2013 Organic Garden in the Ground!

This weekend, I put my second ever organic garden into the ground!

After a lot of prep work and seed starting, we dove in and made it happen. Not only had I used vermicompost to help put the garden to sleep last fall, but I also made another application earlier in the year and started the seedlings in a half dirt/half vermicompost mix. Hooray, worm power!

I'll admit, some of my starter plants looked less than stellar after a week of neglect (sorry, vacations come first!)- but most were sturdy and ready to hit the dirt!

Here's the layout of what I'll refer to as OG2013:

The strawberries are already growing strong, especially after I installed the easy-to-build berry fence. It really is a snap to take off and put back on again...or as I call it, teasing the local rabbits:

The last installation was a red raspberry bush, which has a lot to contend with given the blackberry bush is practically taking over the neighborhood:

The blackberry bush already had to be clipped and is quickly encroaching into the new sweet pepper territory, so I'm sure there will be another trim shortly.

I'm really excited about the red raspberry bush, and I hope it flourishes as well as the blackberry. Some interesting facts about red raspberries:

-They are high in antioxidants, like blueberries.

-Eating whole berries has been shown to have more health benefits than taking a supplement containing the nutrients derived from them.

-They have been shown to have anti-inflammatory qualities.

-One cup of fresh raspberries only has 64 calories!

You can read even more here or here.  I even ran across something called The Berry Bible for once these plants kick into high gear- delish!

OG2013 check ins will be coming throughout the summer- especially for vermicompost applications & growing milestones. Stick with me like a thorn on a berry bush.

Seedling & OBX Update

As the seedlings were growing, it was a good of a time as any to skip town to the beach. Our early summer destination for the past few years has been the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

I couldn’t wait to visit my favorite earth-friendly brewery with the windmill, or as they say “The World’s First Wind Powered Brew Pub”-The Outer Banks Brew Station.

You can always read up on wind power on your own time, but my favorite facts about this particular wind turbine are (from their site):

• Maximum designed wind speed is 135mph
• The turbine supplements the power and saves them between $150 and $250 per month on their electric bill (depending on the month). They use 100% of the power the turbine generates.
• The turbine cost approximately $50,000.
• At $200/month using the Net Present Value method, it will pay for itself in about 11 years.
• It is designed for 30 plus years of service and has a 10 year warranty.
• This system will offset approximately 1.2 tons of air pollutants and 250 tons of greenhouse gases over its operating life.

Annnddd…they serve delicious brews and food on top of that!

Here’s another windmill I spied while hiking the dunes in Jockey’s Ridge State Park:

Some interesting facts about the park (from their site):

• They are the tallest natural sand dunes in the Eastern United States
• On average, the sand is 25-30 degrees hotter than the air temperature!
• The park encompasses 420 acres, and includes a 1.5 mile trail, a 360 foot long boardwalk, and 1 mile nature trail

I came home to find that the seedlings had mostly survived my vacation, as I had forgot to assign anyone watering duty!

Here are some pics before the big replanting-to-garden session next week.  Hopefully all the seedlings overcome the vacation drought and are ready to go into the vermicomposty ground soon!

PS- Guess who also had a great time at the beach and dunes?

Getting the Garden to Grow: Seed Starting

Before I've even planted any seeds, the strawberries are coming up and the fluffy neighborhood bunny is already taste testing my crop!

I sent the other half of Lilliworm to put up the berry protection barrier, which you might remember from last year:

Once the berry crop was secured, I mixed up some peat moss and vermicompost to plant my starter seeds in. There was only one problem: the vermicompost was still a little...well, vermi-full. There had to be a brief recovery session before I could finish mixing:
 
I made as many of the small seed-starter-from-paper-roll containers that I could with the rolls I'd saved, and found two smaller containers and some Dixie cups to make up the rest.

I planted peppers, spinach, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cilantro, cucumbers, and lettuce, and I labeled the starter "pots" with a Sharpie (RP is red pepper and T is tomato!): 

 

 The finished tray looked like this:

 The final step was to create the "greenhouse effect"...but in a good way!

Throughout the planting process, I noticed I hadn't completely de-vermed the vermicompost, so I set up a cup for the displaced worms until they could safely be returned to the Wigwam.

I'm sure this cup o' escaping worms would give my Mom nightmares- Happy Mother's Day!

Updates are growing as you read this...

The Sophomore Organic Garden- Shopping, Finding, and Recycling

As I enter my 2nd year as an organic gardener and 6th as a worm wrangler, I know that preparation and organization are half the battle!

Because planning is half the fun, I've started a list of things to either buy or find to make sure this growing season blooms successfully:

1. Starter Planters
2012 Buy
Last year, I used biodegradable containers that got transferred right into the garden when it came time to plant:

Although they were convenient, I found an even better idea that's completely recycled and FREE!

