Ridiculously overpriced off the shelf, from what I've seen.
Gardening Thread
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Ridiculously overpriced off the shelf, from what I've seen.
what's expensive about it?
ours was far from a fancy operation, but as a kid, we did a lot of worm composting and used it in our vegetable garden. all we used was a big plastic container and a container of worms from the fishing store. probably cost us $10 total.
I'm talking about those fancy-pants jobbies with the tiers and the kettle-style drains for "Worm tea." They're like $200.00. I giggle everytime I see one of those on a garden store. Seriously, they make those things for people to buy to put worms and dirt in. Outside.
Seriously, $200 for a bucket for worms and dirt. Worms and dirt not included.
My current composting operation is essentially three sets of bins.
1) I have an uberhuge 4x4x4 cube surrounded by chicken wire where I put bulk yard materials (think big limbs, Christmas trees, huge piles of leaves in the fall, grass, etc.) This bin is designed primarily for non-vegetable compost b/c there is probably some chemicals in the grass clippings. Not sure what I'm going to do with this, but it might come in handy if I'm trying to plant ornamentals/annuals when we go to sell the house one day.
2) I have two 3x3x3 bins (again surrounded by chicken wire) where I am composting chicken manure, leaves, and loose yard waste. I throw in some vegetable scraps from the kitchen. Most of the guidance says to give chicken manure a year to cure, so I basically view this as next years compost. I basically play the two bins against each other, turning it one month in Bin A, and then back to Bin B in month two.
3) My "short term" compost bins are in the side yard, and consist of four 55 gallon trashcans, each drilled with a series of 1" holes from a spade bit to permit oxygen. My plan is to layer green waste (usually kitchen scraps) with brown waste (usually leaves and small debris) and then soil from a spent pot from last season. Those three layers, repeated until the trashcan fills, turned with a fork one Saturday and, then rotated "Down the line" to the next can in the line, running from newest to oldest bins). I figure two weeks per can, times four can = eight weeks. I'm hoping that eight weeks (started January 15) will give me usuable compost by March 15 when I start my first full pot plantings).
What do you guys do?
1) I have an uberhuge 4x4x4 cube surrounded by chicken wire where I put bulk yard materials (think big limbs, Christmas trees, huge piles of leaves in the fall, grass, etc.) This bin is designed primarily for non-vegetable compost b/c there is probably some chemicals in the grass clippings. Not sure what I'm going to do with this, but it might come in handy if I'm trying to plant ornamentals/annuals when we go to sell the house one day.
2) I have two 3x3x3 bins (again surrounded by chicken wire) where I am composting chicken manure, leaves, and loose yard waste. I throw in some vegetable scraps from the kitchen. Most of the guidance says to give chicken manure a year to cure, so I basically view this as next years compost. I basically play the two bins against each other, turning it one month in Bin A, and then back to Bin B in month two.
3) My "short term" compost bins are in the side yard, and consist of four 55 gallon trashcans, each drilled with a series of 1" holes from a spade bit to permit oxygen. My plan is to layer green waste (usually kitchen scraps) with brown waste (usually leaves and small debris) and then soil from a spent pot from last season. Those three layers, repeated until the trashcan fills, turned with a fork one Saturday and, then rotated "Down the line" to the next can in the line, running from newest to oldest bins). I figure two weeks per can, times four can = eight weeks. I'm hoping that eight weeks (started January 15) will give me usuable compost by March 15 when I start my first full pot plantings).
What do you guys do?
i believe dhtoy and i are going to finally get on the vegetable garden bandwagon this year. the plan is maybe 3 raised beds (i've been looking through ladydeac's fb pictures from her garden last year. i think we may use the same raised beds that she used). so for those of you in NC, what plants have you already started inside at this point?
I dug up my hops plants and am currently building some planter boxes to put them in. Hoping to get them back in the ground this weekend.
RacerDeac
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Nothing since we're moving into a new place March 1st. I probably won't get an early spring planting done this year. That said, you can always just buy seedlings for your first go at it (a the rest will be direct seeded anyway). This is my recommended source in CLT for seeds, seedlings, supplies, etc:
http://www.thebradfordstore.com/
T runs a little garden supply place next door to the Bradford Store in the red barn when you pull into the parking lot. He can hook you up with all of the fill you need for your raised beds, seeds/seedlings, organic soil additives, and all of the advice you could ever want. Tell him I sent ya.
bumping this back up, as we're putting together our raised beds this weekend. we're also getting started on some worm composting. not one of those store-bought fancy schmancy things, but just a rubbermaid tub with some holes in it and some red worms. my family did it growing up, so i think i'm going to look forward to getting back into that.
