Survivor Garden - NoDig (56k warning) "NOW WITH 100%UPDATES"

[Anianna]

Oh, oh, did somebody mention tumbling composter? I LOVE my Tumbleweed composter!!!

LOL on the Kong issue. My dog loves her Kong, so I wonder how she'll respond to my garden (she's a big GS puppy, so she hasn't seen one yet). I plan to build a frame draped with bird netting to keep the deer out of my garden this year, though, so I suppose that may be enough to deter her. I lose more gardens to deer, but now I have a motivational phrase ....

No deer this year!! No deer this year!!

Actually, they are welcome to the field. I like collecting their poops for my compost. Go, go Tumbleweed!!

I had to order the Tumbleweed online. I went to all the garden centers and farm supply stores and they all looked at me like I was nuts. "A what composter??"

Compost makes use of heat to get those happy little microbes dancing in their pants. Your sunny spot would probably be fine for it as long as it's big enough. Optimum size of a compost pile is about 4 cubic feet or so. Much bigger and it's hard to turn, much smaller and the microbes have a hard time getting going. Just make sure you add some "browns" (dry leaves, straw, cardboard) or the pile will just rot and stink instead of compost.

[The Ron]

TGC,

What are those colored things under the bricks on the 1st pic? Euros?? I'm not sure the plants will respond to that.
Also, I was curious how the mint was behaving. I put mint in my garden one year and have been trying to keep them at bay ever since.

[Ufdyixcaff]

TGC,

What are those colored things under the bricks on the 1st pic? Euros?? I'm not sure the plants will respond to that.

I believe those are the seed packets to give you an idea of what is planted where.

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

Baby photos...




Rockmelon "before" shot. Taken when thread was started.


Rockmelon "after" shot. Taken this morning.


Anianna, agreed on the tumbler style composters. For a QDOS (quick, dirty operating system, lol) they do very well. They are very common in Australia and are freely available from most gardening/hardware stores here.

And what is it with German Shepherds and Kongs?

Also, +1,000,000,000 on the mixing of greens and browns thing. Carbon (brown) to Nitrogen (green) ratio is so critical to successful compost (as you probably well know, heh). In fact I should have made more/some mention of it in my initial write-ups as it is just as critical to a successful no-dig garden.

TGC,

What are those colored things under the bricks on the 1st pic? Euros?? I'm not sure the plants will respond to that.

I believe those are the seed packets to give you an idea of what is planted where.

KeepItSimpleStupid - Precisely, Sir. Precisely.

The Ron - Though these particular Gross-feeders have a Newly Arrived Free Trade Agreement with the Barbarian CouchGrasses they have decided to go the way of the CurcuBrits and keep thier original national currantcy. No euros or ameros for them.

The mint is on a watchlist and is having his internet usage monitored closely.
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[Anianna]

I believe my Tumbleweed is from Australia. I adore it. I'd like to get another, but they are relatively expensive around here. I'd build something from the plastic drums I found in the woods left by the previous owners, but I don't know what was in those.

That is one nice looking garden. I love this thread.

And what is it with German Shepherds and Kongs?

Well, the Kong is made for smart dogs, after all.

Just to brag off topic a little, Kyla is being raised as a SAR (search and rescue) dog. We play lots of "where is it" games with her. Pretty soon, we'll start hiding the kids around the yard for her to find.

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

Moar new babies...


^Rockmelons.



^Watermelons.




^Mad new growth.

I also must make a confession that I think someone at the local garden centre slipped up with the labelling of one or two of the butternut seedlings. Insomuch as I am willing to bet good imaginary money on the fact that one or two are actually zukes or cuchs. While not TEOTWAWKI it's kinda annoying if they all are as I was hoping on some produce from this little excercise being of the extended shelf life variety (ie: butternut pumpkins) for the betterment of the kindly villagers here.
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Thanks Anianna! You'll make me blush again.

I always associate Shepherds with kongs, maybe because they seem to be the only dogs I ever see with them - or at least the only dogs that "own" thier own kongs. I guessed that's why I automatically asked TheFireBuilds whether his dog was a shepherd when I saw the kong pic.

