HE #36- Our DIY Composter

I desperately wanted a composter so that my gardening identity would feel more secure, BUT it needed to fit the following 3 requirements:

1) I needed to be able to turn it with a crank, or low enough to manually turn with a spade.

2) It needed to keep out those nasty slugs that seem to view my garden as their own Golden Corral buffet. Most people in these parts shy away from on-the-ground composters/compost piles because of  the imminent slug infestation that would then be shovelled into your garden beds later.

3) It would preferably be free, or pretty darn near close to free. (I've got a centsible identity to maintain as well, you know!)

With all of that in mind, this wonderful creation is what we devised! I combined multiple posts that I found on Pinterest and crafted this Frankenstein of DIY composter ideas. With the help of Farmer Boy (who can't resist a chance to use the drill), we got this together in under 20 minutes and I am so thrilled with it!

Our rather unassuming creation.

Here are the steps we took:

1. Buy/Scrounge 2 identical large totes.  They need to be the same style and size so that they nest inside each other.  Put one bin where you want your composter to ultimately sit and put spacers in the bottom of it. They need to be between 1-2" high. I used pre-cut PVC connectors that I got in the plumbing aisle at the home improvement center for about .50 each. You could use rocks, bricks, or whatever suits your fancy and your budget. They just need to be strong enough to support the other bin when it is filled with compost.

Take your other tote and drill holes all over that bad boy. I marked X's for my son to be able to aim his drill. These holes are for airflow.  Then, once you're all drilled up, cover those holes with duct tape. This will still allow for airflow, but will be a barrier to slugs or other critters wanting to join the party inside the tubs. It will looks something like this:

Now place the drilled tote inside the other one, on top of the spacers. Voila! A compost bin that is low enough to easily turn with a spade, and will keep out the slugs!  Just add your mix of brown items, scraps, and soil to get the party started. I also went and scrounged up earthworms from under rocks in my yard to help break things down.  While this wasn't free, I was able to make it for well under $20, and that sure beats the $150 price tag on the composter I saw at the warehouse store down the street!

We were worried about the smell because of the whole 'airflow' thing-especially since we have  a lot of bear traffic in our yard in the latter part of summer. We put this up in the corner of our deck, and we've been pleased to note that we can't smell it at all. In spite of the egg shells, veggie scraps,  and pulp from my juicing, this bin doesn't seem noticeable at all. Yay!

Now I saw pictures of crafty-types who painted their bins with lovely murals, or decorated it with patterened tape,etc. Mine is a very utilitarian gray since it's in a corner where it remains fairly unseen. However, knowing you can get as wild and crazy with this style of bin just adds to the DIY fun of it all, doesn't it? If you do make one and come up with an art masterpiece worthy of bragging rights,, then  I would love to see a picture of it!   Happy Composting!

Blessings,
Hillary At Home

Our 2013 Garden and Mini-Experiments (a.k.a. "Really Cool Tips!")

Hello! We have been busy busy little gardeners, doing what we can to coax our little seeds out of their respective shells. Our starts did beautifully in their mini greenhouse, and are now safely tucked in pots and buckets inside our little greenhouse. Speaking of my new greenhouse. I ADORE it! It has become my little, quiet oasis in the midst of summer noise and chaos.  It's nothing fancy;  just one of those little quick-set kits that we got 2 years ago when they were on end-of-season clearance. I paid a whopping $30 for it instead of the original $149 sticker (so very centsible of me, if I do say so myself!), and have been anxious to set it up since.  However, last year with a newborn and a record-setting rainfall, I wasn't feeling my green thumb groove, and the kit stayed in it's box. That's just made me garden with pent-up demand this year!

Farmer Boy has been diligently helping his Mama set up the greenhouse and fill the beds with all sorts of roots and leafy greens! I love that farmhand wanna-be!  :)

Ta-Da! Greenhouse up, ready, and planted! I have since modified it by inserting two patches of window screen just below the point of the roof on the short ends in order to vent the excess heat. I just cut  a rectangle out of the plastic cover and taped in the scraps of window screen using thick plastic tape (and duct tape when I ran out of clear plastic).

Farmer Boy has been anxious to move his pumpkin starts out of the living room and into the greenhouse. We had thought we would put them in a pallet, but the pallet was too wide for the floor of our little structure. So, into some big pots they went, and I'm sure we'll have to thin as they grow. I am thinking I will rest squares of plywood between the pots as they start to vine. I am really trying to keep them up and away from the slugs that always seem to enjoy them before we can. (sigh)

We also planted tomatoes, peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, and strawberries. Now I am left with one empty shelf and pondering how I can fill it?! Maybe more zucc's?

