3 Steps to Planting Garlic

First Step:

-- Prepare your bed for planting by adding compost to the soil.
-- Dig a hole about 3 inches deep.
-- Garlic can grow in the shade but prefers full sun.

Second Step:

-- Break up the garlic bulb into individual cloves
-- Be careful when breaking it up because you want to leave the papery skins covering on each clove intact.
-- Space each clove about 6 to 8 inches apart.
-- Have the flat root end is facing down & the pointy end is facing up.

Third Step:

-- Cover the garlic with compost & soil.
-- Water well to give it a chance to grow some roots before we enter winter.
-- Mulch the area with straw or compost to keep it weed free.

And don't worry when the snow comes and it covers your garlic area. The snow acts as a mulch and keeps your bulbs warm til spring.

Happy Gardening!!!!!

Fall Veggie Container Gardening

For a fall veggie container garden you will need to first see what veggies you will grow. The best way to choose would be to pick veggies that you eat. Than you will want to see how much space you have so you can see how much of these veggies you can grow & how many containers you will be able to use for the space you have available.

Here are some winter plants to choose from:

1. Lettuce
2. Spinach
3. Cabbage
4. Broccoli
5. Cauliflower
6. Garlic (for spring bloomings)
7. Chives
8. Scallions
9. Beets
10. Arugala
11. Chard
12. Carrots

Once you have choosen your veggies & have your containers. If you are reusing containers that was used during the summer. You will want to clean out the containers & disinfect them so no disease will carry on to your fall garden. Try to pick colorful veggies to make a beautiful container garden.

Mix soil & compost in your containers. Follow the seed instructions & water once completed. You will want to check on your container garden everyday & water everyday until you start seeing growth. Than you will need to check the veggies daily & water as needed.

Some garden centers will have seedlings available to buy. And you won't need to start from seed which will make the process much easier for a beginner. But if you did start from seed you will want to make sure that your veggies are not getting over crowded & thin them out for a better yield. The best part some of the veggies listed above is that some are perrenials which will come back in the spring....YAY.

You will be so happy to have fresh veggies straight from your garden!!!

Happy Gardening!!!!

Winterizing your Garden

While we are working on the Fall Garden. It's also time to start cleaning up the garden. This step is very important to set yourself up for the spring. I thought that there was a break once the fall came but that was not the case your garden is still working. When snow starts to fall don't worry yourself from removing it from the garden. This will work as a layer of mulch actually protecting it. Before you know it the ground unfreezes & spring blooms will be coming out.

Steps to winterizing your Garden:
-- Take your time. Allow yourself a few days to clean up so you don't overwhelm yourself.
-- Clean up the summers garden & remove dead and diseased plants.
-- Pick up fall leaves and add to the compost pile.

Winter Clean

-- Clean and cover up any containers that will remain outside.
-- Find a spot for your spring bulbs and plant before grounds freezes.
-- This is also the time to put in your berry plants for spring blooming.
-- Cut almost to the ground perennials & mulch.
-- Cover up all perennials that don't do well in the winter with burlap & fill with shredded leaves. This will help keep them warm.
-- Add compost to the garden bed to feed it.
-- Clean up your garden tools and put away.

Rosemary plants wrapped in burlap

Happy Gardening!!!

Composting



Kitchen and Yard waste

 

Compost

 I do enjoy composting because I am not allowing kitchen and yard waste to end up in a landfill somewhere. And it ends up being my very own gardener's gold. This will add a lot of nutrients back into my soil.

If you read both of the previous blogs about composting, you know what materials you will need to compost and why. Most sites that give you info on how to compost tell you that you have to have a portion of greens and a portion of browns for you to get compost. Even if you don't follow those instructions you will get compost as an end result. It just might take a little longer is all.

To start I used my old storage bins and had my hubby add holes all over the bins so air can flow through the bins. He even made holes on the covers and bottoms of the bins. My yard is big enough to hide them behind the shed. But ideally you want it close to the garden and garden hose. After the bins were ready literally my family started to collect all kitchen and yard waste throughout the year. It all goes into the bins. It would decompose much sooner if we would shred everything to small pieces before putting them into the bins.

