Reblogged from ILRI Clippings:

I moved some of the screws holding the timbers together so that they were in solid wood and added new screws where needed.  Then, I turned the soil over with my garden fork.  I raked the soil out flat and pulled it higher around the edges to keep water in the bed.  I added manure and raked it in, then added fertilizer and raked that in too.  This bed is larger than number two, so I used three pounds of 5-10-10 fertilizer instead of two.  Another difference is that this bed will have no landscape fabric and no trellis.  Now, it is ready to plant.

Other activities today included cleanup of raised beds number three and four.  Bed number three still has kale growing in it which we have been eating, so I’ll leave that in place as long as possible.  We found some carrots that we missed last fall in bed number four; surprisingly, they are edible.  Bed four also has some chard plants re-emerging, and I’ll move those and some onions to bed number one.

High nitrogen material, which has a 10:1 ratio, would be fresh manure, legumes, and nitrogen fixing plants.  Bacteria love high nitrogen.  Green material (30:1) is anything young and fresh-cut, to provide quick food in the form of sugars, such as food wastes, weeds, fresh cut grass and hay.  Woody material is anything with lignin and provides a substrate and food for the fungi.

The high nitrogen material we used was a mix of manure mixed with 1/3 chipped maple and another manure without any bedding.  When using manure, it is important to ask if the animals have been de-wormed since the antibiotics will kill the organisms we are trying to grow.  The green material was hay, which is high in sugars to feed the bacteria.  Though you would normally not think of hay as a green material, it really is.  Hay is cut before it is dried and the sugars receded back into the root system unlike straw.  Once the hay is rehydrated, the sugars will reawaken.  Our woody material was a mix of oak leave and wood chips.

We each grabbed garden tools and began piling on our ratios of material by the shovelful and watering with humic acid.  Earlier in the morning we made the humic acid from a cup of finished compost.  Molly Haviland recommends that we hydrate our materials 3 days before building the piles.  In a couple of hours our pile was complete and we named her “Baby Bac.”

Our class then had the opportunity to turn a pile of compost in process.  We used the techniques we had been taught the previous day, taking the three temperature readings and hand squeeze moisture test.  The pile was hot enough and dry enough to need turning and a misting of water.  The pile was already dark like chocolate and had that fresh earthy smell of healthy soil.  Hard to imagine our Baby Bac will transform from its rough ingredients to good, rich compost.  We shall see!

We had a very busy day Sunday We had all of us there Lily-Rose Ethan Gemma and Myself, We started by putting up the old swing up we had in out old house, we dont have the room now but we do at the allotment

Happy Kids

Lily loved having the Swing at the allotment however shes 3 and struggles so where as its a good idea to keep her happy its not great when every 2 minutes all you hear is day DAAADDDD Push me please lol

Ethan on the other hand can quite happily swing away to his hearts content.

We took the Rotavator this weekend and got it all tilled it looks really good could do with a little more work but it’s looking good compared to what it did look like, really could do with some well rotted manure but unfortunately we haven’t got any rotten manure so i do have Fish blood and bone and Chicken Pellets we’re going to use

Looks ace

Really impressed with how its coming along we have Broads coming on now its still really cold on the nights here in Grimsby just managing highs of 7 or 8 Degrees in the day so not got allot started just yet we got first earlies in this weekend tried them in sacks whether they grow or not is another matter as I stated before no soil so just manure …. I know I know but its our first year so they have a choice ……

1st Earlies

There is one in there Honest

Broad Beans Poking through.

I checked today when i went to feed the chickens and we have 13 beans coming and loads of leeks now i cant wait to get them in and planted and see it in a couple of months time and reap all the hard work we’ve put in.

Gemma was busy bless her even 38 weeks pregnant she struggled to get down there but she planted the last of the Garlic another 2 1/2 rows and we got some Red sun Shallots from the allotment Shed bag of red and white for 60p did a row of each, we got 4 more rows of snow ball onions in also only close 5″ apart roughly making most of the space wont get massive onions be will get some nice smaller onions with really intense flavour bigger isn’t always better.

