Of Friends, Fear, and Presence

Posted by Adina I got an email from my friend Holly today. She is the hardest working gal I know, keeps a full time day job, grows for her own small CSA, and does singing gigs a couple of nights a week. She wanted me to know she had read my post Today In The Garden and loved [...]

Today In The Garden

Posted by Adina Today when I got up and went outside it was barely light, and getting darker. As I worked through my morning chores the darkness closed in, the wind blew and thunder shook the sky. It was a strange morning in the garden, they don’t usually start out like that, and in that strangeness, because it [...]

In The Garden: Growing Yard Long Beans

Posted by Adina In The Garden: It is nearly planting time and Pole Beans make a great hot weather crop and a great way to start out in the garden this August. There are several types of beans that grow on poles. The Yard Long Bean, Vigna ungulculata is my favorite so far. Yard Long Beans look like [...]

In The Garden: Growing Sweet Potatoes

Posted by Adina This is a great time to be growing Sweet Potatoes in the garden. They don’t mind the weather this hot,and as long as they are in well drained soil they can take whatever rain we are getting. Sweet Potato slips planted now (July) here in S. Florida would be ready in time for Autumn dinners, [...]

Tags: Grow Food At Home, growing sweet potatoes, Home Grown Vegetables, Organic Sweet Potatoes

Synergistic Agriculture & The Evolving Garden(er)

Posted by Adina I intended to write about what I am doing this summer to prepare my no dig garden boxes for the winter growing season, but this blog has taken it’s own direction instead. Today I write about Synergistic Agriculture and my evolving garden practices. This summer I have been growing in gardens I would have left fallow [...]

Tags: Lasagna Garden, No Dig Garden, No Till Gardening, Preparing for Planting, South Florida Vegetable Gardens

Nematodes: Organic Biological Garden Pest Control

Posted by Adina I was visiting my friends Wynn and Bob at Creature Safe Place one day, and I noticed that I was not being attacked by mosquitoes which is unusual pretty much anywhere in S. Florida where there is vegetation, but really unusual at Creature Safe Place because it is surrounded by woods and pasture, and they [...]

Garden Amendment, Coconut Coir: What is it good for?

Posted by Adina One of just a few garden amendments I like to use is Coconut Coir or fiber. It is the fiber from between the hard shell of the coconut and the hard outer husk. I have buckets of this when I am done opening coconuts, but the Coir I am talking about today comes to me [...]

In The Garden: What Else Is Blooming

Posted by Adina This site is primarily focused making soil and growing natural food, however the ecosystem we hope to make of our yards is dependent upon diversity. It is therefore appropriate to post some pics of what else is blooming in the garden this summer. Enjoy SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "In The Garden: What Else Is Blooming", url: "http://manuredepot.com/in-the-garden-what-else-is-blooming/" });

For The Best Composting Materials Learn to Scrounge Around

Posted by Adina [/caption] Now that you are composting you will probably look at your world differently. Many people who come talk to me when they first start composting say they are having trouble finding carbonaceous composting materials. For the best composting materials you have to learn to scrounge around. That [...]

Tags: Composting, The Compost Pile

In The Garden: Starting Out

Posted by Adina [/caption]South Florida in the garden: It is July now and you have decided that you want to be ready to grow vegetables for your family when our first planting time comes NEXT MONTH!?! Yes, some of us will start putting seeds in as soon as August. Don’t worry you don’t [...]

Tags: Grow Food At Home, Home Garden, Lasagna Garden, No Dig Garden, No Till Gardening

Hey, In The Garden Straw Ain’t Hay!

Posted by Adina When ranchers, farmers, feed store keepers and those of us in the garden talk about Hay and Straw we are talking about two very different commodities. When I say it is good to mulch with Straw I do mean straw, and not hay. Hay and Straw come from the same plants. Hay is the top of [...]

Manure: An Earthworm Inoculant for Compost?

Posted by Adina Eventually when I speak to people about their compost piles and bins the inquiry turns to earthworms, and whether they should *buy worms to add to their compost piles. I always say “Put your compost on the ground, and the earth worms will come.”. That, it seems, has always been true for me, or has [...]

Tags: Composting, Earthworms, Manure