons for going to all the trouble of building these self-watering containers for our vegetable garden.

Since moving here to North Central Florida four years ago, we have been battling the weather and very sandy soil indicative of this area. While two growing seasons are a plus, our gardens have been damaged almost every season by early or late freezes and excessive heat at the beginning, middle or the end of each season.

For instance, this October we are still in the mid 90's, while last October we had a hard freeze on the 15th. It's entirely possible for us to go from the present heat wave to a frost in the span of a week. In spring, if you try to get your crop in early enough to miss the almost certain summer heat, you can get wiped out from an unexpected cold front. Wait too late and your crop will wilt from the brutally strong sun.

The fall crop can also be a challenge if the summer hangs on too long. Wait for cooler weather and guess what? Jack Frost makes a visit.

Topping it all off - our property has very sandy soil. Watering is a daily chore, usually twice a day, even with mulch. Houston, we have a problem - or two.

After doing some research into "self-watering" container gardening, we are hopeful we have found the answer to our dilemma. The containers are mobile - you can put them wherever you want, moving them easily if conditions aren't perfect. The water reservoir insures the plants will have a constant supply of the correct amount of moisture. It holds enough water for several days and you can add liquid fertilizer (we use VermaPlex™ in with the water. So, we went about building a few homemade ones to get it a try.

Self-Watering Container Pots Parts

Here's a look at the parts before assembly:

....and, once it's put together;

Click for an excellent site with plans for these homemade self-watering containers.
If you don't mind spending the bucks, Earth Box has some ready made ones that are even used by commercial farmers.

Soil-less Potting Soil Mix

Our soil-less mix for filling the containers is as follows:

30% Worm compost from our vermicomposting bin (using horse manure as the worm food. Yum!)
30% Peat Moss
20% Perlite
20% Pure Black Castings™

We mixed this all up in the a wheel barrel and dampened it before placing it in the container. The small cup in the center of the reservoir gets filled with the mix and acts as a wick to bring up the water into rest of the container. Once the container was filled, we planted our seeds per the instructions from the websites mentioned above, then cut a piece of plastic to cover the top of the soil to prevent evaporation and excess rain from flooding the container.

The lid from the original tote, with the middle cut out, was put over the top of this plastic to hold it in place. The bamboo to one side serves as a watering pipe for refilling the reservoir. There are drain holes on the sides of the container down to where the reservoir begins. These holes will let any excess water drain out. We added a floater with a flag on top inside the pipe that will tell us when the container needs watering without having to go to each pot and check the reservoir. We can just scan the pots to see which flags have dropped. You can see the red flag in the watermelon picture.

One thing we discovered: we need to use white plastic (garbage bags) for out "mulch" because of our strong sun. More northern climates can use black. It gets too hot here, but I can see how it would help heat up the soil in colder conditions.

When we add water to the reservoir, we mix in a small amount of VermaPlex™ as our only fertilizer, other than the original castings in the soil-less mix. This soil inoculant is teeming with microbes, which will feed on the organic content of our vermicompost and Pure Black Castings™, providing our plants with constant slow-release organic fertilizer. As you can see, our corn is a deep green and the tomatoes are full of blooms and fruit. As a matter of fact, we've had absolutely no bloom drop in this planting. Every bloom on the peppers and tomatoes have formed a fruit. The watermelon blossoms are all producing fruit, as are the squash. Hallelujah!

This self-watering container gardening principle so far is working out just fine and dandy. I''ll keep you posted on the progress with pictures and any changes or adjustments we may make. Meantime, where is that fall weather, anyway?


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Easy on the Phosphorous

Digger Jones — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:58:00 GMT

Digger, suffering from writer's block.

Bet you didn't know it was possible for a dog to experience this condition. Me either. But, then again, who thought it possible a dog could write in the first place?

Just proves a point: you're never to old to learn and always be open to news ways of doing things. Well, that's two points, but as I admonished in an earlier post, everyone knows a dog can't count.

How Much Phosphorous?

