country n gardening

COUNTRY N GARDEN 
this last week i planted our winter onions

first you have to have good soil
the prerequisite for a good garden

last year i wrote a blog about the hugelkultur method
i used to prepare my beds
using cardboard newspapers leaves tree trunks and branches
all down in the bottom of my 4ft x 16ft raised beds
all of which i dug the soil out to about 2ft
filling it with the above stuff
all this stuff holds water deep in the soil for those dry times
which come each summer
then i layered the rest with newspapers leaves compost
soil newspapers leaves compost soil until the bed was filled

now after a year that soil has percolated and enriched itself
to where it is today
i then added a layer of compost added organic fertilizer
added molasses and humates
then just let it sit now for about 3 months
those onions are gonna love this soil

i start with onion plants since they do better here than the sets
i use 1015 onions a white sweet onion since
i have found it does better for us
keeps good
doesnt burn my eyes
tastes sweet

so i plant the onions about 2 inches deep
poking my index finger in the soil using a bare finger
i like to get that rich dirt under my nails and on my fingers

i plant them one hook em horn sign apart
since on my hand that is about 6 inches apart

i water them in with a solution of either johns formula
of fish emulsion seaweed or just seaweed solution

after getting all 200+ plants planted
i lightly cover them with a thin layer of the leaves you
gave me
thanks again

these plants will survive ok without much protection until
the weather warms
watching the weather close for some low 20s
if that happens i cover it up with row cover

some time in may based on when they get ready
the stalks start to fall over
we will pick them
and
eventually store them in onion chimes

well worth all the effort

next to plant are seed potatoes
sometime in early february when the soil is dried out some

i recently transplanted my tomato transplants from their
originally small pots that i seeded them in
to
4 inch pots
hoping they will take off and be ready for early transplanting
next month

we are harvesting out lettuces from our keyhole garden
i seeded them by broadcasting a mixture of lettuce seeds
now that they are ready
we just go out and use our scissors
and
cut what we need that day for our meals
leaving a small stub of lettuce left
which will soon grow back into more lettuce leaves

we do the same for beets and spinach

so we will have salad greens until the weather warms
in may or june

today i will harvest swiss chard kale broccoli cabbage beet greens
spinach for a pot of greens for our supper tonight

so thats whats happening in the country n garden

the organicgreen doctor

its ours, post tour

ITS OURS
its ours so we need to take care of it
its the only one we have
except
i hear theres one maybe several generations away
in the far bounds of the solar system

we can rule out going there any time soon

we all of us are gradually destroying this earth
the only one we have
thats not replaceable

some countries are doing it faster than others
we in america did our fair share of destroying it
in the past

we are better but still have a long way to go

i went on line at this link www.earthday.org
and
i calculated my foot print

now im a pretty green person
collect rainwater
generate 40% of our electricity with solar
use as much energy saver appliances and techniques i can
drive cars that get 35-38 mpg
generate only 2 trash bags of trash a  month
the rest plastics glass metal metal cans cardboard paper are
all recycled
produce a lot of my own vegetables
and
of course eggs

i am one of the good guys very pro earth
and
i went to the website to calculate my foot print

it would take 4.6 earths to support the world if they all
lived like i do
hate to see what it would be like for someone who didnt care

it would take 20.6 global acres of this earth to support
my lifestyle

well i do have 10 acres here at the country n

so its our planet
only we can save it for our kids

this needs to be apolitical
i do like eg the way the hunters and fishing organization try to
protect the environment
they know the things they like to do for recreation will go away
if its not taken care of

so
lets all save this earth
we dont have another one

POST TOUR
well we did the funky chicken
tour that is

the first stop was at the sunshine gardens
where people can rent space lots to do gardening
there just seemed to be hundreds of them

we poised in front of the portable chicken coup that
was to be raffled off
we were hoping the couple i and s would win the coop

i could have stayed there all day

then there was this interesting space ship one
the hens lay at the top
the little girl was looking underneath at one of the hens
i was looking at the laying boxes

my wife she and i enjoyed this site
it showed we had a bliss of a day
she of course liked it for the big chicken in the front yard

mobile loafs and fishes
this is the place where we spent the longest time

i asked a lot of questions of this poor volunteer
as she seemed to be the brains behind their chicken operation

i really loved this rainwater collection tank
i even hugged it a little
if you have a rainwater tank you understand

