A mama skunk, and six babies! Living under our neighbor's shed, by our composters!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
10 Best Vegetables to Grow in Fall
Fall vegetables don't require any special care; in fact, you'll spend less time caring for your fall crops because of the favorable autumn growing conditions. Generally, plants will grow rapidly at first and gradually slow as the days become shorter and colder. Here are some tips and ideas for learning how to grow fall vegetables and what are the 10 best vegetables to grow in fall.
You'll be happy to discover that destructive insects won't be as numerous as the summer months.
You will also struggle less with weed control because the weeds will germinate less frequently and grow slower than they do during the warmer growing seasons. Compared to the hot and dry summers, fall usually brings an increase in the amount of precipitation, eliminating another time consuming garden chore of irrigating the garden.
With just a little attention and effort you may be surprised to find that growing fall vegetables in the backyard garden and planters is even more enjoyable than planting a vegetable garden during the spring and summer seasons. Why? It's simple. Cooler autumn temperatures make it a delight to spend time outside in the garden and also provide an advantage when it's time to harvest your fall crops.
Maturing crops including cabbages and root crops will maintain their quality and stand much longer in the garden during the fall season. Leafy greens can be harvested a leaf or two at a time from each plant during the season, leaving the smaller leaves in the center portion of the plant to continue growing and producing new leaves. Or you can harvest all of the leaves at once from the mature plants late in the season.
Following is a list of fast growing, cold hardy crops that are ideal for fall vegetable gardening. These are our top ten vegetables to grow in fall:
· Kale - Nutritious leafy greens on productive plants that surpass winter easily, even in very cold climates.
· Collards - Another leafy green similar to kale, but with larger, stronger flavored leaves are the collards.
· Lettuce - Plant varieties bred especially for growing during the fall season or in cold frames.
· Turnips - Here's a quick maturing root crop that's productive and easy to grow.
· Rutabagas - Larger and sweeter than turnips, plant rutabagas earlier in the summer for a full fall harvest.
· Broccoli - Popular, productive, and much easier to grow than cauliflower. Plus, its high dose of fiber and calcium keeps a body good
· Mustard - Spicy hot leaves; this is a very fast growing vegetable.
· Cabbage - Grow from transplants (like broccoli and cauliflower) or start seeds indoors under lights.
· Arugula - Fast growing leafy greens for salads or gourmet recipes.
· Leeks - One of the hardiest plants in the garden, leeks can even withstand winter freezes.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
The Three Basic Kinds of Composting
Many people are familiar with aerobic composting, commonly achieved by using compost piles. But there is more than one way to compost your yard, kitchen and garden waste.
There is three basic ways to compost: aerobic, anaerobic and vermicomposting.
Aerobic Composting
There's a number of ways to achieve Aerobic Composting, including piles, bins, trash cans, tumblers and sheet composting. All of these variations on Aerobic Composting exist simply because it is effective.
Aerobic Composting is a complex process. To put it simply, microorganisms use carbon and nitrogen from the plant matter available to them as food. These microorganisms inhale oxygen and respire carbon dioxide.
Aerobic decomposition can create a great deal of heat. If a pile is big enough it could reach a temperature as high as 170 degrees Fahrenheit, although that takes a certain set of circumstances which are rarely achieved.
A properly built compost pile can work from 0 degrees Fahrenheit up to 170 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat created by the microorganisms decomposing the plant materials can be enough to make the pile steam in cold weather.
With a compost pile there should be no smell. If there is a smell, the pile may need to be turned or there may be materials such as meat or dairy which really don't belong in a compost pile.
Anaerobic Composting
Anaerobic composting is rarely used by any gardener. Until the decomposition is complete, anaerobic composting creates a slimy, smelly mess.
Anaerobic composting can be achieved simply by using a well packed pile with a high moisture content, 40% to 75%. It can also be achieved by submerging the organic material in water, this will help to alleviate some of the smell problems.
This form of composting doesn't produce enough heat to effectively kill pathogens and weed seeds. Letting the pile sit for a year or more will kill most pathogens, weed seeds may be able to survive longer than that.
In my opinion, aerobic composting is superior to anaerobic. There isn't any time that I would recommend anaerobic over aerobic composting.