2013 Find
My environmentally friendly alternative to the peat pots are to use the cardboard rolls leftover at the end of toilet paper and paper towels. I'll still use the sturdier plastic trays from last year to place the new cardboard planters in so I can move the whole stash around while the seeds start, but these little planters were easy to make.

 I cut the roll into three parts:

 I cut little grooves around one of the edges:

 I folded in the grooves together to make the bottoms:

And voila! Free, recycled seed starter planters!


2. Dirt & Fertilizer
2012 & 2013 Find
Last year, I used some sifted dirt I dug out of the yard mixed with a healthy heaping of vermicompost (thank you, worms!). This was super-successful, so I'll just replicate for this season.  I put the garden to bed last fall:
And here's what it looked like today:

See those berries already?!? Yippee! We are going to give the beds a few good turns and good dose of vermicompost next weekend. If you got excited about those berries and wanted to see them close up, here you go!



3. Seeds
2012 & 2013 Buy:
Last year, I bought my seeds at the local home improvement store. Everything turned out OK, except the onions were a little harsh. I'm going to purchase red raspberry, tomato, cucumber, red pepper, spinach, and onion seeds again.


2013 Find:
I have some marigold seeds I salvaged from the ones on my front porch, and I'll be potting them in row boxes.


4. Stakes
2012 Buy:
You may have read my absolute amazement at finding the perfect garden stakes in various sizes last year.

2013 Find:
I'll be reusing the stakes from last year, and if I need more, I'll construct more out of wire coat hangers.


5. Fencing
2012 Buy:
We bought materials last year to construct berry protection from the birds.

2013 Find:
I'll find it right in my garage! Flashback from last year:



6. Rain Barrel
2012 Buy:
We invested in this beauty last year:


2013 Find:
We'll just reconnect it from it's winter nap on the side of the house.

The worms have been happily eating through our scraps all winter, and the vermicompost has been piling up almost to the top of the Wigwam again- so I know they are ready for me to get planting!

Seed starting update soon!

Cha Cha Cha Chia! Chia Seeds

When I first talk to people about chia seeds, I know this is what they are thinking:



But, really, this is what I mean:





I first tried chia seeds at a resort gym in beautiful Cabo, Mexico- they were floating in some lemon flavored water. They looked like little black dots with gel around them.


(Gym not pictured!)


The resort gym must have been asked a million times what the small black things floating in the water were, because they had a flyer with a short explanation.

Chia seeds, or salvia hispanica, belong to the mint family. They are packed with nutrition, especially omega-3 fatty acids- which is great if you don't eat fish or flax seed.  One ounce contains 9 grams of fat, 11 grams of dietary fiber, and 4 grams of protein.

When chia seeds sit in liquid, they develop this funny little clear jello-like capsule around them. Supposedly, once they land in your belly, the jelly casing helps you feel fuller longer.

Despite having never heard of them until that trip, when we got home I ordered mine easily from Amazon. The three places I've been able to painlessly add chia to my routine:

1. Half teaspoon in my morning tea and coffee
It's a little odd to get used to these little solid bits in your morning drink, but once you do, it seems odd NOT to have them in it. I keep a little Tupperware container in my car for any coffee shop stops, too.

2. One teaspoon in smoothies
I pretty much smoothie any fruit or veggie in my path, and I throw in a teaspoon of chia with all of them. I'm a huge Vitamix fan, and it chops the chia up so fine, I don't even know it's there (works the same with spinach, too!).

3. Sprinkle on salads
Along with garlic sea salt and pepper, sometimes I'll add some chia. Why not?

Chia seeds might be small, but I've found them to be a mighty addition to my diet.

Next up: organic gardening, year 2!

Worm Flavored Jelly Beans

The weather is almost breaking, and there will be plenty of time in the next few months to post about my early organic gardening to do list (including a heavy infusion of home grown vermicompost on my sleeping garden and one tier totally devoted to strawberriliciousness).

But right now there are lighter topics at hand: JELLY BEANS!

Jelly beans were derived from a middle eastern sweet, but the term was first used in Boston in 1861 and not even linked to Easter until the 1930s- so jelly beans are over 150 years old!

Here's a super snappy video I found that shows how they are made:



One of my co-workers treated us to a Harry Potter candy party this week, which is where the jelly bean and worm worlds collided.

Let me explain!

Here was my share of the Harry Potter loot, including
Butter Beer, Chocolate Frogs, and Bertie Bott's Beans:

The Butter Beer was ultra-sweet, almost like liquid butterscotch candy with some carbonation. The Chocolate Frogs had crispies and came with a collectible wizard card (hello, Lord Voldemort!).

Looking a little closer, the jelly beans had a legend on the back to tell you what colors were what flavors:

Look even closer at the third flavor down in the first column:

EARTHWORM! There's even DIRT and GRASS! EWWWWWW! They tasted HORRIBLE!

How fun! Other favorite gross ones were soap, vomit, and booger.


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