Compost is indeed a wonderful thing!!

I am so lucky to have such great neighbors!  They let me use their pickup to go down and get a truckload of compost.  Normally I'll get it by the bag (1.5 cu ft) in the Jeep.  But getting it by the yard ends up being half the cost of by the bag.  I can normally only get about 15 bags in the Jeep.  So I was all excited to be able to get so much!  My main reason for wanting some this winter was to mound up around the roses and around all the little trees we planted in the back part of the yard.  I of course had a lot left after getting those areas mulched with the compost.

First I would like to discuss the company I get the compost from:  Price Farms Organics.  Their stuff is so good!  This time I got the Barnyard Cafe, but I've bought the Zoo Brew by the bag and that is good stuff too.  If you go on their website and look over their offerings make sure you check out the video on the products page of what they are doing with The Ohio State University in the Zero Waste program - love it!.  Here is a few photos from my trip down to get it....

You can see the steam coming up off the darker pile..

Fluffing / Mixing it up before they put it in the truck...

Happy me getting a load of decomposed barnyard poo...lol

I just can't say enough good things about Price Farms, everyone that works there are always so very kind and friendly!  Prices are good.  I guess the only bad thing I can say is that I really wish they were closer to my house!!!  =)

Now on to what I did with all this good stuff....

Mounded around base of roses (until the hens scratched some of it down) then adding straw to protect the tops and add a little more insulation.

Every where there is a dark circle of compost there are tiny trees and shrubs planted... they are like sticks right now but a few years and the backyard will start looking a bit different. 

I added some around all the fruit trees as well... and yes our neighbor boy TP'd us and house across the street the other week... waiting for more rain today for it to finally come down - not happy that my yard looks trashy!

One cart load at a time... should have counted - but I'm sure at least 20-25 loads.
I like how you can see the birds on the brush pile thru the windshield.

One of my spring projects is to get this new bed done.  Added lots of cardboard to try to kill out the grass/weeds.  Adding dirt and some compost to it to hold down the boxes and start to build up the area.  LOT more dirt from the garden will be added next year.   Was just too hard to mow between the 2 rain barrel build ups, so figured I'd put some flowers, grasses heck maybe even some veggies in there!

Had to share cause it makes me laugh - when the girls see me they come running and it cracks me up - so this is the action shot of them running toward me.  Never thought I could love 2 chickens so much.  =)

Put some in the cold frame and as you can see the celery from last year is still doing really well in there!

Rest of it I added to one bed and then put straw on it for wintering over.  This will be the bed that gets the early spring plants so wanted to get a good head start on it.  As you can see the hens came in looking for worms and already tossed out some of the straw.  oh well... I have swiss chard under the small covered tunnel. 

That is about it for my composting weekend.  I have 2 compost piles of my own but they won't be decomposed for a while, so its nice to have a place to go to that you can get a good quality compost product around here.   You will be amazed at the difference adding compost makes to your beds.  I can't stress enough on how important it is to take care of the soil to make it healthy and rich - feed the soil and your plants will be healthy.   I think this weekend I'm gonna start some seeds in the basement (herbs) and throw down some spinach seeds in the cold frame as well to see how they do.   Might be winter but I can't stop gardening!  =)

The Geek Side of Gardening...

So everyone knows I'm a computer geek... but I love gardening even more.  So how do you marry the two together?  GARDENING APPS!!

I'll run down on a few of the gardening apps that I use on my iPad currently.

