kinder gardeners

KINDER GARDENERS

the black composter in the far right of this picture was donated to the
kindergarten class by a fellow alzheimers committee person who had
it at her house and was not using it
so
i set it up in the garden then talked to the kids about composting
using
browns like leaves newspapers cardboard limbs twigs
greens like kitchen scraps egg shells grass clippings weeds veggie trimmings

they put this stuff in the composter
added water
stirred it all up

in fact twice we emptied it all out on cardboard
stirred it real good and put it back in the composter

we added a piece of plastic a log a pine cone also

last week was harvest the compost day at the garden
so
i laid out a row of cardboard
shoveled the compost onto the cardboard
spread it out in a heaping row down the cardboard

the kids surrounded the compost like in the above picture
picked through the compost
removing the worms
removing any big pieces of material
removing the not composted plastic log and pine cone

they harvested about 4-5 5gallon buckets full of some of
the richest compost you would want to put on your garden
so
thats what we did
put it on their garden
all 5 buckets of it

it was their gift to next years class

its interesting to watch the kids especially the ones that were
a little squeamish at first picking up worms or pill bugs or wet
dirty compost
they seemed to be the ones that dug around in the compost
the most

its a good day when they can get their hands dirty
get compost and dirt under their nails
it apparently makes kids more healthy if they do this

so today we will do a similar harvest from their
worm composter

its been a good year
i plan to return next year

what i have learned
can be explained in my statement at the end of my
two hour stint in the garden with 24 kindergartners

how in the world do those kindergartner teachers do
this all day long five days a week

how in the world can they keep that many kids corraled
and do what they want them to do

those kindergartner teachers are a skilled group

its sad that all kids in all grades dont have the opportunity
that these kinder gardeners had this year
planting veggies and herbs
making compost
digging in the dirt and compost
eating what they planted
collecting and understanding how to collect rainwater

yes
its been a good year

the organicgreen doctor

sb country n news-squirrels 9 togd 15

SB COUNTRY N NEWS-SQUIRRELS 9 TOGD 15

at the school garden where i help the kids garden
the varmints were winning
big time
they ate all the peas not once but 3 times
they ate all the nice tender carrots as they emerged from the ground
they ate all the lettuce and spinach plants
they left the strawberry plants alone
they ate all the broccoli the kales the cilantro the swiss chard
the parsley
no they didnt eat the rosemary mint lemon balm sage garlic
the herbs seem to be winning the war
so
they ate all the veggies more than once

they were winning the war
so
i went all out to try to keep them out of the garden
so
i dug up every bed
replaced any missing wire barrier to the gophers
you can see their little tunnels through the wire
i guess if any roots pops through
they snag it
ill give them all those they want

as i wrote before
i made cages from pvc that fit each bed
covered it with 1/2 inch hardware cloth
attaching it with zip ties
latches were placed on each side to hold it in place
those dang squirrels actually lift up or dig under the frames
the latches worked

the hardware cloth kept out the little birds and the rest
of the varmint crew

those little birds they would crawl right through the chicken wire
using it as a perch to eat the veggies

the cages
are real light
are easily moved around
wont ever rot

so i replanted everything again
using plants and seedings to try to get it back to where the kids
planted theirs
which the varmints all consumed
but
not this time

so after over 3 weeks nothing has happened to the veggies
that were replanted

the kids all approved

squirrels 9 togd 15

a fellow alzheimers committee member gave us two
rainwater tanks and a large composter
i used my rainwater tank skills to convert the tanks to
usable collectors of water
adding three coats of paint
adding faucets
adding screening to the top holes to keep trash out
and water in

our next project is put in a 200+ gallon rainwater system
to water the school garden
the garden received a $300 grant to pay for it
we have 3 more tanks coming
i will put all them in a series to collect the rain off the
schools roof

then the composter
we had a compost party
adding sticks and branches
leaves lots of torn up fall leaves
lots of torn up newspapers and cardboard
lots of stuff removed from the garden area
like vines old plants weeds
you name it we chunked it in there
we added some pine cones
some plastic to show how it dont break down

then
i brought a couple of bags of compost from the community garden
we spread it out over the cardboard
they dug through it looking for things
like
worms
roly  polys
beetles
caterpillars
insects
they found them all
they was no squeamishness at all
there were a lot of dirty little hands
but with a lot of smiles on their faces

