I was jut reading over the thread again and you said that because i live in a warm climate i have an advantage over other people. What advantage is that, composting year round or does it have to do with the bennies?
Which plants, flowers, weeds and other garden finds do you use
- Thread starter big ballin 88
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making high quality compost is a bit different than just throwing things into a pile( which will end up as compost someday) but if you want the best you have to give it some initial thought. i would set up a compost area. a place where you can process waste efficiently rather than throw it in a pile.
why would you smash it? the compost? if you mean rocks you dont want all powder, that will make your soil soggy and messy. sand and larger particles also play a role in the soil structure.
i dont grow indoors and if so its just to start plants in early winter for spring. so i cant really help you there, when i start indoors i bring compost in with no problems, but there inside a month or two tops.
if you think, you need to make sure. when growing like this you do NOT want to mis-identify plants. that is critical. you NEED the right I.D. dandelions are easy, deep lobed low rosette growing plant, one flower per stalk, yellow with toothed tips, undersides have a gray streak, and the seeds well...everyone knows those puff balls. if you know for sure, go chop them all at ground level and dry the leaves. you can make plant extracts for soil drenches and foliar sprays or top dressings if you powder it. the dandelions will grow back in a few weeks for another harvest.
what soil do you use now? can you recycle it? so you don't have to start from scratch.
that's more of a composting question, you can break it up and bury it, butits not going to would be the most efficient way.
no frost! you can grow your own fertilizer plants year around. when i lived in southern california, i had a perrenial nettle crop as well as comfrey. now come winter they both go dormant along with just about everything else buy yarrow and dandelion.
why would you smash it? the compost? if you mean rocks you dont want all powder, that will make your soil soggy and messy. sand and larger particles also play a role in the soil structure.
I was talking about the sand and rock's the typical soil of S. Florida. Their much bigger than you would imagine, i'm talking underground boulders, well not really but there are a lot bigger than footballs. We do have smaller stones they just need to be broken up some lol
if you think, you need to make sure. when growing like this you do NOT want to mis-identify plants. that is critical. you NEED the right I.D. dandelions are easy, deep lobed low rosette growing plant, one flower per stalk, yellow with toothed tips, undersides have a gray streak, and the seeds well...everyone knows those puff balls. if you know for sure, go chop them all at ground level and dry the leaves. you can make plant extracts for soil drenches and foliar sprays or top dressings if you powder it. the dandelions will grow back in a few weeks for another harvest.
Well their not dandelions, and i cant tell what these are, i'm going to look it up. Now that i have some sources to use.
what soil do you use now? can you recycle it? so you don't have to start from scratch.
Right now i used a store bought soil that i cut with the vermiculite, perlite and fine coco. I reuse it, i just mix a little epsoma starter plus and sea kelp in first for the microherds. Its really not a lot but i could put it to a better cause for now.
that's more of a composting question, you can break it up and bury it, butits not going to would be the most efficient way.
What would be the efficient way of doing this? Blending it to a liquid?
I was talking about the sand and rock's the typical soil of S. Florida. Their much bigger than you would imagine, i'm talking underground boulders, well not really but there are a lot bigger than footballs. We do have smaller stones they just need to be broken up some lol
if you think, you need to make sure. when growing like this you do NOT want to mis-identify plants. that is critical. you NEED the right I.D. dandelions are easy, deep lobed low rosette growing plant, one flower per stalk, yellow with toothed tips, undersides have a gray streak, and the seeds well...everyone knows those puff balls. if you know for sure, go chop them all at ground level and dry the leaves. you can make plant extracts for soil drenches and foliar sprays or top dressings if you powder it. the dandelions will grow back in a few weeks for another harvest.
Well their not dandelions, and i cant tell what these are, i'm going to look it up. Now that i have some sources to use.
what soil do you use now? can you recycle it? so you don't have to start from scratch.
Right now i used a store bought soil that i cut with the vermiculite, perlite and fine coco. I reuse it, i just mix a little epsoma starter plus and sea kelp in first for the microherds. Its really not a lot but i could put it to a better cause for now.
that's more of a composting question, you can break it up and bury it, butits not going to would be the most efficient way.