Dracula Beware

38 Weeks Pregnant but still getting involved, Brilliant Wife.

That pic reminds me i also cut the water butts to make small planters for salad leaves and things such alike spring onions etc . Going to attach feet and raise them to waist height 27 and already looking after the back lol

We dod our best to trim the Blue berries back again were not used to having fruit especially over grown and out of control bushes so we pruned it back took out the dead and tied it back take a look any advise would be appreciated Thanks.

Cant wait to get there again not sure when that might be though with the imminent arrival of Stinson number three, but I’m sure I can squeeze in an hour here or there when I’m feeding the Ducks and Chickens.

I will update you all very soon with allotment and Stinson number Three who if you were wondering does have a name. We’re planning on calling her Amelia.

Happy Allotmenteering

Seeya Soon

We will get to that in a minute. First, let me just state that the calendar did in fact say “Trainer” today and I did in fact go. I was pretty proud of that so I wanted to get that out in the open. First day back from Vegas, totally jet lagged, and I dragged my ass to the gym. Yay me.

Now to the good (?) stuff. Poop.

Martha’s calendar also said, “Till vegetable garden; work in horse manure”.

Since my vegetable garden resides in pots on my patio, not much tilling could be done. Also, my roommate kind of forgot to water the plants while I was away so instead of tilling I spent some time this morning watering the vegetables and pulling out leaves.

Also, I don’t have horses, so horse manure – kind of out of the question. I love this blog, and I love Martha, but I don’t see myself going out to acquire any horse manure either.

I don’t think dog poop works quite the same. I wouldn’t actually know, but this is my assumption.

However, I didn’t want today to be a total fail, so in honor of Martha I did something I never do – I cleaned the cat litter box. Typically this is on the roommates. I have a dog – I deal with his poop. They have cats – they deal with that.

But today – cat poop duty. Duty. hehe – yeah I went there.

In honour of yesterday’s post on manure, I thought I’d share this photo of my son helping me clean out the barn last fall. With only 2 cows sheltered in a log barn well over 100 years old, we handle manure the “old-fashioned” way and apply it to our hay fields to build and maintain their fertility.

I’m getting SO excited for my garden.

On Sunday, it really felt like spring was starting. It was warm enough to be outside in just a t-shirt while I did some coop cleaning and garden preparations. There was still more than three feet of snow in some places (including the garden), so I was wearing insulated boots along with a t-shirt, but it was a really good day for getting outside.

My portable coop became a stationary one over the winter, because it was impossible to haul it through the snow. Since I’m lazy, I went with a deep bedding method. It actually worked out really well. On Sunday, enough snow had melted around the coop that I was able to move it. The hens were ecstatic – they hadn’t had fresh pasture since November. I was ecstatic because I was able to rake up an entire winter’s worth of chicken slop and spread it over the garden. Once all the snow melts, it’ll get tilled into the soil.

Come summer, I will have some very happy plants.

1) Reliance on Animal Manures
The idea that organic farmers “rely” on manure and/or compost for fertility is a common misconception: there are a wide range of soil amendments available to organic farmers, especially when it comes to high-value crops like fruits and vegetables. Many of these are raw, unprocessed minerals like calcium carbonate (lime), rock phosphates, or potassium sulfate. Others are derived from plant or animal sources (seed meals and fish emulsions are two good examples).

In fact, I’ve developed a fertility plan for my own farm’s vegetable acreage that does not rely on any manure or compost (I am applying the small amount we do generate here to build and maintain fertility on permanent hay ground and fields I may eventually transition to vegetable production.) Furthermore, there are “vegan” farms that guarantee their customers that no animal products are used in the production of food on their farms.

Whether or not we can have a truly sustainable agriculture without incorporating livestock somewhere into the system is certainly a debate worth having, but for the purposes of this blog post, let’s simply acknowledge that organic farmers can produce crops without relying on animal manure. The next question to ask is, “for the sake of food safety, should they?”