its made of ferrocement and wire
it holds about 800 gallons
the water will be used for the chickens and for the garden

then i managed to catch the volunteer gardener
asked him more questions than i did the chicken lady

here is a hugelkultur garden they planted
these are built and are used as a fence around the gardens
logs in the bottom
then leaves newspapers grass clippings  compost dirt
greens and browns greens and browns
note all my garden beds have been made using this method
all the produce from the garden the chicken eggs are used
to feed the homeless

the most impressive of the 14 sites
well maybe the 1st one was that good also

best tour of the many we have been on

learned a lot again
about gardening chickenering composting rainwater
and
caring for our earth
and
its humanity

the organicgreen earth day doctor

pinned

PINNED
ive been pinned
no
my wife she is not holding me down
although sometimes she would like to
just duct tape me to the floor she would
and
leave me there for awhile
to pay me back for those things i do to her to make her
so mad sometimes
happy birthday today

i recently got on pinterest to post my blogs
thats all i ever do is post my blogs
then today someone pinned me
it didnt hurt a bit

its an interesting pinning actually
as you can see all the different raised beds made in a
keyhole fashion

if you ever thought you wanted to do one look at this sites link
and read about the different ones that are pictured

here is the link to this pinterest site
click on the picture and read the blog about the keyhole
garden i did from the old water trough

heres the picture

http://www.pinterest.com/rcdouglas/garden/

one of the big issues gardening in this area is water conservation
since i use rainwater as my only water source
i try to conserve as much as possible
the above picture is an example of a keyhole garden
that does that

this photo has not been pinned but its of interest
this bed originally was made by
laying down newspapers
plopping down about a foot deep of the lady bug
brand of hill country soil
which has everything in it you need to start gardening right away
so thats what i did
adding compost every year
so that over time the height of the bed rose some
however
i noticed that when thing got hot and a little dry the bed just
didnt seem to hold the moisure like the deeper beds did
so

enter the anthill or hugelkulter garden beds
i dug the 8ft x 4ft bed down to a depth of about 16 inches
running into soil that wasnt very good
i removed it
added cardboard my wife she got from her school
she scrounged from whole foods
i got from habitat for humanity builds
and
cardboard well seasoned that had been in our barn
for 12 years accumulating whatever unidentified stuff
that was in it

at the habitat for humanity builds i am known as a
dumpster diver

then i took my old financial records that i didnt want anymore
and didnt want to pay to shred
dumped them in the bottom of the hole

then i added the trunk from a peach tree i cut down
limbs from that tree
limbs and twigs from a small hackberry i cut down at
a habitat for humanity house i was working on

then i added compost from my chicken run that was two
years old and had a lot of twigs and debri in it

then i added a thick layer of the leaves that many of you
have given me over the last year
darlene dee kirsten and dee mark and debra and many
of their neighbors

then i added some of the dirt back that i had dug out
of the bed

then i added more of the compost from the chicken run

then i added some newspapers

i stomped this all down real good as i did the layers

then i added compost again
then i added the rest of the dirt
then i added 4 inches of the rich compost from inside
of the chicken coop real rich stuff
then i added several handfuls of lady bug brand organic
fertilizer
then i added a dusting of cottonseed meal

then around this bed
i had saved the logs from a large tree we had cut down
at a habitat house to use as a border to help hold up the
soil and give the garden bed more depth
which is now at close to 3 feet deep

i have planted 4 tomatoes in this bed
those lucky guys those 4 tomatoes
so much nutrition in there
and so much moisture holding capacity

i also added earthworm castings to the planting hole

i also made the bed concave ) so that it would be like
a bowl to catch as much water as possible
this is an idea i picked up from doing the funky chicken tour
in austin last year
when a local chickener who had a neighborhood garden
explained to me in detail how she did her garden

the old tree trunks make a good sitting down spot
to rest and work in the garden and
to just enjoy sitting and looking around the garden

the white material is row cover which i use to cover
over 5 gallon buckets to protect the tomatoes when
it gets cold
yes there will be another freeze where i live this spring

so thats a hugelkulter garden bed organicgreen doctor method
that has used recycled materials
most of which would have ended up in the landfill
that will be a water conserving monster
producing i hope big juicy tomatoes in a few weeks

now all my beds in my garden
all 400 sq ft are made this way
hopefully in our drought ridden area this will help a lot

fyi here is my first crop of asparagus
most of which never make it inside the house

