CLOSED: Seed Junkie Chit Chat - Newbies Welcome 8/25/09

CONGRATULATIONS Skellogg !!!!! Winner of the auction, tonight.
I need Cue. Are you here, you got d-mail.
Thanks to both of you for the bids and fun here. I know all the newbies will appreciate all the new seeds coming in and there will be an announcement later about this new auction. HALLOWEEN THEME Special. Mix of seeds, bulbs and plants--- red, black and purple and orange. Be sure to check in later (as soon as I find cue and get it posted).
Thanks so much.

Good Job Skellogg.. that was fun! I am sooooo poooped, lol. I did an entire green layer of leaves on one lasagna bed, my son helped me with a brown layer of leaves on another bed, he helped me with horse poop on yet another bed, and I layed down cardboard around this huge tree in my yard and started another bed! Laid down leaves and manure on that one. I officially have one more place to start the last lasagna bed and then I have to start working my way around the pond. AND finishing the other pond.. Somewhere in there I have to work on planting bulbs.. You know this is the greatest project. Everybody benefits... the yard stays kept up, the horse poop stays picked up, the lawn stays mowed, the leaves are all picked up.. in the end we will have veggies to eat, beautiful flowers to look at and a well kept yard. Gotta love that! I am going to hit the shower big time right now and relax. After that all I will need is a nice glass of White Zin.. Nite e1!

New Auction

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1031566/

OK Skellogg don't forget to d-mail me with your address, I have a couple extras for you too, as the winner tonight. Great job. Thanks everyone.
Right on Mechelle with the lasagna gardens, I don't know who thought that up, but sure is great. Wish I had horse poo for mine. Got a couple cow farms around but it would be fresh, don't think I can use it. Don't want to burn my plants. I probably need to start a big pile somewhere but don't want the smell around here till it gets ready for use. Kinda between a rock and a hard place.

Hey Guys

Cue started the lasagna bed stuff. She asked if anyone had done one. :)

Yes, I do believe she did. Thanks Cue, you are a BIG help. All I ever heard of was compost bin. Then mine got full so this is great way to keep going. You are a blessing!

mekos - you can get the poo and spread it out to "cook" in the sun for a couple weeks or more. Doesn't take long here in th esummer - lol. As long as it's not the layer you are planting in you'll be OK after it cooks a little.

Holly,
You said now is the time to plant for hollyhocks? Do you mean to sow the seed or plant plants?

CONGRATULATIONS

~ Skellogg ~

Loca, Only a couple weeks? That would be ok, just didn't want to stink up the only neighbors I got. They wouldn't appreciate it, I guess. But a couple weeks wouldn't be bad for the good it will do. If I get it now and spread it in a couple weeks, what color layer will it be?

hollyhock lady you have mail.

Flower, sow the seeds. You sow now and they will be old enough to bloom next spring/summer, this is one of those plants that sprout stay green in the winter and bloom the next year.

Mekos, you might want to check with the cattle places. Around here they all have piles of aged manure from cleaning out barns and corrals and such. They shove it out in a pasture somewhere and it will sit for years.

Mechelle, where on earth did you find that many green leaves? I went out last night and trimmed my lilacs some, and there is no way I can come up with that many green leaves. I am IMPRESSED! Nice work!! I'm still working on trying to build a green layer on my newest bed.

Does straw count as a brown layer or a green layer? Anybody know? If it is fresh cut, green? Last years, brown? What an education we are getting! Thanks, Cue!

Mekos, will that work here, too? Everything pretty much freezes here, so wasn't sure.

Good idea, I'll check on it. We have cattle farms and chicken houses and farther out are horse farms and barns. Just didn't know how long it needed to age so it wouldn't kill my plants. As well as I can remember, I think I heard horse manure was the best, then cow and then chicken. Right? Cow is closer to me so probably will try that and see if it is aged.

Well, I'm in zone 7 but I sow seeds now and they sprout and grow some but won't bloom until next year. We have freezes also. But mine stay green. Mine are slightly protected by my deck but it is still cold as ice there. We get snow and the full nine yards. I only put tropical stuff in the greenhouse and my dragon fruit and Epiphyllums and aloe veras. Those things need more warmth.I leave my brugs out and they come back the next year. They are planted in the ground.

Super, Thanks! I'll sow seeds now and see what happens. I'll probably save some seed for spring, just in case. Gonna put them on the east side of the garage, along the whole wall, hopefully, so they will be protected from the worst of our winter weather.

Thanks for the info. I am going to sow mine out this weekend. Just might make me a hedge row out of them if I have enough.

That should work good, sweet williams are another that sprouts one year but won't bloom until the next so if you like those get those planted now as well. Many flowers do that. Is there any one else in zone 3 that can help Skellogg out with info for that zone?and which plants to start now for her?
Edited to say:
You may need to watch later as others check in and give info on your zone for others you can plant now. The ones that sprout grow and bloom at the same year you can sow after last frost where you are but some need the extra time and cold for the blooms.

This message was edited Aug 26, 2009 11:34 PM

Good night everyone. Talk tomorrow. Long day.

