<a href="http://www.sping.com"><img src="http://www.sping.com/images/sping4.gif" height="20"></a> Garden?
For composte I plan on using the family's restaurant scraps from food preparation, like shrimp shells and fat cut offs from beef. I heard it works really well. But do I just dump it in the bottom of my garden and shovel dirt on top or do I have to mix it in.
i dont think you want to put meat scraps, fish shells or any cooked food in there - veggies, fruit, egg shells, coffee grounds, leaves, dirt, yard clippings - you can even pee in it!
Good. Never use that kind. It would have been better to have fertilized in the fall, and I think you hit it a bit early this year. How much did you put down? Which product. St. Aug all you need to do is feed it and mow it often at a height of 2.5" or higher. Some weeds will grow faster than the grass so knock them down often. Your grass will choke out the weeds all by itself, it will win that battle every time if healthy. If you have never fertilized it, then go ahead and do it now at about .75lb of nitrogen per sq foot. Then .5lb of N at three more application through the year. You could spray it but you will have a brown looking yard and possible bare earth in some spots. It won't help your grass take over any faster, and will coat your lawn with chemicals you don't need.
Don't do that without a special composting container for meat and dairy. It will smell bad and attract rodents; plus, yes, it should be anaerobic composting vs aerobic for veggies. A little research will explain the difference between animal byproducts vs veggie composting.
We're going to try strawberries this year too, though I'm not expecting anything really. I believe the wife is trying a few different tomatoes as well.
Tough to grow in Houston in the ground. Spinach is a fall/winter garden crop down here. I've had my best success growing it in containers rather than in the ground.
Do you remember which variety you had? I was planning to go with a container. I have heard they do well in a hydroponics system so I was also thinking of going indoors with them.
All I'm growing is peppers. Going to try the following in containers this year : Early Jalapenos Butch T Trinidad Scorpions Moruga Trinidad Scoprions Jwalas Aji Amarillos Chi-Chiens I'll be happy if the blasted scorpions produce and maybe the Ajis.
im not really worried about rot - i made my previous bed out of recycled 2x4's from my old fence, which was at least 15-20 years old and they are fine.
i didnt get the weed killer b/c i have a dog and am also doing organic gardening - didnt want that stuff getting into my soil. ill preface this by saying i dont really know what im doing... i fertilize once every 3 months. i had always let my lawn go 'au natural' so i wasnt previously fertilizing, but last spring i got tired of all the dirt so i threw down about 80 pieces of st. augustine (mostly around my back porch, which was all dirt). i also put down about a ton of topsoil - and there were other spots in my yard away from the house that i threw down bermuda grass seed. basically anything to get some coverage over the bare areas. also started fertilizing - one round around july, another around october and then a 3rd a few weeks ago. i used scotts southern turf builder - i went for the one that said it was good for year-round application. i just went over my yard once w/ the spreader setting at like 5. so what am i doing wrong? any advice would be apprciated! does the 'h' in caseyh stand for "hill"?
as rmt said, thats more of a fall/winter crop - most leafy greens are. you might be able to get something in the ground, but you will only have it for a couple months before it gets too hot. this is the time to plant tomatoes, peppers, squash, onions, ect. you can grow leafy greens indoors, as long as they are in a window to get sun. there is a big urban gardening movement going and they are doing some really cool stuff w/ hydroponics - using plastic water bottles, fish tank motors and stuff. i have grown a couple varieties of lettuce and arugula - did them from seed and got good results - the arugula plant is still going and tasty. few leaves of that in your salad spices it up a bit. you can grow tomatoes and peppers in containers - 10 gallon will work great, but ive done as small as 5 gallon - just make sure there is adequate drainage. i actually drilled extra holes in my pots.
I am a total n00b to gardening.. Will be living in this current residence for only a couple more months. Is it worth planting any vegetables? (what are some reasonable time frames?)
What kind of plants are you trying to grow? You could maybe grow them in containers depending on what they are.
Good move on organic. You should go that way with your lawn also. Don't get anymore soil, it would have been much better if you would put down compost instead. You have new construction and your lawn was all dirt I guess? Anyways to go organic just continue to not use poisons but instead of scotts, get some soybean meal and put down 10-15 pounds or so for every 1K square feet. It comes in 50 lb bags from the feed store so if you have a 4-5K yard spread out the entire bag evenly. I like to mix it up on mine and spread out alfalfa pellets once a year, but you need 2-3 times more of them so it is more expensive. The good part is you won't burn your lawn and you don't need to apply perfect like you would a chemical fert. Make sure you are mowing at least 2.5-3" high to keep all the dirt covered from the sun. That stops weed seeds from germinating and also conserves water during the summer.
