Some days... I'm an organic gardener

The first warm day of the year brings out the Master Gardener in all of us. We ignore all the wayward garden decisions in the past... it is all about optimism. Though I am the prodigal daughter of the compost bin, I have once again vowed to add to the bin regularly, as well as turn it often. This was after I cleaned it out in what has turned out to be a bi-annual clean out.

Though I do not clean it out often, I have developed a few methods that make it easier. I have an Envirocycle composter. It is easy it add items, spin, and it makes compost tea!


The challenges was how to get the rich soil back out and what about the bits that are not ready yet. The first was solved by a narrow shovel. I choose one with a short handle. The latter was solved by riddling the compost.
What? Never heard of riddling compost?  It's a process to remove all the bits from the soil. There is a tool called a "riddler" in the UK and a sieve or sifter here.

Not wanting to spend on a sifter, I used an old baking cooling rack over my wheelbarrow.

So this year I will be better at adding to the bin, spinning it and I will net a full wheel barrow of compost in one year instead of two!

Half Sour Pickles

Update to the recipe below:
After trying the pickles the second I thought they were too salty for me, so I made a new salt water brine for their stay in the frig. This brine was one and a half cups water to 2 tablespoons salt. After 24 hours the pickles were less salty. If you like salty pickles... don't deviate from the recipe.


I thought I would post my half sour pickle recipe along with photos. I am trying to make the pickles at Ted's Montana Grill. So far they smell right and they have only been pickling for about 20 hours. They are in an air conditioned room, but it is one of the warmest in the house.

~~~~~Please know that the tablecloth they are sitting on is my "wet craft" plastic tablecloth, I do not claim any high style on it. I use it when I am nuno felting to protect my dining room table.~~~~~

recipe-
3 cups water
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 heaping tablespoon Penzy's pickling spice
3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
8-ish pickling cukes (from Pepper Place farmer's market, of course)

dissolve salt in water.

place cukes, garlic and pickling spices in a clean container in that order

pour saltwater in container
weight down the cukes (any about the water will rot)
and wait for a few days for half sour, longer for sour.
Put then in the frig when they are as sour as you like.

Repeat next week when you go to the farmer's market! Support you local farmer's market.

The pic to the right is the pickling in action. I thought you would like to see the layer process. There is a saucer under the glass bowl with the pickles and a glass bowling weight down the top. I like using glass for cleanliness.

The pic to the left is a view of the bowl from the side. Notice the bubbles are starting to form. So, the fermentation has begun! 

The pic to the right is an overhead shot of the pickles thru the bowl weighting them down. I noticed that there was air bubbles trapped under the bowl when I started. So, I shook the bowl it release the trapped air. Air is not pickle's friend.

seed sprouting success

Finally, I have seeds sprouting in each tray. I think it had to do with leaving the heating pad on under them for about 6 hours. Whoops! It was on low and their lids were on, so they didn't loose any water, but the temp was up to 85 degrees when I realized what I had done. It reminded me of the section of Animal Vegetable Miracle, when they needed the sprouts to sprout for Barbara's birthday party. They wrapped the jar in a heating pad for a few hours and the seeds sprung open. I think I accidentally did the same thing! They have also had the chance to spend time outside on the patio each day for the past three days. It's been sunny and the temps were around 65-70 degrees. Or maybe it was something like Murphy's law of seeds, I had just bought some tomato plants assuming the sprouting wasn't going to work and they sprouted by the following morning.
Now that there are seed sprouts, I have opened the covers and the lights are on them. The days are very sunny right now, so they will be going out in the sun from 9:00 in the morning to about 3:00 in the afternoon then under the lights until 11:00 at night. I am hoping that will give them enough light and heat to grow strong and not mold. I've had mold problems many times in the past trying to sprout seeds in those peat pots that expand in water.
Tomorrow will be my shopping experience for the raised beds!

Germinating- waiting

Day two of my germinating experiment, and I am surprised at the amount of heat the CFL's can put out. For the past two mornings I have needed to give the box of seed germination containers a hit on the heating pad for about 10-15 minutes to get the soil up to temp, around 71-75 degrees and the lamps seem to take care of maintaining it. I did give it a second hit this morning since it wasn't getting hot fast enough. My home thermostat, during the day, stay around 68 degrees on the top floor, which is not where the future seedlings are. So, I think they would stay too cool without the heating pad and lights. I've made many a moldy mess of germinating in the past from cold windowsills.
I found some more seedlings coming up in the spinach patch yesterday as I was covering them up with pine straw due to the possible snow.  Snow in Birmingham three days after Spring begins... I tell you! Not that I saw any snow, but it was very cold. So I'm hoping my seedlings stayed warm enough. I don't want to disturb the straw or the umbrella on the lettuce, so I can retain any heat this cloudy day can inpart. Tomorrow, they can strip their winter clothes, hopefully for good.

inspired by Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover

I have dabbled in gardening, off and on, for most of my life. As I child, my sister and I helped, and I say this without air quotes because I think we were a help more than a hinderance, with my grandmother and great grandmothers garden. As a young teen, I decided to turn a garbage can that was ready to make it's final pick-up into a composter. As a adult, I have made small gardens or gardens in large flower pots. This is the year that I will be truely inspired to change the word garden from a noun to a verb in all caps. Not just some tomatoes in a pot, an herb bed and some space saving cukes, but an honest feed the family type of garden. I'll be recording my journey here,  beginning today.
I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle about a year ago. Well, I don't really "read" books, I listen to them on my ipod. And, I decided to revisit this book as I am planning my garden for some organic food living. I had fogotten how much I like this book. I enjoy books that you learn from, an though this is a great story, it's full of good information, especially if you don't know much about where food comes from.
My garden will be as organic as my wallet allows. I still have some old fertilizer that I will be using, if the plants look a little peeky, because I hate to waste things by throwing them out. I'd rather use them up. And, I will be using seeds that I realized after I bought them that some of them could be from a Monsanto seed mill. But, as I'm not a waster, I'll still be using them.
I hope yu enjoy my journey, and maybeyou will be inspired too!