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.

Plants and Plans

No I don't have 2013 all planned out all ready. I'm good but I'm not that good. 

This little off-shoot from the lavender we pulled up yesterday begged me to come inside the house instead of the compost. An empty peanut butter jar made a decent flowerpot.

Seems to be doing well.

 Because we don't have a working mower and no one wants to cut the "lawn" anyway, we're going to turn the front yard into an herb and flower garden. 8'X17' is a ton of space so there will be lots to use in bath products, herbal teas, and such.

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.)

Wrapping Up for Winter

Did a bunch of work in the yard today including flipping the rain barrel so it wouldn't fill & freeze.

Obligatory before shot:

We harvested what we could of the parsley and kale before pulling everything up and turning in the leaves.

I know that kale and parsley could have survived til next year but we're going to most likely be turning in a lot of things to the beds and it's not like they were hard to grow.
The cauliflowers found in the centers of the plants weren't even big enough for a snack.

Tiny

Less Tiny

We already have two big mason jars of dried parsley, a large container in the freezer of frozen parsley... so hopefully we can find this fresh bunch a home with friends.

What was left of the parsley.

And of course, the obligatory after shots:

Shed & compost piles

Trellis tied for wind stability

Lonely potted calendula.

Closer shot so you can see, the new compost pile is off to a good start.

Learning from 2012

We learned quite a few things this year:

• I don't actually have the time or desire to keep track of seeding/transplanting/harvesting every week on top of watering and weeding.
• I don't mind drying/freezing/canning our produce and would much rather have a big harvest to store than a continuous trickle that will most likely get wilty and gross before we eat it
• We don't need half as many varieties and would probably be much better off planting more of what we'll definitely eat
• The seedlings were leggy because they didn't get enough light
• The transplants did poorly because they were not properly hardened off
• The garden in general did poorly because the soil's still terrible and we didn't water nearly enough
• The front lawn is a waste of space(even tiny as it is) an no one wants to mow it even if the mower were working

What did you learn this year?