to gardenlssi.com. Enjoy!
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Building Beds With Wood Waste
Dug a trench down the row and filled it with wood. |
Hugelkultur, roughly translated from German to mean “hill-culture,” is a soil-building method that raises the growing space by burying wood-waste beneath the soil. We are rich in rotting wood here on LSSI, including live oaks, pines and some pecans, so we’re employing the method to areas in the garden prone to flooding— the “fields” between the orchard rows.
After our summer harvest, we plowed the fields for one last
time, as it will take years for the wood to rot and we can’t very well push a
plow on top of it! Then we dug a trench down one of the rows and began to fill
it with wood, mostly downed oak limbs that had fallen in the lodge areas. (Some kinds of wood you don’t want to
use include cedar and black walnut. A Google search yields lively
discussions on the matter.)
Next we added, food scraps and other nitrogen sources like
bloodmeal and feathermeal to speed-up the break-down of all that carbon in the
form of wood-waste. Then we watered the pile before we covered it back with soil.
Added N: food scraps, blood and feather meal. |
Adding nitrogen via food scraps and meals is not necessary,
however. You can just bury the
wood and the nitrogen in the soil will work to slowly break it down. But we
wanted to hasten the process a little.
The idea is: the rotting wood will be a slow-releasing fertilizer over
the years. Initially a lot of nitrogen will be tied up in breaking down the
carbon. But after a few years, it
should have broken down substantially to begin releasing nitrogen, which will
make your veggies grow. While
you’re waiting for that process to occur, best to plant crops like onions and
potatoes which don’t require a lot of nitrogen. Or legumes that actually fix their own nitrogen from the
atmosphere.
I first learned about this old soil-building method in a permaculture
course a couple years back where its benefits for building fungal-rich berms
around fruit trees were highlighted. I am sure the roots of the citrus and
fruit trees on either side of our vegetable rows will meander to the beds and
benefit immensely as well!
Check out this resource to learn more: http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
A Story of Squash: Seed to Table
Tahitian Melon winter squash in the field. |
I am happy to report our guests are dining on winter squash
from the garden this fall. But my
what it took to get these enormous beauties to the table this year!
It was a long labor of love that began with the patty pan
summer squash I planted in the raised beds. I trimmed the winter rye and cut holes into them where I
direct seeded the squash. These dwarf plants came up lovely, green and
gorgeous, but just as they began to fruit, the pickleworms bore holes in their
vines and their fruit, so there was none
left for the kitchen! The
pickleworm is the larval form of a night moth which lays eggs on the leaves of
cucurbits and once their eggs hatch, the young bore into the flowers of the
squash, into the vines and into the fruit. We were quick to pull those summer squash plants in an
effort to get rid of the worms, but in hindsight leaving them in as a trap crop
may have been a better option. Just as soon as they had no more patty pan to
feed on they descended upon the cucumbers on the backfield trellis!
"Frass" from hole where a pickleworm bore into cucumber. |
I left those cucs in place because right next to them were
the winter squash. Now,
pickleworms, according
to research, typically aren’t keen on winter squash like they are on cucs
and summer squash, but just in case, I covered the backfield with row cover,
which also would protect it from the dreaded squash vine borer should it have
decided to make an appearance this year.
A pickleworm inching its way through the vine of a cucumber. |
Row cover on the winter squash. |
When the squash started blossoming, I was faced with some
choices: hand pollinate and keep them covered; uncover them by day and let the
bees do the job and cover them again by night (when the night moth emerges
again); or uncover them and see what happens. Well, I tried all three options but soon found the last was
the most practical, and least laborious!
However, within weeks of uncovering them, I noticed some holes in the
vines and some fruit shriveling up with a worm in it eating its way through the
flesh.
After more research, I decided to try a biological pesticide
called Dipel. It’s a bacteria that attacks the worms. The trouble with spraying this stuff on the squash plants is
that it has to make direct contact with the skin of the worm. Now, these guys are borers and are
usually protected not only from the cover of the huge squash leaves, but also
from their comfy abode hidden in the hollow of a vine and fruit! So in order for this to work, I had to
thoroughly spray at the base of every flower, around every fruit, along as many
vines as I could, lifting the protective leaves as I went. Well, I was determined! And...
Naturalist Rachael harvesting some long-in-coming squash this summer! |
To the kitchen! |
The chefs have been serving up winter squash off the grill, mashed up as a side dish, and in savory soups for months!
Friday, August 29, 2014
Sheet-mulching: composting in place
Cardboard, an excellent source of carbon, placed around our winter squash mounds. |
We all know the wonders of good compost in the garden, but
turning piles can be laborious. And spreading it wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow to the beds is lot of
work. Well worth the effort, don’t
get me wrong. We have an
extensive operation here on LSSI, but we also use another method to build soil. It’s called sheet-mulching, a.k.a.
composting-in-place or lasagna-gardening.