I've recovered suficiently to relate the following story:

Recently, my "persons" made a trip to the local farmers market to purchase fresh vegetables grown locally. This trip was required because yours truly had, without malice I might add, made a wreck of our own tomato patch whilst chasing a particularly fat and juicy rabbit. (And it was, I must admit, rather tasty. The chase ended quite successfully. For me, not the rabbit.)

One of the local old-time farmers and his wife were set up at the market with a very charming booth full of fresh fruit and vegetables. He was obviously a traditional farmer and knew a lot about planting and such. But still, as with most traditional growers, he was set in his ways.

After a comment on vegetable taste and, being as how he and his wife were kind and helpful by nature, he began to tell my "persons" why peppers are sometimes not very tasty.

"It's the phosphorus," he explained. "that's what gives them the flavor. When growers don't add enough phosphorous, you just don't have any taste."

My "persons" took in all he had to say, politely not mentioning the fact that the worm castings we use on our veggies are, as compared to chemical fertilizers, not very high in phosphorous and our veggies are very tasty and sweet. I know this for a fact, because I always nip off those tender young bean pods whenever I pass. Well, at least until that fence went up.

Nutrients in Your Fertilizer

Always on the lookout for knowledge on growing better veggies, my folks did some digging (I know, that's my department. But only in dirt. The research - that's the human's job) on the topic of phosphorus in fertilizers. Quite coincidentally, there was a public service ad on TV recently from the state agriculture extension cautioning against using fertilizers with phosphors on lawns in order to prevent runoff of excess fertilizer into nearby waterways and streams. More info was needed.

One online article on phosphate fertilizers we found gives a pretty good expose' on phosphorous. It relates more to landscaping and lawns, but I think you can infer something here to fertilizing vegetables as well.

In a nutshell, the myth that phosphate fertilizer will stimulate root growth is just that - a myth. As it turns out, phosphorous deficiency rarely occurs in urban soils. Only soils heavily used in agriculture become depleted of their phosphate.

Whenever any plant nutrient is lacking, plant grow slows. Once that nutrient is added back, plant growth resumes. This growth restoration is then interpreted as growth stimulation and then miraculous qualities are attributed to the fertilizers used. The tendency is to add excess phosphorous, in our farmer's example, in the effort to achieve even better results and, in some minds, better taste.

According to research, over application of fertilizer in general and phosphorus in particular, are potentially very harmful to beneficial soil organisms and surrounding waterways. Excess amounts are simply leached away in irrigation and rain. Resulting algae blooms in nearby lakes and streams lowers oxygen levels which will kill fish and other animals. Not to mention the harm it does to one's pocketbook.

Recommendations we've found in state extension services guidelines:

Maintain mulch to facilitate slow release of phosphorous and other nutrients.
Don't use phosphate fertilizer when transplanting.
Incorporate foliar applications to prevent excess nutrients being added to soils.

Slow Release Fertilizer and Foliar Application

We are have excellent success with our Pure Black Castings and VermaPlex because:

They are naturally slow release and add beneficial microorganisms to the soil.
VermaPlex is excellent as a foliar feed for extra applications if plant requires it.
NPK levels appear at first glance to be low, but only because of the slow release quality of the castings. Microorganism, consuming the organic content, provide a steady stream of NPK, so that, rather than one large dose of which the plant only utilizes a small portion and the rest is simply washed away, nutrients are available continuously in the amounts the plants needs.

And the taste is the finally test. From out experience, you just can't get any better (other than fresh bunny rabbit, that is. Heck, I even prefer road-kill, but that's just me).


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

How to Fertilize Your Lawn

Digger Jones — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:43:00 GMT

   a blog by a dog

"Digger, where have you been?" you may be asking. Well, I have a good excuse, or two. For a few days, we've been privileged to have as our guests, two Italian super-models - Sophia and Loren. Check this out.

                  "Be still my beating heart."

Can you see why I might have been a little preoccupied? R-r-r-rar-r--r-r-r!

Unfortunately, these girls are also super-fast.... more like lightening-fast. Never could catch them, but I sure had fun trying. A mutt like me would never have a chance with chicks like these anyway.   I was flirted with shamelessly, however. (Sigh).

