Gardening

[sunshinedaisies]

Gardening

Very quick post as I am off to work - space, you need more than just compost - just compost will burn the roots of whatever you plant - compost must be mixed with soil to get a good mix. No more time -

Hugs, Sun XX

[DizzyBee]

Gardening

Hi Space, I'm not sure if you have a car to pick up garden stuff at the nursery or B&Q.

Potting soil is very nice as it has everything you need in a bag and if you order I would just go ahead and order at least 10 big bags. You can plant your potatoes and sweet potatoes in there and you can fill crates with it or more sophisticated raised beds if you like. It cant be 900kg, thats almost a tonne! In that case one would be enough

I said currys earlier but I actually meant B&Q, my UK knowledge is slipping:
Garden

[spacebebe01]

Gardening

Yep I have a b&q npt far from me and think I would much rather go there and get bags than have a tonne delivered. I dont know that I want to grow that many veg that I could use a tonne. I am laughing here at the idea that you are telling me to get a bit of top soil and I end up with a skip load!!! I will go to b&q next week

[DizzyBee]

Gardening

I have no idea what your garden looks like but I keep picturing this huge truck stopping next to this small cute garden and dumping 2 tonnes of soil on it. LOL. I think the potting soil bags are usually about 20kg so about 40 pounds? A bit more manageable if you ask me?

Did you guys manage to get round to sprouting? I'm planning to write an post on that tomorrow.

[lifechange]

Gardening

hello!! great thread, Dizzy. i usually don't move far away from the newbies nest. this is the first time i've been in the holistic healing area--which is crazy 'cause it's such a big part of my life. i am about to go to bed so i will write more tomorrow. i have a similar worm house-farm and have a huge amount of guilt about all the little friends i've killed. i would love to share some experiences. yea!!

[myhappyplace]

Gardening

Hi DB and others. Just noticed your thread and think its a lovely idea. Soul saving. Keep up the good work. hp x

[spacebebe01]

Gardening

My house and garden are both small, I also have visions of a big truck turning up and plonking it in my front garden, I would then be known as the woman who lives in the house behind the hill lol

[playland]

Gardening

Thanks for starting this post Dizz,

Well, I grew up with gardening and canned and all when my kids were growing up and so now for the first time in 10 years since my divorce, I have a balcony and lots of sun. So, I have been going overboard with plants, and yes I think that it is a very spiritual endeavor, it helps us see that we are not a lonely organism here but a part of the big "whole thing", gardening as well as a couple other things help me feel it, going to the ocean does it as well as being alone in the forests and mountains, these things are ingrained in my universal consciousness. So, I was a mountain girl, now I'm an ocean girl, and now I have my little garden on the patio, I'm kind of in heaven with it, thank you Universe.

I will attach some pics next post.
I'm sending Hugs, Love and Joy,
Play

[LVT25]

Gardening

Love the thread Dizzy!!! I have been gardening (mostly veggies) pretty much my whole life, but I still feel like I have so much to learn!
I have a rather large garden as we live on a farm. Our summers are hot and dry and our winters are pretty cold. I love to grow tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, onions, peppers, kale.....I do a lot of canning and preserving.
I am going to consider participating in a master gardener program next year. They train you and you have to commit to do some volunteer stuff.
I have a small homemade greenhouse so I can extend my season and protect at least some of my plants from the spring storms.
I have always wanted to start a worm farm. What do you do with them?
I'm going to check out your link to the book. I am renovating my front yard and I want everything in it to have meaning spiritually or in some way.
Thanks for the thread!:h

[tawnyfrog]

Gardening

Our gardens hold dream catchers ... we just need to look for them ...

[DizzyBee]

Gardening

Wow, thats amazing Tawny!

I love the pictures, please keep them coming.

[DizzyBee]

Gardening

Hi gardening friends

Thanks for making me wake up with a giggle this morning. I have been going through some bad stuff the last couple of days and I woke up at 6, not being able to go back to sleep even though its cold and rainy and I'm on holiday.

So I came here and first Space made me giggle and LVT's comment almost made me wet myself. (see below)

Lifechange, some people plant a rose bush when they stop drinking or buy a Peace Lillly for their bathroom (I did last time) My new worms are my commitment not to drink. It is to prove to myself that I have forgiven myself and that I am now responsible enough not to kill these new friends. So why not join me and give yourself another chance?

Space, a few bags of potting soil and a few of compost will do.

Play, I would love some pics. And I learnt something about you Something about what you said reminded me of the book. Amazon.com: The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World (9780743276955): Lynne McTaggart: Books Highly recommended - did you know that they put a lie detector machine on plants and could sense that one plant 'cringed' when you hurt another plant? So if you ever believed in the power of positive thinking, this is the book that proves it with scientific backup.