Oh, man, now I'm going to have to go get another pick up load of manure! That will make 4 so far. Think maybe my beds are going to be too big? LOL! No wonder I can't find enough green! I'm thinking I might have to start a lawn mowing business. Maybe tree trimming, too.

G'night mekos! Thanks for everything!

mekos - technically composted manure is a brown. Horse, then cow then chicken are the best as far as what you can use quicker. Chicken poo is great, but is "hot" and will burn your plants quick if it'snot aged. Horse poo can have a lot of weed seeds depending on what they eat, so it's best to let it "cook" or age a bit in the sun/heat to kill some of those weed seeds.

I also water my plants with horse poo. I have an extra 55 gallon trash can, put a couple shovel fulls of poo in the bottom, fill with water, and use that tea to water plants with. I just keep adding water until it doesn't make tea anymore, then use the gunk in the bottom in a bed somewhere.

I read that Russian comfrey is the best for green compost. Has big leaves and very productive. I have an out of the way spot for it so I'm going to plant some for the green. You have to buy the roots to get it started. Here's the link:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/mulch-compost-power-plant.html

Anybody know how rhubarb leaves work as green? I have lots of rhubarb, and the leaves are huge, of course, so they would cover a large area fast, but I don't know how fast they break down. On the russian comfrey, good heavens! Roots 6 feet deep! WOW! That's like a tree root! But it definately sounds like a plant that would be beneficial for most gardeners to have on hand. Thanks for the link!

Skellogg,
See if you can find you some alfalfa pellets that is horse feed. If you can that they say is great on gardens and so I would think you could use it on the beds as a green layer as it is green.

This message was edited Aug 27, 2009 8:08 AM

I'm sure that I can buy it at the feed store, but I wonder if a couple of bales of alfalfa would be just as good? Everybody here, including my DS, is putting up hay this time of year so would be easy to come up with a couple of small bales. Thanks for the idea! That's great!

Well If it is fresh then it might have the seed in it then you would have alfalfa growing in your beds.

Good morning e1!

Mekos, I had never heard of lasagna gardens either until now. I think it is so cool. Good for the environment and then some... It's very therapeutic actually. I love going outside and goin' to town on these gardens! I am one of those people that looks at something and know what I want it to look like and I just make it happen. Kinda the same way I do hair!

Skellogg, I have 9 acres here with about 4 acres of pretty much forest land. We bought this place last year and a lot of what I have was already here, I just didn't know it. It just needs some creativity and a finishing touch. Try not to laugh at this: I actually cut tree limbs with the biggest leaves and just broke the leaves off and threw the branches in the burn pile. It took me about a half hour to fill up the wheelbarrow. I put on my leather yard gloves, and if you "go against the grain" of the leaves, they just snap right off. I have every kind of tree you can think of so I will always have plenty. I have 5 horses (www.hollywoodpaintponies.com) that supply me the manure I need and grass for days... All I have done for the brown leaves is rake under a few trees that are low to the ground. You just have to watch out for the poison Ivy! I will go post updated pics of my lasagna beds in the Lasagna bed thread. Hope e1 has a good day and ttys!

Mechelle, we have paint horses too! Cool! Matter of fact, we have sold some that went to TN. Wish I could cut some tree branches for leaves, but most of our trees are pine trees! The new lasagna bed I am working on now is about 35 feet by about 18 ft. so it takes ALOT of green! LOL! But the brown isn't a problem! Lots of manure available, old and new!

Psst... Ladies.. Go check out my posts in the Lasagna Garden Brigade
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1030412/

That's awesome skellogg, I love my paints! Did you look at my website? I have an amazing stallion named "Hollywood" .. He is the nephew of the legendary Hollywood DunIt and sired by another legend, Jac Daniels Neat. He is so calm, you'd think he was a gelding. Great trail rider ;-) And he makes purdy babies to boot

Mechelle, of course I checked out your website! Had to, horse people are as crazy as gardening people, ya know! And we are worse than some, as we have 2 afflictions! I think we are doomed! Your lasagna beds look wonderful. I think I will go out and look for some green somewhere today. Takes alot for my beds, and am always hunting! Maybe someone in town is trimming some trees or something, and I can beg, no problem! LOL!

Yes, we do have it twice as bad as most, skellogg! lol.. gotta go look at some hay right now, but I'll be back later.. HAGD

What is goat poo? green or brown. My layer down now is newspapers on top of all the others, if I put goat poo down does it go now, or do I need green first, then the goat stuff?

lol now that I can't tell ya....CUE!!!!!

I think all poo is brown technically, and I don't just mean in color - lol. However, it adds nitrogen, which would make it a green...

Someone asked about rhubarb? I would check into that a little more. Rhubarb leaves are toxic, so not sure about using them in a composting process?!?!?!

This message was edited Aug 27, 2009 9:26 AM

Loca, it was me, thanks! And I'm not sure how fast they would decompose. They seem very tough! Mine would just go in flower beds with flowers and bushes, etc. but a very good point you made. Absolutely worth checking into more. I would have never thought about that.

Where is CUE????? HELLO?!?