6/22/10
Success! I did a small
experiment on our Bindweed issue yesterday by spraying the weeds
with simple household apple cider vinegar near our plot. It killed
the leafage (?) that it came in contact with. It does not kill the
roots like Roundup, but it is cheap and "organic". What will help as
well, is if we add some cheap dishsoap to the vinegar. This will
allow the vinegar to stick to the foliage bettter.What we have to do
with it is be more persistent than the weed. I will go buy a
handheld sprayer and a spray bottle (for inside the beds) and leave
it at the garden for all to use. I say this to everyone because if
we are not persistent and all take a part the weeds will come back.
I saw Naomi at the garden this afternoon and she mentioned that she
has extra vinegar at home. If anyone else is in the same situation
or just wants to go buy some cheap apple cider vinegar, that would
de-vine! Pun intended!
Let's get a handle on this nuisance once and for all!
Happy gardening,
Bob
P.S. If there were any doubts about the good that we are doing.
While digging out weed from my bed I found numerous worms that
looked very happy!
5/7/10
We are ordering an amended
clay/silt planter's mix for delivery this Friday. Thanks to
Jerry Katz for applying his contractor's discount leverage.
We have received a spreadsheet of soil test results from
Colorado State University. We already knew that the soil was
deficient in organic content. It's not unusual for our area
soils to have a high pH. It's good news that the salinity is
low.
We can consider greensand and other mineral supplements for
the other nutrients, although we would avoid bone meal and
blood meal (remember Mad Cow?)
Time to get to work. We will need many hands and shovels to
fill five of the six frames. (Miriam will work her own magic
by composting the existing soil. We will also be using
compost Miriam is ordering from Windsor Dairy, an organic,
raw-milk dairy.)
These people are planning to plant this season:
Fred Karp
Kimberly Turnbow
Bob Goldman
Miriam Grynberg
Scott Wasserman
Naomi Kirshner
The Cohen Family
If you're not one of the people and you'd like to work part
of a plot, please let me know. (If you are on the list and
would like off, better tell me that, too.)
Please consider coming over to move the dirt this Sunday
after 10:30 a.m. Bring gloves, a spade and if you can, a
wheelbarrow. It's Mother's Day - remember Mother Earth!
5/5/10
The topsoil and the compost
will be delivered Friday morning. On Sunday I'll bring a
wheelbarrow (one more would be useful), but it shouldn't
have to put on much mileage. Some of the compost will be
moved over toward the playground for use in the pre-school
planter boxes. Anyone able and willing to bring and operate
a shovel and rake will be welcome.
5/4/10
We had to make a decision on
compost to fertilize the soil for each plot in the garden:
We have four possible sources of "clean" [no unnatural
fertilizer] compost:
1. A-1 Organics EcoGrow, from facility near I-25 and State
66 east of Longmont, or from Lee Hill Peat in Boulder
2. A-1 Organics Premium 3, from facility near I-25 and State
66 east of Longmont
3. Alpaca manure from Golden
4. Dairy manure from Windsor Dairy east of Loveland
(unconfirmed)
And our decision is? Windsor Farms would be our best
available source of soil amendment. We need to find a price
and firm delivery date by the end of the Monday, May 3. We
will use 1.5 cubic yards on the existing plots, but we might
acquire more for expansion in the fall or next spring.
The volume for 9 inches of amended topsoil is:
6 beds x 5 ft x 12 ft x 8/12 ft per bed = 270 cubic feet =
10.0 cubic yards
Nick's price is $32.99 per cubic yard + $75.00 delivery, or
$404.90.
All of these materials will require pickup at the source.
Most pickup trucks will carry 1.5 yards, about a thousand
pounds. The loaders, at least at the A-1 Platteville
facility, are large and would not load into an enclosed
truck. They are also available only on weekdays.
And a recent development:
As we are committed to raised beds and, after discussion, we
will be ordering topsoil with hope of taking delivery by
Friday.
And now:
All six beds are built [required four pieces of wood
connected to form a square to place on the ground for soil
and compost to be placed into it]! Many thanks to Naomi
Kirshner and Wayne Turnbow who helped. The beds are stacked,
but can be easily laid out when all of the burlap is down
and we have more hands. HOORAY!
With good weather and enough hands to operate wheelbarrow(s)
and shovels, we could fill the beds on May 9. With the
installation of water lines, our earliest planting date
could be May 16.
HELP NEEDED:
E-mail Fred Karp if interested.
4/27/10
Although we have sent off a soil sample from the garden site
to CSU for testing, we already know that we need better soil. We
will order soil and compost to go into each bed. Ideally, we would
buy a topsoil amended with compost to avoid separate delivery
charges, but we haven't found the right "clean" compost (made with
dairy or poultry wastes free of antibiotics or hormones). > The
current compost candidates are from A-1 Organics: Biocompost, which
is made exclusively from vegetable materials, and Premium 3, which,
if our information proves correct, includes animal waste from a
local organic dairy and is free of antibiotics and hormones.
Here are the next steps:
- Order soil and compost
- Lay out black plastic over the "alleyways" adjacent to each bed
- Buy wood and hardware and build frames for each bed
- Receive the test results. We want to know that there are no contaminants
in the soil.
- Fill each bed with soil and compost
- Rig the hose and drip system
- Plant! Grow! Harvest! Learn! Enjoy!
1. This Friday Bob Goldman will lay down cardboard and burlap to
suppress weeds. Both will decompose gradually and will not be a
barrier to water.
HELP NEEDED:
Can someone get to the area before Friday to rake out some of the
tilled weeds? Regardless of barriers and new soil on top, weeds
usually find a way.
E-mail Fred Karp if interested.
2. Kimberly is buying materials for frames today.
HELP NEEDED:
Can anyone help construct the frames on Sunday morning between 7:30
and 9:00? Bring an electric drill.
E-mail Fred Karp if interested.
3. The two candidates for compost are Ecogrow and Premium 3 (P3),
both sold by A-1 Organics.
Ecogrow is a non-animal compost. The nearest Ecogrow distributor, in
Boulder, does not deliver to Denver.
We are waiting for information about the source of the dairy waste
that is in P3. We will buy P3 and have it delivered if it comes from
an organic dairy.
HELP NEEDED:
If we need it, would anyone be able to rent a U-Haul truck and haul
Ecogrow back from Boulder?
E-mail Fred Karp if interested.