Okay, so now in addition to telling me you grow ambulatory venison in your gardens you're telling me your GS is being trained for SAR?

Colour me JealousJealousJealous.
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[Anianna]

Indeed!!

Well, to be entirely honest, she's my husband's dog and the SAR team doesn't really include me, but I am helping him with her training.

She adores a Kong stuffed with peanut butter and her favorite Nature Made berry treats. It's hilarious to watch. I think I should get video of it. YouTubers love that sort of thing.


Regarding compost, I would like to add that anybody who doesn't produce a lot of material for compost (individual without a lot of food waste and no yard for clippings, for example) can get excellent compost by requesting fruit, veggie, plant, and grain scraps from local grocers and scraps from local landscapers. A lot of times, these guys have to pay to trash this stuff and they would be more than happy to hand it over to you instead. Or, you could start up a lawn mowing side biz and get people to pay you to take their clippings off their hands.

The Tumbleweed touts the ability to make compost entirely from grass clippings, which is ok, but your garden will benefit from greater nutrients from a variety of materials.

[Kathy in FL]

In case y'all are interested here is a site that gives the basics on making your own tumble composter.

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Tumbling-Composter

[Anianna]

In case y'all are interested here is a site that gives the basics on making your own tumble composter.

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Tumbling-Composter

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

In case y'all are interested here is a site that gives the basics on making your own tumble composter.

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Tumbling-Composter

Bewracked by pollen biowarfare and it's affects upon her Kathy still manages to bring home gold. Legend.

Aninna, I don't care whose dog it is I'm still jealous.
As soon as I have my own place again I'm getting another GS.

+1 on the entrepenurial approaches to gathering diverse matierials for compost. I turned having the use of a little two tonne tip truck into a "removing piles of mucked out horse manure and straw bedding from proffessional stables" sideline one time.
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[Anianna]

In case y'all are interested here is a site that gives the basics on making your own tumble composter.

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Tumbling-Composter

Bewracked by pollen biowarfare and it's affects upon her Kathy still manages to bring home gold. Legend.

Aninna, I don't care whose dog it is I'm still jealous.
As soon as I have my own place again I'm getting another GS.

+1 on the entrepenurial approaches to gathering diverse matierials for compost. I turned having the use of a little two tonne tip truck into a "removing piles of mucked out horse manure and straw bedding from proffessional stables" sideline one time.
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I don't blame you, German Shepherds are awesome, after all.

See, mucking is a great idea for a side-job with benefits!

You brought back memories of piles of horse poo in the back of my uncle's truck. He would bring it home to till into our huge garden and I got to be the one standing in it to shovel out. I was about nine then and we couldn't find muck boots in my size, so you'd generally find me in a pair of overalls with the pants rolled clear up to my thighs bare-foot and knee deep in crap.

Ah, the good ol' days!

[LowKey]

TGC,
I've always been a hit-or-miss (read lazy) gardener. My last garden in 2003 was made of 4 raised beds, each 4 ft wide x 25 ft long about 18 inches high. The ground underneath was always saturated from springs, and I had no other place with suitable sun. The topsoil had been scraped off by the landlord when he built the house and never replaced, so I had 2 dump trucks deliver what was advertised as "composted cow manure". What I envisioned was a nice dark brown/blackish composted soil. What I received was a truckload of coarse sawdust soaked with old cow urine judging from the ammonia-ish odor. I shoveled/raked it into rows and left it for a few days until the odor went away, then watered heavily. After 4 more days I stuck seeds in, watered, and put my efforts into building a fence to keep the deer out(alder saplings are good for something after all). Just to be clear about this, I did not mix the compost with ANYTHING. Imagine long rows of beige colored coarse sawdust with tomato stakes, ect. No "real" dirt.
Let me just say....OMG!!!!! The plants went crazy. After 2 weeks I thought the cucumbers were going to strangle me whenever I walked into the garden, and I'm still pretty sure the zucchini lifted my wallet that time . No weeds for the first month.
Now, from what I understand, the plants should have died -been "burned" by excessively high nitrogen levels. I had only gone ahead with the planting as that years growing season would have been shot if I waited any longer and I figured that the worst thing that could happen is that I would be out the cost of the seeds. Any idea why the plants didn't just die off, but thrived instead? Cucumbers, turnips, beets, tomatos, beans, green beans, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, squash, and i can't remember what else. Every bit of it looked ready to stage an invasion, and beat up any herbivores that intruded into the garden. They received no real help from me after being planted (aside from deer and slug protection measures) and lived under my begin neglect

