Autumn Gardening: Projects & 1 Failure!

Autumn is in full swing. Winter is right around the corner..

The weather has been strangely cool this spring and summer (2015) and oddly warm this autumn.  Usually, by early November in Michigan zone 5b, we have had at least one brief snow. Instead, this year we have had a couple of mild frosts, and several 70F (or higher) days.  VERY unusual.

On the plus side, this has given us a longer span of time in which to gather leaves, mulch, plant bushes, and clean up dead plant material.  All the usual tasks of fall.

GATHERING LEAVES 

If you have read any gardening articles this fall, you know how important leaves are to gardeners!  But in case you haven't read any other articles: LEAVES ARE IMPORTANT!  They are high in mineral content and provide essential microscopic fungal organisms for the soil that help your plants grow.  Here are few quick tips on how to make best use of your autumn leaves:

Composting leaves.

1. Compost the leaves.  Leave provide the "brown" or "carbon" component that is essential to making good compost.  Do not burn your leaves!  Throw them in the compost heap! Your plants will love you once the compost breaks down!

2. Make leaf mold.  Leaves are full of fungal organisms and minerals that are great for plants.  These are most concentrated in leaf mold. Making leaf mold is super easy.  Just gather the leaves, pile them up, and let them rot. You can contain the leaves in a bin with air holes poked in it, in a small area fenced with chicken wire,

Perforated bag of leaves to make leaf mold.

or you can do what I did: put them in a black plastic bag, add water to the bag, poke holes in the bag, then stash the entire thing under the deck.  Leaves take some time to break down.  You can expect leaf mold in 1-2 years after collection depending on your climate. If you wish to speed the process try shredding the leaves and/or mixing them with a high nitrogen material such as coffee grounds, manure, urine, or corn gluten meal.

                                                              3. Insulate your roses (or other plants).  Piling

Insulated roses within a burlap wind-break.

leaves up around the base of roses during the winter can help to insulate the roots.  You can further protect the roses, and hold the leaves in place by erecting a barrier made from garden stakes and burlap. This acts as a wind break and keeps the stems from drying out and dying. Be sure to remove the leaves in the spring to avoid causing rot from moisture build up at the base of the rose.

4. Use the leaves as mulch.  Leaves make excellent mulch.  They help to insulate the ground, protect the soil organisms

Mulching with leaves.

and are a favorite food of earthworms.  To mulch with leaves, simply pile them onto your garden bed to a depth of 1-2 inches.  If you wish, you can shred the leaves first, which will make for a cleaner/neater and more uniform look.

5. Leave the leaves alone!  Unless your leaves are extremely thick to the point of shading out your lawn, consider allowing them to stay where they are.  Most of them will break down by spring and will help to fertilize the lawn and garden. They also help to shelter beneficial insects, amphibians, and small mammals.

GARDEN CLEAN UP

Please do not go crazy with fall garden clean up! You do not need to cut back all of your perennials. You definitely should NOT prune trees!

Leaving perennial leaves and stems in place is often a GOOD thing to do!  The seed heads help to feed birds and small mammals.  The hollow stems allow beneficial insects to over-winter in the garden.  The leaves and stems act as insulation for the plants own roots through the winter.  So leave them alone now, and clean them up in spring!  I am giving you permission to procrastinate!! :)

There is one exception: clean up diseased material.  If one of your plants had a disease (e.g. black spot, powdery mildew) it is a good idea to clean up their leaves and any debris from the plant and to either send this material to the municipal dump, or burn it. This will help to prevent the diseases from re-emerging next spring.

DO NOT PRUNE TREES OR BUSHES IN THE FALL!  The plants may have lost most of their leaves, but they are not fully dormant yet!  Pruning encourages plant growth. This is not an ideal time of year for a plant to put on new growth. It wastes the plant's energy which is better stored for next spring.  Also, if the plant makes new shoots in fall, they are likely to get damaged over the winter.  So please, save your pruning for when the plant is completely dormant.  Prune in late winter or early spring (January to March in Michigan zone 5b)!

FALL IS FOR PLANTING

Vacciunium cyanococcus 'jellybean.'

