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Ruth Stout Inspired!

Category: Numb's Garden Life | Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 3:22 pm

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Well as I was reading through the stew topics a couple of days ago i was introduced to an old gardener and her style of gardening. Her name is Ruth Stout and she is known for her mulching type gardening. She developed the system out of frustration from waiting on the plow man and by her experiments of doing things her way............while reflecting on natures habits to bring this into practice.

Her style of gardening was to make things as simple for her as she could with success while using what natural resources she had around to do this.
I suggest anyone who hasn't heard of her to check her out on youtube. There are some old videos uploaded there of her in action, you can see her in her upper years still gardening and showing how it was done. She lived to close to 100 but didn't start gardening till around 50 or so. I wonder if the fresh outside air and her consumption of "livin of the land" produce didn't contribute somewhat to her lengthy age.

Basically what she would do was create a bed of nutritious goodness through mulching over the soil. This would create excellent soil below over time as the mulch ingredients broke down and were absorbed into the land. She didn't get into the trouble of digging the land up, the most i saw her do in the little I've seen was make a shallow dirt groove for her seeds. If she had weeds come up she would just throw more mulch ingredients on top which in turn made the weeds become part of the nutrient list for the plants to use. She claimed by using this method she never had to water her plants as the mulch layer prevented the drying of the earth and kept the moisture in better.

I plan on trying to recreate her system in my yard, it is a continuous year long process that never stops. You just keep adding more natural things that decay and break down to the growing area and over time they are absorbed.

I have one main spot that i garden that i actually have been throwing bits on already in my few years of gardening, mostly just left over stalks and bits from the remains of spent plants. There was no real system to my actions and I would just let this sit on top until spring time where i would turn it over lightly with a shovel and plant the crops in. This was minimal in nature to how Ruth would do things, she would constantly just recycle stuff into her plots and i plan to increase this practice in my plots from now on.

I will be expanding my gardening areas a little and creating a couple of new grow plots but in these areas i will be going down into the soil a bit to supplement the scarcer nutrients that these areas hold in the mulching goodness dept at this stage. Over time the area should become full of goodness and i wont have to tap the lower earth besides seed starting.

For years i have been raking up old leaves from the willow oak and pine trees in my back yard and disposing of them but now i see these leaves as plant food! I will constantly cycle these leaves into the garden, i have opened a few bags that have been bagged up a while and they were already breaking down due to the moisture content inside. This will be a system for me and a free one at that!

Below are a few pics of my little garden plot and the new one i just created yesterday. I plan to add another at some point. I decided to create a gap between these as to grow different crops that generally don't like each other. Sort of a rotation station in effect. I hope you don't need too much distance as they are still quite close together. Regardless i now have more places to grow stuff.


Here is my main and little garden plot.

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I dug in a little to see some old leaves and plants i had been throwing on it at times.

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The kids...6 & 3 years old.

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Nutrient storage in waiting!

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More bags in various stages. They consist of mostly willow oak leaves and pine needles.

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The main plot with more bagged mulch added. It might be a lil late for my area but i have a row of taters going up the left side of this area that i just put in. I wonder how they will do, I've never grown them before.

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The new plot in creation! This is all the stuff i pulled from my Robin Hood Roses. Putting it to good use...back in the earth.

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Adding some older mulch to the new spot.

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I soaked the areas down to aid in the decay process.

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All done......now i let time take over the work.. :)

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I'm going to also get some hay or straw to mix into the plots as it is good mulching ingredients! I hope i can get this system to work for me.



Last edited: Sun Apr 24, 2011 3:29 pm

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Garden Traditions...

Category: Numb's Garden Life | Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:48 am

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Do you have traditions in your garden?

I cant remember where they came from but me and my son have been growing a few seeds of a dwarf marigold variety in a lil container each year for a while now. He's 4 so its only been a few years but we grow them in the tiny clay pot they came in each passing season.

Heres this years..

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they are quite tough lil guys. Usually there is a few more in there but we always end up leaving it out in the sun too long and the soil dries out quite fast if your not careful...

this one is surviving and we are taking better care of it this year.
Next year we will plant some again..

when my youngest son gets a lil bigger i will start a garden tradition with him.




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Toms, Peppers, and Corn..