  Yay! I finally got to plant my heirloom tomato seeds that I had saved two seasons ago! At the time I had filed them away, I was a garden newbie and didn't realize that seeds should be planted the following year. I had completely forgotten about them until recently, so we'll see if I get anything! (Fingers crossed)

 One rain gutter on the deck that is sprouting Black Simpson lettuce and green onions.

This one is sporting French Breakfast radishes and more scallions.

Potato buckets on the back deck awaiting planting this weekend. (The spuds are still sprouting in the bathroom cabinet :)

A hazy shot of the beds. This year we added three pallets and removed one swimming pool.

We have spinach and kale in the pallets. Beets, carrots, onion, sugar snap peas, and snow peas are in the beds.

TIP ALERT! We wrapped our unsightly swimming pool garden with a scrap of burlap after finding the idea on-line. It looks SO  much better, and I'm sure the neighbors are thrilled. However, as you can see, I need to go visit my yard with the weed-eater this weekend!

The greenhouse addition! If you look closely under the peak of the roof, you can see the window screen patch I mentioned above. There is one on the opposing wall, as well,  to allow for air flow and venting.

Love Love LOVE my herb garden. Pesto and salsa are definitely on my summer menu!

TIP ALERT #2! What a great way to re-use old jar lids! Thanks Pinterest and Pinners for this handy tip!

I'm actually really pleased with my front door this year. I love the mixed containers and accessories that make up our whimsical fairy garden. You can also see the beautiful rocks that the children in my Farmer Jr's Sunday School class embellished and handed out to the congregation on Easter Sunday.

Well, that's what we've been up to our eyeballs in doing lately. We are pooped, but pleased! I can't wait until the harvest begins!

Blessings to you and your Homestead,
Hillary At Home

There's More To Onions Than Meets The Eye (Or Nose!)

This year I decided to plant yellow onion starts for the first time.  Actually, I had no idea that a gardener could plant garlic and onion up here with our drenched soil conditions, but they do beautifully. You can actually see the little sprouts in my swimming pool garden bed post.
About a month later, they were quite a bit taller as you can see in the pools in this shot:

Nice tall green shoots in both pools!

About a month and a half later, many of my shoots were falling over and yellow. Assuming that these were just 'plug and pull' like my seed potatoes and other root veggies, I went out to start harvesting the goodies. Well, let's just say the first few I pulled out were rotten, black, balls of stench. I hurled those far away into the woods! Blech!  Then the next ones I pulled looked yellow, smelled fine, but were soft, too. I figured they were on their way to rotten-ness, so I began pitching those as well. Thankfully after the 4th or 5th toss, I had a sudden thought that maybe, just maybe, I should go look this up before throwing away all those bulbs.  I am so glad I did!!!

First off, onions are definitely not 'plug and pull' veggies. What I gleaned from countless websites like this one, is that when you see the tops bent over, or starting to bend, go ahead and fold them completely over flat on the soil. Then give them another 10 days to 2 weeks. This basically tells the onion that it's foliage is dead and to put all the food and energy into the root.  Then you pull the onions out (even if they feel soft) and lay them out to cure for a day or two in the sun before moving them in the shade to dry for another couple of weeks.  Unfortunately the sun was elusive during the month of August in my neck of the woods, so I just laid them out on a table in front of my sliding glass door.  Sure enough! After a couple of weeks the onions had hardened up and acquired that flaky outer skin that store onions have. Hooray!

I left the tops long on my onions so that I could braid and hang them for winter storage. I can't tell you how braiding onion tops made me feel more like Ma Ingalls than any other experiment I've done. It was so fun and I love having the little braids hanging on the rack by the back door of our garage.  Unfortunately I am just now taking a picture after we have already consumed and shared about a third of the little gems, but you get the idea.

Braided onions! How much more down home can ya get?

Are onions a little more work and maintenance than carrots and radishes? Yes. Will I still plant them next year? YES! AND I plan to add garlic bulbs into the mix. What a smelly, wonderful harvest!

