I like the cat scan joke i thought it ws funny LOLOL
sue
Dung, Doo Doo, and Dirtier Part 2!
Easily entertained.
Steve, quit posting that power-compost pornography, you're getting the gasoline flowing too fast in the veins of the toll-happy onlookers.
I want more tasteful pictures, of the actual chips and compost, up close please!
There is a tree trimming service who keeps his chipper blade extra sharp, so it makes what I can only describe as excelsior. I need to call him...
Ok Kenton here is a series of pictures to show what my composting has done to make my garden great. Please note the center bin is the pile of stuff I got off Lowes and home Depot and just dumped it to be mixed for the new bed. This is the new stuff I shredded yesterday.
Here is lasts years compost pile. note the longer pieces of stem from my chipper not able to shred (old one).
And finally this is my vegetable garden which is raised and the soil I have made it all from Mushroom compost + Sandy Loam + 3 years of compost + soil from property + Dark Clay (Free from gravel pit) + Fire place ash (not much) = Ph 6.5 well drained Loamy soil. I rototilled it today and also transplanted 14 trees and 11 Bushes. And when I put my back out and broke my shovel I quit till tomorrow. Oh Boy can't wait!!!!!
This message was edited Apr 12, 2006 8:29 PM
Proof I broke my shovel
Glory that was! I love it. I am so pleased to see coarse material... What kinds of trees/plants?
I have broken every shovel I have but one. It is pretty darned old. "They don't make them like they used to." Perhaps someone knows where I can get one (another): It has a solid connection of metal between the spade and handle, so that it is a chunk of metal solder that keeps the joint rigid, not a folded joint. I explain things so badly, I will just have to take a picture. Anyhow, It is the single shovel (sans flatheads and scoops) that I have used for all of my amending and digging of great dinosaur-holes. I keep it inside of the house. I ought to keep it near my bed, really. I have a closer relationship with it than any gal!
The time spent with a shovel is so much better than any gal. You get a good work out, it lets you express your creative spirit, it fits you when you grip it, it never talks back, and when you don't like it anymore you can get a new one. Hee Hee.
I burlaped 6 Swedish aspen for my new horse property to plant next year. I think 1 year B&B will do better than a dry root just planted and not cared for. Then I moved 2 macintosh apple trees closer to their pollinators, then planted 3 trees that I had wintered over from the nursery buys this fall. One is cool it is a Spearmint Juniper. Quite columnar and good scent. Another is another Burr Oak, another is a sugar maple, another is a 4 way pear, and last I dug up over 15 spireas to re-do the soil in the bed to get more compost in the sandy loam. The Jap Maples (blood goods) aren't doing well in the sandy loam. All of that pile from last year is going into the bed and mixed well. I also rototilled the vegetable garden and will start planting soon even if the frost date is late May here. the soil is warm enough and I will start seeds. So what if they freeze I can just start over. Nothing lost. I also opened all the bags of "stuff" that I bought at palate price at Home Depot/Lowes and put them where I can mix them for the new bed. I finished rakeing all around my fire pit and finished the burn for the year. You can see why my shovel just quit. So did my back. I went into the house and filled the new jacuzzi bath tub with warm water and a little soap and soaked for over a half an hour. I now fine and ready to do the beds tomorrow. Oh Boy!!! This is my pile of spirea I dug up
That last photo is one heck of a garden. Marvelous. I make nice comments about most any picture, but that one is a step above. What rock...
What is your altitude? Are the leaf-edges of the Acer 'Bloodgood' dry? I'll bet they neeed shade, they certainly wouldn't fail because of soil!
We are at 3100 Ft. The acer suffers from dry wind dammage primarily but they also need loam and moisture in the root area. I have planted Acer Glabrum behind the Bloodgood to the west where the hot winds come from in Aug/Sept.The trees are in dappled shade from 11am to sunset. You can see on the last picture how much shade is in the bed. I got this soil from the gravel pit before I knew anything about soil so it is time to ammend. Compost will provide root moisture and better natural soil type for the Bloodgood. I also think that the ambient moisture with the soaker irrigation in the hot of the day will help the maples.
Yeah the rock is just what I put in last year to raise up the lawn so my rider mower doesn't fall over in this area. I just built up the wall with dry stack and backed it with clay to lock it in place.
this picture is the medow area that I scratched up and planted native seeds this spring. Do you think the area is open enough for the seeds to find a footing? I don't want to make too many areas of open ground because of weeds and invasive grasses. (Foxtail)
sofer, when you were rototilling your veggie garden area did you see any worms and/or toads.That is what I worry about, I don't want to destroy the worms, and I have cut/dug into a toad or two when using my Mantis and I really hate that. I have not rototilled my corn growing area for 3 years now. Just spread the finest shreds and compost on top of the area, and dig a trench, drop in corn seed and cover. Course too early in the season to plant yet.
