Weekend Transformation

This weekend it was time to tackle the front yard. 

Perfect for gardening.

Obligatory Before Shot

Last fall we got London Landscape Inc. to tear up the overgrown lawn, put down some proper topsoil, and cover it all with landscape cloth to keep weed seeds out. It was completed on time and on budget and I was very pleased. Unfortunately the snowplough decided to tear a strip off the yard near the side-walk. Yay.

Friday on the way home I grabbed some Growers Cider cause I knew after a long day of gardening I was gonna want something sweet and cool to drink. Saturday I spent the morning poking around the house and after brunch around noon I got to work.

First thing to do was go out back to the shed for some tools. as I was opening the shed I heard something behind me and managed to take this pic over my shoulder without startling the lil robin.

So Cute!

The yard was going to need edging and stepping stones in order to look tidy and be functional. I started with the heavy stuff first(thank goodness). I lifted the landscape cloth I found a few surprise grass sprouts, then started digging a trench for the edging stones. Around the edge the new topsoil wasn't nearly as deep so I quickly hit what was out original soil. I packed the gaps with dirt and rocks to prevent run-off. 

Clay and sand are not the best soils.

Four done, plenty to go.

Grass has got to be my most disliked weed.

Last fall when London Landscape Inc was coming I dug out the rosebush meaning to keep it in the basement over winter.... It over wintered in the carport. I'm not 100% certain that it'll grow again but roses are insanely resilient (I had a bush trying to grow from a 1" clipping last year) so there's no harm trying. I burred it deep and watered it well.

This is all that can be seen of the poor rosebush I dug up in the fall and left in the carport.

At this point it was almost supper, rain was threatening and I was tired so I figured it was time to call it a day.

Borders complete, stepping stones placed, rose bush re-situated.

I put up my feet for a bit and enjoyed a cider before dinner. After Dinner, Meg and I cuddled on the couch and watched some TV. The cats slept nearby keeping us company.   :)

A well earned drink to relax with.

They're so cute when they're not fighting.

- - - - - ~ - - - - -

It rained Saturday night and I slept fairly well but woke up sore all over. I am SO glad that all I left was the planting. I settled the stepping stones a little lower in the soil for stability, made and anchored a trellis, and made a little... entry arch? near the porch to show the intent of the stepping stones and that they're not there just for some weird artistic reason.

I bought a nice blend of perennials and self-seeding annuals for the base/filler from West Coast Seeds. I bought a bunch of bulbs from the dollar store, and I still have a variety of various seeds from previous excursions into gardening. I wanted it to be a nice low to no maintenance garden. Other than watering I think the only work involved might be taking the dead nasturtium vines off the trellis in the fall. I didn't plant anything to... obviously food... in the front yard but there's some useful plants in with the just-for-decoration flowers.

I planted some helpful flowers like lavender, chamomile, and calendula. To most they'll just be pretty flowers but if the new renters know their herbs, they'll be happy to have them. I also planted the whole length of the neighbour's driveway with garlic and onions. If they're recognised they'll be tasty, if not, they'll be basic greenery with the occasional round flower ball. :)

Sunday morning from inside before I started.

All Done.

Now I know garden folk love progress pics and I will let you know when everything starts sprouting, but I'm moving in two weeks so I won't be back to take pics regularly... just occasionally. :)

A sure sign of spring

Looks like the grocery store is ready for spring. Anyone started working outside yet?

Soggy

Rain has washed away almost all the snow and soaked the soil.

Fingers crossed for a better season this year.

Back Garden

So here's the idea on this one:

The beds with a diagonal line though them indicate a change of crop in the August-to-October-ish time of year. There's two kinds on cauliflower. One planted early in the spring that ripens in the summer/fall and another we're planting in the fall to overwinter and produce very early next spring. 

As you know from This Post , the garlic is already in bed 4 and should be ready in summer/fall. Bed 9 was WAY too wet for the carrots, onions and tomatoes planted there last year because of the rain barrel run off flooding it off and on. This year we're using it as a pollinator attractor and moving the hosta from the front garden where it got sun burned to this less exposed spot. The zuchini we're planting isn't the standard vine. It's called Ambassador and actually grows up on a central stalk.

Close ups of the beds:

Beds 1 and 3

Beds 5 and 7

Beds 2 and 4

Beds 6 and 8

Bed 9

What do you think?

Fertile Beds

Urea now shovelled into the beds. It came in water-soluble pellet form and looks like little hailstones. Hopefully the spring 2013 testing will show awesome nitrogen levels and we won't have to do any more store bought additions. I have a friend who's willing to give us straw for mulch, and Fall 2013 will be the first time we can add some of our own compost to the beds so that will be cool. :)

West side

East side

closer view

A Pillar and Boxes of Pee

I decided we needed some greenery indoors other than the aloe this winter, so I took the two containers the hot pepper plants were in and stacked them so the smaller top one drains into the bigger one. I figured that some fresh herbs would be welcome in the kitchen and the flowers will make awesome tea and salves.

Top: Basil surrounded by Chamomile;  Lower ring: Calendula, Sage, and Chives

I also got to the garden center today to pick up the nitrogen for the garden. Because we had plenty of everything else I wanted to find a high-nitrogen, low to zero phosphorus, low to zero potassium solution that was naturally sourced and slow release. I was considering poultry manure but the size and weight of the required amount(not to mention cost) was a bit uncomfortable... especially since I don't drive and I'd have to take it all home on the bus. What I found instead was this:

Urea is the chief solid component of mammalian urine; synthesized from ammonia and carbon dioxide. It is filtered out of the body through the kidneys, and is one of the components of urine.

