Greenhouse and seedlings update

Mid January has brought many cold days with temperatures barely above freezing if I was lucky. This didn't stop Deb and I from working on the greenhouse at the big garden.  Last week we finished the frame. This week we bundled up, made some hot tea go go, and finished the base frame, main wall, and door. The plastic just arrived from Homedepot.com, a 3mil 20'x50' sheet of polyethylene. We have invested somewhere around $120 with everything. Deb and I are waiting for a clear snow-free forecast to hang the plastic. I'm waiting for dryer soils to run the rotor-tiller inside the greenhouse beds.

The first seedlings have been planted and have sprouted. I used the new self-made syringe small soil blocker with some organic potting mix. The plants seem to be growing at a rapid rate and with good health. The cabbage and kale are the pace setters, both making fast progress and noticeable growth every day. The spinach seeds have germinated a bit slower and are finally showing a sprout pushing through the soil surface. The mini greenhouse made from an upside down Office Depot storage bin does the trick of keeping a warm humid environment for the baby plants.

In other news, the worm composter is doing well and I have spotted many new baby worms. Deb and I have planted a sweet potato in the window to grow many sprouts which will all turn into sweet potato factories in the garden. The neighborhood community garden idea in my community has been canned (apparently they think a community garden will cost money to start up..). Lastly, Deb and I have more aloe plants than we know what to do with; those things keep reproducing!!

Seed starting time is two weeks away!

It's no secret that Deb and I love greenhouses. It's finally time we have our own. I've had cold frames before, standing one to three feet above the soil. There's just something cozy about being in a warm humid greenhouse surrounded by green lush plants when it's cold, dry, and windy outside. We spent hours looking at videos online of various methods of building greenhouses. We decided on one and jumped into the project. We should be done within one to two weeks. The frame is done now.

The worms are here! 500 redworms arrived in the mail and I got right to work. The worm farm had to be prepped with some starter compost for beneficial organisms, shredded newspaper, and the supplied cocoa peat material. The worms need appropriate bedding and moisture retaining materials to sustain the right humidity they need. For now, I can only add a small hand full of kitchen scraps per week. As the worms reproduce and increase in numbers, the food intake and compost output will speed up. Each of the three trays can house up to 3,000 worms, so the 500 may turn to 9,000 in 3 months! Food consumption can reach about 5 pounds of kitchen scraps per week. The best part is, no smell.

Deb and I spread out some finished homemade compost on the big garden. Last year the garden was not organic under the care of my late grandfather. This year, it's going organic. The use of chemical fertilizers last year means there were no slow release nutrients causing diminished soil microorganism activity. This has probably rendered the soil in major need of some real fertility. The compost will help, but my secret weapon(no longer a secret?) is kelp meal. Kelp has no substantial amount of the big 3 (Potassium, Phosphorus, Nitrogen), but it is amazingly rich in tons of other nutrients that are often in short supply. I've used kelp meal in the past and had great results. I'll be putting the kelp out mid February.

Next, we turned over & moved the massive mound of unfinished composting materials at the big garden. Although the air temperature was around 35 degrees, the inside of the pile was steaming hot. We must have a good ratio of carbon/nitrogen and good moisture.  We've probably got about 100 gallons of organic matter breaking down right now. If we weren't adding anything else, after the decomposition completes this would make somewhere around 10 gallons of compost.

In the past I've always had my seeds in various bags and envelopes. This worked for the first time sowing seeds, but when going back to them again, I found major clutter and often spilled seeds. This year I wanted a new method for keeping our seeds straight. We bought some bead organizers from the craft store. It took about an hour to organize them all, but they are all neatly tucked away in their little containers now, clearly labelled.

Two weeks till seed starting time!

Worm Farm, Mini Cold Frames, Homemade Soil Blockers

One good thing arising from January's short days, brisk temperatures, and inhospitable planting conditions is a surplus of free time to plan for the season ahead.  For me this is a chance to launch the first attack in preparation for the March 15th initial seed sowing. I've been reading various articles about a new(to mainstream) method of seed starting called soil blocks. It is the same premise as peat pots with the mesh around a compressed expandable pill of peat moss and nutrients. I have three problems with peat pots:

1. Poor/inconsistent results due to damping off or to lack of nutrients.
2. The environmental cost of using peat moss. Peat moss is not a sustainable resource (Read here if you want to know more).
3. That stupid mesh around the outside of the peat pot is still in tact in the soil 3 years later. 

A soil block is a chunk of the soil of your choice packed into a mold, then ejected to stand freely in a tray. The compressed soil is packed just tight enough so it will hold it's shape until the roots begin to fill it, and hold it together even tighter. As the roots reach the air surrounding the blocks, they gently prune themselves rather than hitting a wall(like  potted seedlings). The roots of potted seedlings wrap around the container until they become root-bound which stunts the growth of the plants later in life.

Poor choice of soil for the blocks, too Grainy.

