‘horticultural how-to and woo-woo’
the source for organic gardening inspiration
margaret roach, head gardener
The foundation of a successful organic garden lies in the compost heap. What to compost (and what to leave out) and how to manage the pile all covered here.
Q. Do I need to buy a bin to make compost?
A. What method of composting you use should be determined by the volume of material created in the yard (and to a lesser degree, in the kitchen, where vegetable scraps, egg shells and coffee and tea grounds can be collected for the heap, too). I create far too much raw material for a mere bin-type system, the commercially available kind made of metal or heavy plastic or mesh that are about as big as a washing machine. [read more…]
FORUM MEMBER TERRYK IS SO RIGHT TO ASK: Whether or not we can add weeds to our compost heaps without risking weed-filled finished compost is a confusing topic. Won’t all their seeds sprout, or runners survive–especially in a slow-cook, not-so-hot heap? This week, we have the answer in the Urgent Garden Question Forum…thanks to some advice from our English gardening brethren (and a couple of giant plastic bags). Find out how it all works right here.
Q. What is the purpose of using mulch in the garden?
A. Mulch (such as bucketful, above, about to be spread) serves several purposes. It will not just suppress weeds and slow moisture evaporation, but should also break down into the underlying soil gradually and thereby improve the soil’s texture. A layer of mulch helps moderate soil temperatures. Mulch serves as a buffer from soil compaction caused by rain, and helps prevent the crusting-over of bare soil that can sometimes prevent moisture from being absorbed.
Q. What makes good mulch?
A. This can be very confusing, particularly because what’s sold as “mulch” in many cases isn’t really very suitable for performing the full range of duties that I think mulch should accomplish (above). Briefly, I look for a material that is: [read more…]
BAGGED FERTILIZERS, WHETHER CHEMICAL ONES or their all-natural, organic counterparts, are no substitute for building healthy soil. Though I firmly believe in purchasing only the latter, which are made from renewable resources such as by-products of other industries, I use them as supplements, the way I use multivitamins for myself. I still eat three squares a day, and the soil needs real food, too, not just a booster here and there. [read more…]
ASK MY FRIEND ANDREW: I will make the same resolution (to label all the plants in the garden) and then break it. My labeling-the-plants pronouncement is a long-standing annual event, as he is sick of hearing me mention. So how about this instead: I resolve to have a no-work garden in 2010. (I thought that would get a laugh from all of you, and maybe even from Andrew.) But here’s what I was thinking: [read more…]
A MONTH OR SO BEFORE KILLING FROST, the vegetable-garden soil that fed me gets a meal, or at least the promise of one. I sow soil-sustaining cover crops (always from non-GMO, organic seed) as the various food crops are harvested, gradually turning my vegetable beds into mini-fields of winter cereal rye (above) and mammoth red clover for the colder months. [read more…]
FOR YEARS MY FRIEND ANDREW, a better gardener than I by far, has been telling me the secret, but I just wouldn’t listen. Like I do, Andrew creates a lot of debris from his giant garden and nursery. “Run it over,” he said, whenever I’d complain about the daunting size of my heap. “Just run it over with your mower to pre-shred the stuff.” Well, I finally did. [read more…]
WHILE REBUILDING A WAY TO GARDEN for the new season, I kept digging up forgotten bits I’m glad to have resurfaced, the way your favorite lost trowel turns up in the compost heap. From a crash refresher course in botanical Latin to the do’s and don’ts of composting, and labels that really last, perhaps I exhumed some treasures you could use, too? [read more…]
WHILE YOU’RE AT IT TUCKING IN THE GARDEN, the compost pile could use some TLC, too. Perhaps sticks and stones won’t break your bones, but they need to be screened from finished compost before you incorporate it into beds (that’s my wheelbarrow-top compost screen, left). In fact, the whole heap could use a turning and a tidying now. Remember the drill?
