Your All Quacks !!!

Like many of you I can't wait to sink my fingers into some dirt. I daydream about what I want to plant and what stage the plants will be in what month. I can visualize all the green sprouting forth from a little hard work, giving my family back in abundance.

At the moment one of my compost piles is in the center of my straw bale garden. Just waiting to be put to good use on this years crops. Over the long hard winter I filled it with all my vegetables and fruit scraps from my kitchen. Along with coffee grounds and hair from a few kids haircuts. I didn't put urine on it because well.......seemed kinda weird, but I'm sure my husband had the occasional late night stroll and may have contributed. Also when I've mucked out the rabbit pen his dropping have made their way to the compost heap. Currently I have two compost areas...One is as I said in the center of my straw bale garden border and the other is a movable huge storage tub that I put holes in so the rain etc..can drain. I use the storage container one for most of the rabbit droppings, lawn scraps and dead plants etc. I ended up with two compost areas because the straw bale garden border is near to the back door so the ease and convenience of just opening the door in the dead of winter and tossing the banana peals was to alluring to pass up. The problem is that I will have to shovel and rake it out before I start my no dig straw bale gardening again this year. Also I am new to composting and I didn't realize that seeds from say green peppers and cantaloupe etc..are not supposed to be put into compost because you might get unwanted plants. But I say what could be unwanted about a organic plant? but then again if your into the LOOKS of your garden and you ahve a row of say lettuce and a pepper plant appears in the row or you have beautiful zucchinis growing and a stay cantaloupe vine appears OH MY! not really!!! I might end up using that compost heap in it's own little area and see what comes from it. Maybe that would be a neat experiment to see what plants find their way to life from just a compost heap.

Anyhow...the last few days that's it's been sunny and kinda warm I went out to turn the heaps and WOW what beautiful black soil I found! I never thought I would get excited over dirt but this made my heart go pitter patter. I couldn't believe that bush branches, and fruit and veggies and rabbit Poo, hair, urine, coffee grounds would turn into something so rich and nutritious and repeat the cycle by feeding my upcoming plants.

When I first decided to do this straw bale garden it was on a fluke. Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't..and I didn't really care that much. I mean I remember planting a few sparse gardens over the years and they did great without much involvement once I planted them. Well something changed for me last year and will forever have changed me in the upcoming years. I found I really enjoyed the experience of gardening from the starting process through the composting "ending" stage and how it meant so much more than just getting something from it. It's for me about giving back to the earth too. About doing what the GOOD LORD meant for you to do. To tend something with your time and energy and respect it. Respect the fact that you can FEED your family, and you can replenish the earth as well.

I don't know. Basic's is what I'm trying to get back to. The simplicity in the world that is often faded out with sounds of electronics or a busy schedule. I want to sit down at the table and eat what I've grown with my children and husband. I want us to give thanks for having the ability of this great earth to provide year after year a harvest.

If you read my blog at all you might remember the post on chewys little chewers. Yes, I had a caterpillar problem and maybe slugs..Well I tried and it worked somewhat; using garlic water and dish soap. This year though I decided to add two live additions to eradicate the pest problems of the past. Our new additions are a pair of cute little ducks named Nitzy and Nori...the five year old name them!

Once your plants are established and of reasonable size you can have your chickens or ducks troll the area for any little buggy delights. I researched them and many people said that they will be hearty guards of your pottage as long as they don't take a liking to eating them. To prevent this you have to have your plants at a hardy size that can resist a nibble or two and still thrive. Also they will eat the grass and weeds! Well I am going to give it a try. Another plus is that they can share a larger pen with our mini-Rex rabbit. I might try it when they are older and see if they get along. In the meantime they are living in a storage tub, with a heat lamp in the bathroom and take the occasional dip in the tub.

PS: For less than twenty dollars I got two ducks and a massive bag of feed. Very economical!!! pestbuster!!!

ChewysWinterWonderLand

If your feeling the winter blues your not alone. Just when I think the end is in sight poof! another 8-12 inches of snow. Hey, I don't mind the serenity snow can have cleansing the earth and making it new again; Eager to push forth in the spring new life and budding wonderment. I don't mind the snow especially when you take a step out your front door late at night and the moon is casting a glow across the surface in a silvery, sleek shine and all is silent. The air bites gently, and you inhale the freshest of fresh air(ahh....I love having a moment of silence, stepping out on my porch at night after all the children are far far away in dreamland) I don't even mind my kids having a few snow days and a break from school. At this point though the kids are getting restless and my good will and patience are running out.