1.  Grow Planner.  This is an app purchased through Mother Earth News.  It is a companion of their online Garden Planner (http://www.motherearthnews.com/garden-planner/vegetable-garden-planner.aspx).  I use both online and the app versions.  Sometimes its easier to design the gardens online since the mouse has more control.  But its nice to bring up the plan on my iPad and look things over - update the varieties I plan on growing, and look at the plant guide.  The Plant guide is the best part about the app and it gives you a break down of when you should start the seeds indoors, plant outside and harvest.  You can even have an update emailed to you so you don't forget about what to plant/when.  You can get a free 30 days account online to play around with but its only like $25/year for a full account.  I just got done starting my plan for 2013 - you can print the plan as well as publish to the web.  Here is my 2013 Garden Plan as of now.  I will constantly update it with the varieties I purchase or just change my mind of where I want things located - just an easy drag and drop.  So far the only plant they didn't have in their database was peanuts - which will be my 1st time of ever planting them.  

2. Companions. This app is all about companion gardening - planting certain crops together to get benefits.   The app has most general vegetables listed and it will tell you which other plants it likes to be planted with - and those it should never be planted with.

3.  Permaculture.   This app is kind of a newsfeed app with great articles about gardening.

4. Veg Calendar.  This app gives you data on what conditions different vegetables can grow - like if they are tolerant to frosts or can withstand hot summers, etc.

5.  GardenGuide & HowToCan are both apps but out by Mother Earth News as well - these are meant more for the iPhone but can be used on iPad.  Each gives you general information about each subject for a quick reference.

6.  ShopNoGMO and nonGMO - if you know me at all you know I am Anti-GMO crops.  I prefer to know my food wasn't created in a science lab, but instead is naturally God created.  Both of these apps are great reference apps to be used when out grocery shopping to try to stay clean from the monster-foods that is out there.  Unfortunately over 75% of all processed food now contains GMO crops (corn, soy, sugar beets, etc) - but there are some food companies that care about the well being of their customers and strictly use non-GMO sources - these apps allow you to find out who those companies are and which ones to stay away from.

Hope this helps other Gardener Geeks like me!  If you have other gardening apps that you use and love - please leave me a comment and tell me about them!  Thanks!

Gardening in December in Ohio!

What an amazing unusually warm weekend for us here in Ohio - highs near 60!  Saturday I spent the entire day out in the garden - just wished it didn't get dark so early or I could have got a lot more done.  I was able to finish installing the new side boards on the 2 garden row beds.  I wish I would have ordered more lumber as I'm in love with how this is turning out!  It looks so nice and neat, can't wait till we can get some extra straw next spring to line the paths so its not so muddy.  It started to rain today (Sunday) around 6am and was off & on till about noon.... making the garden very muddy so I couldn't do much more to it.  I did get a bucket of chickweed pulled on the north end where I could be in the grass.  The hens were checking the new beds out yesterday - unfortunately they were still scratching the dirt into the paths...  =/   Will have to mulch the beds heavily next year to keep them from scratching so much, or at least just scratch straw/mulch.

The oregano is still green and alive in the one bed, and the other bed has swiss chard (which I will be covering next week after I up up more hoop supports) and onions.  I actually transplanted some of the onions to get them into certain area instead of sprawled out here and there - I want to see how well they overwinter in the ground and start growing more next year.  

This was a photo taken this morning while it was raining... I smile looking at the new beds... I'm like a little kid - did I mention I can't WAIT to have all the beds edged by the wood!!  Small things like this make me VERY happy! 

We also planted 2 Arrowwood Viburnum at the back edge of the driveway.  These are more of my freebies from Arbor Day Foundation.  They are supposed to be a fast grower and get between 6-15' tall and wide.  Figured this would create a little privacy from the road for when we are having bonfires out back.   Its a multi-stemmed dense shrub with creamy white late spring/early summer flowers and then blueish berries that ripen early fall.   Supposed to provide food, cover and nesting for birds and larval food for butterflies.  The variety pack of plants we got is the wildbird garden collection - so many of them have some sort of berries to feed the birds such as the sargent crabapple, gray dogwood and these viburnums.  They are all just little sticks in the ground right now but I had planted one of these sticks when I 1st moved here out front (Washington Hawthorn) and its as tall as I am already (6 yrs).

