university of alabama urban gardens

2010-04-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

The garden at Will's is starting to come up rather nicely. The paper that we laid has managed to stay in place after burying the edges. We do have a problem on one end of the lettuce bed however. One end the lettuce is coming in very well and is getting ready for harvest, but the other end is almost the same size as when it was planted. We suspect a fungal infection of some kind. Everything else is doing well, we even have a pumpkin plant that has spouted out of our compost pile. Will plans to transplant it into a pot and see how well it does just as an experiment. The project as a whole has done much better than I had anticipated. The compost took longer to decompose than I had thought, but it is looking good now. The only real problems are the one with the lettuce that I have already addressed along with a little leaf wilt and insects. With this inspiration I have decided to try a small container of my own on my balcony. I have planted peppers that are growing well, and cucumbers that are just now starting to sprout. Hopefully they will both work out.

Capitol School Garden Evaluation

2010-04-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Things are growing splendidly now that the weather has warmed up! When I went to water this afternoon, I spoke with Mrs. Hill and have a complete things to update.

The lettuces and radishes are being picked by Mrs. Hill's students tomorrow! They are going to make a salad. There is one strawberry plant that has three small strawberries on it! She's very excited about what we've done there. I had to move the six hanging baskets to the front of the elementary school building (the blue building) by the terracotta pots. Some parents were complaining about the aesthetics of the hanging pots and replaced them with some hanging ferns.

After talking to to my group today, we decided that if we could change things about our project we would:

Put the garden at someone's house to make it more conveinent to water, plant, and access the garden space.
Grow on a larger scale. Some of us felt very limited by the size constraints of the Capitol School Container Garden.
Would not have chosen certain vegetables that have frost-date constraints to avoid the planting towards the end of the semester when all of us are extremely busy.
We wish we would have integrated our planting and seed starting with Mrs. Hill's class. We would have liked to do more with her class.
We would have liked to talk to all of the teachers at the Capitol School to explain what we are doing, our goals, and how their classes can get involved.

We all agreed the lettuces and radishes worked really well. Mrs. Hill said all of the kids come look at the pots each day and are very careful around them. There are even some kids who have named each of the plants! We think we worked really well together despite our schedule, time constraints with the planting dates, and intended outcomes in this project.

Our overall evaluation of this project is that we are busy students who despite our scheduling conflicts worked together to give kids some vegetables to look forward to preparing a salad. There are still some more things that need to be done over the next week in preparation for our final project presentation. We need to finish the sunflower bed and plant the tomato/cucumber plants. Some of our group will be out there doing that Thursday and Friday.

Thanks for reading our blog.
-Capitol School Garden Group

Capitol School

2010-04-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

SOoo.... Our compost project is doing really well right now. If you remember, we were the group that were doing the vermicomposting in the plastic chest of drawers type apparatus. We have continued adding food scraps and shredded paper. We have kept the bin in a semi dark place and therefore are able to keep moisture in the bin so as not to dry out the worms. Our worms are doing fairly well. We are hoping that sometime in the near future we can harvest some compost from the worms. We have tried to address some of the earlier problems we were having (mold and food not being broken down) and are making a little headway on that. In our project at the capitol school, we used compost from the farm and so we are very sure that it is a very rich compost. If we have to add substantial amounts of compost, we will probably get it from the farm or from the compost piles at the UA arboretum. As of now, we have not needed any more large amounts of compost and as I said earlier, hope to be able to use the vermicompost soon.

Garden Progress

2010-04-07T18:15:00.001-07:00

The garden has two beds fully planted. We've halved the middle bed - one side broccoli, one side lettuce. We did this just because of the number of lettuce and broccoli we had - just enough to split a bed between them. On this bed we've used the unprinted newsprint as the primary mulch, however, we've run into a slight problem.

The paper mulch seems to shrink and crinkle as a result of watering, causing stress - when a strong wind picks up the paper tends to tear. I've had bad luck finding bags of pine-straw from people's lawns recently - hopefully some pine straw will help keep the paper down.

In the bed closest to the house, we have interplanted beets and cabbage, with the cabbage lining the outside and beets in the middle. The idea is that the cabbage tends to grow more slowly, and the beets grow fast, so we can have a couple succession of beets in the middle before the cabbage get too large and need more space. We're going to leave this bed with traditional mulch (probably pine straw) - this many small plants would significantly weaken a long sheet of newsprint with so many holes required, causing more tear problems.

The third bed will be planted with sunflowers and tomatoes, which are ready to go into the ground. We have both black cherry and cherokee purple tomatoes.This bed will use the newprint mulch because the size of of the plants and the distance they need to be placed away from each other, the paper will have less holes and stay stronger through the growing season. To augment the health of the beds we've used mushroom compost and small amounts of wood ash.

Implementation day!

