Gardening
Diz! What a great thread and glad I finally made it here (thanks for the link – I’m a lazy bugger at moments looking for things!)
Yep – I grow a pretty good sized organic garden I started almost 13 years ago when I first bought my house. Now all I need is a husband and about 5 kids to eat everything I grow! HA! Come mid-summer my neighbors will no longer make eye contact and are whispering “don’t look at her – she’ll try and give you more vegetables!” J/K They love that I share and the gang at my shop love it when I bring stuff in for them as well.
Ah worms – Fun to raise but I did the same thing Diz did one year and neglected them and had worm kripsies. They are REALLY easy to raise and maintain if you use one of the premade “bin type systems” which I recommend as they save much work and the benefits are huge. No critters to get in and I have at times even had mine in my “tool room” in my house.
Basically what you are getting is “worm castings” or in other words worm poop. HA! It’s like a gardener’s GOLD and just about the only fertilizer I use when I have worms. It has no scent and is like deep rich compost to mix into your soil. You also collect in a container that drains below, a “tea” which runs off from the moisture in the system that you dilute as a fertilizer.
What you do in these “systems” is start in one bin (either top or side – I used the side by side system) and start with a good medium. I liked to use cocoa brick which is this light fiber type brick stuff that you soak in water (can buy online) and spread out on the bottom few inches. Add worms (Red Wranglers as they like to stay confined) and a bit of food which is just about ANYTHING (except meat and dairy). Then take shredded newspaper, soak it in some water and cover the worms. That’s it! They will eat the food and then the newspaper. As you see the newspaper almost gone – repeat. Slowly with each layer, as they eat and poop casings, the bin will fill up. Once full, stop feeding for just a short time and you set up the next bin the same way, open the “chamber door” so they can travel to the new bin and start feeding in that one and they will migrate to the new bin. It will take a few days or week. You now have a full bin of worm casing to use in your garden! They are a fortune to buy! Here in the US a 10 pound bag is $23!
What to feed them? ANYTHING! I keep a bowl of “scrapes” in my frig of veggie peelings when cooking, egg shells, coffee grounds, etc. Just NO dairy or meat. I find that they eat faster if you chop things up a bit or put it in your Cuisinart. Don’t be grossed out – but I also empty my vacuum cleaner bag into the bin. HA! If I am going on vacation I also give them the entire Sunday newspaper shredded up.
Good grief – Diz, you got me chatting on and on about worms! I think my guilt is coming out!
Hey Cinders – If you have a strawberry patch that the birds are getting to before you can the berries to your cereal bowl, they make very inexpensive “bird netting” you can cover your plants with. Easy if they are in a raised bed, but if not just use some sticks or posts along the way to raise it up. It comes in a roll of different widths and you just cut it to size with scissors. I have mine in a raised bed because they tend to take over my entire garden to I keep them contained easier that way and just use coat “giant prongs” I made front metal coat hangers pushed into the ground around the bed to secure it and yet lift the cover to harvest.
Space – Your container project sounds lovely! Just be sure to buy POTTING soil and not garden soil (if possible). Potting soil will help hold the moisture in the pots better, as they tend to dry out faster than plants in the ground. We need pics!
I’ve finally gotten my garden semi back on track after a very late start for this climate. I grow a lot of heirloom tomatoes so they are finally in as well as my odd varieties of cucumbers (lemon and Japanese) and a few squash and herbs.
Blondie – CUTE picture of the pup! I had a Golden that thought my tomatoes were her balls to play with – hence my veggie garden is now fully “white picket” fenced in.
Does anyone have any brainstorm of gophers???? They are killing me again this year! My beds are all raised and have hardware cloth underneath, so they can’t get my plants – but they make such a mess trying and I end up with mounds of soil (and my GOOD soil) all around the outside of my beds as they tunnel. I’ve tried the gum trick, water, organic granules, castor oil, swearing at them, solar vibration sticks, blah, blah, blah …nothing seems to work! I won’t use baits or poison as I believe it just creates a nasty chain of events – dead gopher, birds eat it (I have hawks), coyotes or bob cat or mountain lion eats dead bird, etc . Yes – I live a bit in the boons. HA!
Well, that’s all for now – work beacons once again!
WTE
Diz! What a great thread and glad I finally made it here (thanks for the link – I’m a lazy bugger at moments looking for things!)