If you have a manure source or a load of coffee grinds and
leaves, you’re in good shape. We
need nitrogen (think: manure, coffee grinds, vegetable scraps) and carbon (leaves, paper,
cardboard). Whatever sources of wastes you have you just layer
them right on top of the ground you intend to grow in and let it break down in
place. A great time to do this is
in the fall, so it can degrade over the winter. Come spring, you’ve got soil ready for your seeds and transplants.
Here’s the method:
- Soak the planting area. Water heavily. Let sit overnight.
- Slash vegetation, weeds, veg. residue, roots and all, and leave as “green manure.” Do remove stumps or woody vegetation, however.
- Amend your soil with lime, sulfur, gypsum, any raw mineral, etc. as needed.
- Take a spade fork or pitch fork and crack the earth open a little. Don’t turn the earth, “just poke some holes to create better moisture retention, root penetration, and soil-critter movement” as Permaculturist Toby Hemenway says.
- Put down a thin layer of nitrogen material: manure, cottonseed meal, fresh grass clippings, or other lush greens or veggie scraps.
- Spread cardboard or newspaper to smother weeds. Cardboard is a better suppressant because it’s thicker and takes longer to break down. (Be sure to remove tape, etc. and DON’T use the produce boxes covered in wax or lots of colorful dye.) Overlap sheets and SOAK them.
- Add another thin layer of nitrogen-rich material.
- Pour on the bulk-mulch: 8-12 inches of straw, hay, yard waste, leaves, seaweed, saw dust, etc.
- Add an inch or two of finished compost if you have it.
- Then another final layer of carbon.
A word on C(carbon):N(nitrogen): As you layer, pay attention to the C:N ratio. It will ideally be at 30:1. Get an idea of what the content of your materials are. For instance, if you’re working with sawdust which has a very high carbon content of 500:1, you’ll want to be sure to add a lot more nitrogen, than if you’re layering with tree leaves.Now, sheet-mulching is not an exact science and the method is pretty forgiving, especially if you’re giving it six months to break down. Just sure to add both the elements as you have them and you’ll be doing wonders for your soil.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Sweet Potatoes=Greens All Summer Long! (and yams come Fall)
Sweet potatoes are near sure-fire successes in the summer garden. They're a southern staple. After
the kale and collards have long bolted and gone to seed, they keep providing
the table with greens. Their roots
store excellently too, providing nourishment year round.
This Spring, we planted several rows and a couple beds of
sweet potatoes on Little St. Simons Island. All of the “seed” came
from the potatoes we grew TWO YEARS AGO in the backfield. An attempt was made
to grow watermelons in that field last year, but the sweet potatoes left in the
ground from the summer before took hold and won out. When I first arrived in the garden this winter, the first
task at hand was to pull all those potatoes out of the ground. And can you
believe after carting several crates of them out of the garden last winter,
still this spring dozens and dozens of seedlings, called “slips” in the world
of tater-growin,’ came peaking up out of the rye cover in that back field!
On a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia a couple
summers ago, I came to know their virtues well. They were my “power bars” throughout the day. We baked dozens of the last year’s crop
at a time, put them in the fridge to easily grab and get reenergized. At
dinner, we stir-fried their bountiful leaves with onions and garlic for a tasty
side dish.
These are the sweet potato slips my husband grew for our home garden. If you're going to grow your own slips, just cut the spuds in half and put them in a tray of water and they'll start spouting. |
All this to demonstrate what a hardy vegetable the sweet potato is and how easy it is to grow. A city-dwelling friend of mine grew them in her kitchen windowsill solely for their greens. If you’re growing for their spuds, sweet potatoes like well-drained, loose soil and sunshine. You can mound them up in a raised row to give their roots plenty of room to swell. You can also plant them in raised beds. We did both late last Spring. I plucked those slips out of the backfield as they were coming up, put them in trays for later-transplanting, and now, they’re sprawling beyond their beds and rows... clipped every week to supply Charles with a substitute for one of his lunch staples, navy bean and kale soup. Come fall, we’ll dig them out of the ground, to be cured and ready for the baking come Thanksgiving.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Herbs Galore
If you’re going to grow anything, grow herbs. They virtually
grow themselves! They attract few, if any, pests and most herbs grow back year
after year. The Little St. Simon’s Island garden has been host to an array of herbs
for years, but this winter we’ve taken it to another level by installing four
huge raised beds right in the middle of the garden designated just for
them. What an orchestration it was
getting them in!