Boredom: <<--------That word is a CURSE word in our house! It is outlawed along with many other words in our house. The "I'm bored" pinging off the lips of four children has quickly earned them a chore if they say it! So if they are "bored" well then have I got a solution for you! They have learned at an amazingly fast speed NOT to let it slip or even show any sort of boredom because there is always laundry, dishes, sweeping, cleaning bathrooms etc to do.

There comes a breaking point for all moms who have run out of board games, hide -N- seek Indoors, building a million Snow-men, painting, play-doh, haircuts, videos on demand (why the heck do they play the same movies for weeks on end!) scary story time.....when it turns into my five year old grabbing my face as I try to keep an eye on my screen and type this while he says with his tongue sticking out " is my tongue white or red mommy?" "are my teeth white Mommy?" and I say "your tongue is red Gabe and your teeth are white." which causes him to fall on the floor crying hysterical because he just ate a Popsicle and was betting on a RAINBOW!!!!!!!!!!!
I tell ya!!! The natives are getting restless and I just hope they don't start eating their young!

Oh yea! this is a gardening blog isn't it? well, my original idea today was to suggest beating the winter blues by charting out, and dreaming on paper your garden plans. Oh, it can be so exciting to just map out what you want to plant this year and where. Rather you use a computer program and have it all fancy and perfect or if you scribble it down on a napkin; either way it gets you excited and motivated. Maybe you keep a gardening journal and each year you plan out your space methodically and each plant and vegetable is compared to the years before; deciding on what can do better here or there or what you have or haven't tried yet.

ChewysLittleChewers!!!

If there ever was a curse word in the gardening dictionary it is definitely PESTS!! or more specific in my case the dreaded Caterpillar or cutworm

My earlier blog stated that pest were less likely in the straw bale garden, and this is true! The bales themselves have resisted pest's. The only problem I am having is with the inner rectangle of the straw bale structure I set up. The caterpillars (cutworms) are loving my cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower leaves...I'm not sure if that is because I did the "NO-DIG" or "LASAGNA " style garden in the center. My only theory on that is because the Lasagna style garden I did next to the Straw bale garden is also being ate up by the little monsters. Really! they are little monsters of the most horrid kind. Think about it....you put your heart and soul into the harvest--you tend it diligently with great pride and joy ...and just when you think it's smooth sailing from here on out...BAM! you stare in utter horror upon your prized Brussels spout plant and it's ravished body! lol...maybe somewhat dramatic right? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.................overnight I have become a happily obliging murderer......well? if looks could kill I would have succeeded 100% in removing the problem. And if hateful thoughts would kill; again 100% eradication rate. Instead I have taken the matter into my hand literally and came up with a concoction of old wish tales and my own devices thus creating a dish soap/garlic cloves mixture to spray on the plants after I water. I will keep you updated!

I'm a huge Barbra Kingsolver fan!! So imagine my surprise when I learned she had a book out about living off her own land for a year...whatever they raised, grew or got from their local farmers market.... great stories along with a closer look at how OUR nations food is raised,grown, transported etc.

ChewysPicksTheStraw--

As I said in the last blog "green is not my favorite color" well...it's quickly becoming a runner up for first (red is my favorite). Green and I should say pale yellow (as in straw) are in a close race.

Why? well...I have come to realize that in just a short time, my kinda sorta like; has become a LOVE scenario........Love, love, love straw bale gardening. Not only are my veggies doing double duty, as in growing at twice the usual rate; not a weed in sight other than the expected trim I have to do because of the bales themselves sprouting. (but that just means you are doing everything right) So it's kinda a pat on the back that you actually achieved the perfect scenario for your plants to thrive. after all the bales sprouting up themselves means you have seasoned, watered, and maintained the perfect environment for the bales to grow. (therefore anything you stick in them grows too).

All together this is about the third week of this process. The first week I spent (after a little research) laying down the black plastic, and arranging my bales to the configuration I thought would work best for me. After that I spent the time seasoning the bales with the Miracle grow, blood meal, manure and topsoil...(I also did the center so it was more time consuming as opposed to just doing the bales themselves) In the center I did the Lasagna technique as explained in the last straw bale gardening blog.

In the last blog I really didn't list what I planted....so here it goes....

1)Broccoli plants- 2 per bale is ideal-just dig, hatch, cut into the bales (sometimes they pull apart easily and you can just gently push the plant root down into the bale and close it kinda like a book) and sometimes you don't find that divide in the bale so easily and you have to cut and remove some straw. You can fill in the space with a mixture of topsoil, manure. Some books I have read suggest cutting a piece of carpet out and putting it around the stem of your plants to prevent a certain type of worm and their larva....so far I just cut out the bottoms of Styron foam cups and ripped it to the near center, put it around the base of the plant then push it back together to form a barrier..(so far, so good) also with bale gardening one perk is Less pest!!!!! so you may not even have that worry at all.

