The Virtues of Compost

Of all the things I have done in my garden, the most important was adding compost to my soil. There is a reason why gardeners call compost black gold. It is amazing stuff and it gives back to your garden tenfold.

Compost is the final product of what nature does naturally. If you save your grass clippings, leaves (I actually chop up my leaves with my lawn mower), pine needles, vegetable and banana peels, apple cores, egg shells, and make a pile of all this good stuff, eventually it turns into something that your plants will just love. And all for free! If you turn your compost heap, the materials break down faster and you will have usable compost even quicker. But whether you turn it or not, eventually compost happens.

Here in Saginaw we have a compost center where city residents can go and load their car or their pickup for free. Non residents can get some for fee. The city will deliver 3 yards for a charge.

What has compost done for my garden? It has made a hard and rocky clay soil workable. It acts as a mulch around my plants smothering the weeds. It provides my plants with nutrients they need. It helps retain moisture in the soil which is especially important during times of drought. All of this for free!

So, whether you make your own or your get it from a compost center, make it a part of your garden routine. You will not regret it.

Getting What You Wish For

Last week I was praying for rain and guess what happened on Sunday? Finally, lots of it. I am not complaining, except it was rather muddy planting potatoes. Oh well, you can’t have everything. I am just glad to see everything perk right up because of the wet stuff. And perk up your garden—that is what the rain is so good for. Tap water just isn’t the same.



The tulips are out in full force right now and the bleeding heart sure cheered up with all the rain we had. Everything looks better from getting the good wet stuff.

I have been amending my soil with compost the past few days. I use it for my mulch and it gives the soil nutrients as well. I get it from the city, going over to the compost center each morning before work. I let it stink up my car in the morning before I unload it at lunch time. Then I lay it in the beds very carefully when I get home from work in the evening. With the compost and the rain my garden sure is looking a lot better than it did last week at this time.




Wednesday my parents celebrated their 59th anniversary. So I took them a candlelight dinner that included some asparagus from my garden. I don’t have anything else yet, but the strawberries are blooming and the apple trees have been in bloom so I know I have fruit coming my way this summer.

There is a section in my garden for myrtle, my mother's favorite plant. It is in bloom this time of year and I think of her when I see it.




The types of potatoes I planted are German Butterball, All Blue and Purple Viking. I have never tried these types before so I am looking forward to them. They are heirloom potatoes I got from the Seed Savers Exchange. The onion sets I bought from Burpee’s are planted as well. Soon I will get the peas I started into the ground and plant some leaf lettuce. And this weekend I will set up my greenhouse on the deck and start moving some seedlings out to it. The cat will no longer be a bother to them. What a relief.



The Valerie Finnis hyacinth seem to do well even though they are planted beneath my maple tree in the front. A nice skirt of blue this time of year.

Back to the Future: Gardening in the 21st Century

This past week I sent in an order for heirloom seeds to the Seed Savers Exchange. I have ordered some herb seeds that I have never tried before. Black Cumin (also known as Roman Coriander) is supposed to be a nice ornamental with bluish white flowers. The seeds are ground and used like pepper. Sweet Mage (also known as Spanish Tarragon) has anise scented orange flowers. I always enjoy trying new herbs I have never grown before.

I have also ordered pinto beans, Hidatsa red beans and some climbing french beans. I am trying a cucumber called Mexican sour gherkin. Seed Savers is where I got the White Beauty and Great White tomato seeds last year. Those tomatoes were extra sweet. I am hoping for good luck with these beans and cucumbers as well.




I think that by ordering some heirloom seeds I am connecting to my past. My grandfather, Peter Donnelly, was a farmer in a small town called Allen in the southern part of Michigan. Born in the late 1800s, Peter attended Hillsdale College before taking up the plow. And I mean two horses and a plow. In the early 20th century that is how a farm was managed. No expensive fertilizers, no pesticides. Just hard work and horses to feed and take care of. Not to mention the cows and chickens. There was once a cow who shall remain nameless, but said cow once chased my mother and some of her siblings up a tree. And the chickens used to peck at her something fierce when she had to get the eggs from them.




Such was life on the farm. My mother wasn't much for being a farmer's daughter. Her brother once told her she was the only person he knew who lived on a farm but didn't know she lived on one. Avoiding the outdoor chores was something my mother did if she could. Which is why she irons and cleans much better than I ever have.

Well, I do not have a farm and I garden on a small city plot. No room for horses and plows where I live. I wouldn't mind having a few chickens (although I suspect I wouldn't like getting pecked at any more than my mother did). I am lucky enough to have a coworker who raises them so I buy my eggs from her.

I do believe it is worth the effort to return to the soil what came from it to feed my plants. I don't use fertilizers or pesticides. I am simply a lazy gardener who prefers to add compost on top of my garden each spring and plant in it. I find that this old fashioned way of garden does a pretty good job of preventing weeds from germinating and is a lot easier on the back than digging is.

What I have found in the past 25 years of gardening is that we seem to be returning to the tried and true when it comes to growing our food. My grandfather created a pretty good life for his family using these old fashioned methods and I have come to realize that it isn't such a bad way to garden in the 21st century. Suffice it to say that everything old is new again.

