Here's the Poop on Manure

In all this talk about raising urban chickens and growing organically in city allotment plots... it was bound to raise the topic of manure. After all, it is no secret that this is a big part of life (albeit not spoken of in polite company;), and gardening is all about life.

So in my search queries this question came up:"how much manure to put in garden". It is not so much the amount as the type and the condition of it. First, let's talk about "hot" manure. The reason we have this definition of types of manure is because when it is high in nutrients, it is also likely to "burn" the plants. You can burn plants with too much chemical fertilizers, too. So more is definitely not better, but "fresh" isn't so good either.

The general rule

Don't put raw manure directly on garden soils

Certain types of manures have certain chemical makeups. It is the NPK that is quantified. Poultry manure is the highest in nutrients and the most likely to burn plants. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't use it; on the contrary, the Amish ladies hereabouts use it to grow very lush gardens. The thing is that it must be "aged" in some way. The farmers who have dairy herds, etc, spread manure on the plowed fields in the fall, which gives it time over winter to age and then it is deeply incorporated with 'deep' late plowing and again with the spring harrowing.

Composting speeds up the process and hot composting will also kill weed seeds and pathogens. Yes, we are talking E. coli here. OK, now I'm scaring you...but remember that E.coli is all around (and even inside you) - it is how food and food growing is handled that is important.

So what is important to remember?

• All animal manure should be aged for at least 6 months


• Poultry, horse,sheep manures are "hot"
• Green manure and cow manure are excellent


• Don't use pet, pig, or human feces- those produce disease and parasites

Adding manure is a time tested way of conditioning and rebuilding the fertility of the soil, it is natures way of returning nutrients an a cycle of life. We, as husbanding the earth, just need to learn to manage and use it properly. These skills are part of how we garden wisely: sanitation practices, composting, rotating crops, cultivation practices... all are part of the art of gardening. It can be simple to learn, while the science behind it might be complex.

"Getting back to the land" is a skill set, and one that has provided good food, and good health for time immemorial. It is better practiced than idealized, though. I hope this post helps in that endeavor.

You can see, too, that it is in the interest of public sanitation that city chicken flocks be limited in number, and that the manure is handled properly, much like we have regulations for pet poop. We can all live happy and healthy as long as we respect one another. That has to be some natural law, somewhere or another.

This is a good place to append J's posts:
Green manure #1
Mcadditives, green manure #2 (little play on words there0


Technorati Tags: fertilizer, organic

urban organic gardening in havana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRz34Dee7XY
this is a great piece, with lively music, even--- about the idea of tending to the
well-being of everyone with a garden--- its out of necessity that a communal way
of living evolves. people pool their resources and grow garden plots in abandoned
vacant lots. they get together to work to provide good food for their own communities.

dare i say it? ' from each according to his ability to all who are in need.'
these people are magnificent example of how communism works, at least
in local neighborhood "open" gardens, or the large ponica(?) big organic farming
areas in outskirts of havana. its an effort to work together and feed eachother
communally and locally. direct from the humanity in all of us....to the hungry and
needy people of this world.

Chickens in the City Controversy

Chickens vs Property Values.

What ever happened to common sense? Regulatory powers and the thinking of martinets combine to make mountains out of molehills. Why not just apply the common sense rules that already apply to animals in an urban environment? Sanitation and flock size regulations make sense, but outlawing a generally beneficial animal does not.

It is concerning that government is interfering with peoples avenues for providing food for themselves and their communities (in this way- I appreciate sanitation oversight, etc). Hiccups along the way to surviving a change from an economy dominated by big farms and bigger brothers to one that is more independent and innovative. Just hoping the hiccups don't somehow choke us..

Technorati Tags: chickens, urban garden

Garden Report : March's End

Here it is the end of March already. During a sunny day I snapped a few photos of what I found in the garden and inspected the progress of things. The Lonicera fragrantissima did not fare the winter's fluctuations so well and I cannot find sign of any bloom, although there are green buds. The early bloom of the Dawn viburnum looks hurt, too, although I snapped the pictures before the frost damage. Everything is a bit later than usual due to the long frigid winter... which depleted this years wood pile (we are down to burning scrap wood, rife with nails... and, so, not good for the garden). I looked out the window to see the first of the waterlily tulips showing color.

The skies are downcast and render wind with a bit of light rain. Everything has turned an intense deep green, accentuated by the strange spring storm light, and the naturalized scillas, muscari, and daffodils have colored sky and sunshine on my green sward. It is as if the earth had captured brighter days and held them, in a promise of when the heaven would answer with its own visage of clear blue firmament and warm golden light.

Each day of sunshine brings out the society of bees, crowding the flowers, especially the crocus. Bird song on those days fills the garden with glad greetings and joyful proclamations that life is good. Springtime weaves those days in and out of the dark swells of threatening thunder and heaviness. As the season moves on the sunny days gain preeminence and the windy days of storm and gray opaque skies recede.

