After weeks of waiting, we’ve finally been able to enjoy the fruits of our labor from our home vegetable garden we planted back in May.  As you can see in the picture above it’s very  different from the barren look it had in May.  So far we’ve enjoyed a number of fresh spinach salads and more recently my second favorite garden vegetable: Squash.  Unfortunately, it’s getting a little to hot for the spinach and it’s yellowing up quickly.   We’ve considered planting something in it’s place, any suggestions?  Here’s a shot of our first two yellow squash:

These little guys were floured and fried soon after this picture was taken, and man were they good.  Yes, we fried them…we’re in the South, we fry everything   Seriously, we don’t actually fry foods much, but fried squash is one of the treats we love.  We ate ourselves into oblivion, even our kids love it.

The cabbage is growing, although not near as fast as I would like.  I mentioned yellow squash was my second favorite, cabbage is my favorite.  I love it fresh in salads, boiled, and fried as well.  Yes, fried cabbage.  I’m surprised at the number of people that have never heard of fried cabbage.  Here’s how you make it:

Get  pack of bacon and fry it in large, deep frying pan.  While the bacon’s frying chop the cabbage up into pieces about 1″ by 1″ square.  Once the bacon is done, pull the bacon out, but leave the grease.  Put the cabbage in, crumble the bacon up into small pieces and mix in with the cabbage.  Cover tightly and cook for about 20 minutes or so.  Make sure you stir it so it doesn’t burn.  Once done, serve.  It’s that easy.

Fried cabbage is incredibly unhealthy, but man is it good.  Nobody else in my family likes it, so I don’t get it often at all, but can’t wait to make some for this year.  Anybody have a good recipe for cabbage soup?  I’ve heard it’s tasting as well and would love to try it.

Other veggies such as our tomato’s, okra, zucchini, carrots, cucumbers, and green beans are all coming along nicely.  It’s been a bit dry here, so that has slowed the growth down a bit.  Fortunately it rained all day yesterday, so I’m hoping that speeds things up again.  I’m pretty confident we’ll get some tomatoes next, as they are starting to go from green to orange.

A family affair

Our whole family enjoys the garden and our kids love checking in on it daily to see how things are coming along and especially pulling anything that’s ready.  My 6 year old thought it was the coolest thing to pull the squash, take it down the house and eat it a few minutes later.   I have to say it’s been a rewarding experience planting the seeds, tending to the weeds, turning the soil and in the process watching the plants slowly grow and now finally bearing the eatable vegetables.  To be honest, I think we’re going to get more than we can eat, and will most likely share with our neighbors.

The garden has also been very educational for our children as well, as I think they literally though that vegetables either: 1) Just appeared at the grocery store or 2) Were made in a factory.  They’ve learned a great deal through planting the seeds and watching the plants grow.  They are amazed at how different each plant is.  My younger kids were shocked to learn hat carrots grew in the ground and were pretty much a root.

Compost Update

The compost cooking in the compost bin I built is coming along rather nicely as well.  One side has been cooking since the end of May.  We stopped adding to it in June due to the one side being full.  Now, it’s about half full of what is now rich but still not fully broken down organic material.  The other side we continue to add to.  About every two weeks while the kids are inspecting the garden, I spend 10 minutes or so turning the compost.  This not only ensures the necessary air exposure is provided but also makes sure the areas that aren’t cooking get mixed in.  Each time I’ve turned it, I’ve noticed a considerable amount of heat in the center, which is exactly what you want.

If things continue on track, come September, I should have some nice and rich compost material to throw on the garden to not only prepare it for the spring, but we’ve also considered keeping a winter garden.  I’m still researching if that’s possible since we get such cold temperatures here in the winter.  Cleaning out the main bin will also provide me with some space to put all the leaves I’m sure we’ll get again this fall.  Leaves make for great composting material.

One project I’ll need to build before then is a compost screen.   Our compost has lots of large sticks and even a few rocks that need to be removed.  Not really sure how all of that got in there though…kids maybe?  I even found a few plastic plant leaves over the weekend…huh?