2010-04-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

We decided to transplant our plants on Tuesday March 30th. Everything went wonderfully. We direct seeded radishes, peas, and okra in the back bed. Once the radishes are ready, there will be more than enough room for the okra to grow. The middle bed was our salad mix that came from Jean and Carol's. In the front bed, we put broccoli and cauliflower(picture on the right). Most of that, we transplanted, but some of the cauliflower we decided to direct seed. At the last minute, we decided to make a wildflower garden in front of the house (bottom left picture). We broke up the soil and direct seeded a number of butterfly attracting wildflowers. The only challenges we faced were objects in the soil. We found large cinder blocks, bricks, trash, and broken glass. Also, the raised bed in the backyard is entirely clay. We decided to direct seed sunflowers at a later date to break up the soil. For now, we planted some cauliflower plants in it(top left picture).

2010-04-04T12:17:00.001-07:00

The project thus far has been extremely promising. With the plants hardened by their time in front of the window with moderate amounts of stresses, including: full sunlight, higher temperatures, and wind, they were only recently added to the porch to grow indefinitely or to my liking. Some of the plants are having a rougher time than others. The garlic chives were limp during their first few days outside but have recently adjusted to the change. In general some of the plants' leaves have gotten a stringy yellowish hue to them now that they are outside. The watermelon have started to take off and have grown around 3 inches in the last few days.

As you can see the plants I set out to grow have grown and shortly will be harvested for the herbs that I said I would use. The plan took very little effort as far as building it was concerned. It is very low maintenance, takes up very little space, and requires watering twice a day. Once at 5 in the morning, and anytime to my discretion AFTER the sun has gone down. Can someone Identify the plant in the rocks? I can't find anything on the interwebs.

we bring the rain.

2010-03-31T19:52:00.001-07:00

On behalf of the Crazy Awesome Yea Thursday group I'd like to apologize; Apparently when ever we all have a time to get together and work on our garden we inadvertently preform some type of ancient rain dance. BUT! thanks to test, papers, projects, and other assignments we have been able to enjoy a few days of perfect weather! resulting in dry warm earth ready for planting.
We will be picking up our transplants from the farm tomorrow, and will be getting them into the ground at Crazy Awesome Central within a week.

we are still fighting the wind trying to keep our paper mulch in place. Maybe we could lay it down and immediately water it? Added weight might keep it from blowing around?
The good news though, our compost is warming up and seems to be breaking down.

Pictures below, enjoy. :-)

Capitol School Project Implementation

2010-03-31T19:51:00.001-07:00

Our group has officially “broken ground” at the Capitol School! We have begun our gardening project by first performing a soil test; we took samples from both the wooded area beside the playground and the ground directly in front of the playground fence, where we plan to grow sunflowers and marigolds. Our results were very promising, showing adequate amounts of Nitrogen, Potassium, all trace elements, and a balanced pH level. There was a reported overabundance of Phosphorus, so the soil test recommended adding bone meal for nitrogenous material without Phosphorous. Instead of purchasing this amendment, we opted for mixing the soil found on-site with Arboretum compost provided by our old pal Carol.

So about two weeks ago, in the two 36” diameter terracotta pots given to us by Justinn’s mother, we began with a layer of gravel at the bottom, in order to aid in water drainage, then alternated layers of soil and compost, mixing them until full. In each of these filled pots, we transplanted some of the seedlings that had been started and grown over a matter of weeks. In one pot, lettuces were put into place; we are waiting to transplant the tomatoes for seasonal reasons, and the basil has only just been started out at the greenhouse, and was originally going to be direct seeded into the pots. Radishes and carrots were transplanted into the other (the radishes were originally meant to be direct seeded as well). In the pot with radishes and carrots, we also opted to direct seed cucumbers, a change from our original plan to transplant them along with the others. Another more major change of plans is the use of the shutters found onsite for trellising for the tomatoes and cucumbers, as they are massive relative to the pot size, and we are thinking that the staircase by the pots will provide adequate support when the plants eventually start to vine.

That same day, we filled three of the six planned hanging containers with a similarly constructed mix of soil and compost, and transplanted some of the purple beans that were started out at Carol’s. Originally we had planned to grow sugar snap peas along with strawberries in these hanging containers, but decided to make use of the seeds that were available from Carol. The next week, three strawberry plants from the Community Organic Garden at the Arboretum went into their respective hanging pots.

Our planting schedule has been slightly altered, including the differences in plans to direct seed versus transplant the basil, cucumbers, and radishes. There was an issue with the sunflowers seedlings; mice found their way to the plants and ate the tops and the seeds. We have started some more as of two weeks ago, and will apply a plastic cover until they sprout in order to prevent a mouse invasion.

The composting project is also underway by about five weeks. One thousand worms have been placed into the bottom layer of an eventual two-layer bin, which was donated by a friend. A classmate found a large amount of shredded office paper, which has been soaked and utilized as a bedding material along with a smaller amount of soil. Kitchen scraps have been periodically added, and the first signs of usable compost are starting to appear! Some obstacles that have been encounter during the composting run have been mold and bug infestations. They have each been taken care of on a daily basis, by manual removal. In the future, I plan to chop the kitchen mass more finely, so as to allow for faster processing by the worms.