Category: Numb's Garden Life | Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:12 pm

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thought id post a few pics of the food im growing this year...

heres some shots of my tomato and corn growing..

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I have over 18 different types of tomatoes growing and 3/4 of them are from seed so i made a diagram of the toms and their names........well i lost the list so now i dont really know what type all the toms are but thats ok because they are doing good. I have a few tags on them from the store bought ones but i will definitely tag them all next year.

heres some of the first fruit..

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you can see i havnt got too much room to grow and this area is the only spot in my yard due to shade that i can grow stuff like this. My neighbors house is on the left but they dont seem to care about me growing stuff so close which is good.
You can see in the top right of this pic where i have more plants planted..

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im loving these ll clusters of toms. Last time i tried these they didnt do so well but i think i have my nutrients sorted out better this year. Everything is green and producing! Thank u Mr.Bonemeal!

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heres my sunglow corn. I think i stunted them, they are usually a lil bigger than this but i left them in the lil pots too long before i put them into the ground. We harvested today and i ate a cob with the kids. Ive got some more seeds on the go and am gonna put another crop down to see if it will produce before the season is out. I forgot to take a pic of the corn i harvested.....it was tastey though :-)

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here are my peppers, i have most in the ground now but i still have a few to dig in.

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more mater shots..

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corn again..

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just love these lil clusters...

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some tomatoes on the ripen..

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my lemon boy...

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my first ripe tiny tom..

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i dont like eating tomatoes raw but i do love ketchup and will eat cooked bits of tomatoes in food so this year i decided to taste all of the fruit on all of the things i grow. I ate the lil guy above but sadly didnt really enjoy it. I will be tasting all the other plants as well even though i dont think i will grow to like the raw tom taste but i will still continue to grow them. They are fun to me..

these are the ones i ate and the first ripe of the season..

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my wife picked these today...
she would pick them all green i think if she could...she loves just pickin the fruit from the vine and says thats her job hehe..

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thats all for now...






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Garden ups and downs...

Category: Numb's Garden Life | Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:26 pm

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Ive been doing a lot of thinking about the ups and downs of gardens...
i had all these big plans of growing lots of flowers and veggies and lots of other stuff this season but i think i bit off more than i can chew...

i got a bit disappointed that i was getting behind on my schedules but then i came to the conclusion that i just need to be thankful for the things i can pull off and not try to grow too much stuff since the upkeep can get overwhelming with the time i can give everything.

So i gave up on the watermelons and some other vine crops this year and am concentrating mostly on my maters, corn and peppers.

The toms are going really well and i have loads of fruit growing on the vines which is awesome compared to last year. My lil green bamboo stakes are too small and i kinda knew that might happen but im gonna buy some bigger stakes to help these guys out..

The pepper plants are producing too but they did really good last year so i wasnt surprised......but i am thankful.

Heres a few pics of the stuff going on in my garden..


here is a mexican sunflower i left in the pot too long, i suspect its a lil stunted but i decided to leave it in there anyway and its been producing some lovely orange blooms.

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the lambs ear was on steroids this year and the bee's loved it. The flowers are about gone now but when this pic was taken the bees were being busy..
This plant is right outside my back door patio area and just like last year the bee's paid no attention to my kids playing around them. I have instructed the kids about the bee's and they have given them respect.

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this easter lilly used to have space but the lambs ear has spread and kinda swamped this guy..
i will trim up the lambs ear next year so there is more space. I let the weeds crawl up in this bed and next year will have that taken care of with the cloth u can lay down and cover up.

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i have no idea where this came from or what it is. I think it might be some weed that flowered?

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this is another area i let the weeds/grass take over a bit but i will have it all ready and cloth down in the fall for next year. I got these ferns from walmart in a bag and am happy they are growing up.

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not sure of their name but these come up every year and the bee's enjoy them. They are just starting to flower here..

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thats all for now, i dont want to make this too pic heavy......i got some more pics to post of the other stuff so i will end this blog here and start another..





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Another lil update..

Category: Numb's Garden Life | Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 2:39 pm

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ok so i thought i'd post a few pics of things ive been up to..

first is a shot of my plants (mostly tomatoes and peppers) i started that are doing really well despite being flooded by lots of rain. This is my area i start stuff beside the shed at the back of the yard.
You can see on the top left of shelf my first crop of corn growing..