HE#26-Hand Pollinating By A Wanna-be Green Thumb

I wanted to include cucumbers and tomatoes in the indoor portion of our garden this year. I am without a greenhouse, and it is so wet outside, that I figured the best option would be to place them in front of our large picture windows. Thankfully, we are blessed with an abundant amount of summer sunshine (when it occurs!).  The only question was about pollinating them. I knew I'd have to hand pollinate and didn't have any clue how to go about it.  Thankfully I was able to find that it is extremely simple!  I just watched the following youtube videos to explain it:

Cucumbers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAZBSocpDoI

Tomatoes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bueCLH3u7vM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6f-2yP3Gnc&feature=related

In a nutshell, you basically have to find a male cucumber flower and rub the middle parts all across the middle of a female flower. The above video will show you how to distinguish the genders.   Farmer Brent assures me that my odds of success are much better if I make kissing noises while painting the pollen on the female flower.  Bizarre homestead humor!

For tomatoes you gently shake the stalk or flick above the blossoms to release the pollen it has within. They are self pollinating, which means you don't need two separate flowers to make a fruit.

Could I do this?  Well, I did and I am, and (most importantly!) it seems to be working!! I have little "Bob and Larry's" growing in my sunroom! (All you VeggieTales fans know what I mean!)

Baby Cukes!  I can just taste the little pickles now!

Baby tomato!  Here in Alaska, this little baby is precious!

We have about another month of good growing up here before putting the garden to rest for the winter. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good harvest of fresh veggies before we all begin to hibernate.  And here's hoping that your garden is green, abundant, and overflowing with yummy goodness. :)

Blessings,
Hillary At Home

Homestead Experiment #21-Our FREE, Instant, Portable, Garden Beds

We are currently renting our wanna-be homestead. Since we found out we are going to be staying in this home for 4 more years, we wanted to expand our garden beds, but didn't want to invest in expensive lumber that we may have to tear apart, or give away down the road. So my wonderful hubby, Farmer Brent, went on line and found this great idea: upcycling old plastic kiddie pools into instant raised beds! Brilliant... except for one flaw: Those pools are bulky and as a result, cost a lot more to ship to Alaska than elsewhere in the lower 48. The pool I bought my 4 year old last year for $23 was the same size and shape of the one I had bought previously in Texas for $10.  This garden idea could be downright pricey; hence the experiment.

I decided to post 'wanted' messages on the local Juneauparents and Freecycle yahoo boards, as well as Craigslist.  As a result I ended up with 3 pool offers! I could only use 2, so had to pass on one.  People were thrilled to find out there was another use for their leaky, cracked pool, and I loved knowing I was keeping it out of the landfill while keeping my cash in my pocket! It's a win-win situation for sure!  Even better, one of the pools I was given was not only completely in tact, but was an upgrade from the plain ol' pool that we had for my daughter. This one had a slide, railing, and a drain plug!  Anyone who has tried to manually flip over one of these pools in order to empty it will appreciate my joy at a drain plug.  Obviously I decided to switch out her old pool for this better one.

Before I filled the pools with dirt, I punched holes all over the bottoms with a drill. It took me a whopping 2 minutes to do both pools.  Before I drilled holes in our old plain one, I had the kids test out the integrity of the new slide pool.  As you can see, they did a very thorough job.

It was a balmy 58 degrees that afternoon!

Yep, it'll hold. So I proceeded to drill away...

Little holes sporadically punched all over the bottom

Then, I simply put them in position, filled them with dirt, and began to plant. How easy is that? It might not be the most aesthetically pleasing garden bed, but I figured I could always run some little border fencing around to pretty it up. I probably won't bother, but knowing I could makes it better, doesn't it?

2 weeks later: Onions are sprouting!

If you are having a late start in getting your garden growing this year, I hope this will give you a kick start and maybe even a little inspiration.  Do not overlook the great resources that are found in your local yahoo groups and wanted boards. They can be a trove of free, or discounted, treasures for your homestead!

Blessings,
Hillary At Home

Homestead Experiment #12-Preserving Heirloom Tomato Seeds

Mornin' All!

As I write this, we are experiencing a good old autumn storm typical of Southeast Alaska. This includes gusts of 50-60 miles an hour (not too terrible) and pelting rain. As I mentioned on a recent facebook post, we don't seem to lose our leaves in a gentle, falling motion here. They are driven off the trees sideways! However, in spite of the torrential chaos raging outside, I have Spring on my mind, especially concerning the garden. Now I've pretty much put my raised beds to sleep for the winter (with the exception of it's 'blanket' which I will post about soon-weather permitting) and since we're transferring next summer, I probably won't plant again here, BUT seed packets are small and lightweight, so I can always take them with me, right?