Apartment Gardening

2010-03-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Our group has some unique circumstances since we are all gardening in our individual apartments. Each one of us operates on a different schedule, and we all face separate challenges and obstacles with varying levels of success. For this update, let's start with our most successful grower at the moment: Travis.

Travis's Apartment Jungle
Travis's approach has been more or less to plant whatever seeds he can get his hands on into whatever containers he can get his hands on. He has had abundant success with these methods. Of course, it's a bit more complicated than that. He actually started several of his seeds, such as the lemon balm, before transplanting them into their containers.
The containers themselves range from milk cartons that have been cut in half to old Halloween decorations, an excellent example of recycling for container gardening. Besides lemon balm, Travis has also seeded snapdragons, lupine, and morning glories for flowery things, sage, parsley, dill, oregano, lavender, basil, and rosemary for the herbs, as well as watermelon, nasturtium, corn, tomatoes, and lettuce which are in the process of hardening and sprouting. Travis's only setback has been composting, but his economical solution has been to buy his own. At UA, compost is available at very reasonable prices at the Arboretum.

Carli's Apartment Garden
Carli has faced major limitations in growing from the beginning due to lack of sunlight at her apartment. However, she has found that micro-greens (greens that are seeded and harvested at the first sign of leaves, high in nutritional value, and tasty when sprinkled over salads) require very little sunlight. The growing of micro-greens in an apartment allows for a great growing circle: compost is used as soil, greens grow from the compost, and when they are harvested the entire plant is thrown back into the compost. The compost bin, by the way, is kept under Carli's sink. She decided (reluctantly) to use worms for vermicomposting. It seems to be going surprisingly well. One bin has holes drilled in the side to let air in and sits in the other bin, which contains bleachwater to keep out other bugs. The only big problem encountered with the compost has been excess of moisture, which will be remedied by drilling a hole in the bottom as soon as possible.
For planting, Carli has spread about an inch of compost into to-go salad containers, which have holes in the bottom and top, and spread the seeds across the soil before watering and covering them. The seeds include bull's blood beets, early mizuna, arugula, Persian cress, and red Russian micro mix. Once the seeds sprout, she will uncover them and move them onto the patio, where they will grow for 2-3 weeks before harvest.
Lara Kate's Apartment Garden
Lara planted rosemary, parsley, oregano, two tomatoes, two lettuce, cilantro, lemons, and dill, they did not all come up. With rosemary being the only seeds that looked alive after nearly a month of watering with a fertilizer and daily sunlight, she started poking seeds in different places and moved the tray to her cousins’ porch for when she would be gone for spring break for a week. When she got back, the new seeds had already sprouted everywhere, and Lara Kate was thrilled. Except for the fact that she has no clue what most of them are. One thing that did surprise her was the fact that the lemon seeds that she dried out from a larger-than-life lemon she brought back from Florida during Christmas break was one of the first things to sprout, and is still looking really good. Everything else that she spreads around is in the herb family, and she tried to put them in the right place but accidentally read the list backwards. Therefore, it may be a little while before she realizes what is actually growing but she will still be able to transfer them into a pot by next week if they continue to grow at this rate. The rosemary that was doing really good is now dead, but the new rosemary that is planted on the other side of the crate is coming up.
Lara has had great success with composting. She is using a 5-gallon bucket, worms bought from Hillcrest Feed and Gardens, and the usual kitchen scraps, leaves and twigs. Her pile has become very warm, and she has had no problem with odors.

The Rookies

2010-03-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

Fortunately for my group we have a perfect place to grow some urban foods without having to put too much into it. With little experience in the organic farming world, we were a bit worried about producing a successful crop. We have three very fertile beds sunken into my back patio that may have grown flowers or plants years ago but have been neglected for years. Either way, the soil seems like a dark topsoil. Yesterday we raked the leaves back and began to break the ground. Much to our surprise we found what looked like antique cement blocks scattered underneath the soil. After we pried those out, things started to look pretty nice. We started our seeds about three weeks ago in a green house. We selected broccoli and cabbage for the greenhouse to be transplanted next week sometime. Our other options are okra, beans, sunflowers and a tomato plant we would like to experiment with. These will be direct seeded as soon as we figure out this thing called Mother Nature. Also we have a raised bed that consisted of eroded soil and rocks when we moved in the house two years ago. Soon after, we wheel barreled in several loads of dirt from a neighboring construction site and covered it with some mulch to make it look nice. Unfortunately, that soil seems to be very clay-like and could cause some problems with our crops. For this bed we were advised to plant sunflowers which have stable roots that can dig deep in the compacted clay. As this project started I think as a group we were all a little concerned with our potential. After actually getting our hands dirty yesterday and seeing what we had to work with, I think something sparked us. The planning process was fun but now that we get to see our crops grow I think we will all enjoy the growing season.

