Homemade Laundry Detergent

Megan's Square-foot Garden - Building & Planting

Ok, so you might have noticed that I've changed my plans a little. When I started the seeds a couple months ago I wasn't quite sure where we were moving to or when so I decided to go with a container garden that could be moved easily and grown anywhere. We eventually found our new place and even though we are still leasing the owners of the property said it would be fine with them if we put a garden in. Still, knowing we are only here for one year and not wanting to worry about soil amendment and the like we settled on doing a square foot garden. If you haven't heard of square foot gardening you really should check it out. The basic idea is to grow as much as you can in as little space as possible - which is great for a backyard farmer. Their website is FULL of information as well as the book. Here's a little intro from their site:

How would you like a garden filled with beautiful flowers, fresh herbs and luscious vegetables, all with NO WEEDS and NO HARD WORK? No more heavy digging or all-at-once harvest. Less watering, weeding, and thinning. What's left is a picture perfect garden you will be so proud of. Put yourself in a rocking chair and start your own Square Foot Garden!

We built boxes according the directions and filled it with the soil mixute suggested by the creator of the technique - Mel Bartholomew. The mixture, called Mel's mix, is 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost, and 1/3 vermiculite. We then planted our seedlings along with some plants we got from the local nursery - tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, corn & cucumbers. Anyhow, here is the video that will explain it a little bit but if you want the full details on how to garden this way I really suggest you visit the site or check out the book.

Waste Not Want Not

One of the great things about having a backyard farm is that it allows you to waste much less than you would otherwise. In our house, our food scraps, vegetable cuttings, and uneaten leftovers are all used. We feed the vegetables to our Rabbit who then makes that food into good garden fertilizer. We give most of the other food, (including vegetables that the rabbit doesn't eat) to our chickens. Did you know that chickens will almost eat anything? Well they do, and all of that food energy goes into making eggs or more fertilizer. Everything that our chickens don't eat goes into our compost bin with the chicken waste and rabbit poop so we can add rich organic material to our garden. We also shred our newspapers and junk mail and add them to our compost bin instead of recycling all of our paper.

Here is how we made a simple compost bin for less than $20. We bought a sturdy plastic garbage can at our local store.

For the organic material to break down it needs oxygen. We drilled holes in the can at regular intervals.

You will want to add what are called green and brown materials to your bin to get a good ratio of carbon rich and nitrogen rich matter in the compost. Brown materials are high in carbon and they include ash or wood material, shredded cardboard boxes and newspaper, leaves, pine needles, and fruit waste. Green materials are high in nitrogen and include grass clippings, coffee grounds, vegetable scraps, manure, most food waste, seaweed, hay, and other green leaves from plants. It is suggested that you layer these materials. The smaller the material is the better as well. On a daily basis we have more green waste than brown so we throw everything in the compost bin and then add our browns periodically by shredding paper and scooping up some hay from the chicken coop.

Once you have a good mix of greens and browns you want to mix them together. In this picture we are rolling the compost bin to mix the compost. We have found that adding a bungee cord from handle to handle over the lid helps to keep the lid on as we roll it. You also want to keep your compost relatively moist so you might need to sprinkle it with water periodically.

It normally takes 1 to 2 months for your compost to form. For this reason it might be a good idea to have a few separate bins. If you don't want to make a bin like this or you are on a larger property, you can just pile your compost in an area of your property that is preferably far away from your home as it tends to stink. You can also just form a fenced in compost area with fencing, bricks, or cinderblocks if you want to keep it more contained.

I find a lot of satisfaction in taking what most consider garbage and making it into something that helps my garden grow.

Industrial Tomato Cages

(Marisa requested this article when she bought 6 more heirloom tomato plants from the farmers market and was unable to find tomato cages at the local super store.)

Want an industrial-size tomato cage? Then head to the construction section of your local home center.

Tired of the flimsy three-ringed tomato cages readily available in the gardening aisles of home stores, my husband and I made it a mission one year to find a better solution. Our requirements for cages were these: they must be sturdy, tall, collapsible (for storage), relatively inexpensive and with openings wide enough to allow easy harvest.

The standard-style tomato cage pales in size to one you can make yourself.