It is not very springlike here today, strong south wind and cloudy, and not very warm.
There was something wrong with my computer, could not get on internet yesterday. The woman who helps me came at !:00 and fixed it. She said someone must have messed with it, but I know it had to be me, because no one else used the computer, sure don't know what I did.
Donna
I hardly got on the internet also until night. Too much gardening.
Well I rototilled the garden yesterday and I think I got a few but I just do the top and it is dry so the worms are deeper when the garden is dry. But yes I got a few. Though I think all of those get to be 2 worms cause they survive some mangling. Today though I put compost on a garden bed and there were millions of worms in the compost and I got quite a few. Then After a short rototilling I used a fork and mixed it deep. My arms and Back are killing me tonight. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/591985/ This is what I did today. And all in a sweater and warm socks. It was cool today.
This message was edited Apr 13, 2006 10:56 PM
Well done, old man.
I have a long story involving saving the silly life an individual toad (unique wart patterns) at least three times, (#1 ran out in front of a car to grab it. #2 pulled it out of a pond when it was near drowning. #3 grabbed it before It was crushed by a flower pot...) I put it in my back yard. I carefully set the mower out to mow, and while I left for a few minutes, the toad crawled under it only to be ground up into a greasy smear... The dumb thing was suicidal.
Glad you could make it back, Donna.
Beleive it or not, worms will actaully flee a tiller/digging if you start slow and give them a minute to get away. No joke.
It's not spring here. It's chuffing summer! It toasted a few tulips today. Too hot for a shirt. Wild.
Steve, I think your seedbed looks good. I figure that making a spot that incorporates a few different situations (sun + shade). Will you irrigate it?
Waiting for Sunday: The Holy Day of Gardening
Kenton
Yes I always have soakers in every bed,. Then the irrigation is based on need. Usually always in Aug-Sept. I have pretty established beds now and most will need only once to twice weekly soaks.
Fancy.
I have two outside fawcets that respond to 12 fields of soaking. All my hoses pass under the soil (lawn) in 4" drain pipe. I use good rubber hoses and they are still working 6 years into using them. I use the rubber hoses cause it is too harsh here to have underground irrigation. Some of the runs of hoses are 100' but most are less. Even with blowing out the undrground system there is areas of water that crack. Therefore the hoses are removed at the end of irrigation and rolled up and stored in the Garden Barn. I works well. I have timers on all 6 outlets and they address my irrigation without me being here. Of course my wife who is off all summer lives to start watering and does so 4 to 6 hours a day with her hose and we just turn off the soakers. It is good for her soul. (and mine)
How very adaptable and industrious of you.
I was watering the garden today when I got to thinking of you- do you grow many bulbs? How about Erythronium (Dogtooth violets- a native)
Up there, do you think the ever-so tough Ginkgo biloba might be worth a try? (Tough: Think suburbs of Hiroshima.)
Kenton
I have only 30 or so bulbs. don't like them unless in mass and they are too ugly all year. I always went to tulip festival in La Conner Washington to enjoy the tulips. I have 2 varigated Iris that I have near my Sophie pond. Don't know about the native. I'll look into it. Thanks Kenton.
Ahh the Ginko Biloba. I have dedicated my entire woodland to the Ginko. You don't want to hear this but I have a male and a female. If she is too repulsive I will eliminate her but I want the nut for memory in 15 years or so. If I can remember why I planted that urine smelling tree. I wish I could live long enough to see the 70 yr old tree. I plan on coming back, after Jesus says I can, to visit.
This is the Iris. I also have several bearded blues, blacks, and Dark reds.
How do you mean "dedicated my entire woodland"?
How old is your, er.... "couple" of Ginkgoes? I understand that they need to be 20-30 years old before they reproduce. A good rule for humans if you ask me....
Interestingly enough, the Male ginkgo actually has sperm. No joke. It sounds strange, but one of my life goals is to find catkins on a male tree and get them under a microscope. "I gotta see this to beleive it..."
The female's stink is only in late summer with that fruit. A necessary inconvenience. What about future generaions of ginkgo, eh?
Kenton
We needed a picture, so here is a young Erythronium 'Kondo.'
The Ginkos are only 4 years old (male) and 6 years old (female). So that is why I say dedicated because the woodland is now many other trees and all would survive the Ginko but I won't be around to make those decisions. I know that when the fall arrives they will want to keep the beautifully branched tree.
well kenton I get to see sperm all the time at work so I don't get excited. LOL
I am assuming that th "condo" is the dark Iris? not the greenie.
