#5 Start a container garden - learn to grow things

http://www.container-gardening-for-you.com

Plants love to grow. Plants grow, we eat them, the world is a good place. Sometimes animals eat the plants and then we eat the animals, or their eggs or milk, but over all, we need plants.


It's astounding how many people do not know how to grow things. A long long time ago when I was in kindergarten we always grew seeds - in jars or paper cups so we could watch it grow.

https://fullofbeansproject.wikispaces.com/Ms.+Barratt%27s+Kindergarten+Class

Evidently that has fallen by the way side. After all, how do you assess that on a standardized test? But we are missing out. Growing things is really pretty easy. Growing things in a container garden means you can do it ALMOST anywhere. (If you have a very dark home, with no windows or minimal light, mushrooms may be your best bet.) But assuming you have a window with at least a little bit of sunlight, or maybe even a balcony (south facing preferred if you live north of the equator) or a fire escape or even a sunny window, you are set! 

If you aren't sure about how much light you get, spend some time at home, and watch how the light moves throughout the day. In the summer it will be further north (if you are north of the equator) and in the winter it is more in the south. Get a sense of where the sunniest spot is. If you are using a patio or deck, figure out which corner gets the best light. 

Why start a container garden? To get you used to growing things. To learn how growing something you can eat can be a valuable skill, and to appreciate the food that you can pick up at your local market. You can start with some herbs - basic, thyme, chives, and oregano are really easy to start with. They like a lot of light. 

If you want to take it up a notch and have some space, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other greens work well. Peppers are good too. They don't need too much space, and can use a vertical growing space. 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/40462096629452447/

Plants can grow in pretty much any container - you'll want to make sure the roots have enough space to spread out, and the soil can stay moist, but it's surprising how much can grow in a small area. Vertical growing can be great - This is a super video on a vertical container garden using plastic bottles!

You can start with small containers and expand as you go. A few words of wisdom:

- Think about weight - it you have a deck that won't reliably hold a 100 gallon barrel of water - do not plant 100 gallon barrel of garden- think water weight - not the kind you get after eating a whole pizza, the weight of the water after your garden has been thoroughly soaked.

- Think about what you'd like - if you HATE green peppers, don't grow green peppers. Grow what you will actually like.

- Think about where you live and the season. If you have a home in Minnesota, don't plan on having a lush patio garden full of vegetables in November. They will likely be frozen.

Okay, this is pretty much common sense, but you get the picture.

Have fun. Be creative. Do some on line research.  These are a few sites to get you started:

• Vegetable Gardening Online has some neat ideas and fairly simple approaches
• Alpha Mom - Urban/suburban hippies has some neat experiences to share
• Preparedness Mama - has some great ideas too, as well as a bunch of interesting articles on getting prepared. I'm not 100% sure what she is prepared for, but I'll put it this way, I'd be happy to have her for a neighbor in a zombie apocalypse. I think. I'll read more and get back to you on that one. 

You can use all sorts of containers - they need to be able hold some soil, have a drainage hole at the bottom and avoid toxic stuff (pressure treated lumber should have a plastic barrier to prevent leaching into the soils) But get creative. We will come back to more ideas with this, right now the idea is to get you growing!!

If you have a compost pile started, remember soon, that vegetable waste and worm poop will become AWESOME SOIL! for your container garden.

The internet abounds with great resources on this, and we'll come back to this subject soon.

In the meantime, HAPPY GARDENING!!!

http://deco.howwewokeup.com/easy-to-diy-container-vegetable-gardening-ideas/

#4 Start a compost pile

So, when you are in the kitchen, preparing something to eat, and you have left over vegetable peels, fruit rinds, melon innards, egg shells, or onion skins, what do you do with them?

Most of us will admit tossing them in the trash is sort of appealing.

That's right. You're in a hurry. You want to clean up (or seem like you did) and you need to get rid of it. So you toss it in the trash. With everything else. With the newspaper, with the plastic bag the cucumbers were in, with the casserole Aunt Louis left a month ago and you never got around to eating.... Sounds lovely. Job done.

We all do it.
Or we all want to do it.

If you are older than about 30 that's generally what you do. Unless (a.) you grew up with hippy freak parents, (b.) you grew up on a farm, or (c.) you actually have gotten hip to composting.

I'll confess here.

I don't fit into any of these, but I try to compost.

I mean to compost.

I really WANT to compost.

I have a garden ready for compost.

I have a compost receptacle that sits just outside my kitchen door in the garage (because Husband did not want it in the kitchen counter).

I am really good at filling it and taking out and putting it into the compost pile... until I am not.

And then I suck at it. I truly suck.

Yep. Coffee grinds go down the drain (do you know how much earthworms absolutely ADORE coffee grounds? I've seen earthworm sonnets to coffee grounds. Ok. I lied. But I still think that would be pretty cool, and honestly, I think earthworms writing sonnets would be sort of awesome, especially when they are hopped up on coffee grounds.)

And yep, sometimes perfectly wonderfully nutritious compost ends up in the trash. BUT that is such a waste!

Why?

1. the vegetable matter that ends up in the trash makes your trash really stink (funky old broccoli has a stench that could wilt the boys locker rooms in a high school without air-conditioning in Texas) Neighbors will talk about how bad your trash smells.