We hit paydirt with metal reinforcement mesh intended for use with concrete.

Each piece is a four- by eight-feet rectangle, with the grids spaced six inches apart. To form the cylinder shape, my husband first cut off the outer border of one of the four-feet-long sides to make prongs, then wrapped these around the other four-feet-long side. The metal is pliable enough to manipulate, yet sturdy.



This makes the cage four feet tall with a diameter of about two feet. Unlike the typical cage, this one does not need to be pressed into the ground; it is freestanding. However, you can choose to anchor it with metal stakes and cable ties.

Yes, you'll note that my cages have surface rust, but they're in their third year of use and are holding up great. I actually like their patina.

These are friendly cages, too, with room for two or three plants. Plant them about six inches inside the perimeter, and equally spaced around it. Not only is this an efficient use of space, but watering, weeding and fertilizing efforts are consolidated. Leave enough space between cages to walk through.

Planted this way your tomatoes will grow upward and upward, and you will be amazed!



This is a picture of my garden from July 2006, when my tomato seedlings had been in the ground for about two months. As you can see, the tomato plants directly behind my daughter in blue have already passed the four-feet confines of their cage. By season's end they were easily five feet tall.

By the way, you may notice the silver glint of a standard cage to my daughter's left. I still used those cages that I had, but for smaller fare like peppers.

I mentioned that my industrial cages can house two or three plants. Which is it, two or three? Depends.

We learned from trial and error our first year. Based on the way sunlight moves through my garden, some plants did great three to a cage. In another spot, light was somewhat compromised by the plants' closeness, and they didn't produce as much fruit as the other detainees (although we still got a lot!). This season I'm doing some areas with just two plants per cage.

Each of our cages cost about $8, not bad for something that can work for three tomato plants at time and last several seasons. To store, unwrap back to the flat rectangle and place in a shed or against a fence.

Net Earnings

Forget about the early bird getting the worm. It's your strawberry patch he's after!

Birds have an uncanny knack of finding the red, ripe berries before you do. See, the green one is untouched. But unlike tomatoes, strawberries must ripen on the vine and cannot be picked when green.

The best thing to do is to cover your patch with some sort breathable material that lets in light and water, but keeps birds out. Commercial products, called floating row covers, are available for this purpose. You can find many options online, including this one:

www.veseys.com/us/en/store/tools/seasonextenders/floatingrow

Most of the commercial row covers are sold in long lengths -- the shortest I found was 6 by 20 feet.

If yours is a small patch, or if you'd just like to try some do-it-yourself options, read on:

I made two kinds of strawberry nets, one with cheesecloth and another with tulle that I had left over from some party decorations.

I bought the cotton cheesecloth at the grocery store for $3. I imagine that dimensions vary with the packager, but my piece measured 3 by 6 feet. I gently draped it over my several plants, anchoring it to the ground on the edges with rocks or bricks. Mosquito netting, available at some discount stores, would also work great.



You can put a tall, heavy object in the middle of your patch, such as a cinder block on end, if you wish to keep the cloth from touching the plants.

The tulle I had is only 6 inches wide. I used it more as a protective "scarf" than an overhead net. I wrapped it a couple of times around the cluster of green berries and blossoms, but did not cover the leaves.



Truth be told, this method arose out of necessity, because my piece of cheesecloth wasn't big enough to reach a few straggler plants. Yet, I think that it can have an added benefit of keeping the berries off the ground (where they are more susceptible to rot), since you can wrap them from all sides and make a little hammock. This method is also less conspicuous than a large net or row cover.

More thoughts about strawberries: There are basically two types, June-bearing and everbearing. Whichever type, to encourage strong plants the first season you plant them, pluck off blossoms before they form berries. (I know that's hard!) You want the plant's energy to initially go into strong roots and structure rather than in producing fruit.

Soon, strawberries will shoot out runners like crazy. This is a fun way to grow more plants, but at the cost of fruit production. Decide which you want right away: bigger strawberries and more of them, or more plants.


If you keep runners you can guide them where you want. even burying them a bit to help them form roots sooner. When your alloted patch is already bursting with plants, but you want more elsewhere, try this trick: Put a dirt-filled pot right in the patch and nest a strawberry runner there. (You may need to use a J-shaped piece of wire to hold the runner in the pot.) After a week or so, check to see if the baby plant is firmly rooted in your pot. When it is you can cut the runner from the mother plant.

