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

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Comment by Jamie Jedinak on March 25, 2010 at 2:08pm

Hey David I made a fabulous bed from my below recipe with no slug problems at all and I plant dahlias in it, which slugs love!!! My experience with hay is waaaay to much seed. I like the grass clippings idea but it could be hot...better to do that in the fall and let it rest over winter.

Comment by Alys Kennedy on March 25, 2010 at 10:16am

Hey David, You can get Alpaca poop for free, all you have to do is take a truck to the site and the guy loads it for you, and that is a great fertilizer and helps with some of the mulching...I have his number if you are interested. You can plant right into it too, which is great, and the veggies LOVE it. As for straw or hay for mulching, I think hay would be best....straw (and/or things like newspaper or cardboard) encourages the slugs to hide right next to your plants, and of course they eat them too...and I suspect you would have a lot of slugs where you are. I would want green hay though, as it feeds better. Another thing to do is if you have neighbors who mow their lawns ask them for the clippings...as long as they don't use chemical fertilizers. I have a neighbor who has a big field he mows and lets me have the leavings....and there might be enough for some of your garden there too. I will keep you posted if you are interested. Actually, anything green makes the best mulch. If you have an interest in getting some kelp, I know a place to get it....free. It would take a bit of work and preparation (washing it, or letting it get rained on before putting it into your garden), but well worth it all. Give me a call if you want to further discuss. Alys

Comment by Jamie Jedinak on March 25, 2010 at 12:32am

David C. - deward and bode has big cardboard......lots of newspaper from the heralds recycle bins..........smits compost delivered(not cheap-but oh so fabulous a topping)......green sand, rock phosphate.....kelp,
so it can look like this....cardboard - 2 layers, paper-lots - wet it down, straw-6inches +, amendments sprinkled all throughout, then smits compost on top....llama manure is wonderful too, or rabbit, if you can find a willing llama farm, no weed seeds and lots of nitrogen.....you can also put the llama poo thru a chipper for all of the nitrogen at once OR put it down and get a big hit and then slow release as the nuggets dissolve..........helpful?

Comment by Shannon Maris on March 24, 2010 at 10:33pm

R&R Kennels on Mt. Baker Highway has a FREE MANURE sign up also.
Nice that it's not too far out of town, don't know if they have a tractor to quick load it or not.

Comment by David Culver on March 24, 2010 at 10:24pm

I would like to do sheet mulching all over my yard and so I need a lot of cheap mulch material. Does anyone have some ideas as to what is the best for the price? Old hay or straw is what I would like I guess but there must be other ideas out there.
Thanks in advance for any responses.
Sincerely,
David

Comment by Heather K on March 17, 2010 at 2:24am

Summary for the Spring Equinox Season To-Do List - Harvest those spring weeds for compost before they seed, Get your cool weather seeds & plants in the ground with some protected by poly cloth or cold frames, Pull back thick mulch to let the sun warm the soil, Build compost piles & stock up on organic fertilizers, Schedule in time for all the spring plant sales/work-parties-bicycling garden tours, Order just few more last minute seeds, Collect & spread organic matter, Plant spring cover crops, Plant more nitrogen-fixing peas & fava beans, Wait till the soil dries before cultivating, Plant More Trees & Perennial Greens, Share the Abundance & Your Gifts!

Interest In Growing Oats is Increasing in whatcom county.
There is a growing interest to grow both whatcom wheat and also gluten free grains like quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat in whatcom urban & rural lands. I'm pretty sure our local farmer-researcher Christa Rome has oat seeds and will be planting more on her Whatcom Sustainability research & grain/bean/seed-saving farm.
We just had a great talk at Farmer-Educator Brians with a skagit grain researcher speaking to many local grain-growing farmers.
Soon there may be started is a TW network group for
'Small-Scale Grain Growers' (rural & urban size)
for grain & bean growing farmer & thrasher geeks.

Also need is Discussion page on our group site created for sharing resources on 'Organic Matter – Composting Materials & Manures'.
Shannon M reports a recent Craigs list posting on some type of free manure that included loading.
Anyone willing to post the phone numbers & locations of their favorite sources of soil building organic matter that they're willing to share? Also share your tips on growing your own organic matter. Team up with you neighbors to share a truck load in small lots or network here on a discussion page, or the TW "Ask & Offers" group.

Crosspost from Danah Peace looking for some 2010 oats in the 'milky stage' of seed maturity:
“I would love to know if anyone has planted oats in the Bellingham area. I love to make oats tincture, and would only require a couple bundles for a large amount of tincture. The best time to harvest for medicinal purposes is when the oat seeds are full and milky, still green. I would trade making a tincture for anyone who would volunteer some green, milky oats later this spring. Thanks!”

(Danah, you might contact Krista Rome or Walter H for most likely future source oats in milky seed stage, or obtain some seed from them and grow a small patch yourself – or someone else jump in to help..)

Some new great new blog posts to enjoy by Celt, Walter, & also Randy Smith during the last month.
(To receive an email notice of future blog posts from a specific person, you can go to their page & blog site & there is a way to click a button to have any new ones sent on to you...that what I do).

Comment by Deanna Lloyd on March 4, 2010 at 8:43am

Kay I might be interested in your downed trees....I'm checking out some other stuff today and if I need more I might be contacting you.

Comment by Judy Hopkinson on March 4, 2010 at 8:11am

I noticed a large pile of free wood (looks like mostly shipping platforms and planks) outside of the sign store on Magnolia just a block or 2 from Ellis. Maybe the school could use this?

Comment by Kay Dayss on March 4, 2010 at 12:00am

I have lots of strait downer trees that would be good for lining gardens if anyone wants them. If nobody wants them, I'm planning to use them to build a tiny "log shed" just to learn how to do it.

Comment by David Waugh on March 3, 2010 at 11:44pm

Update: Fence posts and fencing has (mostly) been claimed. Railroad ties and other large pieces of wood are still available, as well as other random items such as PVC piping.

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