I have traveled thoughout yet another quarter of yet another year, the seasons the same, yet always somehow new to me. I am surprised by life.

all creation begins with a seed

throughout the latest 2-day spring deluge, i was confined to the back porch starting seeds both for my own garden use, plus a tray or two to promote and sell heirloom tomatoes... they are by far the best tasting tomatoes, plus you can save seeds and they will easily acclimate to your garden climate, wherever you may be.( except maybe alaska)

i have found that the Brandywine does very well thro' hot dry summers here in ga.
they keep putting out fruit, under these conditions; they aren't those oversize over-sensitive hybrids dropping flowers in the night. i pass that info along, as well as let folks taste their great flavor. propaganda? of course! i love to try new "old" varieties, some do well here and some just don't like the prolonged periods of high-pressure weather, with its dry heat for weeks on end...throughout my long-time gardens here in the south, Brandywine is queen.

every seed, of any kind requires an attitude of faith...that the tiny new sprouts will grow up and give plenty of food...that nascent ideas will manifest in your life, if well cultivated... that a small bit of help given, in turn will grow and blossom and come back to you, often many times over.
we must nurture each other as we care for those tiny seeds.

our caring for man (woman) kind is what we are here for; it is our highest purpose.
our network of friends sustain us, but to feel a greater union with all living beings
requires an open loving soul. we welcome every small beginning that can transform
the world, we tend to and heal mother earth, as well as each other....
so, while you plant and visualize your blooming world, know that your blessings and
connections in this life will thrive as does each little leap of faith that is contained within.
as the Beatles said: (oowee that really dates me!) "ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE."

vty J_lea

Delightful Photos

A favorite plant portraitist:
Iowa Garden

Imagination In the Garden

A garden is a place for imagination. Joanne, remember that huge forsythia bush in your Arcadia backyard when we were children? that was a favorite imagination place for me. And the old, ravine side, ruined grotto by Flora Holly's house? I came across a video that made me think of the creation of such places in a garden. Maybe I will create one somewhere in my yard... for fun, for whomever :)



*** How to make a willow arbor video.

Technorati Tags: willow branches, garden structures

spring song in darkness

here in the south, it is the time when spring peepers sing the hallelujah chorus in every ditch, pond and puddle. their voices swell, ebb and flow beginning @ around dark-thirty.
later, if you happen outside in the cool night air, they're still partying out there...
as in every living being's life cycles, this is their window of opportunity.....
"hallelujah! hallelujah!" ....an orgy in every pond and puddle.
on some nights the warming air keeps them at it at such frantic levels, it actually
gets louder, fuller. a great wild party full of pheromones, and lovesongs , wild dancing....
been there, done that, and a very
good time was had by all. 'nuff said...

i have a couple twitter haiku about these very vocal subjects.

flies, women and song...
these tiny little peeper guys
have got it made.

we can all enjoy the spring-singing, must be some good party!

note: on NPR the 'Hallelujah Chorus' is playing right now...life imitates art

Coneflower Gardens Make Progress

I loved Coneflowers depiction of how her garden is progressing. She is making raised beds, and has pictures of her pretty tomato seedlings- all looking fine and thrifty.
"The recommended perfect soil is 1/3 blended compost, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 peat moss" ... mine would be filled differently just the garden loam with peatmoss and halfmade compost. I'm thinking of making some of those concrete beds out here, too. Maybe just two to begin with.

Her yard is visibly becoming her garden :)

Maui Alert

I thought it might be important to know about this if you live in Hawaii or plan to visit. One of the great things about a visit to Maui is the wonderful fresh food available. I went to a farm market, purchased fabulous offerings from a tiny organic grocery, and sandwiches from a remarkable little natural foods restaurant. It was part of a great vacation time... but being aware of a problem can keep everyone's life less complicated and remember! that prevention is better than any cure.

http://southmauisustainability.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/watch-out-hawaii-veggies-may-harbor-rare-parasite/
Rare parasite

A 2007 study published in the journal Pacific Science suggests that the prevalence of rat lungworm disease may be on the rise. According to the paper (co-authored by Hollingsworth), an invasive slug species from Southeast Asia, Parmarion martensi, arrived in Hawaii in 2004 and began out-competing the Cuban slug, Veronicella cubensis, one of the most common large slug species in Hawaii. Researchers found that 77.5 percent of the invasive species were carrying the rat lungworm parasite compared to 24.3 percent of the Cuban slugs.

“The transmission potential of this species may be higher than that of other slugs and snails in Hawaii,” the researchers wrote.

The best way to avoid rat lungworm disease? Don’t eat raw snails or slugs and wash your vegetables and fruit very well, Park advises, noting that they are small [as short as 2 mm in length] and can easily escape notice if hiding in creases of produce.

Technorati Tags: Hawaii, fruits+veggies

seeds,seeds, and more seeds....redux

i have been saving seeds for many years. and no, i dont mean faithfully preserving certain varieties of heirloom seeds, mashing and fermenting very ripe fruit-fly fruit, and drying out the pulp...to get those little living treasures.
this morning i went seed shopping in my big freezer, and am now sitting amid a lapful of cold packets. they do quite well--for years--i have planted 6 year old
corn and blackeye peas that lost maybe 10% germination, kept airless and frozen.
i do buy seed, but i have found this cold-storage method to reduce my spending quite a bit. these days, some seed companies are leaning pretty hard on $2.50 to-$3+ prices, for way less seeds. feels like those treacherous patent holders-and hybridizers are robbing us of seed freedom.

and dont get me started on GMO's.....the market has already shifted to this brave new world. anything for a buck, and let the seeds fall where they may, literally, while old faithful, open-pollinated varieties fade to grey. cloned food cannot be real food; i must resist on principle! the many oldtime strains, kept alive so long for their excellent flavors are not suited at all to market demands for good shipping, and a long shelf life. which would you want to eat?

yesterday, i started 6 flats of heirloom tomatoes, to both use in my garden and sell the rest. their seeds are from 2006, and grew for me fine last year. some of the bigger seeds lose a greater percentage germination a bit faster, but even beans and xmas limas are still viable for a couple seasons.