~Jennifer

Upside Down Tomatoes

I've been reading about upside down tomato plants recently and thought I would give it a go. This might appeal to you if you live in a space where you only have a balcony, or don't want to tear up your lawn to plant a garden. Neither of the cases apply to me, but I wanted to see for myself how this actually works. Some critics of this method say that they don't produce as much, don't get as much leafage, and tend to dry out quickly. So, I've decided to do an experiment, I'm going to compare two identical plants, one planted upside down and one planted in my garden. I chose to use two heirloom Brandywine tomato plants that I started from seed.

Now, you can buy fancy expensive gadgets to hang your tomatoes, but I have also seen a site where it was done in hanging planters like this (but I never saw the end results). I also found a site that explained how to make them out of a 5 gallon bucket, but it just didn't seem as aesthetically pleasing to me.

I started by tearing a hole in the bottom, not too big, but big enough to get the root ball through it.

My husband and I debated on which end to push through the hole, my vote was to push the roots through instead of the leaves. I won, because this is my article after all! Some of the roots got smashed and broken up, but I do a little of that anyways when I transfer a plant. I still think my way was the better idea!

I repositioned some of the brown 'stuff' around the base of the plant so it wouldn't fall out.

Next, I just filled the top with potting soil and gave it a sprinkle of water. Man was it heavy.

Make sure you have a spot prepared to hang it before you start your project. My arm was about to break off, and it is still sore from holding if for so long (if you put it down, you smash your plant). Luckily we found this little screw in the fence to hold it temporarily until we got up something permanent.

Here is the twin, planted in the garden.I will keep you updated on how this experiment is going.

~marisa

So Happy Together – A Look at Companion Planting

From the 1894 book “Laughable Lyrics: A Fourth Book of Nonsense Poems, Songs, Botany, Music, etc.,” by Edward Lear. Image is in the public domain, courtesy of www.zorger.com.

Artists and authors have long ascribed human characteristics to plants. Flowers have faces. Roots are feet, stems can branch out like arms. Limbs and trunks belong to trees and people alike.

Thanks to Walt Disney and other illustrators of the same ilk, we’ve all seen an image of a plant with a perfectly human personality. Disney’s version of Alice in Wonderland, in particular, presented giggling pansies, regal roses and hoity-toity irises.

So maybe it is with this whimsical mindset that I strolled through my yard the other day and saw not just peas next to a growing sunflower, but a budding relationship.

Look closely (click on photos to enlarge) and maybe you too will notice what tickled me a bit. The pea plant is starting to wrap its tendrils (fingers, anyone?) around the stem of the sunflower. Surrounded as I am by little children all day, I couldn’t help but liken this sight to a wobbly youngster grabbing for support.

The whole reason I happened to see this was because I was about to yank the sunflower right out; its seed, a castoff from some bird's meal last fall, hadn't yet sprouted when I planted the peas.

Now I’ll definitely leave the flower right were it is, thank you very much. Both plants will grow. The sunflower will give the peas a piggy-back ride up to the sunny sky as it becomes a trellis.

All this brings to mind the concept of companion planting. This is the practice of grouping certain plants to increase each other’s effectiveness. Ah yes, garden synergy. It can be as easy and casual as planting flowers near your vegetables to lure pollinating insects, or as ambitious as combining plants based on which specific soil nutrients each uses or imparts.

Think of it as being a host and thoughtfully making a seating chart for a fancy dinner. Let’s see. Alyssa was so quiet last time. I’ll put her next to Susan, who’s such a good conversationalist. Hmm, Brock’s a big guy and will definitely need the end spot. Uh-oh. Election year. We’ll hear nothing but politics if Poppy and Violet are too close.

This pea-sunflower pairing of mine was a happy accident, but I want to purposely foster more garden affection. Check out this site

http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

for great information as you also keep planting. I especially like its descriptions of plants as “friend, foe, ally, etc.” to one another. Such interpersonal terms!

