The reason for my absence from ATS.....

originally posted by: mindseye1609

originally posted by: kingmonkey
Absolutely awe inspiring, especially given your location. Must have been a huge learning curve.

I have a one year old daughter who we have tried extremely hard to feed a completely organic diet, which is not always easy. I have thought about starting to try and grow some veg but not being a gardener I've never given it a shot.

You have inspired me!

might i recommend Teaming with microbes by jeff lowenfels (thats a link to the PDF, i cant vouch for its safety but i downloaded it and can vouch that the book is there) this is an amazing book that i still havent even begun to digest all the way. great great read! if you like it i recommend getting the hardcover version and keeping it on hand as often as possible cause it really is about as close as you can get to a "bible" for organic gardening.

Looks interesting, thank you. I think I will take a punt and buy the book!

a reply to: kingmonkey

will be worth every penny.

and i understand I'm probably walking the line in T&C terms promoting said book but its realy cheap and the body of knowledge in teaming with microbes really is the industry standard starting point for ANYONE who wants to get into organic gardening. i dont care if you've been to college for 10 years or you've been a farmer for 20 years or never grown a plant in your life, if you have a complete grasp on whats in teaming with microbes you are near expert level of understanding. mind you a complete grasp of teaming with microbes would be very hard to achieve without at least some field time it really is just an amazing body of knowledge that will go down in history as such. I've read many many writings by jeff himself and his followers.

O MAN his followers.... this group of shroomheads (not the psychoactive kind... well not always...) are just tenacious. they've dove into the world beneath our feet and met every different "Person" (Most of the time they give the different fungi and microbes personalities) and figured out HOW and WHY you can get these microbes into different facets of garden and PERSONAL health. they are now finding that alot of these microbes do wonders for us directly ingested in different Tea's much like you would feed your plants compost "Teas". the world of microbes and organic gardening is a amazing place!

so please mods i beg you to allow my promotion of this book to stand cause its more a promotion of a way of life and a body of knowledge that truly does lead to an improvement in the world around us! jeff is not getting rich in anyway shape or form from his teachings either, everything I've seen in fact leads me to believe to opposite actually, he's very humble both in spirit and means. a great great example of a positive being attempting to effect this world in a very positive way!

ETA, ive had the book for several years now and honestly have barely broken the surface. I'm no expert but i tell you what just getting my toes wet improved my garden and my understanding 1000%

Just dropped you a Flag since that is a Cool @ss Yard!

Now I know Who's getting the Rain! This year I have to ponder if Planting will do any good, dry as a dug up bone over here! Will plant a small garden though. Still learning how to overcome the waste of veggies; although giving some away. One year had so much I had to toss 1/3 away.

Who knew canning takes time to learn! Most laugh since it's a jar really! So in a round about way of asking. How do you find the Time? By the time my day is over, I'm burnt, fried and ready for bed! Of course having a 98 year old house has its drawbacks, fixing what needs to be fixed, tend to the yard, and most of the critters looking for food!

Again, very creative on how your doing your Soil. How did you come up with the ideas? Seems anything will grow if one takes the time and actually invests in what their doing. Plus it helps to Talk to them while watering, planting and hanging out now and then.

Peace

a reply to: purplemer

Incredibly Awesome. Sure puts what I have been doing to shame...


S&F

I have been seriously thinking of doing something like this..

Awesome job mna..

originally posted by: purplemer
a reply to: dfens

They are buoys. Plastic balls used as markers at sea. Sometimes they come in on the beaches. For draininage aggregate I have used a lot of oyster and mussel shells. These are good under the soil layer as they provide habitats for small creatures.

They are also good the soil. First you have to fill a bag with shells and run over a good few times with the car. The idea being to crush or powder them. When you mix them into the soil they raise the ph and buffer magnesium just like dolomite does...

Its amazing how you've used so much of the natural material of the local environment. What or who was your resource for learning all of this?

