there are three things that you dont want to ask me about
unless you want to know more than you want to know
its
alzheimers disease
rainwater collection
organic gardening
i will go on and on on these topics
so
i got an email from the daughter of a friend
she was moving back into austin to start
graduate school at ut
she wanted to know more about organic gardening
would i mind if she came out and worked in
my garden before her graduate school started
in late july
i emailed back
of course i dont mind
just bring your ears
now
its hotter than hades around here in texas
so i told her
it will have to be in the morning
when it gets too hot we will have to stop working
in the garden
she agreed to the limitation
so i saved up a lot of my work for the day we would work
in the garden
i started day one
by doing a 4 hour tour
first the boggy creek farm in austin
a city farm in east austin
one of the original organic farms in the area
the owner carol ann stopped her busy morning
talking to us about how she prepped her soil
and took care of it
a lot of education was given by her
as i told the student hb
when you see our place the country n garden
you will find that i do a lot of what she does
i learned from the best
from there we went to the springdale farm a nearby
organic farm
then
from there
we went to the natural gardener
an organic best in the south plant nursery thats located in austin
the owner john dromgoole is the god of organics
in austin
i easily lectured her on the different plants
showing her the xeric plants that we planted
went through their amazing veggie garden
explaining that what she sees me do in my garden the
next day
was learned talking to their veggie garden expert
we then went inside touring the multiple organic products
that are sold there
also noting these are available at most good nurseries in
this area
so the next day
i decided to do my tomato bed
for my fall tomatoes
two of the tomatoes we were to plant were from cuttings
i took from my spring tomatoes
putting the cuttings directly into 1 gal pots using
the ladybug vortex potting soil
the other ones we bought at the natural gardener the day before
now this time of year the selection is not always good
you just have to take what you can get
so
lecturing as i went
this bed was last years fall crop
we raked off the bed so it was even
we added an organic fertilizer i used ladybugs 8-2-4
we added a dusting of cottonseed meal
we added a soaking of humates and a soaking of molasses
we added a dusting of green sand
the fertilizer provides nitrogen for several weeks gradually
the cottonseed meal provides a quicker access to a nitrogen source
the molasses provides a food source to the bacteria and fungi
that grow in the soil
the humates are the juice that helps this all work better
the green sand provides iron and other minerals into the soil
as we worked i explained maybe in too much detail
why each of things were being used
why the non organic way is not good for the soil
plus its what the natural gardener does to their garden
they know best
i buried 5 gallon buckets with holes in the bottom
and
holes 10 inches on the side
to keep the roots when they go deep to have access to water
we also partially filled the buckets with compost
so when they were filled with water
a compost tea would leak down into the roots
then
i taught her how to plant tomatoes
burying them deep into the soil
placing a tbsp of earthworm castings with its nitrogen
and minerals to give the new tomato a big boost
then watering it in well with sea weed
that stimulates root growth
the tomatoes have doubled in size in one week time
a collar of paper was wrapped around the base of the plant
to prevent the cutworm from coming through and
chopping down our new plants
then
this was all covered with a 3 in layer of your leaves
to keep in moisture
we then added this shade cloth which blocks 60% of the
hot suns rays
we will leave this in place until the weather cools off
i think i taught her a lot about organic gardening
she got her hands dirty
yes she took off her gloves some
and
got some dirt under her nails
its good for you you know
we then took a tour of our place
showing her all the native xeric plants that are planted here
all the plantings that have been done
to block the sun
to allow the sun in during the winter when the leaves fall off
our complete rainwater system
our solar system
our honeybees
so
i hope that during these two days
thats she got infected with
the organic gardening bug
maybe the rainwater virus
again
after working with her
i do have hope for the future
we are leaving our earth in good hands
i like the millennials
thanks hb
the organicgreen doctor
Sounds like a great education!
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