the oganicgreen gardener

tomato planting

the meals on wheels night at the austin toros game at the cedar park
center is friday night at 730 pm
one half of the tickets you buy  goes to meals on wheels
then
there will be a silent auction on several items with 100% of the proceeds
going to meals on wheel
come join us and bid on the items

if you want to donate to the meals on wheels
go to this link and make a  donation

in the designation box write in 
meals on wheels program

or
send a check to
wbc opportunities
604 high tech drive
georgetown texas   78626

include a note that the check is for meals on wheels
thanks
ogd

TOMATO PLANTING
recently i was at the natural gardener in austin texas to buy plants
and
i started thinking about my tomato crop this year

a friend had given me a celebrity tomato plant that i had put in
a 1 gallon pot
i placed it in my green house and man did it grow there

at the natural gardener i looked at their garden where they had
already planted their tomatoes in holes
heres the label that was on their tomato bed

so i decided i would plant my tomatoes in a well or a hole
following their general directions
i did something like this last year and was successful

first i have a 4 ft x 14 ft g garden bed that i decided to turn into an anthill or
a hugelkulter bed

i got these ingredients
old cardboard
old newspapers
old records
shredded stuff from my shredder
my chicken made compost
leaves yall gave me
limbs twigs tree trunks

i dug out all the dirt out of my bed in 4 ft increments down to about 2 ft

then i added cardboard newspapers old records shredded stuff
on top of that i added limbs and old tree trunks
then added some of the soil from the hole
then added your leaves
then added the chicken compost
then added more newspaper
then added leaves
then added the compost
then the dirt
layer after layer until i ran out of soil
then on top i added my compost from my really composted compost

i did this to all 14 ft of the bed

then i raked it all out real well
dug a trench down the middle where i will plant
dug a trench on the sides where my drippers will go

then i dug this hole that would hold my 3 gallon bucket
which i cut out the bottom
thats my shovel handle in the hole

i then planted my celebrity tomato down in that hole
adding some earthworm castings in the hole
watered it well with seaweed
then filled the hole partially with the garden stuff i had just made

as the tomato grows i gradually will lift the bucket out of the hole
until it gets to the top of the garden soil
leaving it in place for a while to provide protection from the wind
and from the cold
later i will use it as a well to pour some of johns liquid fertilizer
which has fish emulsion in it seaweed and molasses as the season
progresses

i then cover the whole tomato with a five gallon bucket
then cover that with row cover to protect it from the cold
opening it to the weather when its nice
covering it when its cold

if all goes well my tomatoes will get a real jump start on the season
our summers can come real early
once the heat hits hard the tomatoes quit producing

the varieties i chose are mostly indeterminate
which means they will keep producing as long as conditions are good
determinates produce only a set number of tomatoes then
thats it

the indeterminates have the chance of surviving and being
fall producers if i am lucky

my varieties im planting are sweet 100s juliets both small ones
early girl as they will produce quicker in the spring
celebrity a good producer
then heirlooms like cherokee purple black krum brandywine
mortgage lifter hopefully arkansase traveler
and porter
adding more as they become available

 if you plant your tomatoes here in cental texas remember
late freezing weather is not unusual in late march
we here at the country n seem to get one in early april
so
be sure and protect them with row covers and blankets
when the weather is threatening

there is nothing like a good juicy tomato

the organicgreen doctor

whats below counts

WHATS BELOW COUNTS
every year at this time i pull up my old plants
from my garden and throw them in my compost
pile
yes everything compostable goes into it
and it all eventually looks like this

after spending weeks and months getting attacked
by chickens weather piles of leaves newspapers
cardboard paper feed sacks bacteria fungi
insects leaving a big ole pile of almost edible compost

when i do pull up my plants usually in years past
the roots are large and are a mirror image of the
plant that was above the ground
you know like a reflection of a tree in a pond or river

but
this year was different
when i pulled up my peppers this year after that last freeze
what i found was this large mass of a root system
that now explains my fantastic production of peppers
this year
the first year that weve ever frozen peppers for future
use this winter

this root system why was it so much better this year

it was the hugelkulter and the keyhole garden methods
plus
an hour long conversation i had this year with the head
gardener at the organic garden place in austin
the natural gardener recently nominated for one of
the best garden nurseries in the us
when if you ever go there youll understand why
be sure and take your kids theyll love the donkeys
chickens and the goats and the cats