Fall is a great time to plant trees and bushes.  If you plant in fall, the soil is still soft and warm. This allows the plant to establish healthy roots and then to rest through the winter.  By spring, the plant will be so happily situated with regard to its roots that it will put on very healthy spring growth.

This fall, I planted dwarf blueberries, myself.  The varieties I chose were 'jellybean' and 'northcountry'.  The 'jellybean' variety should grow to a maximum size of 3ft tall by 3ft wide and 'northcountry' should grow to a maximum size of 3ft tall by 4 ft wide. I purchased these bushes at a local nursery. They have several nice looking buds on them and the roots appeared to be very healthy in the pot.   I am hoping for berries within a few years of the plants getting establishes! YUM!!

If you are interested in growing blueberries yourself, please remember that they need acid soil with a pH of 4 to5 in order to be able to absorb the nutrients that they need.  If your soil is not acidic enough, you can increase the acid by amending the soil with peat moss and/or sulfur.  But beware!  Maintaining acidity in soil that is not naturally acidic can be difficult.  This will require testing the soil pH yearly and amending it yearly in order to maintain the health of your plant.  Also, be sure to select a plant that is hardy in your USDA growing zone, and one that will grow to a size that you can manage in your landscape. In other words: READ THE TAG (or online growing description)!

FEED THE BIRDS

Remember to fill your bird feeders and to put out suet. Many birds are flying south and can use the extra energy. Soon, the wild plant seed and fruit will be consumed by a variety of creatures, and winter will be here.  There will be a shortage of food for the birds who need the energy to keep warm.  So please, keep those feeders full until spring!  Also, remember to provide an ice-free water source if you are able.  

NIFTY TIP:  I learned from the "You Bet Your Garden" podcast that hot pepper/chili powder can be mixed with bird seed or can be used to coat suet in order to deter squirrels from eating the bird seed.  Why? Birds like hot peppers. Their beaks do not have mucous membranes, so the spicy-hot capsaicin  does not burn their mouths. However, squirrels do have mucous membranes in their mouths (just as humans do) so the capsaicin burns their mouth. If they get it in their eyes while dangling from the bird feeder, their eyes will sting as well. They will avoid the bird feeder after that sting!
 
"F" IS FOR "FALL" AND ALSO FOR "FAIL"

I can't remember where I saw it, but I found what I thought was a cute bird feeder project on the internet.  This involved cutting a pumpkin in half, scooping out the insides, filling it with bird seed as if it were a bowl, and putting it out for the birds to use as a feeder.  The idea was that the birds would eat the seed and also nibble on the pumpkin.  EPIC FAIL!

This project did not work at all.  While the pumpkin did make a cute bowl (see the picture on the left), none of the birds pecked at the pumpkin at all as far as I could tell. Even worse, the moisture from the pumpkin moved in to the seed via osmosis and made for a damp, grainy mess that was unappetizing for the birds, and began to rot rather quickly.  My advice: use a regular bird feeder, and skip the cutesy pumpkin nonsense!


Happy Fall Y'all!  Check in soon for more blog posts!  :)

Vegetable Garden Soil - From Scratch!

PREPARING THE VEGETABLE BED

Having moved in to my home only last summer, I thought that it was a good idea to do one or two garden beds at a time.  If I tried to do them all at once I would be biting off much more than I can chew!

This summer, I completed the herb garden and the small mailbox garden.

Next spring (2016), I plan to plant the vegetable garden!

It is true that a good garden begins with good soil.  Unfortunately, when I did my soil test on the bed that I planned to use, I discovered that the soil was very poor in nutrients and had a high (alkaline) pH of 7.8!  Something had to be done to rectify this before I can plant anything!

On top of that, there were 4 burning bushes in the bed blocking the western sun and spreading some gnarly roots throughout the bed.  To complicate things further, there are 2 wires running through the bed.  One to the pump for the sprinkler system, and one for the dog's electric fence.  Clearly the area would need some work before I could plant anything!

BUSH REMOVAL AND LIGHT IMPROVEMENT

 First, I cut back the four, 8-foot-tall burning bushes and dug out the stumps.  This took the better part of a day, but was well worth it. The bed went from being part sun/part shade to nearly full sun.  There is some shade over the bed for part of the day due to the oak tree 50 feet away in the neighbor's yard, but the effect of this is minimal compared to the shade cast by the four large bushes that were directly in the garden bed.