Most of the time everything is dropped in as a whole so I try to do a layer of kitchen waste & then a layer of yard waste. I add earth worms to help me along with the process. Earthworms love the compost bin & they reproduce so quickly before you know it they are thousands of them in your bins.

You will need to water the compost and turn the compost at least once a week. This will help the process. I don’t water or turn the bins during the winter months. It takes about a year before I get to see compost. If you shred everything as small as possible you will get compost much sooner. The pictures above show when I start with waste & when I have compost. Just keep in mind that when compost decomposes it shrinks. I have 6 bins which becomes 1 bin once it has turned into compost. You can even use a sieve to help you filter through your compost. 

If during the process at any time the compost pile smells. Just add more yard waste and mix the pile. The oxygen helps decompose your pile.

Here’s a list of items for composting:

From the Kitchen

·         Coffee grounds and filters

·         Tea bags

·         Used paper napkins

·         Pizza boxes, ripped into smaller pieces

·         Paper bags, either ripped or balled up

·         Stale bread

·         Paper towel rolls

·         Stale saltine crackers

·         Stale cereal

·         Used paper plates (as long as they don't have a waxy coating)

·         Nut shells (except for walnut shells, which can be toxic to plants)

·         Old herbs and spices

·         Stale pretzels

·         Cereal Boxes (tear them into smaller pieces first)

·         Stale beer and wine

·         Paper egg cartons

·         Toothpicks

·         Bamboo skewers

·         Paper cupcake or muffin cups

From the Bathroom

·         Used facial tissues

·         Toilet paper rolls

Around the House

·         Newspapers (shredded or torn into smaller pieces)

·         Subscription cards from magazines

·         Leaves trimmed from houseplants

·         Dead houseplants and their soil

·         Flowers from floral arrangements

·         Natural potpourri

·         Used matches

·         Ashes from the fireplace, barbecue grill, or outdoor fire pit

Party and Holiday Supplies

·         Wrapping paper rolls

·         Paper table cloths

·         Crepe paper streamers

·         Those hay bales you used as part of your outdoor fall decor

·         Natural holiday wreaths

·         Your Christmas tree. Chop it up with some pruners first (or use a wood chipper, if you have one...)

·         Evergreen garlands

Pet-Related

·         Newspaper/droppings from the bottom of the bird cage

·         Feathers

·         Alfalfa hay or pellets (usually fed to rabbits)

·         Rawhide dog chews

·         Fish food

·         Dry dog or cat food

For details on how to compost go to:

http://www.composting101.com/what-to-use.html

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/surprising-compost-items.htm

Let it Rot

Happy Gardening!!!

Materials to Compost & Materials to avoid

You will be surprised on how many items you can compost and save from going to the landfill. It still amazes me how much kitchen and yard waste we save from the landfills. In the end I am pleased with the finished product. And even happier that I get to put it back into earth just to give my garden all the nutrients it needs. I found a great website that gives us info of what materials you need and which you should avoid (http://www.composting101.com/what-to-use.html). I have also added some materials I use in my very own compost pile.

Below are some of the ingredients that can make good compost:

Materials to Compost
Browns = High Carbon	Greens = High Nitrogen
Ashes, wood Bark Cardboard, shredded Corn stalks Fruit waste Leaves Newspaper, shredded Peanut shells Peat moss Pine needles Sawdust Stems and twigs, shredded Straw Vegetable stalks	Alfalfa Algae Clover Coffee grounds Food waste Garden waste Grass clippings Hay Hedge clippings Hops, used Manures Seaweed Vegetable scraps Weeds*
*Avoid weeds that have gone to seed, as seeds may survive all but the hottest compost piles.

 

Additional Materials I add to my compost pile:

-- Eggshells

-- Tea bags

-- paper towels (no grease or chemicals on them)

-- unused dried dog food

-- egg cartons

-- spent plants

-- old & used soil from containers

-- leaves

MATERIALS TO AVOID:

• Coal Ash - contains sulfur and iron in amounts high enough to damage plants.

