The Vegetable Garden In August

We have had a hot, sticky summer, which is very rare for us up here in the mountains. 

I can't say I like it much....but  my veggie garden sure does!

Living the Dream

In my dreams, I'm living a sustenance lifestyle. I'm growing my own food, living off the land, totally off grid. Fishing in the creek for my supper, pulling some greens out of the garden to go along with my grilled fish. Fresh milk from a cow to provide my dairy. 

In reality, that's not the case. I don't know that it ever could be, either. 

Necessary Evils

There are things I don't really mind having to spend money on. They either give me great pleasure or they feed my body and/or soul. 

Like cheese. And chocolate. And wine. And gardening. And books. 

All good, nourishing things. Happy things. 

And then there are the necessary evils. 

Seed Starting in the Snow.....Part II

We certainly did get a whopper of a spring snowstorm this weekend - wowzers, oh golly!!

Spring Reading

I love to read. It's one of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon....when I have time to do so. 

A good book, a cup of tea, a roaring fire, a pup on my lap. Perfect winter's afternoon. 

Seed Starting 101

It's an absolutely gorgeous day on the mountain top today with temps hitting 60 degrees. In February. What the heck? But hey, I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts!

Of course I'd love to be playing in the dirt today but alas, necessary evils got in my way. In the form of a cord of wood that was dumped in my driveway and must be stacked. 

That ruined my plan of raking out some garden beds when I got home from work. Wood stacking takes precedence. 

But I can still dream about gardening, right? 

I got an email from Mother Earth News letting me know it's time to plant asparagus and onions in my area. I doubt she knows I'm on a mountain top and therefore not quite a true zone 5 but still....gardening season is around the corner!

I'm going to start some seeds in my little garden cottage this year. I was browsing around online and trying to figure out what needs to be started when and I came across this helpful chart. 

Via

It looks like I still have a bit of time before I need to start my seeds, which is great....because I'm still doing research. 

I found this helpful little tidbit online also:

Via

Good to know, right? 

What did we do before the internet? 

Of course, I couldn't stop there. There's so much information out there on seed starting and organic gardening - and since I can't stop thinking about planning out my garden I'm just sucking it all in!

Via

Like this little tidbit - that means I should be planting my herbs and lettuces in the portion of the garden that backs up to the garage wall. Who knew? I always thought herbs absolutely needed full sun! 

So I kept on looking and the Farmer's Almanac tends to differ in opinion...yes, there are some herbs that can take partial sun, but most do need full sun. 

So perhaps that statement is more specific to things such as lettuce, spinach, kale, etc. 

Either way, it's time for me to start figuring out what seeds I want and put in an order - yee haw, that's exciting!!

Via

Because pretty soon days like today are going to be a regular occurrence. 

And I want to be ready!

Gardeners' Gold and Weird Women

Well, I did it! I finally decided on a composter! I'm so excited! 

Ok, so I might be a little weird - sorry! That's just me! 

But let's face it - compost is a huge part of organic gardening - us gardeners call it "Gardeners' Gold" for a reason!

It's very simple - feed the soil, not the plant. If you feed the soil, the soil will nourish the plants. 

Via

The magic lies in compost. When we compost our garden waste and kitchen scraps into rich, dark 'gold' for the garden we put back into the soil what the plants take out of it. 

Synthetic fertilizers do not feed the soil. If anything, they leach the nutrients out of the soil leaving the soil worse off than before you added it. You give the plant itself a quick blast of food but you are killing off the biology of the soil. All the added chemicals and salts in synthetic fertilizers are poisoning our bodies via our waterways and our land. 

I started gardening organically many years ago. I honestly can't remember the last time I bought a container of Miracle Gro - it must be 20 years ago. 

I do buy liquid fertilizers to nourish my container gardens and give my plants an extra boost but they are all natural and organic. 

Big Bloom at Amazon

It's great to have a liquid organic food on hand to give the plants a little extra nourishment every now and again. 

I also have turned to the Vermont Compost Company for help with re-balancing the nutrients in the soil in my containers. 

Vermont Compost Plus at Gardeners Supply

This stuff is great - I add a bit to any containers that don't get dumped at the end of the season and it perks the soil right up! It's been a huge help these past few years when I was renting and didn't have a composter. 

But here's where the magic is going to happen from now on:

www.Envirocycle.Com

Meet my new friend. Isn't he gorgeous?

I told you about all the composters I was considering in this post.  Funny enough, this was not one of the ones on my radar at all! That was, until Pamela from Brooklyn Farm Girl left a comment telling me about this composter that she has had for years. 

I looked it up and I was intrigued! The only problem was, it didn't have two chambers. 

I nearly bought another one, one of the ones on my list, but I kept reading reviews and there were a number of things folks mentioned that were really bothering me. 

Yimby Tumbling Composter

1. Difficulty to put it together - ummm, no thank you. 

2. Flimsy materials, would probably not last more than a few years. 

3. Wasps and other flying insects getting into the vent holes. Again, no thank you!

4. Stinky stuff leaking out. 

5. The size of the openings for dumping in waste were too small. 

6. Difficult to turn when loaded up

7. Would not be able to move it easily once it's in place

I kept going back to the Envirocycle. The reviews were amazing, pretty much 5 star across the board. And folks raved about the company's customer service. 

This unit was more expensive than the other one I was looking at but if it's going to last many, many years and the company will stand behind it that makes it more than worth the extra money. 

I decided to purchase one now...and another one in the future. This way I can have two chambers, just like I really wanted. That means one side can be full and 'cooking' while the other side is being used and added to regularly. 

Well.....it arrived within days and sat in my garage for a bit while I waited for a halfway decent day to set it up. 

I set it up last night after work...and I'm delighted with it!

Setup took less than 5 minutes. The unit is most definitely light enough for me to handle on my own. 

Here it is on the corner of my patio next to the veggie garden. Exactly where I thought it should go. 

It's close enough to the kitchen door to make dumping my little kitchen compost bin easy peasy. We like easy peasy!

If I can smell it at all in the summer months it will be simple enough to move it to a different location away from the house, and then move it back for winter. 

I fed it the first bucket of kitchen scraps plus a bucket of dried leaves....heaven knows there are plenty around that need to be picked up!

I love that the opening is nice and large for dumping in waste. And the latch is easy enough to open even with frozen fingers like I had last night!

The unit is in two pieces - the top round part and then the base. 

www.Envirocycle.com

Another plus? The base not only has rollers so turning the top part to mix and aerate the contents is so simple....but it also collects the compost 'tea' in the base! There's a spout with a twist on cap that you unscrew to pour out the 'tea' when it gets full. That will take the place of me having to order liquid plant food online - that means this unit will pay for itself in a couple of seasons!

Pure genius, I tell you. 

See how weird I am? What other woman gets this excited about compost?