folks, dont think i'm a cheapskate by any stretch of the imagination....i buy fancy heirloom tomatoes, chiles, eggplant, odd old varieties of lettuce, various herbs, etc. in those those $3.99 packets, too. However its so easy to fold the air out, tape the packet well, and store frozen in an airtight a zip-lock, and have plenty gourmet seeds for next year's incipient gardens.

this was an unconscious process for me for a long time in gardens past,
but now a more thrifty effort has really helped... on this season's newly spring day!
during this period of tiny income, i discover a whole garden, already bought and paid for.

thanks be for seeds.....small gifts and miracles that they are.

one great day!

everyone i know down here had their hands in the dirt today.... my gardening proceeds in fits and starts in many areas around the place. i have no real garden "plan".... it just sort of calls me to do various things, in random places. i wish i were more organized, but i just go with the flow.
most of the veggie beds get rotated somewhat seasonally, and i do companion plant in places, but when i get going out there, i am jammin'. some would say its vernal ADD; i just see lots to do.
i often get bored with one job and there are plenty others to take its place. that's life on the farm.
my energy returns with the sunshine, and though busy with many tasks, i do mix it up during a day's work. in the end, it all seems to fall into place. most jobs done and a good worn-out achy feeling in my back...

we had just had four days of constant rain, and the drying out period seemed soo long.
today, the asparagus bed has been deep-dug... ready to plant new roots. also tilled beds for potatoes--it's a bit late here, as may can be really hot/dry some years.
taking a risk is worth it tho'.... those little easter egg new potatoes will make,
even if the tops dry up.

i also started many trays of tomatoes, heirlooms (brandywine, roma-non hybrid, and american rose).... come april, there is a local open market every saturday morning in a tiny nearby community, indian springs.
i am planning to share a booth with a friend this season. many big city folks make the drive for fresh local produce and a 'quaint' country afternoon.... there's also the state park, a fancy sandwich place, ice cream shop and art gallery, and big "whimsy" garden. last year it seemed to be very active all summer, and people willingly paid good prices for organic food. i am going to offer tomato plants, asparagus, kale and mizuna greens, fancy lettuce( i like deer tongue, speckled trout-back, and romaines). later on tomatoes, if i have extra, and chile-type pepper varieties as well as japanese long eggplant. maybe collards later on, if i hold up thru summer heat.

i have always grown extra food and shared, traded or just given extra away.
in these economic times, with local farm markets getting very popular, it seems a fair trade-off.
in exchange for my good dirt, my work and my time, folks are willing and able to pay for "cheffy" peppers and eggplants. this season i am also going to put up a bit more food than my usual tomato sauce, green beans and pickled stuff. this is the first year in a long time that i am putting a real effort into making some extra money from the garden. i am grateful that the trend to fresh and local markets is finding a way into public consciousness. we will all benefit from better fresher food, and better (organic) eating habits.

this eve, am sitting in my armchair with a cuppa chai, bone weary from this long workday. i feel every muscle that hasn't been used much this winter, and i have beautiful dark dirt all
under my nails and in my pants cuffs.
i am deeply satisfied with this first day of spring.

The Life of Bees

I came across this fascinating youtube video- it was something I wanted to share with the readers here.



Here is Bees,Part 2.

Technorati Tags: honeybees, video

Thursday Thank You

I might no do this every Thursday on this blog, but it certainly is apropos for today.
First on my list is :

• John of John and Liza's Garden thank you for your support and encouraging comments.
• Joanne, for graciously joining this blog and adding her valuable experience and insights.
• Doug Green and Trey for their great contributions to online gardening which has really inspired me, personally.
• Kathy Purdy - my first garden blogging friend
• Bren- who is a bright, sunny garden blogger friend @ BG Garden :)
  

I am thankful for each and every one today.

Satisfaction of a Hard Day's Work

All those chores and garden ideas I accumulated during the winter are now in process of becoming accomplishments. Yesterday I put in a good hard days work, taught my kids some things and put them to work practicing horticultural skills. The garden is a great place to talk about not just horticultural practices and facts, but economics, ... and just everyday common sense skills.

So I planted my hellebores after cleaning out the area under the ailing dogwood. (We are a bit dry and alkaline for the native dogwood to be truly happy here). I took out the hostas that no longer were thriving there and put them under the lilac in the backyard ...after grubbing out excess shoots and some residual grass weeds (I had prepared this area in the fall '08).

The really big accomplishment came at the end of the day, however! Sunshine was giving way to cloud cover laden down with moisture- rain was coming. My digging in the flowerbeds had shown me that the soil was a bit dry, and perfectly workable. So as soon as Handyman, now aka Greenman, came home from work I asked would it be possible to get the tiller up and working? The bad economy has worked like magic on his will to make a productive garden... he practically jumped with enthusiasm saying that he had planned on doing just that. (Oh what good that does a heart- NO NAGGING necessary).

The tiller worked,with some sputterings and coughing, and off we went to the races... tilling up the resurrected vegetable plot, which this year was so much easier to work up, and the soil was lovely. I raked out the weedy stuff and grass which the tiller worked up, and we tilled a little larger area to reclaim more of the garden space (it is presently about a third the size of my original vegetable space)...then did the same thing with the other vegetable plot which I will use for a cutting garden this year (it is part sun, not the best for the veggies). Then came the blessing of soft spring rain. Perfect.

I was so, so happy to have the vegetable garden all ready for the season. If we have normal spring rainfall that garden might not be good to till until very late for planting, but now that is a fait accompli. I love teamwork.

