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

they take it, garden update

THEY TAKE IT
despite what was reported in the austin paper
the largest 300+ clinic where i use to work
austin regional clinic
does take the obamacare insurance or aca insurance

they like me did their due diligence and selected what
they and what i thought was the best policies
many of the companies they are not signed up for
but
they werent signed up for them before the affordable care act
remember theres a reason why

click on www.austinregionalclinic.com to read their ceos statement

you cant always believe what you read in the paper
or hear on the news or read on the internet

GARDEN UPDATE
this is the time of year when its the best to garden in central texas
you have to be careful though and know your plants
i knew the cold front was acoming so i covered my stuff up
with row cover to protect it
but
i knew that some things if it gets cold enough wont be protected
these plants just do not like real cold weather

last night it got into the mid 20s here at the country n
but
i was ready since i went out on tuesday and picked all those
things that i knew would not survive this cold weather
despite the row cover

tomatoes bell peppers banana peppers jalapeno pepper egg plant
poblano peppers red potatoes and basil
that basil does not like the cold

here is a picture of my produce i picked to save it from the freeze
from left to right
poblano peppers banana peppers potatoes basil green tomatoes
bell peppers jalapeno peppers

the peppers will be bagged and frozen to use later in cooking
the bell peppers will also be used in salads and will be stuffed
later and cooked

the basil is mixed with olive oil to make a pesto for cooking
we had four plants that filled up a trash bag full
our house sure smells good
especially from the lemon basil we planted this year

the green tomatoes will be allowed to ripen on the shelf
the potatoes will be stored and eaten as needed

here is one of my keyholeless beds made from a 6 ft
diameter water trough with a central composter
that had eggplants banana peppers jalapeno peppers tomatoes
bell peppers poblano peppers lemon basil sweet basil some arugula
planted in it
its all been picked as above

still in my garden and really not needing much protection
is this 58 plants of garlic

in my other keyhole garden in a 8 ft water trough i have
lettuces spinach carrots beets cilantro asian greens kales
broccoli parsley sweet peas swiss chard
providing salads and greens all winter long

in late january onions i use 1015 onions and red potatoes
will be planted also

i let my wild arugula go to seed this time of year
as it provides a source of flowers for the bees butterflies
and humming birds and it reseeds itself in the garden

then finally heres that dang monkey pod vine
this year i was successful in getting it to grow
but those dang grasshoppers would shear it off at the
top and it would never grow higher that 6 feet and make
those beautiful flowers ive been told they will produce

this year unlike previous attempts at least they produced
monkey pods for next springs plantings

ill be ready next year for those dang grasshopper though
just you wait im ready for you

the organicgreen doctor

new garden technique

NEW GARDEN TECHNIQUE
first there was the square foot garden that i wrote about in
several blogs such as this one

then there was the keyhole garden that i wrote about also
in several blogs such as this one

then there was the keyholeless square foot garden seen
on this blog
this one was made for one of the habitat houses

then there was the anthill garden or the hugelkunter method
of gardening in this blog

i was looking at my garden a few days ago and thought
each of these methods have benefits that make them a
good garden method
so what if i combine them all into one garden bed and gain
the benefits of all of them into one

so i did and i call it the hugelhunter keyholeless non square foot
garden

i use water troughs to make small ponds in to provide water for
our animals and for wildlife
i also added pond plants to make them attractive and
add goldfish and minnows to eat the mosquito larvae
its pretty and functional

one of my 4.5 ft in diameter 12 inch high ponds leaked
so i replaced it and took
the metal trough and cut out the bottom

then i went to my garden where i had a 4 ft x 6 ft square foot bed
and dug down into the soil for 20 inches
yes i hit rocky soil which is why using raised beds are the best
way to garden around here

(for those who dont know what the blue thing is its a rock bar
for those who dont know ill teach you what its used for just
come visit the country n sometime)

then i placed the circular trough over the hole i dug
like in the keyhole garden i added layers of cardboard on the bottom
and on the sides and covered that with layers of newspapers
this will eventually breakdown into soil and also captures
moisture in the soil
a real problem here with the drought-moisture
a central 4 ft high composter was also added to the middle of
the bed

then like in the hugelkunter or anthill garden i added limbs and
trunks from some downed trees
these will absorb and hold moisture into the soil and eventually
will also breakdown into soil and will also release its nutrients into
the soil

then i added layers of twigs
layers of dirt
layers of my country n shredded leaves with chicken manure and
feathers compost
layers of leaves
layers of newspapers

this is repeated until the circular garden bed is full

then i added a layer of good hill country soil from the natural gardener
then i will finally add a layer of good barn yard compost also
from the natural gardener

so now i have soil thats almost 3 ft deep and full of nutrient rich soon
to be soil that also will trap moisture
i will continuous feed nutrition into the bed with the central composter

im now replacing all 6 of my 4 ft x 12 ft beds with this method
without the central composter
to save on water use and to increase the depth of my soil and to
increase the nutrition in my soil

tadang
the organicgreendoctors hugelkunter anthill non square foot keyholes garden

could this be the answer to this areas home gardening with its gradually
decreasing rainfall and decreasing availability of water

the organicgreen doctor