A few days ago I looked in my refrigerator and found out my carrots had grown roots! I could have thrown them away but with vegetable planting coming up soon I decided to cut off the tops and put them in water and here they are today:

Carrot Tops

This is easier than starting carrots from seeds and quicker too. If you try this be sure to change the water every couple of days. These could be planted in moist soil any time.

The composter arrived in a zillion pieces. Today’s project was to put it together and put some garbage in it with the hope that some day it would turn into fertile garden soil.

Do It Yourself Composter

The directions came in three languages but were difficult to make out in all of them. Nevertheless the best approach to problem solving is step by step and that is what I did. I even checked off each step as I did it so I wouldn’t get lost. When I bought this thing the seller didn’t tell me I needed a socket wrench and a big drill. I had to make do with adjustable wrenches and a portable drill. The screws were so hard to turn that the charge was used up quickly and I had to keep recharging the drill. This was frustrating.

Lots of Pieces

When the composter arrived in its box I took everything out and arranged all the pieces in front of me. It is important to be organized. I like to spread out all the parts so I can see everything at once. (That’s true when I solve chemistry problems too – I need to have space to think.) The entire time I worked on this project Thor stayed close. You can see him sitting by the little pile I’ve gathered to toss into the composter. I imagine he is wondering what I’m doing with all this strange looking stuff.

A Skeptic

It turned out that putting this composter together was a very long process. The frame went together well enough but I broke a drill bit trying to start holes for the screws – then I found out that the screws had ends like little drills and didn’t need any starter holes. About now you may be wondering what a composter is exactly. It’s a good question.

The Composter Stand

Soil fertility is essential when growing food crops and each crop leaches nutrients from the soil so there has to be a way to put them back. When we chop vegetables, make coffee, crack open eggs we put lots of food in the garbage and this debris is full of nutrients but if you just went outside and dumped them on your garden you would attract flies and maggots. Yuck. So you need a container that will allow air in but keep the compost warm and out of sight as it decays. When we rake leaves, cut grass and collect newspapers we are gathering valuable organic nutrients that can be returned to the soil instead of sent to a landfill.

Sides are Attached

This composter is a sturdy container built on a stand so that it will be possible to turn it. Turning the composter allows all the ingredients to mix well speeding up the decomposition processes. The black color of the composter will soak up radient energy. The inside of this composter will get pretty warm. We can measure it in a week or two and you’ll see what I mean.

Materials that can go into a composter are divided loosely into two categories: brown and green. Brown ingredients are rich in carbon. They are also stocky and coarse. They include brown leaves and brown grass, woody stalks of plants like sunflowers, paper and wood products, twigs, newspaper, dryer lint!! Green materials are richer in nitrogen. These are kitchen scraps such as vegetables, melon rinds, eggshells, fruit, tea bags, coffee grinds, green leaves and fresh grass clippings. Overall you need to put in a lot more brown materials compared to green materials to maintain a healthy mix for ideal decay and soil formation.

Compost Ready to Mix

Composter At Work

I think it is very cool that stuff I usually throw away will become useful. I know it takes time and won’t happen overnight. There is also some work involved. This mixture needs to be turned regularly for best results. This composter is easy to spin even when it is full. I’ve put it in a shady corner of the yard in an area where nothing grew last summer.I decided to fill in the space with marble rocks. I haven’t given up on the idea of having something grow around the composter but for now this will do.

Thor isn't Convinced

Thor watches the entire four hour ordeal as I put the composter together and now that he sees it he doesn’t know what to make of it. He’s ready to take a walk and he’s letting me know that he’s been more than patient. Perhaps he’ll be pleased when he sees the fresh, black soil coming out of the container. It won’t look at all like the materials that went into the composter. It won’t smell bad either. If the composter does its job it will produce a rich loam that will nourish the food crops well.

Today it is cold and damp but I have all this energy and I want to do something in my garden. There is a great indoor activity; planting seeds. It is possible to start plants indoors before the last frost and then move them to your garden. Seeds costs less than actual plants but it takes patience to grow them. It is fun to collect seeds. They come in so many sizes and shapes. Little bottles used to store beads are great containers for seeds.

Seed Collection

Seeds lose potency over time and some plants don’t produce very viable seeds so you will have to experiment. I noticed there are even seed survival kits for sale now - non-hybrid seeds that will keep the world going after who knows what happens. Seeds really are amazing. Add a little water and they come to life.

Seeds Come in Different Sizes and Shapes

I am always pleased when I can recognize a seed. Beans and peas are easy to identify. I can also spot sunflower seeds because I’ve eaten them before. I label the seed packages and put them all in a zip lock bag in case I need to refer to them at some point. I also label the bottoms of these containers. That way I can look up a seed’s identity. I could store the seeds in their original packets but this way I can look at them all together.

