Earth Gardens: Edible-Medicinal-Wild Habitats (Permaculture Network)

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Comment by Heather K on March 26, 2010 at 1:02pm

Alpacas poo info is posted under our group discussion
"Compost & Animal Poo & Organic Matter Locations- (both free & cost-fee)" - http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/group/organic/forum/topics/compos... .
Just click & scroll down to the heading.

Or go to Camelot Ranch Alpacas -
http://www.camelot-ranch.com/
(phone number & email is public and listed on their website!)

Comment by Alys Kennedy on March 26, 2010 at 10:43am

Also, I just wanted to add this bit of info. Last year I found a great book by Lee Reich called Weedless Gardening. In my long experience as a gardner, he has the best info I have ever come across in a book. Reich is a "garden writer and avid gardener who has worked in soil and plant research for the USDA and Cornell University," and he encourages a method of gardening that is low impact turning conventional gardening methods on their heads and offers a system of gardening based on the way nature works. To quote him, "Pay attention to the top few inches of soil and nature will take care of the rest." He highly advocates heavy mulching. I got my copy second hand through Amazon. This is what he has to say about grass clippings: "Usually weed free; high in nitrogen; thick layers will heat up, so apply no moe than 1 - 2" thick and not near stems of young plants; very good at smothering weed seedlings." Hay: "Good at smothering weeds, but contains weed seeds; better used in feeding and or enclosing compost pile; salt hay is gathered from marshes and so will not bring weeds to your garden." He doesn't mention where one gets salt hay. However he does offer advice on all other types of mulch as well.

Comment by Alys Kennedy on March 26, 2010 at 10:26am

Hi All, I agree with Walter and Brian, hay will feed your soil, and wood chips will rob it of nitrogen and will take a long time to break down. Grass also is good, and it is not too hot. I have used it for years, and I know another gardener who does, and both our gardens do extremely well with it, and have never experienced it being too hot. And, as Walter said, weeds happen, no matter what you do. Although I have found that the more depth I add with grass or hay the fewer weeds I have.

As for the alpaca poop, I will have to contact the person I get it from before I can just put out their phone number for so many interested people.

Comment by Brian Kerkvliet on March 26, 2010 at 10:16am

I'm with Walter on this one. I have used hay extensively for the past five years. Get old spoiled hay and let the bales get wet and sprout. What viable seed that is left is easy to remove. The benefits far out weigh the down falls. I would go broke if I had to by straw bales for my beds. Wood chips take a lot longer to break down and rob the soil of nitrogen in the process. 3-4 ducks roaming around help keep the slug populations in check. They are cool to look at, lay eggs and don't adversely effect the crops most of the year.

Comment by Deanna Lloyd on March 26, 2010 at 9:19am

I wouldn't sheet mulch with hay....I've found way that it has way too much seeds....I've found straw is a much better choice.

Comment by Juliet Thompson on March 26, 2010 at 12:40am

Hi David and all,
The first year we moved into our Birchwood yard, we spent the summer sheet mulching, and used wood chips over large cardboard pieces from the furniture and appliance stores (Wilson Furniture on Pacific Hwy is also good). We would regularly check the bins at the County Maintenance yard at Northwest and Smith for wood chips of any kind. I got really good at shoveling these into the small pickup, and could fill it up in under 1/2 hour. It's no picnic, but "free" was the motivating factor at the time. Over the summer we mulched about the same amount of area (60' x 60') for no cost. Now the wood chips have decomposed, producing a mycelium rich material that was plantable after about a year.

I sheet mulched 2 other large areas where I cut a hole in the cardboard, and planted into the ground, digging out about an 18" circle of grass using a narrow shovel. It's worked well, I would do it again, though sometimes remnants of grass are left around the edges.

There are 3 county wood chip bins, one at Smith and Northwest (the most reliable - back behind the soccer fields), one at Britton Rd. and Mt. Baker Hwy, and one in Sudden Valley.

Comment by Suki Aufhauser on March 25, 2010 at 11:50pm

Thanx everyone for all the great info & knowledge you have to share.

I also would love the contact info on the alpaca manure.
magikdancer at gmail.com

Comment by christy in Bham on March 25, 2010 at 10:50pm

Alys, I would love to get some alpaca manure. Are you able to post contact info or send offline to fieldofgreens at earthlink.net. Thanks all for the valuable info!

Comment by David Culver on March 25, 2010 at 10:01pm

Howdy again. Thanks for all of the input. I have maybe 3450 sq. ft. of area to sheet mulch = 1725 cu. ft. of straw at 6" thick. Thats a lot of straw. Maybe over 200 bales. I know about deward and bode, I covered the floor of our home prior to sheet rocking with their cardboard. What a resource. I'm planning on their cardboard, but where could I find so much old hay? Grass clippings are great and last year I had my first hot compost pile, but I need an extreme amount of something to use as mulch on top of that cardboard. Thanks again to everyone.

Comment by Heather K on March 25, 2010 at 2:26pm

Gardener's Online To Do List- for Best Ever Local Garden Writing Blogs:
To receive local garden blogs from favorite writers direct to your email without signing on to the TW site, you'll need to make an online effort since these blogs do not get mailed out automatically.
Recently both Celt & Walter have added some great new blogs...See listing under this groups disscussion - Blog Post Cross-posts - http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/group/organic/forum/topics/blog-p...
Or go to TW and specific authors page with blog post list.

Specific Online Directions Below:

1) * Sign on to your Transition Whatcom Account

2) * Find your favorite garden bloggers and click on their personal page
( I recommend you start with Celt M Schira, Walter Haugen. David Pike, & Heather K.).

3) * Scroll down this members personal page and look for “Blog Posts”, and click there.

4) * Now scroll down to the bottom of the member's blog list , and click on “Follow – Email me when this member adds a new blog post”.

5) * (After clicking a new sign will appear, that you can use if you want to stop receiving their blog posts – this sign will say - “Stop Following”.
(That sign means you have successfully requested this member new blog posts to be emailed to you, reducing the time you need to sign on to TW to check for new blog posts related to gardening.)

6) * Consider writing your own blog posts with your garden wisdom & humor. You can always type them up and save them as a draft until you are ready to 'publish".

7) * Now unhook and Sign Off of Transition Whatcom, Shut down your computer power....Stand up and Walk Outside to enjoy the beauty or harvest a few weeds for the compost pile, or a few greens for your next meal!

(Also be sure to read Chuck M. garden article in the foothills news...I don't think he is online Yet).

I may crosspost directions for future reference & new members under the 'Blog Post Cross-posts"
***
For accessing local garden resource lists & specific discussions, go to "Organic Gardeners" group, then scroll down to 'Discussion Forum", & click "View All" for complete list.

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