Fall Garden Chores Save Money in Long Run

Fall Garden Chores Save Money in Long Run

This is a good time to get your garden in order. Here’s a tip that can save you money in the long run:

Keep your garden tools clean and sharp. Some plant diseases can be spread on tools.

Hose soil off of garden tools before moving to another area of the landscape. Dry them well before storing.

Sterilize pruning tools after each and every cut if there is any chance the plant is infected with a disease. Use an antibacterial spry and wipe it dry.

A dull saw is much more dangerous than sharp one. When the saw is sharp, gentle pressure is all it takes to make a clean cut. If it is dull, force is required and serious injury can occur if it slips. Sharp tools make for clean wounds which heal quickly.

Take care of your tools, they will last longer and so will you and your plants!

Happy Digging,

Doreen Pollack

Down 2 Earth Gardens, LLC

Fall Garden Planting Started

Fall Garden Planting Started

After my foot injury 2 weeks ago, I started getting worried that my garden planting wasn't happening on schedule. I still had 2 small beds to amend and many things I wanted to start by seed right in those beds. But I couldn't get around the garden very well and I certainly couldn't use a shovel and get up and down off my knees very well.

I called upon the help of my gardening friends and clients. Lo and behold last Sunday morning three wonderful, generous women came to my rescue. The really cool thing about it, is they all wanted to learn how to start a garden bed by seeds.

I coached and guided them and they did the work. Lucky for them we never needed to use more than a small garden shovel and trowel. But they planted many rows of seeds. The weather was perfect for gardening. We had a great time chatting and taking about gardening life and all the wonderful things growing your own food meant to each of us.

Now a week later I have tiny seedlings popping through the ground. In fact they could be seen as early as 4 days after planting!

Let me take you through a tour of my three newly planted garden beds:

The front yard is the newest of beds. This is where the grass was just a year ago! This lovely key-hole garden is now planted with:

Spinach

Chinese kale

Red leaf lettuce

Cilantro

Swiss chard (there are 2 chard plants left over from the summer that have doubled in size in a week since amending the soil!!)

The 2 back gardens are smaller. They were the first beds I used for food 2 years ago. Boy have I learned a lot since them.

The garden bed tucked in the farthest corner of the yard (about 2 ft x 3 ft) is now where I grow the plants that have a longer maturity or harvest date - onions, garlic, carrotts and beets. This year I threw my radishes in with all of this.

You can see the seedling coming up here as well. Notice the fancy plant marker - a plastic knife! Use a sharpie pen and they will hold up to all of the harsh AZ weather!

The third garden bed I call the salad bowl since I put my lettuces there. It is closest to the house and the back door. It has a vent from the crawl space which helps keep it warmer on cool winter evenings. Last year I had lettuce for almost 4 months for the same spot.

What is missing from all of this is the diversity of companion planting. That will come next week when I add the nasturtium and sweet alysum seeds and a few marigolds.

What did you plant this fall?

Happy Digging,

The Garden Goddess

Down 2 Earth Gardens,LLC

Fall Garden Planting StartedAfter my foot injury 2 weeks ago, I started getting worried that my garden planting wasn't happening on schedule. I still had 2 small beds to amend and many things I wanted to start by seed right in those beds. But I couldn't get around the garden very well and I certainly couldn't use a shovel and get up and down off my knees very well.So I called upon the help of my gardening friends and clients. Lo and behold last Sunday morning three wonderful, generous women came to my rescue. The really cool thing about it, is they all wanted to learn how to start a garden bed by seeds.So I coached and guided them and they did the work. Lucky for them we never needed to use more than a small garden shovel and trowl. But they planted many rows of seeds. The weather was perfect for gardening. We had a great time chatting and taking about gardening life and all the wonderful things growing your own food meant to each of us.So now a week later I have tiny seedlings popping through the ground! In fact they could be seen as early as 4 days after planting! Let me take you through a tour of my three newly planted garden beds:[Photo]The front yard is the newest of beds. This is where the grass was just a year ago! This lovely key-hole garden is now planted with:SpinachChinese kaleRed leaf lettuceCilantroSwiss chard (there are 2 chards plants left over from the summer that have doubled in size in a week since amending the soil!!)The 2 back gardens are small, they were the first beds.

Healing Gardens

Healing Gardens

A very appropriate topic considering my foray with the thorn in the foot. I am writing an article on modern day healing gardens and am looking for great resources.

If you have done any work in this area, I would love to interview you for my article. I am also interested in great websites, books or article on the subject. All sources will be created and I will gladly send you a copy of the article when done!

Thanks for your help!

Happy Digging,

The Garden Goddess

Down 2 Earth Gardens, LLC.