2)Cabbage plants- I did 2 per bale. However considering how large they get, perhaps just one is ideal. I couldn't bring myself to give up an entire bale to one plant; I may pay in the future for that..So far the 2 in the bale has not been a problem and they are thriving very well.

3) Lettuce plants- I did 3 per bale-again, that's pushing it. 2 plants is plenty if you are doing HEADS of lettuce. Otherwise the salad greens types are fine..The more the merrier, and you can continue throughout the season (colder) planting and replanting lettuce.

4) Green beans Seeds- I covered one entire bale with blood meal, manure, top soil and planted approx 12 seeds of green beans-They have already sprouted are are doing great. If you decide to do seed, just push them in enough to kinda lodge in the top of the bale and cover lightly with soil.

5) Pepper Plants- I planted 2/3 per bale..All different types of pepper plants. Make sure you dirt up as your plants grow. This will help support the plants as they get taller.

6) zucchini seed- I covered an entire bale with seed thinking that it might not take off...YES they did take off and now I am going to have zucchini as far as the eyes can see!!! LOL oh well, live and learn and I can also remove a few...I intend to help the vines outwards toward the yard so that they don't overtake my center area of the straw garden.

7) Cauliflower plants- 1 to 2 per bale. I only did one per bale because of the size and then added some greens seed to the other side so not to waste the space..I will have lots and lots of lettuce.

8) Tomato plants- I have Cherry's, big mommas (I think) and two other kind I don't quite remember at the moment. I plan to stake them directly through the bales. Also check out my upside down tomato plants..they are doing even better than the straw garden ones. Manure I find is the key to tomato's....

9) Brussels sprout plants- 2 to 3 per bale. Make sure to dirt up as the plant grows to help support its heavy load of sprouts once it starts producing.

10) The center area is planted Lasagna style. I planted strawberries on the far side and left lots of room for their runners. I also planted Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, and sweet peas (Rocco's favorite) in the big tractor tire (we found in a ditch) Also I decided I love the no dig Lasagna style gardening too. So I took cinder blocks and created a Lasagna style garden. First I made my rectangle with the blocks 6 blocks long, and 4 blocks wide. Next I took cardboard paper (3rolls) and layered the inside bottom, then added my compost from my compost bin, manure, topsoil, blood meal. Make sure you wet the cardboard paper well before putting on your layers of other matter. My herbs were planted on the edge inside the cinder block holes and I planted onions, lettuce, celery, spinach, asparagus, radishes; which, all of the seeds are already sprouting and I need to thin them..check out the pics

11) In the Styrofoam container- I pushed holes in the bottom of the Styrofoam cooler (recycling) and added topsoil, manure..then I threw in carrot seeds. I will have thin them out because they really took root and all are growing.

See?..............I drive around and see people just now tilling up their plots. They haven't even started to plant yet because it still gets cold at night. It's amazing how early you can start to garden when you use bales. The Lasanga style allows you to plant immediately because you dont have to wait for all the compost etc..to break down. So you can take any space on your lawn and instantly turn it into a veggie paradise.........Hope you enjoyed this blog and it was imformative.

(Be sure to check out "My complete profile" for ChewyChewsNews-a family oriented second blog-Also YOU readers feel free to leave COMMENTS!!!! good or bad; I can take it)

ChewyChews--

ChewOnGreens--

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Green-not my favorite color!

Green-proven that if you pick that color for a car your SMART (proven? really?)

Green-became an enemy, when I became a Golf widow (used to have an overwhelming urge when traveling on the highway and seen a particular golf course; to throw a exploding projectile onto the 18th green and snicker devilishly as I imagined all sorts of plaid clothing fly into the sky in a cloud of smoke he..he...he ...exclaiming FOUR!!!!!!!!! (ahem! sorry, got carried away) Geez...where would I get an exploding projectile. Hey! where would I get an exploding projectile? LOL..just kidding......or am I....

Green-makes the world go round-that's why I'm stuck in the vortex never quite spinning with the rest of the world...No green!