Naturalists Mike and Laura build bed #3. |
The gardener (that's me!) filling the beds. |
The whole team of naturalists took part, sawing lumber, nailing boards, raking dirt, and now, we have 368 square feet more growing space to supply Chef Charles with all the herbs he needs to dream up savory delectables for your palate.
Clearly, it takes a lot of growing space to supply a commercial kitchen, but not so for your home kitchen. You can put a lot of different herbs in a small space in a beautiful display called an herb spiral. Along with the four large traditional raised beds, we built an herb spiral as the centerpiece to our garden. You can put one by your door so all your herb needs are within reach.
Herb spirals are a permaculture garden design
you can adapt to your needs. They’re especially great if you’re short on garden
space because you build up rather than out. By creating height with a wall of brick or stone, you’re
also helping to create microclimates in your bed. The stone traps heat. And it
creates sunny and shadier places in the space as the sun moves across the bed.
The top-level, which you fill with sandy soil, is well suited to herbs that
like it warm, relatively dry and super-sunny, like rosemary and oregano and
thyme. Then as you move down the spiral,
you add a little more compost and plant herbs that prefer loamier soil like
cilantro and basil and parsley until you get to the very bottom where herbs,
like mint, need a moister cooler place to thrive. Some herb spiral designs even
incorporate a pond at the bottom.
If you’re inspired to build one yourself, follow some of
these links to get started. Spirals can be as little as three feet wide or as
big as eight! We watched this herb spiral tutorial on-line,
perused a bunch of designs and scouted around the island dump for recyclable
materials. For our spiral wall, we had a bunch of old bricks from buildings
we’ve been refurbishing on the island. We also have lots of oyster shells piling up from the
evening oyster roasts each week. We used them to build height in the center of
the spiral. Many designs call for gravel, but with the mountains miles away
that’s not an easy find. The
gravel/shell layer not only builds height but it also helps with drainage.
Part of the beauty of the design is that your garden herb
spiral will suit your needs, your own aesthetic and help you make use of
whatever you have lying around to repurpose for a wall. It’s about a day’s work for one person
to put together the infrastructure. Wait about a week to let the soil settle.
Then beautify it by planting your favorite herbs. Keeping consistent with permaculture principles, the spiral
is low maintenance, requiring little energy and water. You just water the top
once a week. Research says after a
year when everything is established, you can just rely on the rain.
Happy planting!
Useful Links:
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Here comes the sun... and the cold
The budding green in the ground is perking up to the sun as it slowly returns to our hemisphere, but the cold of winter is surely upon us. The Polar Vortex and “Snowpocalypse” that
gripped the southeast stretched its icy fingers to the coast and brought frigid
temperatures to the Little St. Simon’s garden. Our aloe plants, some lemongrass
and a favorite pineapple sage have all gone indoors for the season, and we’ve
been tucking in our garden beds nights it dips below freezing.
Here are
some tips to protect your plants from cold weather:
- Harvest. Before a light frost, take tender herbs, vegetables and
fruits to the kitchen. Spinach gets picked when we know the temperatures
will dip below 32. The
peppers go, too. We harvested all the lemons left on the Meyers in early
January when temperatures dipped into the 20’s.
- Cover-up. Many tender veggies can be left in place if you put a
blanket over them. Our
lettuce and chard beds stay tucked in tight with frost cloth. It’s light
and water permeable, so it can be left in place for days. Old sheets work well, too. Just be
sure to take them off so your plants can see the light of day.
- Insulate. Mulch your beds or rows with compost, straw or other organic matter. Do it after the frost to prevent heaving—the contraction of soil as it freezes and thaws which can move your plants up and out of their soil beds to expose their roots. You can also insulate the trunk of vulnerable trees. Polyurethane wrapped around the graft of some of our citrus trees keeps their most vulnerable part protected. You can also do this with soil, too; it’s called soil banking (and more on citrus protection). Mound the soil up the trunk above the graft union. Do this before the freeze, and remove the soil when temps begin to warm again to prevent disease and pest problems.
- Water. A generous watering before
a light frost can help retain some of the day’s heat. But don’t do this
before a hard freeze—four consecutive hours of temps below 25.
- Plan and plant what’s hardy in your region. Consult a planting calendar for your hardiness zone. In coastal Georgia, Brassicas produce all winter. And generally, carrots, garlic, leeks, parsnips, radishes and turnips can all survive a hard freeze.
Helpful links:
Citrus Protection: http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/extensionservices/adults/horticulture/english/article480.aspx;
http://farmerfredrant.blogspot.com/2010/11/citrus-protection-in-frost-or-freeze.html
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