Urban Garden Progress

2010-03-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

For our urban garden, we decided that we would use Will’s back yard. He was the only one with a yard and had already once planted there. We first started to move the plots about three feet towards his house so that they would receive more sunlight. Three beds were just extended, which we double-dug. This is the process of digging as deep as your bed should be then forking or breaking up the ground under where you dug. We took the soil that we dug up, removed the top layer of grass and weeds and discarded the rocks as well as any grubs we found. We then broke up the soil and used it to refill the holes. The other parts of the beds that we did not have to move, we weeded and broke up the top layer of soil.
For the last bed, we will completely be starting new. Unlike what was previously there, this will be a raised bed. We will be using parts of a discarded fence that Will found to recycle. We will make the sides of the bed from this wood, which was untreated. This will help keep any unwanted chemicals from leaching into our clean garden. This bed will also have to be double-dug, and since it is a raised bed it should allow for the longer rooting plants to grow more easily.
In all of these beds, we will be adding our compost that has been composting in a bin made from an old garbage can and a separate compost pile. The compost pile is made from all green compost and is working fine. However, the garbage can, which is more brown compost, is not going as well as we had planned. We are still trying different ways to make it work. Right now we believe that it is getting too much air, which is keeping it from getting hot enough to break down all the materials. Even though this was only an experiment, we are not willing to give up on it yet.

Capitol School Garden Seedling Update

2010-03-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

Some Pictures of What's Happenin' at The Capitol School:

Greetings from the Capitol School Garden Group!
Andrew, Nicole, Carol [our teacher], Justinn, Camille, Chance, and Erica [not pictured])

After our time at the farm today, we all met at the Capitol School to begin implementing our garden. Here's a quick reminder of what seeds we have started, where we are planting them, and the benefits or drawbacks to the methods we used:

Basil- We sowed basil seeds today at Jean and Carol's because they need to be germinated and set out later in the season (they like the warm) unlike other herbs/vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower. We are using seeds Carol already had and planted them a whole flat (128), some for her and some for us. We will be planting the basil in the terracotta pot with the lettuce and tomatoes. Basil and tomatoes are often intercropped together because they do very well together.
Lettuce- We sowed lettuce seeds a couple weeks ago to plant on the outer rim of the terracotta pot that will hold the tomatoes and basil. We planted them in a 1/3 of a 128 flat alongside other flowers/vegetables that we wanted to grow but did not need an abundance of the crop. The lettuces did really well throughout the cold snap we've had recently and we planted the transplants into the terracotta pots today. They are taking up the entire pot right now, as we wait for the basil to grow and for the weather to warm up for good for the tomatoes.
Tomatoes- We are using tomatoes that Carol had already in small growing containers that she and another New College student had sown. Nicole transplanted them into a larger growing container for now. We will wait until the last frost (which may or may not have already happened) or April 15 (not because it's the day taxes are due) and then we will plant them in the large terracotta pot.
Cucumbers- In the 128 flat with the lettuce we also planted cucumbers. They did not come up... well, one did but it wasn't very strong or worth using. We did not know that it is best to direct seed cucumbers. I hate that we wasted seeds and space in the greenhouse! We have not moved forward with planting the cucumbers into the large terracotta pot yet because of the uncertainty in the weather... but, we have them and are ready to plant whenever.
Radishes- I know that you should usually direct seed radishes because they germinate and are ready to harvest so quickly... but, I planted them into 128 flat without thinking. They grew incredibly fast! We transplanted them into the large terracotta pot today alongside carrots. We did not direct seed anymore at this point (the pot is full of radishes and carrots) but we plan to plant more (succession planting) once the kids have eaten them all up!
Carrots- We planted carrots alongside the radishes in the 128 flat. They did not grow extremely well or fast, but some grew over Spring Break. We planted them in the large terracotta pot with the radishes and eventually the cucumbers. Carol suggests direct seeding them from now on, their root structures are sensitive to being moved around I suppose.
Purple Beans- We planted some purple beans (unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact variety) into some small grow containers the Tuesday before Spring Break and they have grown a great deal! Carol suggested direct seeded the beans because they need to become hardy and strong before being set out in the elements. We planted 3 sets of beans in 3 hanging baskets on the Capitol School campus.
Strawberries- We are getting some small strawberry plants from the Students for Sustainability (S.o.S.) Garden at the UA Arboretum (thanks Nicole!). We will place them in the hanging pots at some point over the next couple of weeks. I think they were grown from seed by S.o.S. and are currently in the ground. Our group decided it would be best if they stayed in the ground until we were absolutely ready for them to be transplanted to prevent any harm to the plant.
Sunflowers- The mice got the majority of our gigantic sunflowers in the greenhouse at Jean and Carol's. They spared some of the mixed, branching sunflowers we planted and we will be planting those into the ground sometime this week. Carol said we could have direct seeded, but we decided not to due to the importance of growing a substantial sunflower bed. Basically, we trust the greenhouse. We are planting these sunflowers alongside the fence that lines the preschool playground.
Marigolds- We planted some marigold seeds in a flat of 128s for a natural repellent to some insects and for the kids at the Capitol School to enjoy the flowers. They will surround the sunflowers alongside the preschool playground. We will break ground on this bed this week.