To grow them it works best to put them in potting soil in a peat pot. When it is time to move them outside you just put the entire pot into the ground and it will disintegrate. It takes about ten days for little seedlings to appear.

Sprout

It is important not to let the seed dry out during this time. The seed hull is often tough and the little plant has to break out of it. It helps if it is softened by moisture. You should plant more than one seed in a pot. It is all about survival of the fittest. You can select the strongest plants for your garden.

Seedlings

Sunflowers are especially fun to sprout because they are no sooner out of the earth and they began to gyrate – looking towards the sun. They grow quickly. These sunflowers are about two weeks old.

Sunflowers

I put all the little seed pots on a tray and carry them outside on nice days and bring them inside when the weather is too cold or too stormy. Every day they look a little bigger. This is a great activity for the rainy month of April.

Fresh water is a natural resource and essential to life. Everyone knows that. Living near a Great Lake gives me a lot of comfort – lots of fresh water. But I think it would be very cool if I could collect my own fresh water – from rain. I found out about rain barrels and thought having this stored water on hand could be very interesting. I could test the water and determine its pH. It won’t have chlorine added to it. I don’t plan to drink it but I think it may be just right for my garden. Normally water that falls on the roof flows through a downspout and is delivered to one spot – if the rain is heavy this spot can flood. I picked out a place to install my rain barrel.

An Unattractive Downspout

This particular downspout bothers me. Thor is always stepping on it and it is laying across the area where I am trying to grow flowers. I decided this was the best place to but a rain barrel. I ordered one and it arrived on a rainy day. It seemed to make sense – get the rain barrel out there and put it to work right away.

Rain Barrel

I had to remove part of the downspout and rearrange the curved pieces but when I finished the rain dropped right into the barrel. This barrel stores 65 gallons of water. If I use this water regularly I should have a nice source of fresh water on the driest days. There are two ways to remove water from the barrel: a spigot on the side and a hose that is attacted to very bottom side of the barrel. Rain barrels come in lots of sizes and styles. This one is made of plastic and was very easy to move into place. There was a little moment of shame: taking off the pieces of downspout shows that there is paint missing from the area behind it. Oops. Well that can easily be fixed. The bowl on top of the rain barrel may be used as a bird bath or as a planter. I decided to fill it with soil and put in some Nasturtium seeds. Nasturtium flowers and leaves are edible. They give a peppery punch similar to watercress in salads and pasta dishes.

Nasturtium Seeds

I covered these seeds with one half inch of soil. I used organic potting soil to plant these seeds. If they are going to be eaten it is important not to use any pesticides. Growing an edible plant converts this space into usable space for food.

Rain Barrel Filter

This is a view down the opening in the rain barrel. You can see that a filter is used to trap any debris that may come through the downspout. This filter will need to be checked and cleaned as needed.

Water Streaming

Because it was raining when I placed this barrel in the yard it went right to work filling up with water. I think this was a lucky situation because the barrel is much less likely to tip over if it has some water in it to add weight to the bottom. I plan to add a flexible piece to the downspout to direct the water into the barrel more efficiently.

Rain Barrel

I am very excited to have a rain barrel. Oh and in case you are wondering what happens if the rain barrel fills up to the top – there is an overflow hole in the back that lets water drain out when it reaches a certain level. I’m going outside right now and see how much water is in the barrel.

I don’t know anything about bulbs except that at the end of a long winter the daffodils and tulips pop up first. I’ve planted tulips and daffodils along this wall. Last summer we painted this garage. We still need to finish the windows and it needs a new roof. I suspect the old paint that we stripped off of the garage was lead based. If it was then the soil might be contaminated. I plan to test this soil for lead – and I won’t be growing edible plants here.

Flowers from Bulbs

There is actually a process that uses plants to clean up soils: phytoremediation. The idea is to grow plants that accumulate heavy metals and then dispose of the plants responsibly. I will be learning more about this too. There really is a lot of chemistry that can be learned while gardening.

The downspout is rather unattractive and doesn’t really deliver the water to the ground in a useful way. I’ll be putting a rain barrel here. A rain barrel collects the rain and stores the water so it will be available during drier days.

I decided it was a waste of time to try to grow so much grass. Thor loves to dig and, well to confess, he isn’t always taken out of the yard to do his business so the grass is under constant assault. This photo looks over the fence at my neighbor’s yard. Last summer so many mushrooms popped up in this area. There is a burried tree stump a little to the left of the tree. This is where I gathered a cup of soil and sent it off to the laboratory for testing. I learned the soil is heavy (lots of clay), full of nutrients, and very alkaline. The lab suggested I add urea. Funny, I think Thor is taking care of that.