Best Fertilizer for Lawn - Slow Release and Organic

Now, I'm back at work, busily making my contribution to the cause. Our focus is on the fall and what to do about our pitiful lawn. We've never fertilized our lawn grass (well, I have, but only a spot at a time. Besides, we have enough mowing to do with the pasture, which is fertilized.) As you can see, there is a lot of room for improvement:

After mowing, the sparseness of the lawn is evident. The project at hand is to add organic content (Pure Black Castings® ) and inoculate with microbes (VermaPlex® ) for a slow-release, low-runoff fertilization. August and September is a good time to do this. For lawns with Bahia grass, you don't want to fertilize too late in the year or too early in the Spring. For our experiment, we're going to fertilize the lawn a section and leave the rest for comparison.

Our application for 1000 square feet is as follows:

20# Pure Black Castings® following by
24 oz VermaPlex® mixed with 2-4 gallons water as a drench
10 days later: 24 oz VermaPlex® mixed with 1 gallon water as a spray.

The lawn grass will store carbohydrates for the winter as growth shifts to the roots. Come Spring, we will repeat this application and quickly jump back so the grass doesn't hit us in the butt.

And maybe - just maybe - when Spring arrives and Sophia and Loren pay us another visit, there will be "Splendor in the Grass" for old Digger.


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Fertilizer and the Lawn - Turf - Pasture - Grass

Digger Jones — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:48:00 GMT

Digger Jones
a blog by a dog

Fertilizing lawns and pasture: Now this is something Her Royal Sheiky-ness (the horse, of course) and I have in common, although I have to admit she does a much BIGGER, I mean BETTER, job than I do. My specialty is trees - I try to fertilize every tree I encounter.

So, from us experts, you'll learn everything you need to know about turf-lawn-pasture-hay fertilizing, safely organically, and eco-friendly.

When Should Fertilizer be Applied to Lawn - Turf - Pasture?

Timing is, well, everything. Fertilizing your lawn, turf or pasture is no exception. The Authorities usually recommend adding the nitrogen part of your grass fertilizing regime in the late Summer and Fall. There are good reasons for this:

When you apply nitrogen in early Spring, it causes a surge of top growth, which will make the lawn look nice in the Spring, but will deplete the plant's energy reserves.
This weakening of the plant can lead to disease and an inability to handle Summer stresses.
Nitrogen application in late August or early September (probably late September early October here in Central Florida) will provide the lawn with adequate nutrition to help it overcome any Summer stresses.
An application of nitrogen in late October or early November (again, later for here) when top growth is less but soil temperatures are still warm enough for absorption, will keep the lawn growing and the grass will green-up early in the Spring without excessive growth.

Bottom Line For Fall Nitrogen Application:

The energy stored in the plant (carbohydrate reserves) will remain higher during the Spring and Summer period thereby reducing Summer diseases.
The lawn will stay greener longer in the Fall.
Early greenup in the Spring without going crazy.

Here's the lawn - pasture fertilizing regime (follow link for chart) used at our neck of the woods:

Since we use Pure Black Castings® and VermaPlex® , we don't use any extra nitrogen. We leave the clippings from mowing, we don't cut for hay, and we only have one horse (although she eats quite a lot, but she does leave something of value behind).

The recommendation for fertilizing with Pure Black Castings®/VermaPlex® is to cut the nitrogen use by at least 50%. If you are cutting hay, have heavy grazing, or are removing clippings, you will probably need to add this extra nitrogen. Preferable, it would be an organic source.

In the Spring, we initially applied 20 pounds per 1000 sq ft of Pure Black Castings®, followed by an drench of VermaPlex®/Water mixture of 20 ounces VermaPlex to 2-3 gallons water. Ten days later, we applied a spray of VermaPlex®/Water mixture of 20 ounces VermaPlex to 1 gallons water. (Again, per 1000 square feet.)
In the Fall, we applied a spray of VermaPlex®/Water mixture of 24 ounces VermaPlex® to 1 gallon water (per 1000 square feet).
The following year, because we began with such sandy soil with little organic content, we repeated the above application regime. As we build up organic material, we can reduce the amount of Pure Black Castings® by half or more. The VermaPlex® needs the organic content to work (that's what the little microbes munch on).