Thank you for your interest!
Justinn

Travis's Super Amazing In-Apartment Compostorium

2010-03-10T20:39:00.000-08:00

The method our group (Carli, Lara, and myself) will be using will be verma-composting. we will be using red worms, the bacteria inside of the worms, and possibly soldier fly larvae. We plan on using 5 gallon buckets from home depot to house to worms. The buckets will have holes in the sides to allow for oxygen to flow through the buckets. The buckets will contain one part grit or soil to aid in digestion of food for the worms, and 2 parts bedding, which includes newspaper, used peat containers, and dead leaves. Basically anything that contains gratuitous amounts of carbon. The finished compost will be stored inside of the blue and green containers on the floor.

The reason for our use of this method is our limited space. This method used for my apartment takes into account how much raw organic material circulates throughout the apartment. (4 people live here) This method used requires a lot of food, around one pound of organic material per day for two pounds or worms. Given the constant circulation of food this shouldn't be a problem.

There are a few drawbacks to this method of composting. One problem with this method that I can see would be the population growth of the worms that said I guess I could move some off the worms prematurely into the containers for the compost to keep the population under control. Another drawback would be the meticulous process of sifting the worms out of the finished compost and using the compost for soil. Would it be possible to use a few worms in the soil where the plants are transplanted in order airiate the soil? Any amendments?

Capitol School

2010-03-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

So...We are the group working on the Capitol Scool garden project. We originally decided that we were going to try and compost at the school site. What a great idea you might say! We thought so too. We figured that we could get the students to use the leftovers from their meals and add with some grass clippings and leaves and make a wonderful compost pile that would be interactive for the kids and also teach them that their waste can be used to make some pretty awesome organic ammendments for the soil. Well...this couldn't happen. Once we thought it through, it would be extra work for teachers to have to deal with for many reasons: (1) making sure the kids put the right ammendments in the pile (2)making sure the pile stays the right temperature and gets turned (3) making sure it is put into the soil and worked in. Granted, we would do all these things for this semester, but this project should be a gift we give to them. So if we leave them with soo much work, it totally negates the thought of giving them something. After these revelations, we decided we would do some vermicomposting (composting with worms). Camille decided she would do this at her place of living ( a dorm I think) and she ordered about 1,000 red wriggler worms from Uncle Jim's worms. Her idea is to make a worm hotel. The picture here shows a plastic chest of drawers like she is going to be using. She is going to drill holes in the bottoms of each drawer so that the worms can move up and down in the drawers and so that the "compost tea" (essentially the water that goes through the whole compost from top to bottom and collects the nutrients as it goes through and then can be used as a yummy "tea" to be poured over the crops) can make its way through. These drawers were free to her from a friend. Under the drawers, will go a rectangular collection pan so that stuff doesn't leak onto floor and so anything that comes out is caught. This whole "hotel" will be placed in the closet so it is in a dark place. So far, there has been shredded paper (found in a bag outside of a school building) added to the compost, along with : coffee grounds and filters, used tea bags, banana peels, veggie scraps, dead plants and flowers, and some organic mix topsoil. We hope that this operation will be fun and healthy for our worms and our garden. The only things we are worried about with this type of composting is that our worms could somehow die, but theis isn't going to happen because we feed them very well!! The positives are that this can be done in the apartment and it is fairly hands off once the hotel is started. The only thing we have to do is put some scraps in there and emptythe bins when there is enough worm castings (worm poop). I hope this has been thorough enough for everyone to understand...If you have any questions, SPEAK UP and ask!! We are happy to elaborate!!

The Joys of Composting!

2010-03-10T19:35:00.000-08:00

Our group is called the "Duck Compost Group" for a reason. Why? Because we literally have dead ducks in one of our compost piles! :) Paul, being the outdoorsman he is, killed 40 ducks while he was hunting. We figured why not use it in the compost?

We started with about 40 dead ducks and a pile of leaves in Paul's backyard. When grass started to grow, we added some grass clippings and clovers to the pile because they are high in nitrogen and produce heat. We also added some cow manure that we got from a local farm. Paul has turned the pile a few times using a shovel. He also built a wire fence around it to protect it from animals etc. We had high hopes for the duck compost until people started noticing the smell...A neighbor threatened to call the city! However, the city hasn't been contacted yet and we are working on a solution to mask the smell. For now, we covered the pile with an old blanket. The only other problem we have had with the duck compost is cats getting into it. We even caught one on camera...