Green-A project (experiment really) I'm trying.......called Straw Bale gardening--

I have found there isn't much information out there about straw bale gardening. When you do find information there aren't many pictures of the process. So I decided that I would teach myself through trial and error and see what becomes of it. I don't claim to have a green thumb, and my only success story previously is that I have a few house plants that are still alive and thriving. I tried a traditional garden last year and was overwhelmed with weeds. I didn't see any fruit of my hard labor and that almost did me in on gardening. Most articles I read about Straw bale gardening seem to market the idea to those that can't bend much (like the elderly) or those that live in apartments, or don't have the yard space. All of those reasons are good ones of course but I decided to try it because it seem out of the normal realm of gardening; that appealed to me.

1) Get a few straw bales and set them up anyway you like-be creative-(make sure the twine around the bale isn't touching the ground) I put a sheet of black plastic down first because the bales need lots of water and the plastic helps retain water. plus, if you decided ( I did) to use the bales for a border and plant Lasagna style in the center (more about that later) then you will need to layer the center up (more later) and plastic is the first layer.

2) after you have set the bales up on the plastic-soak them everyday for 3-4 days. The other articles I read suggested using ammonium nitrate to soak the bales (but it is not found easily in USA) regulated etc...I had no luck finding this...so I experimented and soaked the bales with Miracle grow once. (really soaked each bale; you need a good nitrogen soak up)

3) The next day I covered the tops of the bales with blood meal, then manure, top soil.

4) Give your bales time to cool down, and start planting about four days after the Miracle grow. Plant- 2 plants per bale(just dig, cut or wedge down into the bale). If you do seeds (pushing them just barely into the bale) cover them with a thin layer of top soil and thin them out over time as they begin to sprout.

5) water often-straw bales require more water than traditional gardens.

6) Experiment-I can only offer the results thus far with my own straw bale experiment. I think I have already become obsessed. I have better results in the first week and a half than any other type of gardening I've tried. I also bent the rules a bit when planting. Because you get less area to plant, I decided to put a few plants like vining ones in between the bales at the bottom so that they grow out and into the yard. This way giving myself more available planting spaces...also I planted inside my rectangular shape. I decided in this area to try Lasagna gardening which is another alternative gardening style to the traditional dug garden.

The process of the center area of my garden is Lasagna style.

1) first we already laid the plastic.

2) cardboard or cardboard paper or newspaper.

3) top soil, blood meal, manure, compost--mix it into each other with a hoe etc...

4) loose straw

5) take the plant with a handful of topsoil and push it into the straw, firming it into the compact soil, and bringing the straw in close around that plant.

6) water, water, water.


Both of these techniques have saved me tons of time. I am a mom of four, and I don't have time to dig and weed. These techniques work great and my plants are doing wonderful!!


ChewyChews--

ChewBones-

I said I was a pessimistic....that does not mean a complainer!

But I have a few bones to chew; about some obvious (should be) things..

This past earth day I happened to catch Oprah and Ellen doing a wonderful show about exactly that..THE EARTH and it was a lot to do about how WE as people are wasting, polluting, and leaving our footprints all over this beautiful globe.
I agree! However instead of making us feel bad for the stupidity that is the human race and sign off with that...what about solutions??? yes they suggest each and everyone of us take responsibility for ourselves; ok, agreed..BUT..and here is the big BUT...what about the damage we have already incurred because of our ignorance or just plain bad habits????

Oprah goes to LA and shows Americans biggest landfill that is approx. 200ft deep with just a portion of LA residents......and as they are filming trucks are DUMPING more garbage...what to do?????

I have an easy solution...and all you PC people out there cover your eyes.....An easy solution...watch out here it comes............Have all the non violent inmates, in all the fifty two states out there cleaning up the devastation! What a solution...Instead of these loafers sitting around in Recliners, watching plasma TVs and smoking cigarettes...and instituting new fashion trends that our obviously impressionable wealthy, young white America can't resist ..(ya know! cause it be cool to be in prison) instead....give them a chore, a punishment, a purpose...wait oh wait! I forgot they already get the best of the best education in prison, health care is taken care of, three square meals a day, and even a free shrink is available to talk about their feelings, they might even write a best seller...Heck, I think they are living better than the average Free American in this country.

So I say take the two problems and create the solution. All you Politically correct people out there that say but wait...they have rights! etc..etc....A hard days work never hurt anyone did it? Geez..it's better than working on a chain gang isn't it? remember the good ole days??? when the criminal paid for his crimes big/small and didn't think of prison as a resort!

Killing two birds with one stone? Just think of the manpower...all of the non violent inmates in all the states, filling up the system...We could have these dumps cleaned up in no time!

Makes you wonder if the powers that be really want a solution...or is all this Earth day stuff just another money maker.....if you never solve the problem..more money will most assuredly be needed to continue research, progress etc...sometimes it's that easy.

ChewyChews-

ChewBones--