After reading a few green blogs about gardening we are trying again this year for a vegetable garden. Last year we started a few hundred vegetable seedlings only to have them consumed by our goats a couple of days after we planted them. This year we decided to plant our vegetables in above ground planters so we can control their growing environment. In the past we used chemicals on our lawn and we do not want to risk any of the chemicals coming in contact we our food. Since we have switched over to organic fertilizers we will wait a few years before we use our own soil for gardening. Hopefully by next year we will be able to add our own compost to our potting soil.

I got the idea of planting an above ground garden from http://blog.food2gro.com and I would recommend that you take a look at Jubie’s site since she has mastered this art. I cheated and bought my soil and my plants were already started. Before you write me off as a complete cheater, check back in a few days when I publish my article about starting our flower garden from seeds.

So far I have found these benefits:

1. You can start your garden earlier in the year. If you are expecting a frost you can bring your garden inside. Generally we do not plant anything before mother’s day and even then we risk a frost.

2. You can control you soil without risking your food to any chemicals in your yard.

3. You can move your plants so the smaller ones are not buried in the shadows of the larger plants.

4. You can move your plants in and out of the sun if you are bored.

5. You regain your yard space once your planting season is done.

LAWN CARE /COMPOST IDEA

Yesterday we enjoyed a nice sunny 50-60 degree day which felt like 80 compared to the cold winter that we experienced this year. Tired of being indoors we decided to tackle some outdoor projects. After raking our lawn and adding the contents to our community compost pile, I decided to start our own. Once I build it I will post a few pictures in case you want to build one for your yard. In my opinion, having a green organic compost pile is better than sending the waste off to a landfill. As I was finishing my lawn cleaning chores a landscaping company stopped to offer their services. I have this bad issue with timing, had they stopped by a couple of hours earlier I might of entertained hiring them. In hind sight………………… as I type this with a blister at the end of my left index finger I would of hired them in a heartbeat!

ORGANIC FERTILIZER

The landscape company was in the area looking for annual contracts for lawn care including fertilizing. I figured this would be a perfect time to give them a hard time about using harmful chemicals just to make lawns green. Much to my surprise, the company offered a full line of organic lawn care products. Quickly I had to change from giving them a hard time to asking them to write about what they offer so they can submit an article for this blog. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks they can submit a good article on the benefits of organic lawn care products. One of the things that they mentioned was that organic fertilizer cost a little more since it comes from somewhere out west. I’ll have to dig around and see if we actually have any organic fertilizer vendors in the north east since it seems a little wasteful trucking it across the nation. If you are looking to get a head start on your lawn this year hold off for a couple of weeks in order to give me some time to research this a little more.

ACORN PROJECT

Our next project was to collect all of the acorns that the squirrels rejected or for some reason they could not find. In total we have enough to fill a 5 gallon bucket! Once we get another warm day I will dig out our collection of pots from our shed and let my daughters go wild with the acorns. With any luck a few of them will turn into little oak trees that they can plant somewhere. When I say somewhere, I am referring to anywhere other than on our property. For some odd reason our birch trees (except one) all died. We think that their root systems had issues being at or below the water level of our lake. We cut down all of our pine trees because they liked to leak sap all over our cars, dogs and our house. A month ago we were forced to cut down a giant oak tree in our front yard that had a disease. Their is no doubt in my mind that our acorn/oak tree project is a way of repenting for us depleting our property of trees (except 2). Hopefully we will be able to start at least 20 or more trees and plant them in our local state forest where they will be nice and safe.

SAY NO TO SPRUCE FENCES!

One of our other projects was moving around some of our fencing in order to provide and area for a small garden. Looking back 8 years ago when I bought a spruce fence I knew that cedar was a better material but I did not want to spend the extra money. Well now I know that cedar would of paid off in the long run. I noticed that our fence is beginning to show signs of decay and has some issues with termites or carpenter ants. Most of this damage is in the bottom inch or two where the panels came in contact with the ground. Once I completed most of my fence project I noticed that my neighbors fence that was once supported by mine was now falling over. Since this fence never served a purpose and would get in the way of my garden project I determined that it would need to come down. With my neighbors permission and about 5 minutes of my time, I removed 35′ of 5 year old spruce fence. Out of all of her fence posts, only one was not completely rotten below ground level. If you are in the market for a new fence please try a product will provide a longer life than spruce. We used a black aluminum fence in our back yard 6 years ago and it looks as good today as the day that it was installed. There are also a wide variety of PVC fences on the market that carry some rather impressive warranties. If you are bound and determined to use wood spend the extra money on cedar since it does not like to rot and bugs generally leave it alone.