The microbes in VermaPlex® digest the organic material, making the nutrients available for the grass. We are, in essence, feeding the soil. This process happens in an ongoing, SLOW-release way, so that the grass has what it needs in a steady supply without any excess nitrogen burning the grass or simple running off in heavy rains (and, boy, do we have heavy rains.)

As you can see, the pasture is greener on this side:

I can only take credit for those trees.

Next.... Grass, Grass, and More Grass

"So much grass, so little time." - Her Royal Sheiky-ness


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

News You Can Use and "The Sunday Funnies"

Bill — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:53:00 GMT

From: Monroe Cartoonist Collection: "End of the Tunnel" by Bill Monroe

Vermicomposting in the News

The whole world seems to be getting on the vermicomposting bandwagon. Children in the heart of New York City to the women in villages of India - ordinary folk are doing an extraordinary thing: saving the planet one vermicomposting pit at a time.

Children: A vermicomposting pit is being included in The Greenhouse Project in a Manhattan school in New York City's upper west side.
Women: A project by women's self-help groups in India using vermicompost to replace purchased manure as fertilizer, not only saves money, but also provides aid to the women.

Hold off on turning out that light - I think it's getting a little brighter.


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Taking Care of Bamboo Plants

Digger Jones — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:08:00 GMT

Digger Jones
a blog by a dog

Remember our bamboo plants that suffered from a very cold winter and late frost? We attempted to care for the bamboo with organic methods and fertilizer and kept our fingers (claws) crossed.

Fertilizer - Care: Bamboo Growth

Well, I'm happy to report that, although we did loose some of them, we're enjoying some pretty good results:

Here's what we did:

Pulled back the mulch
Circled with some vermicompost
Top dressed with about 1 pound Pure Black Castings®
Drenched with a 20:1 VermaPlex® /water mixture.
Added more mulch
Kept it watered until the Summer rains started
Prayed to the Bamboo Growth god

We've been told that with our sandy soil, bamboo never does very well around here. Never say never. There's some good information out there on taking care of bamboo.

Comments on Care For Bamboo

If anyone has any suggestion on how to protect bamboo from freezing until it can get established, please let me know in the comments. One lady we talked to in Tampa is keeping a tropical tree going there by putting halogen lights at the base during hard freezes. It keeps the sap from freezing and has saved the tree that is meant for zones much further south.

We're in zone 8, and the above bamboo transplanted from a pot we got from a grower, is meant for zone 9. That's not too big of a difference, so maybe we can save it.

Lesson learned, we transplanted a species that grows around here into our bamboo garden, and they are doing very well. I'm looking forward to the shade.

Next...Vermicomposting Tip


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Slow Release Fertilizer for Vegetables

Digger Jones — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:58:00 GMT

Digger Jones
a blog by a dog

Organic Fertilizers for Vegetables In Our Self-Watering Garden

A quick update for you on the progress of our Self-Watering Vegetable Container Garden:

The seedlings we planted are looking very healthy and green, thanks to our slow-release organic fertilizers incorporated into our potting soil mix. A couple of squashes in one container are a little spindly - probably from not getting quite enough sun quickly enough. We were trying to protect them from this hot Florida sun and I suspect we went overboard. But, here it is, the end of July and we're planting vegetable seeds in Florida.

The moisture is staying just about perfect in the pots. No daily watering, no nothin'. Just topped off the reservoir with the water/very-small-amount-of-VermPlex mixture only once so far. When the plants get full sized, we'll see how long the water lasts. For now, it's great, because the top of the potting mix isn't drying out and the moisture stays constant, so the seedlings are not suffering in the least.

Low Fertilizer-For-Vegetable Cost

The slow-release quality of the composted manure/Pure Black Castings® mix, microbe-inoculated with VermaPlex®, is providing all the nutrients the plants need when they need it. The microbes are making the nutrients available to the plant without burning, and will last the lifetime of the plant. This means the fertilizer-for-vegetable cost of one 5 gallon container amounts to pennies for the 1.2 pound of black castings and the 8 ounces of VermaPlex®.

