Growing Fast, Straight, and Tall

The snappy stakes are working like a charm with the tomatoes:

As the plant grows, I can pull the stake out little by little to match the height.

The biodegradable planters aren't biodegrading just yet. They were so smooshy as stand-alones, I'm surprised they are hanging in there.

I attached the side pieces and they can swing up and over for weeding and (eventually!) harvesting:

The rain barrel filled up just past the spout this week, so I used our first watering can full of rainwater for watering today! WINNING!

This holiday weekend, I'm going to be sealing up some compost tea bags to use in my watering can- and stay tuned...this may result in an actual product for Lilliworm!

Testing begins this weekend- not only for the compost tea bags, but also for my design and PayPal setup skills!

Rounding Up The Rain

We finally installed the rain barrel this past week.  The barrel itself and the two pavers we used to set it on totaled around $115.

Even though it's pretty spiffy, we put it on the side of the house in the back, kind of behind the air conditioner and close to the new garden.  Set up didn't take long, but the pavers weighed about 60 pounds each and were awkward to carry.  We set them on some gravel and used a level to make sure it was even.

It came with the pieces to tie into the downspout and the discharge valve.  I have no idea why the designer would need these to be black and break up the earthy look of the barrel, but how many rain barrels have I designed in my life? Zero point zero.

Here's the finished product:

I wanted to get it installed quickly because EVERYTHING I planted is GROWING and needs watered!  The worm compost is working its MAGIC!  The only thing that's slacking a little are my baby strawberry plants, but they ARE growing. 

Take a peek:

I bought some of the sweetest plant props ever made for the tomatoes- they are coated metal stakes with a little loop at the top to put the plant through. 

The great part is you can push them as far in the ground as you need to, and as the plants grow you can pull out the stake gradually to grow with it and they stay in the loop all propped up.

Any advice? Do tell!

I also sifted worm castings today for some friends, and I'm going to start making compost tea bags for watering cans.

Lilliworm revival for sure!

Planting and Fencing and Raining...Oh My!

This weekend was a productivity high! I completed the half in the Pittsburgh Marathon and planted my very first official garden.

Using Smart Gardener, I planned the layout and knew just when to do what (grow seeds inside/outside,plant, replant, etc)- and kept adding and mixing in the vermicompost little by little each week as my organic fertilizer.

I asked around for guidance on what vegetables should be planted near each other, but didn't get any clear advice. I went with my gut:

Lower level- Strawberries, spinach, red peppers, and onions.
Upper level- Cucumbers, tomatoes, and spinach.

We started creative fencing around the lower box, using some flexible PVC pipe cut into 6 foot long pieces and bent like arches to the inside of the box.  Then, we ran some wire fencing over the pipe and attached it with little pieces of wire. Here's what it looks like so far (in the rain):

Next steps this week are to add two arched sides that flip open. Hopefully, this will protect the berries from bunnies and a certain cockapoo that ate all the strawberries at our last house.  He looks something like this:

We did a little tree-hugging last night and bought a rain barrel so I can water my new garden the earth-friendly way.  Pics of installation coming right up when the deluge finally passes.

Garden Newbie

Guess who's starting a garden this year?

THIS GIRL.

I have so much fluffy, deliciously rich vermicompost from all these wormies squirming around in the wigwam that I figure this can't go wrong.

So far I've started tomatoes, strawberries, and red peppers inside the house- each in their own little earth-friendly biodegradable container lined up in a large plastic tray.

The garden outside is two raised 4 foot x 4 foot beds made of trex decking.  I turned over the crappy clay with some peat moss and tons of worm castings- and every weekend, I've been pulling out the grass and weeds that keep growing back.

A great free tool for novice gardeners out there is Smart Gardener.  This snappy site helps you plan your garden visually using custom dimensions and builds a reminder/to do list based on your region/climate. The site saves all your info, and even let's you print out your plan and lists for reference.

Any Garden Experts want to share their knowledge with a Newbie- especially tips for the initial planting and maintenance? 

2 Great Articles from Treehugger

Recent worm news from Treehugger:

International Airport Building Huge Worm Composting Facility

and
Worm Composting Becomes Big Business

I'm thrilled worm composting is catching on with larger corporations/organizations.
Inspiring news!

Old Habits Die Hard!

I can't help it! 

I tried to start another blog at Lilliworld, but deleted it because I thought the topic range was too broad and I couldn't focus.

Then I started FindingUpDog in an effort to chronicle my yoga training and got bored with that (not yoga- just writing about my training!).

And all this time...I'm still feeding the worms and using the compost on our plants! I tried the castings on two tropical plants that are ENORMOUS now.

I'm still using the worm wigwam and feeding them about three large full Tupperware containers every other week.

I have a huge bin of castings drying out a little and ready to be sifted.

So maybe my adventures with worms aren't over.  MAYBE.  Maybe I still <3 maybe.="maybe." nbsp="nbsp" p="p" worms.="worms.">

Updates So Good, You Could Eat Them

Here's an update on some of the vermicompost projects from this past season at my house:

• Despite a freeze out in February, one of my tropical plants that was planted in 1/4 of worm casting lived through the catastrophe and is now residing happily on my deck during these tropical-like conditions in Pittsburgh- I haven't read any studies about castings providing additional protection during frosts, but you never know!
• My cherry tomato and regular tomato plants planted in 1/3 worm castings had a great showing- probably about 20 little cherry tomatoes and so far about 10 regular tomatoes (4 more still green)- research shows that castings cause plants to have higher yields.
• The other shrubs around my house got a dose of castings and have almost made it through their hottest summer yet...don't forget, the castings are able to retain more water than regular soil!

Delicious delicacies I've included the harvest in:

• Spanish rice (DO NOT confuse green chilies with jalapenos! BIG MISTAKE!)
• Chicken fajitas
• Breakfast wraps (scrambled egg, cheese, and tomatoes)
• Tomato sauce and marinara sauce
• Grilled chicken and steak salads
• Tomato and cucumber salad

Also, side note- a friend of mine's parents had a huge crop of cucumbers, and they introduced me to the easiest cucumber salad EVER: slice up the cucumbers in a big bowl, add some finely chopped onions, sea salt, and drizzle with raspberry vinaigrette.  Let it refrigerate over night, and get ready for the taste explosion!

Happy harvesting!