Bravo purp, bravo. making your own soil- wow, that's awesome!
I love the stones and the rugged beauty of the place, You've done a lovely job!
This is my 4th year to attempt gardening I'm trying the strawbale method this year. So far my plants are loving it, just keeping fingers crossed I can nurse them through the Texas summer. You've inspired me!

a reply to: purplemer

"It is one thing growing food and another eating it. Lots of the food comes up at the same time and there is too much to eat. The first year a lot got wasted. I have since learned different methods of preservation like making pickle, fermenting cabbage or wine."

Please share some of your more successful preservation methods. I am giving away food by the bag, for this same reason. Though I thought I was planting small amounts, just enough for my family and friends, this year has been a bumper crop. Everything is growing like crazy, with very little intervention. I even got a couple surprises by way of items I didn't plant.

I think they were gifts from the heavens, dropped by my fine feathered friends, or a unexpected advantage from using compost. I hate to waste food and I don't have any more room in my freezer.

Thanks in advance.

Well Done Sir, Well Done.

a reply to: infoseeker26754


We always get rain here. There is never a shortage of the stuff... Now the sunshine thats a different matter. It is summer now and maybe only 12 degrees outside.

As for getting the time. I am time rich and money poor. I try and use my time in ways that will save me money. Like planting food, brewing wine, foraging that kind of thing. Time to me is more valuable than money.
I have answered how I made the soil in a previous reply. :-)

As for ideas I approach the garden with a sense of play. It is a relationship we have together in which there are no objectives and nothing can be done right or wrong. Personally I find that the best way to learn and stress free..

a reply to: purplemer

You really have done an amazing job with that garden. I'm very impressed!

a reply to: purplemer

What a great post Purp, thanks for sharing! You have a beautiful garden, and quite the green thumb! Do you happen to know of any other types of adaptogens? Maybe ones that are known to grow on the East Coast of the US?

I liked your pics, the idea of cultivating a garden in such an inhospitable place fascinates me. It's some sort of romantic notion of fighting the elements, I guess.

You mentioned you live in the Outer Hebrides. Are you aware some guy made a game set in the Hebrides, called Dear Esther?

Listening to the games soundtrack right now.

a reply to: purplemer


That is really amazing. You've put a lot of hard work in there and it shows. That is some beautiful country as well. Do you have a pic of your old avatar? I think I remember you but the avatar was different. In any event, if you were gone, it looks like you did not waste any time away. Congratulations on your new found self sufficiency and on your farming success!

originally posted by: TDawg61
Some people have an affinity for working the land.Well done sir and your posts are missed.

I agree but one should never give up. I started out having absolutely no luck in growing anything. Everything I planted and tended to fondly, either died or never came up. My soil is a mixture of sugar sand and small patchy areas of loam.

I rescued some bare root roses from Home Depot that were being thrown out. They gave them to me, because they were is such bad shape, they couldn't even identify what type of roses they were. I didn't expect anything to happen, so no matter what happened, it was okay with me. To my surprise they grew, very quickly, into some of the most beauty roses I have ever seen. I had 3 Joseph's coats, 3 huge red roses, 1 bright yellow and 1 breathtakingly beautiful, light purple one. I can't take credit for them, they just basically grew on their on with just a little watering from me when needed. I was only able to get to the house once a week, so they didn't even get much water.

I was vindicated. I now knew I "could" grow things! Wrong. Everything I planted died. I took instructions from the internet. I augmented and tested the soil, no luck. Then I noticed something very unusual. I could throw almost any kind of seed on the ground and it would take root and grow like crazy. Practically all the flowers, trees, and fruit that I have on my property, came from seeds. I have quite a few plants that grew from seeds I didn't put out. I believe they were dropped by the birds or the rabbits that hang out at my place because of my well stocked pond. Again I can't take credit for one fish in my pond. They either came in with through the water table, from the eggs on the herons or the feet of other birds. The bass, I know came from my neighbors pond. He had his pond stocked with bass and when we had the hurricanes and flooding, some found themselves in my pond. Two of the turtles, I did put in the pond, when they outgrew their containers, but the other turtle came from who knows where.

So we may not all be lucky ,or have a green thumb, but stick with it. You may find out that some things dont' need or want tending to, like my cat.

a reply to: Loveaduck


Thank you very much and sorry for the late reply. I am glad you like it and yes it is a lovely landscape. I call it dragon country. I do have a copy of my old avatar..