Hyper Active Worms – Or – Caffeine Induced Wide Awake Worms!

I have put down so much old coffee grounds in my porch pots the earth worms now have insomnia from all the caffeine! I don’t know where the grounds go. It seems like within two weeks after I put a large coffee can full of coffee grounds in a porch pot they just disappear. Composting into a really good potting soil I hope.

Two nights past it got down to 31 degrees again! I’m hopeful that it was winters last cold blast and I can now start planting frost tender spring garden seeds and seedlings. This morning at 5am it was 58 degrees and forecasting 70 for today’s high but with a 20-25mph northwest wind it feels much colder than the current 60 degrees. Pretty much the same forecast for the next 7 – 10 days.

After SNL(Son-N-Law) tilled in that last ton or so of old grass bedding hay mixed a lot of cow dung about two weeks ago, my garden soil is taking on an appearance of fine garden soil. That red clay based garden soil is taking on a nice dark rich color from all the humus and livestock dung that has been tilled in to compost down during the past 60 days or so. Over the past 2 months I think my SNL has spread and tilled in at least 2 tons if not more old soiled, livestock bedding hay along with a lot of fresh manure.

I have six yellow summer squash seedlings needing planted. I will need to cut the bottom out of 6 large 35 ounce coffee cans to put over the seedlings to give them a little wind protection and I hope, keep the damn rabbits from eating my seedling. I am resorting to harsh rabbit control measures. One box of #5 shot shells and a 12 gauge shot gun. Rabbits that are not processed for my consumption and frozen will be fed to our catfish and crawdads (crayfish). It has been a very reproductive winter for rabbits!

I have a patio container made from a 30 gallon plastic barrel cut in half (length wise) I’m going to try planting some lettuce seed in that container and see how that works out.

My daughter got me 6 pepper seedlings today. Three Hungarian (hot) peppers and three Jalapeno (hot) pepper seedlings. All peppers along with six yellow summer squash seedlings will get planted tomorrow afternoon.

I checked today and at 4 inches deep the soil temperature was 54 degrees. That’s a full 20 degrees to cool for pepper seeds to germinate. So it will still be sometime until I can garden soil plant the remaining pepper seed I have on hand. This year it looks like it will be the first week of May or later before I can plant and reliably germinate warm weather crops like pepper, okra and black eyed peas.

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Last Frost – I Hope – Spring Garden Plans Are Well Under Way

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Today using the doddle bug I got him last summer, Ronny {sun-n-law1.0) hauled about a ton more cow manure and old soiled bedding hay from the barn dumping it on this years garden plot. In a day or two the garden will be dry enough to till in all the hay and manure. One final raking and I will start planting this years garden.

Corn, mustard, radish, beet root {maybe}, pinto beans, onion sets and celery will go in first. Followed in a week or so with yellow summer squash and cucumbers. Tomato’s, pepper and okra will be planted the first week of May along with a row or two of black eyed peas.

This morning early I dumped out the 22 long rifle shells and reloaded my 22 rifle with 22 shorts. So far today I have harvested 4 garden eating cotton tail rabbits that I processed {about 5 pounds of fresh rabbit meat} and put in my freezer. Nothing is wasted, I keep all the fresh rabbit meat. Anything I don’t want to keep is put in our fish pond to feed the catfish and crayfish. Grinning, now rabbits are truly a renewable food source! They breed, well, they breed like rabbits!

The newest addition to our tiny farm is a lap goat. Bottle fed and almost 2 months old now. He will be about 65 to 70 pounds at 1 year of age and A mature Boer (2 years old) male can weigh 240-300 lbs.

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Care And Feeding Your Dirt – Garden Soil 101

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Know Your Dirt. These are common soil preparation and soil amendment recommendations. No two places in the world have the same soil conditions nor can you apply the same procedures in the southeast U.S. that work well in Ohio or else where.

A soil test is best. With that said, I know that most gardeners will never take the time nor spend a few dollars to have their garden soil tested. Not knowing what you garden soil really needs means that we must use that shotgun approach to soil care. Almost without fail garden soil is low or very low in humus and nitrogen.

Nitrogen can be added to your soil using a pure nitrogen fertilizer like 20-0-0 but I recommend a better balanced fertilizer like 13-13-13 or maybe something like 10-5-5.
Tilling in a good compost material will add both nitrogen and humus to your soil and most of us need both nitrogen and humus added to our garden dirt.
I do not recommend applying raw manure or livestock bedding in the spring time. Add this type of materials in the fall, till in well, thus giving raw manure and livestock bedding 3 or more months to decompose before planting time.