2) Managing Manure Risks

To read some of the more radical critics of organic agriculture, you may be led to believe that organic farmers can apply manure to their crops without any regard whatsoever for microbial contamination or food safety – nothing could be further from the truth. There are, in fact, a couple of different manure management strategies in place on organic farms.

The preferred method is composting. Organic standards define compost as, “The product of a carefully managed aerobic process by which non-synthetic materials are digested by microorganisms. Organic materials for compost shall be managed appropriately to reach temperatures for the duration necessary to effectively stabilize nutrients and kill human pathogens.” (from the Canadian Organic Standard)

How this is accomplished is further defined in similar terms in the organic standards for both the Canada and the United States (quoting from the Canadian Standard again):

Compost produced on the farm . . . if made from animal manures or other likely sources of human
pathogens, compost produced on the farm shall

a. reach a temperature of 55°C (130°F) for a period of four consecutive days or
more. The compost piles shall be mixed or managed to ensure that all of the
feedstock heats to the required temperature for the minimum time; or

b. meet limits for acceptable levels (MPN/g total solids) of human pathogens
specified in the Canadian Council for Ministers of the Environment publication
Guidelines for Compost Quality; or

c. be considered as aged or raw manure rather than compost (i.e. meet the
requirements specified in par. 5.5.2.5 of CAN/CGSB‑32.310, Organic
Production Systems — General Principles and Management Standards).

This last statement is particularly important: on most organic farms, it is practically impossible to meet the first of these requirements (which are actually taken from the requirements for commercial composting operations). Although it irks some organic farmers that the efforts they make to compost their manure (and all the associated benefits it brings) are not recognized by the certification bodies when it comes to the timing of application, it is an essential food safety consideration. Therefore, organic standards require that:

5.5.2.5 The non-composted solid or liquid manure shall be

a. incorporated into the soil at least 90 days before the harvesting of crops for human consumption that do not come into contact with soil,

b. incorporated into the soil at least 120 days before the harvesting of crops having an edible part that is directly in contact with the surface of the soil or with soil particles.

Organic farmers are required to keep records documenting manure application, and these records are reviewed during the annual inspection; farms can also be subject to random, unannounced inspections at any time. Interestingly, GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) food safety programs, which are quickly becoming a standard requirement for any grower wishing to supply large grocery chains, have the same 120-day standard for manure application.

3) Evidence of Contamination

I’ve done a fair bit of research and even challenged some critics to prove to me whether any microbial contamination issues in organic food have ever been traced back to manure applied to the growing area. The answer, to the very best of my knowledge, is no. Post-harvest handling appears to be the area of greatest risk, and whether the product is organic or not has little bearing at this stage in the process. However, organic standards require that any water used in post-harvest handling be routinely tested for potability and that these results are shared with the certification body.

Food safety and microbial contamination is a concern that every farmer, organic or not, needs to take very seriously, and I’ve never met a farmer who didn’t recognize this fact. As we can see, the standards for certified organic production also directly address these concerns in a manner consistent with recommended best management practices for all agricultural operations, and certification bodies verify and enforce these requirements. The bottom line is clear: consumers can trust the safety of organic produce.

Top of the soil-feed desirability stakes for gardeners has always been horse manure – so much so that it was originally believed the tractor would never become popular on farms because of its lack of poo production! This year my garden enjoyed a bonanza after Eva Marie Burns from Inca posted on Facebook that she was happy for all horticulturists to descend upon her five-horse paddock and dig to their hearts content. The financial crisis has meant that the person who usually removed the “waste” and paid her for the pleasure, is no longer prepared to cough up, so, enterprising Eva crowned herself Queen of Poo (her words, not mine) and posted her appeal.

