Category: soil health

• Goodbye to the Garden

  This past weekend I went to the house to do the last few to-do items to place it on the market.  We spent 4 years in that house, and the garden there has been such a valuable classroom for me.  

  Four years ago the soil was sandy dirt that couldn’t hold moisture.  There was no evidence of a thriving microbiome.  With that in mind, we got started on the arduous process of healing the soil.  

  After tilling up the grass, we covered the space with cardboard and straw.  Thankfully I had a lot of boxes from having just moved.  I poked holes in the cardboard, planted my starts and seeds, and faithfully watered that sandy ground. 

  I learned pretty quickly that the longer growing season I’d been so excited about didn’t necessarily mean I’d be able to grow more food.  Spring and Fall are pretty short here making brassicas tricky to grow.  Mid-summer gets way too hot for things like tomatoes and winter squash.  The bug situation is wild.  Early blight became my new enemy.  

  One of my values as a gardener is to not use any toxic sprays in my yard.  So while all these issues can be managed with various simple sprays, that was not going to be an option for me.  Thus started my education of trial and error (so much error) into finding more holistic approaches to common garden problems.  

  I learned that slugs and pillbugs love beer and will choose to drown in a cup of it instead of going for my green beans and strawberries.  I decided it was worth my time to handpick and squish squash bugs in the mornings.  It was worth my time to scrape their eggs off my squash plants as well. I also learned that my squash plants can survive having borers sliced out of the bottoms of the stems and how to find them.  Last, regarding squash, I learned that when we were tired of eating it, it was okay to finally let the bugs have their feast.  

  When it came to my tomatoes, early blight was my biggest hurdle.  I made natural sprays, was super careful with cleaning my pruners and pulling the sick plants and burning them.  All of those things were good but what ultimately saved me was the gradual improvement of our soil each year.  The healthier our soil was, the less plants we had that succumbed to early blight.  

  There is so much I could say but the last thing I’ll add is that I learned to be okay with critters that make me uncomfortable.  I handpicked the squash bugs so that I didn’t have to put anything in my garden that would hinder the good bugs.  I did move the giant spider living amongst my okra that one year.  Lady bugs feasted on aphids. Spiders feasted on all kinds of pests.  Wasps, surprisingly, pollinated my garden in the hottest part of the day.  I just learned to stay out of their way.  When the garter snake aka Snek as we affectionately called him, moved in, we stopped having rabbit problems.  Full disclosure, he scared the daylights out of me every single time I saw him.  But also, I was happy he was there.  

  Gardening is a constant learning process.  It forces you to slow down and tune into the seasons, the ground, the weather, and be comfortable with being uncomfortable.  I have learned to love each step, even the August garden.  That North Carolina August garden is no joke.  I will miss this place we’ve called home the last 4 years.  Thankfully, I will get to take the best parts of this season (the friendships, the knowledge, the personal growth and experiences) with me. 

  kierstinaura

  April 29, 2024

  Gardening, growing in a small space, home, homesteading, no till garden, no till gardening, Organic Gardening, small garden, soil health, sustainable gardening, transitions

• Lazy Composting

                 The world of composting is exciting, diverse, and a bit daunting for the new gardener.  Fancy composting bins are sold at most hardware stores, and there is so much science to sift through from experienced gardeners to help you optimize the process.  There is worm farming, ratios, and special thermometers.  Most of the time when I mention it to someone who has never tried it before I either hear that it sounds confusing or that they don’t want the smell.  I get it. 

  

                 I am a self-proclaimed lazy composter.  There are a few basic rules that I follow, the first of which is to keep it simple. Throw the appropriate food scraps on the pile.  Cover the food scraps with a layer of organic material. Turn it when I remember.  Repeat.  It’s really that simple.  This is the end of this blog.

  

                 I’m joking.  First of all, why compost?  If you’re just getting into the world of gardening, you will soon discover that soil amendments are pricey.  Compost is rich in the vital nutrients your garden needs to thrive.  It is freshly broken-down organic materials, and it is full of life.  Most plants cannot grow in dead soil.  They need that thriving, vast ecosystem to plug into.  You can buy bags of compost at most hardware stores.  You can also get it by truck loads or trailer loads from other places.  For people with larger gardens, this is often the best option.  For the small backyard gardener, it makes more sense to just start a little pile of your own!

