Monday, April 15, 2013

Seedling Update

My seedlings are getting hugantic so I had to transfer a few last weekend to larger pots- these include my garden bean, peppers, and cucumbers.

Seedlings transferred to larger  containers: peppers, tomatos and cucumbers.

Garden bean seedling transferred to larger container.



























I feel like my seedlings are also germinating way quicker.  Here are some squash seeds I just started on April 1st.  Look how bit they are already.  It's like the plants are smiling at me.

I like how the plant to the left front there still has the seed on it's leaf- like a little hat!


Since it's been getting warmer and the day is longer, I took the plastic cover off my mini greenhouse.  The plants seem to be doing fine.

Mini Greenhouse with plastic cover off.

Plants on the top shelf of my mini greenhouse.  I have to thin them- I know!
But I am sad to do so because I feel like each one has worked so hard.
Cucumbers, brussel sprouts, peppers, spinach, etc.


I even started some more seedlings again under my grow lights.  I bought some new pepper seeds and zinnia seeds.  I will have lots of seedlings but I figure I can always give away to friends and co-workers.  Happy Gardening!


Lasagna Gardening!!!

I finally started my outside garden stuff a couple weeks ago.  I am attempting the "lasagna garden" method which involves no tilling, few weeds, and lots of composting.  Here's a link to a you tube video on lasagna gardening: http://youtu.be/5fGnVRlOqHY

Basically, the idea is to create "raised beds" without having to till your own soil. The raised beds are made from layers of carbon and nitrogen items such as compost, mulch, manure, hay, grass clippings, leaves, etc. Below are pics of how I did lasagna gardening:


Wet newspaper on top of grass

I laid 8-10 sheets of wet newspapers on top of the grass.  You can do lasagna gardening on any ground- even concrete since you don't need the ground soil at all.  I didn't even mow the lawn since my lawn was dormant anyhow due to the winter.  But if you start this in the fall and have lots of grass, you'll want to mow the lawn first so the newspaper lay flat and properly kill the grass and weeds below.  I did this after a rainstorm so the grass was wet.  It made my newspaper stick easier without blowing away.  You'll want to wet the newspaper anyways so it stays put when you lay it down.

I then got some compost from my compost bin and laid the compost on top of the newspaper.  You want to layer like this with various items to create a rich combination of nitrogen and carbon (two essential things plants need to grow well plus light from the sun).



Here's me taking compost from my compost bin (on right).

Here's the fine layer of compost on top of the wet newspaper.  


It started getting dark and cold outside so I stopped with the compost layer for now. My next step will be to add some leaf mulch and llama manure.  Here's a pic of the other half of my lasagna garden that I started a few weeks ago.  It started out as a foot but I let rain fall on it to continually keep it wet so it has shrunk to about half.

Lasagna Garden pile with leaf mulch, some shrub debris, and llama manure.
At night I keep the piles covered with a plastic tarp so it stays moist.  When I think it's gonna rain, I run outside and lift the tarp so the rain can soak my pile.  I did this last night at midnight when I heard thunderstorms were rolling through Madison.  It's important to keep you pile wet so it can slowly compost.  It's nice that I can use the rain rather than hosing it down.  This is why people recommend starting lasagna garden in fall so you can let it sit over winter and just decompose naturally with the snow, rain, etc.  But since I had a late start, I am having to sort of expedite the process a bit.   Here's a pic of my whole lasagna garden patch right now.  The right side covered with tarp is the pile I started a few weeks ago and the pile on the left is what I worked on tonight.  You can spend a whole day and do the whole things but I've been working piecemeal due to time.



Since it's been a bit windy at night, I also make sure to lay stuff on top of the tarp to keep the piles from blowing away.  Since I am starting my lasagna garden now, I don't have the time and access to resources like free leaves and hay from autumn decorations.   So, my next step will include me having to purchase compost and mulch to lay on top of my lasagna garden piles.  At least these items are readily available at my county compost facility for super cheap.  I will place this stuff on top of the remaining leaf mulch and compost I do have.  Finishing off these layers will be the awesome llama manure I got for FREE from a super cool lady in a nearby town and some coffee grounds I got for free from Starbucks.  I am excited about my lasagna garden and can't wait to show you the whole thing when it's finished.
My lasagna garden plot is about 24 x 6 feet right now.
I plan to make a 24 x 14 plot so I'll be adding some more rows to the right there.
Happy gardening.   I'll post next on my llama manure or llama beans!  So excited about those.  Plus the llamas were very cute and curious.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Garden Beans and Tomatos

OMG!  It is still freezing outside here in grow zone 5.  Well, at least it's been sunny so my plants in the indoor mini greenhouse is getting lots of warmth.  I went to Texas for spring break and had to have friends come to my house each day to water my plants.  My plants look so healthy and loved.  I started these seedlings on February 22, 2013 and look how big they are:

Garden Beans- started seeds on 2/22/13

Tomatos- started seeds on 2/22/13

I am so proud of all my seedlings but since I started quite early, I am afraid some of them will have to be transplanted soon to larger containers or they'll get too big for their teeny pots.  That will be one of my projects this weekend.

Also, since the snow is melting, I am going to lay down my lasagna garden this weekend too.  I hava bunch of newspapers that I picked up for free from someone on Craigslist.  I also have compost from my compost bin that I didn't use from last fall and I have coffee grounds I got from Starbucks.  I am hoping to get some free straw and manure from a friend who raises steer.  This should allow me to start my bed for at least a month before the frost goes away.  It's going to be a busy month but I am so excited.  I started some new hot pepper and tomato seedlings yesterday.  They're currently germinating on my fridge since my mini greenhouse is packed.

Get ready to garden!  Have fun.