We picked up some more plastic containers (8 gallons) from WalMart for $3.50, which is the cheapest we've found yet. It only requires 1 container, because the section you cut from the middle of the lid fits down in the bottom for the reservoir (with a little support underneath). The recycled large butter cup is the perfect height to serve as the "wick". The rim of the lid will hold the plastic mulch in place. Perfect.

It seems to be a serendipitous occurrence finding them. Remember the day-glow-orange ugly containers from Home Depot? Well, these new beauties have solved our decorating problem. Check it out.

Suddenly Beautiful. Go Gators!

We're ready for the kick-off.

Next....We Must Address the Lawn/Pasture/Hay Fertilizing

Her Royal-Sheikyness (the horse, of course) insists...she's a little obsessed with the grass. As a matter of fact, it's pretty much her whole life.


Pure Black Castings®	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex®

Organic Gardening "News You Can Use" & "The Sunday Funnies"

Bill — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:10:00 GMT

From: Monroe Cartoonist Collection: "The Low Bidder" by Bill Monroe

Organic Gardening In The News

Tidbits of news you may not get on the local broadcast.

Software For Water-Wise Landscaping: New update release to computer software that take the guess work out of xeriscape planting by helping you pick plants for water-wise gardens and landscaping. We need all the help we can get.

Increased Organic Gardening Interest: This article from the Indiana News discusses how garden centers have been flooded with first-time gardeners. They're seeking knowledge on "growing their own" vegetable gardens for several reasons:

To save money. The economic meltdown has created more interest as folks are looking for ways to make their budgets go farther. There may be an up-side to the down-turn.
For better taste. Most everyone knows there's no comparison to a home-grown tomato and those anemic ones at the grocery store.
To reduce exposure to chemicals. There's more awareness about the accumulative effect of long term exposure to even low levels of chemicals - not to mention the food contaminate-scares of late.

The Hazards of That Perfectly Green Lawn: American's obsession with the perfect lawn may be killing them. Over applications of fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, you-name-it-cides, have consequences of run-off, over-exposure of pets and children, and toxicity to wild-life. Company spokesmen say people need to follow instructions on lawn care products carefully so as not to introduce excess poison and toxic chemicals into their environment. I don't know...when a product needs to be so carefully measured in order not to make us sick, and all just for a greener lawn, it gives one pause.

"Is there something out there that will make my lawn green without killing my dog?"
Ahah!

Pure Black Castings® and VermaPlex®: Organic fertilizers from earthworms. Non-toxic. Safe for pets, children. Use it on your lawn, in your garden, around your plants, in your coffee, heck - pour it on your head......not to worry.

Next....Fertlizing Our Lawn and Pasture/Hay

Digger returns with his take on our efforts to keep this little farm "green".


Pure Black Castings	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex

Planter Watering: Progress of Our Self Watering Planters

Digger Jones — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:08:00 GMT

Digger waiting for a "deposit".

While I'm waiting, let's check up on our plastic container pot that's been turned into a Self-Watering Planter.

Planter Watering

The soil-less planting mix we came up with seems to be staying moist, although the very top layer tends to dry out, so mulch or plastic covering seems to be necessary, especially when sprouting seeds. It's not to moist either.  It appears to only wick up as much water as need to maintain that "damp sponge" consistency.

We've only added water once a week with the water/VermaPlex mixture, and the reservoir wasn't empty then. Of course, the plants are just seedlings now. When they get full size, the water usage will increase. But for now, we're not loosing water through evaporation and drainage like we experienced in the earth garden beds.

     Self-Watering Container

    Planter Watering: So far, so good.

We planted seed directly in the container pot and most of them sprouted. They look very green. We're keeping them out of the afternoon sun on the east side patio and so far this seems to be enough sun. We are in Florida, you know, and it's the end of July. The sun is very strong.