Several companies offer products that make soil blocks at home. To start a typical garden, one would need at least two sizes. A smaller sized blocker would be needed for smaller seeds such as carrots, brassicas, etc. Larger blocks would be needed for larger seeds such as beans or corn, and for plants with long tap roots, like peas. I decided I wasn't going to spend $60 to $70 for these soil blockers, so I began the usual Google search with strings such as "home made soil blocker". I found a few sites that had exactly what I wanted (here, here, and here).

The first blocker I made was simple. I took an old unused grease syringe and cut the tip end off. I affixed a portion of the syringe nozzle to the piston for the seed pit on the soil block. The process took five minutes. This blocker is fine for the smaller seeds, but I needed a bigger one. I scavenged around the house and could not find suitable materials. I decided to use PVC from Lowes for the larger device. All in all, my cost was $17.00. 

The tip is for the seed pit

The pit is for seeds and fits the smaller sized soil blocks too!

It is made from 3" PVC

Last week I took advantage of some free time and built two quick cold frames to warm up the garden soil. The 3D cold frame was built from panels leftover from my late grandfather's blizzard-collapsed greenhouse. The 2D frame is simply plastic draped over the walls of one of the raised bed gardens. These protected beds will now stay warmer and will begin growing Spring greens a few weeks before the uncovered beds.

The worm farm is here!  The worms are still a week away. The company may do so to make sure you have the farm all set up before the worms arrive. It's like a hotel setting up the room before you arrive for your stay. You must prep the beds for the worms and make sure the right amount of food will be available for them within the first few days.  

January is the time to brainstorm

This marks my first blog. I'm not talking about the first blog for "Turning Dirt To Food", but my first blog ever. I've never cared enough, or found anything worthy of writing about before this. I'm hoping that 2011 is going to a special year. I have gardened before, but this is different. There are multiple agricultural projects in the works that could be bigger and more significant than anything I have tended to in the past.

First there is the continuing project of the transformation of my small townhouse back yard into a miniature produce factory. This year will bring two more raised beds, massive containers for container gardening, (hopefully) an edible crop of two year old Spring asparagus shoots, a rain barrel collection / drip irrigation system, a small supply of blueberries, a grape vine or two, two bird families moving into the two vacant houses on the property and a bird bath, new diversity in the perennial herb garden, some strawberries from my 9 or so plants that seem to be surviving the winter, and more! Stay posted for updates, produce tallies, pictures and such.

Second there is the new compost factory, the 3 tray worm composter I am receiving courtesy of my two brothers from Christmas. It arrives tomorrow. The 500 red worms arrive next week. This coffee table sized box houses up to 2,000 worms and is said to produce a couple gallons worth of usable compost(worm castings, vermipost) each month from your kitchen scraps. The manufacturer claims there is no smell to the box, and it is perfectly OK to keep inside your house. The excess water can be used as a quick shot of liquid fertilizer for your houseplants.

Next we have the garden at my aunt's house. I struck a deal with my aunt for usage of her back yard. I cut her grass, trim her hedges, help her around the house on occasion, and she lets me use a 300 square foot fenced in parcel of her fully sunned back yard for my own agricultural desires. My open pile compost system is fully active there right now. I have at the ready 150 pounds of year-old finished compost, and three times that in organic material still breaking down. I am negotiating permission to start a small chicken coop there to house two to three hens for egg laying.  I may have to up the yard work as part of the deal.

Then there is the community garden. November of 2010 meant it was time for the neighborhood home owners association meeting. I had already planned to bring up the idea of starting a community garden with individual raised beds for interested residents. No communities in Charles County (Or in Southern Maryland as a whole) have any such thing as a community garden. During the meeting, there was mention of what to do with the old volleyball courts. When it was time for open forum, I stole the show when I suggested the benefits of a community garden, and the idea hit home.  A few days ago I just got word that the budget for 2011 may include planning and implementation of a community garden.  I have offered my services in volunteering to help establish this project, and with the initial kickoff. It would be terrific if my services are rewarded by way of a free plot for the year.

The next proposed project is the green roof at my workplace. I have permission from my boss, who just so happens to enjoy the idea of green projects. I would have to shell out the money spent on the project, but the plants grown on top of the shop would be mine. He and I have decided that to build a full green roof would require a visit from a structural engineer to discuss the load capacity of our roof. I don't think I'm going to spend that kind of dough, so the scale of this project will be much smaller. I'm going to establish a medium sized container garden on top of the building. The containers will most likely be large Rubbermaid storage bins situated on top of pallets. The roof gets full sun from dawn till dusk, and is immune to any mammalian pests. I'm also curious about the effects of elevated gardens in reference to the usual pests which most gardeners battle throughout the year. Will hungry grubs, caterpillars, beetles, and aphids still find their way to the buffet table if the garden is on the roof?

As you readers may be able to tell, I've got my hands full this year. The wild cats and weeds and flying crawling burrowing pests may think they'll get the edge on me, but I am a persistent one and am excellent at time management. Along with the above listed projects, I am taking one college class, working full time, keeping after my newly purchased home, spending plenty of time with my wonderful girlfriend, staying fit/exercising, and keeping after my newly started web blog that you are now reading. Stay posted for updates on turning dirt to food.