Since we were never too sure how the duck compost would go, we started a seperate one at Maggie's house. Maggie's compost is in a 10 gallon plastic, rectangular bin. We drilled several holes in random spots around the bin to create oxygen and drilled 4 in the bottom for drainage purposes. Then, we added a thick layer of newspaper to the bottom for bedding. We ordered 500 worms and added them (along with the soil they came in) to the bin. We have been adding our scraps to the bin and spraying it with a little water as well. Some things we have added include: teabags, coffee grinds and filters, strawberry and artichoke leaves, green apples, and peach pits. Unfortunately, the worms seem to be unhappy! A few have died and some have been trying to escape out of the top.

Since the ducks smell and the worms are unhappy, we had to make some changes. With the worms, we decided to stop adding coffee and filters and add a bit of soil. We also decided to stop spraying it with water because the bin may be too moist for the worms. With the duck compost, we are testing the neighbors' patience for now. Let us know if you have any ideas!

Sustainable Apartment Gardening

2010-03-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

The way I see it, sustainable gardening is about using resources already available while interrupting the natural environment as little as possible to produce a healthy, chemical-free result. In some ways our group already has an advantage because we are starting from scratch, essentially building our own natural environment within our apartments. Apartment gardening requires the use of containers. Almost all of our containers are recycled: old planting pots, to-go salad containers from restaurants, milk jugs, etc. Composting is a fantastic way to recycle while simultaneously creating excellent soil. We will all be vermicomposting (composting with worms) in our apartments. This is a new experience for all of us and we are each excited/apprehensive to see how it turns out. By using organic seeds and compost, we plan to cut out the necessity of fertilizers and grow tastier, healthier crops. Photos coming soon!

Capitol School Garden Update (FROM ANDREW)

2010-03-03T18:11:00.005-08:00

for our container garden we are useing two large teracotta pots on each side of the front building steps and hanging baskets for strawberries on the east-faceing side for more access to sunlight and sugar snap peas on the west-side for shade. In the terracotta pots we are using old shutters for trellis.In one pot we are running sungold tomatoes up the shutter and surrounding with basil and mixed salad greens. In the other pot we are running cucumbers up the shutter and surrounding with raddishes and carrots which grow goos together because the raddishes grow faster and will be ready for harvest just in time for the carrots to need more room.

Sustainable Suburban Garden

2010-03-03T17:36:00.000-08:00

Sustainability to me means creating a full cycle from soil supplementation to harvest - meaning that one is able to provide the nutrients needed to produce the fruits and vegetables within a closed, reliable system. A truly sustainable system works best on a fully functioning farm, but you can get kinda close in a suburban/urban environment as well.

To get the nutrients we need, we can just start composting kitchen scraps from our own kitchens. We need a large compost pile - the larger the pile, the higher the temperature, and the faster the compost breaks down into a usable form. I've worked in several restaurants in town, and am going to take the kitchen scraps that they produce while prepping the vegetables in the morning. Using my bicycle, I can ride to the restaurants and transport the scraps in buckets or containers that I find or already have - my bicycle is designed for load bearing, but any bicycle can hang a bucket on the handle bars - or, you can search the thrift stores and craig's list for old baby/dog trailers that hook onto bicycles. For your compost carbon needs, riding one's bike around richer/nicer neighborhoods should do it - folks that take care of their lawn will have leaves and grass clipping on the side of the road. Take note of these places, so that you'll consistently get some good carbon. A large sack or reusable high mil. plastic bag should work to get the it home.

To build a compost bin we're using an old black 30 gallon trash can. There is no lid to the trash can, so we have to create one by turning the bin upside-down and cutting a lid. This also ensures that there will be easy access to all the good eats for the ground critters, because the bottom is wide open, allowing us to bury the bin about 2 inches into the dirt. We used a hinge and screws from a door found in the shed behind my house - any site where they are renovating an area should yield some good hinge hunting. The bin will help regulate the temperature of the compost - keeping it nice and warm.

For mulch, we will get rolls of unprinted newsprint from the Tuscacloosa News - located under the Lurleen Wallace bridge to North Port. The paper contains no inks, and is free for any to take. Pine straw can be gathered (from those rich/nice neighborhoods) to put on top of the newsprint to protect if from heavy rains and other harsh weather.

To actually continue the growing cycle, seeds must be purchased at first. But after that initial purchase seeds can be harvested and saved for the next growing season.

Seriously, some folks don't know what they're throwing out! I can get almost all the materials needed from the scraps of modern living - helping create a semi-closed use cycle. After all, sustainability is about spending only necessary energy, and not money.

