Diggin' In - Progress Journal (3/31 - 4/1)

Diggin' In - Progress Journal (3/31 - 4/1)04/01/2012

 

3/31/12. Ivy Pulling Day!

A very exciting day today! We drove to San Jose (30 mins) to pick up free dirt that we saw on craigslist. Though this may not have been “free” in the end, with the cost of gas - he did throw in three huge bags of perlite and some more potting soil! Plus, it was just a great adventure in the rainy, mud with myself, Melinda, and Eric who is proving to be our most avid volunteer.

Our goals for the day are:

• Dig a new compost
• Pull Ivy from the fence
• Transplant
• Relocate the snails

So we and Eric are getting to work!

Notes from work:

Soil Mixing - the soil we got today had a pretty high clay content in it, so when we got back to town (with three huge tubberwears full of dirt, and a back seat stuffed with vermiculite and Eric)...we stopped by Soil Solutions to talk to Jim. He’s basically our “soil guy” and it’s turning out to be a great relationship. He examined our soil and suggested that to amend the clay and introduce nutrients we may be interested in:

• GroBetter All-purpose Organic Fertilizer & Soil Conditioner ($) - which contains rice husks that slowly break down to amend soil
• Bob’s Best Cow Manure, by Point Reyes Compost Company ($) - containing a bunch of nutrients for the microbs in the soil
• He also gave us some more free compost tea to continue sampling

*Jim had an important suggestion to avoid using dirt near Eucalyptus or Walnut Trees, as they release a hormone into the soil to kill other seeds!*

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So we came home and set to work. Eric and I worked hard on pulling down some intense ivy that is taking up the backyard and inhabiting a perfectly beautiful garden space. We discovered many treasures in that ivy, including more pots, a rusted through wheel barrel, various dog toys, a watering head, and that the fence the ivy is clinging to is falling over! This gave us all teh great idea and motivation to request permission to tear down the fence, which would allow access to the garden from both sides!

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Melinda spent her time getting dirty - mixing up the various soil components we had to play with by pouring them onto a large tarp and massaging the clumps out. Here’s the general mixture she created:

• 50% Craigslist Free Dirt
• 15% Old potted soil
• 20 - 25% Perlite (free!)
• 15 - 20% mix of: Bob’s best, GroBetter, and the free potting soil from craigslist

We realized that we have to plant a bit deeper, so another transplant may be in order when we have the raised beds ready. We really have a lot of seedlings that are going to need some space! Now that the Ivy is cut back, perhaps we will be able to plant raised beds in the sunny area...that is if the owners of the house give the ok to take the fence down! 

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Finally, Eric dug the next compost hole - we wanted a big one. He dug about 2 feet down in a 3x3 square. But, as I’ve mentioned before, our yard’s dirt is pretty clay-ey...so it retains water longer. Well, Eric struck water at about 14 inches down and we watched it seep out of the sides. Wonder how this will work out...







Here's the video for today's Adventure!

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4/1/12 - April Fools!

Yesterday we (M, Eric, and myself) kicked booty in the garden. We are learning so much and have decided to create a big proposal to the owners of the house. We’d like to convince them to let us “green up” the property and perhaps even the house! Perhaps our DreemGarden will expand into a DreemHouse too!

But, I want to make note of some observations from today:

• That compost hole that Eric dug flooded at 14 inches. Not only was the ground saturated originally, but it rained profusely after our gardening adventure. We’re not really sure if we should compost in the standing water (by covering food mound with dry dirt) or would that contribute some kind of rot? Perhaps we’ll pick a new spot or make a worm bin...and propose to turn that area into a small pond instead!
• From taking down the Ivy, we have increased the sunlight that goes into the “conservatory” (the extension on the house). By removing the old, dead oak tree and the ivy - we imagine a significant increase in passive solar heating! Which will severely increase the energy efficiency of this old house.
• The snails and slugs were relocated to the eucalyptus forrest down the street, hopefully they’ll like they’re new home! We noticed a LOT less of these guys around after taking out the Ivy:

Tonights Hunt: 0 slugs, 1 snail!

Oh and a few of the warm season veggies have already started to poke through, after only 4 days!

• Swiss Chart (Dani’s)
• Steevia (Melinda’s)