Week 12 - Time to Turn!

Time in: 12noon
Time out: 3pm

Today was the perfect day to turn over the rest of the green manure plots. I'll keep the water going for the week or so to help quicken their decomposition process and get soil samples then. The results may differ if taken a week or so after turning the plots over as opposed to testing a month or so after, but for the sake of my class project, I'll need to take some tests soon. It'll be very interesting to see the results!

Other tasks I was able to complete were:

• Set up a half circle adjustable sprinkler for the east plot
• Plant Nasturtiums, Peas, and Crimson Clover in the east plot
• Transfer some tomato plants (that have been sprouting from last season's harvest) to the plot behind the shed.
• Clean and rake
• Paint the step to the lath house

Week 11 - More Progress in the Garden

Time in: 10:15
Time out: 12:30

It was a beautiful day to get some work done in the garden. So beautiful, in fact, that my step father, Steve, and even my mom came outside to tend to her plots around the back of the house.

Here are some of the tasks we were able to get done:

Turn the Braco Mustard into Green Manure

• It was time for the Braco Mustard to become green manure. Here's a video of me cutting the greens into pieces. After this, I dug it into the soil (see top photo) and will let it compost itself for natural fertilization.

Building a step

• Meanwhile, Steve and Jared devised a plan to build one long step in front of the lathe house. They used square-foot bricks from Steve's old walkway and had to do a lot of digging and filling of dirt to make it level out. Steve then screwed in an 8 foot 2x4 for the top surface of the step. The next step of the process is to paint the step.
  

Moving the Clematis

• I had purchased two clematis plants last season and thoughtfully (yet naively) planted them on the east end of the lath house in a narrow 2x8 foot plot. Summer then kicked into full gear and the clematis suffered from the high temperatures and the eastern side's full sun exposure. I attempted to create more shade around it and still, they were much too exposed. Finally, I decided to move them over to the other side. The same side where the passion flower is growing (very slowly) and in fact, one in the same pot. There's still some life in them yet, so hopefully this will be a better home for them!

Water installation and plastic wall

• Moving the clematis over to the other side provided another free space I can use to plant. Since I haven't yet planted the Dundale Peas, I believe this will be the perfect location and opportunity to do so. In order for them to grow successfully, I had to reconnect the water source to this end of the lath house. I found a sprinkler head from my last season's irrigation stock and decided to try it on this side. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite what I was looking for. This sprinkler head creates streams of water that only focuses itself on particular spots. I need a half-circle sprinkler that sprays, just like the one I purchased for the green-manure plot, which covers the entire area. For now, I had to build a plastic wall in front of the sprinker in order for the streams of water to stay inside the plot.
  

Here are the next tasks I would like to get done:

• Plant Dundale Peas, Nasturtiums, more Crimson Clover...
  
• Purchase a half-circle sprinkler
  
• Paint the step infront of the lath house
• Build benches/tables for lath house
• Clean, organize shed

Week 1 (part two) - Looking at the Lay of the Land

Time in: 6pm
Time out : 6:45pm

Plans for volunteering fell through due to some scheduling conflicts. So instead, I decided look at the 8x8 ft. plot of land (located in my parent's backyard) I will be using for the project. This, of course is the same plot that my dear friends, Ayumi and Jared, and I started our very first tomato patch and drip irrigation system set-up (check out Sprouting Up for the full scoop), which, by the way, ended up being a very successful summer harvest!

The autumnal equinox is around the corner. This means its a perfect time to learn more about the inner-workings of soil preparation for the coming spring.

Here's the plot at it's current state:




It's pretty much a 12-variety jungle of tomato-growing goodness! To tell the truth, I didn't do much to keep it tidy, I just let the plants grow wherever they please. Being a first-time tomato patch caretaker, it was rather difficult to figure out how to correctly prune them (despite my sister trying numerous times to e-mail articles on how to prune tomatoes, which are definitely good tips to follow for next time. Thanks sis). Another beginner mistake is the overcrowding of these guys. As cumbersome as it was to harvest, however, each tomato plant had just enough space to produce a nice amount of harvest that lasted us the entire summer.

As for the lath house, I believe a simple and functional design is needed. The frame is set (an 8 x 8 ft space), so all I need to think about is a good set-up of tables and benches...

A new addition to our garden is the 4 x 8 ft. raised bed we created around a grape plant, which must be more than 15 years old and most likely planted by the preceding home owners. Although the leaves spring up every year, the plant has yet to produce any fruit, which I suspect is due to the lack of nutrients in that area of the yard. It'll be an interesting experiment to see if I can bring it back to life via green manuring.

Week 1 - Getting Everything Started

Part 1 - Looking into Green Manuring

Time in: 8:30am

Time out: 10:30am

It seems to me that green manuring is the easiest and most economical way to go if you don't feel like using chemically treated composts and other products that would synthetically enhance your soil's nutrient value and productivity. That is because these cover crops are particularly nitrogen fixed, a key building block to plant life.

There are so many green manure cover crops to choose from! The Sustainable Seed Co. website helped guide me to my final choices. And of course I had to choose the right cover crops for the right season. After some research, I decided to stick with the basics. Here they are:

• Aquadulce Fava Beans
• Cereal Rye
• Braco Mustard
• Crimson Clover
• Dundale Peas

I will get into more detail about each cover crop once I start to plant. First thing's first though , I will order the seeds from the Sustainable Seed Co. website and hopefully they'll be here by the end of the week!

Oh, and here's a well written article that Times Online came out with August of last year, an overview about green manuring. Take a look:

The goodness of green manure by Alice Bowe

Fall Semester 2009: Objectives

As the title of this blog mentions, the project of this semester will focus on experimentations with green manuring. But since this 2 unit class consists of a 4 hour per week requirement, I would like to spread my curiosities out by doing other tasks. These include:

• Soil testing - This procedure may be as extensive as sending samples of my plot to a lab or as simple as purchasing a soil-testing kit at the local nursery. Frankly, because of time and financial restraints, I will probably end up doing the latter of the two options. Either way, I will document the sites I've researched, the locations I visited and the money involved. I will test the soil before and after the green manuring has taken place.

• Green manuring - Since fall is on its way, my teacher suggests that I find cool cover crops for my plot. Barley is one example. More on this later.

• Building a lath house - The frame of my lath house is set. Now I just need to devise a nice lay-out of tables, benches and other various pieces of equipment that will make my lath house fully functional.

• Volunteer work - I recently became a volunteer at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in the children's garden and teaching greenhouses. I have also been a member of the CNPS (California Native Plant Society) for quite some time. I don't have much experience in volunteer work, however, I very much enjoy the organizations I'm affiliated with and would love to learn more about them.

I may seem quite the ambitious gardener, with this long list of things to do. I am, in fact very excited to get into the different aspects of this project. However, I also plan to maintain a balanced weekly schedule by creating various combinations of the 4 listed.

With the plans all laid out, it's time to get things started!