My friend called me awhile back to let me know that our local Safeway store had gotten in a shipment of heirloom tomatoes. With our cold climate up here, we can't really grow tomatoes without a green house, but I never know which zone I'll be gardening in from year to year. So, I went ahead and purchased two green heirlooms and one regular red organic (just for variety) and pulled up a video tutorial from one of my favorite websites, Homestead Acres. You can view the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/HomesteadAcres#p/search/0/g3eS5IyoBX4

Have you ever been to this site before? If not, it is truly a treasure trove of great information! I found it when looking for a how-to for seasoning my cast iron collection. I've also learned about kerosene lamps, canning recipes, gardening ideas, etc. It is one of my all time favorite sites. This family is great-and I love their Canadian accent ;)

Anyway, back to the tomatoes! Here's mine:

Ready to go!

As instructed by the lovely, mysterious Homestead Acres Hostess, I squished the slimy pulp of each into a mason jar and covered with a coffee filter and rubber band.
Note: If you happen to have any papercuts on your fingers, do NOT forget to put a bandage or rubber gloves on. Can we say 'acid burn'?? Yeah, I got reminded of mine the hard way. Ouch!!

Oh the carnage!

They remind me of little old ladies with bonnets on!

Then I just left them alone and let them sit for about a week. I eagerly checked them for a nice layer of mold and was so excited when I saw a little fungal lid appear over the top. Hooray! (Yeah, us homesteaders are wacko. You have to be to get giggly over mold!)

Exciting in a yucky sorta way!

Then I rinsed and strained, strained and rinsed. It took me a few minutes for just a little bit of tomatoes as compared to what she had in the video. I could see where that part gets a bit tedious, but still worth it.



Then I placed them on labeled coffee filters and let them sit, again. This time they hung out on the kitchen counter for a couple of weeks. I will make a confession here; I never got around to changing out the filter after the first couple of days like she recommends. Oops! But, they seemed to do okay in spite of it, and when I finally got around to checking them again, they looked like pretty little seeds that were ready to plant.




I taped them up into 2 envelopes, labeled them, and packed them away for future planting. Now I guess I can't really rate whether or not this experiment was a success until I see if they yield fruit. So, in that regard, it's kind of anti-climatic . But for now, I guess I can rate the actual process a success. It went along just as the video explained. Thank you Homestead Acres!

Homestead Experiment #7-Potato Update!

Our potato buckets have been looking pretty pitiful, which is actually a good sign. That means it's time to harvest!! Actually our Russet bucket died off about a month ago, but I'd been waiting to blog until the other joined it. I'm not sure as to why it died off so early. We got an 'okay' harvest out of that one. It was better than last year, but nothing to crow about.



As you can see, we got some nice sized new potatoes from 3 or 4 seed potatoes. The kids had fun digging for them, but it was kind of a let down compared to what I was envisioning.

Bite-sized treasure!












Tonight's bucket, on the other hand, really delivered! It was the bucket with the yukon gold seed potatoes and the Russian fingerling organic potatoes that I bought from Fred Meyer's. As you can see, my harvesters were just as enthusiastic, and the harvest was MUCH better!




Yukon golds on the left, Russian fingerlings on the right.

I think it's interesting to note that the fingerlings far surpassed any of our other spuds. Most experts warn against using store bought potaotes because they are treated with retardants to prevent sprouting. When I saw the fingerlings at the store, they were sprouting wildly, so I decided to give them a shot. As we can see, it payed off much better than the expensive seed potatoes from the nursery!

So, in summary, we didn't have a huge windfall of taters, but given our 2 short little buckets, I didn't really expect to. We won't be feasting on them every day, but for what we put into it, we actually got a good return on our investment. An added bonus is that this is a crop we can pretty much grow anywhere like this. Even if we end up stationed somewhere that is lacking a yard for a garden, we can still grow some potatoes as long as we have a deck or porch. Pretty cool, eh?

Homestead Experiment #6-Battle Slugs-Game On!!

Ugh! Those slimy, nasty beasts have crawled through the mounds of broken seashells (see previous post 'Gardening in Full Force') and egg shells to make their way to my squash beds and wreak havoc! They've stripped the leaves clean off some of the little stalks. :(
That's it-this means WAR!

I decided to go ahead with Plan B; I made the coolest slug traps that I found on http://www.thegardenhelper.com/slugs.html. I collected plastic water and soda bottles from around the house. I rinsed them and peeled off all the labels.
Then, I took my faithful utility knife and cut the top off at the base of the neck where it starts to 'flare out'.
Next, you invert the top back into itself. I took a piece of duct tape and wrapped around the edges to keep the lid in place.