When we first moved here, we wondered why folks had their gardens under shade trees. Now we know. I spend most of my time in the shade myself. I'm banned from the indoors and the refreshing A/C ever since a vigorous roll in the horse manure preceding a roll on the couch created such a stir.

Back to the pots. For now, these self-watering pots are sitting under a roof, so the torrential rains we get this time of year are not a factor. To test our system, we're going to move a pot or two outside, but still under some shade, to see how things go.

One thing we've figured out, we should fill the container with potting soil mix up to and even above the rim, sort of mounding in the middle. That way, the plastic cover will rest higher in the middle and most of the excess rain water can run off the plastic without going through the potting mix and out the bottom and carrying away nutrients. As they are now, the plastic sort of droops down towards the middle and I fear more water will find it's way into the pot.

We must get this test done if we expect to convert our entire gardening endeavor into a "self-watering container garden". For now, since I can't go inside anyway, I might as well test out that fresh pile of manure.

Next.... Probably a Bath

With all the water we're saving from our self-watering containers, there's plenty for dog shampoos (drat!).


Pure Black Castings	Vermicomposting Bins	Compost Worms	VermaPlex

Friends of The Earth: Coldwater Creek LLC

Kayce — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:24:00 GMT

There was a song back in the 70's called "I'd Love To Change The World":

"I'd love to change the world,
but I don't know what to do.
So I'll leave it up to you.

A call I received recently from Natalia Ritter of Cold Creek LLC reminded me of it. She has taken on the daunting task of turning 360 acres in the Pensacola area into an eco-tourism retreat.

Looks like she's figured out the "what to do" part. Natalia's focus is on a patch of ground on the property that she describes as "dead:

"There's no organic content to the soil on this particular area. It's so poor, nothing grows on it but a few scraggly weeds.. it's just dead." she told me.

Apparently parts of the property, beautiful with a creek "running through it" and teeming with wildlife, suffered from an apparent lack of stewardship by the previous owners. This patch on the property was left bare and untended and allowed to erode until the ecosystem failed and it lost it's organic viability.

Natalia's goal is not only restoring this "dead zone", but also maintaining the entire property's ecosystem . By replanting native plants and trees and enriching the soil, the creek and wildlife that thrive there can be nurtured and sustained. She is using organic methods with compost and organic fertilizers for gardening, farming and landscaping. In fact, she's excited to start a "worm farm" not only as a way to vermicompost organic waste from the retreat to supply "castings", but also as one of the "attractions" for guests.

Coldwater Creek

Eco-Friendly and "Green" Retreat

Her plans are to create an eco-retreat with sustainable agriculture and permiculture, where guests can see and experience actual working systems. In fact, the retreat will provide a place that not only sustains nature, but also restores the soul and educates the mind.

It promises an alternative to the typical vacation. Instead of the hectic, exhausting theme park, the eco-retreat would offer a serene, restorative return to nature. There will be activities, as well as nature walks, wildlife observation and, of course, the creek.

Sounds like a "good thing". I can't wait to visit. Please check out her website for a list of all the "living eco friendly " amendities and plans.

Living Eco-Friendly

Often it seems overwhelming and impossible when we think of all the damage being done to the environment. How can it possibly be rectified? We want to give up or let someone else do it. But change, like any other endeavor, can be brought about by breaking it into workable units: you and me.

Rather than rail against the polluters, let's figure out what we can do, do it, and maybe we'll inspire others to do their part.

We can use organic methods and products. We can conserve, recycle, compost. We can support "green business". We can buy local produce or grow our own. If I have a yard, I can grow a garden. If I don't have a yard, I can grow in containers on my patio and on the window sill. But always with the idea of improving, not just using.

You don't have to be big agri-business to pollute. There's run-off from lawns and plant containers. I must be aware of the impact I have and make sure it's positive. I must never leave a piece of ground bare and always return to the earth what I've taken away.

Natalia's efforts reflect what each of us can aspire to - take care of the "patch" for which we are responsible by practicing good stewardship and using earth-friendly, sustainable methods and products. When we focus on what we can change, do what we can do, I believe we can - indeed we will - "change the world".
-Kayce