As you’ll see, companion planting takes many forms. Some plants produce substances that ward off certain pests; these plants become protectors when grouped with more susceptible plants. Marigolds, for instance, repel tomato-hungry worms.

Companion planting also involves the creation of hospitable habitats, as in shading lettuce beneath squash in the heat of the summer.

Sadly, but really not a surprise, there’s such a thing as strange garden bedfellows, too. Personalities clash among humans, they can clash among plants.

All in all, companion planting is about creating harmony. It’s a natural way to complement plants’ strengths or compensate for vulnerabilities by making them work for each other as you encourage diversity in your backyard farm.

Give companion planting a try and share your success stories with us!

~Jennifer

Don't Forget Arbor Day

Arbor day? My second grade son recently came home with a list of 100 questions to answer. Boy, I don't think I could be on the show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" because I couldn't even answer some of the 2nd grade questions. Question number 59, What is Arbor Day? Thank goodness for the internet, with a quick search on google I found out that it is a day designated for planting trees. Well, don't I feel dumb, this is a holiday I should know about. So, from this day forward we will always be celebrating Arbor Day, and we hope that you will too.

National Arbor Day is April 25th. Some states observe Arbor Day on different dates according to their best tree-planting times. Click here to find out when your state arbor day is.

We will be planting a Walnut tree and a Hybrid Poplar.

What are you doing to celebrate Arbor Day?

~marisa

Project: Terrarium Gardens

This time of year inspires all of us to want to get our hands in the dirt and get something growing. You can't even go to the grocery store anymore without passing pots, soil, & plants for sale. But for those who have little time, a tiny yard, or no yard at all - a terrarium might be the perfect fit. The kids love them and they look totally chic on your coffee table. Terrariums require little care but bring the green indoors and add a little sunshine to any space. I love looking at my terrariums imagining they are little worlds of happiness and wonder. And adding a pretty rock or garden troll increases their charm.

1. For starters you'll need a container. I had so much fun looking through some of the glass containers I had already and perusing the local thrift store for more. The containers can be tiny or large - just choose something that fits your style and your space. Mason jars, fish bowls, & potpourri containers work perfectly.2. Next you 'll need some plants. Depending on the container you choose - ground covers, succulents, and many types of moss will work and each brings a different feeling to your little world. But remember that all of the plants you put in must require the same conditions for moisture and light since they will all be sharing a small space. 3. It's time to plant! We found this great video from eHow that leads you step by step through the process of planting. Check it out:





I started with a dry climate since the succulents were so darn pretty but those instructions will work for any plant. Once I finished that I went on to make three others. They are all pictured below except my favorite which is the first image in this post. Happy planting!















~Megan

My Texas Container Garden

Here are the Moyar's green beans sprouting. Aren't they pretty? They are Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans. I checked them today and they have started climbing up the poles. We made the tee-pee for the green beans to climb. It was very simple. We had some extra quarter round in the garage. We cut four long pieces and tied them together at the top. We planted three green beans around each pole, and now they can grow up to the top! It will also provide a cool place to grow lettuce in the hot summer like we have here in Texas!

A little FYI about green beans we learned through trial and error. The first year we tried green beans we had a bumper crop, but shortly thereafter they all died. We were so bummed, and being novice gardeners we ripped them all up. The next year we tried again. The same thing happened, but we never got around to ripping them up after they died, and then a few months later they came back. I don't know if this is supposed to happen, but we will try it again this year and see if it works again.

Here are our tomatoes. These are the Sweet 100's. They are growing so quickly. You can see we have 3 flowers, soon to be, God willing, 3 yummy cherry tomatoes. We also have an Heirloom Hillbilly growing. Completely inspired by this post, we tried an heirloom this year. He is growing much slower, but he seems healthy.

I'm getting a bit nervous because the sun has shifted and the leaves are starting to fill out on the trees and all my (hopeful) sunny spots in the backyard are disappearing. I don't know if this backyard will have enough sun for a full garden????

Just a gardening update,

~Sarah

P.S. Look how cute for the kiddos.