My sandy, nutrient poor soil.

These bushes left behind an extensive root system.  Some of the roots were up to 1inch diameter. 
These were spread throughout the bed and made for some difficult digging later on.

IMPROVING THE SOIL

 The next step was to improve the soil.  The native soil in the bed is sandy, alkaline and nutrient poor.  The advantage to this is that sandy soil drains well.  The problem is that nutrients wash out of the soil easily with the water.  For this reason, sandy soil is often low in the nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium - NPK) that plants need to grow well.

My goal was to improve the texture of the soil so that it holds a bit more moisture and nutrients, to increase the nutrient content of the soil, and to acidify the soil so that it has a pH in the range of 6.8 to 7.0.

In addition, I needed to pull the roots of the former burning bushes out of the soil, and to loosen the compacted soil.

Double-digging the trench - note the root and wire sticking out.

Originally, I considered tilling the soil to break up the root systems and to add my chosen soil amendments.  Tilling would have saved me a lot of time and effort because I could use a machine to do the hard work of digging. However, there were 3 problems with this: 1. There are two wires going through the bed for the pump and the electric dog fence.  If I used a tiller, these wires would be destroyed, and I could be injured.  2. I would have needed to rent the largest and most expensive tiller available from the big box store in order to cut through 1 inch roots. 3. Unless I tilled very carefully and lightly, there was danger that I could work the soil into a fine powder which would destroy the soil tilth and lead to worse compaction than I started with!

spreading soil amendments in the trench.

So, I decided to bite the bullet and double dig all 300 square feet of root-filled soil by hand. This process allowed me to add soil amendments, to loosen the soil and to rip out the old roots a little at a time.  Double digging involves making a trench in the soil, adding compost and soil additives to the bottom of the trench, then spreading the top soil and some compost back over the top of the trench. In my case, I chose to add a mixture of 3/4 composted horse manure, 1/8 sphagnum peat moss, and 1/8 recycled used coffee grounds. Once I covered the compost in he trench over with the top soil, I also spread a thin layer of soil acidifier, peat moss, coffee grounds, and compost to the surface of the soil and covered that with mulch. Double digging the entire bed, by myself, by hand (including hauling the manure from a pile to the back yard) took me approximately 15 hours of time, spread out over several weekends. (It also caused me to grow Pop-eye like muscles ;) and gave me a nasty, blistering sunburn!!)

Luckily, I should only have to double dig this garden ONCE.  Now that the soil has been loosened, and a base layer of organic matter has been added, I can maintain the soil more easily in the future simply by adding compost to the hole when I plant, and spread about an inch or so thick over the surface of the soil.  Also, now that all of the roots have been removed, digging holes for planting will be WAY easier! 

 MY CHOSEN SOIL AMENDMENTS

I spread my soil amendments about 2-3 inches thick along the bottom of the trench that I double-dug, and then mixed the topsoil back over and in with the amendments. The amendment mixture I used was made up of the following: 

1. Composted Horse Manure -  I do make my own compost, but did not have nearly enough to cover the 300 square foot area of my garden.   So I loaded up a truck with some lovely, FREE, composted manure from Brighton Rec Stables.  3/4 of my added soil amendment was made up of horse manure. Horse manure is high in organic matter and has NPK values of approximately 0.7-0.3-0.6.  (Please see this website for more information on the nutrient content of various manure types: Manure NPK.) As you can see, the nitrogen content is low enough that I do not need to worry about "burning" my plants.  Actually, unless you bury your plant with a ridiculous amount of fresh, wet manure, it is very difficulty to cause harm to most plants.

Cute compost makers!

2. Recycled Coffee Grounds - Starbucks, and other coffee vendors will give you their used coffee grounds for FREE if you ask for them at the front counter. 1/8 of my added soil amendment mix was made up of used coffee grounds. These grounds have an NPK value of 2.28-0.06-0.6 and a pH of 6.2. They are also high in copper, and earthworms love to munch on them! (For more information see test results at the Sunset website.)  There is a rumor going around that used coffee grounds are dangerously acidic.  This is not true.  Ideal soil pH is 6.8.  Used coffee grounds have a pH of 6.2 and are being mixed with your native soil.  Once mixed with the soil, the pH of the coffee grounds is negligible.  Unless you are planting in pure used coffee grounds, or soil that is mostly made up of coffee grounds, this should not be a problem. It is even less of a problem in my garden, with my super alkaline soil of pH 7.8.  My soil needs to be acidified!

