I have a two year old and a one year old strawberry patch. I have always mulched with the grass clippings from our yard, about 2 inches and add more as they break down. I have never tried to organic garden, but I also have never done anything more than mulch with grass clippings and we never treated our lawn prior to last fall (1/3 of our property was reseeded and fertilized, this was the only chemical used in 3 years). We also have 1 year old raspberry and elderberry (seperate) garden that we topped off with finely ground tree mulch. I want to change to total organic gardening. What do I need to do? Should I garbage the part of my yard that I fertalized last fall? Are there good books that can guide me? Or is there someone reading this forum that can give me basic infomation to start me off? I appreciate any and all advise that can be given to me. I am a mother to 5 children, and I want the fruits of my labor to be the best that they can be for my children. Thanks,
The fertilizer used last year has no doubt been used up and/or dissipated by now. It would help if you know the brand, we can run a toxicity check from there.
But at first glance, hey, there are worse things falling in the rain, you know? I would not worry about it.
Congratulations on going organic! It's not hard and your children will thank you.
I have been growing strawberries in Minnesota for several years off and on. Just put in a new planting this weekend! Really, I don't do anything special. Add compost (purchased or your own) or manure (composted) to the soil when planting. Top dress in future years with compost or manure. A little organic fertilizer if your soil needs it. John's link probably tells you the specifics of what to do when, but I've been winging it and get loads of berries for jam and fresh use from my small plot.
There are lots of good books on organic gardening and lawn care. Some that you'll probably find at the library are "Your Organic Garden" by Jeff Cox, "Straight Ahead Organic" by Shepherd Ogden (I think he has other books, too) "The Rodale Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening" and "The Chemical-Free Lawn" Another favorite is "Lasagne Gardening" that is all about a method where you don't do any digging, just layer organic material and plant.
Hi, I just purchased the little 6 packs at the nursery. I got strawberry, pole bean, and leaf lettuce. I read that the pole bean and lettuce plants are good companion plants for the strawberries.
I only have a back porch, so everything must be done in pots. I assume companion planting means they must share the same soil (maybe they just need to be in the same vicinity?). I know part of it is to balance out the insect pop who will want to have more than their 10% share. But I only have a few large pots. Last year, one pot had garlic and zucchinis in it (and they all died without producing); one pot was peppers; 2 were tomatoes. Now, the bummer for me, is one of these posts said that plots where peppers or tomatoes were last year are no good for strawb. I guess it's okay, because I'm not sure if I will get tomatoes and peppers again this year, from last year's plants. Does this limit me to the zuke pot? I also bought a nasturtium and marigold, hoping to get bees coming my way, since my zukes never grew last year. I bought fertilizers and vitamins last year. Now I am wondering if those weren't chemicals, though, making the bees not want to come. =/
Do you all think I should put each indiv plant in its own pot? I have tons of of pots good for just one plant, you know, the 8 inch deep ones. I need help, here. Space is limited, and so is cash, but I want to be as successful as I can with this.
I know kefir pretty well, but am quite ignorant when it comes to gardening with soil.
Small space, 8" pots, eh? My suggestion is to keep 1 type of plant per pot. Much depends on the structure of your soil, the pattern and the need for water, etc.
How much sun? How much wind? How does your soil look? Does it contain any composted materials?
I would suggest that you keep the strawbs in a seperate pot. The leaf lettuce and beans are ok together.
I think I'm in zone 9. I live in the Bay Area, CA.
Sun? Um, erm...well, let's just say I probably shouldn't be growing full sun plants. :P But...I will be happy if I can get a partial yield. I doubt I have much wind, on account the fence is normal height, and the space is fairly small (which also accounts for my sun..um...challenges.
What does my soil look like? Let's see...it looks like what came out of the bought package 2 years ago. /giggle Seriously, though...I added some vermiculite, and some perlite to some of my soils. i really don't know what the heck I'm doing. lol I just hope I got it somewhat right. I don't have grass clippings to add, but I might cruise the neighborhood and see if any grass owners are pesticide free, and willing to give me a small amount.
I have a huge black plastic bag in the corner of my porch, that I've been trying to compost for for a couple years...I think it's partially composted. I haven't put any organic matter into the soil, though. I've used liquid seaweed, vitamins, and liquid plant food (Shultz brand) in previous years. Are these all chemicals? How does one purchase organic amendments? Since I'm dealing with cement, I have to purchase everything, or be creative and try to get it from someone.
Personally, I would take a medium-term view of things since the Mother does not care to be rushed. Grass clippings are good, vitamins and bottled plant food you should not even need! Perlite and vermiculite serve to lighten up your soil, it won't hurt but you can do without it, too.
Try finding the space for spreading that black bag of partially decomposted stuff on a tarp, mix in grass clippings or old leaves, add whatever soil you have sitting in pots and containers, mix the whole shebang up and there's your soil base for this growing season. Seaweed is good. Earthworm castings are good.
Sounds easy and that will likely be hard to do but by mixing things well, you are probably going to get better growing results.