LVT, thanks for starting my day with your rip roaring question of 'What do you do with them? After the laughter subsided I wanted to say 'kill them, mostly' but no. You keep the little wormies because they eat half their body weight in kitchen scraps and then pooh it out. Yummy. So they make lovely compost and 'worm tea' - the fluid that collects at the bottom. You have to have holes in the main container for the fluid to drain and then collect this lovely fluid for your garden. I'll write a quick guide to worm farming after this for anyone interested.

Speaking of having your garden have meaning, imagine having Tawnyfrog's dreamcatcher in there!

I'm also trying to get Kaslo to post pics here, you guys should see her back yard And WaitingToExhale too, she has a big organic garden.

I am slow to post pics but I will. As I've been sprouting too much I've ended up with all the excess sprouts in my garden. I now have patches of lentils and beans and radishes. Whoohoo! And a friend is going to drop off some more seedlings next week.

I'm mostly into growing food that I can use or eat. That way I am proving myself that I'm using my sobriety and energy to provide organic and healthy food that will nourish my body to help me stay sober and energetic for longer. The new circle of life! The previous owners designed our garden so I'm happy with the 'skeleton' I just potter around and propogate herbs, veggies and some pretty flowers to make my heart sing.

:h

[DizzyBee]

Gardening

Raising Red Worms - A Simple Way to Recycle.

Raising red worms is a rewarding hobby and needs very little space. A small farm can easily fit into your garden or home, recycling domestic waste into valuable worm castings and worm tea.

Red worms are also farmed commercially and can be geared to producing either castings or worms. Different stocking densities are used depending on the goal.

Commercial wormeries are often fed on a diet of manure (usually cow manure or composted horse manure) or other freely available waste product. There is even a farm that feeds their worms on cardboard boxes and pulp waste products.

When raising red worms (Eisenia Fetida) remember that they are used for worm farming because they are best at composting organic material. Red worms perform much better than other species. Ordinary garden worms are not good composters.

These red worms are top-level worms living in the top 2 inches of the soil. This means that these worms will generally be found at the top of your worm farm, this is a good thing as it makes feeding them a lot easier

Red worms can convert up to their own body weight a day into worm castings. There are very few other species of worm that can perform like this. Read Compost Worms for more information.



Red worms like warmer temperatures. In winter they should preferably be kept above 10?C. In summer they should be kept cooler than 35?C. Ideally they should be kept between 15? and 30?C.

Another reason that raising red worms is easy is that they breed exponentially. In ideal conditions they will reach sexual maturity six weeks after hatching. Once mature they will reproduce every week producing a cocoon which will contain 3 to 7 worms. In a nutshell your population of worms will double every 6 to 8 weeks. A thousand red worms can easily reproduce to a quantity of over 1 million within two years. This would depend on them having enough food, space and good living conditions.

Raising Red worms can be done in windrows (if you have the space and want to farm on a large-scale) or in specially constructed worm composting bins or farms. There are four basic farm designs, these are:

Whichever type of system you choose to use you need good worm farm bedding. Studies have shown that red worms will do a lot better, reproduce faster and be much healthier if a suitable bedding material is used in the system.

It is very important to design your farm so that it has adequate ventilation. If your farm does not have enough air flow through it the whole farm will become anaerobic and rot. This will result in a slushy, rotting mess which will eventually kill your worms.

Raising red worms is easier than raising other types of worms as they are top dwellers and big eaters. When feeding a worm farm food is placed on the top of the farm or buried in a layer of bedding material. You should wait for the food to start disappearing before adding more.

One of the more common issues that the worm farm owners have when raising red worms is the invasion of pests. It is well worth noting that once your farm is established pests will not really be an issue, but especially in the initial stages pests can invade a farm. There are a number of things that you can do to get rid of your pests and we have a whole section on Worm Farm Pests.

Another quick way of losing a substantial amount of your worm population is through birds and other predators like rats, mice, insects and moles. All of these creatures love worms and steps must be taken to keep these out of your farm. A tight fitting lid will keep out insects, rats and other predators however not all farm designs allow for a lid, windrows notably are difficult to protect from pests when raising red worms.

Source: Worm Farm

[DizzyBee]

Gardening

It is not only doggies who undermine our attempts at gardening...

...but how do you chase away a boy that is sleeping so soundly?

[LVT25]

Gardening

LVT, thanks for starting my day with your rip roaring question of 'What do you do with them? After the laughter subsided I wanted to say 'kill them, mostly' but no. You keep the little wormies because they eat half their body weight in kitchen scraps and then pooh it out. Yummy. So they make lovely compost and 'worm tea' - the fluid that collects at the bottom. You have to have holes in the main container for the fluid to drain and then collect this lovely fluid for your garden. I'll write a quick guide to worm farming after this for anyone interested.

LOL, actually, I refrained from adding (Besides kill them?) I was TRYING to be nice!:H

I saw a method to make your own worm farm from plastic totes, I'm just not sure where I'd keep them.