What is THAT smell??????

I figured it was time to start a compost pile. I was turning into a hippie anyway, why not go all the way. Now that my mother-in-law is staying with us and cooking every night, I am up to my eye balls with all kinds of vegetable waste. It was perfect timing. I dug a hole in the back yard to the right of my garden. When I was digging it Annie joked that it looked like I was digging a grave and she wanted to know if she had done something wrong. The hole was about four inches deep.

I started by adding grass clippings, from what I found on the internet this is the best base to start with. So far I have added the clippings from three grass cuttings. Another key component was to have moisture in the pile so I have occasionally added water while watering the garden. I have to keep the pile turned to keep everything decomposing evenly. The only thing I am adding to the pile is fruit and vegetable waste. It is considered unhealthy to add meat products. If you read up on the subject, meat products are a no- no for compost piles (almost like dating your cousin). However my mother-in-law had convinced me the shrimp shells and fish are ok. Hey, who am I to argue with a Chinese woman. If you ask Annie, it is useless to argue with a Chinese woman because you will never win. Over the next nine months this pool of organic waste will turn into fertilizing GOLD. I will use it next year to prep the garden for all the plants and vegetables.

Each evening, AJ and I head up the hill to add the organic waste from the tin in the kitchen to the pile. AJ brings her little shovel with her to mix in everything. I have had to explain the term "decompose" at least five times to her. She is a curious child and is learning a lot so far.
Yesterday I took Annie with me to add to stuff from the tin and of course her reaction was "What is that smell", and my reaction was "what smell?". Moms have a much more sensitive nose than fathers. Annie can smell a poop diaper from a mile away. Anyway, after an explanation she proclaimed that her visit to the compost pile would be her last! I love her.

Blankets and Newspaper

After a week or two after planting the vegetables I followed the old teaching from my father. I "pulled to" which means pulling dirt to the base of the plant (usually up the base about two inches or so). This helps for a couple of reasons. It supports the stalk of the young plant and helps the plant retain water, especially during the hot summer months. I was always taught that this is a vital step to any vegetable garden's success.

I had AJ help me with this project. We spent an hour on our hands and knees playing in the dirt. AJ loves getting dirty in the garden and is very protective of the plants (as she is with everything). The other day she was talking to the baby tomatoes like she talks to her baby sisters. I told her why we were "pulling to" and she said, "oh...it's like little blankets for our plants. It keeps them warm and makes them feel safe". Well, I guess she was right it was like a little blanket. All the plants had a little blanket wrapped around them and AJ could sleep in peace tonight knowing that the little pepper plants were not scared.

The next day it was time to battle another great foe of any garden, weeds. As far as I knew I only had two choices; I could have spent loads of money on landscape fabric or I could spend each day weeding the entire thing. None of those options sounded appealing. I asked dad for his advice and he suggested newspaper. Newspaper?? Dad said that it does a good job of choking out the weeds and at the end of the season I can till the newspaper into the ground. I got together a bunch of old newspapers and AJ and I set out on the great task of covering the garden. Her job was to gather rocks (about the size of a quarter) to lay on the corners to keep it from blowing away. We covered the entire thing in about twenty minutes. A month into my garden and the newspaper has worked great! Some weeds have begun to grow through the newspaper so I may need to redo these areas within the next few weeks. It's not perfect but it's better than the alternatives.

Man Vs. Mole

For several months I have been trying to track down and destroy a mole that has been destroying my back yard. It never worried me too bad until I recently saw that the little bastard has been building an interstate system through my garden. At first I wanted to nuke the thing with poison.....but wait, I can't do that. The poison could taint the food and would completely destroy my goal of keeping an organic garden.
So I went to the web (again) for answers. The options were numerous.

Kitty litter - I am supposed to sprinkle it on the perimeter of the garden and the smell makes the mole think a predator is in the area.

Pinwheels - Stick them in the ground in various locations and the vibration keeps the mole away. I know AJ would have loved this option.

Animal or human hair - Bury these in the ground halfway in the ground throughout the area. The smell of a potential predator is supposed to keep them away. To be honest it seemed a little creepy to me. The idea of hair sticking up in various places in the garden just seemed wrong on so many levels.

Coffee Grounds - Moles hate the smell of coffee for some reason. It also works as a great fertilizer.



So after weighing all my options I decided to try the coffee suggestion. I sprinkled it around the outside of the garden. I was seriously skeptical of the whole thing but I figured it was worth a try. I put down the Maxwell House several days ago and to my surprise, NO NEW MOLE ACTIVITY!!!!! I guess it worked.....so far.

My Big Boy Garden

Ok....so I wanted to grow my own "organic garden" for the girls. I knew I wanted to grow potatoes but that's it. I went to Lowe's and picked out a variety of things that I thought we would actually eat. With three girls we are definitely on a tight budget so I needed to make my purchases count. I came home with way too much stuff and most of these I had never grown before. I had to use my superior intellect and researched the in's and out's of each vegetable on the internet (Thank God for those who blog about gardens). I felt confident enough to borrow my dad's tiller.
After I fought the tiller up the hill to the garden area(I wish I had video)I tilled the flat area behind my house. I let the soil sit for a few days so I could avoid any frosts. All the plants I bought would die if temperatures goes below freezing. I planted each one keeping plenty of room between the different plants. I got them all in the ground in late April.

What I planted:
-Cucumber
-Crook neck squash
-Jalapeno Peppers
-Russet Potatoes
-Tomatoes (grown before)
-Okra (grown before)
-Sweet Potatoes (because of my mother-in-law)



This picture is where we are now with the garden. Everything has had a couple of months to grow. I have been very surprised with how everything looks so far.