this year, for our first go at it, we're planning on doing some square foot gardening, and doing the following:
okra
roma tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
poblano peppers
pole beans
squash
cucumbers
kale
spinach
and then some flowers like marigolds to try to keep the bugs away. we're also thinking of putting a bat house in the backyard to help manage the mosquitoes.
we're planning on going to that place that racer mentioned to get seedlings for the stuff that should have already been started (couldn't get our act together earlier). we'll do the rest of the stuff from seeds.
anybody else?
this year, for our first go at it, we're planning on doing some square foot gardening, and doing the following:
okra
roma tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
poblano peppers
pole beans
squash
cucumbers
kale
spinach
and then some flowers like marigolds to try to keep the bugs away. we're also thinking of putting a bat house in the backyard to help manage the mosquitoes.
we're planning on going to that place that racer mentioned to get seedlings for the stuff that should have already been started (couldn't get our act together earlier). we'll do the rest of the stuff from seeds.
anybody else?
LadyDeac03
Well-known member
Planted some of pre-frost date seeds on Saturday afternoon. Snow started Sunday night. Doh! Hope they're ok under there...
ladydeac! i've been looking at your pictures on fb lately to get ideas/guidance. we plan to use the same beds that y'all did last year. any advice?
LadyDeac03
Well-known member
Hmmm. I think my biggest advice is to get good soil from the beginning. We knew NOTHING about gardening, but I think our soil was pretty key in getting the good output we did for our first time. We semi-followed Square Foot Gardening, but also looked at mysquarefootgarden.com for advice. I don't remember the exact ratio we used, but the soil was a combination of vermiculite, compost, and peat moss. And make sure you thin out your plants (it killed me at first to cut back sprouts so that only one plant would grow in each allotted space, but it was for the best in the end). We used the website above's advice for what to plant next to each other and how many seeds/plants of each type to plant in each square foot (i.e. one eggplant per square, but 4 cilantro, or 9 bush beans, etc).
dot com
Well-known member
I got a bunch of "soil" delivered from a local place to level out parts of the yard and I used it to start the raised bed garden. This was their premium "high biomatter, etc" kind of soil and the garden was terrible the first year. Some of the yard spots are still dirt. The next year I worked in several bags of garden soil and fertilizer into the raised bed and it did OK. After I juice it again this spring I expect it be reasonable.
So yeah, make sure you start with good soil.
So yeah, make sure you start with good soil.
That sucks. Did you test the soil at all or just take their word? The reason I ask, one of our local places offered the same type stuff and charged a premium. We went up and PH tested it and the soil was very acidic from too much cow manure. Considering our local soil is red clay, which is already acidic, it killed pretty much everything.
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dhtoy got me a couple of big rubbermaid tubs last night, and i ordered our red worms! woohoooooooo! when our worms arrive, we'll finally get started on composting.
we also have a juicer, and the pulp that the juicer extracts has been wasted over the last 3 months (got it for christmas). i'm so excited that we can finally do something with the pulp rather than just throw it away
we also have a juicer, and the pulp that the juicer extracts has been wasted over the last 3 months (got it for christmas). i'm so excited that we can finally do something with the pulp rather than just throw it away
dot com
Well-known member
Yeah I tested it with http://www.amazon.com/Luster-Leaf-1601-Rapitest-Soil/dp/B0000DI845/ and it was ok for the most part. It made me wonder if there was some kind of contaminant in it like oil or salt, but like I said, folding in new soil seemed to help.
dhtoy got me a couple of big rubbermaid tubs last night, and i ordered our red worms! woohoooooooo! when our worms arrive, we'll finally get started on composting.
we also have a juicer, and the pulp that the juicer extracts has been wasted over the last 3 months (got it for christmas). i'm so excited that we can finally do something with the pulp rather than just throw it away
Where did you order your worms from? I've contemplated just going in my back yard and getting a handful of night crawlers to start up a colony.
i ordered them from here: http://www.wiserwormfarm.com/Worms.htm
it was recommended on this website: http://queenbeecoupons.com/create-a-diy-worm-compost-bin/. i haven't tried myself, but supposedly night crawlers won't survive. i have always seen that you have to have red worms for composting.
I just read a site that explained night crawlers are typically deeper living worms, and aren't good for composting. I think the local fishing store sells both nightcrawlers and redworms. So I'll probably just go that route.
yeah, as a kid, the fishing store is where we got ours. i was just being lazy and decided it was easier to buy them from the comfort of my desk chair