it makes it worthwhile

hopefully all this stimulates some of them to develop a love
for gardening
i hope so

it makes it all worth it

the organicgreen doctor

sb country n news-microgreens

SB COUNTRY N NEWS-microgreens

we moved from our 10 acres
with its 900+ square foot raised garden
with the richest soil ive ever had

now we have a 200 square foot garden space
so
i have to find other ways to grow some of what i
want to grow

a few weeks ago
my sons fiancees mom
when we were visiting them in the la area
said
hey
i know you like to garden
so i found these planters on the side of the street

around here
if you dont want something
just put it on the side of the street
it will be gone real quick

usually my wife she is known for
as she drives down the road
to suddenly pull over
get out
open the trunk
into the trunk the stuff goes

looking around our condo i see some of those things
being put to good use
like this old desk chair we saved from the dumpsters
picture not included

now this one rectangular plantar box
i knew when i saw it
what i was going to use it for

yep
microgreens

every year i planted my lettuce and my spinach in my garden
by mixing all the seeds of various lettuce mixes
spinach beets swiss chard together
then i put them in an old spice shaker

after filling the new road find plantar box with real good
organic potting soil with compost fertilizer plant bacteria and fungi
remember
plant a $5 plant in a $50 hole
i then sprinkled out of the spice jar this mixture onto 1/3 of
the surface
leaving the other 2/3 for two more plantings 2 weeks apart

finally
this week i did my first harvest of the first 1/3
then planted my last 1/3 with this seed mix
so from the first planting to the last planting a month has gone by
i should have this lettuce etc mix available all winter long
until it gets too hot this spring

this method is called
cut and come again
i simply harvest the 1/3 with my scissors about a couple inches
above the soil level
its enough greens for the two of us for a week or so

thanks to ls for the planter

then
while in the austin area for our final alzheimers texas walk this weekend
we went to this farmers market on sunday
near san antonio

now
when i go to the farmers market
i tell my wife she
dont rush me please
i wander down the line talking to the farmers
we speak the same language

i wondered past this lady from reverse pioneers who was
selling this microgreen stuff
all i thought it was that grass stuff that people eat and drink
the juice from
dont like that stuff
but
on my second round i looked a little closer
stopped to talk to her
she said
its sunflower sprouts

taste some
i did
it was good
i reached down for some more
they were even better
so
we bought a package of them
ate them in this phenomenal salad
ok most of the sunflower seedlings were eaten by us
before they made it to the salad

i looked at my wife she
you know
youve been growing them for years
underneath your bird feeders
i just weedeated them down
cursing the whole time

i wish i had picked them now

so
after the heat next spring shuts down the lettuce production
i plan to do serial sunflower plantings like i did with the lettuce
to use them in our salad mixes

you are never too old to learn are you

the organicgreen doctor

sb country n news-its all about the soil

SB COUNTRY N NEWS-ITS ALL ABOUT THE SOIL

it doesnt matter where you live in the world
if you garden
its all about the soil
how much nutrients are in the soil
providing all the soil needs
to grow healthy plants
now at my garden plot
thats all veggies

now this is what my plot looked like at the beginning
when i took over
it had sat there for sometime uncared for
it is near the area where the kids classes are taught
there had been a lot of traffic over part of it
over the months before i got to it

the soil when you dig into it is sandy clayey like
if you dig very far
its like aspphalt
in fact i used the rock bar
never thought i would use that again after selling mine
when we moved from texas
to loosen the soil enough so i can dig deeper into the ground

now i moved to sb one day and planted my garden the next day
so
in a hurry
i added several inches of compost to the soil
added a good organic fertilzer that had all these goodies in it
including good bugs like fungi and bacteria
knowing that there didnt appear to be much soil structure
to the soil
no real evidence of rich soil like i had in texas
it was grey looking
like my hair

now according to long term gardeners here
there is a lot of nutrition and minerals in the soil
just not as much nitrogen in the soil
so
i added nitrogen
hand watered the garden
i was quite surprised how well my garden looked
but
i knew i needed to work on the soil to improve it
my goal
is
like in texas
i only use my hands to garden with
no tools like shovels rakes etc
i knew i had work to be done

so as i end the summer garden
i decided to get ready for a fall winter garden
it lasts a long long time
remember it doesnt ever freeze here
i cant wait