Shade and Mulch

I used pine bark, rather chunky pieces. There’s a little forsythia bush on the far left. This area is mostly shady. It is also bordered by the fence that separates Thor and Sid. Thor loves to run and jump around in this area. I’m thinking about trying to grow some honeysuckle on the fence. Those patches of green are what’s left of the grass.

Place for a Greenhouse

Last summer I tried to grow lettuce. The rabbits ate all of it. I’m pretty sure they enjoyed it too. I grew beets successfully but then I wondered what kind of soil they were living in. The more I thought about the problems I had the more I wanted to try something new: a greenhouse. Well this summer I’m going to build one and learn how to use it.

The greenhouse I’ve bought is made of plastic and comes in panels that snap together. It measures 6 feet by 8 feet. I’ll be building it soon!

Last summer one of my sons decided he would build a pond in our backyard. He did a beautiful job with the landscaping but a few problems occurred; first the pond liner was no match for Thor’s sharp toe nails. He punctured the lining twice and each time we had to start over. This year it will be different. We have new ideas.

The Pond

This is our starting point for this year. It’s not too bad. The poor Japanese Maple tree lost most of its branches during the one foot snow fall we had this winter. The snow covered the tree and Thor loved to climb on the snow hill and look over the fence.

Lots of Snow

The biggest job, digging the hold, is done. Notice the flagstones along the left side of the pont. These help keep the soil in place. This would be a good place to grow a ground cover that loves to creep around rocks. That’s what I’ll be researching for this area. The convoluted twiggy thing on the right is a Wisteria plant. It will grow all over the trellis making this a shady area.

Canopy Over the Pond

In front of the canopy I’ve nailed up a couple of old trellises. I haven’t decided what should climb up these rails but I have planted a couple of columbine plants with yellow-pink flowers. They won’t climb the trellis so there is still room for a climber to share this space.

In front of these plants another triangle is taking shape – this is a sunny area where berries will grow. Berries are very expensive to buy in the grocery store but they grow like weeks on the right kind of soil. Berries like soil that drains well and isn’t too alkaline. I have rasberries and blueberries growing here.

Berries are Food

It should be possible to fit in a couple of herbs here too. I’m considering thyme or chamomile.

I love herbs! I love the scents, the lore, how well they grow with so little effort. I knew I wanted my garden to have lots and lots of herbs. There are so many to choose from – so I decided to start with the ones I use most in cooking: parsely, basil, cilantro, rosemary and parsely. I already had some chives growing in the yard. I decided to move them into my first project – a triangular herb garden.

Raised Triangular Herb Garden

I’d been reading that in urban areas it is generally safer to build raised gardens and use transported soil. I used old bricks (not hard to find in Chicago) and some larger stones and built an area in a sunny corner of my yard. Herbs need lots of sun. I decided to add some vertical supports and see if I could grow peas and beans too. These vegetables love to climb. Notice that there is still a lot of space between the plants. Plants grow! The space will be filled in.

Mulch in an Herb Garden

Adding mulch helps the soil retain moisture and protects the young plants. Herbs are hardy and don’t need much pampering. The biggest challenge is not to harvest the herbs too aggressively. Take small cuttings and use the herbs immediately.

Unexpected Snow in April

The mulch also helps keep the plants warm if the weather turns cold. This snow occurred on April 18th, the first day of Spring Break. It melted quickly and provided lots of water to the young, thirsty plants.

I was reading books about climate change, about our relationship with food, about vertical farming and generally thinking about self-sufficiency. I wanted to do something positive. I have a big backyard. It occurred to me that I could grow food in it – my own little farm. This blog category will be a journal of my efforts.

April 16th, Ground Zero

I’ve also created a new category “gardening”  in my bookstore to share some of the books that helped me think about what I wanted to do. Of course I want the results to be beautiful but also I want the results to be practical. Along the way I’ve been teaching myself about soil chemistry, herbal medicine, and food preservation (modern canning methods). I’ve been learning about what plants need to grow and be healthy. I’ve been especially interested in urban gardening – since I live in Chicago.

One of the biggest challenges to having a garden in my backyard is that I also have a very big dog who loves to help any way he can. If he sees me digging then he enthusiastically digs too. He’s burried bones all over the backyard. Bones are made mostly of calcium phosphate – a good mineral for the soil – so I shouldn’t complain, that is until he digs them up.

Sid and Thor

My dog is the one on the right – he weighs about 125 pounds. The other dog belongs to my neighbor. She has a very nicely designed garden – her secret – don’t grow too much grass and use lots of mulch.