  Does it stink?

                 The short answer is no, a working and functional compost pile does not stink.  This is not a heap of trash lying in the back corner of your yard.  Compost is organic material that is being broken down by helpful bugs, worms, and that vast microbiome we talk about in the Time to Build a Garden post.  Now, it’s important to remember that you need to layer other things in your compost other than food scraps, otherwise, it will stink.  Just like our no till garden, we are always layering.  With proper layering, your neighbors won’t even know it’s there. 

  

  Will there be bugs?

                 Yes, so many bugs.  However, it isn’t what most people picture.  Side note, if you’re getting into gardening, you’ll want to get used to bugs.  Don’t let that scare you, though!  It took me some time to come around to this one.  Your compost pile isn’t going to be harboring swarms of nasty house flies or maggots.  There will very likely be those pesky fruit flies, but they aren’t a huge nuisance like the ones that invade the inside of our homes.  They stay pretty contained to where the food is.  Most of the bugs, however, will be inside the compost and that’s what you want.  Their presence is evidence of a healthy pile.

  What goes in a compost pile?

                 Organic material.  Most food scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells, grass clippings, leaves, sawdust, soil, ash, and garden waste to name a few.  I keep a small container on my counter with a tea towel over it and throw my food scraps in there to be tossed on the compost pile in the evenings.  Outside, you’ll want material available to throw on top of the food scraps.  Like I mentioned before, this keeps your pile from stinking and helps you avoid the more undesirable bugs.  Avoid throwing grains or anything made with grains, meat, or dairy on your compost pile for now.  That is for level expert composting, and we are lazy composting right now.  Keep it simple, my friends.

  

  Remember brown and green

                 When you are throwing organic matter on your compost pile, you want to keep brown and green in mind.  You want to try and get a decent ratio of green vs. brown material.  Green material includes your food scraps, grass clippings and garden waste.  Brown material would be material like soil, woodchips, or sawdust.  The more exact you can be with these ratios, the more optimal your compost pile will function.  However, for the sake of the lazy composer, just keep it in the back of your mind and try to maintain a bit of variety. 

  How to get started

                 Pick an area approximately 4’x4’ in a back corner of your yard.  Ours is in the back corner of our garden.  Do not have it against your house or a shed unless you enjoy having problems. You can add some wood panels around it if you want to keep it contained or somewhat hidden as well.  We have 3 panels surrounding ours that work quite well.  Make sure you have brown and green organic materials available to toss on top of your food scraps.  Have a pitchfork handy so you can turn or mix up the compost pile on occasion and scoop the organic material on top of your food scraps. A shovel will work, but I highly recommend the pitchfork.  It’s so much easier to use. 

  Last, start saving your food scraps and start building your pile.  Within 6 months to a year, you will be able to dig into your pile and find beautiful compost already to throw on your gardens!

  

  

  Finally

  The point of this post is to get you started composting.  This specific subject is so much more complex and fascinating than what I’ve talked about today.  This is just the very tip of a huge ice burg of information and far more effective methods that yield better and faster results. 

  

  

  Sometimes, however, when we look at a new project in its entirety, it’s so daunting and overwhelming that we decide to not even start.  Composting is too beneficial to not give it a try!  You don’t have to make it complicated or fancy.  There is plenty of time for that later.  I would even argue that once you put that first layer of your own compost down in your own garden, getting into some level expert composting won’t seem so intimidating.  For now, just join the lazy composter club and see where it takes you!

  

  kierstinaura

  October 21, 2022

  Compost, Composting, Gardening, homesteading, small garden, soil health, sustainable gardening

• Time to Build a Garden

  (for cheap)

                 As the summer garden season is wrapping up, it’s time to start thinking about next year!  Maybe you’ve been wanting to start a small garden but didn’t know where to start.  Just because this season is over does not mean you are too late, my friend.  In fact, I would argue this is the best time to get started.