She is asking those who load up their cars at the stables to donate a couple of euros to the Dogs 4 U charity on the island or, if you don’t want to do your own shovelling, her son will bag it up for a euro a bag, half of which will also be donated to Dogs 4 U. This all seems more than fair for a pile of what my parents always referred to as “gold dust”.  Heavy feeding plants such as tomatoes, bananas, asparagus, avocados, cucumbers and roses will perk up no end with a few spadefuls of this superfood.

However, Mallorca is abundant with many other free soil feeds in addition to horse manure. For centuries local farmers used seaweed on the land. It is useful both as a mulch to keep down weeds, limit water evaporation and discourage snails and also to add to compost heaps to increase the content of many trace minerals.

If you have chickens their manure should also be added to the compost but it’s far too strong to place directly on plants, this is a product that definitely needs mixing with less extreme foods such as grass cuttings before use.

Wood ash from wood burners or bonfires is another freebie that’s great for the garden. It’s full of potash and calcium carbonate, while slugs and snails hate it so it creates a natural slug repellent. However, don’t overdo it in one place as mounds of it can form an impenetrable cement which prevents moisture from getting through to the roots below.

My final free fertilizer is what my kids call Mum’s Witches Brew. When stinging nettles are prevalent, as they are now, this can be made easily and used anywhere, diluted with 3 parts water to one part “brew”. Fill a bucket with nettles and place it in the area of the garden you will want to spread the fertilizer. Fill with water and leave for a fortnight before using. The final mixture is full of nitrogen, magnesium, sulphur (yes, it does smell after a while!) and iron. It can be used on all plants or as a compost activator, but is particularly good for any trees whose leaves are paler than usual, indicating they need some extra iron.

A little bit of effort in the spring will reap huge benefits when the intense heat turns much of our land into a dust bowl. Better soil makes for improved water retention which is good for both plants and pockets, while regular feeding ensures gardeners can make maximum use of the Mediterranean’s two growing seasons without the earth becoming exhausted.

Moo-Doo from Hy-Grass Farms

Flipping through my garden notes, I see that I last amended my soil in March 2010. Oops. The poor harvest of 2012 and the reading of 0 mg/L N (even on the notoriously unreliable home soil kits) corroborate this oversight. So this spring I am reintroducing serious nitrogen (I hope) in the form of manure.

Chicken manure is probably the best choice, all other things being equal, for its high N content relative to other manures. But all other things are not equal. Chickens are small and my gardens are vast. My chicken manure is too disperse to make use of on a large scale and no one locally delivers yards of composted chicken manure.

So I went with cow manure. Dairy cow, specifically. From Hy-Grass Farms in Enumclaw. Seattle is a bit far-out for them, so they referred me to their local distributor – Gary from Sayers Landscape Supplies on Rainier Ave. My call was answered immediately, and my 5 yards of Moo-Doo delivered within one hour. Wow!

Not only that, but the product looks good (and no odour!). The manure is composted with sawdust, so no big chunks of wood (or plastic) like you get with Cedar Grove compost, and only the occasional rock. It looks so good that passersby have asked for a referral – including the UPS guy delivering a package next door!

Now we just have to distribute it all before our neighbour’s grass dies under the monstrous tarp that he so generously laid out for me…

Back to school.

Back to reality.

We had a great weekend with friends and I actually got the boys to school on time!

Spring Break week marked the start to our garden season.  I have expanded my garden spot this year and we got it all ready!

Perfect spot with lots of sun ( if we get any this year!).

Got a load of organic composted manure… wahoo!  Had some help from my helpers too!

I just took photos while everyone worked!  Ha!  Just kidding…  :)

It was really fun to get out there together and work on our garden.  I can’t wait to see if I can make veggies grow again this year…  it is always a big question, but I will try my best!

Have you gotten started on your garden yet this year?  

Primary Sources of Nitrogen in Organic Cropping Systems

John Spargo, UMass Extension Soil Scientist and Director of the UMass Soil and Plant Tissue Testing Laboratory, shared his expertise with Nitrogen (N) dynamics in organic cropping systems at the Agriculture & Food Conference of Southeastern Massachusetts in February, 2013. Spargo discussed how to manage N to optimize crop quality and yield as well as how to minimize losses to the environment.