Tips from an Amateur Gardener

I have a confession to make. I did not buy the house I live in because there was a ready-made, sunny area behind the garage that would work perfectly for a vegetable garden. I bought the house because I was renting it at the time the owner put it up for sale and I was just too lazy to move. The garden area was simply a nice bonus. This bonus is still flourishing nearly 30 years later and yes, I have been able to help it along without using of a lot of expensive fertilizers and bug killers. Believe me, if I can do it, so can you.



So what have I learned over these many years of trial and mostly error? Well, here are a few tips this amateur is happy to share with you:

1. Compost. You have heard this before and I am sure you will hear it again, but the best thing I have done for the hardpan clay soil my garden happens to sit upon is adding compost to it every single year. My brother built me a wooden compost bin back in the 1980s and I added another readymade plastic one in the 1990s. The wooden one went by the wayside but the plastic one is still going strong. I am a lazy composter, but even being lazy it is still possible to get that rich black gold at some point. It is well worth the little effort it takes to save those egg shells, vegetable scraps and coffee grinds. Not to mention the leaves and grass clippings. My plants just love the stuff as does my back since digging in the soil is a breeze compared to how hard it was when I planted my first garden.

2. Save those newspapers. The older I get, the more I appreciate how nice it is to be a lazy gardener which includes NOT tilling the soil. If I want to plant a new garden bed, it is far easier to lay those newspapers (not the color, glossy parts-save those for the litter box) at least three layers thick and top them with either grass clippings or compost and then let the area sit for a year. You can then just plant you garden right there! The newspapers disintegrate and the weeds are minimal, if any at all.

3. Listen to your plants. If a plant isn’t happy in one area of your garden, dig it up and try it someplace else. My vegetable garden is in full sun (six hours of direct sun a day) which is just what those vegetables need. I have tried growing tomatoes in the front yard (facing east) and they just don’t like it. It doesn’t hurt to try something different (like growing tomatoes in the front yard) but if it doesn’t work, don’t sweat it. Just find a different place to put that beloved plant. Your plants really will let you know whether they like what you’ve done to them so listen to them!



4. Rotate your crops. This of course does not work for perennial plants (my asparagus has been happy in the same spot for many years now), but make sure you don’t plant tomatoes in the same place two years in a row. In my vegetable garden area I have five separate beds where I change which crops are in each bed every single year. I keep a map of what is planted in each bed so I know what to plant where next year. My tomatoes have never suffered from any diseases and I really do believe this is because I have been conscientious about not planting them in the same place every year.

5. Maps of what crops are growing where in any given year are not the only records I keep. I have a list of plants that have died on me, a list of annual flowers that I have planted in the past, a list of plants that have been too aggressive, and so forth. I want to know what works and what doesn’t work for me so keeping track helps prevent me from making the same mistake over and over. My brain is too feeble to remember it all so if I take notes and keep lists. Over time I get to know what has worked and what hasn’t worked for me in the past.

6. There are some self seeders I could not do without. Larkspur (Consolida) has been happily self seeding itself in my garden for many years now and is absolutely reliable for that lovely purplish blue color throughout the summer. And I would not be without the cheery orange of Cosmos sulfurous (variety Bright Lights). What delightful flowers these are! I can count on them year after year after year!

7. If you want to get some heirloom seeds that are out of this world and well worth the membership, join Seed Savers Exchange (http://www.seedsavers.org/) I started some White Beauty and Great White tomatoes this past summer and they tasted super sweet! I am anxious to see how the Broadleaf Czech and Lorz Italian garlic that I planted in October will do when I go to pick it next July. Seed Savers offers numerous types of heirlooms that will absolutely astound you. You also know you will be a part of something very important, namely ensuring that these seeds survive. I don’t know what took me so long in becoming a member, but I’m with Seed Savers to stay!










8. Grow some herbs. If you want some plants that are easy to grow, have few or no pest or disease problems, then herbs are the right sort of plant for you to grow. Oregano makes anyone think she can garden and dill is another reliable self seeder that you will always have if you plant it once. I think the wonderful smells that come from herbs may well help to keep the pests away. I plant marigolds (the stinky kind) with my tomatoes every year and they seem to go together perfectly.

9. If you are looking for a way to save some money, then save those used yogurt cups and other used food containers. I poke drainage holes in the bottom and start seeds in them. They work just fine.

10. I bought a couple of rain barrels several years ago and use the rain water they collect to water all the plants on my deck and in the garden as well. If we get enough rain, this way of watering my garden is sufficient to take care of all my plants. I save money by not having to turn on the hose. These rain barrels have been well worth the initial investment cost.

11. Listen to the experts, but do it anyways. If I listened to the experts all the time I would have only three balloon flowers instead of four. No, you aren’t supposed to divide them. Yes, I did divide one and now I have four. They have all been doing fine for many years now. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to divide them. I have learned a lot from the experts, but I have also learned to take everything I hear with a grain of salt since the experts don’t always agree with each other. So if you want to try something, don’t be afraid, just go ahead and do it. The one thing I have learned in my many years of gardening is that plants are pretty darn forgiving. They must be to put up with me!