Hey Zero and greetings from a former CT Yankee.
I moved to the Washington DC area back in 2007 and I first started watching your HHO series around 2008. I was very moved by the work you posted of your first-year victory garden. I'm not sure with how much intensity you've pursued that endeavor, you are a busy man, but I thought you'd like to know how much you inspired me.
I love to cook. I bought a house here in DC at the end of 2007 and initially thought of gardening to help my cooking (fresh herbs). You initial gardening videos awakened the sleeping suspicions I had already been having about commercial foods and I have spent the past 3+ years working hard to grow the healthiest possible food for me and my family. Invariably, a single step/topic leads to a BUNCH of other things, and I'm currently also interested in food preservation and canning as well as whole grains, sprouting, and baking breads from certified organic grains that I now grind myself.
I've tried to document my work, mainly with heavily captioned photo albums. I invite you and all to visit my years of work:
Garden 1.0 https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/Garden10 (https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/Garden10)
Garden 2.0 https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/Garden202012 (https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/Garden202012)
Garden 3.0 https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/Garden302013 (https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/Garden302013)
Garden 3.0 update "Self Watering Containers" https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/SelfWateringSortaGardenContainers (https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/SelfWateringSortaGardenContainers)
Garden 4.0 (just starting!) https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/Garden402014 (https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/Garden402014)
You've allowed me to remember the Yankee spirit of independence that I think so many of us have forgotten and I thank you for your point of view and the hard work you've been doing on all your projects. Your ideas and conversations spark others to think on their own, and to that I say PLEASE KEEP IT UP!
Here, here!
Great photo, and gorgeous garden.
Just a question. In the link "Garden 1" isn't that the house Clint Eastwood's character "Walt Kowalski" used for the movie "Gran Torino?"
Michael, very VERY nice! Thanks for sharing here! A few more boxes like that, maybe some trellises, and your home will start to look like Jules Dervais! ::)
Quote from: zero on March 09, 2014, 03:09:56 AM
Michael, very VERY nice! Thanks for sharing here! A few more boxes like that, maybe some trellises, and your home will start to look like Jules Dervais! ::)
That is quite a compliment, thank you. I have a small lot, but for living in a major city I have significantly more than most people around me. To be as self sufficient as Jules is going to take a lot of work and a lot of learning. Not to mention planning. Also not to mention a lot of help (I don't have the family support that Jules has, it's just me doing it.)
I tried to think in advance for expansion when I put my first boxes in but it is plain to see that I will need a better plan in the future. Currently I have a few modular components that allow me to move things around as needed until I have a firmer idea/plan. I made these stackable boxes out of cedar with the thought of growing potatoes in them vertically. In fact, they are better used as single units, which give me 4 square feet per box. Great for growing a bunch of different greens, onions, peas or beans. You can place them anywhere. Put a drainable liner in the bottom and your good soil will stay put, even on concrete.
(https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/9CR676HbrVHYypu7WIoI09MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink)
Another modular idea that works well but is not very pretty to look at are the self-watering buckets. They really help to reduce the stress of wild water fluctuations like I was experiencing with my pepper plants up to last year.
(https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1Oo-ilVMd0RHefiJyS70xdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink)
They also make it easy to grow cucumbers and squash vertically, helping with my lack of available footprint, and a easily wrapped with an insect cover. I've battle cucumber beetles and squash bugs to no avail and no crops. I think I finally have an easy plan to combat them this year. STAY TUNED!
I am trying my hardest to be as organic as possible. I have never sprayed anything in my garden and I trying to learn the ropes of feeding with out chemical fertilizers. I've been making my own compost since I started and this year I'm trying something new. The "Back to Eden" method with is basically a super heavy mulching with wood chips. It's a looooong view method, as it takes years for the each layer to break down, but what the worms leave you where the chips and soil meet is deep, dark, rich, black soil. The BtoE method is no-till and low impact. One line of thinking is that tilling disrupts and hurts the fine threads of the fungus mycorrhizae which is very important to helping plant roots take up nutrients. We'll see how we do.
Check out AquaPonics while you are at it. A great source of info is the web site
Backyardaquaponics.com
There you can download the free Ebook IBC's of AquaPonics. It covers lots about how to do it and has pictures of several systems built of bulk containers called IBC's. Quickly you grow fish to eat in a tank and plants to eat in grow beds of gravel. You pump fish water thru the beds to feed the plants and they and the bacterias in the gravel clean the water which is returned to the fish tank cleaned. Works pretty well.
Don
Firstly:
Hi, Don, and thank you for the aquaponics link. Hydroponics have interested me very much and have been in the back of my mind for some time now. I was really thinking about it when I was considering converting a factory/warehouse space to a living space years ago in Jersey City. It pleased me to no end to think of a plain, blah, industrial building with a lush and vibrant interior. And hydroponics made sense, especially with skylights. I'm currently still evolving the layout of my backyard but I don't think hydroponics are appropriate for me right now.
Secondly:
My last frost date is rapidly approaching!!! That means in-soil transplanting of my seedlings soon! I am very pleased with my seed starting this year. The heating mat and temp-troller for seeds is has been great! I've also created a grow light system with simple T5 florescent lights from Home Despot. I recently reconfigured how I had it set up, now using two dual light fixtures to illuminate two plastic bins. The plants now get twice as much light as before and I've doubled my shelf-space (photo attached). The results on my seedlings were immediately obvious (2 photos attached) and have made me very very happy!
I have also been busy outside. I have prepared the bed and planted seeds for my root vegetables; carrots, parsnip and beets. They will share a box with my tomatoes. Before the root veg sprouts I needed to put in my drip irrigation system (photo attached) as it is very hard to do after plants are established.
Also planted elsewhere are ton of radish and blue potatoes. I've attached a few photos, but please see this gallery if you are interested in seeing/reading in greater detail:
Photo Gallery for Garden 4.0 (updated regularly) - https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/Garden402014 (https://picasaweb.google.com/106242937059319515061/Garden402014)
I should also state that I'm trying the Back to Eden method this year. Simply stated, it is a long-term heavy mulching method. Wood chips are used and laid thickly as a mulch in the garden. This is a method water retention initially, but over the long-haul (years) it is also a soil builder. The wood chips will attract earthworms (great for soil structure, aeration and fertility through the leaving of castings) and they will decompose/compost naturally. The layer of rich black soil will appear where the wood chips meet the soil. Rain and waterings will filter through the mulch layer and create a compost tea to help feed the roots of plants planted underneath. As time marches on the wood chips will compact down as they decompose, needing more chips to be layered on top.
This is a no-till method which helps build the soil with microbes and beneficial fungi while preserving water and edging out weeds. A neighbor was having tree work done and I was able to get a load of healthy, freshly shredded, hardwood chips dropped off for nothing. I've started one box and plan to do there others (see attachments)
Quote from: icu4dzs on March 08, 2014, 10:56:55 PM
In the link "Garden 1" isn't that the house Clint Eastwood's character "Walt Kowalski" used for the movie "Gran Torino?"
No. Just a simple 1929 brick house. I would LOVE to have the garage in that Walt had. In addition to my green thumb, I'm also a muscle car and motorcycle gear head.