What would be the efficient way of doing this? Blending it to a liquid?
surely the soil is not all football sized rocks. that would be awkward to walk on lol. i would just build a simple dirt sifter to get all the larger rocks out. maybe a 1/4-1/2 inch mesh on a wooden frame. then go from there.
yea see its best to know exactly what your working with. if it looks like dandelions, google dandelion look alikes or something along those lines. here we have regular dandelion and whats called false dandelion. they look almost the same except the false dandelion has branching flower stalks with more than one bloom, unlike dandelions.
well since you already have soil or a soilless media, that is a start. you can continue to add organic matter and some of the sifted topsoil from your area if you want. just aim to increase the fertility of the soil. strive for diversity it will help you big time in the long run.
i dont know, i live far from the ocean. and i dont like fish really that much. so some searching the info is out there.
I've heard Bokashi is a good way to utilize meat, like da fishies. But that's just what I heard with literally no experience on the matter.
This thread is pwn. It gets me excited whenever theres a discussion on using plants to feed your plants... an encyclopedia on local plants/weeds that are great for your garden is bound to happen. It can and it will.
This thread is pwn. It gets me excited whenever theres a discussion on using plants to feed your plants... an encyclopedia on local plants/weeds that are great for your garden is bound to happen. It can and it will.
I have fed lobster carcasses, pork slices, clams, grease, and who knows what else to the worms in my basement after turning them into bokashi.
Works just fine.
Works just fine.
herbaholic
Member
I was just reading up on companion planting in the garden at another site and found this suggestion
"Peppers and pigweed or ragweed: Leafminers preferred the weeds to pepper plants in a study at the Coastal Plains Experiment Station in Tifton, Georgia. Just be careful to remove the weeds' flowers before they set seed or you'll have trouble controlling the weeds."
It made me think of this thread
"Peppers and pigweed or ragweed: Leafminers preferred the weeds to pepper plants in a study at the Coastal Plains Experiment Station in Tifton, Georgia. Just be careful to remove the weeds' flowers before they set seed or you'll have trouble controlling the weeds."
It made me think of this thread
Im happy people are finding interest in this thread. It could benefit us gardeners who don't work in bulk and would like quality organic supplies. All of the plants that grow around us naturally do it and look a lot better in the mean time than some of the plants i've seen in artificial environments. Just seeing nature work makes me happy i'm into organics so being able to utilize my surroundings is awesome.
I just wish my area wasn't so built up, i remember about 10 years ago i could go walking in small woods that would grow naturally even though weren't extensive, it was teaming with life. Now most the county parks by me are trees that were brought in and looks very bare. Its sad to see where the land has gone. It must be time for me to move to a place where forests and good soil exist.
I just wish my area wasn't so built up, i remember about 10 years ago i could go walking in small woods that would grow naturally even though weren't extensive, it was teaming with life. Now most the county parks by me are trees that were brought in and looks very bare. Its sad to see where the land has gone. It must be time for me to move to a place where forests and good soil exist.
So i just realized that i live near a huge peat bog and am thinking about adding this to my soil mix. Any ideas for fresh peat, or if it should even be used?
false dandelion are sometimes thistles like sow thistle (images below) and are cousins to the dandelion.
these(sow thistle) are also edible and i read many use them to feed rabbits or turtles and have some medicinal qualities..ther flowers remind me of horton hears a who
im finding that a lot of members of the Asteraceae family are beneficial to our gardens, all good insectory plants and some have nutritional benefits as well (dandelion, chamomile, sow thistle)
these(sow thistle) are also edible and i read many use them to feed rabbits or turtles and have some medicinal qualities..ther flowers remind me of horton hears a who
im finding that a lot of members of the Asteraceae family are beneficial to our gardens, all good insectory plants and some have nutritional benefits as well (dandelion, chamomile, sow thistle)
It occurred to me yesterday as I was thumbing through the latest Mother Earth News mag. that the stuff discussed here is comparable to what's in there. I think it's cool to bring up topics related to any form of organic gardening because it still applies to what most of us grow. I mean how about a cold frame thread? ..........don't want to get off topic because this thread could chug along for a while....just saying keep it coming.
DM thats not the false dandelion i was talking about, this is the culprit here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catsear
this thread is turning into a natural materials/resources thread rather than a plants thread from all the questions though lol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catsear
this thread is turning into a natural materials/resources thread rather than a plants thread from all the questions though lol.
Those sow thistle are similar to what i have, however i noticied on some of the plants the flowers are pink. Also the leaves don't look exactly the same. I noticied 5 different types of weeds in my garden. I'm searching for them now to, if i can't find anything i'll take pictures when i get back from class. I'm also gonna start building the pile today.