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Ok this is the area i grew my corn last year which did pretty good. Its just a 3 x 3 area. Looks like i had extra corn and planted them outside the 3 x 3 on the right.

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Ok these next 3 shots were taken yesterday while i was finishing up the corn area. I decided to add some more width and length to it as well so now i can grow 24 plants at once if i want which is better than the 9 last year. What i plan on doing is growing 12 and then i will plant 12 more later on in the season in the bare spots for multiple harvests instead of having 24 harvested in one go.

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You might be thinking this isnt enough room for corn but i have selected a small hybrid variety called early Early Sunglow which does well in a variety of temperatures and is quite fast to grow. The plants only get about 4-5 ft tall.


i really need to get the cucumbers, squash and other stuff in the ground soon.....i feel like im getting behind..

oh i forgot about some more iris flowers that had come out. Heres a nice dark purple and white one.

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Heres one that ive never seen before in the yard. I guess the just come out when there ready.

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Early spring garden update..

Category: Numb's Garden Life | Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 2:55 pm

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ok im back with a lil update of things going on in the garden..

mystery flower at the back of the yard..

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Wisteria growing along the powerlines in the back..

powerline wysteria.. ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )



Ornamental Peaches are growing...

Ornamental Peaches are fruiting... ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )



my lil plant garden outside the back door..

my lil backdoor plant bed.. ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






mystery plant coming up.. ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






kipper the dog... ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






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didnt know this was a dogwood back here until it flowered..

small dogwood ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






mystery cocoon... ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






mystery cocoon... ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






mystery cocoon.. ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






mystery bush flower... ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






mystery bush... ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






my starter area....new spot.. ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






my starter area....new spot.. ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






Stargazer Lillies coming up.. ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )











potted purple tulips.. ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






Lambs Ear and Easter Lilly ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






reamerging butterfly bush... ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )






reamerging buttefly bush... ( photo / image / picture from Green_Numb's Garden )

just some spring stuff going on in my area.. :-)


edit:
heres a better shot from last year of my wisteria powerlines..

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these large red ants love this plant, they spend a lot of time on the flower balls like in the picture. I dont think they harm anything.

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here it is blooming..

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Last edited: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:57 pm

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Gardens can wear u out!

Category: Numb's Garden Life | Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 3:17 pm

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Spent most of yesterday out in the yard working on cleaning up some areas that still had leaves and debris on them.
At some point i moved over to some of my pampas grass and was amazed at how much old stuff and pine needles from the trees were down inside it. I still havnt finished removing all the dead stuff and am going to finish today now that i have gained back some energy. I hope it will bloom better this year as i never really cleaned them out before and usually just let the old stuff get over taken with the new growth.


my camera doesnt have a good zoom and is fairly old but i took a picture of what i think is a cardinal feeding on one of the feeders. I saw a similar looking bird too but it was a light brown colour which might be the cardinal male or female of the species?

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First pink lil flower bloom of the season on what im guessing is Shamrock/Clover?

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heres where i usually start my plants since its the place that gets a lot of sun in my yard. Im thinking of moving it since i have a established Texas Star Hibiscus stump in front of it that im afraid of kicking and stepping on.
My son has his own lil tomato kit this year in the yellow container that he got for a gift from his grandma.

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Heres a close up of the Texas Star Hibiscus just emerging from the old stump left over. Anyone know if im supposed to rip the above ground stump away each year or just break of the old long shoots? im going to mulch around this at some point.

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Possible challenges this season for me..

Category: Numb's Garden Life | Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 3:39 pm

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i have been picking up seeds from the garden stores and have also kept seeds over the past few years so i have a rough idea of what im going to grow.

Here is a list of what i probably will be trying..
i might not get to all of them as im not sure about the time of season for planting some of this stuff. I also will be growing in the ground and in containers.