so the first thing i did was pull up anything that
wasnt doing its job
i kept my peppers my eggplant my squash one tomato
my green beans my purple hull peas
out went three struggling tomatoes swiss chard kale
a real struggling basil
thank you jf for giving those peas to me

the rest got removed
so i decided
im going to do my beds like i did in texas
its dry here
much drier than texas
sb gets 1/3 of the water that autin does

my bed is 10 ft wide
so i took a 1 foot swath down the middle
dug it to the depth of two shovel depths
about a foot and half

filled it with mulch left near the garden by local landscapers

the soil i removed will be added to the rest of the garden bed later
to provide more depth to the soil
making it a more of a  raised bed

what this does is provide me a path to walk on while im gardening
leaving me 4 ft on either side to plant my garden
instead of walking and packing down the garden soil
i am walking on layers of mulch
which over the next year will gradually decompose into
compost
the life blood of the garden

as this path composts down ill add more mulch

next spring or summer ill dig it out and put it onto
the garden as compost

this 1 ft swath will also add a 1.5 ft deep trench
to act as a water sink when it rains
it also will stay moist down deep
allowing moisture to osmose over into my garden bed
allowing eventually roots like tomatoes peppers
eggplants broccoli kale etc to run deep down
underground to this swath
sucking up the moisture during dry times

this is a method i learned from listening to a lecture
from a dry land organic gardener in austin
who uses only rainwater in his garden
he uses very little water
but
produces an abundance of veggies that he
sells via his farm

so
even though i have access to all the water i want to use here
i pretend i am in texas
conserving every drop i can
i only hand water my stuff
i dont use drip or sprinklers

it makes me use less water
it makes me put my shadow in the garden
a must for being a successful gardener

here is part of this weeks harvest

remember i try to plant only what we will eat
and try not to have to put things up very often
like canning or freezing

now we have
started freezing our peppers
made some of our own pesto

next time
how i am preparing the rest of the beds for the winter garden

it doesnt matter where you live
this method of improving your soil
works

the organicgreen doctor

dear ms b-welcome to your world

DEAR MS B-WELCOME TO YOUR WORLD

we are here in your world now
my oh my
its a whirlwind no stop world

where in the heck do you get all your energy
your gma
she dont need no aerobics
she does all those things
trying to play with you
trying to keep up with you

when those eyes open until those eyes close
you girl
are on
full speed ahead it seems

we do enjoy when we pick you up at your preschool
nice garden your class has
onions tomatoes etc neatly growing in easy accessible
beds
it looks all hands on

then
when we pick you up
we walk over to the community garden
open the gate
right to the chicken coop inside the garden
you go
bock bocks you call them
your favorite is feeding them stuff
especially white bread
you take a bite
then they take a bite
sharing as you usually do
well sometimes

then
over to the togd garden a a few beds down from the coop
turn on the water
hand watering the veggies
ok so i help direct the water some
it helps we water around and around each plant
into that well we have around each plant

i am sure you would like to play in that water and dirt

as we do this
butterflies fly around everywhere
blooming is happening all over the place
lizards abound
birds flutter about

this place is a sanctuary
for
butterflies
lizards
birds
little girls
togd

i can see you digging in the dirt here
digging in the compost

as you do
it appears you greatly increase your immune system
decreasing you chances for
allergic diseases
improving you probiotics in your tummy
all those good guys in the dirt
helps out it seems

yep
welcome to your world
we
are glad to be in it now

fun times are ahead

the organicgreen doctor

sb country news-its different

SB COUNTRY NEWS-ITS DIFFERENT
thats what i told my wife she yesterday
when i stepped outside at mid afternoon
when i went to water and check on my garden here
well
i almost felt guilty being here
knowing that if i was back at the country n
i would probably be melting
with temps over 100 and high humidity
well
i fought yesterday hard to get my garden cared for in this
low humidity mid 70s sunny weather

i sometimes garden in the midday here
its nice
at 74 degrees and sunny
its like gardening in texas at 600am without the humidity
i also have noted that at that time
mid day
i seem to have the whole garden to myself
since its too hot for some locals to garden here in midday

my garden is a 20 ft x 10 ft plot
in case you are bad at math
thats 200 square feet

at the country n
one of my beds was 3 ft x 12 ft
so this plot is about 4 or so of those beds
since its is 10 ft wide i have to allow somewhere
to walk down the middle

