Hades Releases Persephone

February 3, 2014 - 7.3"/185mm snow

The winter has been rather harsh here. A great deal of snow was shoveled. Much more than normal. Temperatures were low into the first month of spring. But as Zeus commands Hades to release Persephone each spring, the earth awakes.

I began the growing season late again this year as last. The reason was one of mixed cold temperatures and malaise. I missed the sowing of peas and onions for the second year in a row. I do so love freshly picked snow peas. Not to worry. The temperature rose above 68ºF/20ºC this week. I feel planting fever coming on.

First action I took in the square foot garden was sprinkling two tablespoons of my organic fertilizer on each square foot section of both raised beds. Second action was to mixing it into the first inch or so of planting medium.

What you see in the photograph are the two of the four drip irrigation tubes I use to water the raised beds along with the fertilizer atop the growing medium.

Fertilizer mixed into the growing medium.

Third action was to cover both raised beds with red plastic mulch.

The mulch will server many purposes.

1. Warm the soil
2. Keep out any unwanted seeds
3. Retain moisture
4. Reflect light up under the leaves.

Persephone is only upon the earth for a short time. Don't just stand there, do something in your garden. 

I am already thinking of that first tomato.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Organic Fertilizer Formula Ready to Spread

To bring you up to date, last I mentioned the batch of organic fertilizer it was mixed and wet and in a tray. 



It consisted of three components. The first two components were equal parts dry blood and bone meals. The third was to be dry wood ashes. However, I received the wood ashes from my neighbor in a plastic bag and they were wet. Impatient, I was, I mixed the wet ashes with the blood and bone meals. I didn't think it would take much to dry out the mix. The result was a brownie batter kind of mess spread out in the bottom of a baking pan.

Remember, I was in an impatient mood. So, the pan was placed into the oven at about 300ºF/149ºC. It was in the oven for awhile. I took it out of oven only after the people with whom I live couldn't take the odor any longer. Out of the oven, the pan was placed atop the range. The batter looked more liquid than when initially placed into the oven. It was a hot gooey brown mess in the bottom of the baking pan. When cooled to room temperature, the batter still quivered a bit when the pan was shaken.

Outside there was rain everyday or at least it seemed so. Once the sun was strong and the sky clear, the pan and batter were placed on the patio to get as much bright sunlight as possible. Within a few days the batter had transformed into a solid sheet of brown brittle. What needed to be done was to pulverize the stone-like food into a powder.

To start the pulverizing, the pan was carried into the garage where the floor was concrete. That would give a solid foundation for the next step and get us both out of the seemingly never-ending rain. I grabbed a 2lb/.9kg engineers maul and began to bet the brown brittle into small brown chips no larger than 1/2"/13mm. Chips ready to go into a kitchen blender.

After hours of perspiration while pummeling and precipitous tinnitus caused by the whirling of the blender blades, all the brown brittle was broken into powder. Blood rich organic brown powder ready to be spread upon the soil in the raised beds of the square foot garden. A powder to feed the stems and roots, fortify the flowers and increase the size and taste of the vegetables.

No one said it would be easy. Nor perspiration or pain free. But, it was worth it.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Organic Fertilizer Formula

Using the original Square Foot Gardening as a reference, I mixed a batch of organic fertilizer.

The ingredients were:

1. Blood meal
2. Bone meal
3. Wood ash

Measure one part, by volume, each blood and bone meals with two parts wood ash.

Small quantities of blood and bone meals were purchased at a home improvement store. The wood ash was supplied by my neighbor who uses a wood stove to supplement the heating of his house.

I was given the wood ash in a plastic waste can liner a few weeks ago. It was placed under cover on my patio near the raised beds. It rained several days since. Needless to say, the ash was wet when I was ready to mix the fertilizer.

Using a kitchen strainer, I sifted large pieces out of the wet ashes.  Then the wet ash was poured into the mug to measure. Since the ash was wet, I figured there was a significant amount of water in the mug along with the ash. Compensating for the water, I increased the amount of ash by 50% to three measures.

Once all the elements were blended, they were placed into a large kitchen pan which which was then placed in the sun. The fertilizer will be much easier to handle once the sun dries the mixture.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved