The Sanctuary

Nature => The Great Outdoors => Topic started by: Slappy on September 08, 2014, 05:21:50 pm

Title: The organic gardening thread
Post by: Slappy on September 08, 2014, 05:21:50 pm
I'm pretty new to this method, up until a couple of years ago I was under the delusion that synthetic nutrients were required for massive growth. I'm learning a lot and it's pretty exciting to see the results from all my hard work, so I'd like to share my methods and more importantly, pick up some new ones from the community.

I live in a suburb on about an acre of land and do my best with what I've got. Most of my supplies come from a well-stocked nursery/garden center, but I do make my own high-quality compost and mix my own soil from raw ingredients. I make my own compost and nutrient teas, and harvest seeds for next season. Far from a self-sufficient homestead, but it does help to put food on the table, and is a fun hobby as well.

Here is my small but productive 4x8 outdoor garden:

(http://i.imgur.com/CVe2hgm.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/eWx2qg8.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/RN15h8I.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/hlgNFoq.jpg)

Naturally, my obsession with organics began with growing top-quality weed, so my soil mix is tailored for container gardening. However, I am planning a raised bed (same dimensions) for next year and my goal is to maintain a small no-till vegetable garden using only natural methods. I have plenty of redworms in rubbermaid bins, couple of compost piles outside, and enough seeds to start a small farm.

The potential of organic gardening is what's got my attention. Natural pest prevention is as effective, if not more so than chemical. That result by itself blew my mind. Some of my strawberry plants were being overrun by ants, I top-dressed with ground-up neem cake and next thing you know, not a single ant could be found on them. Like Peter Piper to a rat infestation, or St. Patrick to a snake den, I felt like a wizard who bends the natural world to his will. This is an addicting hobby.

For now all I have to share is my container mix, which has yet to reach it's full potential but still leaves me with jaw-dropping results coming out of my indoor garden.

1 part peat, 1 part compost (the more sources the better, I might use 4 different types of compost for biodiversity), and 1½ parts perlite. I use a 5 gal bucket for measuring, 15 gal = 2 cu ft.

Per cu ft I add:
1 cup powdered dolomite lime
4 cups glacial rock dust
4 cups Espoma tomato-tone
1 cup kelp meal
1 cup neem meal
½ cup alfalfa meal

I then dump a compost tea on it and let it sit in a rubbermaid for at least a month, turning it once per week.

For my compost teas I use a 5 gal bucket, this hydrofarm airpump (http://www.hydrofarm.com/product.php?itemid=7644), and this custom pvc diffuser:
(http://i.imgur.com/CtypXEu.jpg)

I let it brew at 70f for 40 hrs

For my nutrient teas, per gal:
1 tbsp kelp meal (for micronutrients)
1 tbsp alfalfa meal (for N and plant growth regulators)
1 tbsp guano (high in P & K, used during fruiting/production phase of growth)

I do not aerate my nutrient teas since they are not producing aerobic bacteria like a compost tea would, my goal here is to dissolve all of the water-soluble nutrients only, so I just let it sit for 24-48 hrs stirring occasionally. Before and after:

(http://i.imgur.com/rRSUEN8.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/7iwT0Se.jpg)

Healthy shit!!

I know that there are more than a few self-sufficient farmers here and I'd like to hear your tips and tricks for composting, no-till, raised beds, organics, vermicomposting, dynamic accumulators,  etc. and I hope that something I've posted here is useful to somebody. Cheers!!  :o


Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: skygear on September 12, 2014, 02:43:59 am
You should try growing Tea
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: Vulture on September 12, 2014, 06:34:11 am
No till is easy enough, and nearly free if you do it right. Layers:

Water + weight on top & let it sit all winter (I'm in zone 5)
mulch
compost
peat moss
compost
cardboard
mixture of soil amendments & compost, if amendments are needed
ground

I use pallet wood for bed edges if I don't have any better scrap. Use pallets marked heat treated (HT) to avoid chems. You could do something like below too, using pallets as dual purpose stabilization and mulch:
Spoiler
(https://lanailens365.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/smimg_3177.jpg)

-Companion planting or crop integration. You can use fast-maturing crops like radishes (21 days) as placeholders in the early and late season in areas you're planting summer crops. Example: In April my cucumber hills are covered in radishes with snow peas between the hills, mid-end of May radishes are harvested and cukes are in. Snow peas fix N for cukes and are done by the end of June, then it's cucumber time. You might find some other gains with maintenance things (pruning!) or choosing different cultivars.