Not making this mistake again

All the coffee grounds collected were tilled in, and I think I can put some cole crops in the new-old vegetable garden which hasn't grown them for many years (no more of last years mistake). Last year I planted my broccoli and ornamental cabbages in the plot where I had planted some mesclun mix a few years in succession. I forgot that it had kale included. So when the broccoli was stunting and turning sickly... I deduced club root- and THEN remembered the mesclun kale had been there. It was the first time I ever had an unsuccessful cole crop. Hopefully the last, now. I will incorporate lime into the soil where I put this years broccoli as another measure against club root fungus.

I have some concern about my planned mignonette and alpine stawberry planting:

Although clubbing symptoms are unique to members of the Cruciferae, P. brassicae is capable of infecting the root hairs of the following noncruciferous hosts in the indicated plant families: Gramineae, redtop (Agrostis alba var. stoloniferae), orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata), and ryegrass (Lolium perenne); Rosaceae, strawberry (Fragaria spp.); Papaveraceae, corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas); Polygonaceae, dock (Rumex spp.); Resedaceae, mignonette (Reseda odorata); Leguminosae, red clover (Trifolium pratense).

I might take some pictures of the beautiful soil all ready for this years food production, but pictures of plain dirt aren't all that interesting. Pictures later in the season for sure, though, because there is nothing prettier than a newly sprouting vegetable garden.

Technorati Tags: cole crops, club root

dirt#2- McAdditives

i have been making my soil since 1983, here in the piedmont region of georgia. i have tried and often used many ways to add organic nutrition to my soil, without the longterm time-frame in waiting on cover cropping. whatever the size of your garden, there is always time for compost.
i usually make a pile in late fall, for spring planting and mulching. i keep one sort of cooking slow into late summer, add in spent plants and the fall leaves, and return it to beds in the fall season. also liberally placed around perennial plants and shrubs, and fruit trees, if i have enough of it.

there is NEVER enough compost...#1 organic rule of thumb.

certainly a small plot would benefit from organic matter, even digging in the leaves and mulch at the end of each growing season adds good texture to the dirt, and adds food for worms, and the soil bacteria and mycorrhizae so important to 'living dirt.' if you cannot devote any room to lie fallow, or a don't have large enough space to till in green manure, there are many available soil amendments and additives that do nicely to organically improve your garden's fertility.

my favorite shortcuts to dig into your dirt are as follows. any and all can be used in any combination, so as to produce a gentle combination of N/P/K....most blended organic additives are in the 5-5-5 range. you can pick and choose what you can afford to return to the soil.

remember that any improvements can sometimes be pricey, but consider the price of conventional 10-10-10, as well as the damage that concentrated nitrates can have on living organic dirt. all of these organic additives are used over a much longer term, as they slowly break down. so do consider the longterm investment in your land

alfalfa pellets - horse feed- costs about $ 14 a bag, for 50#. sprinkle down the plant row and till or dig in. adds good organic stuff slowly, esp. calcium, grows great greens and broccoli, etc. and breaks up all into the dirt, drawing worms, and quickly changing the texture of the dirt. i sprinkle it down the rows added to the mulch, also add put in tomato and pepper transplant holes (say, a cup) as well as shrubs and trees (more like 1/2 #) for a larger hole. alfalfa is rich in nitrogen, but you cannot burn a plant with it. i use it freely, even sometimes in potting mix. i go through about a bag a year.

wood ash- those of you that have wood heat already appreciate this wonderful byproduct of the fireplace. since georgia soils tend to be acid, i use a goodly layer every year to condition the dirt and balance ph. my asparagus especially appreciate a winter ashing, it makes production jump dramatically come spring. just a note: i ate my first spears today! 3/17/09

oystershell chicken grit- @ feed stores, maybe $ 5 for a 30 # bag. these roughground shell bits are a gentle way to add calcium and lime to the garden, very slow release and nice texture for well draining dirt. another longterm additive, as a little goes a long way.

kelp meal- sometimes available in smaller bags 5 or 10# at nurseries, i ordered a 50# bag one year, and the shipping was higher than the price, but i had years of it.. a good addition to all types of soils, so dig it into the mix liberally. sprinkle handfuls down the row, and add to your transplant holes. rich in potash and ocean minerals. feed a bit to your animals as a supplement, they find it quite palatable, and it's very nutritious.

last, but not least, rock powders. with very slow release into the soil, they provide phosphorus to balance the nitrogen, and make for good strong roots and good blooming. phosphate rock is available in some places-as an organic additive- but for larger amounts, you can usually locate a pile of rock dust where a new well has been put in. around here its usually granite. nobody usually minds you getting it all, for most new homeowners it's just in the way.

i no longer make compost as regularly, and i have come to appreciate these shortcuts,
as another way to keep making the dirt. they are not as fast acting as the flash of rapid green growth that accompanies a chemical fertilizer, but the lasting affects of large amounts of organic material and good mulch will be present and working long after that chemical fix is long gone.

mais oui, ma chere !

je parles tres bien encore le francais....pas des chances a practiquer, mais on ne peux pas oublier avec une grandmere francaise. c'est tout.

we have had drought situations down here since i moved here in 1983. the geologic rise in altitude here on the fall line causes summer storms to be fickle, and drop much-needed rain on places only 15 miles south of my farm. on the other hand, i am on a long ridge, which seems to be protected from tornadoes, they follow a path over the fields to the north and west of me. it seems a good trade off.