I have no Ginko shots. The only digital pictures of my garden were taken last year and I wasn't part of DG to know what to shoot. I will this year.
Kip and Maddie taking out their anger at not catching the squirrel.
The little green excuse for a plant is the Dogtooth violet Hybrid "Kondo." The black thing is Mondo grass. It was beautifully evergreen.
My favorite tree in the world (of two or three) is the variegated Ginkgo. Very difficult to find, but just seeing a picture nearly sent me into the hospital with hypervenilation and some colorful heart disorder.
The tree is proof of inteligent design not darwinism. Just look at how long it has gone unchanged in form and function. 75 million years. Why not fitter? It already is unique to the planet and is one of the most spectacular mature trees on the planet. Yes LOL better than a live oak.
I actaully had a paragraph written on the subject. I have jokingly called my tree "Evolutionist's Nightmare."
I like how it is dificult to describe as either a monocot or a dicot. A protoconifer, I think it is called.
Don't dig on Live oaks too much, They are a real novelty here. (AKA nonexistent, but I'm working on it!)
Here is a (Live) Cork Oak. Qurcus suber. Do you think I can make a board for my pin-ups in 15 years? Or Will I be too old... -for the oak.
Geez you don't have to vaccum the floor much do you? It is all covered with pots. Your little quercus is cute but you will never live to see it spectacular. Oh Well we need to leave our dreams to those who follow. Anyway Jesus through Paul said in Jude 6 vs 11. All good gardeners get to visit their plantings as long as they want. Many bibles don't contain these verses
this Quercus was that size just 4 years ago. Now it will take off and become big Querc.
What Quercus is that? Bur oak?
I have not read that passage. Perhaps we ought to E-mail about it lest we offend a poor atheist around here.
Realize that I am trying to get a bunch of trees in the ground while I'm young so that I CAN see them at least looking like trees, if not big ones.
Here is the tree in question budding out yesterday:
Hi Kenton , Steve
Well i m still waiting for my soil sample, I did call and they said they were doing it today. Apparently it takes two days ,but they did not tell me when they get to my name, then it takes two days. So i have been waitning patiently for about 9 days.
will let you know," hey fun stuff in the tomato thread", with Tomato I mprov, yeah i know it is silly but pretty addicting ,
sue
I did some digging and cleaning on Easter- I've been busy since. But it bore photography (later) and needs to be told: I have a suprise cache of 2-3 yds of Leafmold! I've made a new (huge) passive-pile from cleanings and have watered it down to keep it from catching fire when we burn the ditchbank. My garden space, with the help of glyphosphate, should triple ths season.
I have a spot where I erred and put too much Chicken compost. (Remember how much you put in with such a hot compost!) I am quite sure that things there are suffering from salt/fertilizer burn. I am going ot take a sample some time and tell you how that works.
Just blather to freshen the thread,
How is spring cleanup, Steve?
Kenton
Why does chicken manure contain high levels of salts?
I'm done and now am working in Great Falls, MT. I mulched all my clean up and did it in 2 hours. The pile is already cooking. The snow fall we had 3 days ago never developed on the compost heaps. I am ready to sit and wait in garden for a few weeks. I have lots of rock work to do so I guess I will be hard at work when I get home. I am getting my rental house finished while I work here in GF.
ok so here it is Kenton, my soil sample , Tonight i will be looking up the numbers in my book. LOL " why can't there be pictures ?" LOL,
i do appreciate all the help you can give. DH is busy with projects around the house and well frankly it has been abut 10 yrs since he has looked at a soil sample numbers LOL" no comments from the peanut gallery Steve " LOL:)
Looks like you are hard at work steve?
How is your compost Steve? mime is a bit dry, Dh was going to get my an irrigation to my garden but since we are moving, we are putting it on hold , so now i have to drag the darn hose out ,Last time i just left it, well besides a yellow looooong strip of grass , i ran over it with my tractor "ouch" that was expensive, Dh didn't think it was to funny, I tried to play it off , "I thought it was a poisonuos snake", but he didn't go for it., " Go figure why?"LOL
sue
Zepper; They are mostly fertilizer-salts. Just plain excessive. Chickens do not have separation of urine and feces. Also, the chickens are fed odd materials (I don't know what they are!) to induce maximum production. Often, the chickens themselves are incorporated into the compost. Lesson learned. I may have to dig a bunch of things up. When I can, I will get it tested.
I just moved a little pile out of the driveway in hopes to accomodate some tree-trimmer's woodchips in future. Sadly, that pile was heating up quite nicely. Now it is part of one gigantic pile in the back... Pictures someday...
Heck, Sue, take a picture of your soil lab sheet.