  

                 In this post I’m going to walk you through the steps of building a kind of no till garden.  It is affordable (possibly free), cuts down on weeding and watering during the actual garden season, and doesn’t require a tiller.  It is simple and can be done at any scale.

  

                 I could make a whole blog post about the benefits of a no till garden, and why my family has been doing this for several years now.  For the sake of this post, however, I will keep it brief.  No till gardening is a method that protects and feeds the topsoil in your garden instead of tilling it up every year.  You keep your topsoil covered with a layer of organic matter (woodchips, straw, leaves, grass clippings, cover crops, etc.), and plant your seeds and starts underneath the covering into the soil.  That covering will protect the microorganisms living in your soil that are vital to the health of your plants.  It will keep moisture in, help to regulate soil temperature, and cut down on the amount of weeding you will need to do.  Best of all, your soil health will improve every year because this method is constantly feeding nutrients back into your topsoil.

  

  Step One

                 Why are we talking about building a garden right now? Don’t people prepare their gardens at the beginning of spring? This is true.  However, you must remember that we are not tilling up the soil.  You are going to need time for a section of your yard to be turned into a garden space.  Once you have decided where that space is going to be you’ll want to cover that space in a layer of cardboard.  Do not use glossy cardboard.  Those Amazon boxes will be perfect for this.  You can also source free boxes from grocery stores, liquor stores, and big box stores.  As you lay the cardboard, be sure that you water it well.

  

  Step Two

                 Decide on an organic covering for your space.  It’s October as I write this so maybe you have an abundance of leaves in your yard.  Another option is checking out your local buy sell pages to see if any farmers have damaged hay bales that they cannot use.  If you see the electric companies out with the woodchipper trucks, you can call them and find out who they are contracting with to cut the trees and reach out to those companies to see if they will drop a load of woodchips in your yard.  There is also a site called Chip Drop where you can sign up to have woodchips dropped in your yard whenever one of those companies are in your area. Full disclosure, I’ve never had luck with this.  For people living in town, find out if your town has a local cooperative extension.  Sometimes they have free woodchips and compost available from the city’s yard waste that you have access to!  You can also purchase straw from your local hardware store.  Grass clippings are also a good option.

                 These are all coverings that we’ve used in our gardens over the years.  Our personal favorite option is the woodchips but any of these will work just fine!  Source your covering and place a thick layer over the cardboard.  You are trying to layer this to be 5 to 6 inches thick.  Be sure to thoroughly water this as well. 

  

  Step Three

                  Wait until spring.  There are no more steps.  Over the winter, the cardboard will break down and the grass underneath will die.  The cardboard, organic covering, and the dead grass underneath will provide food for the microorganisms living in your soil thus creating healthy soil that is ready for planting in the spring.  You will want to maintain a nice, thick layer of covering so always be looking for ways you can throw some more organic matter onto the space.

  One last thing…

                 A few quick things to note about this method of gardening.  Probably the most important thing to remember is to never mix the covering with the topsoil.  The covering is just as it’s labeled.  It goes on top of the soil.  When it comes time to plant, you will move the covering aside, place the seed or start in the ground and move the covering back over or around.  Next, dyed mulch is not the kind of covering you are looking for.  It doesn’t break down like you need it to for optimal soil nutrients.  Plus, do you really want weird dye where your food is growing?  Furthermore, that would get quite expensive.  Last, there is no guarantee that the places where you source your garden materials are untouched by pesticides and other sprays.  Unfortunately, there is always a risk.  I personally have never had it happen to me; however, I know of many gardeners that dealt with contaminated organic potting soil this past year.  You cannot control everything, but you also cannot let that stop you from trying!

  

  

                 That’s it, my friends.  Now you have a garden.  No special equipment necessary.  Very little to no money has been spent.  You just need to get a little creative in sourcing the materials.  Now go grow some food!

  

  kierstinaura

  October 18, 2022

  Gardening, no till garden, no till gardening, Organic Gardening, soil health

  build a garden, build my first garden, building a garden, building my first garden, first garden, gardening, no till garden, no till gardening