For the bored, here is the after action report on my fighting the zombie slug hordes invading my garden that year-
My biggest enemies turned out to be slugs. I was just south of Olympia, WA, so you can imagine the slug population in the drizzly NW. I tried the (cheap) beer in a saucer trick, I tried diatomous earth,.....sheesh, I wound up using the same technique my dear ol' grandmother used. Go out at night with a flashlight, a pair of gloves, and a coffee can with 1/4 cup turpentine.
Step 1- Shine light, find slug.
Step 2- Using glove, pick up slug.
Step 3- Overcome "ick" sensation.
Step 4- Drop slug into turpentine.
Step 5- Enjoy watching the slimy bugger die. Repeat.

[BethDeath]

For the bored, here is the after action report on my fighting the zombie slug hordes invading my garden that year-
My biggest enemies turned out to be slugs. I was just south of Olympia, WA, so you can imagine the slug population in the drizzly NW. I tried the (cheap) beer in a saucer trick, I tried diatomous earth,.....sheesh, I wound up using the same technique my dear ol' grandmother used. Go out at night with a flashlight, a pair of gloves, and a coffee can with 1/4 cup turpentine.
Step 1- Shine light, find slug.
Step 2- Using glove, pick up slug.
Step 3- Overcome "ick" sensation.
Step 4- Drop slug into turpentine.
Step 5- Enjoy watching the slimy bugger die. Repeat.

I'm starting a garden this year and slugs are my main concern. They are EVERYWHERE. We are getting chickens tomorrow so hopefully they will help me clear up the yard before I start the garden.

[Salam9nder]

I don't think chickens will eat slugs. At least, ours never did. But they may have been prima donnas.

[LowKey]

I don't know about chickens.
Ducks do eat them (slugs, not chickens ) however.

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

The breed of ducks known as "Indian Runners" are particularly adept at cleaning up pest populations like slugs and snails.

They are relatively small but also lay large numbers of eggs.

Plus, they have a cool name.
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[BethDeath]

My neighbor has a buttload of chickens and they eat slugs. I'll just have to make my chickens hang out with hers so they can pick up the habit.

[Anianna]

Turpentine is total overkill. Just sprinkle salt on them and they shrivel to death. I found it very gruesome, yet effective.

A bit of sharp gravel around your beds is usually sufficient to keep slugs out of your garden. Their tender bodies don't like crossing sharp or overly scrapey surfaces.

That's right, I said scrapey.

Of course, a couple of ducks would be much more fun and would make a fantastic dinner with all those veggies. Just make sure to keep them sufficiently protected from predators at night. A chicken-wire cage really isn't enough.

[phoenixmastm]

TGC, there's a reason you're one of my favorite posters. This is a good addition to that reason.


I love it, and I'll be working on some container gardens this year (provided I'm not moving around or anything). Though they wont be as awesome as your super raised bed garden.

Now I want one of those sooooo bad.

[ZombieGranny]

I live in the Pacific Northwest, and nothing works on slugs here - sharp rocks, copper collars, DE, slug bait... I think the darn things would ooze over razor blades!
Only salt, drowning in beer, or ducks and chickens do anything about them. My chickens are free-range voracious eaters of slugs, snails, worms, potato bugs, you name it, those darlin's will snap them up. Then they turn them into yummy, yummy orange-yolked eggs.

I gotta get those fellas to dig up my planting oval.

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

UPDATE:

I half limped and half crabcrawled my way across the roof tiles.