Yep – I grow a pretty good sized organic garden I started almost 13 years ago when I first bought my house. Now all I need is a husband and about 5 kids to eat everything I grow! HA! Come mid-summer my neighbors will no longer make eye contact and are whispering “don’t look at her – she’ll try and give you more vegetables!” J/K They love that I share and the gang at my shop love it when I bring stuff in for them as well.
Ah worms – Fun to raise but I did the same thing Diz did one year and neglected them and had worm kripsies. They are REALLY easy to raise and maintain if you use one of the premade “bin type systems” which I recommend as they save much work and the benefits are huge. No critters to get in and I have at times even had mine in my “tool room” in my house.
Basically what you are getting is “worm castings” or in other words worm poop. HA! It’s like a gardener’s GOLD and just about the only fertilizer I use when I have worms. It has no scent and is like deep rich compost to mix into your soil. You also collect in a container that drains below, a “tea” which runs off from the moisture in the system that you dilute as a fertilizer.
What you do in these “systems” is start in one bin (either top or side – I used the side by side system) and start with a good medium. I liked to use cocoa brick which is this light fiber type brick stuff that you soak in water (can buy online) and spread out on the bottom few inches. Add worms (Red Wranglers as they like to stay confined) and a bit of food which is just about ANYTHING (except meat and dairy). Then take shredded newspaper, soak it in some water and cover the worms. That’s it! They will eat the food and then the newspaper. As you see the newspaper almost gone – repeat. Slowly with each layer, as they eat and poop casings, the bin will fill up. Once full, stop feeding for just a short time and you set up the next bin the same way, open the “chamber door” so they can travel to the new bin and start feeding in that one and they will migrate to the new bin. It will take a few days or week. You now have a full bin of worm casing to use in your garden! They are a fortune to buy! Here in the US a 10 pound bag is $23!
What to feed them? ANYTHING! I keep a bowl of “scrapes” in my frig of veggie peelings when cooking, egg shells, coffee grounds, etc. Just NO dairy or meat. I find that they eat faster if you chop things up a bit or put it in your Cuisinart. Don’t be grossed out – but I also empty my vacuum cleaner bag into the bin. HA! If I am going on vacation I also give them the entire Sunday newspaper shredded up.
Good grief – Diz, you got me chatting on and on about worms! I think my guilt is coming out!
Hey Cinders – If you have a strawberry patch that the birds are getting to before you can the berries to your cereal bowl, they make very inexpensive “bird netting” you can cover your plants with. Easy if they are in a raised bed, but if not just use some sticks or posts along the way to raise it up. It comes in a roll of different widths and you just cut it to size with scissors. I have mine in a raised bed because they tend to take over my entire garden to I keep them contained easier that way and just use coat “giant prongs” I made front metal coat hangers pushed into the ground around the bed to secure it and yet lift the cover to harvest.
Space – Your container project sounds lovely! Just be sure to buy POTTING soil and not garden soil (if possible). Potting soil will help hold the moisture in the pots better, as they tend to dry out faster than plants in the ground. We need pics!
I’ve finally gotten my garden semi back on track after a very late start for this climate. I grow a lot of heirloom tomatoes so they are finally in as well as my odd varieties of cucumbers (lemon and Japanese) and a few squash and herbs.
Blondie – CUTE picture of the pup! I had a Golden that thought my tomatoes were her balls to play with – hence my veggie garden is now fully “white picket” fenced in.
Does anyone have any brainstorm of gophers???? They are killing me again this year! My beds are all raised and have hardware cloth underneath, so they can’t get my plants – but they make such a mess trying and I end up with mounds of soil (and my GOOD soil) all around the outside of my beds as they tunnel. I’ve tried the gum trick, water, organic granules, castor oil, swearing at them, solar vibration sticks, blah, blah, blah …nothing seems to work! I won’t use baits or poison as I believe it just creates a nasty chain of events – dead gopher, birds eat it (I have hawks), coyotes or bob cat or mountain lion eats dead bird, etc . Yes – I live a bit in the boons. HA!
Well, that’s all for now – work beacons once again!
WTE
at least we are on the same page. You can keep the worms outside in the shade, in the basement or shed. They don't really smell as long as you make sure to feed them small kitchen scraps. Their 'castings' smell like compost but if you are going to toss whole rotten tomatoes in there, it is still going to smell as they can only eat so fast.
Let me go see if I can still save the poor soul.
Ha! Haven't started my garden yet......still too cold here in Maryland.
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