Vermicomposting
Vermicomposting is a big word that means composting with worms. These aren't your average garden earthworms, they're two different species of worms, Eisenia fetida and Lumbricus rubellus,commonly known as redworms, red wigglers or any number of other names, depending on who you're talking to.
Vermicomposting is simple to start doing.
Get a bin, either purchase a commercial worm bin or you can build one out of plywood.
Add some bedding, which is most commonly newspaper torn into 1" wide strips or cardboard cut into strips 1" wide and 2"-3" inches long. Wet the bedding with water, just until 2 or 3 drops of water drip out when a handful is squeezed.
Add a handful of garden soil to add some grit for the worms.
Now you can add the worms. They can be ordered over the internet or a garden center might special order them for you. Let the worms settle in for 2 or 3 days before adding any waste plant material.
Vermicomposting is an excellent way to compost kitchen scraps. An aerobic compost pile isn't efficient when you're continually adding new material to the pile, a worm bin is efficient when you're continually adding new material.
A worm bin shouldn't smell so some people will keep them in a kitchen cupboard if they're short on space or just want the ultimate convenience for adding kitchen waste.
This was just a quick introduction to the different ways to compost. Some people might make composting seem complicated by talking about specific recipes and carbon to nitrogen ratios, it really doesn't have to be complicated. Composting is a complicated process biologically, but to build a compost pile or use a worm bin is simple.
And composting is one of the best ways to build the soil in your garden, it's even the basis for organic gardening. It can provide all of the nutrients necessary to grow a great vegetable garden.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Building a Winter Chicken Coop - How to Protect Your Chickens in Cold Weather
People who want to raise chickens but who live in a colder region should always be considerate of their birds. This means providing them with a coop that will keep them warm and still comfortable even during the winter season. Just like humans, birds do get cold when the weather is chilly.
Farmers and even the ordinary folks who are into backyard poultry raising should understand that in order to benefit from the chickens, they need to do their part in providing them a safe home where they are happy to live. In this way, you can have healthy birds that can give you the poultry meat and eggs you want whether just for family consumption or for business purposes.
So what are the things you need to ensure then to continue raising healthy and happy chickens even during winter time? There are several factors you have to keep in mind.
Provide roosts about six to eight inches for each bird. Chickens usually roost at night to keep themselves warm close to other birds.
Warm or heated water is another need. When the weather gets cold, chickens will be kept warm inside if they are able to drink heated water. Make sure that their water does not get frozen and to do this, you can use heater bases which you can put underneath the metal water containers of your chickens.
Proper lighting is also important especially for hens laying eggs. Ideally, they need 16 hours of daylight every day. If this is not possible during winter, the solution is to provide a 60-watt incandescent bulb in the chicken coop and set it on a timer. Light is vital in keeping the birds active and in helping the hens lay eggs.
Deep bedding about eight to 10 inches thick will be much appreciated by your chickens. You can create this using hay bales, straw, wood shavings or a mix of these materials. This bedding will keep them warm as the composting process proceeds eventually giving off heat for the birds. During winter time, this deep bed of hay and straw which they have pooped on will decompose and warm off their coop.
Ensure your coop's ventilation. You have a lot of options when it comes to this part of the chicken house. You can create an open door but with the proper screen to prevent predators from creeping in. While the rest of the coop is covered as it should be during the cold months, the open door will provide ventilation to keep the birds free from respiratory diseases.
Otherwise, you can create windows on the walls of the chicken house which can be kept close at night. But then again, it is best to put screens to cover these windows to keep small predators from going in during daytime.
Finally, don't forget their feeders. Whatever material you're using for the feeder, the food there has to be replenished regularly. Your chickens will grow into healthy and happy birds if they are well fed so even if it's winter and snowing in your area, do not neglect their food.
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Friday, December 2, 2011
Envirocycle Composter Review - Part 1
www.crazyaboutcompost.com This is my quick review of the Envirocycle composter. This thing is pretty sweet- It can fit in the smallest backyard, there's no annoying crank to rotate it, no assembly required, and best of all it collects compost tea! Be sure to hit the Like button for this video, and go sign up for my FREE 7 day mini-course on how to create awesome compost in 8 simple steps. I guarantee you'll love it, and as always I am anxious to hear from you. Click here www.crazyaboutcompost.com Thanks for watching, and keep it dirty! -Tyler
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