georgia is in a continual drought rain deficit, all over the state. atlanta fights with both alabama and florida over the chattahoochee river water. it is becoming like out west, where every drop of the colorado river is already owned or spoken for.... if we lose our water and pollute our air, we are up the creek, for sure. or maybe up NO creek at all.

i deal with drought pretty well, mostly because i live on a ridge, with a very old,
very deep good well. i could water all day, if the summer weather stays high-pressure hot and dry, as it often has over the past 10 or so years. climate change is evident in the weather patterns most everywhere. adjusting to it is all that we can do with our gardens. there are many springs around here, so our groundwater seems to remain somewhat constant.

i have the luxury of endless water, although i use it judiciously. ilona is right....a little stress makes hardier plants, with deeper roots. mulch is indeed the other key.

some years i have been lucky to get spoiled alfalfa hay for $1 a bale...it feeds your garden gradually AND keeps it moist and sheltered from the heat too. since i have horses, i have plenty rotten hay at home to utilize as well.

that's the news from patagonia. and by the way, i. - my brain is a slurry clay.

Technorati Tags: drought, Georgia

Looking Behind - Looking Ahead

I've been wondering how we will fare with the drought in large portion of the nation this year. In looking over a past article (2006-linked in the title) on this, I had one of my first "blogstyle" entries from the old 1999 website:

(Oct. 10 '99) I could say something silly like "Time flies", but the reason I have not updated the journal is due to the effect of the drought. Like the other living things around here, the dryness caused me to just lie low in the garden (actually I stayed in the house and attended more to the chldren and housework than usual -good for me). I spent the morning garden time visiting the essentials with the garden hose -just to barely keep the new things alive. I gave up on the rest-it was "live and let die". Also, instead of real gardening I worked on changing these pages around and making some graphics. Illusions of work in internet gardening.... oh, dug up some plants for someone who promised to water it faithfully, and that was it!

I do have a theory on drought, my captive audience: I think periodic drought has a purpose in the lives of our gardens and in our own. If a plant has a decent root system, the dryness forces the roots to grow more deeply and strongly into the ground. So long as the plant survives the vicissitudes of this time, it emerges a better plant. Of course anything at all weak or the young must be attended to carefully, and if they can just be kept alive til the rain comes they should be fine. Details such as mulching and weeding make the difference for these plants. Drought also requires value judgements: if the tree is valuble and you cannot suffer losing it, share some precious water with it. Think a little and it is not too hard to apply some analogies to our relationships.

There always seem to be spiritual lessons residing in our gardens.

On the practical front, what could a dry time mean for my garden? The Farmers Almanac is forecasting drought conditions for my growing season this year- although it is hard to say how bad it might get. Usually if I suspect dry weather during a hot summer, I consolidate the watering chores. That means to replace the soaker hoses garbled by the septic tank work of a couple years ago, and working on xeriscaping a bit more. Placing new plants together to make sure they survive the season, so I don't miss some out of the way spot that needs watering in the height of July heat.

I've been steadily doing these sorts of shortcuts for sometime now, in my efforts to reduce the maintenance , and the hope to recover and renovate the portions of the garden that suffered from neglect while I focused on extended 'family matters'. If it is dry this year, then some of the transplanting might be better in the fall. I haven't made up my mind about that yet.

* On a bright note, Handyman has consulted with me and we concluded the best place and foundation for the little greenhouse. I believe he will start in installation this week. I am one step closer to my garden goals.

** I wondered how Joanne has fared with the Georgia drought... and whether she still speaks French as fluently as before (had practice? ...and um, don't look in my direction, though; I only think of the French when I am trying to speak Spanish or when I tried Portuguese in Brazil) Otherwise it won't come up into the fore parts of my brain at all! It is only enough to torment my poor retention qualities. If my brain were a soil type I would be sandy. -There is free association for you:)

"REAL-izing" visions and plans

it has been chillygrey- raining and raining for four straight days now. ponds in the pasture hollows, and puddles in my garden. no high-heels for me, but i did pull off a badly-tied tennis shoe in the driveway muddy spot this morning.

springtime in georgia has a steady recognizable melody; all turns slowly and surely towards a warming earth and early blooming trees and bulbs. however, two weeks ago we had a freak 4" of snow for two days followed by a week of warming weather that peaked at 83 degrees! these flat notes keep it interesting, but anytime can be a surprise.... some years are mild enough to grow green peas through the winter. other times, springtime is so brief; it is hot in the blink of an eye, with your new seedlings drooping in the sun.

garden planning ebbs and flows, always waiting out weather variations . once in awhile, a late frost knocks out early attempts, but for the most part, in the south, potatoes get planted around valentines day, and by st. patrick's day, all sits on GO.

having sunny mildish days throughout the winter gives us a head start towards our garden dreaming and planning. plus, there are times to plow in green stuff, or add a load of compost, putting in perennials, even getting some beds dug, ready and waiting for early spring. just before the rains, i had tilled my planned new asparagus bed, a 35 foot row....wide and deep. also put several organic additives into the soil and heavily wood ash down the the row. have always found that asparagus flourish if you ash them each winter. i already have 40 plants in full, heavy middle-aged production( i ate the first brave stalks last night). there is a good market for fresh organic asparagus. for what folks buy in the grocery store at such high prices, there is no comparison. once hooked, you become a believer. i have sold, bartered and given away early asparagus for a long time. i thought it might be a good investment in the future, so i went ahead and acted "as if". i ordered twenty more plants, even though i couldn't afford it at all. now i have received the roots, and their new home is already waiting, ready for my latest leap-of- faith... and for cool sunny weather to dry out the land.

it is in dreaming we begin, but each action, however small, keeps you on the path toward making it REAL. if i had not had the vision, i would not have ordered the plants, that fast led me to the bedmaking, and now into another ongoing project. making plans is great, but until you begin to walk the walk, its all just another potential in a fertile mind. i am full of half-baked ideas and burnt back-burners, and i can sit in consideration (procrastination) for a very long time, so i do
know this drill a bit too well. but, today... i am just proud of my new asparagus patch.

sounds like mud is the order of still another day, but i am ready AND waiting!

