Thursday, January 20, 2011

Vermicomposting

My worms came today from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. It was a lot quicker than I expected since amazon estimated delivery for 4 days from now at the earliest. So I spent about an hour tonight making my worm bin.



The worms I ordered came in a canvas bag full of dry peat moss.



It came with instructions for composting.



I used three rubbermaid containers and a drill with a 1/4 inch bit.



I drilled air holes around the top and drainage holes all over the bottom.



In the sink I shredded newspaper and magazines for the bedding. It needs to get soaked completely, then rung out so that it doesn't drip at all.



Worms love cardboard. I shredded some to layer into the newspaper bedding.



I mixed in a couple of potatoes and a few pieces of stale bread. Worms also need dirt or some other type of grit to help them digest their food so I tossed in a couple of handfuls of dirt.



A layer of wet cardboard.



A layer of dry cardboard to keep out the light and keep in the moisture.



I put the first container inside the others and propped it up to keep the air circulating and allow drainage of compost tea.

When the first container becomes full of compost, or worm poop, it becomes toxic to the worms. That's why there are three containers. I will put holes in a second container just like the first when the first container is full. I will fill it with bedding and put some food in it, and stop putting food in the first. I'll put it on top of the bedding of the first container and the worms will migrate to the new bin, leaving nothing but compost in the first.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Worm Composting

Tonight I ordered 1000 red wrigglers from UncleJimsWormFarm.com. They should be here in about a week. In the mean time I will be getting the containers and bedding ready to start composting with my worms. I'll upload pictures and instructions when I do it.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Sprinkler system

I'm going to be putting in my new sprinkling system this summer and as I was researching the web I found a really cool tool on RainBird.com. They give you instructions on how to measure your lawn and put it on a grid. When you send it to them, they design the sprinkling system for you. It comes back to you with charts showing what you need and where (even taking into account low and high spots), along with a complete list of parts that you'll need and their prices.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Giant pumpkins and mini watermelons

I bought these seeds on amazon also. There are Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin seeds and Mexican Miniature watermelon seeds. They are sold by Hirt's Gardens.

The pumpkin seeds are from a variety that has won the world record for weight at something like 1700 pounds. I don't think i'll be able to grow them quite that big on my first try, but I'm hoping to be able to get a couple hundred pounds.

The watermelons can be eaten whole, rind and all. They are about the size of a pickle. They're supposed to be very sweet and crisp. I'll update later on with how well they actually work.
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White micro clover lawn

I bought this white micro clover from amazon. It is sold by Outsidepride.com. I'm going to seed it into my lawn in a couple of months and I will follow up with pictures.

Clover produces a bacteria that fixes nitrogen into the soil, which feeds the grass to keep it healthy and green. It is noticeable up close, but from more than a few feet away it doesn't look much different from a regular grass lawn, except of course that it is greener.
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