Gardens, worms, and fishing

Well, I beleive I mentioned that we started a garden this summer in our back yard. We don't expect much out of it this year, because it is our first in a long long time. It is sort of a beginner's experiment.

It is also the first raised garden we have ever done. Before it was the old time rows of corn with irrigation in between. This is supposed to be more efficient and better for the plants. We created a U shaped garden, the concept being that it would take best advantage of the space provided, plus allow for us to reach every plant from our hands and knees without stepping in the garden, plus allow us to Y our hose and cover the entire garden. We snaked two soaker hoses from the Y through each side of the garden and planted seedlings farther apart than we probably needed, because we are used to the old way. It is doing very well, but there are a few places where there are problems. We planted a combination of seeds and seedlings (store bought, unfortunately) and weren't very careful about keeping track of where we planted our seeds, and since there were two of us, we covered up each other's work. Only two corn plants have come up from seeds, for example. Next year we will do all seedlings and grow them ourselved (cheaper). Soon we plan to have our own seeds from previous years.

WE had to buy manure for fertilizer this year, because we started late. The soil is not that great. Maybe we should have used more, but we are trying to do this as cheaply as possible so that it is easier for the garden to pay for itself. After the season, we will borrow our neighbor's tiller again (they will receive vegies in return) and till some more manure into the plot. I'm going to be on the lookout for cheap or free manure, though. This is farm country and we should be able to find a beef or dairy farm around here somewhere where we can get some. And there's also buffalo dung from the park. Wonder how that would do in a garden.

We also plan to compost for next year, building a compost bin and putting our leaves and grass clippings into it, and have our own free fertilizer. What is more, we plan to start a worm farm and create vermicompost. We will put the needed ingrediants into a worm bin. One article I read mentioned using an old dresser drawer with holes drilled into it as a small one. There is a local thrift store for for Habitat for Humanity that sells drawers dirt cheap. That will be the least expensive alternative. The library where I work is always recycling newpaper, so it will be easy to shred that for filler. That, water, and a little garbage (no bones or meat) every week and we have a home for our worms.

This is where the fishing comes in. Today I will buy one small pole, at a yard sale if I can find it, to go along with my giant surf caster bought many years ago on the east coast that I plan to use for catfishing the bigguns. Then, we will buy some bait worms. After research, the best worm for both vermicomposting and fishing combined is red wigglers (nightcrawlers like to travel and would leave our little box too quickly). Fish love them, and they are great for composting. What is left after our fishin trip we put into our worm farm. We do this a few times, and our population will begin to grow pretty quickly.

Soon, we will have a self-sustaining cycle: we grow worms for composting, which feeds our garden, whose vegegetable leftovers feed the worms, who supply us with free bait for fishing and worms and fertilizer for gardening. Any time the farm gets too full, we take a bunch out for fishing, drop a bunch in our garden for aeration and fertilization, along with the waste from the compsot and worm farms, and we are all set. Healthy garden with healthy vegetables, and healthy meat from fishing.

Gardens, worms, and fishing. All self-sustaining, and all, eventually, free.