Caution Tip Don’t over do the nitrogen! To much nitrogen on root and fruit producing crops can cause your vegetables to be all nice green foliage and produce little or no eatable roots or fruits! High levels of nitrogen is fine for leaf crops like leaf lettuce, spinach, arugula and so on.

Container gardening can be a real challenge to get and keep your fertilizer levels correct for the crop(s) you are growing. Having such a small amount of soil to work with and the need to water almost daily quickly leeches all nutrients from your container soil. Mixing in well composted manure before planting is very helpful. Fertilize every two weeks or so at 1/2 the recommended application rate used when fertilizing garden soil.

Source Carl J. Rosen and Peter M. Bierman, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, University of Minnesota Using Manure and Compost as Nutrient Sources for Fruit and Vegetable Crops
Manure and compost not only supply many nutrients for crop production, including micronutrients, but they are also valuable sources of organic matter. Increasing soil organic matter improves soil structure or tilth, increases the water holding capacity of coarse textured sandy soils, improves drainage in fine textured clay soils, provides a source of slow release nutrients, reduces wind and water erosion, and promotes growth of earthworms and other beneficial soil organisms.

Fresh vs. composted manure. Fresh, non-composted manure will generally have a higher N content than composted manure. Caution Fresh manure may contain high amounts of viable weed seeds, which can lead to weed problems. In addition, various pathogens such as E. coli may be present in fresh manure and can cause illness to individuals eating fresh produce unless proper precautions are taken. Always carefully wash all vegetables under cold running water. Cook meats and vegetables to a temperature of 160 degrees to kill bacteria like E. coli that may be present on meats, fruits or vegetables.

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Garden Fairies To My Rescue

Keep Whining, It Works! I’ve been whining to to anyone what would listen for the past 2 months that I needed to spread and till sort-a compost into my garden plot.
Today I had to go to town this morning early. Got all my running around accomplished.
When I pulled in to my drive, Wow, the Garden Fairies had spread about a ton of cow and donkey manure mixed with longhorn cow bedding hay on my garden plot and had tilled it all in well.
That will be really helpful to prevent this tight clay soil from crusting over after I sprinkle or after a rain and preventing my garden seed pushing through the soil.

I really think it was my (SNL) Son-N-Law1.0 and my grandson. Big Grin … Maybe SNL felt guilty about all the time I invested in this winters Grain Drill restoration project. Now all I need do is a little raking and wait for the soil to warm to plant my summer garden.

If I can find the parts I bought last year, I still have enough time to assemble a drip irrigation system for this years garden plot. Considering my water supply I think a drip system is going to be a must have, worth while spring project.

It’s 8pm, 46 degrees, north wind at about 25mph and feels much colder than 46 degrees.
Time to got to Michelle L’s for my Saturday visit with my daughter, SNL, grandson, grand daughter and great grand son.

Happy gardening.

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Organic Grown, Nutritionally No Better Than Commercially Grown Vegetables

Put your clubs, hatches, spears, pitchforks and knifes away! Don’t kill the messenger!
UK Study Finds – Organic grown vegetables ‘has no nutritional health benefits’

Please Note that this study only looked at nutritional value of Organic verses Commercially grown vegetables. This study does not mean that people should not eat organic food. What it does shows is that there is little, if any, nutritional difference between organic and conventionally produced food and that there is no provable evidence of additional health benefits from eating organic food. This study is neither pro nor anti organic food and recognized there were many reasons why people choose to eat organic, including animal welfare or environmental concerns.

UK researchers said “our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority”. He added that better quality studies were needed.

Although the researchers said “that the differences between organic and non-organic food are not ‘important’, due to the relatively few studies, they report in their analysis that there are higher levels of beneficial nutrients in organic compared to non-organic foods.”
There is not sufficient research on the long term effects of pesticides on human health researchers added. Overall the report, which is published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found no differences in most nutrients in organically or conventionally grown crops, including vitamin C, calcium, and iron.

Spreading manure

Organic Gardening for your health? or Your Backyard Stinks!
Healthy plants are better able to survive insect and disease attacks.
Manure is the key to having a healthy Organic garden. Well composted manure does not smell bad if it has any smell at all. Fresh Manure should be applied before planting and be tilled into your garden soil before planting. This will eliminate any oder and act as a soil builder for your garden plot.