Mud Season

Kathy Purdy describes her "mud season". I loved her description of our 'cold climate' spring. When I lived in the city, the muddy thaw that segues winter to spring was never so noticeable, but once I moved to the country.... that muddy time consternated me.

Here, the water is table is high, for one thing. For another, the lack of sidewalk made muddy trails inevitable. Those early years, when I had a passle of kids, meant that there were boots sucked into mud and waiting on the back porch to be cleaned... and a trail of tracks through the house. The first thing I learned was to cover bare earth that led to the driveway. Grass works well, but stepping stones were better. I tried sliced logs, but those proved dangerously slippery. Commercial quality door mats helped, and removing shoes at the door is good-if you can get kids and husband to do it.

I don't know how many high heeled shoes were ruined in the days that I still wore those to church, sinking into mud on the trip from house to the car.

Unlike Purdy's land, mine is flat and prone to ponding even when the ground is unfrozen. Without the deep ditches this land originally was not capable of cultivation until deep into summer, but with ditches to carry off the excess water the mud season only lasts to mid spring.

This is why fall cultivation, plowing up the ground and leaving it to frost heaving, was a practice that allowed for timely spring planting. Different practices: raised beds, mulch, increased fall planting, using grass swales, are all useful to navigate the season.

I do hate cleaning all that mud off my shoes, though.

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The Rush of Spring Impending

A time I both anticipate gladly and somewhat dread. The weather is decidedly warmer, with even the cold fronts having lost their icy edge, and today my seeds arrived. I am an advocate of later seedstarting. The soils which stay cold, and seeds rotting within, indoor tomatoes struggling in leggy, sappy growth, none of these are my idea of having a jump on the season. That, and the fact that spring means a whole cartload of work for me... I, in good Northern fashion, warm slowly to the seasons demands.

This week I'll go ahead and plant my seeds for indoor starts, once into it I will chew off some of the chores that are standing in a long queue for me this year. My brain is at work trying to figure out how to bribe encourage the kids to lend me their youthful strength for some digging, raking, and ...dare I hope? pruning.

Time for me to break out the job list for Handyman. He has been on his own all winter... today he replaced the dishwasher. but I still need that greenhouse assembled (Son #1 is coming at the end of the month to help with that. I think... I hope. I just have to be tolerant of their lap dog, Einstein)

I always enjoy gardening once I start, but confessing to you that as this body ages, it is sometimes a worry how I will weather the demands of the hard physical work. Most of it is the transition that it takes for me to mentally embrace a different sort of garden. And a more reasoned approach to parsing out the work in smaller, more frequent spurts of activity, rather than the marathon endurance test of how far the human body can go.

But once the feel of dirt between my fingers, the smell of sweet earth and benediction of the sunshine upon my shoulders.... then I am once again in the thrall of my garden.

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a small essential truth

i just found a B/W copy of one of my first attempts at collage, many years ago. where the
original is will remain a mystery....i made it because of the poem, surrounded it with
medieval and celtic angels. i am sure it looks better in color, but it's the text that rings so
very true. her words have touched me every time i read these lines.
after that last long soil lecture, i feel compelled to keep it concise.
dirt#2 is percolating. as well as response to your comments.
today, just enjoy... vty J-lea



"Attention is love, what we must give

children, mothers, fathers, pets,

our friends, the news, the woes of others.

What we want to change we curse and then

pick up a tool. Bless whatever you can

with eyes and hands and tongue. If you

can't bless it, get ready to make it new."

by: marge piercy

making dirt #1: green manure

i am a longtime transplant into georgia upper-southern soil. gardening in the deep
rich topsoil of ohio has been GREATLY missed, but over the years i have managed to
recreate some version of that chocolate-cake dirt here in my gardens. the image of
making a cake is a pretty apt one; with the right ingredients, and long hours of
mixing it up, any tough garden spot can be renewed and made fertile enough
to make plants flourish. with compost, all things are possible....

this part of the country has been hard used. historically, heavy turn-plow farming
and consequent erosion have eaten away at the precious little topsoil that exists here.we lie well below the line of the glaciers that brought such perfect deep dirt to the midwest.

truly, i found myself a 'stranger in a strange land' with my first attempts to grow gardens like those that i had up yonder. we have generally poorer stuff to work with, as well as a tight red clay subsoil, that is rich in minerals, but hinders good drainage. although i lucked out with a very old dairy farm with much more topsoil, i still had the drainage problems of most southern ground. the traditional way to deal with this problem is to use a subsoiler to breakup the hardpan below. i wanted no heavy equipment on the garden. the option of digging out the dirt, and using a pick-ax on a 40x40 area of tough clay was just too daunting. and so, i just built UP, literally. i now have approx. knee-deep fertile dirt with good tilth on top of that pesky red clay.