Otherwise I don't do anything with additives, other than epsom salt for anything in Solanaceae (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potato), added when fruit just start to develop.

-------
I also keep a small flock of chickens; barred rocks & silver laced wyandottes. I feed layers garden, lawn, household waste and let broilers roam in a tractor -> process their manure through BSFL -> supplement chicken feed with BSFL -> feed BSFL frass to redworms -> redworms also supplement chicken feed -> grow mushrooms in the worm castings -> apply mushroom compost to garden.
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: Slappy on September 13, 2014, 03:31:51 pm
I'm glad you brought up crop rotation Vulture, I was wondering how to balance my nutrients without any buildup. Should've been obvious to me, but that's why this thread is here. Thanks for the tip on using heat treated wood as well, my pallets are probably chemically treated but I never even thought to look.

That is an awesome cycle you've got, I'd love to get something similar going. I think this design is perfect for keeping chickens in a backyard:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Lw4WUfX.jpg[/img]

And a simple vermicompost bin like this:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/6o486YB.gif[/img]

It's amazing how much can be done on a small plot of land!!
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: Infinityshock on September 13, 2014, 04:07:44 pm
one way to balance nutrients in the soil is to grow nitrogen fixing crops...like peanuts, soybeans, lentils, etc.  if you go this route make sure to supplement the soil with the proper bacteria otherwise the nitrogen fixing nodules on the plants dont develop properly.  when the crops are done growing, till them into the dirt and their foliage becomes fertilizer.  i feed the leaves to my rabbits for high-protein

i used to use commercial chemical fertilizers on my fruit trees and wondered why the fruit tasted so tart/acidic.  it was after i stopped using commercial crap and only used chicken and rabbit shit that the fruit started tasting sweeter.

i still use commercial fertilizers on my palm trees, mainly to piss of the local city officials that enacted a ban on commercial fertilizers.
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: SupremeGentleman on September 14, 2014, 01:39:29 am
Very nice OP. I'm quite interested in trying your method. I'm currently having a go with tomatoes, beans, kale, pakchoi, capsicum and carrots with varied success.
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: unbreakable matter on September 14, 2014, 01:46:07 am
woah, this thread's actually good

I built some boxes for my mom on the side of a shed from the wood torn up from the deck. Since it has a gravel bed and the topsoil's kinda weak she just put flowers in it but put some asparagus in it that had like a 99% rate of coming up (although a little skinny). Next year it should be really rich.
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: crackhead on October 10, 2014, 12:34:42 am
Dead fish is one of the best fertilizers you can get.
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: UserToast on October 10, 2014, 07:54:06 pm
That is one sweet looking garden! I grow organic every year as well and it's not as easy, but it's not hard to make a pesticide out of hot sauce and like vinegar or something and use eggshells to boost up yields a little. Tomatoes can't go wrong with organic, but carrots never seem to be as satisfying although they do taste better. All sorts of stuff, peppers squash. It's all good and organic is the best, clearly!

