Gardening

One of Earth’s original recyclers, earthworms are our planet’s greatest composters. Earthworms need few requirements to thrive; a dark, moist environment with plenty to eat is all they need. The result is nature’s perfect fertilizer. Your earthworms will consume old newspaper from your garage, coffee grounds, melon rinds, veggie scraps, …

To Kill a Honey Bee I was alarmed when I first heard about bee colonies collapsing in 2007; entire colonies of bees either dead or simply vanished. Fingers point to GMO crops, pesticides, parasitic mites, disease, etc. It’s such a dire situation apparently, Monsanto went on the offensive and publicly …

Making Your Potting Mix 1 part wet wood stove pellet (make sure its pure wood) 1 part fine pine bark 1 part peat moss (optional) can substitute coconut coir instead of peat 1 part coarse sand For a starter soil you want something fine and light.  You also want to …

Collecting Celery Seeds To collect celery seed you need to wait until the seeds are dry and brown.  Hold a bowl underneath them as you roll the seeds between your fingers.  If they don’t fall out into the bowl then they aren’t ready anyway.  With some practice you can hold …

Backyards Really Can Produce There are approximately 250,000 households in the city of Seattle.  The citizens of the city of Seattle stood together and now have the ability to keep 8 hens per household.  There is a sense of local food and self sufficiency in the Pacific Northwest.  Backyard chickens …

Chicken Fueled Early Greens Here is the greens patch we grow a lot of micro greens and smaller leaf greens in. We have two of these made with scrap lumber and a polypropylene corrugated top. The top will lift back on those warmer days so that they don’t get overheated. …

Here is a typical tray of 6 pack starters.  These are easy to find and are very common in the nursery trade.  They are cheap, and reusable if you take the time to sterilize them between growings.

My new favorite tool. Not sure what it’s called. It’s a Japanese hand tool. Really makes a difference planting starts.