Trouble Lurks in the Garden

Trouble Lurks in the Garden

No picture today with this post because I don't want to gross you out - my swollen, red left foot is the reason for this note.

First - I have already been chastised by my fellow gardener friends. Seems like the guys had less sympathy and did more scolding than the woman.

Second - I feel a little foolish even sharing this with you. I mean, come-on, I am a PROFESSIONAL (aren't I?). But if I don't share this with you, there is a good chance this could happen to you!

So here goes - I stepped on a thorn! Well not your average thorn, but a one inch long Palo Verde Tree thorn that went through my Crocs and into my foot a quarter inch! OUCH! Yes, I screamed a really bad word very loud in the back yard! Then I stopped, took off the crock and saw how long the thorn was inside the shoe coming through the sole. The ball of my foot had a drop of blood on it and I thought "that's a good sign, bleeding helps to flush the germs out."

Well, I may have been OK if I would have stopped what I was doing, cleaned and disinfected the puncture site and put on a band aid and a sock. But NOOOOOOO I had to keep on gardening. I thought it was just a small pin prick and it didn't hurt tooo much.

Well, DON'T DO WHAT I DO, DO WHAT I SAY!

The next time you get cut, scratched or get stuck with a thorn, go into the house to clean and disinfect it. Put on a bandage and take a break.

Here's why.

Monday morning I couldn't put any pressure on that foot when I rolled out of bed! It was red and swollen. One of my toes was twice the size it was the night before. I thought that perhaps I was allergic to the Palo Verde Tree! But as the day wore on and the foot felt worse I knew something was up.

A trip to the doctor's office confirmed my fears - it was infected - with a staph infection! A pretty serious condition. I spent the last week going to the doctor every other day and getting shots (tetanus and antibiotics) and am also taking them orally. I am now taking two different antibiotics, soaking the foot several times a day and elevating it when I can.

It has definitely slowed me down. The weather is PERFECT for gardening after the hottest summer on record and I can't do it!! I hobble around on the outside of my foot just to get through the day.

So take it from me - follow the doctors advice - clean and disinfect any cuts or scratches and cover it. The garden is a dirty place!

Safe Gardening,
The Garden Goddess
Down 2 Earth Gardens, LLC.

Update on Who Stole the Compost

Update on Who Stole the Compost

Thanks to my friend Vinnie the Gardener for solving the mystery of the missing compost. Here's what he has to say:
"Means you have 'high' bugs as I call them; all the visible critters (pill bugs, roaches, beetles). Had the same issue myself when we began renovating our garden. Started my pitchfork plugging (stab, wiggle), and kept piling on the nature. It took about three years when I noticed the 'dirt' became 'soil' in the top 4-6"inches or so. That's when I noticed more of the 'low' bugs; worms, grubs, micro-critters, mostly below the ground. Since then, all my debris clean-up goes directly onto the garden - not into the compost pile. The major green stuff (kitchen & mowing & pruning) goes into compost. All of the general plant litter gets layered in the garden (along with coffee grounds). "


WOW - I love his idea of making it easy to build the soil. Now that some of my trees are loosing their leaves (the mulberry especially) - and right by this garden, I will just layer them on the soil, almost like a mulch and let the critters in the soil munch on them. I just hope it doesn't take 3 years for me!!

Look there's one now just waiting to be eaten!! Sort of blends in with the dirt. I hope the bugs see it.


So folks - this fall do not back up your leaves and throw them away - put them on your garden! Or at the very least put them in your compost bin or even better yet - leave them where they fall and let them provide nourishment to soil below the tree!

Now that's MY kind of gardening!!

Who stole the compost?

Who stole the compost?

As I was preparing the front yard garden bed, I realized the soil was lacking organic matter. It's been almost a year since I removed the bermuda and created the new garden. I added a truck load of compost to the existing soil back then and I have been adding more compost throughout the summer.

Yet when I started to dig in the garden the soil looked pretty bad, still lots of clay soil, almost as bad as when I started. So I broke one of my own rules - I dug up the garden beds.

Thank goodness for my own compost pile and Soil Secrets. I was able to amend about half of the garden with my own compost. It was kind of creepy carrying the bucket of compost and BUGS! But I know that bugs are part of the process so I just walked really fast!

Since I didn't have enough of my own compost, I added some great amendments called Soil Secrets. I recently ordered a pallet of this great stuff for my friends and clients. I am excited to see how this great product works on my gardens.

I didn't plant anything yet, just watered in the amendments and moved on to the next garden bed.

Where do you think all the compost went?

Happy Digging,
The Garden Goddess
Down 2 Earth Gardens, LLC