I dug up the Dalhias we planted out in the newer flower bed by the big barn - I had almost forgot about them - this was the 1st year I ever had dalhias, yet another plant that has to be dug up like the cannas and elephant ear... my basement is full of tidy cat buckets full of tubers...

I think the rest of the day will be spent with my seed catalog and my iPad using my garden planner app to come up with next years plans!  Can it be Feb soon so I can start to start my seeds? =) 107 days left till Spring!!!   I have a feeling my entire Christmas wish list will be 100% gardening stuff! 

I'm baaaaaack........ Get ready for a novel! =)

Its been a long while since I last blogged... I apologize.  I'm gonna try to do better, I promise.

So had a heck of a year as far as the garden went, even tho we were in a drought the garden produced an amazing amount of food.  The drip irrigation system helped a great deal!  This was the first year of growing on 'raised' beds, more like mounds.  I was trying to keep the garden from getting flooded like years before so I dug trenches for paths and tossed the topsoil onto the beds next to it.  Of course when I try to adjust my garden for flooding, we get a drought.  =/   The plan is to never walk in the planting beds to keep it from getting compacted.  I did a soil test early in the spring and with the help of reading the e-book by Michael Astera The Ideal Soil: A Handbook for the New Agriculture I had a plan on what I needed to add to the garden beds to get them 'ideal'.  Its an easy read and very interesting, his website also sells a great deal of the minerals and nutrients commonly needed.  He even gave me his advice via email, I had lots of questions! 

After I got all the paths dug out, and believe me THAT was a good workout, I put down all the old bedding from the goat stall... goat poo and all!  It made the paths a lot less muddy and I figured as it broke down it, the worms would love it!  The one thing I didn't think about was how much the weeds would love to grow on the sides of the mounds.  The hens would scratch the beds looking for bugs and move the dirt onto the paths too.

I was able to can a lot of things this year!  I did some of my regular stuff like canned tomatoes, salsa, pasta sauce but I also wanted to try some fun new things.  So I made some caramelized red onion relish, sweet jalapenos, apple butter, pepper & onion relish, hot pepper butter, tomato based table sauce, sauerkraut, chipoltes in adobo sauce, sun relish and a hot pepper peach jam.  We are pretty well set for a while and have lots of options to give as gifts for this holiday season!  In addition to all that I made a boat load of hot sauces... I think there are at least 10 different kinds.  I went a little crazy on growing hot peppers this year and boy did they do well!  I purchased an Excalibur dehydrator this summer and man did I use it!  I had that thing full of hot peppers most of the fall!  I have jars and bags full of dried hot peppers.  I decided to buy a coffee grinder and grind some of them to a powder and purchased some small spice jars so I could give them as gifts too.  Others were interested in buying them so I created a little online website for them:  Mo Better Hot - Hot Pepper Powders   In addition to drying the peppers I also dehydrated sweet onions, tomato slices, celery, carrots, herbs.  It was a great investment!

Some of the hot sauces and dehydrated hot peppers

Mo Better Hot Powders

But now its fall and its time to start the garden / yard clean up for winter.  Its so sad for me - I hate not being able to work outside during the winter, and I hate being cold even more!!   So after evaluating how this years garden did with the raised beds - I wanted to try to do something to keep the dirt from coming down into the paths and even more so - help keep the weeds from taking over the edges!   So I'm trying to add some wood side boards.  I ordered 8x2 10' boards.  My beds are 30' long so need 3 boards per side of a bed.  I had 12 boards delivered last week - figured I'd do 2 beds this fall to have a couple ready to plant early spring and can work on installing the rest in the early spring.  This also gives me a chance to see how they make it thru the winter.  I did not purchase treated wood as the chemicals used to treat the wood leaches into the ground, and I don't want that in my food system.  So I worked on staking out the area with twine to be able to edge the sides in a somewhat straight line.   I worked on edging the sides last night after work and was able to get one done tonight before it got too dark.  Supposed to be in the 50's all weekend so I'll be working on the beds all day.  I have to weed out all the chickweed that took over and after getting 2 beds installed with the boards I can even out the dirt, if there is a little too much dirt I can use some to build up a new flower bed area I'll be constructing next spring by the new rain barrels I installed behind my drum studio this summer.  

