Ramblings on Farming

[thetaste]

I spent much of the last two days in the garden. This spring we had spread horse poopy over where we thought the garden would be, but inevitably the garden spread beyond our manure blanket. The tomato's we planted outside of that poopy zone immediately began to die. I might as well have planted them in beach sand. I was shocked at how unfertile the

Comments

[azzacanth]

ya'lls need to start a compost pile.

although I guess horse poopy = naturally produced compost :P

But seriously, if you want to do that, my dad can give you all the tips you would ever want, and probably then some. To me it seems pretty simple: take all vegetative trash (yard waste, apple cores, banana peels, really anything that was part of a plant) and pile it up and let it rot, turning occasionally. Helps to have a container that will hold it. Dad's is a hexagonal wire-fence box with no lid, and just dirt as the bottom. works great.

[thetaste]

Yeah I need to get something set up for next year. Since we are growing on small slice of a cornfield, I figured the land would be relatively fertile. Thus my shock. The garden as a learning tool is definately working.

[azzacanth]

BTW, mom said that horse poopy that's too fresh will actually take away from your fertility until it decomposes enough to release the nutrients. (apparently it needs some of those nutrients to decompose, too)

We harvested a small handfull of strawberries and raspberries from our garden/back fence tonight. Going to be an ice cream topper later tonight. Not to mention all of our salads lately have been from our garden.

... maybe next year for you guys... :D

[clicker]

Horse poopy that is too fresh may also have too much nitrogen (particularly if it has urine in it too, as from horse stalls) and can burn your plants too. Well rotted horse manure is the best soil builder.

BTW, get my hubby out for a couple of weeks this summer and have him build you a compost heap... hehe His are the best! We took a wheelbarrow load of compost/dirt out of ours today to put in the new flowerbed Anna and I made. Man, we are going nuts!

:)

Carol

[clicker]

How is the garden? As summer progresses ours comes along, but hardly any corn came up. I need to get more seed and get it planted soon, if I am to hope for a corn harvest...

At least the seed of the Spirit is never too old to germinate!

My peppers are thriving and startng to bloom already, my tomtoes too. We have salad a lot and beet greens are coming on. I haven't checked for a couple of days - time to see to the garden myself instead of just sending my minions to harvest... hehe

Carol