You should add and till fresh manure into your garden after your last harvest. This should be done in early fall through early spring months. The fresher the manure the earlier you should get it spread and tilled into your garden. As with any fertilizer more is not always better.

Too much nitrogen in your garden soil can cause lush over size plants with little or no fruit set. To little nitrogen can cause stunted small unhealthy plants. Phosphorus is important for flower and fruit formation and potash is helpful in root development and plant hardiness. The fertilizer industry uses a number rating system for rating the percentage of nitrogen{first number}, phosphorus{second number} and potash{third number} in fertilizers. Gardens need a fertilized with a medium first number like 10, higher middle number like 15 and a low third number like 5. Fertilized rated {10-15-5} is a good selection for most gardens.

How do manures rate? I have attached a chart to help you determine what manure best fits your gardens needs.

You may also wish to read one or more of the links I have provided.
University of Florida report: http://www.edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AA205
Manure Matters: http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm

I might add that there is 43,265 square feet in 1 acre. A garden plot 50 feet by 100 feet is only 5,000 square feet and the recommended application rate for gardens is only about 100 pounds per acre. A little go’s a long ways!

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Onions By The Bag, Box Or Bunch – Now Is The time To Plant Onions

This post is way to long, I just couldn’t seem to find a place to stop.
Source Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M System
Onion transplants and onion sets are arriving at home garden centers and farm stores. It is time to work your onion beds, adding fresh compost and a 0-10-0 (0-20-0) fertilizer. Then fertilizing monthly using 21-0-0 until harvest.

Tips for Successful Onion Growth
Onion plants are hardy and can withstand temperatures as low as 20 degrees F. They should be set out 4 to 6 weeks prior to the date of the last average spring freeze. When you obtain onion plants, they should be dry. Do not wet them or stick their roots in soil or water. Unpack your plants and store them in a cool, dry place until you plant them. Properly stored onion plants will last up to three weeks. Do not worry if the plants become dry. As soon as they are planted, they will quickly develop new roots and green tops.

Before obtaining your plants begin soil preparation. Onions are best grown on raised beds at least 4 inches high and 20 inches wide. Onions need a very fertile and well-balanced soil. Organic gardeners should work in rich finished compost, high in Nitrogen and Phosphorus with plentiful minerals. Spread lime if soil is too acidic. If using commercial fertilizer (10-20-10), make a trench in the top of the bed 4 inches deep, distribute one-half cup of the fertilizer per 10 linear feet of row. Cover the fertilizer with 2 inches of soil. Plant onion set 1 – 1 1/2 inches deep.

Nutritional Information
1 medium Raw onion contains:
60 Calories
1 gram Protein
14 grams Carbohydrates
0 Fat
0 Cholesterol
10 mg Sodium
200 mg Potassium
11.9 mg Vitamin C (20% of USRDA)

Onions are high in energy and water content. They are low in calories, and have a generous amount of B6, B1, and Folic acid. When a person eats at least 1/2 a raw onion a day, their good type HDL cholesterol goes up an average of 30%. Onions increase circulation, lower blood pressure, and prevent blood clotting. Eating Raw onion will directly effect the number of ‘Close’ friend you have!

Onions From Seed Are best planted Mid to late October. Seeds can be sown directly into the garden, covered with one-fourth inch of soil and should sprout within 7 – 10 days. If planted thickly, plants can be pulled and utilized as green onions or scallions for salads or fresh eating in 8-10 weeks.

Fertilization of onion plants is vital to success. Texas A&M research findings indicate that onion growth and yield can be greatly enhanced by banding phosphorus 2-3 inches below seed at planting time. Once established, onion plants should receive additional amounts of fertilizer (21-0-0 – Ammonium sulfate or Ammonium nitrate) as a side-dress application every month.

Care Of Transplant Instructions When you receive live plants, they should be planted as soon as possible. Should conditions exist that make you unable to plant these plants right away, remove the onion plants from the box and spread them out in a cool, dry area.

Planting Set plants out approximately one inch deep with a four inch spacing. On the raised bed, set two rows on each bed, four inches in from the side of the row. Should you want to harvest some of the onions during the growing season as green onions, you may plant the plants as close as two inches apart. Pull every other one, prior to them beginning to bulb, leaving some for larger onions. Transplants should be set out 4 to 6 weeks prior to the date of the last average spring freeze.