Line Drying your Laundry

If you've never had the chance to hang your laundry on a line outdoors you are really missing out. Line drying your clothes is just as romantic an activity as it seems to be in pictures. It is one of my favorite things in the world to do. Surrounding myself in the smell of clean laundry invigorates me while the sound of sheets billowing in the wind seems to cleanse my over stimulated ears. And my hanging laundry creates an artistic installment in my boring backyard. There are many other reasons to line dry your clothes. Here are a few*:

• Electric dryers use five to ten percent of residential electricity in the United States!(Some say it cuts their electricity bill in half!)
• Save money (more than $100/year on electric bill for most households).
• Conserve energy and the environment.
• Clothes and sheets smell better.
• Clothes last longer. Where do you think lint comes from?
• It is physical activity which almost anyone can do.
• Sunlight bleaches and disinfects

There are a few options for line drying your clothes outside. Many older homes already have a line installed and ready to go. These lines are pretty but do take up a good amount of space. This year I purchased a space saving model from Amazon because it fit my needs in more ways than one. What I like about it is that it easy to put up and to take down. We are renting right now and so I didn't know if the Landlord would like me to put up anything permanent - and I wanted something I could take along to our next place. I also love that it is so compact. I have memories of walking up and down the clothesline and dragging my basket behind. With this compact and rotating clothesline, I can pretty much stay right in the same place for the whole thing. Here is an image of the clothesline in it's three stages. I took it down because the lawn was getting mowed. It's really light and easy to take up or put down. The pole in the first image is also removable leaving only a small green sleeve that has a cap to close it so it doesn't fill with water.

As with any of these images - click to see larger

Now that Spring has finally arrived down south, I can put my new clothesline to work. This morning I started with a huge load of laundry as you can see. You really could easily fit two to three extra large loads of laundry on this clothesline. I am using wood clothespins because I like the feel and look of them but plastic ones will work as well - they may even make less marks on your things. I have about 200 of them in this handy hanging holder I got. That's probably way more than I'll ever need but I hate running out and like having an abundance of these so I can use them without thought. They also get stolen and used in the kitchen to hold bags closed!

My first encounter with hanging laundry in the real world was at a neighbor's home down the street. I was only about 7 or 8 and I thought that they must be so poor if they needed to hang their laundry! This stigma is changing and line drying laundry is quickly become the chic thing to do for those who care about the planet. That day, I also went and felt some of the clothes expecting to feel something akin to that commercial with the fabric softener bear. I was surprised when it felt stiff and hard. I have now learned tricks for overcoming that stiffness. Right before hanging the clothes snap them a few times by shaking them hard. Do it again when removing them. And hanging them so that the wind can continue to wave and snap will increase the softness. If it still isn't quite soft enough - especially on those towels you can throw them in the dryer for a couple minutes. I've never felt the need to do this but maybe if guests were coming in town I might make an exception!

Something I hate about laundry is the mountain of clothes it makes after I dump them all out on my bed or sofa. In fact, sometimes this mountain is so overwhelming we start just dressing ourselves out of the laundry basket for a few days until we finally break down and fold the laundry. With line drying that step is completely eliminated because I fold each item as I take it down so that it's ready to go straight to it's proper place once I go inside.

Once you've started putting up your laundry you'll start to develop some tricks for quicker drying or more discreet placement. I, for one, like to put my underwear towards the inside behind my other laundry so that neighbors get to enjoy billowing sheets not bras!

In the end, hanging laundry is a spring and summer activity that I look forward to and enjoy. It gets me outside and enjoying the weather and it makes me feel happy knowing that this enjoyable activity is helping save resources that are really in need of saving. So whether you rig up your own clothesline, use an existing one, or buy a new one - I'm sure you'll find that it fast becomes a treasured quiet time to reflect and enjoy mother nature's best resources!
~Megan

*List of items comes from Project Laundry Website.

Herb Garden

In south Texas spring is starting to lift it's dear sweet head, and peak in between rain showers.

The sunny cool days beckon me outside. Starting an herb garden, in pots from seeds, makes a fun pre-spring(and kid-friendly) gardening project. Here's how we did ours!

1. First pick your herbs. This go round we chose basil, oregano, thyme, and dill. Then have your mother bring you four lovely colored pots (because your kids just can't bear ONE more trip to the nursery).

1. Now these pots MUST have holes in the bottom for drainage, or you will have to drill your own. Save yourself a step, ya know??

