Garden Prep - Getting ready for Spring!

Texas weather is very unique! One day its 28 degrees, the very next day its 78! It can make you crazy, if you let it....but one thing I love is that during the winter - we will get some beautiful weather days. I make good use of that nice weather and sneak into the garden and prepare for an early spring!

Organic items for the garden

Onions fresh from the garden

Jeremiah 29:5
Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce

• Diatomaceous Earth
• Liquid Seaweed
• Lady Bug - John's Recipe
• Agricultural Vinegar
• Orange Oil
• Thrive
• Shake Away
• Tomato/Pepper Set

Prep the beds

Romeo helping Prep

Square Foot Garden Blend

 

Living Natural First
Magazine

I have been working in an organic garden center for a year and have learned a lot about gardening, with a focus on organic gardening. There is a lot to learn, but you don't need to stress about it. One step at a time...

We know pesticides are not good for us, not good for our water system, or the environment. The sad thing is that we live in a world of instantaneous gratification...and we can be very impatient. This can have a really bad effect on our over all health - and the health of children, pets, and wildlife. 

With a few small changes, we can really have a great yard and garden. Yes, organic gardening can take a lot longer than 'weed & feed' (YUCK!) but in the long run it costs less and safer for everything living with and around us. 

In the early Spring (mid Feb) and Fall (mid Sept) we can spread Corn Gluten Meal - for overall weed control. Basically, it blocks the weeds roots and without roots the weed will die. I will typically also use Horticultural Molasses at the same time. The molasses provides a natural food source for indigenous microbial population - it will increase the microbial activity. Good dirt = good lawn!

The amount of weeds in my lawn was reduced by about 70-80% the first time I used the Corn Gluten Meal! Thats pretty dramatic. After most of weeds have been eliminated, I can then use a natural spot treatment for the rest of the weeds (I also like to use my weed popper!)

Natural Weed Killer

Natural Weed Killer - spot treatment

Agricultural Vinegar (20%)* 

Orange oil

A few drops of Dawn dishwashing soap

Spray bottle

Fill bottle with vinegar, add a few tablespoons of orange oil, and a few drops of dish detergent. Spray the weed - be careful not to spray too much on other living items - grass, as it will kill it too. Use on a sunny day for best results. 

* Home vinegar is typically only 5% and won't be strong enough

Diatomaceous Earth - {AKA D.E.} Food/Insect GRADE - There are two main types of D.E. one you clean your swimming pool with - and the other is a natural pesticide for small insects that have an Exoskeleton: grasshoppers, cockroaches, and ants, to name a few. A small layer sprinkled in your garden will keep these guys out of your nice dirt! I also use it monthly to place around the perimeter of my home, and in my pantry to keep pests out. 

Be aware DE also kills beneficial insects like bees; so like any other pest control - use sparingly. 

Another great use for DE is for flea control. You can sprinkle on your pets bedding, a teaspoon in their food (yes it is SAFE), and on the pet. If you see any  fleas you can sprinkle around the house and vacuum it up. 

Today, I removed my straw (I use it for a weed block in the garden, and it keeps the good dirt in my garden), pulled any weeds that did grow (very few!), adding a dusting of DE, topped the soil off with a bag of Lady Bugs - Square-foot garden blend, and re-covered with straw. I like the square-foot blend because it has everything you in a garden soil all mixed together. When I first built my garden I adding bags separately - but this season I just added the blend. The Square-foot garden blend contains five composts, coir fiber and coarse vermiculite.

To till or NOT TO TILL? I have learned not to till my garden. Its a lot of work, but the worst part is that we flip the good dark healthy dirt up to the top and then allow nature to dry it out and remove key nutrients. I loved watching this free documentary movie - "Back to Eden - Gardening" and learned a lot www.backtoedenfilm.com

I will continue to blog about organic gardening...but get out there to do some preparation - trust me you will be pleased when spring arrives and most of your hard work is done!

A New Beginning

Where do I begin a new blog? I recently purchased a new website, www.simplyfaithtx.com . I am building it now and will publish it once I have something decent out there to share.

Simply Faith is based on the concept of working as hard as you can, doing all you can to be successful and then Simply have Faith in God that it goes well. I make natural products, using simple recipes that I can offer to my friends, family and hopefully customers. We are in the beginning stages of this new venture, and I thought a blog logging our journey may be interesting. 

We began with making homemade soap. We gathered supplies from the craft store, Michael's, and some essential oils from Sunflower. In no time we had made an oatmeal & honey soap with oats to help remove dry skin. We made lavender glycerin soap with lavender buds too. However, after using them I was not satisfied, nor was I willing to put my name on the product! Back to the drawing board. I wanted to create our own soap base, not purchase it. After much research, we decided to sign up for a class based in north Waco. They had an old recipe and taught a day long class in soap making. Bingo!

Saturday, we take the much awaited class. I am really looking forward to it even if I have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive almost two hours! 

More on that later.

My friend, Debbie, and I been learning, reading, and taking classes on many topics. In general, how to become self sustaining. Learning how to grow our own produce, canning jams, preserves and jellies. We are working on Cheese making, making our own bread, laundry soap, and learning how to make our own baskets. I am considering buying land in the Texas Hill Country (beautiful!) and moving out so we can really become self sustaining. Researching various farm animals, visiting local farms...how far can two women from Chicago take this interesting life challenge?

Debbie and I met in an serendipitous way. I had recently been RIF'ed from SuperMedia, the old GTE yellow pages. I knew I didn't want to go back to corporate America, but where would I find work? I was on unemployment, and searching. I had worked for GTE more than 21 years...I love animals, nature, art, and working with children. Could I really make an income with any of that? I began volunteering at places I thought I may want to work. The Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, Fort Worth Nature Center and looking for other opportunities. In googling wildlife in North central Texas, I found, Metro Wildlife Rehabbers. I called and before you know it I was speaking to various women who rehabilitated bunnies, squirrels, opossums...they were interesting but not quite what my heart wanted. Bonnie suggested, I speak to Debbie, she rehabilitates raccoons. Perfect! I had a lot of interest in those smart, curious creatures!

The day we met, we realized we had a bunch of things in common. We are both from Chicago suburbs, both raised Catholic, her ex-husband worked at SuperMedia too, and yes, I knew him. So much in common, it had to be a sign! Neither of us believed in coincidence...so came the beginning of a new friendship. She was holding, well they were climbing all over her, three baby raccoons. I KNEW I wanted to do this!

My babies: Willie, Diana, & Kate