Fertilization and Growing Tips
Onions require a high source of nitrogen. A nitrogen-based fertilizer (ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate) should be applied at the rate of one cup per twenty feet of row. The first application should be about three weeks after planting and then continue with applications every 2 to 3 weeks. Once the neck starts feeling soft do not apply any more fertilizer. This should occur approximately 4 weeks prior to harvest. Always water immediately after feeding and maintain moisture during the growing season. The closer to harvest the more water the onion will require. Organic gardeners should use a rich compost high in Nitrogen should be incorporated into the soil. As the onion begins to bulb the soil around the bulb should be loose so the onion is free to expand. Do not move dirt on top of the onion since this will prevent the onion from forming its natural bulb.

Flowering is Abnormal For Onions Most folks want to grow onion bulbs NOT onion flowers! Flowering of onions can be caused by several things but usually the most prevalent is temperature fluctuation.

Harvesting And Storage Onions are fully mature when their tops have fallen over. After pulling from the ground allow the onion to dry, clip the roots and cut the tops back to one inch. The key to preserving onions and to prevent bruising is to keep them cool, dry and separated.
As a general rule, the sweeter the onion, the higher the water content, and therefore the less shelf life. A more pungent onion will store longer so eat the sweet varieties first and save the more pungent onions for storage.

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Rabbits for Fun, Profit and Food – Hutch or Cage – Whats My Best Choice?

Rabbit cages and hutches can be purchased and may be a better option if you plan to keep only 1 or 2 rabbits. Or if you do not have the ability and tools needed to construct a hutch project. Wire cages are a good option if you live in mild climates, however if you live where your winters are very cold or summers get near 100 degrees keeping your rabbits warm in winter and cool in summer is an important consideration.

Source Bass Cages and Hutches Basic Rabbit Hutch Construction Instruction
What ever cage size you choose you will want to make the wooden rabbit hutch 1″ deeper and wider to allow the cage to easily slide inside.When cutting your ply wood sides you will need to angle them to give the roof a 4″ slope towards the back. Also be sure to cut your roof panel so that you will have 4″ of over hang in the front and roughly 1″ on the sides and back.

Use 2″x2″ boards for the legs and cage supports. Remember your back legs will also need to be 4″ shorter to allow the roof to slope towards the back. Screw the ply wood sides and back to the legs. Use a 2″x2″ board between the sides in the front opening. Attach 2″x2″ boards on the inside parallel to the bottom of the ply wood sides to slide the cage in on. Place the roof on and screw to top of four legs.Paint or stain with a non-toxic product to protect against weather. Add shingles, tin, plastic, or a type of water resistant material to the roof. Slide assembled cage inside and you have a low budget do it your self wooden rabbit hutch.
Cage can easily be removed and used anywhere. Also allows for easy cleaning and any maintenance that may need to be done over time.

The all-metal rabbit cage hutch that fits in your wooden rabbit hutch structure is available in 3 sizes, is specially designed to accept a dropping pan. Available with standard metal pans or our tough ABS plastic pans. Overall height is 18″, with actual cage inside height 16″.

Grin .. If you plan on your rabbits to be pets, or raising rabbits for the pet market, you may want to opt for a high rise rabbit condominium.

A few things to consider ‘Before’ you build/buy a rabbit cage or hutch.
* Where will I locate my rabbit hutch? Even 1 rabbit makes a lot of manure.
* Will water in water bottles freeze in winter? Water trough may be better choice than a water bottle.
* Where and how will I store my rabbit feed and hay? Keeping mice/rats and insects out of your rabbit feed is ..important.
* Will my rabbits be safe from predators? Cats, dogs, snakes, coyotes, fox will all kill and eat your ..rabbits.

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Rabbit Hutches and Rabbit Cages

iGargen website

Rabbit manure is a great addition to your compost pile. When properly handled, it has very little ‘manure smell, it will compost well and is an almost perfect garden fertilizer.

However before you can get rabbit manure your must first have a rabbit. Wait! Before you run out and get a few rabbits, you must decide just exactly what you plan to do with your new animal(s). Will it {they} be pets? Or it/they be used to supplement your dinning table with a delicious renewable meat source. [They do breed like 'rabbits']

First things first. you must have rabbit cages or better yet a rabbit hutch. Rabbit cages are generally built from welder wire or hail screen (Utility wire) and are protected from the weather by a small building. Rabbit hutches are most often made of wood with welded wire bottoms with a wire front and may be placed in a building or in your backyard.