Anyway, that’s the update on our vegetable garden.  How’s your’s coming along?  Add a comment!

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Building a compost bin is something I’ve had on my list of things to do to ever since we moved here to the mountains. Compost is a great soil amendment for vegetable and flower gardens.  Mature compost is the result of the natural breakdown of organic waste.  Composting is the ultimate in recycling and considering organic waste makes up for more than 24% of municipal waste, composting is a great way to help the environment and save money.

Two weeks ago, I visited our local Lowes and picked up the wood and hardware needed to  start building a compost bin.  I love building things, especially when my kids help as I get to teach them.  Building a compost bin turned out to not only be a useful project, but a fun a fun family project as well.

Compost bin design

I started out initially with a compost pile over near the woods behind our vegetable garden.  Using a compost pile is a frugal way to get started, but not the most efficient way to generate or maintain good compost.  Let me briefly overview some of the more popular ways to compost.  I’ll touch on the advantages and disadvantages of each:

• Compost pile – Obviously the most frugal choice.  Find an out of the way location and start piling.  Advantages: inexpensive Disadvantages: eye sore, doesn’t produce mature compost quickly, can attract animals.
  
• Wire bin – Another frugal choice.  Just take some chicken wire (or similar fencing), make a cylinder out of it and begin mixing your compost inside.  Advantages: inexpensive, better than a compost pile Disadvantages: Difficult to “turn”, doesn’t produce compost quickly
• Compost Barrel – A compost barrel produces compost quickly and makes turning your compost a snap.  Two of the many different barrel products are the Spinning Horizontal Composter and the Tumbleweed Composter.  Advantages: fast compost, easy turning, attractive option Disadvantages: Somewhat expensive, makes a small amount of compost, will rust over time.
• Wooden Bin – A wooden bin produces compost quickly and can be built to contain multiple bins to facilitate making more compost.  There are tons of plans on the internet.  Advantages: Attractive, can be built specifically for your needs, adjusted to your budget, fun – if you enjoy wood working. Disadvantages: Heavy, can be pricey, not the best solution for the non-do it yourselfer.

Building a compost bin

After researching several plans, I decided to go with a plan I found on Lowes.com.  It had a material list, was the size I needed, and was a multiple bin plan.  I also really liked the way it looked and the plan included lockable covers, which was important for me in order to keep the critters (and our dogs) out.

If you can do basic wood construction, you can assemble this bin.  The most difficult part is making it square.  If you decide to go this route, invest in a good carpenter square.  I promise, you’ll be glad you did.

I took the materials list to our local Lowes and purchased all of the wood and hardware.  Make sure you get everything you need on the first trip.  Nothing worse than having to stop your project in the middle and head to the hardware store.  Total cost for me was $350.00, but you could save some money by using scrap wood or existing hardware you may already have.  Don’t use non-treated wood though, or your bin won’t last long.

Assembly took about 10 hours.  Although if I had been doing it by myself (i.e. no kiddos), I think it would have been more like 6-8 hours.  The plans from Lowe’s are good, but not perfect.

Here’s the end result:

One of the best features of this plan is that the wooden slats you see in the front are removable.  If you look closely, you’ll see that they actually slide into tracks and stack on top of each other.  There is a 1/4″ gap between the boards to allow for air-flow to the compost.  The gaps were obtained by placing two screws in the bottom of each slat and leaving them out 1/4″.  The removable slats make loading, unloading, and turning your compost so much easier.

The plan also has a raised floor which helps keep your compost dry and allows airflow into the bottom of the compost bin.   The lids also ease access to your compost, but protect it from being invaded by critters.  In area that could be anything from our dogs to bears, but most likely racoons.

