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What's Growing On:
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HARVEST WORKSHOP! Join us Sunday, June 13, at 1pm and learn everything you need to know about how and what to harvest as well as delicious ways to cook them! An educationally, delicious time! Make sure to reserve yourself a spot! $10 Click Here for More Information
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SUPER SALE! ORGANIC BLUEBERRY BUSHES 2 for $12! Come in now before they are gone...
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CHICKS ARE HOT! Call to reserve yourself some chicks of the Barred Rock variety! They are flying fast, reserve your birds today. $19.95 a bird, 404-325-0128
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Farmer D Consulting was quite the hit this past week and weekend at the Congress for the New Urbanism. Check out Farmer D Consulting here.
- Coming soon: Farmer D will release his new raised garden bed design. This mini farm plot
will grow its weight in veggies and allow even the most urban of dwellers to enjoy an
agrarian lifestyle. Gardens for small spaces, Farmer D style.
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Celebrate Father's Day with Farmer D! Fun & Exciting Events Coming Up! Make sure to check back!
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MOTHER'S DAY ALL MAY! In honor of Mother Earth we are having a Summer Salad Bed Special the entire month of May!!! 2'x 2'x 10" Raised Bed: complete with organic soil, organic fertilizer and plants. $89.95 CALL OR DROP BY TO PLACE ORDER TODAY!
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Earth Day Everyday Sale: Save 15% on Farmer D Gardens to Go Everyday through the end of May including beds, soil, fertilizer and plants! Come to the store or learn more here.
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Recruiting Marketeers! Farmer D Organics is looking for people to help at festivals and farmers markets, please email info@farmerd.com if you are interested.
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Continue good garden housekeeping by making compost tea from weeds pulled from your garden! Just like their tenacious ability to pop up in all areas of your garden, weeds' tenacity extends to nutrient uptake as well. Weeds compete with desirable plants for nutrients from your garden soil, and they are very good at it. Because of this, weeds are full of mineral nutrients. You can give back what weeds rob from your precious garden plants by making "weed tea" from the weeds you pull from the garden. Apply the nutrient rich concoction to your garden veggies and watch them flourish because one plant's trash is another plant's treasure!
Step 1: Weed your garden.
Step 2: Collect weeds and put them in a permeable bag such as a Hessian sack, onion or muslin bag, etc. Tightly tie off the sack-o-weeds.
Step 3: Find a bucket or container to fill with water. The ratio should be 1 part weeds to 10 parts water (25 liter container, 2.5 liter weed sack). Make sure your container has a tight fitting lid to keep the insects and fermenting odor away.
Step 4: Submerge your weed sack in the water. It is also a good idea to agitate your weed sack, just like a tea bag in a BIG cup of tea!
Step 5: Wait… for 1 to 3 weeks for your "weed tea" to ferment.
Step 6: Dilute your "weed tea" in a solution: 1 part weed tea concentrate to 4 parts water.
Step 7: Water your plants with this nutrient rich solution.
Step 8: Put the remaining contents of the weed sack in your compost bin.
This is an amazing way to create something positive out of something seemingly negative by closing the loop on weeds. Now that's biodynamic!
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Plant of the Week:
Zucchini
Growing zucchini is fantastically easy to grow. Plant zucchini seeds in rows or hills, planting seeds one inch deep. Row spacing dependents upon the variety you are planting. In hills, plant four to five per hill. After they have germinated, keep the best two to three zucchini plants. Water the first day and if there is no rain, every two to three days until they germinate. Zucchini likes well drained soil, but will grow in most soils.
We somewhat chuckle at the idea of adding fertilizer to such a great producer, but some soils are poor in nutrients. If your soil is poor, or if last year's crop was less than stellar, a side dressing of fertilizer and regular feedings of fertilizer will significantly improve the health of the plant, and the size of the harvest. Zucchini is a member of the the squash and pumpkin (or cucurbita) family of vegetables. Zucchini is indeed a prolific producer. A couple of plants in the garden, and you have plenty for family, neighbors, and friends. Along with being a prolific producer, zucchini also readily cross breeds with many members of the cucurbita family, including pumpkins, so save your seeds!
There are literally hundreds of zucchini recipes for your hundreds of zucchinis. So, get creative in the kitchen and enjoy them in generous quantities, as they are not good keepers. When the gardening season is over, they are gone.
Check out this delicious recipe!Sauteed Zucchini and Yellow Squash with Mint...yumm |
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Chalkboard Talk:
Taking Care of Your School Garden for the Summer!
The summer is a great time to extend your harvest for the fall or raise money to sustain your farm to school program. If neither of these options sound good to you put your school garden beds to rest with cover crop. Pull out the old garden waste and compost it. Spread summer cover crop seed and let it grow. Two weeks before school begins, come back and cut your cover crop down, turn into the soil and let it do it's magic before you plant for the fall.
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Also, check out this great resource for other Earth Day Lessons that teach environmental protection at your school. |
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Compost
Corner
Farmer D's Compost Tips : Biodynamic Biomass
Feed your compost with garden biomass! This is the refuse collected when cleaning and trimming your garden plants and veggies. Instead of adding this valuable trash to the landfill, use it to enrich your compost pile by recycling the nutrients back into your soil. By composting garden debris, yard waste can be reduced by 50% to 75%.
Good housekeeping practices in the garden discourage unwanted pests and diseases. Cleaning your plants by removing unhealthy leaves and stems is good for the plant and good for the compost. Another good habit is pruning plants to increase airflow by taking away excess leaves and stems, especially sucker growth on tomatoes. This increases yield and reduces fungal problems.
Most "waste" from your garden is compostable, but beware of diseased and insect infested plant debris. Go ahead and send this out with the garbage so not to create a problem in your compost. Also understand that woody material takes quite a while to decompose, so it is good to cut up woody debris into smaller pieces to facilitate quicker breakdown.
So keep your garden healthy by using its own waste to create compost to feed it in the future. Close the cycle on your compost by using your garden's excess biomass to create it. Now that's biodynamic!
Here are some great composters & tools to get started » |
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Farmer D Organics Garden Centers
2154 Briarcliff Rd. Atlanta, GA 30329 (Headquarters)
4050 Holcomb Bridge Rd. Norcross, GA 30092(Satellite store)
Opening Hours:
Mon - Sat. 9-6pm
Sun. 11-5pm |
Call or email us for more information
(404) 325-0128
info@farmerd.com
Copyright © 2009 Farmer D Organics |
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