3. Fill the pots with potting soil and follow each seed's directions. Some seeds will want to be buried 1/4" deep others will only want to be sprinkled on top of the dirt. Be kind, read, and give your seed babies what they need.

4. Here is where I should remind you, "Love is patient, love is kind..." This part, if your kids are anything like mine, will make you want to pull your hair out. Your real babies will NOT care what your seed babies want. They will want to play with seeds, dirt, and water in no particular order and with out any real instruction from you. From trial and error this is how I would go about it...I would have an empty egg carton or two and a let your kids fill it with dirt and after securing a few seeds for yourself hand over the seed packets. Who knows you may have basil sprouting up from the driveway cracks?

5. Now give them a healthy drink of water and find a sunny patch. The general rule for watering is to not let the soil get too dry, and to not have standing water on top of the soil. Those parameters should keep you from over or under watering. The pots are handy because you can move them until you find the right sunny spot. Beware of February freezes, if this happens just bring your babies inside or cover them with an old towel. Look for signs of life within 5-10 days.

6. Now give yourself and the kiddos a healthy drink of water and sit back and admire your productive handy work. Talk about spring a little, and then talk about why it's important they pick up their mess and put their tools away. Ha ;)

~Sarah

Garden Journals

At least once a week I have a conversation like this in my brain:

brain: "That's good information, you should write it down..."

me: "No, there is no way I'll forget that - that's totally in there and impossible to forget."

brain: "I've heard that one before. I really think you should write it down somewhere..."

me: "No, see, I'll repeat it three times or something, don't they say if you repeat it three times you'll never forget it? Or I'll make up a rhyme for it..."

And then, of course, I TOTALLY forget it. The worst is with directions. For some reason I always think - I'll remember that address - and then three minutes later when I'm driving around the neighborhood in circles I kick myself because I haven't a clue what the address was. While I may have a particularly bad memory, I'm willing to bet I'm not alone in this habit. Marisa and I talk about how it totally happens every year with our gardens. Each spring we start seeds or plant transplants and fail to write down when or how and then the next year we can't remember any of it and have to start at square one again. Well, not this year! This year we are starting gardening journals.

Now, garden journals vary from simple folders where you save seed packets and papers with notes jotted down, to elaborate books filled with actual seeds, before and after photos, and your personal thoughts on the whole process. Since this is our first attempt and we don't want to be overwhelmed by the whole thing we are starting simple. This year I am going to focus on:

• Keeping all of my seeds packets together in a dry place by gluing them in - cut apart so you can see the front and back
  
• Dates - planting dates, maturation dates, and end of season dates.
• Methods - fertilizers(if any), watering times, pruning, etc.
• Amount of Harvest - notes on how many tomatoes per plant we got and then how many we actually used!
• Miscellaneous notes - problems encountered, plants that fared particularly well, and plants that we hated.

You could use a spiral notebook or a simple binder but it's always easier to write in something that's cute so here's our idea (click on each image to take a closer look if needed):

Here's what you'll need:

• (1) Mead composition book
  
• (2) sheets of decorative paper measuring at least 7 1/2" x 10 3/8"
• (1) sheet of heavy weight paper - we used card stock(for the binding)
• (2) sheets of heavy weight paper in an alternate color - for the interior of the cover.
• (1) glue stick - we used Elmer's Purple School Glue Stick
• Scissors or paper cutter

Cut your decorative paper to 7 1/2" x 10 3/8" and paste each piece to the front and back - leaving a little lip to wrap around to the inside.








Because our composition notebook has rounded corners we needed to trim it to fit. Cut three small slits in the paper at each corner so it looks like this. Then glue each individual piece down - overlapping one another.







Now get your card stock and cut it to 9 5/8"x 4 1/4" and glue it to the outer edge to create a binding. (You can cut it smaller if you like that look better.)








For your inner paper cut each piece it to 9 3/8" x 7 1/4" and glue it inside each cover - overlapping the outer paper.









And voila! You've got one personalized and cute garden journal. We added some letters that we got from the craft store on the side just for fun.










I hope this all makes sense - it's a really simple project and should be pretty easy to figure out once you get going!

~Megan