Overall I think it turned out very nice.  It’s not perfect, but hey it’s a compost bin, not a piece of furniture right? One of the problems is that the plans from Lowes aren’t perfect.  Let me share a few tips I learned along the way:

• If you aren’t real experienced at building wood projects, pick up an extra piece of wood for each size.  The plans specify the exact amount of wood you will need.  One bad cut, and you won’t have enough wood.  As my grandfather and father used to always reinforce to me: “Measure twice, cut once“.  You can always use the extra wood for other projects you’ll have.
• Use the step by step plans and not the downloadable diagram for measurements.  They don’t match and the diagram is wrong.  Use the diagram just as a visual reference.
• The materials tells you to buy two boxes of most nails and screws.  Buy one.   I have unopened extra boxes.  I’m ok with that, as I always need them, but if you don’t do much wood work, it’s a waste of money.
• As you build the compost bin, constantly check to make sure it’s horizontally and vertically square.  If you don’t, it will make putting in the slats and top far more difficult.
• Once you get the frame built, place it where you are going to keep it permanently.  The completed compost bin is heavy.  We made the mistake of assembling it in our driveway.  Fortunately I have 5 boys and a truck, so we were able to load it up and hauled it up to our garden.  But it was HEAVY.  I’m guessing at completion (with no compost) it weights around 300lbs due to the treated wood.
• One area of the plan that was NOT clear is how long to cut the the 2×2s for the lid.  Measure from the back to the front of the slats.  The plan seems to imply that you measure from the back to back of the slats.  If you did this (like I did), the locks for your lid won’t work.  I had to cut two small pieces of 2×2 to place the locks on so they would work.  Look at the locks on the right side in the picture and you’ll see what I mean.
• While you can do this project with a handsaw, there is enough cutting that a power circular saw would be highly recommended.  If you don’t have one, pay the extra for a Dewalt.  A Dewalt  saw is not the most frugal option, but it cuts wood like a hot knife through butter and will last you forever.  I believe that paying more for quality tools is worth it in the long run.  I’ve had mine for over 5 years and it’s never skipped a beat.

Filling it up with compost materials

Once we had it placed, we moved the compost pile into the bin.  This gave me a chance to interweave some fresh material and also aerate the pile.  I thought our pile would fill up at least 1 bin and most likely 1/2 of the other.  Turns out in only filed about 3/4 of the one bin.

The secret to successful composting is the proper layering and ratio of materials.  You want 1/3 green and 2/3 brown.  Green includes things like: grass clippings, vegetable peelings, manure, seaweed, plants and plant cuttings.  Seaweed?  Yes, I compost the extra algae growth from my saltwater aquarium.  Brown materials include: leaves, hay, coffee grounds, shredded paper, wood ash, sawdust, and teas bags.  Layering your bit with green and brown materials in the right mixture is critical to having a productive compost pile.  Don’t use full sheets of paper or newspaper, as they will just compact your compost pile.  Also, shred leaves before placing them in the bin to avoid the same problem.  An easy way to do this is to run over the leaves with a lawn mower a few times.

You can see here in this picture the initial layering when we loaded the new bin:

I’ve since added more grass clippings to the top.  All the white is shredded paper out of my paper shredder.  I’ve also started the second bin as well with a base of dry leaves I found under our deck.  Leaves make for great compost.

To hold kitchen scraps until we can take them up to the bin, we keep a 5-gallon bucket with a lid next to the trash and other recylables.  You can pick up the bucket and lid at Lowe’s for next to nothing in the painting area.  Here’s a picture:

Now we wait.  Mature compost generally takes 3-6 months depending on the materials.  The only care and maintenance required is to turn the materials every few weeks to keep things aerated.  Airflow is a critical component to good compost.

A tell tale sign that your compost is maturing and breaking down properly is the temperature at the center.  It should be between 110 and 160 degrees F.  Yes, that hot.  It surprised me too.  I have a long stem thermometer and tested my temperature last week: 120 degrees F.  So I’m composting away!  (yeah I know, I’m excited about compost…my wife picks on me too).

We’re adding new compost materials to the second bin now, while the first bin “cooks”.  I plan to build a compost sifter soon too using some scrap wood and left hard hardware fencing I have.  This will allow us to filter out all of the materials that didn’t fully breakdown and have good clean compost.

To make sure I turn it on time, I’ve added repeating entries to my Google calendar to remind me.  Most experts recommend turning it every 4 weeks, so that’s what I’m doing.  I’ll keep you posted!

