Live Long Naturally

Volunteering at the L.A. Arboretum has opened up a whole new world for me – it has taught me to think outside the box and the bin. In learning to garden by way of permaculture, I went back and forth on how to build my own compost pile. In waiting for everything to be just right, I decided to just start piling on the ground. Wouldn’t you know, before long… I had my very own compost. No fancy bins, nothing! Here’s what worked for me:

I picked a site near the garden. A site near the kitchen and under the branches of a deciduous tree work well according to some gardeners. I just happened to start mine very near an orange tree. “They” say to alternate between brown and green ingredients for the ideal carbon/nitrogen balance. I didn’t so much alternate –  for brown ingredients… I’ve used straw, grass clippings, dead and broken tree branches, and lots of kitchen scraps. I’ve been told no potatoes or citrus, though, I’ve used the later simply because the citrus trees want it. A textbook of mine suggests layering 3” of straw, 1” to 6” moist green material, then a 1” layer of soil and repeat to 3-4 feet in height. The thickness of green material is dependent on the density of material. Loose open material, such as green bean vines or tomato stems can be applied thicker. Kitchen scraps and grass clippings are denser and can be applied thinner. The microorganisms in the soil help decompose organic matter.

Technical aspect aside – I merely toss my compost ingredients, mix thoroughly, and water almost daily. Pile sits atop the ground, so soil automatically gets mixed in. The soil underneath is where I scoop out my wonderfully smelling decomposed matter. It takes much less time than most people and/or textbooks state. However, temperature does play a role.

Happy composting!

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“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” ~~ Mohandas K. Gandhi~~

A positive effect of the  less than optimal economy has been Gardens and Recession Diets. Whether planting your own garden, being a part of a community garden, or buying from a Farmers’ Market or a CSA… REAL food can help keep you lean, clean, green, not to mention surviving & thriving! It can in fact help with finding your passion and purpose. Freeing the body of toxic waste frees the mind of toxic thoughts and vice versa. ”Forgetting ourselves” becomes unfortunately easier when the diet consists of cooked, processed, and/or fake food with labels.

Gardening will not only lower your grocery bill and whittle the waist,  it will add years to your life and life to your years! Think you don’t have a place to garden? Pots, wheelbarrows, and even lil red wagons serve quite well as a place to grow your own food. The beauty of growing in small moveable objects is you can follow the sun.

Consider giving your thumbs a try at gardening, you’ll be glad you did! Saving your seeds and or buying organic seeds or seedlings can feed you and your family for days and decades to come!

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This is the salad I spoke about in my last post – it is also my first of three raised bed gardens.  A fellow volunteer acquaintance of mine lent me his Square Foot Gardening book (author, Mel Bartholomew) to get me started. It has been a delight to learn how to grow more in less space. I have plenty of yard, however the sunlight isn’t the best in many areas.  As the tomatoes grow a little more, I am going to have some netting put up via some poles so the tomatoes can grow up and not out. Done correctly, even pumpkins can be grown vertically. 

The idea behind square foot gardening is to plant so many of each plant per square foot. Example… 1 broccoli plant is allowed to grow per square foot, spinach and beets can have 9 plants per square foot, while carrots, onions and radishes can each have 16 plants per square. Another benefit to growing this way is you use a lot less seeds. 

The benefits to growing your own garden are endless! A huge benefit to growing raised bed and/or square foot is you need less starting soil, so… it is possible to have your garden be organic from the start! No waiting years for yard soil to become healthy enough to be labeled “organic.”

Go green, get clean and stay lean for 2010!

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