• Colored Paper - contains heavy metals or other toxic materials.

• Diseased Plants - diseased organisms are not destroyed in the compost pile and can spread when added to your garden.

• Inorganic Materials - aluminum foil, glass, plastics, metals and pressure-treated lumber (it's treated with chemicals that are toxic). These items will not break down during the composting process

• Meat, Bones, Fish, Fats, Dairy - it makes the compost pile smell awful and will attract unwanted guess. An supposedly also can "overheat" your compost pile.

• Dog & Cat Droppings - contains diseased organisms and can make compost toxic to handle.

• Synthetic Chemicals - lawn and garden chemicals (herbicides - pesticides) can withstand the composting process and remain intact in the finished compost.

In my next blog I will share with you how I compost. Composting101 has very detailed instructions. You can even purchase a book called Let it Rot. Its pretty awesome and it's what I used to get me started.

Happy Gardening!!!!

Fall Gardening: Why Compost?

I feel so proud of my compost and its bins (recycled from storage bins we had). I get to save most of our food scraps & all of our yard waste from landfills & help the enviroment just a little more.

Urban composting is getting more popular in NYC than years ago. NYC offers a course on how to compost (http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/compost/composting_nyc.shtml) or you can read a book like I did called Let it Rot (http://www.amazon.com/Let-Rot-Gardeners-Composting-Down-To-Earth/dp/1580170234). It's a pretty awesome book and I have been composting ever since.

I would have never imagine how much food scraps a family of 4 can collect. But we fill within a year 6 full bins 2 to 3 times during the whole composting process. That's a total of 18 bins a year. And that's that I don't make everyone bring their composting items from work too. But 1 step at a time will we achieve this. Even family members who come to visit know that they must compost all of our food scraps in our home.

Why compost?

· Its a way to build fertile soil to grow healthy and productive plants.

· It will improve the appearance and even the nutritional value of your garden.

· Adding things like fall leaves, grass clippings & kitchen scraps increases the soil's organic matter.

· Functions as a mulch.

· You're decreasing the amount of trash going to landfills.

· Composting reduces pollution. Believe it or not compost avoids the production of methane and leachate in landfills.

· Composting reduces the need of water (because can be used as a mulch), fertilizers (because it adds nutrients back into the soil & plants), and pesticides (because it helps maintain bad bugs away).

· It has been shown that composting can even prevent erosion.

The next blog we will get into on how to start your compost bins now so when next season comes around you have a good amount of organic matter for your heat loving veggies.

Happy Gardening!!!!

Document your garden!!!

Garden Diary

Its important to have a garden diary. This will help you get a better understanding of what is going on in your garden season to season. I have a garden dairy which has helped me tremendously on understanding what was going on in my garden.

When I first started not everything was growing as quickly and nicely. Until I started to document the garden and getting a better understanding of all of my veggies and herbs. This gave me a better idea on what I was succeeding at and what needed more attention or a new approach. It gave me the ability to have multiple season gardens within the same garden space between the seasons.

Why you should document your garden:

• It will teach you what you have growing in your garden.
• You will be able to see what you have had success with or not.
• It will help you plan better for the next season.
• If you move you will always have record of what was done.
• This will also help you with  succession planting.
• Keeping records of garden pest.
• Keeping track of weather
• It will help you better with companion gardening.

Some of the ways to document:

• Label plants to learn their names.
• Draw sketches of your garden & plants.
• Take pictures of everything.
• Save seed packets & receipts.
• Writing everyday in the dairy
• Write down the care instructions for all your plants.

GARDEN DEFINITIONS:

-- Succession Planting: Is when you are using the same space for multiple crops. Its pretty much following one crop with another to maximize your garden's yield.
-- Companion Planting: Its the close planting of different veggies and herbs, which helps each other's growth and at times protects each other from garden pests.

There are several online apps to help you keep a garden diary. But my favorite is still to keep a hard copy of it all.

Taking pictures

Keeping the labels

Sketching the garden