Tomatoes

Delicious - grown before
Better Boy - grown before
Trip-L-Crop - grown before
Jelly Bean
Early Girl
Jubilee - grown before
Roma - grown before
Rutgers
Big Boy - grown before
Jetstar
Super Boy
Beef Master
Lemon Boy - grown before
Mr.Stripey - grown before

Other Stuff

Radish (red emperor)- grown before but diff type.
Squash (summer straightneck) - grown before
Cucumber (straight 8) - grown before
Cucumber (smr '58) - grown before
Broccoli (green sprouting)
Cantaloupe (golden delicious) - grown before
Watermelon (sugar baby) - grown before
Carrot (short and sweet) - grown before
Zucchini squash (black beauty) - grown before
potato (whatever the wife buys)
Okra
Pepper (assorted varieties) - grown before
Corn (early sunglow) - grown before
Strawberry (assorted varieties) - grown before

so as you can see ive dabbled before in stuff with varied results. Sometimes i would get fruit and vedge sometimes i wouldnt. I just have to figure out the best spots and conditions for the ones i think i can pull off.

while all this is going on i also have some flowers i want to try...

im big into sunflowers and am thinking of dedicating a patch in my front yard to a group of varied sunflowers.
heres what i have..

citrus - grown before
mexican
velvet queen
solar eclipse
sundrops
chianti hybrid - grown before
american giant
lemon queen - grown before
autumn beauty
honey bear
starburst
russian mammoth - grown before
skyscraper - grown before

not sure if i can create some kind of grouped garden consisting of all the above?

now onto the other smaller stuff i want to try to attract wildlife such as bee's, birds, and butterflies...

aster
true lavender
butterfly weed
cocks comb
black eyed susan
blanket flower
gaillardia goblin
moonflower
snapdragon
nasturtium whirlybird mix
petite orange marigold

wow now that i look at all this it seems like i would have my hands full!

any advice on any of these seeds i have would be great! Im not sure if im behind in growing any of this stuff so any tips or recommendations on growing would be cool. Maybe tell me if im crazy to go at all this or how hard some of this would be..

GN


edit: just picked up 6 plants from walmart for a dollar each..

got 2 tomatoes......celebrity and parks whopper.
got 4 peppers......cayenne, sweet banana, green bell, and jalepeno.

i didnt have these seeds so i got the mini plants although i do like growing from seed if i can.

Last edited: Sat Apr 11, 2009 6:58 am

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Sea of Seeds...

Category: Numb's Garden Life | Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 3:16 pm

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I think i got a little excited this year and anxious to get some seeds germed...

so back in march when the weather wasnt the best i started germing the seeds not realizing that the lil baby plants would need some good sun and comfy weather.

heres what i had going..



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i only have bought the regular seeds from the store so i dont have any fancy varieties that i see in some of the posts here on Garden Stew.

So i kept on germin my seeds and went a lil overboard with 3 or 4 of each variety not realizing how much work it would be to keep them all up and how many i actually needed. I dont have a lot of room to garden, well actually i have room but only certain parts of the garden get the right amount of light to do anything.


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I use jiffy pellets for starting the seeds but i learned that the lil jiffy pots can absorb some of the moisture out of the soil which isnt good if you dont pay attention to them in the sun and i lost a bunch of seedlings this way. This is also when i realized i didnt need 3-4 of each type of plant i was growing so im down to 1, maybe 2 of each variety now.
I want to grow a lot of stuff so i cant afford to grow bunches of the same kind if i dont have room.

my most abundant grow is to do with tomatoes which i dont even eat but i love the plant and the varieties that it has. I love ketchup and have made a promise to bite into each type of tomato i grow this season to see if i can develop a taste.








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Bee Lessons...

Category: Nature - Out and About... | Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 3:00 pm

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I was just outside my work building looking around the grounds which are quite large and have quite a few nice tree and plant specimens. I was taking some photos to post later in the plant i.d section so i can learn some stuff when i saw an old plastic drink cup sitting on the grass near the woods area.

I dont like trash laying around so i peered into it before i picked it up to see if any critters had been using it but didnt see anything although the cup was creased in a the bottom and i thought i saw some dirt or something dark behind the crease.
I pick up the cup and i hear "bzzzzzzzzZZZZZZ" and some tapping on the cup which surprised me so i dropped it on the grass and a big bee comes flying out and off up in the air. I guess that was what the dark thing was...

seconds later i go to grab the cup to trash it and i hear it again....."bzzzzzZZZZZZ" and whack the bee hits me in the back of the head, luckily i had a cap on so it just bounced off as i ran away lol...

my lesson learnt is to leave the area for a lil while if you think you might have disturbed a bee as it seems they dont like surprise encounters much either and may need time to cool down.



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