Our Container Garden

2010-03-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

One great thing about our container garden is that our separate containers were already present in Paul's backyard. Luckily, Paul acquired a backyard with some great separated beds that were perfect for growing an urban garden. Each bed has different dimensions, with two being 7 x3 ft, one 6 x 3 ft, and one 5 x 7 ft. Each of the four separate beds are also located in areas that receive optimum sunlight. Three of the beds lie adjacent to each other and are about one foot away from a brick wall. The other bed is elevated slightly and lies across from the other beds in an area that receives more shade. Some benefits of our container garden are that each bed has a good amount of growing room, the beds are located close to structures so that our taller plants can latch on something and grow straight, and also that they're located in areas that receive a good amount of sunlight and shade. Some drawbacks might be that the surrounding area of the beds are concrete, and that our containers might be somewhat shallow. Other than a couple drawbacks however, our container garden is a great place for an urban growing project.

Group 1's Organic Garden!

2010-02-24T16:39:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Paul's backyard, where group one will host their organic garden! Jackie, Paul, Laurel, and Maggie have been hard at work planning our garden. As you can see in the pictures, there are three beds that appear to have hosted gardens before. Bed one and bed two are 7 x 3 ft. Bed three is 6 x 3 ft and bed four is 5 x 7 ft. Paul's yard is fenced in and sees varying amounts of sunlight throughout the day. The beds get as close as one foot to the wall. We plan to take advantage of this when we grow tomatoes. As the trees fill out, there will be more shade, but for now there is more than enough sunlight for the garden. Another concern we have is the soil quality. We have sent out a soil test and are awaiting the results. We plan to transplant broccoli, tomatoes, and cabbage. We will direct seed beans, radishes, okra, and sunflowers. The radishes and okra will grow in the same bed, taking advantage of the inner cropping method. We plan to plant the cabbage in the area that receives the most shade. With lots of planning, hard work, and a little luck, we're hoping that our garden will be a success!

THE APARTMENT CREW. you know it's possible!

2010-02-24T11:08:00.000-08:00

THE APARTMENT CREW consists of Carli, Travis, and Lara Kate. As three young college students living away from home, we have discovered that all we have to work with for the gardens are at our personal apartments. Because we do not have a lot of space, we decided to give each person several things to grow based on the locations, weather conditions, and available spaces at each apartment. We will take advantage of containers, pots, and window boxes that we have used previously, gotten from available resources, or a reasonable price for our gardens. We get a lot of sun at two of the apartments where the tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, onions, and broccoli will be planted in pots and hanging baskets on the porch and inside climate controlled rooms. We will plant some of the herbs in the apartment that does not get a lot of sun, as well as in the shade at the other two apartments. The herbs include rosemary, lemon chives, dill, parsley, oregano, basil, thyme, and cilantro.

So far, we have purchased and gotten the containers ready. We have also picked out, distributed, and planted the seeds to see what all will come out first, and what other challenges that we are going to have to work with. We will try our best to keep up with everything, making adjustments as we go along. Our mission is to show that an apartment/dorm living college student can maintain a small garden for personal enjoyment. Who knows? Maybe this could end up saving the life of college students some money, time, unhealthy diets, and pollen distribution!!

First Blog, the beginning of a transformation.

2010-02-24T08:50:00.001-08:00

Our group “THE CRAZY AWSOME THURSDAY GROUP…Yea,” Members are: Ginny, Will, Kelly, and Zack. We have chosen to rebuild and expand an existing garden at Wills house located of off Hargrove Rd E. Will had some success with the location but felt it was too shaded. To correct this we will be re-digging existing beds and shifting them further into the yard. This will keep the garden from being caught in the shade of a large pine tree.

The location of our garden works well for us because it is a situation we are familiar with. We are working with an average size back yard, with variable amounts of sunlight. Unlike a dorm or window box with limited space, we have plenty of room for composting projects, rain catching, several full beds, and a livable back yard. The area allows for the garden to be tucked away in between two sides of the house so that a lot of space in the backyard can still be used, as a regular yard; without fear of interfering with the beds.

One of the challenges we may face resides in the neighbor’s carport, yes, it is a basketball goal. Will says the kids next door have very poor hoop skills therefore; they are constantly hopping the fence into his backyard to catch their runaway ball. The helpless beds face very real danger from the stomping children feet that could damage the crops and potentially cause fatal soil compaction. The house also has rain gutters that empty toward the beds. We will correct this by redirecting and catching the rain water that flows from the drains so that it won’t wash our beds away. Hopefully we will be able to address all the problems that any person would face when planting a personal garden in their backyard. Through trial and error, we hope to provide useful tips and helpful tricks to others that want to create their own home garden. We will be addressing the neighbor’s basket ball problem; probably simply by putting up a mesh fence similar to Gene and Carrols. An additional challenge that may exist could be the overall condition of the soil. Once we take soil samples and find our results we will be able to address any problems or concerns the test presents.

The benefits of the area definitely outweigh the limitations. The main benefit is proximity. The location is not far from any of us so we are able to meet often and share the chores associated with everyday maintenance that could possibly fall squarely on Will’s shoulders if he lived far out of town. The space is also larger than what others have access to. Since Tuscaloosa is famous for having very thick packed clay for ground we will also be constructing a raised bed. We will compare the performance of the two and make a final judgment call at the end of the year which works better in this particular back yard and why.