Kenton
Okay, duh, salts as in potassium... I've forgotten everything from school. Thanks, jamesco. I get it now.
My birds get feed that's basically just organic grains, legumes and fish meal (plus bugs and greens), so the poo shouldn't be harmful once it composts a bit.
now I must go plant asparagus
Wow, Sue. How are things growing in it? Those numbers are great. If most plants are not growing extremely well, it has nothing to do with what nutrients you have. Here is the "Ideal" ppm of the common (macro) nutrients for a general flower garden, compared to yours:
Sufficient / What you have (in a humus-content soil above 2.1 per cent; you have 4.68)
Nitrogen:
42ppm / You have about (guesstimate) 50ppm. Grass lawns like about 60, for comparison. 50 is perfect for trees and shrubs.
Phosphorus:
14ppm and above / 147 (Trees want 7ppm, too much is bad for a certain few woody plants)
Potassium:
181ppm and above / 499 (Grass would like about 200)
Iron:
10 or higher / 124
Zinc:
1.5 or up / 9.55
The pH is relatively high; it is alkaline. This is not bad, in fact, some gardeners lime thier soil to "sweeten" it to a higher pH . A few plants do not like high pH, but remember that In my part of the country, we have a pH range of 7.4-8.5.
You probably have a bedrock made up of a high-pH mineral. The Brits call it “chalky soil.”
Watch out, I'm stepping up on a pH soapbox:
You just may not be able to grow most kinds of azaleas and Dogwoods. Frankly, I think that the pH importance is overblown. Some plants cannot take up certain nutrients in an average high pH soil (or so it seems for that reason...) but I have seen "acid lovers" grow in high pH soils that have been amended. Some "acid lovers" may in fact be "rich soil needers." I think that research is needed to separate actual reasons for chlorosis and failure of these plants- as I am beginning to think it is not entirely pH.
Now, Sue; tell us how you treated the soil (how you amended, what growws in it) – I’m curious.
Bottom line: Great soil! It has a good deal of nutrients. To make sure that they are avaliable to plants, continue top-dressing or working in compost. That humus makes what you have available to the plant. A slab of concrete may actually be very nutrient rich, if you see what I mean. Also, avoiding stepping on it too much keeps its oxygen penetration deeper.
You will never need to add bone meal, superphosphorus, or wood ash.
Zepmeister: I dug up failed bulbs in the (salty?) bed tonight, and I hope to have it tested tomorrow if the extension office is open. If I had chickens, I would feed them a purely organic diet and balance their dung with liberal sawdust and leaves.
Goodnight,
Kenton
Seems like wrong place to add this, but how do you deal with oak leaves that never go away? They are about11/2 to 2 inches ling and 3/4 inches wide. They a really thick leaf. Do they compost? we usually throw them away as they never seem to go away. My neighbors tree over hangs my yard.
Also off topic(sorry) I have noticed the snails are back with more than I can count. I hve not had them in years. Have not had slugs either. Any suggestions? Should I get drunk on beer and forget the snails are here? or should I get them drunk so they will drown? Or is that just slugs?? Thanks
thanks for the imfo Kenton , it really helps to know what is high adn what is low and who likes what.
That soil is from my vegtable garden this is what i do
Sue 's Reciepe
1.last yr garden tilled under in fall
2.dumped on the compost heap undone and some done, forked under
3. layered with Llama poop tilled under.
4. Let sleep over the winter ,
Today is sunny and warm, might fork it some, strawberrys arre popping through the straw.
Hopefully will get some finished compost by June to add more over the summer
we are moviing , so our house is up for sale. Unfortunatly i will have to leave my dirt and start over again at the new house, but isn't that the fun part? Lets hope the house dosn't sell intil Aug or Sept, so i don't have to leave my garden in the middle of harvest time, Pray hard.
I have to convience DH to take my compost piles to the new house , he just dosn't get it. Poor fellow LOL:)
thanks again Kenton
sue
Sue, where are you moving to or is that to be decided after you sell. It is hard to leave your garden. I had lived 50 years in my other house and garden . Moved some plants I thought I couldn't live with out. Really hated to leave my good amended for 50 years soil and start over again. But really love this location and the viev from every window.
Donna
The photo is of the west end of my windbreak trees and shrubs on the hill to the north of the house. Donna
that is very pretty Donna
We are buyibng a log home just about 15 miles from us, it is based on a contingency of the sale of our house, lots more room and acres with about 40 more acres of woods for hunting ,a green house and garden , so i guess i can't complain "aye" LOL, I just hope we sell the house at the end of the season. I have lots of canning and freezing to do if my garden goes well.
I have freinds in Olypia WA.
sue