its one of about 20+ plots in the garden

this soil here is sort of a sandy soil clay soil mixture
devoid somewhat of nitrogen
i immediately added after talking to other locals
compost lots of it
nitrogen
mulch
then i the first day i got here
prepped this bed
then
planted all my veggies that i could grow here
tomatoes peppers sunflowers squash more peppers
basil swiss chard kale eggplant
things we will eat

luckily here
you can easily grow things all year round

the principles of gardening are the same
its the timing of planting thats different

its also drier here
we get half of the average rain that central texas gets
this year before the winter rains came
this area was in a severe drought
they almost ran out of water in their reservoir

but
its back to dry now

making it susceptible to fires
which are just a few miles away
soot falls down regularly every day on the garden
i guess the soot is good for the soil

no dont worry
we arent threatened in any way by the fires

so this last week i did my first official harvest
from the garden for supper the other night
i picked
squash swiss chard kale bell pepper banana pepper purslane
amaryth to go in our salad and in our pasta
no my wife she was not allowed to pick my green tomatoes

here above is a picture of my garden at 4 weeks

here below are surrounding gardening plots
the middle of the garden area is reserved for school education
and for raising food to donate to food banks
each plot renter has to do so many community hours a year

if you look you can see the mountains and clouds
in the distance

also
the farmers markets here
well if i am by myself i can spend an hour or two walking
around and talking to all the gardeners and farmers

my favorite are the fresh picked avocados
no not from mexico
from some place nearby here

so
im guilty
feeling that is
until i bite into the avocados and citrus here
taking a slow deep breath
thinking
when was the last time i sweated

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-garden news

COUNTRY N NEWS-GARDEN NEWS

it feels like may around here
looking at the wildflowers and the fruit trees
and the trees and the shrubs that are ablooming
they all think its may also

i must say
that doesnt bode well for this summer
i suspect we will have an early summer
starting in the real may
hitting those hotter temps a month early
slowing down
the garden
the wildflowers
the greenery around here

as i look out around our property
i must say
its about prime for the spring
wish it would stay that way

recently
i took these tomatoes and peppers that i planted
back in the first week of february into large 5 gallon pots
put them in my small greenhouse with its southfacing
open clear wall
those tomatoes went crazy
even making little green ones and some red ones
no
those red ones didnt make it out of the greenhouse
and
i moved them outside under the lacy shade of
my huisache tree
to get use to being outside

so yesterday
i planted them
a cherry tomato
a juliet that produces small ones like crazy
two early girls that are full of green tomatoes
two celebrities that are always dependable

all of these are indeterminate
that means they can continue to produce all year
sometimes based on the hybrid celebrity type
they are indeterminate

but in my experience here at the country n
the juliette is the only one that i have been able to
summer over into the fall to produce tomatoes again
in the fall

the bed i use is about 3 ft x 12 ft
the soil depth is about 2 feet
of pure rich composty wormy soil
that i dig and plant using only my bare hands

no
i dont usually use gloves
i like the feel of the dirt on my fingers
under my nails
it brings me one with the soil

this winter i removed the blackeyed peas that were planted
on this bed
added lots of compost
added organic fertilizer and cottonseed meal and molasses
covered it up with the leaves some of you gave me
then
let it ferment for several months
until yesterday
when i planted my tomatoes

i dug the hole
added some earthworm casting to jump start the tomato plants
planted the tomato plant all of which had several small
green tomatoes on them
well one was red so i quickly ate it

then i watered it in with liquid fish emulsion sea weed molasses
to get the roots agrowing

now
hopefully i will get tomatoes earlier than usual
i already have i thought

i left them unstaked even though they were 3 ft or so long
knowing
that that freeze is coming
all i have to do is put some warm covering over them
then i will stake them up on wire cages

john dromgoole the organic garden guru always says
there is always an easter freeze around here

i agree
having lost tomatoes in april several times

also
here are my green 1015 sweet dont make you cry onions
all 200+ of them
yes
it looks like an early harvest of them
ill know its time when the stalks start falling over

also
here are the potatoes
agrowing like crazy
we definitely will have new potatoes by mothers day
heck
if the weather holds up as warm as it is
we should have all of them harvested by then

if you live around here
you have plenty of time
to prep your garden
and
plant those tomatoes and peppers
just
be ready for that easter freeze

the organicgreen doctor