the best reason for living in the south is that you can have things growing most all year. i began my DirtAid program with fall/winter covercrops that i plowed down in the spring, before planting time. green manure is the basis of early soil building, in any region. down here, 'early alaska' peas can be picked over-a real delight- fresh little peas for easter; then their legume roots and tops can go back into the garden. curlykale, rape, mizuna (chinese cabbage kin with spicy finecut leaf) and other leafy winter greens add juicy organic matter after you tire of eating them through the winter. red clover is planted late fall here, to bloom in may. as with most clovers, its roots extend very far into the ground, and make deep channels in the subsoil. its skill at the movement of nutrients and minerals, up and down, is one fine gift.

i began to catch the rhythm of the seasons here(winter up north is like our hot summer-and we simply avoid the garden in those impossible times, with hot chocolate or iced tea depending...) during the growing season, i grew alfalfa, the queen of soil nourishment, with up to 20' roots. although it doesn't do as well in the southern humidity, it adds so much that its worth it. summer heat is when buckwheat grows and chokes out the weeds. the white flowerheads attract and feed the bees, and butterflies. you can even grow and eat a first picking of beans, and then put them back into the earth. seems sinful to plow down fresh green beans, but they're juicy green matter too. you will eat better in times to come for this small sacrifice of good food.

the point is to keep adding and building the organic material into the ground whenever you can. any and all these things can be factored in, each year allowing a fallow part in your garden plot. for two years i did it regular, almost every season, also making and adding mulch/compost at every opportunity. i highly recommend green manure on even a small patch, for its nutrients and the amount of organic matter it quickly returns to your gardens.

next to my good gardening friend and host %) you can see i am one of the wordiest people ever. i have gotten totally out of hand! by dividing this southern soilbuilding sermon into(somewhat) manageable parts, i do realize that i am doing youall a big favor.

vty, J-lea

Technorati Tags: green manure, clay soil, southern soilbuilding

glad to be here

this early spring has brought me many new gifts and surprises. out of the blue, i am reconnected to my dear old friend ilona (yep, you are my elder for another few months anyway) who has helped midwife me into this virtual world, and invited me to guest in her blog. i feel like i am like the "innocent abroad" in a whole new place, but her generous help has been my guidepost. i guess i am a fast learner; a month ago all i ever did was email.....now i have an e-presence, both for my art and poetry, plus a great garden buddy to play with online. since i make art and write, the world of image is old hat to me, but this brave new world of electric existence is a puzzle. i do have luddite impulses at times, but i'm certain that i'll find my way around alright. my "real" life has no delete button, so this is a definite plus. if i want a taste of reality, i can go out and turn the compost pile.

i have lived on this old farm for 23 years, and have seen the gardens i have made and the shrubs and trees i planted over the years grow and prosper in this piedmont soil. i look at the giant pin oak beside the barn and remember the little tree in its 2 gallon pot. planting anything always requires a leap of faith-- that it will live on, and that you will live on to see it mature. it is the constant process of renewal that fascinates me....and this inspires even more leaps and bounds of faith with every living thing all around me.
best greetings from the south. spring IS.

What Makes A Blog Better?

Many things, but what catches my attention most at the moment is Doug Green's pithy "Find out what people want - give it to them."

I don't have concrete plans with things like my blogs- I do wish I were more focused and astute about how I construct them and construct my writing for that matter. I change the templates to meet a need or to be more aesthetic.. I join, and neglect in turn, many different internet "communities". But I think more than ever I am trying to step into your shoes, as a reader. Always doing that to some extent, but now trying to be more objective about finding out what makes you tick and what best meets your needs.

Since I resurrected my garden website two years ago, that one returns to the more "information" oriented writing. A blog is more for opinion and conversation nowadays, so my intent is to create more essays here and less of the nuts and bolts posts that will be on the website, Ilona's Garden. A division of labor, so to speak.

Also, the hope is still burning for some guest blogging for the same reason I like fusion cuisine: there is excitement in the mix of different flavors of view and the essential persona.

I keep trying to improve with the photos, and so admire a stylist and photographer like Tyra. I wish I could find my own expression of that, but until then I love seeing whatever she highlights next.

What do you like? what makes a blogs good for you?

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An Affirmative

This was just a wonderful week for me. It was like the warmth of a Southern breeze and soft spring rains that soften the earth. How we look for those things, because we know that it brings forth the latent seeds of a new season. That was how I felt when I read my friend's "remembering".

Gisela commenting that she found my blog useful to her was another affirmation. The entire motivation of writing about gardening has always been to provide others with something useful in their endeavors to make a garden. To know there was someone who was given something of value for their own experience made my effort worthwhile.

Another fork in the path was a meeting of brainstorming with someone creating a new website for our community in Central Ohio that has the aspect of bringing spiritual transformation into people's lives. The metaphorical elements of prayer being seen in garden terms was an illuminating exercise in my own mind.

All in all... a good week so far.


Technorati Tags: positives, garden blogging

Hostas Never Jade, 5 Top Choices

Re-post from 2/13/09

Hostas are such beautiful plants, and are so versatile in the garden, that they are always attractive in my estimation. Primarily foliage plants, some of them have outstanding flowers, too, and add their own allure to situations as diverse as underplanting trees and shrubs, in the foundation planting, and in containers as well - as one innovative gardener illustrates.

There are so many varieties to choose from, and Margaret Roach asked the question "Which one can’t you live without, or wish you lived with?"

She names several, "fluctuans ‘Variegated,’ aka ‘Sagae,’" and Krossa Regal, which I must say, looks like a winner to me. My own choices are 'Royal Standard' and 'Frances Williams'.

