Spring has really started and everything is starting to grow, but not every plant is wanted in our garden. We have a lot of stinging nettles in our garden and getting rid of them can be quite a challenge. This plant, however, can be put to good use in our garden by using it to brew a natural, highly effective, fertilizer. You can use the whole plant to create fertilizer: leafs, stems and roots.
Roughly cut up the plants and dump them into a barrel with water. You’ll want to add about 1 kg of plant matter to 10 liters of water (about 1 pound to a gallon) After 24 hours you will have a plant strengthener that is very high on silicic acid, a substance that will strengthen your plants cells and protect them from stinging and sucking insects.
Letting your nettles stay in the water a little longer will break down the contained nutrients and leave you with a fertilizer that is very rich in nitrogen and trace elements. Place your barrel in a sunny spot, but think about where you place it as the process of breaking down the plant matter into its elements will release a very bad smell. Give it a daily stir with a shovel and after two to three weeks your fertilizer is ready to be used. All the plant matter that hasn’t been broken down can be added to your compost pile.
The liquid fertilizer can be sprayed directly onto your plants, in which case it should be diluted: 1 part fertilizer to ten parts water. Or you can water the plants with it. One treatment a week will give you noticeable better growing, healthier plants.
]]>
I got my ordered copy of Growing Under Glass
, a book by Kenneth A. Beckett in the mail yesterday. It contains a big section about different types of greenhouses, finding the best location for your greenhouse and how to build your own. All information I obviously don’t need, since we already have our greenhouses. Still, it was a very interesting read!
The book covers about everything you need to know about building a greenhouse, equipping it and growing plants in it. It teaches you how to prepare your soil as well as less known planting methods like growing in straw bales. Growing plants from seeds as well as propagating cuttings are extensively covered and everything is accompanied by clear, step by step, illustrations.
I own quite a few gardening books, but if I had to pick my favorite one, Growing Under Glass
These past few weeks we have had snow and freezing nights, but also a couple of very sunny days that warmed our greenhouse up to 30 degrees. Spring is just around the corner, it’s still 3 weeks before it officially starts on March 20th but we’re close enough to start planning for planting. April and May are the preferred sowing months for most vegetable crops when growing outside, but we can start a lot earlier in the greenhouse.
Last year we had quite some weeds growing in our seed trays. Some where so badly infested that it was impossible to tell the weeds from the planted seeds, so I decided to try to sterilize the compost this time. After a little digging and sifting in our compost heap I got more than enough material to mix some seed starting soil. I mixed in about 30% peat and 5% coarse sand.
To sterilize the mixture it should be baked in the oven, the first try didn’t work out too well though. After sitting in the oven for well over 4 hours the center of my soil mixture was still pretty cold. This shows the great insulating capability of soil, a trade that is much appreciated by people building earth sheltered homes. What I did wrong was compacting the soil in the deep oven tray by pressing it down with my hands. By doing this I could fit al the soil I had mixed into the tray, wrongly assuming that this would be the way to sterilize double the amount of soil in the same time. The compacted soil, however, has a greater mass per volume unit and thus has a far better insulating and heat absorbing capability.
The mixed soil was far more than I needed anyways, so I gave it another try today. This time I made sure the soil in the baking tray was nice and loose. The soil should be a little damp and covered tightly with aluminum foil. A meat or candy thermometer will show you the temperature in the center of the soil. With the oven set to 90C (195F) It took about 4 hours for the soil to completely heat up to about 85C (185F) Maintain this temperature for another 30 minutes and the soil sterilization should be all done.
Be careful not to let the soil heat up beyond 95C (200F) or it will form toxins that will not be appreciated by your plants. Allow the soil to cool down and keep the foil on until you are ready to use it.
]]>
Most gardeners know that good compost is an invaluable addition to their garden soil and the avid gardeners I know all have a compost pile to make their own compost. Few, however, continue their composting during the winter months because they think the cold weather will grind all activity in the compost bin to a halt.
Yes, the composting process is a lot slower in winter, but the process doesn’t stop completely. Even if the temperatures drop well below freezing this winter, a little work and planning now will give your composting a head start once spring arrives.