Spargo reminded growers that one of the fundamental principles of organic management is feeding soils so that soils can feed crops. Both nutrient deficits and excesses can be detrimental to crop health and yields. [Read more here.]

While I was digging the soil with my garden fork, I discovered that some of the landscape timbers used to frame the raised bed were in bad shape.  I decided not to try to replace them this year, and so on Friday (March 29th) after work I strengthened the timbers by removing some of the long (TimberLok brand) screws that were in rotten areas and putting them into the solid wood near the edges of the timbers.  I added a few more screws where needed.

That done, I could proceed with preparing the garden bed for planting.  The bed was raked out so that the soil is flat, then raked up around the sides to keep water in the center of the bed.

Then, it was time to add fertilizer.  I like to use both manure and inorganic fertilizer.  Manure contains some nitrogen that isn’t water soluble and thus should remain in the soil for the plants to use later in the season.  It also may have micro nutrients and beneficial organisms.  On the other hand, inorganic fertilizer is easy to use and inexpensive.  I follow the practice of using the equivalent of about 5 pounds of inorganic fertilizer per 100 square feet.  Since the bed is about 70 square feet and half the fertilizer is from the manure, I used 20 pounds of manure (at 1-1-1 Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium) and used the garden rake to mix it into the top inch of soil.  As it was getting dark, I decided to call it a night.

On Saturday, I spread 2 pounds of 5-10-10 inorganic fertilizer on the bed and raked that in.  If I was planting corn or squash, I would use 10-10-10 as they can use the extra nitrogen.  Actually, I would prefer fertilizer with less potassium, such as 5-10-5 and 10-10-5, but I use what I can purchase locally.

Next, I covered the soil with landscape fabric.  The type that I like to use on top of the vegetable beds is opaque and has tiny holes that allow water to pass through.  I used the same fabric that was used on this bed last year, when it had tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant growing in it, so it already has some holes cut into it.  I cut the fabric and folded it back in the areas that will have peas and beans planted in them.

The fabric does a number of things for the garden.  It blocks light and thus keeps weeds from germinating and growing.  Rain water can pass through the holes into the soil, but the fabric slows evaporation.  The black color absorbs sunlight and helps heat the soil more quickly in the spring.

Finally (with some help), I could move the trellis from bed number one.  I place the trellis on landscape fabric to reduce contact with soil so the trellis will last longer.  The trellis is secured by driving electric fence posts upside-down through holes in the bottom board; this means there is about two feet of steel rod anchoring the trellis at each corner.  I’ll go into more detail about the construction of the trellis in another post.

The final result is in the photo.  Peas will be planted on the right (east) side of the trellis, beans will be planted on the left (west) side when the weather is warmer, and herbs will be transplanted into the area in front (which faces south).

Love Shovelling shit, Especially when its with Lily-Rose

A.V. Walters

Even while I lived in the city, I hung onto my rural roots. I gardened and produced most of my summer fare from a postage stamp-sized back yard. I canned jams from the plum tree, and I hung my laundry out in the sun, to dry. So, it should come as no surprise that, when I moved to the farm, not only would I want to continue these patterns, but there’d be some room for expansion. But when I explained my plans to Elmer, he seemed a bit alarmed. Not at the gardening, that made perfect sense. And, like a lot of country folk, he fully supports canning. The problem arose when I asked Elmer to put up a clothesline, of all things!

He squirmed at the notion, “Why the heck would you want to do something like that?” I was ready with my environmentally friendly, power-of-the-sun, low-carbon-footprint, Pollyanna diatribe.

“Well, we have a lot of wind, you know. It whips up the dust, and all. So, you’d want to be sure to bring it in before the afternoon winds start up.” He didn’t sound convincing, and it seemed like a strange response—a little wind would be exactly the ticket. In what better environment could there be to dry laundry? (I’d failed to note the almost-complete absence of clotheslines, in the area.)