Our Ultimate goal with this project is to take this

And transform it sustainably into this

Adam's Garden: Dig it, Tuscaloosa...

2010-02-23T21:54:00.001-08:00

My wife and I are moving into a new house, and we have the green light on digging up the yard. Veggies, flowers...chickens? A goat? We'll make it happen.

When we went to see the house for the first time, all we could see was the yard. It was probably mid-day, so everything looked big and sunny. I saw a 50x20 space on the west side that could be fully planted...can you imagine the possibilities?

But after our last house and garden, I knew that tracking the sun mid-winter is trouble. Got sunlight? Wait until those trees fill out, and yer done for. So we've tried our best to take as many snap-shots, at as many different times of the day, while making predictions for the trees, to give us our best shot. I'm still worried about the difference between the sun at mid-day in February, and then in June, but there's only so much you can do.

After looking over our pictures, I realized there's more shade on the west side than I would have thought. So we reconsidered. We decided on two 23x4 ft east-west beds, starting a little further east, and as far north as possible. This would ensure long, south facing beds, which could be planted according to height and get the most sun possible. We also decided to plant a west-end bed for spring onions, garlic, beets, & etc (8x4, facing n-s) where mid-summer shade would come in handy, and an east-side bed (8x4), where, as it turns out, we seem to get a lot of sun (just to the right of that strange shrubbery).

That gives us roughly 240 sq. ft. of planting space (1/4 of the Whitehouse garden!).

The next step, of course, was to plan the garden. We factored in possible shade, and came up with (what I thought) was a brilliant list of veggies. The 8/4 on the west end is getting the onion business. Once they're out, we'll plant late-summer lettuce. The east side 8/4 is getting the 3-sisters--corn, beans and squash. And the middle. Well...tomatoes of course. And whatever else fits (eggplant, cucumbers, melon, herbs, brassicas...the list goes on.) We're going to plant intensively, instead of rows, so companion crops are vital.

So, once we committed, we dug. Emily measured out the spaces with string attached to nails, and we took turns forking, to aerate the soil. This is usually a bad thing--tilling expels vital gasses, like nitrogen--but because we're breaking new ground tilling is a must. We needed to break the ground to plant. This kind of tilling also breaks up the soil to help with tilth, and it allows it to dry out a bit after a heavy Alabama winter rainy season. Hopefully, if we do it right, we won't have to till again--we'll just fork in organic mater (like compost from the arboretum, or from our new compost pile! (more on that later)).

So...we've forked, and will probably till just before our first planting--maybe around March 15. We've also seeded our first plants (mostly lettuce and brassicas). We're probably a bit early, but it's hard to hold off. Emily and I have made a more comprehensive plan, which means pushing our next seeding back to March 4. It's hard to predict the last Tuscaloosa frost--we're going for St. Patty's day.

Capitol School Crew

2010-02-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the students of Organic Farming II!

Our group, made up of six hep-cats by the names of Camille(myself), Justinn, Erica, Nicole, Andrew and Chance, has been blessed with the unique opportunity to start up an organic garden at the Capitol School, a small private school of grades K-12 located off of 28th Ave at the end of University Boulevard. The school consists of three adjacent buildings: a large preschool with a playground next door, and two smaller educational buildings.

Said garden will feature container-based planting, including several individual hanging plants and two large grounded terracotta pots. We will also be planting flowers directly into the ground.
There are several benefits that come along with choosing The Capitol School at our planting location!

Already present along the balcony roofs on either side of this building are six chains with hooks, waiting to be put to use.

We were lucky enough to have stumbled upon some small discarded containers with handles on the property, perfect for our plans to hang on either side of the building pictured above.

Also, beautiful discarded shutters on the property, ideal trellising for our cucumbers and tomatoes.

There is also an abundance of usable soil on the property.

Our flowers will go along the outside of the playground fence, located next to the preschool. These marigolds and sunflowers will be the only plants growing outside of containers.

Chance took soil samples from the land along the front of the picket fence and also in the wooded area outside of the metal gate and sent them out to the soil-testing facility at Auburn University. Results indicate that Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium levels are all adequate, and we have a neutral pH!

Pretty much the only negative aspect of attempting a garden at this school is the possibility of an abundance of shade, as the property features several giant trees (now bare, later surely fully foliaged). For this reason, we have chosen to place plants requireing high amounts of sunlight facing the Capitol Park, which is fairly tree-free and to the east.

As for composting, our group opted to test out an indoor vermicomposting setup. The location will be my (on-campus!) dormitory, either under my kitchen sink or in my room. After much research, and consideration of access to and cost of materials, we decided that a tiered system would be best, so that the worms can migrate out of the already composted material, and into the upper levels filled with kitchen scraps and bedding. In this way, we will also be able to catch the liquid gold that is worm tea, and use it to give our plants a boost!