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A 3 Acre Farm

A 3 Acre Farm

Tag Archives: compost

How to Make Seed Starting Pots from Recycled Newspapers

15 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by a3acrefarm in Make This

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

compost, damping off, garden, germinate, newspapers, peat moss, peat pots, perlite, recycled newspapers, seed starting mix, seed starting mix recipe, seedlings, seeds, sprouts, starting seeds, transplants, vermiculite

I knew there was something more I wanted to do before the ground froze and the snow fell. Now that starting seeds is on my mind, I remember. To make my own seed starting mix, I saved the very best, the finest, most decomposed compost, and it’s all right here:

IMG_1721

Compost pile frozen under the snow

Oh, the sadness, but this is the recipe:

4 Parts compost (screened to take out the lumps) – Compost helps the mix retain moisture and provides a slow, constant supply of nutrients to the seedlings.
1 Part Perlite – Perlite, available at many garden centers, is a volcanic glass. When quickly heated to a high temperature, it “pops”, forming sterile, lightweight and weed-free granules of neutral pH. Added to a seed starting mix, perlite provides the drainage necessary to help prevent “damping off”, a fungal disease which kills seedlings.
1 Part Vermiculite – Vermiculite is a naturally occurring mineral, which also “pops” when heated to a high temperature. Its granules contain tiny, open cells which retain air, moisture and nutrients, and release them as needed by the plant. Like perlite, it is sterile and pH neutral.
2 Parts Sphagnum Peat Moss – Peat moss adds bulk to the mix without adding weight and provides both good drainage and moisture retention.

There are many commercially available seed starting mixes. The ingredients should be listed on the bag. Read carefully, since many mixes contain chemical fertilizers. Organic mixes are another option, and can be found at garden centers and stores where seeds are sold.

Seeds can be started in just about any clean, shallow container with drainage holes in the bottom. It can be fun to buy elaborate seed starting systems or even simple peat pots, but it’s not necessary. A quick, economical choice is pots made from recycled newspapers. Give them a try. They’re fun, and each pot takes only about a minute to make:

1. Choose newspapers and a can, bottle or other round object the diameter of your desired pots. Avoid shiny pages.

2. Fold a single page lengthwise into thirds.

3. Choose the cleaner folds for the top of the pot (right side of photo) and the rougher edge for the bottom, then roll.

4. Turn the can upside down. Fold the rough ending-edge down.

Fold down the rough ending edge first

5. Finish folding down the bottom of the pot. You may tape the flaps if you wish, but the weight of the seed starting mix will be enough to keep the bottom closed and the pot upright.

6. Slip the pot from the can, fill with moistened seed starting mix, plant seeds and label.

Place the pots on a tray. They will become damp. Cover with plastic and give your seeds a warm place to germinate. When you see sprouts, uncover and move them to an area where they will receive plenty of light.

Newspaper pots also can be used for transplanting seedlings and can be planted directly into the garden. Remember to remove any tape from the pot before planting in the earth.

Whether you purchase seed starting mix and pots or make you own, plant a few extra seeds and share your young plants with neighbors and friends!

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Who Goes There?

23 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by a3acrefarm in Harvest

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

beets, carrots, compost, corn, deer, garden, moose, mulch, parsnips, Premium Ground Cover, raccoons, skunks, soil, wheelbarrow

“Did you harvest the rest of the beets?” I asked my husband. With most of the carrots and parsnips and a few beets remaining in the garden, root crops were next on my chore list.

“I didn’t,” was Tim’s response. “I noticed they were gone when I composted the squash and pumpkin vines.”

“Maybe Dave pulled them,” I suggested, referring to America’s finest neighbor.  I hadn’t seen him, but he was welcome to help himself to whatever he wanted.

It was unexpectedly warm after several days of cold and rain, a good day for a harvest. The carrots came out of the ground easily, and soon a wheelbarrow was mounded. But when I neared the other end of the garden, the evidence was clear. Something had been eating my carrots! Where there should have been lush, green tops, intruders had feasted their way down the row. With mulched soil as soft as a loaf of good bread, the uninvited didn’t have to work very hard to tug up a lovely meal. Here and there was a chewed stub of carrot. That’s when I noticed the partially eaten beet. 

I’m grateful for an exceptional harvest this year. Certainly there have been challenges, like the night the raccoons raided the corn. All the corn. Every ear. Every single ear. But there has been plenty to eat, plenty to put by for the winter and plenty to give away. Certainly, I’d prefer not to share with the deer or skunks (or both) that enjoyed my beets and carrots, but as wildlife invasions go, it’s been a tolerable season. Not so for my friend, Shirley, whose garden, well-known in the animal kingdom, suffered a moose family take-out dinner party, among other adventures.

To all my four-legged and winged friends and foes, whatever you find in my winter compost pile is yours, and I promise, you’ll eat well.

The first wheelbarrow of carrots

Redemption

03 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by a3acrefarm in Perennials

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

compost, mulch, perennials, Premium Ground Cover, renovation, strawberries, weeds

My father’s father was a plumber, but Gup could build or fix anything. He taught us, “Always use the right tool for the right job.” In other words, don’t try to drive a nail with the flat side of a wrench. Whether planting a tree, wiring a house or making a crib for a great-grandchild, he would repeat, “If you don’t do it right, it will never come out right.”

Those words rang in my memory as I surveyed my strawberry bed early this summer. The previous year had been unusually chaotic, with insufficient opportunities to tend the gardens. When the strawberries should have been setting buds for a plentiful harvest in the next growing season, they were busy competing for nutrients with weeds we didn’t have time to pull. Although I weeded and mulched and tried to make amends this spring, the damage had been done, and this summer’s yield was meager.

Determined to set things right, we began a proper renovation of the bed as soon as the last strawberry had been picked. After mowing off the leaves, we tilled under all but two narrow rows of the youngest crowns, then weeded and thinned to allow plenty of room for runners and daughter plants. We fed them, shoveled the best of my finished compost around them, mulched and watered.

Surely, it would have been easier to scrap the whole bed and start over in a weed-free plot next spring. That would be the recommendation of many gardening resources, and I considered that option before choosing to put my efforts into renovation anyway. My decision means I will fight every stubborn weed until it gives up or the ground freezes. My vigilance will continue until late fall when I blanket the bed with  Premium Ground Cover, which will protect the crowns from the cold and windy winter.

So, why did I choose the more difficult way? Maybe because the daughter plants from last year rooted well and are strong. Maybe because beginning again with new plants next year gives us no berries until the following year – such a long time to wait. Certainly because I believe my persistence will redeem what I couldn’t do right the first time, and in the garden, persistence is the right tool for the job.

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