Rabbits can withstand extremely cold conditions if provided a well balanced feed ration and fresh water and given some wind, rain and snow protection. However rabbits can easily become overheated and die in summers hot weather. Special care must be taken to care for your rabbits health in both winter and summer.

DIY Rabbit Hutch Plan

DIY backyard Rabbit hutch plans

Bass – Rabbit cages and supplies

Basic Raising, Housing, Breeding Rabbits

Rabbits are easy to raise and have few medical or disease problems. However as with any live animal project, do your home work before making any animal purchase. Have all the cages, hutches, food and watering devices on hand before you bring that animal home.

**Note: Chickens can be raised and do well in the same size and types of hutches and cages used for rabbits. Grinning, of course a chicken is not as cute and pet-able as a rabbit!

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Compost – Garden, Yard and Household Waste [A Crash Course]

Updated post from July 2009
iGarden {iCompost}

Large well made compost bin

Composting is easy, it’s a cheap and easy way to enrich you soil whether it be flower and shrub beds or your garden plot. Anything that has ever been alive can be composted. All that is needed is a place that is twice as large as your compost pile. If your very limited on space, you may want to opt for building or buying a barrel composter. I recommend a location near the back of your yard. Under the best conditions your going to have insect visitors at or near your compost pile.

Never try to compost any type of meat. Even when covered with compost materials meat eaters like dogs, cats, rats, wolf, coyotes, bears, skunks and other undesirables can smell the meat and will dig it out of your compost pile.

What can be composted? Anything that has ever been alive. Plant materials are most often what people compost but you can also compost all household garbage, vegetables, fruit, coffee, tea grounds, egg shells. With a flock of chickens to eat most of my kitchen waste, fruit and vegetable left overs my compost pile now consist mostly of garden plants, weeds, chicken/rabbit, litter and manure. I compost everything except meat and meat products to include fish, dairy products and my dogs droppings.
**Hint: Keep one of those plastic store bags handy in your kitchen to use as a compost bag and dump it into your compost pile once everyday or so. Then dispose of the bag as house hold waste.

Simple pallet compost bin

My staple compost materials are grass hay or wheat straw hay used as bedding in my livestock shed and as litter in my chicken coop. I don’t have very much in the way of grass clippings but that also go’s on the compost pile with any tree and bush clippings, tree leaves in the fall and all my old plants removed from my garden, flower and shrub beds. All that is needed is a place to contain your compost pile and make it easy for you to stir and rotate your compost pile. {Keep your compost pile ‘damp’ not wet and in a full sun location for quicker decomposition of plant materials.}

United States EPA Wastes – Resource Conservation – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – Composting web site. You are paying for it so please use it as a good reference site.

Composting will save you a lot of money buying fertilizers and your garden will be chemical free. Plants will grow better, faster and produce more while improving your garden soil year after year. Compost, then have fun and eat healthy.

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Garden Cow – Portable Manure Spreader

FYI: David Baxley – SkyWARN 7 Chief Meteorologist said “I remind you of a saying in the weather business, Don’t forecast rain in a drought.” This year, that slogan is proving to be correct!!

Setting at my computer desk looking out my tiny window {about 5.30AM, long before sun-up}, sipping a fresh, hot cup of coffee, I saw someone in my garden moving about. Still dark enough that it was more like a shadow, silhouetted against the distance horizon. I was both startled and a bit shocked, who would be moving around in my garden at this early hour so far from town and neighbors.

The wind has been out of the southeast most of Thursday and all night this has brought in air from the gulf of Mexico increasing moisture in the air to a point that we now have a very light haze of fog in the air. This condition has added to my mystery of ‘Who’ is in my garden?

Quickly slipping on my shoes, I opened the backdoor, stepped onto my tiny porch and Eeeek, I found myself nose to nose with a 800 or 900 pound steer! Then the chase was on… Lucky for me, he went back to the place that he had used to escape from his pasture into my garden and in an instance, all was back to what I like to call normal. I did a quick fence patch up job, will do a proper repair after it’s light enough to see what else he manager to tare down!

Grinning, Having a 900 pound steer tramping around my garden leaving ‘Piles’ of still steaming fertilized scattered around was not was not on the top of my thing to do list, but such is life in my Tiny Garden on my Tiny Farm!

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