*composting*  :D
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: AstralPlane on October 16, 2014, 03:36:42 pm
I try to think of myself as having a green thumb when it comes to gardening but honestly here during the past two years my garden hasn't been doing very good. Before moving here I always had beautiful gardens without doing much work. I have only been able to grow a few tomatoes and peppers. Also it seems like every time I turn around the rest of my garden was turning yellow. I think it may be the soil because it wasn't in the best condition when I bought our house. This year I did have success with planting some extra tomatoes and peppers along with some eggplant in pots on my porch but still nothing like what it used to be. Next year though I believe that it will turn out better. After reading the post on here I believe that some rich fertilizer or compost would benefit it a lot. Our plan is to have raised boxes next year and I have already started to work on a compost, but what is best for making a rich and successful compost because I have heard that certain items should not be mixed with a "green compost" so some clarification would be nice since I'm just starting out.
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: Vulture on October 16, 2014, 08:16:54 pm
Quote from: AstralPlane on October 16, 2014, 03:36:42 pm
Spoiler
I try to think of myself as having a green thumb when it comes to gardening but honestly here during the past two years my garden hasn't been doing very good. Before moving here I always had beautiful gardens without doing much work. I have only been able to grow a few tomatoes and peppers. Also it seems like every time I turn around the rest of my garden was turning yellow. I think it may be the soil because it wasn't in the best condition when I bought our house. This year I did have success with planting some extra tomatoes and peppers along with some eggplant in pots on my porch but still nothing like what it used to be. Next year though I believe that it will turn out better. After reading the post on here I believe that some rich fertilizer or compost would benefit it a lot. Our plan is to have raised boxes next year and I have already started to work on a compost, but what is best for making a rich and successful compost because I have heard that certain items should not be mixed with a "green compost" so some clarification would be nice since I'm just starting out.
What's your soil pH? It may just be a case where nutrients are locked up in acidic substrate and you need to add lime. What else did you have planted, other than solanaceae (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant)?

I'm not sure what you mean with "green compost." This is what comes to mind: browns vs greens (http://www.homecompostingmadeeasy.com/carbonnitrogenratio.html). C:N ratio is a good guideline, but if following that guideline leads to unused material that doesn't fit the "recipe," then I'd be tempted to throw out the recipe. Also, some crops are better suited to higher or lower C:N ratios. Beans do great things in low N soil, for example.
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: AstralPlane on October 19, 2014, 11:24:30 pm
Quote from: Vulture on October 16, 2014, 08:16:54 pm
Quote from: AstralPlane on October 16, 2014, 03:36:42 pm
Spoiler
I try to think of myself as having a green thumb when it comes to gardening but honestly here during the past two years my garden hasn't been doing very good. Before moving here I always had beautiful gardens without doing much work. I have only been able to grow a few tomatoes and peppers. Also it seems like every time I turn around the rest of my garden was turning yellow. I think it may be the soil because it wasn't in the best condition when I bought our house. This year I did have success with planting some extra tomatoes and peppers along with some eggplant in pots on my porch but still nothing like what it used to be. Next year though I believe that it will turn out better. After reading the post on here I believe that some rich fertilizer or compost would benefit it a lot. Our plan is to have raised boxes next year and I have already started to work on a compost, but what is best for making a rich and successful compost because I have heard that certain items should not be mixed with a "green compost" so some clarification would be nice since I'm just starting out.
What's your soil pH? It may just be a case where nutrients are locked up in acidic substrate and you need to add lime. What else did you have planted, other than solanaceae (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant)?

I'm not sure what you mean with "green compost." This is what comes to mind: browns vs greens (http://www.homecompostingmadeeasy.com/carbonnitrogenratio.html). C:N ratio is a good guideline, but if following that guideline leads to unused material that doesn't fit the "recipe," then I'd be tempted to throw out the recipe. Also, some crops are better suited to higher or lower C:N ratios. Beans do great things in low N soil, for example.

Thanks I will look into the brown vs green, I mainly mentioned it because it told to me by someone else in my family. IS there an easy way to test the PH? I would assume I could buy a test for somewhere right?
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: Vulture on October 20, 2014, 09:03:52 am
You can get a soil test kit for ~$10 that'll do pH and N, P, K. Soil pH probes run about the same.
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: AstralPlane on October 20, 2014, 01:12:40 pm
Quote from: Vulture on October 20, 2014, 09:03:52 am
You can get a soil test kit for ~$10 that'll do pH and N, P, K. Soil pH probes run about the same.

Yea so that's not bad. I'm going to make sure to get me one when it gets closer to garden season again.
Title: Re: The organic gardening thread
Post by: 1983 on November 13, 2014, 06:09:01 pm
I'm going to rout of aquapoincs myself when I can afford the materials to put in a greenhouse and the rest of it.

something some of you may want to look into though is permaculture, Basically plats that help plants and the likes.

Al