'Frances Williams' is a standout that is on many top lists of great hostas, but 'Royal Standard' might be a bit of a dark horse for some, given the many choices. Let me tell you why it makes my top choice list:

• It has clear green, very clean and fine foliage in a neat circle of medium size. This uniformity of leaf gives it a strong presence when grown in the groups that display hostas so well.
• It has beautiful large white flowers, long lasting bloom which when paired with the clear green foliage give a classically beautiful appearance.
• It's foliage stands up better to the elements than some other hostas, each year it impresses me, in dryish shade, during drought, in wet years.... it is dependable and good looking.
  

I think that the variegated hostas give a texture and beauty to the garden, and they certainly are eyecatching, but there is a time and place for something solid and refreshing in color to the eye. Royal Standard excels in that niche.

My fifth choice is a blue leaf variety,'Halcyon'. It keeps its fine appearance in the above named garden challenges, and is reputed to be resistant to slug damage. They don't seem to bother it in my garden (although they are a problem with poor Frances W.)

I love to see hostas as a trim along a house or a shady driveway. Sometimes variegation can be too much of a good thing, but when it is a tapestry of greens under trees or shrubs and seen from a distance, there is a beautiful texture that is very restful and interesting at the same time. Peaceful, but not boring.

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Home and Garden : Fortin Ironworks

One of the displays I most enjoyed in the Home Improvement area was that of Fortin Ironworks. they had all sorts of interesting decorative and useful things. My husband has been to their showroom and tells me that it is chock full of many fascinating items such as those in their Home Show area. I want to go there. I want that urn with the cool heads.


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I walked around my garden

Yesterday: it has been steadily warming up, so I walked around the garden a bit to see if anything is happening yet. No crocus, which is sort of unusual, the "tête-à-tête" daffodils have little spears sprouting, and the perennials are starting to green up. I need to get out into the former front garden and see if I can get an early start on weeding it out.

I always think of work when I am out in the garden, it takes discipline to separate myself from that part of gardening, and just enter a frame of mind that observes and enjoys. Usually an early summer day with blue skies can bring this mood on... when it feels too good to do anything else than just to sit in the garden and look up through the trees. But that time still feels a long way off.

I had scoped out many seed aisles and finally broke down and ordered from a seed source new to me. I had to stop looking for mignonette, it was becoming an obsession that blockaded all thoughts of other seed purchases. So I found a source and ordered. This year I am trying out Swallowtail Garden Seeds. Haven't received the order yet, but will report on my experience as the season rolls along.

March is a good time to work on perennials, so I need to harden off the indoor hellebores and get them into the ground. that bed will require a lot of work, but by lifting the hostas there and resituating some of them under a lilac I might get two jobs accomplished.

One last observation: this is the time when the contorted filberts can be best appreciated, their twisting branch forms accentuated in the still bleak landscape of earliest spring.



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Home and Garden: The Secret Garden

I wish my photographs depicted it better, but this Secret Garden really did have that feeling of being tucked away behind the screen of pines and filled with an array of flowers with the perfect rope swing hanging from the "old tree". The Secret Garden was one of my favorite books as a child, and I read it over and over. The way it captured my imagination might have lead me along the primrose path of gardening to some degree.

Warwicks did a very fine job on their display, and it was a good use of the type of garden design that would work well in our area, especially if you planned a spring season garden that is mainly green and shady in the summer. It illustrated how effective a statue can be in the right place. Too often such garden ornaments are plunked down in someone's front yard, awkward and out of place. This one made sense secluded and featured near the classic water feature. I liked it.

I'm experimenting putting pics together in a collage- haven't quite struck on the style yet.
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Home and Garden : Baggins End

Oakland Nursery is my favorite nursery destination, bar none, for buying plants. I have shopped there for the thirty years or so that I have gardened. Their project was to portray the movie, 'Lord of the Rings'. Choosing a Hobbit house in Baggin's End they built an intimate feeling gardened place around the front entry to the home of Bilbo Baggins. Included was an outdoor fireplace, raised beds, and a chair for sitting in the sunshine...waiting for, oh I don't know.... some wizard to come along.

Oakland is having a "Spring Fling" event this weekend and next taking place at all three stores. (link to pdf file)

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Home and Garden:Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon

Everyone wanted to see this one, and it was very crowded... we had to actually queue up to walk through it. The garden was packed with a little Zen garden with ripples carved in sand, pines, Japanese maples,a water feature and koi fish. Moon gates are very pleasing to the eye, and this one was no exception. I could imagine it being a very serene place of meditation if it was in a private garden.

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Home and Garden Views

Here are two composite pictures from the Home and Garden Show. I went on Sunday afternoon, and it became very crowded. Cramped my photography, but I did take lots of photos- so I probably can make a couple more composites. I think the strength of the show, for gardeners, was in the hardscaping: the paths, fountains, and walls. There are a lot of exhibitors in both the garden and home parts of the show which were in two separate buildings connected by a canopied hallway.

My teens made it through without too much complaint- there were plenty of freebie candies on the Home side to keep them happy while I stayed mainly in the garden part taking photos and checking out the plant store exhibits. One large seed offering was available in the far corner of the exhibit hall. As I said, I think I will try to return this weekend.

I do have a few criticisms of the show, as well as some things which I liked, but wanted to return to see if I just didn't take advantage of what was offered in the lectures, etc. I hope you like the pictures, and I'll give a few of the commentaries in a coming post.






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Today

Today I go to the Home and Garden Show, taking notebook in hand because I expect to pick up lots of ideas. On Wednesday and Friday Val Jorgensen of Jorgensen’s Organic Farm from New Albany (east of Columbus proper) will be there, so I might make two trips if I can this year.

Til next time.... keep it green, friends.
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