Earth2You

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Know your Last Freeze Date

It's important to know your last freeze date to determine when/if you can start your seeds indoors.

If you're growing tomatoes or corn you have to make sure there is absolutely no threat of frost of your seedlings will damage will other plants like lettuce and kale thrive in the cooler conditions, hence the difference between a cool weather crop and a warm weather crop

Find your last freeze date here

Reading the back of your seed packets will tell you the type of

conditions your plant needs to thrive

example from back of cilantro seed packet

COMPOSTING FOR BEGINNERS

- be ready in two weeks!

Every garden needs three essential nutrients to thrive:

·Phosphorus

·Nitrogen

·Potassium

Yes you can go to your local nursery and buy the supplies but why do that when you have everything you need already at home with Composting.

Composting is the most cost-effective garden amendment around, it improves soil texture and encourages garden-friendly visitors like earthworms and beneficial microorganisms. But best of all it's easy and provides all 3 of these nutrients for a better tasting garden.

The earth provided the nutrients to grow the fruits and veggie’s we eat and the oxygen we breath. We eat those fruits and veggie’s, we rake and mow our lawns so instead of throwing all those leftover scrapes away you should consider throwing them into a bucket and making your own compost.

In order for composting to best benefit your garden it’s best to work it into the soil at least 2 weeks before planting.

And if you properly prepare your scrapes ahead of time your homemade compost can be ready in a little as two weeks!

Compost is essentially 4 different ingredients broken down over time:

Greens, Browns, Air, & Water

Follow the links below for more information

2 Composting myths: here you can learn about Greens & Browns

Maintaining your Compost: here you can learn about Air & Water

What container is right for me?: there is one for every gardener!

Compost ready in two weeks: here you can learn how to be 'compost ready' in time for your spring plantings

Properly Maintain your Compost

4 necessary pieces to every Compost pile

Browns and Greens:

A good mix of browns and greens in your compost pile is about 4:1 brown (carbon) to green (nitrogen) and this will ensure a nice dirt smell

Air:

keep aeration by turn regularly with a pitch fork (some compost bins will have a rotate feature)

Water:

keep your compost pile moist like a damp sponge or it will take longer for it to break down, to much water and it will turn slimy

Compost ready in 2 weeks!

You can have ready to use Compost in as little as two weeks!!

Smaller items: Shred or cut up your food scrapes/yard waste into small pieces, the smaller the item the faster it breaks down

Rotten Food: rotten scrapes means your food has already started the process of breaking down, if your scrapes have rotted just wear kitchen gloves and/or cut up your items outside

Heat: Compost breaks down when it heats up, the smaller the area and the more enclosed the faster your items will break down. If it's not heating up you may need to add more greens.

2 COMPOSTING MYTH'S

Myth #1- compost smells so this won’t work for me.

Lies! Composting will only smell like dirt if done properly.

There are 2 Components to every compost pile

Browns: Dry Leaves, newspaper, straw, wood chips, sawdust, cornstalk, pine needles

Greens: Food scrapes, grass clippings, coffee grinds, egg shells (rinse insides thoroughly!), manure

*NEVER add meat, bones, or dairy to your compost pile.

A good mix of browns and greens in your compost pile is about 4:1 brown (carbon) to green (nitrogen) and this will ensure a nice dirt smell.

Within those two components are the 3 essential ingredients for providing nutrients back into your garden:

3 key ingredients within those 2 components:

·Phosphorus -Banana Peels

·Nitrogen -"Greens" or food scrapes

·Potassium -Banana Peels, Seaweed, Potash Salts, Tobacco Stems, and Wood Ash

Another alternative to provide your garden with these nutrients without having a compost pile would be to buy them at your local nursery in already made packages.

Myth #2- I have to have a huge pile and they are big or the containers are bulky so this won’t work for me.

Straight to the garden: You don’t have to have a “pile”- you can throw scraps straight into your garden! just keep in mind that it takes a bit longer for the items to break down. With this method, vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, fruit peels, egg shells and so on are put right in the garden and covered with soil. During the growing season it will get buried and earthworms and microorganisms quickly break down the scrapes.

if doing this it's best to cut up scrapes for a faster break down

Starting small: your compost “pile” can literally be a bucket. Start with food scrapes that you’ve collected over the past few days and dig them into various spots throughout your garden. Also consider throwing some dried leaves or grass clippings straight into your garden whenever possible. If going this route DON’T compost WEEDS, their seeds won’t breakdown so basically you’re giving yourself more weeds to pull!

Going for it: You can buy a composting container at your local nursery or make your own to fit your composting size needs. There are many different types for you to choose from- click here to view different types of compost bins.