Planting board construction is back on April 26, 2009 entry
I finished one cold frame this week that I will use as the demonstration frame and will work on the other one this next week. Having one frame that I can use when I speak to groups will be a good thing even if I don't get to use it in the garden. Plus we got the furnace in the greenhouse started so I can move plants from the basement lights to the greenhouse and start thinking about seedlings.
I spoke at the "Seeds of Hope" Garden Event at the Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton, Wi this past Saturday. This was a wonderful and well attended gardening event. The mission of the Seeds of Hope is to serve the Fox Valley Technical College student family. This group basically provides immediate financial assistance for students in crisis. Check out the rest of the mission of this worthy group at the schools web site - www.fvtc.edu/seedsofhope - and maybe you could donate to this worthy cause.
I got to attend a presentation on Roses and one on Cooking with Herbs. I enjoyed them both and the herb one had some great food to sample - the fennel sorbet was especially good. Plus there was a keynote presentation by my good friend Jim Beard about composting, worm castings, and making compost tea.
I gave my presentation - Not Your Average Vegetable Garden - Explorations in Backyard Horticulture - twice and really had a wonderful time and great participation. What a fantastic way to get "pumped up' about spring and the coming growing season. I had good questions and I donated two planting boards to the silent auction. The only drawback was that even though the planting boards are part of my PowerPoint I neglected to mention just how valuable a tool they are for me in the garden. Oh well, at least two people have great new planting boards for this years garden.
Happy Gardening.
I LOVE your blog!! I just discovered it, and have read through it TWICE!! Thank you for all of the great information!! I have a few questions for you. I am just a beginner, the first thing I am going to start is a compost pile, kind of set-up like yours. Do you add egg shells and coffee grounds? You are a wonderful resource, I will be following your blog!!
ReplyDeletePS. I showed my husband your bagged apples!! WWOOWW!! Thank YOU, Damaris (Lyle, Washington - Possibly Zone 7)
Hi Damaris,
ReplyDeleteThank you, we appreciate your interest and your compliments.
I really only put garden vegetation in my compost bins but egg shells and coffee grounds are fine materials to add to a pile. My compost bins stack so well that I have two and am thinking about another as I really do not turn much and so they take some time work. However, when I do turn them I usually screen and dump the big stuff back into the bottom of a new pile. Washington and Oregon are a location for good information on apple bagging and you guys have fewer apple pests than we do so you can bag much later in the development stages. Even your commercial orchards have been bagging for some time.
Happy Gardening
You have such an organized garden! I'll continue visiting for inspiration.
ReplyDeleteHi sowbug,
ReplyDeleteThanks, we still hope to make the space in the garden bigger this summer. I even played with the idea of growing some of the vine crops on the edge of the garden and just letting them spill over into the lawn. I would so much rather have cantaloupes and squash than grass. But we will just see. I think if I had gotten the orange watermelon seed that I really wanted it would have happened for sure.
Happy Gardening