One side installed.  2' stakes used to keep board in place.

My tools... the straight edger, the 2' stakes and a mallet - good workout pounding the stakes in!

Other things in the garden I've worked on this week was to put out the cold frame Mo bought me a few years ago.  I've placed it so the celery I started from seed will be covered - hoping I can over winter it since I learned how hard it is to start celery from seed!  I'm also going to try to start some cold hardy greens in there, maybe some radishes too - if they don't grow no loss but might as well try.

I want to start using cover crops more often, I was only able to get one bed covered this fall - but now I have a huge bag of cover crop seeds so I'll plant it early Spring and let it grow till its warm enough to plant stuff like peppers and tomatoes.  Then ya just turn it into the ground and its considered "green manure" .  The seeds I purchased are oats and field peas.  Its still green but can tell up close that its starting to get a little frost damaged.  This bed will be dead in the Spring and I can just work it into the soil.  It helps keep weeds from taking over as well as add organic matter back into the soil.  This bed is where the corn was planted this year, and corn takes a lot from the soil so I wanted to make sure I was able to add something back in right away.  The peas being in the legume family, are nitrogen fixers which means they put nitrogen back into the soil - something corn takes a lot of when it grows.

oats & peas cover crop.

I've started a new compost pile toward the front of the garden this fall with all the corn and sunflower stalks.   I'll be starting to add our green compost items from the kitchen to it.  I picked this location as its were nothing much else grows due to the tree shading it a good part of the day.  The pile has already shrunk quite a bit since I created it.  You can't ever have enough compost!!!

 Working on putting some of the fruit beds to bed for the winter.  I got the straw down on the strawberry bed, need to finish weeding and get a mulch layer around the blueberry bushes, and put chicken wire over all my newly planted grape vines - learned the hard way last year how much the deer like to eat grape vines... they munched them down the barely an inch left.  =/   I will be installing my grape trellis next spring, have the posts waiting, my neighbor is gonna come down with his auger and easily drill the holes for me.   Still need to build something for the blueberries next year so the birds don't eat more than we do - some sort of structure that we can put bird netting on but still not too hard to get in to pick.  Anyone have ideas?

Strawberry bed and Blueberry bushes (and weeds...)

My up & coming vineyard!  =)

future grape trellis...

 We are also trying to plant a lot more trees on the property.  Kind of a pain when mowing but will be worth it.  I get a lot of freebies from being a member of the Arbor Day Foundation.  We just planted 6 more trees (with some still needing to be planted - maybe this weekend).   Worried that the deer will nibble them down to nothing as well I placed old clay drain tiles over some of the real small ones and some got chicken wire cages.  20 years from now the backyard will be nice and shady!  We also buy a live tree for Christmas and then plant it in the yard.  This will be our 3rd Christmas tree to plant after the holidays. We also find a lot of trees just popping up in the beds, guessing from birds 'depositing' seeds as they go potty...  photo below shows 2 more I recently found - I think they are some sort of cedar?

Our yard of small trees and clay pipes. 

One Eyed Tom guarding the new Christmas tree.

Baby trees in the landscaping.

So that is my fall update.  Its Friday night and today I just got the best of the best when it comes to seed catalogs....  Baker Creek!!  Its almost more of an art book as it is seed catalog - photography is wonderful!  Its all heirloom seeds, its time to sit back with a glass of wine and start planning next years garden!  I love to keep trying new varieties every year!   I think I want those zinnias on the cover!   RareSeeds.com is their website - check it out, you can request a catalog on there too. 

Have a wonderful weekend!  I'll try to post more Sunday showing how the 2 garden beds look all finished.