Wow, that sounds fairly simple to accomplish. I don't feel overly comfortable using the contents of the compost bag, though. I know that local animals have gone potty in my compost, and I feel better about pathogens (at least for edible plantings), if the manure/urine ages at least a year. I got this from The Humanure Handbook (if you've never heard of it, go here: http://www.weblife.org/humanure/ ). Apparently, and I haven't studied everything there is to know about it, but rabbits are the only animals whose waste does not require aging before use in an edible garden. They also apparently have a super high nitrogen content in their urine....but my neighborhood's animals are more of the feline variety. hehe
Anyway (yes, I go off in tangents!), there is a tree behind my place that drops leaves all the time (this was how I started the garbage bag in the first place). You are saying I can crush up the dried leaves, and mix them up with soil and a little perl/vermiculite, and I'll be good to go? Hey, what do you think would happen if I put some kitchen cuttings in the soil? Is that good, or does that cause rot? Because I can guarantee that enything directly from my kitchen is excrement-free, so I feel safer to use it.
Strawberries LOOOVE acidic soil. When I helped take care of a garden up near Vacaville, we mulched 'em with pine needles. They LOVED it. Then, next year, we tried companion planting with Borage. Oh, lord, we had enough strawberries to have to give them away!!!
The same things in my little container garden over here in the East Bay seem to be working very well.
As for kitchen scraps, most communities around here frown on...or have laws against...compost piles because of the flies and such. I dig a big hole in my very limited 'real dirt' space and throw in my scraps. When I turned over the dirt that I had buried in 3 months ago...IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!! Don't forget to throw in some B&W newspaper, unprinted cardboard, or whatever other un-inked & un-bleached paper things you have.
Drop me a line...it looks like we have pretty much the same garden, in pretty much the same place. Click on my name and you'll get my email address. Oh...and, considering the weather lately...and that it was JUST MayDay...happy spring *hollow laugh*
I'm in Contra Costa..Are you in SF, or Alameda county? I have a friend in Vacaville with a lovely garden (no edibles though), but she always loses some plants to the summer heat. I'm about 10 degrees cooler than there--and don't anticipate having heat probs.
We have ordinances against composting?!?!?!?!! What kind of society to we live in anyway, that has laws forcing us to erode the soils and add to landfills? :P
I suppose that means composting toilets are out, too then. heh I called the local planners to find out if composting toilets would be allowed here. I got a much better response than I was expecting. The guy thought it was quite interesting (when I told him there are water-free versions, and explained how it cuts down on stuff sent to landfills). Obviously, I can't seriously explore this in an apartment, but I'm gathering info for down the road. The planner didn't know if it would be allowed, however. I would have to actually apply for it, before I'd find out.
Well, I feel silly. I almost bought borage for my strawb, but went with lettuce and pole bean instead, because I know I can eat them! Maybe I should get a little borage...
Actually (I read this--don't have personal experience), there shouldn't be a fly problem if there is enough cover material. In the humanure book, the guy talks about sawdust and straw as the better covers (he puts both human wastes and kitchen wastes in his compost bins, rotating a bin each year to be sure it's aged long enough). The people on his forums who have had problems with flies find out that they were using either not enough cover material, or material that was less appropriate.
For my compost bag, I can't even put all my kitchen scraps in there, because I'd easily overflow and have too much.
I'm going to look around for some pine needles, though...do you just add them to your strawb soil? I hear they are slow to decompose.
Borage is a wonderful herb; it is edible. I use it mostly in teas.
The pine needles are mulch; you lay 'em on top of the bare dirt and they keep in moisture, add acidity as you water through them, break down into great soil eventually, keep dirt off your berries, and keep LOTS of other bad things from happening.
Hi hope I am not too late to give you a little input, I just found this site. I have had good luck with planting 5 strawberries per 18" diameter pot. Unless you have day neutral strawberries you probably won't get any until next year and you have to keep them happy and healthy until then.
On composting, I bought a couple of 5 gallon, black buckets with a lids, drilled holes around the top and bottom of the buckets about 3" apart and ramdomly around the rest of the bucket. You can then throw in kitchen scraps, shredded newspaper, collected dry grass and leaves, etc. Fill 1 bucket at a time. When 2/3 full, every couple of days I just turn the bucket over to help speed up composting. I haven't had problems with odors. I then use them in the back as "risers" for other potted plants and place more plants in front to hide them. Hope this helps.
But I only have a few large pots. Last year, one pot had garlic and zucchinis in it (and they all died without producing); one pot was peppers; 2 were tomatoes. Now, the bummer for me, is one of these posts said that plots where peppers or tomatoes were last year are no good for strawb. I guess it's okay, because I'm not sure if I will get tomatoes and peppers again this year, from last year's plants. Does this limit me to the zuke pot? I also bought a nasturtium and marigold, hoping to get bees coming my way, since my zukes never grew last year. I bought fertilizers and vitamins last year. Now I am wondering if those weren't chemicals, though, making the bees not want to come. =/