Composting Resources

Here are some really good resources I found on composting you should check out:

• Blue Ridge Gardener – Compost Resources
• Vermicomposting – This is on my list too.
• EPA site on Composting
• Composting 101
• Cornell University Composting
• Compost Confidential

Do you compost?  Have any tips you can share?  What type of compost bin do you use?  Add a comment!

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My wife loves working outside and gardening.  As a child, she worked with her parents on their home vegetable garden and has always had a vegetable garden of some kind since we purchased our first home.  Until now, we never had much room for a large vegetable garden.  Prior to this year, we used alternative methods which included a container vegetable garden and square foot gardening.  Those worked well of course, but never really yielded a large amount of vegetables, at least not enough for canning which is something I’d really like to do.  I love canned green beans and corn.

Finally some room

One of the many things we liked about our new mountain home was that we finally had some land.  My wife started our garden during the winter by purchasing seeds and planting them in seed starters.  We literally had a miniature green house on our front deck  most of the winter.  We also picked out a location, which wasn’t hard.  Our lot is heavily slopped.  We literally live on the side of a pretty steep mountain.  We aren’t sure why, but for some reason up behind our house is a “cut” in the hill that is about the only large flat area of land we have.

From the picture above, it’s difficult to appreciate how steep the hill really his, but to give you some perspective, our home is about 15 feet behind where I am standing but I am above the roof.  Literally right behind where I am standing in this picture is a very steep drop with a path leading down to our back deck.  Here’s a shot to show you what I mean:

Nothing like a vegetable garden with a view huh?

All of the grass, sticks and natural debris we cleaned up prior to and during tilling went into a pile towards the woods.  This was the start for our compost pile so we can avoid having to purchase the compost from Lowe’s in the future.  Right now, we have a compost pile, but I’m building a nice two bin compost container.  More on that later.

Tilling the vegetable garden

About a month ago, we borrowed my father in-laws rear tine tiller and spent most of a Saturday tilling.  Yes, it took us all day.  We started off using our cultivating tiller (highly recommended) and quickly realized it just wasn’t going cut it for the initial till.  Ever tried tilling fresh ground in the mountains?  Here’s how it goes: till, till, rock, till, till, rock.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

Unfortunately we found two rather large rocks that I still haven’t figured out how to remove.  If you look close in the picture above, one of them is the white/gray area just above the rake.  My son jokingly suggested dynamite.  After trying a number of different options, I’m beginning to think he might have been right!

As you can see from the picture, we did finally finish tilling.  The following weekend, we headed to the local Lowe’s and purchased about 10 bags of mushroom and black cow compost to enrich the soil. We spread it out and used our cultivating tiller to mix it in real good.  We intended to plant that weekend as well, but it started raining.

Planting the vegetable garden

We were able to finally plant 2 weekends ago.  We raked up dirt into small mounds in rows down the length of the garden.  We then found a few sticks about 1-2″ in diameter and poked holes about 1 foot apart in the mounds.  Per the instructions on the seed packs, we placed seeds into the holes and covered them.  We used small sticks and the seed bags to mark our plants so we can tell what is where until they begin to grow.

For the seedlings my wife grew over the winter, we followed the same procedure, just using a small hand shovel instead of a stick.  These were primarily tomatoes, but a few others as well.  Growing the seedlings was an experiment that turned out pretty well.  We plan to grow far more seedlings next year.  Given the late frosts and freezes we have here in the mountains, using the seedlings is a great way to get ahead of the game without risking losing plants.

Waiting and more work

So now we wait.  I am not a patient person, as I am sure my wife will attest too.  I go up and check each night to see if anything has broken through the soil.  So far, nothing yet!  In the mean time, I am working on a few related projects.  We’re planning out how to best tie up the vines and tomatoes.  I’m also really getting into composting.  We currently have a compost pile, but I’m building a 2 bin compost bin to put up there.  I’ll write up a whole article on this project along with another on composting very soon.  Composting is a great way to not only save money, but reduce your waste as well.

Do you have a home vegetable garden?  How big is yours?  How long have you been vegetable gardening?  Share your story and thoughts on vegetable gardening by adding a comment!

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