3. Sphagnum Peat Moss - Peat moss contains little in the way of nutrients (NPK), but is great for adding organic material to the soil. 1/8 of my soil amendment mix was made up of peat moss. The peat moss helps to hold moisture and nutrients in the soil.  It also has a very acidic pH of 4.0 (way more acid than coffee grounds!).  This pH is low enough to actually lower the pH of the native soil and is often used to acidify the soil around azaleas and blueberries.  Because my soil was so alkaline (pH 7.8), I chose to add a small amount of this as a soil amendment along with my compost and coffee grounds. 

Raking the soil back into the trench after adding soil amendments.

4. Soil Acidifier - The soil acidifier that I used was 30% sulfur.  The package recommended using 12lbs per 100 square foot of garden space for every 1 point in pH reduction desired.  I only used about 6 lbs over the entire 300 square foot space.  The reason that I used less than was recommended was because I was already adding peat moss, coffee grounds and compost to the soil. The combination of these items, especially the peat moss, should lower the pH somewhat already.  I did not want to lower the pH too much. Therefore, I added much less acidifier than recommended.  In the spring, I will test the soil pH again and will add more acidifier if needed.  The reason that I am not testing the soil pH now is because I want to give the earthworms, insects, weather, water, and "Mother Nature" in general time to "mix" my soil additives in to the native soil of the garden.  By the time spring arrives, the peat moss and sulfur should be worked in to the soil enough to change the pH somewhat.  I can make adjustments from there.

5. Mulch -- I already had some wood-chip mulch on the garden bed, left over from the previous owner.  However, this mulch had partially decomposed and was not enough to cover the surface of the bed to a depth of 1-2 inches as I would prefer.  So, this fall, I will be dumping shredded leaves from the local oak trees onto the bed as a mulch.  This will help hold moisture in the soil and prevent weeds.  Leaves are also very high in nutrients and break down into "leaf mold" as they decompose.  In addition, earth worms, beneficial bacteria and beneficial fungi love to eat them!  They should greatly enhance the viability of the soil over all.

Note:  Everyone's soil is different! Please test your own soil and decide what you want to add to your particular soil.   If you have acidic soil, you may want to add lime to "sweeten"/add alkalinity to the soil.  If your soil is neutral or between 6.8-7.0, you don't need to adjust the pH and may only want to add compost.  If you have heavy clay soil, you may want to add a lot more compost than I did. (Never add sand to clay soil! Never add clay to sandy soil! This will turn your soil into CEMENT!! Do add compost instead!)  If you need advice about what to add to your soil, please get a soil test and/or contact your local extension office for advice! Click here for the link to MSU extension "Ask an Expert".  Click here to find out how to test your soil.

SOIL IMPROVEMENT PLANS FOR NEXT SPRING

 Next spring, I will be planting vegetables in the garden.  Before I do this, I will be adding corn gluten meal (organic Nitrogen - N), bone meal (organic phosphorus - P), and potash (organic potassium - K) to the soil in the amounts recommended by the soil test that I had done by the MSU lab.

My home-made compost before and after.

I will also be adding 2lbs of azomite rock dust to the soil in order to boost some of the trace mineral elements in the soil.  Azomite only has an NPK of 0-0-0.2.  But it contains 67 other elements including  1.8% calcium, 0.5% magnesium, 0.1% chlorine, and 0.1% sodium. 

In addition, I will test my soil pH again with a home soil pH testing kit to see if I need to add more soil acidifier or not.

Finally, as I plant each vegetable, I will add some of my home-made compost to the hole and soil surface for an extra boost, as well as to help maintain the amount of organic matter in the soil.