Harvest your compost, so you have plenty of room in your bin for the winter composting. Since you will be mostly adding greens to your bin throughout winter, you’ll need some browns to keep the bin in balance, this is where all the leaves you raked up come in handy.
With a steady supply of fresh kitchen scraps, your compost pile should be able to keep itself fairly warm and do it’s thing. Some insulation around the bin can help to keep the temperatures up and speed up the composting process a little. While the best place for your compost bin in the summer is under some big trees, or any other shaded place to prevent the compost from drying out, in winter you’ll want to place it in a sunny spot, so the sun can warm up your compost pile.
What if you don’t want to move your compost pile or add insulation? Keep on adding your kitchen scraps to the bin and balance with dry leaves. When your compost pile completely freezes this winter, don’t worry, it’s a good thing! The freezing and thawing will damage the fibers in your soon-to-be compost making the breakdown easier once spring arrives.
Do you compost during winter?
]]>As we where running out of good soil for the planting I decided to try something different. We had some Styrofoam fish boxes laying around which looked like a perfect size planting container to grow some cucumbers in. The worms in the worm bin had not produced enough vermicompost yet, but I figured: why not let the worms continue their work while the plants are already growing?
So, I filled up the fish boxes 2 thirds of the way with a mixture of halfway done garden compost and the contents of my worm bin, including the worms. The boxes where toped of with some good soil. While the plants grow the worms should create a steady supply of worm castings.
Not knowing if this would work, I was pleasantly surprised by the growth rate of the cucumber plants. Now, six weeks later, the plants have grown nicely and are starting to develop fruits. This method of growing cuts out the work of having to harvest the vermicompost and the plants seem to like the steady supply of fresh nutrients.
I just found out that Compost Guy is doing the same, he calls it “Garbage Gardening”. I think if you want to sell your produce, a better term for this method of gardening should be used, as “Garbage Gardening” will probably not market very well.
]]>
If you want good soil for your vegetable garden, flower beds or potted plants, without having to pay for it, composting is what you should do. I’ve had a big compost bin standing in my garden for quite a while and it does a great job, but it takes ages to turn my kitchen scraps into good compost. These big compost bins rely on bacteria to break down the scraps and they will take between 6 months and a year before you can use the compost.
Worms however can compost a lot faster. While digging in my garden I found a good number of worms which I have added to my compost bin to speed things up. When I recently decided to move my compost bin however, I found no worms in it. After a few weeks of hot and dry weather the worms all dug down into the soil beneath the bin and where gone.
If you want to compost with worms, which is also called vermicomposting, you need a different kind of compost bin. A worm bin will have a closed bottom, so the worms can’t get out. You do have to drill a couple of holes into the bottom, so excess water can get out. You can use any type of plastic bin for worm composting, but ideally it will have a matching lid. Worms breath like all animals so you need to make sure they get enough air. A few slits or holes in the side of your bin will take care of the air circulation, but you want to cover them up with some screening to keep flies out.
Fill your bin about half way with moist newspaper or cardboard strips and add a layer of soil. If you have a compost bin you can probably find some worms in there or you can do some digging in your garden. You can also go the easy way and buy some composting worms in a garden center or order them online.
Keep your worm bin out of the sun and make sure it stays moist. The worms will accept temperatures between 10 and 30 degrees centigrade but will do best at around 25 degrees. Be careful not to overfeed the worms or your worm bin will start smelling bad. Don’t add any scraps until the last batch has been eaten completely and always burry the scraps you are adding. In time you will get a feel for the amount of scraps your worm bin can process.
]]>
The aquaponics plant has not grown at all in the 4 weeks. The only difference to how the plant looked 4 weeks ago is the color: the plant is now purple, which is a sign of not enough nutrients and too much water. I guess I planted too early. I will let the system mature a little longer and try again in about a month.
The plant in compost is doing very well. It has grown tremendously in the last 4 weeks and looks very healthy with juicy leaves and a thick stem. Even the Lego minifig I placed into the pictures for size comparison noticed the difference and wanted to stay in the compost veggie-garden.
For now the score is: Compost 1, Aquaponics 0. But I expect this to change once the system has matured…
]]>