2. the stinky vegetable wastes then end up in land fills, after it gets hauled there. So fuel is burned getting it there, and then it creates all sorts of stinky greenhouse cases (methane) once it's there.

3. Those same stinky vegetables waste/fruit rinds/banana peels and coffee grinds are chock full of nutrients your garden craves. Yes. Seriously. Plants are sort of cannibalistic that way if you think about it. They love to eat the corpses of those who lived before them. And earthworms love coffee grinds. And when you mix the stinky waste with dirt the smell goes away. Yes. Really.

So get with it and start a compost pile!

It's not that hard, it's not that tedious, it will not smell bad if you do it right.

Composting isn't hard. It's just a matter of keeping up with it.

So, now that you are ready to start a compost pile there are some things you need to think about:
Where will you do it? What kind of compost pile will you have? How much effort will you put into tending it?

These are not too hard to figure out. If you life in an apartment, you will not be too likely to put a compost heap in your window. If you live in the suburbs, a compost inside some sort of container may work well. If you have more space, a compost heap may be all you need. But you can manage to compost in all those.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/vermicomposting.htm

For the apartment - vermi-composting may be your best bet. This uses earthworms in a box to compost for you. This is a very enthusiastic article on how to do this, and most of what you need to know to have a happy compost system set up. If you don't live in an apartment, this is also a great way to go, if space is limited and you don't get icked out by worms. (Don't! Worms love coffee and write sonnets about coffee grounds, they are hermaphroditic, and they have magic poop. Seriously, what is not to love?)

A general, middle american suburban compost can be made easily out of 4 balls of straw or hay (not pine straw) and a wooden pallet. Go ahead and get an extra bale of hay or straw to get started. Put it out at the edge of the yard, away from too much traffic, or and not next to water sources. The four bales can be put end to end to create a donut shape with a hole in it. Keep the bales bound by the twine. The shipping pallet rests of top to keep dogs and other pesky critters out of it, but let's rain in. Take the extra bale, undo the twine, and set it nearby. You'll want to pull off a couple of "flakes" and loosen them, and put them at the bottom of the donut hole. Then start putting kitchen compost in and cover it up with a handful of straw from your spare bale overtime you do it. Soon, you'll notice that the food waste is starting to break down and the straw of hay is too. Excellent! Now start mixing in the waste as you go, usually with a small shovel, and again topping it off with more straw. The idea here is that the compost will break down, the outer bales keep moisture and temperature comfortable, and it is usually good for 6 -12 months depending on where you live. Once the outer bales break down you'll have a strong compost pile going build another one right next to it, the same way.  You can let the first one rest for a while and turn it every few weeks. The dirt in that will be great to add to gardens and around trees for mulch and fertilizer. You can even add some worms if you like. There are a lot of variations on this method, but the nice thing is this is low maintenance and can have some lovely results. This article is about how to do it on a slightly larger scale.

You can also do it on smaller scale too in a plastic storage bin. http://organicgardening.about.com/od/compost/ht/storagecompost.htm But I'd want to add worms. Worms are awesome, write sonnets and love coffee. What's not to like. Did I mention they have magic nutrient rich poo? Yah-huh!! They sure do!

If you live on a lot of land, and don't have a compost already, you can build a bigger version of the straw bale depending on how much waste you generate. Bears, dogs, wild coyotes, foxes, armadillos, opossums and raccoons will enjoy the pile, so you might want it a ways from your house. and if you mix the waste in fast, it can reduce unwanted visitors.

A few things about compost piles to remember:

Plant waste good. Animal waste bad.
If it grows or has been green, it's okay. If it walked, moved, swam, or flew, no. And no, you don't want to put cat litter, dog, cat or human poo into compost. Just no. Cow, horse, rabbit, goat and deer poo is okay. Not pig. Essentially, animal poo is okay if they eat plants only. But otherwise, it introduces what you don't want into your compost.

Oh and egg shells are fine. The worms say they goes well with coffee grinds. Helps add calcium to magic worm poop. It's a total win win there.

We will talk about composting toilets another time, but for now, let's stick to waste from plants and worm poo. That makes the best compost for you!!

And by the way, once you have your compost composted - it makes for some EXCELLENT gardening dirt!! Seriously, some of the best stuff around.

More on that soon.

Now, I need to go empty my compost, and start peeling some vegetables.

HAPPY COMPOSTING!!

Adapting your yard - Fruit Trees

If you are thinking of adding something special to your yard, go with fruit!

Fruit trees can provide pollen for bees, increase available food sources for local wildlife, and provide you with fresh, accessible, delicious nutrients.

I have a friend in rural Azerbaijan. More than fifty years ago his father planted an acre of fruit trees of all varieties. Today this man's children, grandchildren and great grand children feast on fruits from this orchard almost year round. The fruits are so good, and you can taste the love and sunshine in each bite. It is a wonderful legacy to him, and a gift to his family.

Look for local species that are well suited for the climate and micro-climate of your yard. Ideally, you want something that is native to your area, will drive WITHOUT extra water, fertilizers, fungicides, and pesticides. A good fruit tree will provide shade, habitat, color, and lots of fresh fruit. Talk to your local county extension agent about the best variety for your yard and plant several trees if you can.

Be sure that it is a fruit you like, you will hopefully have a lot of it in for years to come!