FUTURE SOIL MAINTENANCE 

To keep my soil healthy, I will continue to add compost and/or manure to the soil each time I plant.  I will put some compost in the hole, and will spread some over the surface.  I will also add a thin layer of coffee grounds each year, as well as the recommended amount of corn gluten meal to keep up the level of nitrogen.  Nitrogen needs to be added yearly in a controlled amount because it dissipates into the plants, and into the air over time.   I will continue to mulch with leaves in order to keep up the level of minerals in the soil.  I plan to test my soil pH yearly using a kit from the local big box store, and to get a soil lab test every 3-5 years, or if my plants show signs of problems.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SOIL & COMPOSTING SEE MY PREVIOUS BLOG ARTICLES:

Pimp My Soil!!
Pimp My Soil - Part Deux!   
Soil - Timing is Everything
MI Free Compost
Make Compost Tea
Red Worms & DIY Vermicomposting

Follow me via:

Twitter: @alhramAndrea

Pinterest: @MiLakeGarden
Facebook: Mi Lake Home Garden

Instagram: @MiLakeHomeGarden

NOW GET OUT THERE AND DIG!!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!! DIG!!

DIG!! DIG!! 

 DIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Make Compost Tea (as easy as 1,2,3!)

2016 Addendum:  As Oprah says, "When you know better, you do better..."  

Since posting this, I have learned that research has shown that compost tea may not be as useful as advertised.  There is some question as to how many and what type of bacteria it adds to the soil, and whether the nutrient content is as effective as just mulching with compost.  There is also a risk with spraying the tea onto leaves that you are going to eat - it may spread bacteria over the plants that could cause disease in humans.

On the other hand, there is some evidence that spraying plants with compost tea may have an effect on whether a plant can stand up to certain diseases.  Compost tea may also help to improve plant growth if the plants are set in very poor soil.

With these pro's & con's in mind, I would suggest the following: 

1. Always work to improve the soil first by adding organic material (compost, manure etc.) directly to the soil first.   This is likely all you need to do.

2. If you choose to use compost tea anyway, please avoid spraying it over plants that you eat.  It would be awful to contract an e. coli infection (or other infection) from eating a plant covered in bacteria from compost tea! Perhaps consider only using it on inedible perennials that could use a health boost... and then only with caution. Wash your hands well after use, and avoid spraying at a time when children and pets may be around the sprayed plants.

For more information about this please see:

 Alberta Urban Garden:
Does Compost Tea Work?
Does Compost Tea Work? - 2 

Linda Chalker-Scott Wisconsin State University:
The Myth of Compost Tea part 1  
The Myth of Compost Tea part 2
The Myth of Compost Tea part 3
 
 

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Compost tea makes a great nutrient enhancer for your garden.  It is a "liquid feed" that adds nitrogen, micronutrients and beneficial bacteria to the soil.  To apply it, you just water your plants with it.

Making it is also simple.

YOU WILL NEED:

1 bucket

2 cups of compost and/or manure. (See my previous bog post for sources of free compost.)

1 6"x6" (give or take) piece of permeable cloth (cheese cloth or burlap work well)

1/4 cup molasses (ok to substitute sugar, corn syrup or honey)

String

Water -- Note: If you have city water, do

 NOT use water straight from the tap because it contains chlorine that may kill off the composting bacteria. Use either rain water, or water that has sat overnight in a bucket so that the chlorine can evaporate.

Fish tank bubbler (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

First, collect about 2 cups of compost and place it in a square of cloth.

Next, tie the cloth shut with string to form a giant compost "tea bag" and tie it so it is dangling into a bucket.

Then, add about 1/4 cup of molasses to the bucket and fill it to the top with water. (The molasses provides sugar to feed the bacteria as well as some micronutrients.) 

Let the mixture steep for at least 48 hours.  

OPTIONAL: If you have a fish tank bubbler, you can use it to add oxygen to the mixture. This will help the bacteria proliferate more quickly.

Once the mixture has finished steeping, you can either apply it directly to the garden, or store it in jugs for later use.

Happy gardening!

MI Free Compost

 Need an idea about how to amend your soil cheaply?  Here are the 4 ways that I obtain compost, as well as some additional suggestions:

My 4 Free Compost Sources:

1. I make my own compost in bins from a mix of waste kitchen scraps, egg shells, weeds and fall leaves. I punched holes in the sides of 2 old trash cans and add my scraps to these. This is a slow composting method, because the piles are not large and do not get turned often, but it works!