this year i took an old water trough that was rusted out
its 6 ft in diameter
cut out the bottom
dug a hole about 16 inches
put a layer of cardboard and newspapers
logs limbs twigs leaves lots of leaves
layered in dirt compost leaves newspapers until
i reached the top then
topped it all off with several inches of good compost

then i added a good organic fertilizer then cottonseed meal
and as i planted the plants i add worm castings worm poop in
with the plants as i planted them

i fed them rainwater all spring and summer and had the best crop ever
of peppers eggplants basil tomatoes all in this 6 ft diameter bed
with a final depth of about 24-30 inches

all that stuff i put in the soil held moisture in the soil
plus i forgot to mention
i put a 1 ft cylinder of chicken wire and filled it with compost
materials compost and kept it watered also through this cylinder

must have been the right thing to do based on our production in
this 6 ft square area
and based on that mass of roots

here is the same garden space all ready now for spring planting
in march
it had a 4 inch layer of compost added
a scattering of good organic fertilizer
a dusting of cottonseed meal
i will add earthworm castings to the planting holes
then just add water
it was covered with a layer of your leaves that you gave me
thanks again
and will keep the composter full of material all year

the hugelkulter or anthill garden method and keyhole(less) garden method
does work
try it

yes its what below the surface in gardening that makes the difference

the organicgreen gardener

whats left

WHATS LEFT

take thousands and thousands of these guys and put them
in a bag
you know a lot of you do this every year and put them on the
curb to be disposed of in usually land fields

we use to like to rake them up and jump in them and scatter them
i guess because we didnt have snow
we made leaf angels

thanks to the campises guynes butlers and nagles last year
hope i didnt leaf anyone out
and
thanks to my wife she and even me on occasion jumping
out of our car or truck and taking some of those bags off
your curb
hope you didnt mind
we accumulated close to a hundred bags of their and your leaves

so what did we do with your leaves and whats left of them

whats left allowed me to take this











an onion set i only plant the 1015 onions do so in january
300+ of them
then
in june i pull up the completed onion

this one is sitting right now on my kitchen cabinet
plucked from our garden in june
waiting to be used tonight on our pizza

heres what happened to your leaf

we placed the leaves in a layer about 1-2 ft deep in our
chicken run which runs around three sides of our garden
for a total of 90 ft
it is about 3 ft wide
think of a c laying on its back

then the chickens from march to now december walk through
these leaves
pick out any weed seeds any insects
then scratches and scratches and scratches them
if you have ever seen chickens scratch then you know what i mean
if you havent then its your loss

so that now in december they are shredded down to fine particles
which when combined with months of chicken deposits
and moisture and composting
make the best compost ever
it smells you know how good dirt and compost smells
so good you could almost eat it
almost

here is a picture of one leg of my chicken run or my compost pile
this week

this layer of compost is 3-4 inches deep
is 3 ft wide
is 90 ft long
running this information in the cubic foot calculator from the
natural gardener
i calculate that i have about 3 cu yards of the best compost
that you can ever use on your garden
that that you make yourself

i dug some of this up and after clearing off my 4 ft x 12 ft bed
where last year we had tomatoes planted
this year will be my onion bed
the bed is a combo of the anthill or hugelkulter method 
and
the keyhole garden method

i then place a 3-4 inch layer of my or your leaf compost on
the bed and spread it out evenly
i scattered an organic fertilizer in this case i used ladybug 8-2-4
you can use medina growin green or any good organic fertilizer
commercial fertilizers can build up salts in the garden
contaminate our water system
and can harm the dirts bacteria fungi and worms etc
then
i lightly scatter cottonseed meal over the bed

then
i cover it with a mulch i use in this case pine straw as it easily
lets in water but provides protection and warmth from the cold
sometimes i use your leaves for the mulch

now i wait
and let all this marinate now for two months
let it get good and rich and get that right flavor
then
i rake off the pine straw
poke a hole in the ground with my gloveless index finger
i like the dirt on my finger and under my nails
it seems to connect me better with my garden
i lightly sprinkle in some earth worm castings
then
i drop in the green onion plant and this all starts over again
and
we make these onion chimes again

you should try this
saving your leaves
make your own mulch
plant your own garden
see whats left
of your leaf

thanks again to the above mentioned families for their
kind donations to the country n organic garden

the organicgreen gardener