The water I was lugging was heavy and I didn't want a repeat of what had happened half an hour earlier... I'd missed my footing on another roof as I made my way across the "thieves' highway" in order to avoid any more of the restless dead. I'd slipped and fallen through the brittle tiles, fallen through the roofspace and halfway through the ceiling. My dangling legs had nearly been latched onto and I'd nearly been dragged down into the house by a particulary fresh and particularly energetic "runner". Maybe he'd until very recently been another survivor? Maybe just a particularly fit person in their former life? Maybe they just had a lot of perservatives in their diet while they still had a diet that didn't include me. Either way, I didn't care. A high octane mix of adrenaline and unadulterated terror got me out of that one with nothing more than some bad abrasions and a gimpy leg complete with tender ankle.

I had made my way to this particular house because not so long ago I'd planted a garden in the back courtyard back when all this crazy shit started. We weren't killing each other for food yet but I wanted to make sure the garden was okay before we did. Having a living, growing larder up our sleeves had to count for something when the bags of corn chips and cans of SPAM ran out and the knives of previously semi-rational people came out to play in earnest.

I left the plastic jerry can of water on the only flat surface on the roof --- the top of the old evaporative airconditioner, I'd used any remnant water from inside it to water the garden the last time I'd come only that time I took the streets. Big, big mistake --- and carefully crawled over to the edge of the gutter.

Cautiously extending my weight out almost past the point of no return I peeked under the eaves and into the doors and windows I could see from where I was.

Doors and windows still secure? Check.

No zed's inside? Che... Wait. Something's shuffling around in the laundry. Fuck.

I knew from my last trip that the front door had been left wide open when the folks inside had decided to go from bugging in to bugging out. Only God knew how many zeds were inside now drawn by the sound of wind up alarm clocks and friction powered toys. As a diversion so they could get to the car it worked for the good folks at the time. For me right now it was a major pain in the ass (and thigh and calf and ankle - the abrasions from my fall were starting to ache) but I could only hope the glass of the laundry door held whatever form of undead unpleasantness was in there securely behind it as I wasn't in the mood for using the baseball bat I had with me for anything else than a crutch or cane when I got to the ground. We'd learned early enough in the piece that you just didn't shoot the damned things unless you wanted thousands of them to deal with within a quarter of an hour as the silent surrounding suburbs vomited the seemingly unending array of the shambling dead your way.

I located the ladder, lowered the water on some cordage and then gingerly made my way down as quietly as I could... I needed to see how my babies - the aces up our sleeves were doing...
























...I mixed some of the Seaweed extract and Fish emulsion into the water and began to water the garden. That's when I heard the door fly open and a very alive voice yell, "WHO The FUCK?!"

Fuckfuckfuck.

I knew the people who had lived here before.
I knew them well.
I didn't know this voice at all.

Instantly I cocked the baseball bat in one hand over my shoulder and prepared to "parley" or otherwise "negotiate".
Almost as instantly I dropped the watering can. The watering can full of precious water and nutrients.

Fuck.


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[Salam9nder]

Heh, that's good - sounds like you're putting together something for the Art forum. I'm tuning in!

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

Heh, that's good - sounds like you're putting together something for the Art forum. I'm tuning in!

Thanks Salam9nder! Maybe bringing a little Art to Self-Sufficient Living? I dunno. It just kept writing itself.

I guess we'll have to see.

LowKey, re: your post above - I haven't forgotten you - there's a .notepad file with half my reply to it somewhere around here.
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[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

I forgot to add previously about the update itself.
The pics were taken yesterday and the day before. If you compare the photos from this update to the photos in the previous updates you can see how much "flush" of growth there has been. The fruit has either increased greatly in size, number or both.

I added the Snow Pea you can see in the corner, also a new variety of cherry tomatoes called "Sweet Bite" and some "Giant Green" capsicums.

The capsicums I planted out underneath the canopys of the Butternuts and Rockmelons. If the capsicums want to live they better get some chlorophyll above the treeline and into the sun, stat.

It's survival of the fittest really.
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