Five boxes should do the whole garden plus some left for if the front yard needs a boost. Amazingly potent. :) We'll get it mixed in ASAP and it will age over the winter into very nutritious soil.

Testing, Testing...

Results of The (suposed to be biannual) Soil Test

Last tested in March
Results were:
PH - 7 (neutral)
P   - 1 (Deficient)
K  - 4 (Surplus)
N  - 0 (Depleted)

Just tested results:
PH - 7 (neutral)
P   - 4 (Surplus)
K  - 3 (Sufficient)
N  - 1 (Deficient)

The kit I use to test.

Seems the compost did help but not enough. We've mixed in the fall leaves and will be getting some boxes of Urea to up the nitrogen. Hopefully ageing those two over the winter will balance out the numbers.
(Considering the nitrogen content I'm surprised we got the amount of produce we did this year.)

Re-reading and Remembering

This will save a ton more water than switching to a "low-flow" faucet or shower head.

"No electricity is needed and no water is required except a small amount for cleaning purposes. One gallon of water can clean two five gallon receptacles. It takes one adult two weeks to fill two five gallon toilet receptacles with humanure and urine, including cover.

This requires one gallon of cleaning water for every two weeks of humanure toilet use as opposed to the standard thirty gallons per person per day used to flush a water toilet."
~ Joseph Jenkins

Lets do the math for an average person for a month:

Normal Toilet:
30 gal./day X 30 days = 900 gal. of drinking water (& whatever they use at the treatment plant) wasted.

Humanure Toilet
1 gal./2 weeks X 2 = 2 gal. of rain or grey water that should be added to the compost pile anyway


Wow.

Planting the Midnight Soil

Okay I know that title's just way off but I'm too tired right now.

Just finished planting the backlog of seeds from these past few lazy weeks and up-potting the seedlings that have been desperately waiting... some didn't make it.

John and Meg both said it was late and to do it tomorrow but I know me... and I had to do it then or it would get put off another week.

We got most of the verticals in today. Netting can go on as needed.

Just the side beds left. Pretty eh?

John's first comment when we got the first one done was, "Wow that's a lot of real estate. It's like another full bed of room!" That's the idea folks and I sure hope it works out well.

Something I've been thinking about for MUCH later(we won't be doing it here) is humanure to save water, soil nutrients, and money (on water and soil amendments). Done properly it's perfectly safe and better for the environment than creating sewage.

Here's a link to the book that started it all The Humanure Handbook so you can read for yourself.

G-nite folks.

First Seeds in the Garden

The lighter spots are vermiculite in the seed holes to maintain a nice moisture level.

It's still technically winter.

Getting Tested

The testing kit finally came in. It covers all the basics ten times for $25. (much cheaper than a lab)

I've been waiting for this kit to come in for 2 weeks now. (They had the $200 electronic testers but I'm not running a hydroponic grow-op here). Using this type of test is easy. You just mix dirt with water and the powder out of the matching little pill, give it a minute and check the colour. I used dirt that had not been mixed with compost to see what our baseline looks like. Our Potassium(K) is "sufficient" and our pH is about 7 (it's hard to tell with the greens so maybe 6.5 or 7.5 but either way we're good).

Unfortunately the Phosphate and Nitrogen were "deficient" and "depleted" respectively. The compost should correct this and I'll run another test with the mixed up soil/compost in the beds this weekend just to verify there's no more tweaking needed..

Miner Disturbance

Some critters decided to dig up whatever I planted. Well sucks to be them, nothing's planted yet. **insert evil laugh**

Crappy Weather

This is what thirty 28lb bags of composts looks like when piled in front of a Lada Niva

So now I'm the proud owner of over 800lbs of composted manure, shrimp shells and peat moss. At a rate of about 3 1/3 bags per 4X4 bed, we should get about 6" of compost mixed into the top 12" of dirt. This blend seemed ideal for our current situation seeing as peat moss that had not yet been composted (the common big bales turned in in the fall) would leach nitrogen away from the plants for a few months as it broke down.

I was going to start tonight but as you can see, it was raining. Tomorrow should be interesting as it should be warm enough, and dry enough to start mixing this stuff in... and I just remembered that I was going to do the seeds on Sundays... Too late. I'm going to bed. Five am comes WAY too early so they'll be planted tomorrow.

G-nite folks!

Geting Things Done?

This is how today feels.

I got to the garden center and bought thirty bags of peat/shrimp/manure compost (6th bag free so only paid for 25!) and it'll all be delivered Monday. I wanted it this weekend but I obviously wasn't proactive enough.

Had lunch out with Meg and John then came home with the intention of bundling sticks til dark and moving bedroom furniture to preferred arrangement after dark.... Got home and had a nap til 5pm instead. At that point I decided against bothering for the last hour of daylight and for doing it tomorrow.

I hope to one day change which graph represents me best.

Bundles of Fun

I was making bundles of sticks when the wind kicked it up a notch and snow started to blow in my eyes. That on top of oncoming night made me decide to call it a day.I managed to get six bundles done but there's still about 2/3 of the pile left... It's going to be a long weekend.

I'm really hoping the forecast is correct this time.

I've finally located a garden center that carries the amendments I want to buy (Canadian Tire thinks it's too early to bother with that stuff yet) and I'm going to go get them tomorrow. They don't have a website but the lady on the phone was super helpful in getting me pricing info. We're looking at $100-$150 worth of soil amendments, but we need it considering the current state of the dirt out back.