When i start building the pile, would i consider the weeds N for th pile? It seems my spot may have lost some of its texture, atleast on the surface and theres ton's of weeds that are about to become useful.
Darc Mind had a great site, and now i'm using it to find different uses for plants. If anyone's interested this page will give you someuseful information for plants that are useful in the garden.
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/other_uses.php
When i start building the pile, would i consider the weeds N for th pile? It seems my spot may have lost some of its texture, atleast on the surface and theres ton's of weeds that are about to become useful.
Darc Mind had a great site, and now i'm using it to find different uses for plants. If anyone's interested this page will give you someuseful information for plants that are useful in the garden.
http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/other_uses.php
V
vonforne
big-ballin.....SWF huh? I lived there for 25 years. Fl. is great for fish scraps out the ass, never ending grass and pine bark and the list goes on. I used to catch Amber Jack and make fish emulsions. Just do not do it in the house. LOL
Shoot me a pm man.
V
Shoot me a pm man.
V
close actually SEF, SWF is great for fishing and i love it out there. Not to mention i used to go to school out in Tampa. I go hunting and Florida is more than just grass and pine bark. Its also boggy, full of biochar and has more sand than i know what to do with
.
I wish we had some nice soils like other states but its either sand or heavy peat/mud.
.I wish we had some nice soils like other states but its either sand or heavy peat/mud.
J
*Journeyman*
Since this is kind of a weed thread someone recently recommended the book Weeds and Why They Grow. I thumbed through it and seems to be a great reference book. Shows each weed and then lists the typical soil characteristics such as deficiencies, adequacies(?) or too much of something(s).
Weeds are highly nutritious and so much more so than conventional veggies. For the last 20 years most of my spring salads contain chickweed, miners lettuce, candy flower, dandelion, plantain, yellow dock, yarrow, mint, lamb's quarter, watercress, red clover, mulva. We also have comfrey (feels like velcro in your mouth...lol), horsetail, amaranth, nettles, mullein, burdock, cleavers, chamomile.
They are concentrators of nutrients in native soils.
I was fortunate that a Native American taught me but I do encourage everyone to know the weeds that grow in your area.
Only recently it clicked to start using weeds in composts...like duh...but did know about using them in teas before. Bruce Tainio has studied weeds a lot. Said all are higher in K than N and virtually no diseases in weeds.
Weeds are highly nutritious and so much more so than conventional veggies. For the last 20 years most of my spring salads contain chickweed, miners lettuce, candy flower, dandelion, plantain, yellow dock, yarrow, mint, lamb's quarter, watercress, red clover, mulva. We also have comfrey (feels like velcro in your mouth...lol), horsetail, amaranth, nettles, mullein, burdock, cleavers, chamomile.
They are concentrators of nutrients in native soils.
I was fortunate that a Native American taught me but I do encourage everyone to know the weeds that grow in your area.
Only recently it clicked to start using weeds in composts...like duh...but did know about using them in teas before. Bruce Tainio has studied weeds a lot. Said all are higher in K than N and virtually no diseases in weeds.
Well i know seminoles, and their pretty much to drugged out to even care about the land, only the elders do and they want nothing to do with me. Since we lack land that has been untouched i'm thinking about going kayaking in the Everglades and just bringing back a whole bunch of stuff and go from there.
I'm still pretty young but have been growing for almost 5 years now, so i'm new to this and being the only Floridian don't know too much of the local stuff. The only edible plant i know of around me is cattail, so i have much more research to go.
Journeyman, i'm looking up those plants and it seems like it would be amazing in a compost pile since some are compost activators and green manure. Some are also good for liquid feed.
The more i read, the more interested i am in this. There are just so many alternatives and yet we all shell out money to get organic ingredients with marketing hype.
I'm still pretty young but have been growing for almost 5 years now, so i'm new to this and being the only Floridian don't know too much of the local stuff. The only edible plant i know of around me is cattail, so i have much more research to go.
Journeyman, i'm looking up those plants and it seems like it would be amazing in a compost pile since some are compost activators and green manure. Some are also good for liquid feed.
The more i read, the more interested i am in this. There are just so many alternatives and yet we all shell out money to get organic ingredients with marketing hype.
Remember the Bass-o-matic '76? lol