2. I also compost in a worm bin. The "300 Hermans" munch on shredded paper and food scraps to produce nutrient rich worm castings. Check out my post to learn how to start your own worm bin: http://milakehomegarden.blogspot.com/2015/03/critter-of-month-eisenia-fetida.html?m=1

3. The staff at Brighton Rec Stables have been kind enough to let me recycle their horse/goat/alpaca manure. I shovel it into garbage bags and bring it back to my garden. Gregarious animals are the ultimate compost factories if you think about it.  Plant matter goes in one end and compost comes out the other!  It is best to let manure rot for a while to avoid "burning" plants with excess nitrogen.  A few weeks in the hot sun is usually long enough to wait.  The manure should be crumbly and dry before use as the urine moisture is the main source of nitrogen -- nitrogen is what may "burn" the plants.  This "burning" is not as big a concern as some people think, however.  Manure has a nitrogen level around 10 to 12 when fresh. Farmers use fertilizers with nitrogen levels up to 15. People often buy 10-10-10 or 12-12-12 fertilizers for their lawn.  So, unless you have a very nitrogen sensitive plant, or you bury your plant in an overly- large pile of manure, you should not have a problem.  Simply let the manure dry, and add an inch or so to the soil surface, an inch or two distance from the plant stem ( to avoid stem rot). Or, work a couple inches of the manure into the soil before planting.

4. Starbucks gives away free coffee grounds to anyone who asks for them. Coffee grounds are high in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK: 2.1-0.3-0.3) as well as magnesium, copper, calcium, zinc and iron.   For pracitical applications, I recommend adding about 1/4 inch or so to the soil surface as top dressing, or working up to an inch or so into the soil before planting. Contrary to popular belief, coffee grounds will NOT acidify your soil. They actually have the same pH as ordinary bagged garden soil from your local big box store (approximate pH of 6.8 -- remember pH 7 is neutral).  If you want to acidify your soil, I suggest adding sulfur and/or peat moss. If your soil is too acidic, I suggest adding lime or a limited/careful amount of wood ash. Fertilizing with coffee will not make much difference unless you bury your garden in the stuff.

Other Free Compost Suggestions:

1. Live near or work in a restaurant? I bet they have a ton of waste food scraps and/or coffee grounds that you could ask for.

2. Live near or work in a hair salon? Hair makes great compost! Just make sure to avoid dyes or processed hair scraps - those contain chemicals.

3. Got chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs or other veggie-eating pets? Their pellets and waste bedding make great compost. 

WARNING: Do NOT use dog or cat poop. Their stool carries diseases such as toxoplasmosis and others that can be a risk to humans. Unsure if your pet's stool is safe to compost? Ask your veterinarian for advice.

4. Live near a lake or ocean? Washed up seaweed makes good compost. But please, only take what is already dead. Do not harm plants living in the environment.

5. Is your neighbor throwing out fall leaves? Take them home with you! Leaf mold makes great mulch and compost.

6. Generally, grass clippings should be left on your lawn to fertilize the lawn. But if you are knocking down a thick, over-grown field, save the grass clippings! They make a nitrogen-rich compost.

7. Some cities, counties and trash dumps make free or cheap compost as part of their recycling program. Google your local municipality to see if this is available to you.

8. Are you a fishmonger, or do you live near one?  Fish skeletons and left over bits make good compost once they rot. Just be sure to compost these in a bin that you can secure against raccoons and other vermin that may enjoy fish.  Also place your bin downwind, as it may stink!

9. Human urine is also high in Nitrogen.  It can be diluted and poured on the soil.  This is generally safe as long as the person producing the urine does not have a urinary tract infection. 

DO NOT use human stool! Human stool contains e-coli, cholera and other nasties that spread disease.  It takes over 10 years for human stool to break down enough to be safe as a manure - so just skip it, okay!?!

Remember: Compost is best to apply in late fall to help protect over-wintering plants (like mulch) or early spring.  It can also be added to any new garden bed as part of preparation for planting.

I hope that these ideas are helpful. Now get out there and dig!

Make hay while the sun shines!