Next I put an inch or so of cheap beer in the bottle (I hypothesized my slugs would be satisfied with Busch. They're not very discriminating.) and laid them against my zucchini and pumpkin mounds. Even though I put tape around the edges, they are not leak proof. Thus, lay them at an angle to keep the sweet slug poison from seeping out. Yes, I am feeling quite like an evil villainess with this project. I'm like the Cruella De Ville of Garden Pests. Muahahahaah...


Okay, okay. Enough evil villainy (sigh).

One of the things that I really appreciated about the design of this simple trap was the fact it had somewhat of a lid. Being that I live in a rainforest, it will help the beer bait to last a little longer versus the old 'stick the styrofoam cup in your garden' method.

Now, about the results! I went outside the next day, and I had a slug massacre to clean up! I probably had 20 of the little boogers in my bottles! Woo Hoo! I brought them in, removed the tape, dumped the 'contents' down the loo and taped/filled them up again for round two. I've had them out there for a couple of days and have quite a collection again. At this point I will keep refilling every few days until growing season is done.

This experiment was definitely a huge success!! Thank you gardenhelper.com! You are my slug erradicating hero.

Homestead Experiment #7-Growing Container Potatoes

Well, I guess I'm stretching this because it's not a true experiment for us this year. Last year it was, however, and what a really neat one it is! Have you ever grown potatoes in buckets? It's so very easy and really neat. Let me tell you how it's done and you'll see why !

First get some seed potatoes from your local gardening supply store. Now, the experts all agree that you want untreated seed potatoes for the best results, because the potatoes at the grocery store are chemically treated to keep them from sprouting. (However, this year I noticed that the Russian Fingerling potatoes in the organic section of my local grocery were sprouting wildly. So, I guess I could say that I am experimenting this year in that I mixed organic store potatoes with yukon gold and russet seed potatoes.) Anyway, I digress. Let's get back to the process.

1) Gather your potatoes. Place them on a plate and stick them somewhere warm and dark like a bathroom cabinet. Mist them with a spray bottle daily, then close the cabinet door. Within just a few days you should have sprouts taking over the surface of your spuds.

2) When you have sprouts that are an inch high, it's time to plant! This is where people get really creative with the options. When I was researching this I saw people use large planting pots, rubbermaid trash cans, old tires stacked up, bamboo fencing wrapped into a little cylinder, etc. The point is you want a deep container that will hold in the layers of soil. We're just using some "Potato Pots" that our landlord left us. I don't know that they are officially called that, but it's what she called them.

Put a couple of inches of soil in the bottom of your container, then your potatoes all around w/ the sprouts pointing up, and then more soil. You want to just cover the potatoes to where the leaves are barely poking out. Put in an area that gets several hours of full sun each day, and keep moist. **One tip I saw that has worked well for us is to line the walls of your container with aluminum foil if possible. This allows the sun's rays to be reflected off the walls and reach down to your little plants down at the bottom of your deep container.

3) Every day or two, be sure to check your plants. Once they take off they really get to going! Now here's the cool part: When you see your sprouts are more than 1" high, add another layer of soil so that only the very tops of the sprouts are showing again. In a few more days, repeat. This is what makes the experiment so intriguing for me. We all know that potatoes are tubers (root veggies). So by adding the soil and forcing the plant to grow higher, it will expand the root system, and thus, give you more potatoes as the end result!

Now, here is a picture of my buckets after a few layers of soil had been added already. (Sorry, I didn't think to take pics at the beginning of the spring when planting because I didn't know I'd be blogging on this).


Once the soil reaches the top of the bucket, then let the baby go!! It will get big and bushy, and eventually flower. Something I learned the hard way last year: potato stalks are flimsy. Do NOT water from above with a watering can or hose. They will break and start to die off too soon. We had to harvest them over a month early and only got about 27 'new' potatoes. This year I actually put some leftover little fencing around them as added support. You don't have to do this, in fact most people don't, but I wanted to do all I could to avoid a repeat of last year!

The plants will grow until they start to flower. Let them bloom, and then when the plants start to die back (usually September-ish up here in SE Alaska), then lay out a tarp, tip the buckets, and start mining for gold-Yukon Gold that is! ;)

So, all that being said, here's where we are as of July 18th. We have one little bloom already, and the plants are looking big and healthy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a good spud harvest this year!