My husband and I are a little behind in getting things done in the garden this year.
Why?
Well it’s because we had a big delay due to our neighbors having a new fence put in. Part of their new fence was on our property line and that affected one “major” side of our garden, so we delayed a lot of our regular garden activities for about two months while we waited and waited for the fence to go in .. finally, around June 6th the fence started being put in and ever since then we’ve been furiously maintaining our garden and planting annuals and perennials to fill in any bare spots.
One of the regular activities that we were behind on was making up our batches of Alfalfa tea for the garden. We usually start brewing this up in two big garbage cans in the driveway in early May. It takes a few weeks to brew before it’s ready for the garden.
Our Alfalfa/ compost tea is a rich nutrient “tea” that we pour on our garden beds at least twice each season to give our plants a boost. Alfalfa is full of natural growth hormone for the plants and within about a week or adding it to our garden beds there’s always an amazing difference in our plants.
I’m not sure how much water our garbage pails hold, but the garbage cans are about 3.5 feet high and we fill them up to about three or four inches from the top with water after we’ve added all the ingredients. Now, I mulched my garden this year with red cedar mulch but before I did that I gave my garden beds another treat by adding a Little bit of sheep manure compost … there was a little bit of that left so I added perhaps as much as three cups of sheep manure compost to each garbage pail. It’s a little bonus in the Alfalfa tea since I rarely put compost in it.
The ingredients that I usually put in each garbage pail are:
4 cups of Alfalfa pellets
1 cup of molasses
1 cup of Epsom salts
Once all of the ingredients are in the pail I stir it up and then put a lid on it. I try to stir it every day. The ingredients will ferment a bit and it’s very important to stir it up well and aerate the mixture.
Depending upon the ambient temperatures outside it can take anywhere from two to four weeks for the mixture to be ready to use on the garden. For example since I live in Toronto, Ontario when I start up a brew in early May it’s still usually kind of cool in my area at that time of year so it could take three to four weeks. The mix that we just made a few days ago should only take two weeks since it’s starting to get fairly warm.
If you make a batch of Alfalfa tea for your garden I highly recommend that you put it on your garden either early in the morning or late in the evening because it does smell quite a bit. At least it does to me! I do find that if I lightly water the garden after pouring the alfalfa tea on my garden beds the smell dies down very quickly.
Share and Enjoy
Posted on 2008 under growing organic |
28
Oct
If I say herbaceous border or perennial border to you, what comes to mind?
To many people this conjures up images of gardens filled with colourful blooms all summer, only to become empty and barren of flower or leaf during autumn and winter. Many more of you will think of landlord’s estate grounds, staffed by teams of subservient garden workers. These workers tend the herbaceous borders requiring constant deadheading, pruning, staking, mulching, feeding, watering and division. Now those impressions may have been the way perennial borders were thought of in the past, today however, perennial borders are somewhat different.
They are actually seeing a bit of a mini revival.
* Perennials, alternatives to large lawns
Homeowners who have become tired of the never-ending cycle of feeding, weeding and mowing lawns, have decided to decrease the size of these green areas.
Instead, replanting them with colourful perennial or herbaceous borders. These may have been lawns that their all grown up children once ran and played on, now devoid of that activity. On the other hand, perhaps the homeowner became tired of having the same mirror image lawn as his neighbour; I can tell you there is nothing like a perennial border to change that situation.
* Perennial form and growth
Planting a new perennial border can really help improve your garden.
The plants overall are much faster growing and softer in form than shrubs. It is also interesting to watch these new perennials grow and develop, often shedding their skin of last season foliage only to replenish it the following spring.
* Layout and Soil Preparation
The first thing I would suggest when creating a perennial border is to become nosey.
When out driving or walking, have a look into others gardens, you may see something you like or an idea you can borrow. Another good way to learn new planting ideas is to visit garden open days or gardening exhibitions. When you have an idea of what perennial plants types you like, you can then select a point in your garden to position a border. Try to determine how much sun or shade your chosen location gets. Do not try to make sun-loving plant like the Michaelmas daisy grow in an area that gets a lot of shade.
* Border Shape
Decide the shape of your border.
Do not make your perennial border too narrow, a wide border will be easier to maintain and look far more awash with lush planting. Go gentle on the curves, we all like a curving border but avoid a very fussy serpentine shape. Try to make the border lengthy, you will be able to accommodate many different-sized and blooming plants. Use a long length of hosepipe or heavy rope to mark out the shape of your border, this allows you to adjust until you achieve a comfortable shape. When your shape is decided, you can mark the ground with marker spray or simply by scratching with a stick.
* Preparing Your Soil
Now its time for soil preparation before planting.
Most new garden beds and borders benefit from additional organic material being added to it and dug in. This is especially true of the perennial border. So, dig over the ground thoroughly and remove all traces of perennial weeds and large stones, leave the small stones as they aid drainage and help to regulate the soils temperature. Dig or till in lots of organic matter to improve the soil for your perennials at this stage as well. If you have a good back and you feel up to it, this organic matter is most effective if dug in to a depth of 12 inches. Choose from the following source of organic matter… garden compost, leaf mould, well rotted farmyard manure, spent mushroom compost, garden centre soil enricher. An ideal situation would be to have half your soil made up of organic matter, a great reserve of plant food.
I would advise adding grit at this stage as well if your soil is very heavy, sticky or poorly drained. Digging in a good quantity of sand grit or gravel will open up your soil and allow channels for drainage.
After all this is done, you must allow the soil to and its amendments to settle for around a week or two before planting.
This gives you ample opportunity to select and source the plants you would like to inhabit your newly created border.
Share and Enjoy
Posted on 2008 under growing organic |
25
Oct
If a farmer had a chance to grow "organic" but was able to able to grow from a seed that was insect repellant he might be ensuring his success as a grower. However, does the concept of "organic" mean not altered in any way, or does it just mean grown w/out pesticides?
No, must be NATURAL all the way, baby.
Share and Enjoy