Elmer never did help out with getting that line up, and given his reaction, I didn’t press it. After a while, I bought the materials and installed it myself. And, he was right about the wind and the dust. If you left the laundry out, late in the day, you’d have to wash it, again. But our mornings were still, and my line was set up to take advantage of the morning sun.

One morning I pulled a fresh towel from the line and headed into town for a swim. (There’s nothing like a vigorous work-out in chlorinated water to clear your head.) As I walked back into the changing room, I caught the unmistakable stench of cow manure. I laughed to myself and thought, somewhere there’s a farmer in here, for sure.

I’ll have to admit, here, that when you’re exposed to something a lot, you become, well, desensitized and… I live next door to a dairy. So, when I grabbed my towel, I almost choked. That farmer was me! And that certainly explained why they don’t hang their laundry out. Oh my! And that was the end of my energy saving foray with country laundry.

Someday, I’ll live somewhere with a different background aroma—and I’ll go back to the clothesline. (Rick said he thinks he knows the perfect location.)

…don’t use duct tape …

…it doesn’t have that air of officialness…

…and some smart ass (me) might be tempted to look underneath…

…and, smelling premeditated parking fraud, be forced to call in the bondage sheep…

…Aaaaargh!… Bondage Sheep!!….

New Mexico State Fair, Albuquerque NM…. they got bondage sheep.

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Nothing sprouted. I think it was just too cold. It’s been a chilly spring. But where I can blow off $30 of seeds, I’m not wasting $100 of manure, not mention all that labor! So today I finished putting in flats of marigolds, zinnias, salvia, and vinca. They’re annuals, but they don’t know it. The vinca, in particular, is going on 3 years now.

It’s been a month of experiments. Found out I’m likely to lose another job thanks to the feds. Since this is the 2nd one they’ve cost me and I’ve only lost one to terrorism, I have grounds for some lovely satire if I can just get over being mad long enough to write it. Focusing on my book should help. As my female students said when I showed them the cover, “Ooh!”

It’s important to stay focused. I wasn’t paying attention when I went out to plant this morning, so I missed one of the neighborhood cats slipping into the house. When I surprised him, he ran into the garage and we had a merry chase till he finally found the patio door! Like the annuals, the cats don’t care about ‘supposed to.’ All I can do is huff and puff along behind and see where I end up!

Most communities have bylaws concerning the ownership of dogs.  They are to be kept confined to the owner’s property and under control of the owner at all times.  What is so confusing about this that people can’t seem to get the meaning?

There is absolutely nothing entertaining about a man, woman or child stepping into a fresh pile of dog deposits.  You have your own home, apartment or land area, large or small and you spend endless hours keeping it up.  You cut the grass, plant flowers and put in vegetable gardens and then a dog makes a deposit.

It really doesn’t matter how large or small the deposit is, it still smells like a pale of manure. Actually in my mind, manure spells better.  Perhaps farm animals eat a better grade of food.  It is not the most enjoyable pastime trying to remove it from your shoes either.  Children enjoy running about in bare feet on the soft green grass, then comes washing it off feet and between toes.

This is only the visible side of the mess,  there is also the health issue.  Dogs running loose will eat any garbage they can get near and at some point must deposit the digested mess.  What has the dog eaten and more so, does the dog have a health issue which will passed on to whoever accidentally walks into it?

I rather like my yard and try to keep it up so others will enjoy the beauty of it as I do.  I do not have a dog, do not want a dog and certainly do not want or appreciate another person’s dog crap.

If you are not going to look after your dog as he/she deserves, then don’t have one.  Responsibility comes with ownership.  Grow up, follow the laws and enjoy your dog,  but don’t expect me to respect you,  if you don’t respect yourself and your dog.

Now, have a nice day, walk your dog on a leash and pick up the deposits.  Spread it on your own lawn.  Thanks.